Episode Summary
2023 marks the 50 year anniversary of the birth of hip hop and we are celebrating those 50 years with a series of conversations with some our favorite podcast hosts. We will be joined by guests who will share their thoughts and experiences. From their earliest hip hop memories to their thoughts on the current state of affairs, this series will take a fun look at hip hop and its impact on society and culture. In this episode, we are joined by B. Cox from the The Vault - Classic Music Reviews Podcast.
Transcript
Miguel: This is They Reminisce Over You. I'm Miguel.
Christina: And I'm Christina. We wanted to take a minute to make a small request of all our listeners. If you're listening to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Goodpods or Podchaser, leave us a five star rating. You can also leave a review as well on Apple, Goodpods and Podchaser. Ratings, and reviews will help us with discoverability. And we want to get this out to as many like-minded folks as we can.
Miguel: We wanna get on the first page of these podcast apps.
Christina: And to move up on the charts as well. So help us get the word out.
Miguel: Make sure to follow and interact with us on social media. We're @troypodcast on the 'gram and the bird. Also check out our website, troypodcast.com. It's where we post links to a lot of the things that we mention in the show, as well as transcripts and themed playlists that supplement our episodes and more.
Christina: Thank you again for your support. You ready to get into the show?
Miguel: Let's do it.
Christina: Welcome back to They Reminisce Over You. I'm Christina.
Miguel: And I'm Miguel. Since this is the 50th anniversary of hip hop, we're bringing in other podcasters that we're fans of and enjoy listening to, to have conversations about what hip hop means to us as Gen Xers and millennials. On this episode, we're gonna be talking about classic hip hop songs and albums and what that means to us. And of course, we're gonna close it out with my favorite segment, the "This or That" segment where we lure our guests in, into making hard decisions. So, with that said, I'm gonna shut up and let our guest introduce himself. Go ahead, B.Cox. Tell them who you are.
B. Cox: Oh man. Miguel and Christina, thank you so much for having me on the show. It's your boy B. Cox from The Vault: Classic Music Reviews podcast. My podcast is a podcast made up of mainly a group of us, me and my friends who grew up, uh, during the '90s, we would consider ourself to be Xennials, um, cause we grew up in the best of both worlds influenced by generation acts and grew definitely up in the millennial generation. But we have a podcast that looks back at classic music released. Most definitely in the '90s and also the 2000s. And we look at classic albums and potential classic albums during those times to see whether or not those albums that we may have considered classics, whether they still stand the test of time.
And it's something that we had a fire to do because of all the conversations around music nowadays. And everyone wants to brand something as soon as it comes out. If it's a flawless album on—upon first listen, upon the first couple of listens, a classic. So, so many of us, who grew up as I believe any generation can say this, but I truly believe this in our generation, we grew up in a generation chock full of classics for a lot of artists that were some of the artists that were the best of their time and their genres. So, we wanted to be able to take the time to sit back and look at the classics that shaped our lives and to see whether or not they still stand the test of time.
So, that's what we do with The Vault. We rate classic albums and we do it for albums that are 20, 25 and 30 years old. So, therefore each year we will go back and look 20 years back, 25 years back and 30 years back to see the albums that were considered the classics and potential classics or the albums that were considered essential or important, that time to see if they still stand up.
And along the way, we'll also have guests. And then we'll also have some, uh, we had the segment called "Tale of the Tape," where we matched up artist catalogs and demographies, just like a Verzuz, as you will. And then of course we also do pop culture things. We talk about movies that were influenced by the culture. And we got a couple of ones coming up this year, like Menace II Society of course, which is a really, really big one out there. So, yeah, I mean, we cover all the things with hip hop culture. As we say, "we open up the vault and do nothing but the classics."
Christina: All right. Right up our alley.
Miguel: Exactly. And with that said, uh, when did you fall in love with hip hop? Like, when did B. Cox first get the bug for hip hop?
B. Cox: Yeah, man. Well, before I get started into that, one thing I do, and I should have said this one before we got into this question. I wanna just say how dope I think y'all podcast is, one.
Christina: Thank you.
Miguel: Thank you.
B. Cox: And definitely, you know, you guys named your podcast after one of my favorite hip hop songs of all time, and it's also a, uh, one of the working titles to my book that I'm working on right now.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: Hey now.
B. Cox: Um, gonna be included in the title. So, definitely shout out to y'all for doing y'all thing and, uh, love the content that y'all put out.
Miguel: Thank you, thank you.
B. Cox: Now to get to the question about when I fell in love with hip hop. So, you know, we talked about that. You guys mentioned, you know, sort of tying it back to that famous line from the movie Brown Sugar. You know, shout out to the culture obviously. Everyone will talk about that question about when they fell in love with hip hop. For me, I tell people it's a complicated answer because hip hop and love for me was not a thing at first sight.
I first got attached into the culture really in the late '80s when I was really young. I'm talking about elementary school entering into kindergarten age, first grade age, where I spent a lot of times around my older sisters, my older cousins, and also their friends. And during this time in the late '80s was where a lot of people, if you're in a certain generation, will tell you that was hip hop and it's heyday when it was still fairly a new thing. But that's really when the culture blew up. And commercialization wise, it blew up across the radio and it really became a thing. Hip hop was then included in the Grammys in the late '80s. I mean, it's crazy though. We've talked about that 30 years later and hip hop still, I think, doesn't get the props it deserves from the Grammys, but that's a whole 'nother topic.
But my first, I would say intrigue of hip hop started in the 80s with all these artists. "The Show" with Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh. BDP and KRS-One, LL Cool J, Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy, Special Ed, Heavy D, Salt-N-Pepa, Kid'n Play, Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff. Run down the list of all these folks from that era, late 80s into 1990. Also, I think the introduction to music videos during this time sort of shaped my narrative and helped to build that intrigue. This is right around the time when Yo! MTV Raps started as well. With Fab 5 Freddy.
Miguel: Right.
B. Cox: You're starting to see that rap music is becoming not just audio, but it's also becoming visual as well. And that's why I think it's helped to bring rap music to the next level. Then that intrigue turned into admiration into the early '90s. You start—I started getting into A Tribe Called Quest, Ice Cube, De La Soul, DJ Quik. My introduction to rap videos through Rap City and also through Video Soul helped play a role in this as well.
But if I had to pin down one moment when I said I truly fell in love with hip hop had to be at probably about 30 years ago, in 1993. I was at that point, 11 years old. And 1993, for those who don't know, and I'm doing it this year right now for The Vault, was a absolutely massive year because of all the different landmark, classic and essential albums that came out during that year. There were a number of moments during that year. You talk about not just hip hop, but R&B an absolutely massive year when you talk about for the culture.
Christina: Yes.
Miguel: Yeah.
B. Cox: So, the one moment that I will pin down that I say that at this moment I was hooked and definitely in love, was when I listened to, in full, A Tribe Called Quest's, Midnight Marauders.
Miguel: Oh, nice.
