Post by Captain America on Aug 22, 2014 1:28:27 GMT -5
Not every legendary rapper will be featured here unfortunately. Big Snoop Doog is one of them that didn't make the cut.
In my recent interview with Break, one of the questions consisted of comparing each GM to a past or present WWE star. It was obviously well received and quite a few people said that the comparisons should have been a separate article in itself. I gotta agree there and it sucks that it's too late to do that, but the feedback inspired me...
While a separate BBSBL WWE comparison article can't happen now, other comparison articles are fair game. As a result, I decided that with my knowledge of rap music and the hip hop culture, I was sure I could find good comparisons between each BBSBL GM and a well known rapper in one way or another.
I decided to split this up between AL and NL GM's just so hopefully, no one tunes out halfway through reading this.
Now before we begin, just to clarify, some of these comparisons are more related to the success of each GM and rapper in their respective careers. Other comparisons have more to do with certain actions that particular GM's and rappers have taken over time and other comparisons are more about individual personalities that match up well. I'll try to be as specific as I can with each comparison.
Hopefully, the majority of you all will be familiar with these rappers. Here we go!
Break - Eminem
What do Eminem and Break have in common? More than you think. Both of them started off very successful for a period of time, then fell off the map. Now more recently, both are back among the best at being successful in what they do. And then consider the treatment both of them have been through. Break has been one of the biggest victims of trolling by far and many GM's have gone after him over time. Quite a few people doubted his ability to ever put a good team together again, but he has proved them wrong in the past 2 seasons and looks to be on a 3rd consecutive winning season.
As for Slim Shady, his controversial past has been well documented and early on in his career, many record labels doubted him as a rapper because he was white. Dr. Dre however gave him a chance and his career instantly blew up and turned into one of the greatest of all time. This is not to necessarily say that Break is definitely one of the best GM's ever here, but both went through various challenges over time and have seemed to conquer them better than others had expected.
Broph - Rakim
Professor Broph (please don't take it the wrong way, Brophy!) always seems eager to educate people on the nuances of OOTP and help people learn things. It's a great quality to have because it shows he cares about others learning. And he would know, having won two championships already and is certainly among the most successful GM's in league history. I matched him up with Rakim because Rakim was one of the first great emcees in rap history when he teamed up with his DJ, Eric B. and really helped take rap to the next level for future generations to build upon.
Many of the more recent great rappers have named Rakim as a huge influence because his flow was amazing and in a way, he was teaching the next generation of rappers how to rap well because they would try to emulate him on the mic. Rakim today is still remembered as a living legend and his debut album "Paid In Full" is widely considered among the best albums ever. "I Ain't No Joke", "Follow The Leader" and Microphone Fiend" are all classics that were big for hip-hop in the late 80s.
Crazy Mike - Ma$e
Crazy Mike has been in and out of BBSBL enough times in the past for me to already to lose count. Thankfully, he seems at least a bit more committed to BBSBL than before. Similarly, Ma$e has been switching back and forth between being a rapper and pastor quite a few times since he originally decided to leave rap in 1999 in more or less a spiritual pursuit toward finding God.
Ma$e originally grew up in Harlem rapping with other Harlem greats Cam'ron and late Big L. He later met Puff Daddy and became Bad Boy Records' new featured artist in 1997 after the unfortunate death of the Notorious BIG. After leaving rap in 1999, Ma$e put out his 3rd album in 2004 and then later signed to 50 Cent's G-Unit records for a brief period. He'd then continue to go back and forth between rapping and being a pastor a few more times, but is currently focused on rap and putting out his first album in 10 years. Hopefully, Ma$e has now made up his mind for once and for all! Ugh.
Dave/d2acollectables - DMX
Dave was tough to figure out for a rapper comparison. I was trying to think of a rapper that was quiet, but also known for occasional anger outbursts that may have led to trouble of some sort. I considered ODB at first for his unpredictable and erratic behavior, but ultimately felt DMX was a better choice.
Not everything between Dave and DMX are the same. They were both born in the Baltimore area of Maryland and have been well known for their anger outbursts. However, while Dave just gets angry at people here and tries to do phone fights with people like Erbes, DMX has a very lengthy arrest record and what was once a great career hasn't been the same since because of all his legal problems.
