As another year ends, so another begins and just like any other year, 2014 had a lot laughs, cries, great music, not so great music and of course drama. Here we take a look into the highlights and notable notes, as well as low points, in the year of music in 2014 with Ok-Tho.
Beefs
There cannot be a year without beefs and feuds and although there are too many of them to count or even care about here we present the top notable beefs.
Raekwon vs RZA:
The feud between the general of Wu and its most acclaimed emcee was a very quiet one but interesting. Rae wasn't happy with the direction that RZA was taking the new Clan material and project and expressed openly during interviews even stating that he hasn't recorded a single verse for the project when it was nearly done. Nothing vulgar nor disruptive came in between the two and they patched things up in time to finish the album.
Hoodie Allen vs Mike Stud:
I'm not really a fan of both of these guys seeing as I'm not into the college frat hip hop scene nor Hip Pop music they both make but I know these guys are talented in their own ways. It seemed that Allen started the beef on Twitter which Mike responded and later turned into a lyrical beef between the two dropping some braggadocios joints. For some reason no matter how unappealing you can be, battling always brings out a dope side of someone that throws away every kiddie bop side of you and makes some decent music.
Meek Mill vs Wale:
Again I am not a fan of these two, just glad to hear some better music from them once a beef is involved.
Dizaster vs Math Hoffa:
During a rap battle at the KOTD, famous battlers Dizaster and Math Hoffa were getting into a serious round 3 when Math ended his verse with "I should punch you in the face", walks away and then turns around and sucker punches Dizaster. Now Dizaster is known for his brawling during battles himself, not sure if this is karma working here. In the end Math explained it was just for attention and hype, which he got.
Most Overly Used Tracks
Whenever Jay Z or Drake releases a new single, everyone and their mother has to remix it! For some reason, every unknown rapper, including known ones, think that if they cover the beat then its their chance to be a star and get recognized. Not with us, being unoriginal is the worst thing that you can do. Cheers to all the thousands of people that threw away verses on tracks like:
Draft Day
0-100
Numbers On The Board
Pound Cake
Your Old Droog/Nas Hype
Near the beginning of the year, Your Old Droog dropped his debut single "Nutty Bars", which actually wasn't his debut seeing that he had released music earlier under the moniker Grandma On Drums and even Droog on DJ Skizz's "BQE" album. Out of nowhere talks have accumulated that Droog, who was said to be a Russian white kid from NY, was an alias of Nas. Since then the speculation and controversy had blown up and lasted all the way til September when Droog would debut himself at Webster Hall proving to be that dope white kid. It seemed everyone was sure that it was Nas, even rapper director Marco Polovision who made videos upon videos with proof that it was Nas. People took things too far trying to link up clues and what not that it took away from the music at some point. With his tru self revealed only time will tell if Droog's music will last.
Best Comeback
Fashawn:
Fash had an great comeback year in my opinion seeing that since the release of his "Champagne and Styrofoam Cups" his music seemed to be going down hill. What once was a dope emcee, turned into the next Kanye West and Drake with the trap and down south music Fash appeared to be dropping from time to time. 2014 saw the emcee collaborating once again with the producer that made him who he is today, Exile, and even Evidence who brought homie up as well as getting notice from Nas who signed him to his new label Mass Appeal. The new music seemed to redeem his career and bring him back to reality, even dropping a dope EP with Alchemist before the year ended as well as working on his awaited "The Ecology" album in early 2015.
Akrobatik:
After being silent for over 6 years due to heart surgery among other things, the Boston veteran made his return in 2014. Along with some dope features from Lif, Reks, Masta Ace, Edo G and others, Ak came hard with his newest effort "Built To Last". It took me back like it was 2006 all over again! Glad to see he's back and is as great as ever.Collectives
2014 was a great year for collectives and groups including:
NAGE: Jon Bartley, Raff Alpha, King Benjo, Entedre, The Deli, Sean Rosati and more
Life Now: Foster, Abhi, Lens and Harrison Sands
TheWinners: Hus Kingpin, SmooVth, Rozewood, Sean Rosati, Giallo Point
AGO: Waldo, Sango, Joose, The 7th, Mighty Mosaic, Famos
Most Featured
Guilty Simpson:
Homie had more featured tracks this year then any other artist including Sean Price. His discography is crazy right now.Disappointments
Artists
Alex Wiley:
When I fist heard homie last year I thought he was something fresh and new. Turns out he is a wanna be Drake and any other rapper in that caliber just name em, Big Sean, Kendrick Lamar etc.
