My ex used to love this guy

My all time favourite has always been Akhenaton. He's got a real solid flow, a slight lisp and some kick ass lyrics.
Saw NTM live a few years ago and those old geezas still got it.

Check out "French The Kid"
Straight fire!

ouid

MC Solar - hands down the best french rapper ever!

Cane here to say this!

As everything this is a matter of taste, I do not consider that my country is really a rap nation but we had some good ones in 90's / 2000's like IAM, Fonky Family La Rumeur, Alibi Montana....
Another example

superbe

Very Old Skool

And again - same era Hip Hop reaches the Gallic shores

B-Side is also on some of Afrika Bambataa's early stuff such as Time Zone's "Wild Style"

She came to Paris at the same time than him

I like section d' assaut. It's like gangsta pop. MC solaar for the old skool

Pour les old schools

French the kid 🙌

Booba! 🇫🇷

I see the obvious MC Solaar mentioned a few times already. How about L'skadrille?

For crew, maybe 357 MP.

It's been a long time since I've delved into that scene, other than listening to Chilla in recent years.

oui!

Old school: NTM, Assassin, triptick, peauple d'herb, IAM...

For their skills: sain supa krew, cut killer

New scholl... C2C

Rockin'squat (or RCKNSQT), former and leader of the the group "assassin". A legend!
Also, IAM, and Fabe (from the "scred connexion" group)

IAM and all the solo projects (Akhenaton/Shurik'n), Orelsan, Caribbean Dandee....

Im always looking for new french rap. I love it...but i dont speak French, so i never know the song names haha

Despo rutti 2000-2009

Kerry James
Shurik'n
Lim
Sefyu

I know a lot of ones , all new school But imo best French rapper is Sofiane. His song Tout le monde...

Skinnyman should have had a much bigger career than he did. Council Estate of Mind is a great album.

I second JME , also close for second between Kano and Dizzee ( probably showing my age with these choices)

JME BBK! 🤌

Dabbla gets my vote these days. All time... Rodney P, Roots Man, Blade

I think my favourite album would be Ruthless Rap Assassins 'Killer' album or maybe Horns Of Jericho. That's my era, that's my shit. Derek B, Caveman, Credit To The Nation, London Posse, Overlord X, Daddy Freddy, Duke, Hardnoise etc etc. Also agree that Skinnyman never reached the peaks he should have. late 90s early 2000s he was killing it

Its Hijack for me, mainly for nostalgic reasons.

Too many to name, ghettos definitely up there as goat, but then you got people like potter paper and nines. Skrapz is back and you know he's got some absolute fire for us.

100% potter

ocean wisdom

Devlin & Skinnyman for me.

Chester P ☮️

Love a bit of rap!

I'd go with Skepta, Payper Potter and Kano.

Great artists in my opinion 👌

JME for me, may not be the best but is Def underated, just listen to Integrity

Fantastic album.

JME is goated for sure

Skepta
Jme
Nines

Ik the video is wiley but these grime songs are the shiiii

Very happy to see a lot of likeminded biggas 💚

Dirty dike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDWgtB_MD24

Best music video ever! Rodney!!

I'm stuck between Ghetts or Potter Payper, probably Ghetts overall is better but Potter is more frequently listenable for me

Potter paper is up there!
I think Meekz , Dave , central cee , Digga are the top

Love this freestyle with Skepta & JME 😊

DJ Badboy is a sure bet 😂

Dinnae Ken…but this is braw…

That shit was so fire ✌🏻

Big Bemz is the best for me right now! 🔥

Solareye / Stanley Odd are worth a look imo

Ned kru (feat wee man) 🤣🤣

Surely it’s Mog or Loki?

https://undergroundscotland.bandcamp.com/album/based-on-a-blue-story

https://misterlokiscotland.bandcamp.com/

Maybe not considered the best, but Soul is insanely good at battle rap imo.

Rap C. Nesbitt

Gotta go with Missy

GZA ft. Ghostface Killah, Killah Priest & RZA - 4th Chamber

Wu tang forever and ever.