This is not to say that Dave is necessarily as crazy as DMX, but both are quite prone to anger outbursts at any given moment.
DRowe - Fat Joe
DRowe and Fat Joe are both big guys that have been around BBSBL and rap respectively for a long time and have had success. Yet, they haven't get all the credit and respect they should be getting.
Few GM's here have been criticized more than DRowe for being inactive, yet his activity has improved significantly with time. Many people probably forgot DRowe won the AL Central in the first season of this league, but later, after years of having good but not great Indians teams, the Indians finally broke out in 2008 en route to a World Series appearance in which they lost to the Marlins. DRowe won the AL Central again in 2009 and looks to make it a 3-peat this season with yet another very strong team.
Could he have done a bit more in the recent trade frenzy? Of course, but I'm sure he isn't complaining, being that the Indians currently have the best record in the AL. I think it's about time DRowe gets a little more credit for the job he's recently done as a GM instead of all the "he's not active enough" talk still going on for no reason.
As for Fat Joe, he has been one of the most consistent rappers around for over 20 years, but when talks about the greatest of all time and best rapper alive talks come up, he is rarely ever mentioned. This is not to say that he is necessarily a top 5 or top 10 rapper of all time, but he sure as hell deserves to at least be included in the discussion. People really first got to know him with the Terror Squad, and the late Big Pun in particular. But after Pun's unfortunate death, Fat Joe put together a very good solo career that still has gone rather under the radar despite a few major hit singles here and there.
People here know DRowe's name and people all over the world know of Fat Joe, but they both deserve more recognition and praise for what they have done over time.
Erbes - Dr. Dre
Being that Erbes was the founder and original commissioner for BBSBL, it was only right to group him with someone that has done a lot for rap in quite a few different ways.
As a result, I paired Erbes with the one and only Dr. Dre. Dre has been by far one of the most influential people ever in rap. He has done it all as a rapper, producer, label head and entrepreneur. From Straight Outta Compton with NWA to The Chronic to launching the careers of Eminem and 50 Cent to changing the way people listen to audio forever with Beats by Dre, Dre has accomplished so much in his career.
Yet despite all that success, there was a period in the mid-late 90s where Dre got called out for not putting out more albums for everyone to listen to. Dre would eventually reference it heavily on his second album, 2001 and particularly on the song Forgot About Dre. Dre has done literally everything in his career in rap, so it's not like he really needed to put out more albums to satisfy the haters. And maybe one day, that Detox album will finally come out. More recently, Dre has worked with Kendrick Lamar, who is now signed to Dre's Aftermath label.
Erbes on the other hand was the commissioner here from the 1996 season until the end of the 2007 season. He did so much to get this league to become by far the most active OOTP league around and has simply put together a great league that many people have enjoyed being a part of. As a GM, Erbes may not have achieved the same kind of success Dre did with The Chronic in 1992, but he is certainly one of the most successful that has yet to win a championship. He started with the 1996 Yankees but traded many of those players in an attempt to show everyone that he wasn't going to be selfish and would look out for the greater good of the league.
Unfortunately, rather similarly to what Dre went through, while Erbes was taking hours and hours out of his days to make this league better and better, some GM's would continue to complain about Erbes supposedly not doing enough and screwing up certain things and making too many mistakes, among other stuff. People are human and Erbes did the best job he could. Nothing is perfect when it comes what commissioners do and the decisions they make, but Erbes always looked out for everyone and tried very hard to limit any bias as much as possible. It's sad that he doesn't get enough credit for the job he did as a commissioner. And it's sorta funny I say this because Erbes always thinks I try to bash him in every article and interview I do, but that's not entirely true, as shown right here.
All in all, Erbes and Dre have been great pioneers for BBSBL and West Coast rap respectively and set standards that probably won't ever be matched by any other league or rapper.
Game - The Game
Let's see. They're both known as "Game". They're both from LA born and raised. And maybe Game even spent some time living in Compton and/or really like's the music that The Game has put out.