B. Cox: And having been introduced to Tribe when at a very young age, from sisters and cousins who were big, A Tribe Called Quest fans. The first album that I listened to, theirs was only a couple of years earlier, The Low End Theory. So, songs like "Bonita Applebum" and "Check The Rhime" and "Scenario" sort of hipped me to Tribe Called Quest. But by the time the Midnight Marauders came out, I'm around the time where I'm getting ready to head at the end of my elementary school period, and I'm truly into listening music independently and not just from my predecessors and my older sisters and also older cousins were there to sort of influence me in what I was, I was listening to. I was seeking the music out myself. So listening to Midnight Marauders and hearing the sound and artistry, the chemistry on "Award Tour," "Electric Relaxation," "8 Million Stories," "The Chase,"—
Miguel: Yeah, all the jams.
B. Cox: "Oh My God," "God Lives Through" and going through all those songs and seeing, man, what is this? You know? This is something that I can't live without. And then we talk about all the other moments during 1993. I mean, you talk about the Doggystyle coming out and Snoop and how big that was. 36 Chambers, 93 'til Infinity with Souls of Mischief. Bacdaf**up with Onyx. All these different moments during 1993 sort of solidified it for me. So, at that point, we went from intrigue to admiration to fully falling in love. And that when it was for me, Tribe Called Quest, Midnight Marauders.
Christina: That'll do it. That's a good moment.
Miguel: Yeah, and this kind of plays into what you pointed out, Christina. Not only the last episode we recorded, but when we talked to Queue Points as well, is everybody's around the same age, 10 to 11 years old when we get hooked into hip hop.
Christina: It makes sense because I guess at that age is when we kind of start to break away from our parental or siblings or cousin's influence, and then that's when we take what we were influenced by maybe, but then we start to explore ourselves. So, I don't think it's any coincidence that most of us have picked that age.
B. Cox: You know what it is? It is the precursor to puberty is what it is. And I think that that sign of growth, like individually, the things that you go through, physically that you go through as well, I think sort of perhaps you are to being able to gain some sort of independent thought, whether you like something or not. And I think that has a lot to do with it as well.
Christina: For sure.
B. Cox: I mean, the fact that you're getting ready to end elementary school and going to middle school, where things really ramp up at that point for you individually, so, yeah.
Christina: Yeah, because in the last episode we did with Queue Points where we posed this question. The moment I chose was Naughty by Nature's, um, 19—no, their self-titled album. Because a friend of mine introduced it to me. I had been listening to, like, I had listened to some hip hop, R&B, but it was more like Top 40, whatever was like, popular. But I remember that moment so clearly because, it's that moment of self-discovery. Like, I had a friend that introduced it to me who's also the same age and I liked it instead of just something I heard on the radio or something that my older sisters were listening to. But I wanted to choose a different moment this time. So, this—I kind of call this moment more like puppy love, then full on love and it's Totally Krossed Out by Kris Kross and I'll tell you why.
Miguel: All right.
Christina: So, this was 1992, so just before that '93, '94 era, right? And I was 12, so that age we're just about to start high school and coming to my own, 'cause um, at the time we didn't have like, a middle school where I grew up. So, it was like you went from grade school to high school. So, I was just transitioning, uh, to that. Anyways, at the time it's like, oh, they're the same age as me. They're little kid rappers. It's like, like a gateway drug to hiphop, right?
B. Cox: Yeah, yeah.
Christina: But as I got older and started to actually listen to like, more, not kiddie hip hop, I'm like, wait a minute. That's Ice Cube. That's Eazy-E. That's like all of their samples.[1] Even their rhyme styles, like, they're sampling Eazy-E. They got "Warm It Up," which is basically "Warm it Up, Kane." They're sampling BDP, Digital Underground, Public Enemy, Ice Cube, Black Sheep, all these people, right? So, some of these groups I had kind of started to, to find out about. And some people, you know, I never heard of. But at the same time they kind of like, made it easy to get into all this stuff. 'Cause now all this stuff is familiar. 'Cause I started listening more like, early 90s, so, I didn't know much about like Public Enemy or Big Daddy Kane. I was starting to, listen to LL Cool J and Digital Underground, and they encompassed all of that, but in like, this perfect little kiddie format.
B. Cox: Mm. Yeah.
Christina: But when you, because I actually listened to the album again the other day. I'm like, aside from them sounding like little kids, this is a pretty good album, like, for anybody. But the fact that they're little kids and they, sound like it, it just gets written off as like a kiddie album. But if you listen to it again, it's like, hey, they're pulling from all of the greats.
Miguel: Yeah. JD put his foot into that one.
Christina: He sure did. And all this time I thought JD was molding them, but it turns out that they were bullying him into making the music they wanted.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: He was talking about it in some like, podcast[2] or something and then Bow Wow showed up drunk and sort of ruined the vibe. I was like, I wanna hear more about Kris Kross.
B. Cox: Leave it to Bow Wow.
Christina: Yeah. So, that's my, one of my moments, my puppy love into falling in love with hip hop moment.
Miguel: Yeah. Mine is basically the same as I mentioned before, just listening to 1580 KDAY as a kid.
B. Cox: Mm.
Miguel: And just getting all of the early hip hop. Because I'm a couple years older than you guys. So, when you get—you're listening to it in '93. I was listening to it in like, '87, '88, '89 when I was in elementary school. So, I'm hearing N.W.A. on the radio for the first time. I'm hearing Big Daddy Kane, Run-DMC, Beastie Boys. All of this is coming to me at the same time and it's just like, what is this? This is not the Freddie Jackson I hear my mom listening to in the car when we go places. The stuff that I couldn't enjoy and get into, but this, this was for me. I didn't know why it was for me or why I felt this way, but I was just hooked immediately and it's been in me ever since.
B. Cox: Yeah.
Christina: So, question, question for you. What do you think attracted you to hip hop? What felt different about that? Or do you think the culture has shaped who you are today?
B. Cox: Oh, it's that for me?
Christina: Oh yeah. For you.
B. Cox: Well, yeah, I think what attracted me to hip hop was a little bit of like what Miguel said is the fact that it was something where I kind of felt like I fit in, even though I probably had very little in common with the people making the music, right?
Miguel: Yeah.
B. Cox: Somehow, it spoke to me. You listened to a lot of the things that your parents listened to. To me, I grew up in a Caribbean household and you know, we were listening to a lot of classic music, you know, lot of rock steady and reggae. And so there was a lot of stuff like Billy Ocean and Peter Tosh and Bob Marley. And there was a lot of classic R&B music from the Motown days and then also from the soul '70s days into the '80s.
And for me, I felt like when I looked at those type of people, I'm like, okay, this is the type of music that speaks to, that's gonna speak to my generation the most. Because they understand what I'm going through more than anything else. And even though I'm like, I don't know, 8, 9, 10 years old, 11 years old, having not really much to worry about as far as anything is concerned. It just seemed cool and I felt like when I would do things like watch the news in particular, I'll take a point, watching things about the '92 L.A. riots. And seeing how the outrage that people in the streets reflected what I was hearing in a lot of the music during that particular time. I'm just like, they get it, you know?