Such a shame Method Man wasn't a part of the last tour. Still was epic

Meth seems to be aging like a fine wine, his verse on the latest Czarface track is flames!

When I saw them in Brixton a few years back Meth wasn’t there because he was shooting an episode of CSI 🙄. I’ve seen them live a bunch of times but only saw the full line up once.

(31/1/25)

Its the 31st anniversary of this being released so it's getting added to Wu Corner👐🏻

Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M.

Tune

Second album wasn't as critically acclaimed as 36 Chambers but it's aging well 👐🏻


Wu-Tang Clan - As High as Wu-Tang Get

RIP ODB 🙏❤️

👐🏻💜💚👐🏻


Ol' Dirty Bastard - Brooklyn Zoo

Wu-Tang Clan - Tearz

Might be my all time favourite hip hop album. It's certainly in my top 3.

Mine too mate, I've been listening to the extended Wu family a lot this week and figured LB needed the Wu section.

You and the Biggas should add a few of your faves too, share the love.

Wu is for the children after all💜💚

Worst top 3 for me

One from RZAs side project with Frukwan, Poetic and Prince Paul, casually pioneering genres in his spare time.

Gravediggaz ft. Shabazz & Killah Priest - Diary Of A Madman

GZA - Pro Tools - 0% Finance

Great album. Pencil & Paper Plate 2 of my favourites by the Genius.

𝐒𝐎𝐓𝐋

There's a reason he's called the Genius

Ol' Dirty Bastard - Hippa to da Hoppa

This might be my favourite Rza beat of all time.

I think Raekwons Cuban Linx and GZAs Liquid Swords are two of my favourite albums in the Wu catalogue, some of RZAs best work on show.

Completely agree mate - Liquid Swords and Cuban Linx are 👌

RZA is maybe the very greatest producer.

"The nigga don't get mad, I got mad styles of my own
And it's shown when my hands grip the chrome microphone
Verbally, I catch bodies with cordless shotties
Intriguin' MCs, I keep 'em trained like potties
I bomb facts, my sword is an ax to split backs
Visible, like dope fiend tracks
Sky's the limit, niggas are timid
And nobody knows how we move like wolves in sheep clothes
Producin' data, microchips of software
Underground and off-air, the land of the lost
Notorious henchman from the North
Strikin' niggas where the Mason-Dixon line cross" 🔥🔥

GZA's only verse on Linx!

8 Diagrams is another album I love. Keep coming back to it. So my contribution is 'Life Changes' (the absence of Ghostface on the track speaks of the deep divisions within the crew).

It is a shame and it's still going on, Ghostface and Raekwon are both unhappy with the tv show for example, the way they were unhappy with RZA and the artistic choices he made on 8 Diagrams, luckily Wu is forever.

It's a great choice of track🤌🏻

Also had to add this - the energy of the track!

And finally.

Finally, someone even deGrasse Tyson won't interupt😆

haha yeah.

Oh and adding this track as a coda. Not Wu Tang but produced by and featuring RZA. This thread made me go back to it.

"99 problems all gone in that one joint."

Quality add mate, there's a few tunes on that Earl album I really like.

In case the children missed it...

New Wu!

Loving the track...
The Ai video, not so much.

Wu-Tang Clan - Mandingo

Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg - Snoop UK live debut.

Crowd was bananas, show was over sold, security got rushed multiple times, police abandoned the area, chaos for hours, fights inside the venue everywhere, open weed and crack smoking, coke sniffing, displays of weaponry, dudes getting properly jacked up for their whole shit right in the crowd inside and outside...I got robbed at knifepoint myself...lost a few quid, kept all my blood lol...

Venue was Brixton Academy, about 90/91 I reckon, whatever year it was that 'The Mirror' put Snoops picture on the front page and called him an evil bastard in the headline lol....think it was to do with him being on bail for murder at the time...

Dre and Snoop opened with 'Deep Cover' in pretty much pitch black....crowd went fucking super nuts...no word of a lie, in the first minute and a half of that song about another half dozen serious fights broke out all over the place, people running through swinging shit like woah....fucking mad shit, dre and snoop only stayed on about 45 minutes as the whole shit was out of control so they pretty much fled...crowd went even fucking nuttier...

