Top 5 Of '05

I know this is a little late, but it's only because I've been giving alot of thought to it. Without further ado, here is my top 5 rap joints of 2005:

(1) Memphis Bleek - Like That
"Man, Bleek and Swizzy both brought their A-Game in what I consider the track of the year."

(2) Papoose - You Made Your Choice
"This nigga is straight fire, samples some of the greatest stuff."

(3) T.I. - Bring 'Em Out
"Swizzy brought the beat, T.I. brought the heat."

(4) Game, 50 - Hate It Or Love It
"This joint was all that everywhere when it came out. Wanna hate the guys, but they are masterminds at the same time."

(5) Nas - Don't Body Yaself
"Shit, twist up some John Legend, add a simple, but hard Nas drum, and then put another legend on the track, and you got the recipe for some good music."

Honourable mention to:
Bishop Lamont - It's Bishop
Bizzy Bone - He Told Me
Crooked I - Boom Boom Clap
DMX - Where The Hood At
Kanye West - Celebration
Krayzie Bone - I Am The King
LL Cool J - Hush
Three 6 Mafia - Stay Fly
Tony Yayo, 50 - So Seductive

Some good shit here. I wonder if '06 is gonna be able to merk '05...

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N.W.A. - If It Ain't Ruff

"My favourite old school track off of N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton. Dre brings a simple guitar riff for the beat, but it's sick. MC Ren brings the heat like usual. It's just good, not much else I can add."

RATING

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Cam'ron - Girls, Cash, Cars

"I love Cam. I really do. This track is to be found on Killa Season. The beat is very Dipset-y, and Cam really picks up his flow and brings it quicker than he usually does. This joint is mad ill, and it only hypes the album even more. Add the recent beef with Jay, and I think Cam is gonna put up some pretty good numbers."

RATING

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DMX - Clap On

"DMX gets together with Swizzy for the hundredth time and the product is good again. The beat is decent for a Swiss production, and DMX comes with some mad emotion. Maybe a little below average for some of the other stuff these two have put out, but it's still a cool track to cruise to. "

RATING

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Nas, Papoose - Across The Tracks

"Nas and that nucca Pap hook up and spit some fire over a beat with an old school feeling. The chrous is a nice sampling of an oldies hit, and in the end the track is a pretty good result. Only problem is that it's only a couple minutes long....a third verse from either of the two, or another feature would have been better."

RATING

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Maino, Lil Kim - Stop Remix

"A club anthem. The beat is a weak guitar riff, nothing exciting there. Maino and Lil Kim both come half-assed, nothing worth more than a listen or two. Just some weak shit overall. "

RATING

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M.O.P, 50 Cent - War Time

"Some G-Unit gets together to create this joint. M.O.P. guys come out hard at first and slow down a little after that. Fiddy does the chorus, which is alright. The beat is alright. An average track overall (which makes it a better-than-average G-Unit track)."

RATING

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Cassidy - Get On My Lean

"Some new Cassidy, produced by Swizzy. I've never really liked Cassidy's flow a whole lot (I've never really been able to point out why), but shit, Swizzy brings his A++ game on this one. The beat is a mean guitar riff, comes just as hard as Pharrell's Can I Have It Like That. I would love to see this beat sampled by some other rappers that I lik better than Cassidy."

RATING

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Clinton Sparks, D Block - Take Everything

"First thing that caught my attention on this track was its beat. It's definitely different, but very, very good. The production is solid, but then again Clinton has always been one of the best at puttin' down a hot track. The flows were fine, but the beat steals the song."

RATING

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Raekwon - Curious

"Rae tells us a story over how he and this chick gets together. He samples it down over an old slow jam with the same name (I believe 70's or 80's) and it matches Raekwon's nice, soft flow perfectly. His rhymes are obviously intelligently sculpted like always, and the result is another well done track for the Chef."

RATING

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Bleu Davinci, Spider Loc - '66

"I really hate Spider Loc, and Bleu definitely out raps him. Yeah, Spider gets merked by a girl. I might be a little too hard on Loc... he wasn't too bad on this track, at least better than he was in that one Game diss. The beat was nice, and the chorus was witty, but nothing real special."

RATING

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Webbie, Pimp C, Lil Boosie - Like That Remix

"Pimp C is finally out of the pen and hooks up with two southern rappers who put their mark on the game earlier in the year with the original version of this track. This is the usual southern shit, I really don't like the beat a whole lot, it's uses a high organ key and I just don't like the sound of it. Pimp C sounded nice though.."

RATING

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Cam'ron - You Got To Love It & Biter Not A Writer

"I'm putting these two tracks together, for obvious reasons. These two tracks are the first installment of a fued to a battle that may go on for awhile. Cam has called out Jay-z for a number of reasons, including things like stealing Roc from Dame, being a bitch nigga, and other things that he lists at the start of the diss track You Got To Love It. Cam's disses are nice as he targets Jay's age, his sandals, his girl Beyonce, etc. However, for some reason he includes Jim Jones on the diss track. I really don't know what Jim said because he pretty much mumbled his whole verse. Overall the diss track was alright; I've heard worse, I've heard better.

The second song listed in the title is not really a song, but more a compilation of Cam picking out verses that Jay has jacked from other artists. He plays the original verse, then Jay's. And it really is shocking to see what Jay has stolen WORD FOR WORD from other artists. There were multiple Biggie verses, a Tupac one, a Nas one, a Snoop one, even a Slick Rick one from back in the day. I mean, we all know Jay has put out alot of good stuff on his own, but fuck, it really hits home.

Cam delivers a real big hit with the last track, and it's gonna be interesting to see how Jay reacts to it. Either Cam has dug himself a six foot hole, or is gonna boost his rep BIG time with a victory over one of the most respected hip-hop artists of today. Only time will tell. Cam get's round one though."

RATING

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Cam'ron - Oh What A Night

"Holy, Killa Cam PUTS IT DOWN and describes that faithful night where he gots shot, and then spits some crack cocaine shit. But what makes this track awesome, is that he samples that awesome Motown track with the same title. It is truly good music, and Cam rips it like only he really can. Right now there is only a clip of it from Kay Slay's show, and I really, really can't wait until a full version is released. 5-Stars without a doubt, even though it's only a clip. That means something."

RATING

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