I caught wind of a new Fabolous leak this morning, on my search for “truth & justice,” & peeped it, out of curiosity if nothing else. It’s called ‘Body Count.’ (LISTEN HERE)
See, I was a big F-A-B-O fan at one time, but after awhile, his style was sharkbitten so much that I figured he’d fall back, & re-up on some 4.0 shit. & that was some years ago. Nowadays? No dice, whatsoever. Fast-forward a bit, & I hate to say it, but it would appear that Drake is becoming the king of Rap, like it or not. I thought it was evidence enough when Ludacris spit his now (not really) infamous “…Balloon!” verse that Drizzle is the man to emulate. Not that Luda isn’t a top tier rapper or anything, but I’m sure you smell my cologne. But, to hear Fabo go in so tough with the style that, he sounded like Drake could’ve wrote it, or vice versa, is more than enough reason for me to put aside the lightskin (Black)-on-lightskin (Black) hate & give Drake his props, word to Combat Jack.
Meanwhile, Drake said that too many dudes were surfing his swag, & that he’s done with the punchlines. As a matter of fact, I checked out a leak of his right afterwards (again, out of curiosity), called ‘On My Way.’ (LISTEN HERE)
The irony of this post is that, while cats are still high on the Drake Cakes punchline express, the dude’s not even rapping anymore. Just saying.
tonygrands.com 
It’s the nature of the beast, T. Grands. What did errybody do when Onyx came out obnoxious and gritty? Or when Twista came out spitting fast? Or when Kanye attained fortune and fame w/sick metaphors and punchlines? Lil Wayne started sounding a lot more like Kanye. Hell, Bily Bathgate ethered himself b/c he sounded so much like Jigga that they were damn near indistinguishable. Even established rappers have to keep selling albums to keep labels happy.
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Damn…I forgot all about poor Bathgate. Ha.
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But I have to disgree on the selling records aspect, MDub. Take Lil B (please), who doesn’t sell records, but thanks to youtube & lame ducks like me who keep broadcasting the clowns name, he recently sold out SOBs in NY. Without signing a contract a la Drake. Fab is established & somewhat popular. At least popular enough to call his own shots & not have to cater like a new jack would/should/could. Also, though, it’s indicative of a changing of the guards, because 10 years ago, niggas were trying to keep up with him (Fab). Now, well, I’m writing this.
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I see your point, Grands. Perhaps he’s mimicking what’s hot now more in the effort to gain Drake-like heat and stay relevant rather than to just sell records. For example, remember when Rob Liefeld was one of the hottest comic book artists out when he was drawing X-Force, and created Cable and Deadpool? His style was so hot that Herb Trimpe altered his style in order to more closely resemble Liefeld’s. Now who exactly is Herb Trimpe, you may ask? He was the artist of The Incredible Hulk #s 180 & 181; the first guy to ever draw Wolverine in a comic. He was the artist who first drew one of the most iconic characters in comic books, but years later, felt the pressure to devolve what was basically a really solid style that he had spent decades developing to something that was stylistically inferior (Liefeld is garbage) just so that he could continue to eat in his industry. If you smell my cologne (sorry y’all; I’m the hugest fanboy in a 3-state region).
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“…mimicking…” Perfect.
Kind of sucks to see a dude (who, in my opinion is prime grade New York rap) just sort of bow down to what’s popular when he didn’t have to. Like the opposite of what Ras Kass is doing. All his (Ras’) new joints are still Ras Kass, so to speak. Although that may be a bad example, simply because Fab has always leaned toward the mass market, versus the underground. In that sense, it’s somewhat understandable; he might have done it completely on purpose, like you said.
He had Twitter going crazy for awhile & that reality show or whatever. Dude could definitely make moves on the strength of his own name. I figured, by now, he’d be the king of the techonolgy rap movement, as opposed to copying a young Cannuck.
But whatever pays the bills.
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all I know is rap sucks and I wish 3Stacks and Ceelo Green would stop singing long enough to rap for a minute. It sucks that 2 of the dopest rappers dont fucking rap.
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DV!
I thought ‘I Do’ was a pretty okay joint, for what it was.
& I tried, many times, since back in the “Nobody Now!” days, & I just can’t get behind Cee-Lo. No homo. Even with Gnarls Barkley, I just never felt his vibe.
As far as 3stacks rapping, I think he’s done. He’s Hip Hop through & through, but he seemed to be bored with rap right after he got Badu’d. Which was probably just a coincidence, or was it? I’d hate to think he’s soooo nice that he ran out of shit to say, if that makes sense.
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@Grands
Please tell me you’ve listened to Cee-Lo Green & his Perfect Imperfections. Decent album, but “Big Ole Words” and “One For the Road” are the standouts. Fab has yet to go in as hard (||) as he went in on “Breathe”. “I’m Raw” was aight, but “Breathe”……. effin’ masterpiece.
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MoE!
‘Breathe’ IS Fab. &, damnit if “it” didn’t kind of stop right there, lyrically anyway. He got lazy or content or both.
As far as Cee-Lo, he’s definitely a soulful, honest artists, which we need more of (for obvious reasons), he just isn’t my cup of tea. But on the strength of you shouting him out, I’m going to do a little homework today. Maybe I missed something.
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@ Grands -you might as well start at the beginning with the Goodie Mob “Soul Food” album and proceed from there. Trust me Ceelo been nice for quite a while. As a matter of fact I remember for a long period of time 3000 and Ceelo had the most “Hiphop Quotables” from the Source (but that was back when The Source matered, like pre 99-2000 ish). Im actually just getting into Gnarls Barkley and im not disappointed.
Fab is _____________(whatever the opposite of progressing is). Every album since Street Dreams has been weaker then previous one.
Who the fuck is Bathgate? I dont remember a Bathgate
isnt it sick that the leaders are following?
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DV-
You heard him. You just thought it was Jay-Z.
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You think Bathgate had it bad? Remember Sacario? Dude was signed to Angie Martinez’s label and had the misfortune of sounding just like Jay. Youtube that shit.
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Saddest part…I’ve confused the 2 for each other, way back when. They should’ve formed a group, with a theme based around being Jay’s left & right testicles.
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For that comment, Grands, I hate you. Eff-ing HILARIOUS!!!
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I do remember that Sacario dude.
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