September 29, 2008 | Tags: canibus, disappointment

All of you gave pretty decent feedback about #5 on my Lowered Expectations lists, Fabolous. I think #4 is someone who we'll all agree on: Germaine Williams, b.k.a. Canibus.

The Potential: As a commenter said, Canibus was lined up to be the next Rakim. Somewhat similar to Lowered Expectations Entry #5, he earned his rep by way of battles, mixtape appearances and radio freestyles. Off the bat, this cat jumped on collaborations with heavy-hitters just to prove he was hard: Heltah Skeltah, Rass Kass, Common. He hopped on "4, 3, 2, 1" and outshined Method Man, Redman and LL Cool J, made the latter catch feelings. Then, in one of the best battle songs of all time, slaughtered him so bad that LL dissed him again years later for no reason. Also, like many of the others that will be on this list, he's such a premier, unmistakable talent: his metaphor game is amongst the best of all time, and his scowling, ferocious delivery is the embodiment of hip-hop. Canibus had the talent, all of the necessary cosigns, and the backing of a timeframe in Hip Hop that was ideal for his success.

The Disappointment: Unfortunately, Canibus made a series of misguided moves, and didn't show enough artistic depth to become a legend. His debut, Can-I-Bus, paired his harsh rhymes with the eclectic stylings of Wyclef Jean, and from that point, his albums have varied between repetitive battle raps and experimental misses. Flashes of brilliance like he showed on the album Rip The Jacker, which paired his rhymes with equally cavernous beats by Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind, make things particularly frustrating. He's got a fantastic verse on Royce Da 5'9"s new mixtape, Bar Exam 2, but I've lost hope on the homie. I won't call his career mothafuckin' Wyclef spoiled it, but I can call it Lowered Expections Entry #4.

P.S.: To everyone who says IGN.com had a similar list, can someone please post the link in the comments? I'm not a biter; I'm a writer, for myself, and others. I don't fuck with IGN at all, but I'd stiill like to see this other list that people are talking about. EDIT: Good looks to whoever left the link. I haven't owned a video game system myself since a nigga scammed me on eBay for a PS2 that looked like somebody got bodied for it, and even now, all I do is play NBA 2K8 on my homies' XBox 360 and PS3, so I don't have any reason to visit that site. But as Nas said, and as I learned during my beef with Soul Brother #2, no idea's original. And when y'all see my Top 3 (or at least my Top 2), y'all are gonna flip.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

Lowered Expectations: Hip-Hop's Five Most Disappointing MCs [#5: Fabolous]

September 17, 2008 | Tags: none

Whattup doe?

I'm making a list of my five most disappointing rappers of all time. MAD TV's Lowered Expectations is the soundtrack to these cats' careers. None of them are absolutely wack, but their careers, in my opinion, just could've been a lot more complete than they turned out to be. Each member of this list has a different story, but the result is the same: great talent, mediocre results

To kick off the countdown, we've got none other than Brooklyn's own Fabolous.

The Potential: Fabolous Sport (remember when that was his name?) is one of the emcees who earned his chops in the game the old-fashioned way. Homie's freestyles on DJ Clue's mixtapes earned him a reputation as one of the most vicious punchline emcees around ("Take a while to load the cali, but the shots go quickly/put red dots on your neck, and they not no hickies"), with a multisyllabic flow that was-and still is-nearly unparalleled. Dude has consistently held his own alongside anyone that he shared bars with: Cam'ron, Joe Budden, Foxy Brown, Clipse, and everyone in between. And he had the female-friendly verses that were tough enough for niggas to relate to, elevating singles like "Trade It All" and "Superwoman" from radio fodder to memorable records.

The Disappointment: But while other artists fuck up by not using their resources at all, Fabolous' downfall was using his resources too much. Every album, he uses the same formulaic approach: miscellaneous street records, random guests for him to outshine, and a couple of girl songs to balance things out. His albums are rarely ever terrible (that is, until his most recent From Nothin To Somethin'); they're just boring, and they never seem complete. The beats almost always suck, and Fab's punchlines are always more potent on other peoples' songs than they are on his own. I ultimately realized Fab's fate in '04. "Breathe" is one of the best rap singles of the new millennium, and he promised fans that the title of his album Real Talk was indicative of him finally taking that step into maturity, and making his product reflect what we all knew what he was capable of. Fab's artistic approach to that album is summated best by this pic that surfaced of him after leaving the club recently.

Needless to say, the rest of that story tells itself.

**Stay tuned for #4 on the list coming soon.**

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

	September 2008
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30
« Aug					Oct »

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