The G.O.A.T. is an extremely underestimated and over-used term. It says that one person has done any given thing better than any other person that has ever done that very same thing. That is a very strong idea speaking to perfection, and we all truly know that nobody is perfect. So to claim someone as the G.O.A.T. is a genuine, sweeping, general statement that can only be based in opinion.
Dope. To proclaim someone as the G.O.A.T. means that you like that person a whole lot. And what you like is the shit (or is just shit). Nothing wrong with that for sure. But let’s just put this under a microscope and analyze it. What can you say that you do better than anyone else?
Maybe one needs a different understanding of humility to claim to be the G.O.A.T. of anything. Rappers and fans alike should understand that. Remember when LL Cool J was the Greatest Of All Time? We don’t either, but we remember when he told us that bullshit. That was the year 2000. The Hip Hop world had just began to deal with the ’96 and ’97 deaths of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., and really hadn’t even given that crown to either of them yet. This leads to the point.
Neither one of them were the G.O.A.T. then, and neither of them are now.
Here’s more. Neither Pac, nor B.I.G., were ever the Greatest Of All Time at any given point in either of their respective careers. Various media outlets have BIG or Pac as number one or number two but most Hip Hop realists can name at least five emcees above them both.
Check. Biggie was that dude. Extraordinary wordplay. Out of this world mechanics and an underrated vocabulary. Ahead of his time, literally an every-rappers rapper with an unorthodox physical appearance that underlined his underdog story and demeanor. Heads everywhere were able to identify with and we still say phrases that he made up. His rhymes were responsible for many trends popular to this day as he told the future and made people an ass-load of money.
He dude was also shallow as fuck. His rhymes amounted to, in no particular order, drug dependency, ugly clothes, degrading women, and idolization of money. Far from the subject matter covered by a more suitable candidate for the G.O.A.T. BIG was overly misogynistic, paranoid and quite hood. A flakey layered bad guy who gave us no concrete reason to accept the negativity he shared with our psyches. The Notorious B.I.G. can be credited with Hip Hop’s current state. As money hungry, oblivious and sexist as it’s ever been.
When Pac spoke to us, he told us that we can be proud about something positive, whatever that something is. Never the most lyrical, Pac rhymed in layman’s terms. But what his music lacked in lyrical content was made up for tenfold in passion and intensity. Even more prophetic than BIG, Tupac lifted up an entire region he wasn’t even from. Killed the game from the grave while followers from everywhere insisted he was (and is) still alive.
But with all of Pac’s positive force came a dark side. Very similar to his partner in fate, his rhymes could be misogynistic, heavy on idolization, paranoia, terror, etc. He was a master at flipping the script from ultimate gangster to caring good guy to hardcore revolutionary to hustler slash player in all of about three bars. Never missing one beat of his own contradiction, the G.O.A.T. he was not. And Pac started beef with everyone, for no good reason. Creating a hysteria that proved to mainstream America that “we” can’t even get along with ourselves let along actually be able to occupy our own creation.
This is harsh, but true, no matter how much you want to like or dislike Biggie or Tupac. The fact remains that there is a whole cast of a reality TV series of Emcees that make a stronger case of being the Greatest Of All Time. But again, the title alone implies an absolutism over opinion and all this just won’t hold up against what the hoi-poloi thinks is hot right now or next week. So fuck what y’all think, Black Thought is THE G.O.A.T.
Yup. Black Thought from The Roots. The dude who you knew was the dude that everyone was sleeping on and still slept on. He’s never, ever come wack, been around since ’93, a fixture on TV, the Tonight Show no less, a fact that makes him more relevant than almost any rapper that you can name and would still rip a gorge in your G.O.A.T.’s heart if confronted.
The point is, chill on that G.O.A.T. stuffs .That exaggeration cripples our minds with splendor and gluttony. Just like what you like and be real. Some dude posted last week that Kid Cudi was the “greatest rapper ever”. No knock to him or Cuds, but knock it off. To each their own.
Positive Energy Activates Constant Elevation.