For the most part, I can do without ESPN: The Magazine. It's all a little too pithy and clever for my tastes and besides, I think we can all agree that there is plenty of ESPN in our lives already. It's practically unavoidable; multiple channels, a website that takes 90 seconds to load and then starts blaring highlights at you, mobile phones, and so on. That said, I love when "The Mag" runs its "Next" issue - a series of articles highlighting the up-and-coming stars in various sports around the globe.
There is something exciting about discovering a previously unknown talent and there is a certain thrill in seeing someone reach the next level. I think I am enjoying the LeBron James Experience so much because I've been following it since he was a sophomore in high school.
With that in mind, it seemed like a good idea to tie that "Next" concept in with my favorite subject of all: hip-hop.
And since I was already planning on creating a monthly "Regional Report" feature that highlights various aspects of hip-hop around the country, it seemed appropriate to just go ahead and run with all of this, all at once. What follows is the first "Regional Report" and it focuses on some of the up-and-coming rappers from New York City who may very well be the "Next" stars in hip-hop. I was going to cover the entire country, but it was starting to shape up as a 5,000-word column, so I decided to break them into regions. Be on the look out for more to come in the very near future.
New York City. New York is the birthplace of hip-hop. From Sugarhill Gang to Public Enemy to Biggie to Jay-Z and Nas, New York was always the leader in terms of cultural movement, musical trends, and industry sales. The West Coast burst on the scene with N.W.A. in the late 80's and remained a constant foil throughout the 1990's, peaking with the Biggie-2 Pac feud. My how things have changed. The South dominates hip-hop now and even a city like Chicago is rivaling NYC for rap superiority. 50 Cent's brief nexus of street/critical appeal and commercial success in 2003 looked like a big step for the Big Apple, but Curtis Jackson and the rest of G-Unit have become nothing but a well-oiled sales force since.
Will New York ever resume its place at the top? There are rumors that Jay-Z is coming out of retirement with a new album titled Kingdom Come and Nas has one of the most highly anticipated albums in years on the way in the form of Hip-Hop is Not Dead. Even Puff Daddy, sorry, Diddy, is back in the mix, dropping his Press Play next week. That's a lot of firepower and combined with a recent release from Lloyd Banks and a solid offering from Method Man, this is probably the hottest the city has been in a while.
That said, for NYC to truly reemerge as the dominant force in rap music, the city is going to need new blood to burst onto the scene. Here are the artists that seem most likely to get the job done.
Primary Challenger - Saigon. His major label debut The Greatest Story Never Told continues to be pushed back further and further to the point where I'm starting to worry that the title is going to be prophetic. That said, I can't imagine anyone that has a better shot at bringing New York rap back to the forefront than Saigon. He's got arguably the hottest producer in the industry (Just Blaze) in his corner, a distribution deal with Atlantic records, and a series of guest spots on Entourage that only served to boost his popularity. Saigon's combination of gritty street tales, clever punch lines, aggressive boasts, and on-screen persona have him poised to be an enormous hip-hop star. We just need that album to come out. Sometime. Anytime.
Article comments
1 - Connie Phillips
Congratulations! This article was chosen as an Editor's Pick.
2 - me
the reccomended songs to look at are not great to be honest. I don't know too much about the others but for papoose lisen to alphabetical slaughter, what the fuck is a papoose, underground king part 1, law library (all of them), comprehend and...................the truth