Both Game's didn't become particularly successful at what they do right away. Game's Jays took years to finally reach their full potential before the World Series championship he won in 2003. And The Game's rap career didn't take off until late 2004. Both of them maintained their success for years, but haven't done as much in recent time. Game's last postseason appearance was in 2006 and The Game's most recent album was in 2012. While Game is now doing a full rebuild, hopefully The Game can put out new music sooner or later.
Greeme - Rick Ross
Greeme was difficult to match up with, just because of his quiet personality, among other things. The best I could come up with was Rick Ross because both Greeme and Ricky Rozay did not become notable and successful until later in their careers and neither were involved in BBSBL and rap respectively at the very beginning.
While Greeme has had his recent success and now probably thinks of himself as one of the best and most skilled GM's around, Rick Ross has depicted himself as a major drug dealer and more than likely has exaggerated quite a few things he has rapped about.
Again, this isn't a particularly great comparison generally speaking, but I couldn't really think of anyone better to compare Greeme to.
Greg - Cappadonna
Who is Cappadonna? The 10th member of the Wu-Tang Clan. The Wu originally had 9 members in the RZA, the GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa and of course, the late Ol Dirty Bastard. But Cappadonna has been as much of an official member of the Wu as anyone and in now pretty much an official part of the group. Yet he still might be forgettable regarding the Wu-Tang Clan. Certain names in the group are mentioned a lot, but Cappadonna is rarely ever included in those discussions. Cappadonna also left the Wu for a few years to be a cab driver after some disagreements with RZA over royalty payments, but eventually returned to the group.
Greg similarly has been around this league for 10 of its first 15 seasons, yet he has at times been a forgotten member because of how quiet he is and the lack of posting and socializing he has done here. He's had 4 winning records so far, yet all without any postseason appearances. This current season might finally be the time Greg actually gets to the playoffs and mostly because the rest of the division is in poor shape.
Basically, Greg and Cappadonna have been involved with BBSBL and the Wu-Tang Clan respectively for a long time, but haven't always made their actual presences known day in and day out.
JahAllStar - Ghostface Killah
Jah has gotten a lot of flack over time for sitting on his team and not making enough moves in the past to make his team better. At times this has been true, but then in other moments such as the recent frenzy, we have seen a different Jah that is actively making deals left and right. But despite all the shit some of us give Jah, he has arguably been the Iron Man of this league when it comes to putting together winning teams.
Despite just one division title and three total postseason appearances, Jah's Orioles had a winning record in each of the first 12 seasons from 1996-2007. That's right. He holds the record for most consecutive winning seasons. His one losing season was in 2008 and he then rebounded with another winning record in 2009. Currently, Jah looks as if he will put together his 14th winning record in 15 seasons. That in itself is very impressive for sure. Sure, we could connect Jah being BBSBL's Iron Man to the fact that he is a real life Orioles fan that grew up admiring Cal Ripken Jr. as his childhood idol, but we can go in another direction as well.
Enter Ghostface Killah, one of the founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan. He has many nicknames, but his two most notable nicknames are Tony Starks and Iron Man. And he has been the Iron Man of the Wu because of how consistent he has been over the years with his albums. He leads the group with 10 solo albums and has also been on two collaboration albums as well. Add all the work he put in on the Wu's group albums and featured appearances on the albums of other members of the group and Ghost has spent quite some time in the studio spitting bars.
Ghost may not always get the same national and global recognition as RZA, Method Man and Raekwon, but he has clearly been the most consistent member of the group with his solo career. And around here, Jah is relentless with putting together winning teams and he will avoid tanking at all costs because that's how he rolls.
Maxwell - Chief Keef
Max of course just recently joined BBSBL and because I haven't gotten to know him yet, the only possible comparison I could would be to compare him to some rapper that's pretty much brand new. For some reason, the first name that came to mind was Chief Keef, so that's what it's gonna be for now. Hopefully, we'll be able to get to know Max better with time and see what kind of personality he brings to the table.
Nanz - Redman
Nanz unfortunately isn't as active now compared to the past. But one thing that has stayed the same all this time is that Nanz is an entertainer at heart. The guy has his own unique style and personality and is never afraid to show it to the world. He's really good at lightening the mood when things here are not going well and he chimes in at times with one punchline after another. I mean, when you think of Nanz, you gotta think of Stamos, marmaduking and dick chopping as well. Those things are all a big part of Nanz's personality and while he's enjoyed quite a bit of success here including a championship in 2007, he will still post about Stamos, marmaduking and dick chopping no matter what. Win, loss, rain, shine, whatever. As far as Nanz sees things, everything here is all good.