Vic Mensa:
After making last year's Dean's List I had great expectations of homie. I'm thinking he's the next Joey Bada$$. His "INNANETAPE" was incredible, then 2014 came and all of a sudden he's trap and trill and all that corny shit. The dope flow leaves and he's acting like Chief Keef and 2 Chain's. Homie even colors his hair gold, wtf!
Cam Meekins:
Cam started as one of those frat type rappers that would be in the class of Asher Roth and Logic. He had that white suburban style with a good flow and even some nice vocal singing that was never too much. But now I can't even think of one good track dropped in 2014 that even resembled what he was like just one year ago. Homie went commercial and that's it.
Projects
Maimouna Youssef aka Mumu Fresh - The Reintroduction of Mumu Fresh:
So early in the year I am hearing talks of a new fresh female artist that is getting praise from Common, Talib Kweli and others saying she's so talented and that she's the next thing and so on. So I'm thinking chick gotta be dope. My first introduction to her was the May release of "The Reintroduction of Mumu Fresh" which totally shot down my expectations of her. Don't get me wrong, she is very skilled and talented but when artists like Common and Kweli are speaking highly of someone, I'm expecting some raw real Hip Hop music. Instead I get an unoriginal mixtape of cover and remix tracks, which in all reality was pretty smart the way she flipped shit, but in the end they are of tracks that are the worst possible to pick. Remixing down south and RnB joints that I am embarrassed to know. I've realized that I have come to live in an era where my favorite artists growing up have just become what they are, my favorite artists growing up who are changing with the times for the worst.
Reks x Hazardis Sounds - Eyes Watching God
Since the beginning of the year, I can hint that one of my favorite emcee's was, in a way, loosing his touch. From "Along Came The Chosen" to "Rhythmatic Eternal King Supreme", even last years "REBELutionary", Reks has been that dude that I know what to expect from. He's the emcee I need to take me back to the essence of Hip Hop and forget of all that dumb shit I come in contact with from time to time. But his latest effort with producer Hazardis has put him into the position of just being just the normal dope artist that is stuck between mainstream and underground. In May Reks dropped his mixtape "Eyes Watching Reks" with Hazardis and it was such a shock to hear him on trap and down south rhythm's and flows. I'm thinking, maybe he's trying to widen his audience, trying something new. So when his official album dropped in June, to my surprise half of the tracks that I disliked from the mixtape showed up and the album and it was a total buzz kill. I mean the guy is making tracks with Nore like "Jesus Take The Whip", its really beyond me but I can only see shit getting worse. Homie needs to stick with Statik and Premo tho and forget working with other producers for real.
Canibus - Fait Accompli:
I was glad to see that Canibus was still at it when I heard the news of him dropping this new project. Even though he got flack for his last battle rap where he pulled out a paper and read from it. In my opinion I didn't mind it cause in all seriousness, its the same thing, pre written verses. But his new album was honestly over my head. I had no clue what he was talking about and his energy and flow was so soft and dead it was boring to hear. I'll admit that the beats from newcomer JP were th eonly good thing from this album. But Can you need to step your game up if you wanna last in the underground fam.
Wu Tang - A Better Tomorrrow:
It's been talked about all year how the Clan is dropping their sixth studio album since 2007's "8 Diagrams". It's been 7 years and I'm thinking the time couldn't have been better for them to return. The hype was so massive, from RZA speaking on the production to even the announcement of secret one copy album that will never be heard. But even the Rae and RZA beef didn't turn me off as to what I would expect from them, until it dropped. After all the talks and conferences and video's, the album dropped and when I heard it, I was lost. I'm waiting for the signature RZA sampled production, it didn't show. I'm waiting for the signature kung fu film skits, they barely were there. I'm even waiting for the Clan verses, but what I got was a watered down version of them. Most of the crew sound like they lost their flow, while the beats were so boring I had to skip tracks. I needed that vintage Wu-Tang sound, not some live instrumental driven beat that lacks even the Hip Hop sound. This may have been good enough for the Wu and even fans of them but for me, it was another forgotten album.
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Common - Nobody's Smiling:
Common is one of those veterans that you think will stay his original self his whole career. I mean he spent years not dipping into the trap of doing a commercial style joint or even thinking of changing his flow to the new fad the youth. I got a glimpse of this last year when remixed some corny trap style song and even did the stupid stop and go flow to it. "Nobody's Smiling" seemed like a great project just with the fact that No I.D was producing the entire thing. But then you listen to it and half of it you get the real Com and the other you get the wanna be cool Com that thinks that he has to keep up with the times doing tracks with the new generation of lames. Even the features were not impressive.
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