Took fucking hours to get out of Brixton, full on road block grid lock chaos madness...

But. That 45 minutes they were on stage was honestly one of the most electrifying things I have ever seen...Dre was already a seasoned performer and Snoop was still a kid and was completely fucking amped up and rocking this huge afro that made him look kind of crazy and he was completely into stoking the fuck out of the crowd which didn't help the situation lol....

I been to a lot of hip hop shows over the years but this was on some other fucking level of mad...

Notable mentions go to KRS One, Cypress Hill and Public Enemy - seen all of them multiple times and they are some of the best live performers around, their shows never disappoint and they know how to move the crowd...

man thanks so much for sharing, I only wish I could have experienced this. I no doubt would have been robbed but alas happy... xD

Dude, I shit a brick lol....yeah...I heard a song years later by Troy Scalpels, call 'It happened' and it's his story of a night out at hip hop club gone wrong and it's got this line;

'I wish I wasn't here, but the hop hop led me, the snare drum fed me, now I'm tripping, on upturned furniture'

...lol...everytime I hear it I think of that night...get the cold chill down the back... oooooh....

awesome read

wow makes me wanna grab a time machine

Damn, that gig sounds intense. Awesome story dude ??
Jealous you got too see All the 90’s golden era on stage..

I been lucky man, seen so many amazing shows, Redman, Keith Murry, Das Efx, The Fugees, Onyx, Public Enemy, KRS, Funkdoobiest, Cypress Hill, half of Wu Tang (lol...)etc etc....pissed I never saw Pac or BIG though....I am biased but the 90s hip hop scene is the golden age for me man...give anything to go back and do it all again....

Has anybody seen ALL of the Wu in one place? I saw them in 2003 and it was only RZA and GZA plus a load of ransoms (and that UK guy they said was part of WTC)

Lol...I had three fucking goes at the Wu and still not seen all of them!...still never seen Inspectah Deck...the most under-rated of team but actually a killer mc...

Yes!!! Really is isn't he! Always loved Meth but have to admit Inspectah Deck is the most natural lyricist of them all

that's a great question

Yo this threads my jam. Who's sparking the blunt!?

My most notable concert. Rock the bells NYC can't remember what year. maybe 2016

Nas headling. DJ Premier and Pete Rock had a live beat battle. Cypress Hill on beforehand fucking smashed it, Mos Def and Talib Kwali are Blakstar before that.. Wu - Tang stage, got to see all the members apart from ODB. Mobb Deep were on their stage too. Lauren Hill played and brought out Pras and Wyclef to do some Fugees tracks. Can't remember who else but there were more.

Blunts, Stunts and Hip Hop man lol...

Daaammmnnn.....would love to have seen a Rock The Bells...they do quite a few of those full on 'mega tours' in the States...The 'Up In Smoke' tour would have been fucking awesome to see... Nas is one I never caught and would love too, Mobb Deep too...that must have been an awesome experience man.

Ha, the Fugees! Man they rock a live show. I actually saw the Fugees before they were big, they were actually playing as support for Das Efx lol!!! And first support at that, at like 9pm, real early, think it was K-Solo and Redman as 2nd support before Das on that one.

Yeah...it was at Subterania in West London, was funny actually....place is all hip hopped out, all carhart hoodies, tims and oversized jeans and bad attitudes lol then the fucking Fugees rock on to the stage and broke out the instruments and you can literally hear the 'what the fucks' all over lol...but shit....they started with Temple and it banged the fuck out the place...

Was very cool being such a small venue, at one point Lauren Hill was literally 4ft from my face on stage when she did that tune with the chorus 'some forget harlem' (I forget the name, very cool song) and I could actually hear her singing straight out her mouth kind of thing, (If that makes sense!?.. But like I could hear it before it hit the mic sort of thing..) and damn...raw, raw talent and soul and well....stunning woman visually you know...fried my weeded brain at the time, I was just like dazed out for 5 minutes, like ahhhhh, damn....lol...Saw her again at a sold out Wembley arena 10 years later...couldn't barely even see her on stage from my pauper seats lol...watched the whole thing on the side monitors...not the same...fuck the fame lol...

