Halftimeonline: Why is that?

Chuck D: Because he is the embodiment of all of the emcees up to his point. Just like Jordan you have to admit he’s the best because he is the embodiment of all of the players up to his point. You had Doc, Elgin Baylor, the tenacity of Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and then he had to come through Isaiah and then you finally say Jordan. Same thing with Jay-Z you have Mele Mel the power, Kool Moe Dee the wit and execution, you have KRS-ONE who’s the most feared rapper of all time, and one of the most innovative rappers in Rakim. Jay is the epitome of all of those guys up to his point. The bottom line that told me he was the top dude is his performance. Once he played the Hard Knock Life tour in 97 and had to come on after DMX was putting it to his ass. That took a lot of courage and ability for him to get out there and he did it. From there I said this dude is messing with different levels. I think he carries the standard and he’s fearless in his stage show. When people try to debate me I’m usually like have you ever performed on a stage at a high level before? One of the biggest problems of rap music and hip hop are that the books written about it are rarely done by the cats who were on stage or behind the tables. Walt Frazier just put out a book called ‘The Game Behind The Game’ now I’m reading that book! Too many books about hip hop are written by cats who just liked it. It’s like do you understand what it is to be in a stadium and perform at a high level. I’m not necessarily saying one person’s grade is higher than another’s but I definitely know what I’m talking about. There’s gonna be people past Jay-Z but I think he has epitomized the standards of what it is to be the best.

Halftimeonline: A lot of people’s criticism of Jay-Z has always been that he chooses not to live up to his potential and dumbs down his music. He never makes a song as intricate as say Nas although we all know he could.

Chuck D: But Bill Russell blocked shots without blocking them. Jay-Z says something dynamic and intricate in his simplicity. Another thing is he is carrying a wit that a lot of other cats don’t have the maturity to carry. You can’t be young and have wit. You need some kind of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding to have a quick wit. You also have to have the skill to bring that across in a rhyme. He dumbed it down but it’s like a person like Kobe Bryant who could get 15 assists but decides to go to the hoop. Do you have problems fundamentally with that? Maybe but based on his abilities you know that he could. Same with Jay-Z he could easily be as deep as somebody else. I dig Talib and Mos Def and people ask me what’s the difference between a Mos Def and myself and I say I came with a team. We were like the ‘89 Detroit Pistons. I’ve never been an individual but if you talk about individual rhymers I’ve never cared too much about them anyway because an individual can only do so much. I think Jay-z, as an individual, pulled out all the stops on the Hard Knock Life Tour. He put out a little circus around him. It’s all about performance gentleman. Name your five favorite rappers and I’m gonna interject.

Marcus: Aiight, I’m gonna have to go with my man Nas

Chuck D: Have you seen him perform?

Marcus: Yea, I saw him perform.

Chuck D: Were you satisfied?

Marcus: I was 19 at the time and Illmatic was a big influence in my life so when I saw him I lost my mind.

Chuck D: Over the last five years Nas has broken out of that mold of not performing. The bottom line to me is a guy has to be able to perform and Nas broke out of that. Ok #2 you don’t even need to explain why you like Nas.

Marcus: Jay-Z definitely.

Chuck D: and you’ve seen him perform?

Marcus: once a long time ago but he can rap his ass off.

Chuck D: # 3

Marcus: I wouldn’t say he’s the best but he is one of my favorites and that’s Wise Intelligent.

Chuck D: Ok and have you ever seen him perform?

Marcus: Nah.

Chuck D: So you are just going off of records and videos.

Marcus: Haha, yea.

Chuck D: The reason I’m breaking this down is because when you talk to a rock and roll dude if that act can’t get down they wont even count them. They’d be like how can you just go off of a record that could be anything.

Marcus: I’d definitely have to say this guy who I just saw perform recently and it was one of the best shows and that’s Rakim.

Chuck D: So you only saw him perform one time? Without Eric B.

Marcus: Haha. I have an excuse for that when he was in his prime I wasn’t allowed to go to those shows because I would have gotten shot.

Chuck D: A lot of people have never seen rap artists perform. People say well that’s just how it is Chuck but how can you say its at its peak when you can’t compare it to other art forms. It still has room to grow but it has things to work on because cats are called performers and its called performance art. You don’t necessarily have to get down and battle but damn do your own song. Cats like Nas and Jay-Z found out to get to the next level they have to perform. So when we talk about rap and hip hop my standards are different but they aren’t complicated. Did he command the crowd? If he is an MC can he move the crowd? Uhh, all I know is when his record come on I like it. Then it’s like do you like It cuz you heard it a lot on the radio? Do you like his mixtape song and if so why? Oh because he just got wild and threatened this cat. So it’s like he is just using a bunch of threatening words and not using a lot of vocabulary so all that is left is wit. Jay-Z brings a lot of wit to the table and Nas brings wit but it has to come with maturity. Wise Intelligent is like a hall of famer because he comes from a classic period and he is part of a group. Hip hop is a wonderful thing man. I’ll tell you this, my personal favorite group of all-time is RUN-DMC. The greatest group of all time Outkast. Outkast is the first group to really be rewarded for every album being different but Public Enemy never created two albums alike because we wanted to make sure when we came out we would never ever repeat ourselves. That’s a rock and roll credo. Outkast came out the box like that but a new audience had to get it cuz like you said when you’re seven what do you know? But the point is cats have dropped off with performances and gotten lazy because of videos and the paychecks. Every other art form cats are sweating on stage trying to win the love one fan at a time. In rap, cats ain’t trying to win fans over, the audience is awe struck and if they are in awe of what he’s wearing, how many chicks he got or what he drove up in then that has nothing to do with the standard. Jay-Z got the hottest chick in the game and a single chain. He don’t have to do all that because it comes from within and a lot of cats have to learn that they can learn from that old dude.

Halftimeonline: Chuck, have you heard the Kingdom Come album?

Chuck D: I won’t get it till it’s out. I’ll go to the store like everyone else. There’s nowhere for Jay to go except to get smarter and wittier. You can dumb yourself down but you can’t get dumber because people don’t accept you getting dumber. He can’t go into one joint and then all of a sudden go back. You have to keep going forward and you have to be fearless and say I’m going forward and so what if I’m not going to get 3 million people buying something dumb. You don’t judge music by the quantity it’s the quality. You don’t compare fine cuisine in a fly restaurant to dog food. Dog food might go double platinum every two weeks. You don’t see owners of Alpo with diamond encrusted dog food cans around their neck. Quality is the issue and quality is king. Quality in the way you carry yourself, in your interviews, your ability to upgrade, your skill and your connection to the audience. If you lose some of them as you go up so what. They’ll catch up if you can hold your own. A lot of people were stunned seeing Flava Flav saying that doesn’t represent Public Enemy. I’m like you need to check Public Enemy’s first album with Flava Flav rapping on ‘NPE.’ He says he goes to the beach where the beach is so sandy that girls are on his jock like ants on candy. So Flava never changed. He the same Flava. I’m surprised at your ass!

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Posted by Jbutters on Sunday, March 25th, 2007 and is filed under HIP HOP ICON SERIES.