Before They Were Stars Part 1

Before They Were Stars Part 1

bring the ruckus: lil fame
before he was half of M.O.P. lil fame had a few songs as a solo artist that were featured on the 1992 release "the hill that's real". while now he's known for his yelling rhyme style and being on of the more threatening mc's to ever do it, fame was way more on the punchline tip in his earlier years. he sounded more like a young kool g rap with a little lord finesse mixed in.

victim of the ghetto: the college boys
Romany malco may not be a household name but if you've seen the movie "40 year old virgin" or the tv show "Weeds", you are more familiar with him then you think. this brooklyn born actor has been doing it since the late 90's. however, what many people don't know is that before he was an actor, he was the lead rapper in the group "the college boyz". while i'd be lying if i said they were very good, they did have on single that had a little buzz going in 1992. on a side note, malco is also been said to be the voice of paula adbuls main man MC skat kat. so..yeah..there's that too.

tha lunatic: tupac
it's well documented that tupac first came up with digital underground as a dancer , and then later as a rapper on the posse cut "the same song". shortly after , pac signed with jive and released his debut album "2pacalypse now". being a fan of his verse on "same song" i bought this album when it dropped. my favorite joint on it was the Live squad produced "tha' lunatic". it was just Pac rapping, before shit got all crazy for him and he became a platinum selling artist/movie star. obviously, this isn't some hidden gem, but i do think it's an underrated song and an interseting look at tupac before he became super star.

the genius is slammin': the genius
a couple years before Wu-tang took east coast hip hop over, Cold chillin' records dropped "words from the genius". mostly produced b easy mo bee, the album was void of any kung fu references and pretty much fit nicely into that era's cold chillin' braggadocio roster. it's main fault was the first single "come do me" which made the genius out to be more like Father mc then the man who would eventually pen liquid swords.

time to build:mic geronimo featuring Jay-z, DMX and Ja rule
while this line up may seem like a hot 97 listeners wet dream circa 1998, this song was released in 1995. Jay had a little buzz but DMX and Ja rule were not yet established artists. in fact, weirdly, mic geronimo was the most famous guy on this track at the time. well, time is a motherfucker and over ten years later, Jay-z is the richest man alive, ja rule sold millions of terrible records then fell off and DMX (also a multi platinum seller) is a rumored crackhead who gets arrested pretty much every other week. as for mic geronimo...you're guess is as good as mine.

before they were stars part 1
1)bring the ruckas:lil fame
2)victim of the ghetto: the college boyz
3)tha lunatic: Tupac
4)the genius is slammin': the genius
5)time to build: mic geronimo featuring ja rule, jay-z & dmx

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--Blockhead