Now I'm not sure if Nanz is a pothead, but regardless, a real good rapper comparison would have to be Funk Doctor Spock himself, Redman. Easily the best rapper out of New Jersey and the one and only Brick City that he proudly reps, Redman has been one of the best rappers ever for the past 22 years. I say 22 years because that's when his 1st album Whut Thee Album came out. He's had a lot of solo success and even more success with his best bud Method Man, plus his group Def Squad that features Keith Murray and Erick Sermon, who is better known as one half of the famous old school group EPMD.
But while Redman is a very gifted rapper and has put out some amazing songs and albums over the years, he is even more gifted at being an entertainer. His albums are amazing as is just from his rapping, but with some of the skits and other stuff he adds in to everything he puts together, it makes the records become gold. He's got all kinds of characters on those albums too, including his alterego Reggie Noble (which is actually Redman's real name), Uncle Quilly, Dr. Trevis, Soopaman Luva, the stickup skits he does on just about every album, the fictional WKYA radio reporters that wander into shootouts in the hood and the infamous Chickenhead Convention. Redman gives everything he has to offer on every album and that what makes his music that much better.
Nanz and Redman are two gifted individuals at what they do and I can only hope Nanz one day achieves the same kind of success with whatever he does as Redman has.
Steve - Busta Rhymes
Steve is another guy here that is a great presence on this forum, and at least partly because of the great sense of humor he adds. You pretty much never know what to expect from Steve at any given time. He will make some weird posts at times and then give even weirder answers to questions others may have or chime in on something in a way no one would expect anyone to. Steve defies all those odds and in a very successful way.
I considered ODB for a comparison with Steve as well for his own unpredictable behavior when he was alive, but I ultimately felt Busta Rhymes was a bit more of an accurate comparison. Busta Rhymes of course has been one of the best East Coast rappers around since the mid-90s. He has put together quite a few great albums and brought a very unique personality to the rap game.
While many rappers at the time were showing off all their nice clothes, cars and bling, Busta took a different approach and would poke fun at many things that people wouldn't expect to see in rap videos. The videos for "Woo Hah! Got You All in Check", "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See" and "Gimme Some More", among others are the best ways to describe Busta's style and personality because you really didn't know what to expect from him. Furthermore, he had the dreadlocks for many years and for a while, he'd always change up the design of those dreads and again, you'd never know what to expect them to look like.
Like Redman, Busta Rhymes in another rapper that is gifted at both rapping and entertaining. Unfortunately, he hasn't done as much in recent years, but hopefully we will see new material from him soon. He and Steve are both great providing unpredictable comedy...that's for sure.
Styro - Ice Cube
Styro and Ice Cube were both born and raised in LA and came into BBSBL and rap respectively with hardcore attitudes that they hoped no one would wanna fuck around with. Well then again, no one was really screwing around with Styro because he has always been one of the main trolls here since the very beginning. Early on, he'd ruthlessly target certain people and troll them to death and at times just wouldn't stop. It lasted a while until Styro got more busy with work and school. Since then, he hasn't been around the forum as often, but is still as much of a regular presence as anyone. And while he still trolls people sometimes, it's certainly not at the same level as it was well over a year ago.
Ice Cube on the other hand was born and raised in Compton and came to fame in the late 80s as part of NWA. Cube wrote over the lyrics for the entire Straight Outta Compton album, plus half of the lyrics for Eazy E's debut solo album as well, but left NWA after realizing he wasn't getting paid as much as he should have for all the lyrical contributions he made for the group. He then embarked on a very successful solo career and was a part of Westside Connection as well with WC and Mack 10. However, all the while, Cube's film career was developing as well and as the years went by, he spent less time in the studio and more time working on films. He later started putting out new albums as well, but nowadays, Cube is better known as a movie star than a rapper.
So while Styro and Ice Cube still troll and rap respectively like they've always done, it's not at the same level as before due to other priorities and commitments both have made in their lives.
NL edition coming soon!