These hip hop artists, this genre gets it because they are the children of these soul artists. They are the grandchildren of these jazz and blues artists, and therefore they know the struggle. They've been through two generations of the struggle whose parents and grandparents have told them of this struggle, and this is the generation that sort of stood up and said, all right, everybody else has fought it back, back at it in one way. This is the way we're fighting back to it. So, it spoke to me. I felt like I, in the words people say you feel seen. I sorta like, as much as it, that doesn't make sense to somebody who's 10 or 11 years old, I felt seen, you know? You feel like this is gonna be the music that's gonna guide me through the rest of my life. And you know, I know if anybody, you talk to your grandparents, they probably felt the same way about whatever genre they fell in love with at 10 or 11 years old as well.
Miguel: Yeah. I remember hearing KRS-One when I was young and he was always talking about "I am hip hop. I am hip hop. When I'm 50 years old the president of the United States is gonna be listening to KRS-One."And I'm like, man, you're crazy. Like, what are you talking about? But here I am 30 years later and it's like, he was right, because I am hip hop. Like, in 2023, that's all I've been. Like, the way I dress, obviously the music I listen to, uh, the movies that I watch, the TV shows that I like, everything about it, it's rooted in hip hop.
And like I said, I just thought he was a mad man that was ranting. But I am apologizing to you, KRS-One. I see your vision now. He was correct. And this is years before Barack Obama was even thought about. And I'm like, hip hop in the White House? You crazy, man. But here we are, and we've had our first Black president and now we've got our first Black vice president. You know there's hip hop in the White House, because we see hip hoppers there all the time.
B. Cox: Yeah, of course. Yeah.
Christina: Well, Eazy-E was dripping Jheri curl juice in the White House.
B. Cox: Yeah.
Miguel: See, he snuck his way in though.
Christina: Yeah, that was bit of a scam.
Miguel: That was different.
Oh, since, um, your show focuses on anniversaries and the milestone years and whatnot, is there a year that stands out to you? And if there is, what albums or songs or videos represent that era?
B. Cox: Man, so, years and I, I'm gonna break this down in a couple of different ways. Now there's before my time where I was before I was really outside. Um, I'll definitely go with the one, and Miguel, you could talk about, you could speak to this, cause this was your era, I guess, that you sort of fell in love with hip hop in 1988. I mean, it's, the many people will cite, whether it's fans, critics, journalists, people who were outside during that time, probably the greatest year in hip hop history. And you look at all the albums that came out in 1988, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, Strictly Businesses to Follow the Leaders, The Adventures of Slick Rick, the Straight Outta Comptons, Long Live the Kane. All these albums that came out during those years that are albums that are considered by so many people who did the music that I loved, cited as influences, you know? So, that to me is one that I have to give respect to before I even get into the ones that personally I love.
I think there's a three year period between 1994 and 1996 that I think to me is unmatched. And you just take a look at the albums that came out during those years. The ones that shaped it for me during 1994, obviously two of my favorite artists, Nas and Biggie. Ready to Die, and Illmatic both of their debut albums, classics. Albums as well, like Common's Resurrection. Also another album like Redman Dare Iz a Dark Side. being able to get albums like Jeru The Damaja The Sun Rises in the East. You get to 1995, then that's a whole 'nother animal where you get into albums like Only Built for Cuban Linx by Raekwon and also The Infamous by Mobb Deep and Soul Food by Goodie Mob and Me Against the World by Tupac.
So those are just a, a few of them that I'm mentioning right there. And in 1996, which to me, for my generation, I say was probably the best year during our, during that little sub generation because we can run down the list of, of albums that came out during this year. When I had to rank the albums from 1996, it literally took me about an hour and a half of me switching my list around being like, no, can I rank this above this? No, I need to put this here.
Miguel: Right.
B. Cox: And that top 10 list was really hard for me to do because I had to leave some of my top 10 that people were like, "whoa, you left that outta your top 10?" Like, yeah, I did. That's how hard it was. And that's not even considering some of the albums that weren't necessarily considered classics that were really dope albums during that year.
When you get to the new millennium, I always like to say the moments for me like '01 to '03 and that '05 to '06 era. Because at that point you're starting to get into a point where hip hop has now turned into a full mixing bowl where the south has really started to take over. And during that time, those are my college years and those are my clubbing days. So, when we really talk about my years when I was outside, those were my years outside. So, that's just a little bit to talk about that.
But the videos, man, the music videos in the 90s were so inventive. I kind of felt like that's really where things went up a whole 'nother level. The fashion during that time, I did an episode about that on my podcast about, about you know, you had the folks who'd rock the Fifth Avenue brands, the Polos, the Tommys, the Nauticas, the Armanis, the Guccis. Then you have the hip hop brands, of course, like Karl Kani and FUBU and Phat Farm and and Enyce, and all those brands that sort of melded together to become all things that were considered hip hop. So, that's all during that timeframe, '94, '96, where I felt all that sort of camp came together to me.
Miguel: What about you, Christina?
Christina: See, in the notes that you gave me, you said '93 and '98. So I only looked at those two years. So, I was supposed to pick my favorite album from either '93 or '98, and I was looking at '94 and I was like, I'm glad he didn't ask me about that year because that was too hard. So, I'm gonna stick with '93 and '98. '93 was pretty hard too, as you mentioned, all the stuff that came out that year. But I'm gonna go with Wu-Tang for that.
Miguel: I'm not surprised at that at all.
Christina: Because I listened to Doggystyle a lot as well. Now it's definitely a second runner up, but I don't know, something—Wu-Tang just changed everything for me.
B. Cox: It changed it for a lot of people that year.
Miguel: It did.
Christina: Yeah. And then for '98, I have to pick DMX because not only did I listen to It's Dark and Hell is Hot a lot, but I guess it's kind of almost like, I mean, if I picked Wu-Tang, it was like, there was this other like, New York powerhouse. But then he released two albums that year, so that's pretty wild. Um, was really hard to pick '98 as well too, because there was also Aquemini. So, so, that's my runner up for '98, and then I'm not even gonna attempt the other years because I, I think I have to mull it over a little bit and we ain't got the time for that right now.
Miguel: So, what about you, B. Cox, 1993 or 1998? Do you have a favorite from either of those years? And it doesn't have to be a classic album, but just your personal favorite.
B. Cox: Favorite. It's hard to pick. For '93, man, there's so many, so much good stuff. A lot of stuff I'm gonna cover this year, but as I mentioned before, I have to go with Midnight Marauders from Tribe Called Quest. I mean, just the impact personally that that album has had for me in regards to, that's where I think a lot of folks will say Low End Theory was the, the Tribe high point. To me, that's their high point because I kind of felt like Phife was fully integrated into it. Q-Tip was fully into it. The, the back and forth between the two of them, the production on that album is absolutely amazing. And it's hard for me to pick that over Doggystyle and over 36 Chambers. But I gotta go with Midnight Marauders from 1993.