Jealous mate

Jay Z at Hammersmith. Warm up act was Lupe Fiasco but Nas made an unannounced appearance as they’d just squashed the beef.

Even my ex was happy as Beyoncé also made an appearance.

Beastie Boys - Wembley Stadium 1999
Supported by the Jungle Bros

Was my first proper Hip-hop gig

However...

Glastonbury the same year (I think). Jurassic 5, The Roots, Everlast and Cypress Hill (pre-beef), Scratchperverts, DOOM, Slum Village, Black Twang (with Rodney P, Skinnyman and some of Mudfam), and I've a vague recollection of seeing either Cash Money or Prodigy but can't be certain.

One hell of a weekend for Hip-hop!!

Blak Twaaaang....the lost album Dettwork South East, fucking classic, copies did change hands back in the day

Fucking Sir Rodney P!! How can I forget... I am off the play 'The Future' LP like now...and the neighbours are about to learn about 'The Nice Up'...

Busta rhymes, nas, snoop dogg, jay-z, lil Wayne and skepta.

Busta was the best for hype, crowd was nuts.

Snoop was best for getting high, I was high as a motherfucker.

Nas was raw.

Eminem @slane castle was fire! ?

Cypress Hill @ Nokia Theater NYC

Public Enemy at Homelands Festival. It was a greatest hits set and Chuck D killed it.

I've also seen the Wu Tang Clan three times, but not once have I ever seen the full line up.

saw rizza alone and it was a bit of a 😴

Only ever been to one, and it wasn't strictly rap. Ice T and his metal group, Body Count, at the Octagon in Sheffield. Must have been around '94 - '95. Loads of white middle-class students going mental to the anti-establishment sentiments of a black dude from LA. It was a good night.

Ha. I remember Body Count! ‘Cop Killer’ and all that! 😂

Man some of those lists are insane man.

Went to see Cypress Hill at Barrowlands Glasgow last year and it was immense! Two of my favourite tapes ever Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill and Black Sunday!

Also last year went to the Blastoff Tour Gig which was great fun although a bit commercial with the likes of Shaggy (who was shit haha)

Nelly, Salt N Pepa (They were soo good man! lol), Shaggy, Mya and Blu Cantrell.

Hosted by Fatman Scoop and included exclusive appearances from UK garage stars So Solid members Lisa Maffia and MC Romeo, scene pioneer MC DT and the British duos Oxide & Neutrino, DJ Luck & MC Neat and Sweet Female Attitude.

The best rap show I never made was Tribe Called Quest ?

DJ Premier - I've seen him in many cities across the world but the show he made in Paris in 2010 right after Guru's death was legendary. He arrived late but we didn't leave the venue before 4am after screaming "Fuck Solar" for hours. Primo is really a legend

Insane Clown Posse put on a crazy show. Tech n9nes first show in London was crazy but I'd say Flatbush Zombies at the Ritznin Manny. Ever felt that floor bounce like that

of everything ive read in this thread i think icp is the act id most like to have seen

Went to see snoop in Manchester years ago and cypress hill was the surprise opening act was amazing, snoop flicked his blunt into the crowd n that thing got attacked people fighting to get it🤣🤣😮‍💨😮‍💨🔥

De La Soul on the beach down in Newquay, good times!

Rock the Bells in Amsterdam, think it was 2009 or 10. What a line-up De La Soul, Pharcyde, Nas, EPMD. Incredible show!

This is very hard.... but Skepta in Dublin 1 year ago... man Shutdown the place. A close second is Joey Badass in Dublin 3 years ago at the Olympia Theatre.... never forget he told this small blonde girl that things were about to get heavy.. so move to the back... she didn't... she got crushed..had to be carried out. Good Times, good times.

Mark .Morrison

Return of the GT 👊

Eminem stade de france was a madness still not managed to see him in the uk

What I know, i know because of Krs-One