'98 is another hard one as well because I think that really is an al—a year album wise is very, very top heavy and part of me wants to say It's Dark and Hell is Hot by DMX, but then another part of me wants to say Aquemini by OutKast, and if I had to boil down between the two of those, I probably have to break down and say It's Dark and Hell is Hot, only because Aquemini, while I think it is OutKast's best album. I don't think it's my favorite album by them.
Miguel: Okay.
B. Cox: So, I would've to say definitely It's Dark and Hell is Hot then because when that came out, even listening to it right around the time when DMX died a couple of years ago, it was still blown away by it almost 20 years later.
Miguel: Yeah. For me, I'm gonna go with, and it's not a classic album to a lot of people, but me being from L.A., this is a classic L.A .album, Black Mafia Life by Above The Law.
B. Cox: Oh man.
Miguel: It came out after The Chronic, but it was recorded before The Chronic. And without that album and without Dre being around, hearing Big Hutch put this album together, we don't get G-funk.
B. Cox: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Miguel: So, I love that album. It's one of my favorite albums of all time. And I'm upset that I can't find my CD 'cause it's not available on streaming services anywhere. So, I need to go to Discogs and buy another one. And for '98, this one's easy. OutKast's Aquemini.
Christina: Obviously.
Miguel: That's my favorite group of all time. Whatever year they're involved in, I'm choosing OutKast.
Christina: Yep.
B. Cox: Nice.
Miguel: It doesn't matter what is up against them, I'm always gonna choose OutKast.
B. Cox: Nice.
Christina: It's true.
B. Cox: Yeah, man, those are hard years to pick, man.
Christina: They are.
Miguel: Yeah.
B. Cox: It's, it's like, it's like to try to nail down during '93. It's like, I went ahead and on TikTok, I do these posts to preview for what I was gonna do at the beginning of the year, and I'm grabbing the album covers for all the years during that, for all the albums in '98, just the hiphop albums. And I'm like, wow, I've been through 10 album covers already, and I know I'm leaving stuff off. Like, it's like I got to the point where I thought I was done. I was like, oh, Souls of Mischief 93 'til Infinity is not on there. Oh, let me go grab Onyx Bacdaf**up. Oh, let me go grab Return Of the Boom Bap by KRS One.
So, we talk about albums, the favorite one, we pick one, you're leaving a lot of ones out there. There's this ridiculous thing about how stacked things were back then. And I don't know about y'all. If y'all were buying tapes, y'all were in bought tapes, but tapes back then were like $10, $12, you know? And if you didn't have a lot of dough, like I didn't have a lot of dough, for me, a lot of that was like getting blank tapes and telling your friend like, "Yo, let me give you a couple dollars to dub this for me." You know what I mean? So, yeah, definitely tough in '98, obviously. Yeah, DMX and OutKast, like, wow. Yeah.
Christina: Yeah.
B. Cox: That was good times, high school for me right there. So, yeah. Wow.
Christina: So, what makes a classic, well, what is your definition of a classic album? Like, what is your criteria? I'm sure this varies person to person, but what do you consider what makes a classic? Because the way people review music today, I don't think you can say something's a classic after listening to it one time or like an hour after it's been released. So, I mean, I guess I've already said one criteria, but what is your criteria?
B. Cox: Yeah. So, I think, you know, this is probably, if you want to ask probably 10 different people, you'll probably get answers that vary. And 10 different variations of that. But I think they'll have some of the same criteria. So, to me, I think number one is quality, and that quality, hey, you have to have great song composition. It needs to be, you know, lyrics, it has to have a good beat, song concept, production, lyrics, cache, you know. And there needs to be all that needs to be a part of that as far as the quality is concerned.
Um, mixing and mastering needs to be a part of that. Sonically, I think the album has to bump too. And I think that we can't discount that, is that you can take your album up a couple of notches, even if the, the lyrical quality is maybe mediocre and maybe even if the beats aren't the best beats out there in the world. But if you can get them to thump, then you can change the perception that somebody has of that album if it thumps.
Relevance. To me, it being relevant at the time that it's made at hand. And also the times that are ahead. There are so many classic albums that I've listened to that are now 20, 25 and 30 years old that I go back and listen to and I'm listening and like, wow, you could literally say the same thing about that today. They're talking about a topic now that is still relevant today.
Miguel: Right.
B. Cox: And that is something to me to be able to have, not just be able to speak to the time at hand, but then also have the foresight to see what may happen in the future. That to me, relevance is a big part of it as well. The replay value, can you play it 30 years later and does it still stay in the test of time or does it sound dated? I mean that really to me kind of breaks down where I used to classify my classic albums as being either certified, borderline or just in its time. And there's a lot of albums that we may have thought probably 10 years or like five years after they came out, oh, this is a classic. And then like 20, 25 years later you're kind of listening to it and it sounds dated and it's like, you know, we thought this was a classic in its time. Like, honestly it was a classic album to us at that time. There's a point where you pull up some albums and it's, you know, undeniable without, you pull it up and it's like, oh yeah, this is still classic. 30 years afterwards is still a classic.
Christina: Yeah.
B. Cox: Um, skips. I think there needs to be a minimal amount of skips. I don't think that number can be quantified though. So, some albums are classics. And they have skips. Some albums aren't classics and they don't have skips. So, I think the, there needs to be a minimal amount, if any. I think some people will say, oh, you gotta skip, it's not a classic. Like, nah man, that's not true. You know? 'Cause there are some classic albums out there that have skips.
Christina: Right.
B. Cox: And to me, I think the last couple of ones for me is the importance and impact it has to the culture, meaning our fans, the journalists, peers, the predecessors, and the successors looking at it and saying, this is an album that was significant and was important to the culture and made a contribution. Whatever that contribution may be. Whether it influences people, whether it has a legacy that carries on beyond the years that it came out.
And then I think the acclaim level has to be there as well. Now I think that you have to have some sort of acclaim, whether it's from the public or the actual people inside and of the culture. And I think the second one is the more important one because when the culture recognizes this as a classic, then who's anybody outside of it to say that it isn't?
Miguel: Right.
B. Cox: And, you know, I think that's really the big, the the biggest thing to me, and with classics, they gotta have time to breathe. That's the reason why I made my podcast. It's like, people, music needs time to breathe. You gotta let this bad boy breathe in order for you to come back to it and listen to it and determine whether it's a classic or not, you know?
Miguel: Yeah, for me, it's when you have an album that's just not a bunch of songs that are thrown together. Like, there are albums that have 20 good songs on 'em, but they just don't fit together. Whereas with a classic album, like there's a theme, they flow together sonically, the sequencing is great. So, it's all of those things that I feel make a classic, at least for me. And also, like you said, when everyone in the culture can agree, that's an undeniable classic. Like, we don't have to debate this. We all know what it is. There might be 3% haters over here that just want to be contrarian for whatever reason.
B. Cox: Always, man.
Miguel: But the rest of us can agree that we know it when we see it.
Christina: Yeah. 'Cause there's even albums that are considered classics that maybe I don't personally particularly listen to a lot or it's not one of my favorites, but I can still tell when something's a classic where it's like, okay, I understand why everyone else likes this, or most people like it, or it's considered that, even if it's not something I, you know, personally, listen to that often. But I think you just kind of know.
Miguel: Yeah. It's a, a feeling that you just have.
Christina: Yeah. Kind of like, I guess that feeling we have to just be drawn to the music to begin with.
Miguel: Exactly.
B. Cox: You, you know classic music when you hear it and you know it, when you hear it, when you first hear it, and you know it 10 years afterwards when you listen to it. And you know it 20 years afterwards when you listen to it. You know.
Christina: Mm-hmm.
Miguel: And with that said, are there any albums released in the past five to ten years that you feel are classic?
Christina: Or might become one.
B. Cox: Yeah, I think that's the, the caveat right there. I, I'm very hesitant to call albums classic. I like to label them as potentially classic worthy. And here's the list that I came up with when, uh, I thought about that question. So, to me, I would have to put these albums as potentially having the ability to be classics when we go down the road. To me, I think at least 20 years, you gotta at least give it 20 years or so. That's just my personal, uh, guideline.
So, I'll start with J. Cole. Uh, 2014 Forest Hills Drive. That to me was an album when I first heard it, I was like, this album has potential. It definitely does. That's my favorite album by him, by far. I mean mix tapes and stuff, everything, yeah. But LPs, that's my favorite. Um, Kendrick obviously, To Pimp a Butterfly and to me also from him, possibly, DAMN as well. Although I know a lot of Kendrick fans tend to sort of, it, it's really, DAMN, I think it's a polarizing album when it comes to Kendrick fans, but to me, I would put DAMN, almost a step below To Pimp a Butterfly and sort of almost right there with good kid, m.A.A.d. city.
Um, Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, Pinata will be another one, uh, that I would've to put up there, possibly. Chance, uh, Acid Rap and also Coloring Book. Uh, Benny the Butcher, The Plugs That I Met. Uh, it's was another one that was a good one that I loved. Um, then two, a couple other ones that I wanted to mention. Scarface, Deeply Rooted, um, Anderson .Paak, Malibu. And for Nas, who is my favorite rapper of all time. Uh, I would have to say of these albums that he's put out over these last few years, I really think that King's Disease II and maybe even (King's Disease) III, have the potential to be there once we go a little bit further down the road. Um, King's Disease II in particular for me, I'm a very, very big fan of. Um, but yeah, that's the ones I would have to say for albums in the last five to 10 years that I could consider could be classic worthy within a few years or so.
Christina: That's pretty wild that, Nas is a, a potential contender for another classic when he was one of the classics from '93. And he's still around to potentially produce another one. That's kind of crazy because, I mean, back then, we didn't think— we'd be like, ugh, 40 years old, still rapping and listening to rap? Like, it was, it seemed like a young person's game and now we seen grow old with us.
B. Cox: Oh yeah.
Miguel: Exactly. I think Nas is probably at his best right now. I, I might be alone in that, but I think 2023 Nas is better than Illmatic Nas. That's just me, though.
B. Cox: Uh, you know what?
Christina: We need some more time.
B. Cox: It's, nah, that's, you could definitely, you could make an argument, um, 'cause when you hear what he's saying now versus what he was saying almost 30 years ago, it's hard to not say that, that's—it's almost there, you know? But there's a lot of lines on the Illmatic that I stopped to sit, think about from time to time nowadays. Like, wow, he was saying this in 1994, bro, that's not even fair. That's not even fair.
Christina: I think also just thinking about how young he was. 'Cause it's one thing to sort of be older and come up with, you know, interesting or wise things to say, but when you're like a kid still, you're like, wait a minute. He was so young when this album of came out.
B. Cox: Yeah.
Christina: Like, I just think about how I was at that age and I wasn't very smart.
B. Cox: Oh man.
Miguel: Uh, so did you have any that you felt are gonna be classics or potential classics that have come out in the past 10 years, Christina?
Christina: Um, I didn't really think about that actually. I'm thinking, okay. I'm not exactly sure when it came out cause I can't like, pretty much anything after like, 2000, like all the time just kind of melts together for me. But, um, one thing I could think off the top of my head would be Kendrick's good kid, m.A.A.d. city. And the reason why I like that one so much and maybe potential classic is, I liked that he went back to the storytelling, like, the sequencing is very important. Like, you listen to the whole album to hear the full story.
And I think that current music is, it feels very driven by singles. And so to have an album where you have to kind of listen to the whole thing, whether you like it or not. If you skip it, you're gonna miss a piece of the story. I mean, you might have your favorites after a while, but at some point you have to listen to the whole album to get it. And so, I thought that was, kind of almost like a throwback to some older albums where that kind of stuff was important. Like, everything had to be cohesive.
B. Cox: Yeah. If I could throw another one in there. I don't mean interrupt, but going a little back further, back 10 years. I would definitely throw, one I want to throw in there for is Joey Badass' 1999. Um, the fact that Joey came out with the album last year, 2000 in 2022, and I go back and sat there, I said, you know what? It's crazy that in 2012, Joey Badass came out with 1999, he was 17 years old. And now he's 27 years old, a decade deep into the game, and it's still really putting out great quality music, but I feel a lot of people don't really pay attention to him. You know, not as much as the contemporaries really. So, yeah.
Miguel: Yeah. The ones I'm gonna go with are basically same as you guys. I think the first three Kendrick albums have the potential to all be classics. And for the same reason that you said the sequencing, the production, all of that. You said that you're gonna go with Freddie Gibbs and Madlib. I am as well, but I'm choosing Bandana as my choice. I don't know why but I feel that one just is a little bit better than Pin—than Pinata is. Uh, Pusha T, I think he has two, Daytona and It's Almost Dry. Like I love the both of those albums. He's Mr. Coke Rap. He's the "Dr. Seuss of Coke." Fine. Like, I'm okay with that. He does it well though. Like, when you do it that good, you don't have to change your, your content, you just stick with it.
B. Cox: Exactly.
Miguel: Uh, and one random one I'm gonna throw in there, but with a little caveat though, the Watch The Throne album, but it has to be in the order from the album release party. It's slightly different than what was actually released. And I remember when it first came out, Elliott Wilson posted on Twitter that when he heard it the night before, this is the order that it was in and it sounded better. And that's the way that I've been playing it ever since.
B. Cox: Ever since.
Miguel: Yeah, so it, it doesn't sound the same on the retail album. It's just like two or three songs that were switched around, but when you listen to it in the release party order, chef's kiss.
B. Cox: Nice. Cool. Yeah.
Miguel: So, that's a good spot for us to take a break and we will be right back.
[break]
Christina: Are you enjoying this podcast?
Miguel: Hell yeah.
Christina: If you are as much as he is, there's a couple things that you can do. You can feel free to drop some coins into our collection plate at ko-fi.com/troypodcast . And that's "ko-fi" K O dash F I .com. Link is also in the show notes. We're self-funded, so any support would be appreciated. And if you don't have any extra coins to spare, just leave us a 5 star rating or review. Like JLo's love, it won't cost you a thing.
Miguel: You just sitting at home on the couch anyhow.
Christina: Alright, thanks.
Miguel: Back to the show.
Miguel: All right. And we are back and it's time for us to do my favorite game, "This or That."
Christina: Yes. So, this is where we're gonna give you, B. Cox, two scenarios to choose from, and you are gonna go with whatever just feels right and, uh, let us know why though. And remember, there's no wrong answers.
B. Cox: Mm.
Christina: Whatever feels good to your soul. Okay?
B. Cox: Feels good to me. Okay. I got it. I'm with it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Yeah. Let's do it.
Miguel: Now the first couple questions we ask to everybody, and they're gonna be a little simple.
Christina: Warm you up.
Miguel: They get harder as we go along. So, the first one we are gonna go with is, which was your favorite magazine? XXL or The Source?
B. Cox: Oh man. Um, with me, I mean, it's gotta be The Source, obviously, right? I mean, I came up in an era where Source mic ratings were things that you rushed too. I mean, that was, I think the feature stories were great, like the ads and everything were cool, but you rushed to the source to see two things for me. The quotables, and to see what those reviews were hitting on. And you knew you had a good one personally, if you had a mic rating of 3.5 or higher. But if it got up to four, then you're like, Ooh, okay. Okay. And I know that I can remember personally of all the five mic ratings that I witnessed myself with my own eyes when I opened The Source. So, I would have to say The Source. But I think right around the time when I was getting ready to leave high school, I thought that The Source was starting to dovetail off and the XXL was picking up. But for me, hands down a hundred percent, The Source.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: Okay, next question. So, between these two shows, Yo! MTV Raps, or Rap City?
B. Cox: [Sigh]
Miguel: See, this is what we wanted.
Christina: And see, I've been, I'm Canadian, so, I didn't get these shows. So, all I know is from what Miguel tells me. So, I have no dog in this fight.
B. Cox: So, as much as I want to say Yo! MTV Raps and how important it's to the culture, I kind of felt like they laid the ground for Rap City. For me, it's gotta be Rap City. And I'm not talking about Rap City: Tha Basement. And shout out to Tigger who was on 95.5 WPGC for much of my adolescence into my adulthood before he took over Rap City: Tha Basement as the host. I'm talking about Rap City with none other than the mayor, Joe Cleezy, Joe Clair—
Christina: Mm-hmm.
B. Cox: And Big Lez. That is the version of Rap City that I'm talking about. And so many of those artists interviews that I saw with them, really kind of shaped the way that I looked at artists and getting to know them and those videos and that Rap City Top 10, which immediately followed Teen Summit on Saturday, by the way, was just as important to me to Video Soul's Top 20 on Fridays. So, definitely to me, Rap City, I'm sorry, Fab 5 Freddy, I'm sorry. Yo! MTV. Raps is imp—crucially important to the culture, man. But for me personally, it's Rap City, man.
Christina: Yeah, I got that tail end of that version of Rap City by the time it reached Canada, so I got to see a little bit of it.
B. Cox: Yeah. Cleezy and Lez. Oh, that, that version of Rap City was just so classic, man.
Miguel: All right. This is possibly my favorite question to ask people, which is the greatest hype man of all time. Spliff Star or Flavor Flav?
B. Cox: Yo. Well, look man, shout out to Spliff because Busta is one of the most dynamic performers, not just in hip hop history, but in music history of the second half of the 20th century and the 21st century. His energy is unmatched. Now you have a performer of that quality, you gotta have a great hype, man. You have to. But, you gotta be a good hype man on stage and on record. And to me it's, there will be no greater hype man than Flavor Flav. And despite all the stuff that happened, Flavor of Love and all that other stuff. You know, uh, the, you know, The Surreal Life and all the stuff he did that sort of made him a caricature of himself. Which was so, anti-whatever Flavor Flav was and what Public Enemy stood for, but they'll never be a big hype, high, bigger hype man than Flavor Flav, man. 'Cause he was a hype man on stage and on record. There's nobody who complimented the importance of what Chuck D and Public Enemy brought then when Flavor Flav's adlibs, and speeches in the middle of raps, man. No way. So, it's gotta be Flav, man. It has to be.
Christina: All right. Suppose you're making an album, which producer are you choosing to work with? DJ Premier or Dr. Dre?
B. Cox: Oh no! You all—
Miguel: This is where it starts to get hard.
B. Cox: Are going—
Christina: We're heating up. We're heating up.
B. Cox: Straight to the hot afterlife, both of you go for asking me that question. Primo or Dre? [Sigh] You know what's funny? Those two are actually, when I talk about hip hop producers are my 1A and 1B best producers of all time. Um…hmm…
Miguel: This is why we threw it at you.
B. Cox: Okay. If I had to say producer, overall, I would have to say…Dre. I like Primo's beats better, but not just as a beat maker, but also based on the direction, the, uh, the guidance and the tutelage and oversight of an album. That's to me, where I think Dre is a step ahead of DJ Premier in that respect. Because look at how many of the classic albums that, where he produced some tracks. Yeah. He made some beats. Yeah.
But really who was a driving force in the studio to make those classic albums from Death Row and even the ones from Ruthless stand out because he was the one driving the ship. And really a great producer is not just gonna make beats, but they're gonna drive the ship to really make that album be what it is. And Primo to me, I think beat maker wise 1, 1A, without a doubt. But if I had to say a producer to work with for my album, just because of that, I have to give Dre the edge.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: Yeah. I think one of the things that really, um, made me realize like, how great a producer that Dr. Dre was, was when I found out that he basically forced Eazy-E to become a rapper by feeding him one line at a time and making him record it over and over again. And then he turned into like, a great rapper. Like that's a lot of patience and work ethic to do that.
B. Cox: Yeah. Or the famous story about Bishop Lamont, that he made him record the same bar over like 65 times because it wasn't the way Dre wanted it said on the record.
Christina: Yep.
B. Cox: You know? So, I mean, that talks about the dedication that somebody has.
Christina: Exactly.
B. Cox: Like, wow, you know? That would annoy me as a rapper. But you know, that's the kind of perfection you want so, that when it comes out on the other side, to our ears, that's what you want.
Christina: Definitely.
Miguel: All right. Now this one is definitely gonna cause some internal struggle with you. All right. So, if you could personally never hear one of these two albums again, but they don't disappear for the rest of us. So, it's basically like you're at a silent disco, but you can never hear these albums. But we do.
B. Cox: Okay.
Miguel: Illmatic or Ready to Die? One of them's gone.
B. Cox: Wow. [sigh] Oh, wow.
Miguel: See, this is the struggle that we go for with these questions.
Christina: Having an internal crisis here.
B. Cox: Mm. Wow. That's a really hard question. And I don't want to make a decision. I'm like, yo, can I go? Is that, you know, can I go and we can keep playing these forever? Like, no. But if I had to pick an album that I could never hear again between Illmatic and Ready to Die, It would have to probably be Ready to Die.
Miguel: Okay.
B. Cox: And as much as it hurts me to say that, because I went and got Ready to Die with grass cutting money, and I bought it, I bought it just for the simple fact that I needed to hear everything that Biggie had to offer. And when I lost my Ready to Die tape, I cried. Like I was 13, 14 years old, and I cried and I had to go out and go buy another one with grass cutting money. Um, but Illmatic, man, I, I couldn't go without that one. I mean, that to me on my all time favorite rap albums list is number one. And, you know? I'd have to be able to hear that. So, I gotta sacrifice Ready to Die for that.
Miguel: And that's why we ask these questions, so we don't have to make these decisions.
Christina: You see we are not answering these questions.
Miguel: Exactly.
B. Cox: Right.
Christina: All right. Next. What's the better debut album? 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin', or Snoop's Doggystyle?
B. Cox: Wow. Um hmm. I was just having this conversation with somebody the other day when they tried to talk about which was the bigger debut. Um, and I was outside when 50's album came out. I just did this, I just did, did this review about, I don't know, a month ago, a month and a half ago for 50's Get Rich or Die Tryin'. To me, I think it's gotta be Doggystyle though. I mean, it's—Doggystyle became a cultural phenomenon. Not that Get Rich or Die Tryin' wasn't big, but, oh, we, so many terms and phrases came from Doggystyle. Cultural references that we use from Doggystyle. I mean, yeah, man, it's gotta be Doggystyle, man. It's because, Snoop became one of those things that you had to hear him ever since we heard him, not just on "Deep Cover," but "Nuthin' but a G Thang."
Miguel: Yeah.
B. Cox: And by the time the anticipation was so high, when Doggystyle came out, it was like, damn, we know this album's gonna be good and you get it. And it's like, it's even better than I imagined, you know?
Miguel: Right.
B. Cox: So, to me, I had to say the better debut was definitely Doggystyle.
Miguel: All right. Here's another tough one. Possibly the greatest hip hop duo of all time, but you can only choose one. Big Boi or Andre 3000?
B. Cox: Mm. I'm gonna get some blowback for this. And it's not because I think that he's better necessarily, I'm gonna have to go with a change up and say Big Boi.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: Yeah.
B. Cox: And the only reason I say that is, I know I'm gonna get music consistently with Big Boi. Now, Dre has had some incredible things and had some incredible quotes over the years. But the one thing that frustrates me more than anything else about him is that he doesn't have the desire to do the thing which he does best.
Miguel: Right.
B. Cox: Big Boi's gonna put out some music.
Christina: Yeah.
B. Cox: And he has put out some incredible music.
Miguel: Yeah.
B. Cox: Since OutKast stopped recording together. He still has the drive and the passion. I think a lot of people underestimate him and his contributions on all those OutKast classic albums. Actually on the Speakerboxxx/lThe Love Below album, I listened to Speakerboxxx more than I did The Love Below.
Miguel: Hands down.
B. Cox: And I think I was one of the few people who actually did.
Miguel: No, I'm right there with you.
B. Cox: Because it was the type of music I wanted to listen to.
Christina: This is Miguel's pick too.
Miguel: I am right there with you.
B. Cox: Yeah. I mean, so I would've to say Big Boi.
Miguel: Yeah. 'Cause for me, when people say they're so different, they're really not. Like, they're the same coin basically. They say the same things, but in two different ways, and that's what I love about 'em.
B. Cox: Yeah.
Christina: Yeah. I think maybe, um, and maybe I'll get some blowback for saying this, but I think the people who choose Andre 3000, I think because he comes off as a more of this like "artistic soul," whereas, um, Big Boi still sort of like, you know, pimp daddy, whatever. So, I think it's easy for people to write it off as like, oh, he's not that much different from other rappers. But Andre is this unique artistic soul. When you look at the two of them, they're not that different from each other.
Miguel: Not at all.
B. Cox: Not at all. It isn't. And you're OutKast fan. You listen to their albums, you know that it's not really a big difference between the two of them. You know, I think, one of the more glaring parts of that is on Aquemini, the title track, "Aquemini," showed you that more so than anything else. You know, people are like, oh, they have two different verses.
B. Cox: Like, eh, it sounds that way, but not really though.
Miguel: Yeah.
B. Cox: So, yeah.
Christina: They compliment each other very well, though.
B. Cox: Absolutely. Yeah.
Christina: All right, so we got a couple more. Couple more, if you can handle it.
B. Cox: Absolutely. Bring 'em on. Bring 'em on.
Christina: All right. Which is the better Hip-Hop themed movie, 8 Mile or Hustle & Flow?
B. Cox: Uh, I can't stand, Hustle & Flow, man. I know some people like it and I guess they love the story and everything, but I'm, I don't like Hustle & Flow. It's gotta be 8 Mile for me. I mean that when it was set, '95 era that I grew up in, like I really attached and latched onto hip hop as part of my identity fully after I fell in love with it. The underground scene with the battle raps, the fact that you pretty much as an autobiographical sketch of Eminem's life.
But the, that really captured hip hop in its essence, like, yo, in the underground, freestyle battles, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, a minute and a half. You can't get no better than that. I mean, that's what we did every day during lunch, at the lunch table. Outside on bomb—during bomb threats in high school, after school. To me, it's gotta be 8 mile. I'm I, and I can't stand, Hustle & Flow. So that makes it really easy.
Christina: Despite the Academy Award-winning song?
B. Cox: Uh, yeah, and I love Three 6 [Mafia] too, by the way. So, you know…
Miguel: All right. You're starting a record label. And you have the chance to sign one of these two artists before they blow up. Knowing what you know about them now, do you sign Drake or Kendrick?
B. Cox: I'm probably gonna be in the minority here. Um, I would say Kendrick. Only because I think a lot of people will pick Drake because of the numbers that he does and because he makes popular music and not to knock that at all. But, you know, people are gonna look at the success that Drake has and sort of note that. People are gonna look at Kendrick and note his success, but they're gonna talk about his artistry more than anything else.
And I think when we talk about classic music in 20 and 30 years afterwards, I have a feeling that people are gonna talk more candidly and more of, in a line of respect, in regards to respect for his artistry and game for Kendrick more than they would for Drake. And he's gonna do numbers. But, um, I would definitely say Kendrick. Because I think that music has, you have the replay value of that music is gonna last I think, a lot longer than possibly even Drake's would.
Not to say that Drake's music isn't gonna get replay amongst his generation of fans that influenced him in years. I mean, those commercial hits are huge, and they may be huge 20 years from now. But I think 20, 30 years from now, you're gonna be having classes and seminars and documentaries made about To Pimp A Butterfly and about DAMN, and about that run from good kid, m.A.A.d city, all the way up to Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers. About how Kendrick influenced not just, you know, a, a generation of rappers to come after him, but then also people to study the game and study the music in a whole 'nother way and just looking at it on surface level.
So…but that's just me. That's me being the—listening to music. If I loved money, I'd be like, oh yeah, Drake, without a shadow of a doubt. You know what I'm saying? Give me that, yeah.
Christina: Yeah.
B. Cox: Five, 6 million records sold, a 40 million tour. Absolutely. Number one of the Billboard charts. Yeah. But you know, and, but to me, I just, if I a record executive, I'm going off of a full package. I'm gonna go with Kendrick, you know? Drake back then probably would have. So Far Gone, Drake, you know, uh, you know, all the, that type of Drake Take Care, Drake like that. Nothing Was Ever The Same. Yeah. But you know, Kendrick, for me, without a doubt. Because I think the full package of taking everything, what the music may be later on, I want legacy versus not just numbers, which you have a potential to get with Drake, but I think Kendrick's legacy will be greater.
Christina: Yeah, I don't think you're in the minority in this group. I'm not sure about outside of this group, but I, I would pick Kendrick too.
Miguel: Same.
Christina: Yeah. He's actually one of the few rappers that I think I love—quote unquote newer rappers—that I love as much as the rappers that I loved and grew up with in the 90s. Like, there are are artists and stuff that I like now, but I don't have any sort of emotional attachment to it. But I really like Kendrick. And Miguel actually introduced him to me and he described him as a young Nas so I was, I was like, okay!
Miguel: I knew that would get her hooked.
Christina: And from then I kind of just followed his career, so he's probably the quote unquote newest rapper out there that I love. So, I definitely see where you're coming from.
B. Cox: Yeah.
Christina: All right, one last question. This is not a this or that, but we had switch it up a little bit, kind of take it outta music, sort of, but who do you think is the best rapper turned actor? So, we got Will Smith, we got Tupac, LL, Latifah, Common and Ice Cube, Method Man, and there's so many. Ludacris. Shall I go on? Whoever else I forgot.
B. Cox: Yeah.
Miguel: Ice-T.
Christina: Ice-T.
B. Cox: Mm-hmm. So, I'm gonna have to go, I try to go with craft as far as what their skill is acting wise. Um, and also the performances that they give. So, I'm kind of in between two right now. I would have to be between, I would have to say between Will and Ice Cube. Um, but I would have to give the edge to Will. Because I mean, you could arguably say his acting career has surpassed his music career.
Miguel: Yeah. At, at this point it has.
Christina: At this point, yeah.
B. Cox: I mean, yeah, I think that at this point you're looking at, uh, what he's done, on the screen, um, starting off just with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, then transitioning to so many different other types of roles over the years. And he's really worked hard at it, by the way, you know? So, he's had a lot of bad things to come out too, and a lot of movies that were kind of questionable.
Miguel: Wild Wild West.
B. Cox: Yes, I mean, but, but Will at the top of his game is about as good as many other actors out there. So, to be able to transition from the mic to be able to be an actor of that standard, gotta probably give it to Will. I think Ice-T is good cause he's been on so on SVU for so long. But I kind of feel like Ice-T has been the same character in whatever show he's been in.
Miguel: He's just Ice-T.
B. Cox: Like Ice-T in New York Undercover and Ice-T in Law and Order: SVU is basically the same guy with or without a ponytail.
Christina: Right.
B. Cox: The same accent and everything, you know? Same mannerisms, same face, and just like, you know? But yeah, I'd have to give it to Will.
Christina: Yeah, if I see ponytail Ice-T in SVU, that's an episode I wanna watch.
B. Cox: Yeah, there you go.
Christina: Because the, the, the missing ponytail is when SVU got really wacky. But if he's got a ponytail, I'm watching it.
B. Cox: Yeah. Oh, man.
Miguel: Oh, so we made it to the end. We made it to the end.
Christina: We did it.
Miguel: And didn't give you a heart attack or anything with the questions that we put you through.
B. Cox: Nah, y'all g—y'all almost gave me a heart attack on some of those, but, but nah, you didn't. It was cool though.
Miguel: So, go ahead and plug all the stuff, anything you want the people to know. Where they can reach you all that.
B. Cox: Of course, man. First of all, thank you all for having me on again. Um, I really love y'all podcast. Enjoy your platform. Thank you for having me on here. But if you wanna check me out, you can check us out. Obviously I'm gonna show you to the website. vaultclassicpod.com. That's vaultclassicpod.com. You go there, all the episodes are on there. You can check the back catalog. You can also go there, see our merchandise store. So, you see this lovely hat I have on, also this t-shirt as well. These are for sale right now. You can get them on shirts, mugs, tumblers. We also have hoodies. I have a couple of new merch designs dropping soon, so make sure y'all go there and check it out.
But listen to the episodes, drop a review. And all the social media channels can be found on vaultclassicpod.com. So, on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube @vaultclassicpod, you know you go there, you can reach us. But vaultclassicpod.com, anything you wanna find there. Episodes drop every Monday at nine o'clock eastern time.
And then we have bonus episodes that come out. But you can go and check us out there, follow us on all the socials and just hit us up man. If you got something you wanna talk about old school hip hop, or listen to something that you want to hit us up, reach out to us. I've had a lot of international viewers reaching out to us via emails. We'd love to be able to expand our net. So, hit us up there, vaultclassicpod.com and um, yeah, hopefully you guys listen on and again, thank you all Miguel and Christina for having me on this. It's been a blast.
Miguel: Thank you for agreeing to come on and join us.
B. Cox: Oh, for sure.
Miguel: You got anything you wanna say, Chris, before we get outta here?
Christina: Not really. I never have anything to say at the end.
Miguel: You don't, you don't. I told you I was gonna stop asking.
Christina: Yeah, but you still do.
Miguel: I do. All right, so head over to troypodcast.com and you can check out a playlist that we're gonna put together based on this episode. Uh, you can also check out our other playlists because we love putting playlists together and some of 'em are damn good I think. Also if you wanna get some of our merch, well you can go over to Nuthin' But a Tee Thang. That's T-E-E-T-H-A-N-G .com. teethang.com. Grab some t-shirts, hats, all that good stuff.
You can sign up for our newsletter, Liner Notes. That's at troypodcast.com/newsletter. Uh, we don't spam your inboxes. We hit you up once a month with a bunch of stuff that we like and we think you'll like 'em too. Follow us on the 'gram and the bird at @troypodcast and all that good stuff. Yeah, my throat's getting dry, so it's time for us to wrap this up and we'll see you in a couple weeks. Peace.
Christina: Bye.