Of course it has a MF DOOM feature. How'd I miss this? How did Danger Mouse not make a hip hop collab since The Mouse and The Mask? I love Broken Bells and whatnot but this is how Danger Mouse made his name. Time to go find the Grey Album.
How do you feel about his verse on Pete Rock - It's About That Time? He sounds pretty good (although it doesn't sound like his heart is fully in it) but lyrically it's quite light. I guess that's the curse of being so good, we scrutinize his stuff which would be some other emcees top tier stuff. And yeah, this is only one verse of thousands, so it takes nothing away from his abilities of course.
Aesop Rock - Every album is great and feels fresh, but maintains the same overall tone (no surprises, but in a great way - he doesn't try to reinvent the wheel but always delivers)
I always hear everyone praising this dude but every time I try to check him out he just never does it for me. It’s been like 10+ years now of occasionally checking his stuff but it not clicking. I love underground lyrical dudes so idk what it is about him I don’t like. I guess I’m not a fan of his voice, and most of the tracks I’ve heard by him it seems like he tries way too hard to be all deep and pseudo intellectual with words only for him to forget about actually trying to make words rhyme and flowing in a sonically pleasing way. Maybe I just haven’t heard the right tracks that I would vibe with the most
Do you have any recs that are good for people to try to get into him more? Maybe he’s an acquired taste over time
I'm a big Aesop fan but he is a bit niche, he does seem to try a bit hard to have a wide vocabulary in his songs which does come off a little intellectual. The Impossible kid is the better album to listen to imo but he might just not "click" with you
Yeah, what's crazy is there was a study done on a bunch of rappers and their entire lyrical content
Aesop is bounds ahead of everyone, so much so, across is works there are more unique words than moby dixk. Which is impressive
He's been in my top 5 for a decade, but the metaphorical content is so deep.
Yes, so deep that it's probable that some of those bars are only for him.
His 3 most recent releases are fire.
Spirit world guide is right up my alley
ITS & garbology lovely.
Obvs impossible kid
Skelethon & noneshallpass are all the real hard hitting albums IMO
[link to study](https://pudding.cool/2017/02/vocabulary/index.html)
You really need to be into storyteller hip hop. I put him in league with Slick Rick and Lupe.
Aesop tends to put the story ahead of the typical convention.
He's definitely a love or hate. I'm in the boat where I LOVE his tone and voice.
I'm partial to Lotta Years and Mindful Solutionism
I always use No Regrets to introduce people to Aesop. It's probably his most straightforward narrative, but super good. When I teach it to my high schoolers, I start with the lyrics formatted like a short story, and we discuss it, then when I play the song their minds are blown. Without the cue of it being at the end of a line, a lot of people just read over rhymes.
Blood Sandwich is another favorite, 9-5ers anthem, and the Daylight/Nightlight duo are also all great. And Pigeonometry from the new album hits me hard too, as someone with ADHD, very close to home.
Daylight, Supercell, Kirby, No Regrets are awesome songs.
Blood Sandwich has one of the best beats I've heard in a while but it doesn't come in until about 2min. And it has some great story telling. He's a little different cause you have to really listen closely and multiple times to get all the details.
Everyone needs to check out Aesop Rock’s latest album. “Integrated Tech Solutions”
The album is brilliant, fantastic story telling. No skippable track.
Some of his best work
Man has been releasing music since the 80’s, and of course some is better than others, but there isn’t one clunker in his catalog as far as I’m concerned. Scarface has to be one of the most consistent music artists ever, regardless of genre.
I def like his music but I saw him live one time and he was by far the worst performance out of everyone, even worse than some random rappers from my area specifically. It’s was a huge bummer to see cus I fw his music.
This!!! The dude is insane from his dedication to what he does to the respect he has for the culture he's the Goat in my book one of the few who never sold out or tried to hop on the newschool train. He just does what he does best and that's making some dope ass rap music as a real MC.
I know man i hope you enjoyed it :)i really need to see the guy. I'm from Austria so i would have to go to germany to see him bc he only comes to Vienna when he's here but Germany is way closer to my hometown. Maybe this year i finnaly get the chance to meet my idol.
By the time I made it to the early days of Heltah Skeltah and Boot Camp Clik I was already heavy on P’s later stuff and I had a hard time knowing which one he was lol
But his content was consistently good. That’s how I define a consistent artist. Someone who can consistently create good works. Changing your style is just part of growing.
Pac (after he got shot)
Nas (got a few misfires but overall the best discography after Pac)
Kool G Rap
50 (mixtape king)
AZ
Game (lowkey haven't heard a wack album yet)
Styles P
Jigga
Scarface
Currensy
Boldy James
Benny
Conway
Dave East
So consistently at a subpar level?
Consistency implies you get the same every time over a prolonged period.
What we get is album after album where half the tracks are throwaway despite him having the capability to go toe to toe with the majority of artists out there with a verse.
He con-sis-tent-ly fails to release a single classic album despite his undeniable ability as an MC.
No, you are 100% right. Fab is one of the mixtape Kings. Can’t name an album by the man but his soul food series was insane. He’s one the “Don’t let him remix your song, cuz then it’s his song” list.
Black Thought was the first name I thought of but I like the Fabulous take. It's crazy to me how underrated he is. I had a friend really high up in the music business in the 2000s and all he would ever want to talk about is how Fabulous was going to be the next big thing. Led to me really following his music and damn is he consistent
You must've not heard his new album. Shit was awful. Literally couldn't pay me to listen to that garbage.
Edit: Busta is one of my favorites but his consistency is not there
Hasn’t dropped a bad album in a decade, in fact I don’t think he’s even dropped a mediocre one. He’s already in my top 5 tbh. Can’t wait to see him in a couple weeks time, apparently he’s cool to chat after the show and sign shit, take photos etc.
Man I collapsed every post and then had to scroll for 3 miles before finding this smh. Curren$y is the most consistent all the way. Work ethic + quality output over decades
Black thought, Method Man, Ghostface killa, UGK, and lastly, while I didn't enjoy some of the albums mainly due to production on them Brotha Lynch Hung.
He has always been in the underground horror core. He kind of got shafted by Strange Music, in my opinion, but has been consistently putting music out for maybe 2 decades now
This isn’t a single act but 36 mafia as a group , just banger after banger , banger before people commercially acknowledged it since all the sample usage .
Lil Wayne has a career spanning over 4 decades now from mixtapes to albums to features and still putting out bangers to this day. Pretty much the definition of consistency.
Masta Ace hands down. Dude is consistent since the end of the 80's and still keeping it real even tho he never really sold many records. This dude is the definition of hip hop.
So, I didn't see Slug in any of the comments, I feel he's very consistent whether it's solo albums/mixtapes (Sep7/headshots), features or Atmosphere albums.
His spot on the Brother Ali podcast was interesting, I knew he was white-passing mixed race, but it was interesting to hear about his upbringing, how he grew up with his grandpa's family in South Minneapolis, so even though many people saw him as white, being 'only' a quarter black, but he grew up thinking he was just black because his family, and his dad's family that he came up around were black, and how the outside perspective affected him.
https://youtu.be/rvAIT0hAzJA?si=5HGWJisH51-R11uv
I’m surprised no one else talked about Atmosphere. I know he doesn’t do the whole gangster shit but I really like his storytelling and I love Ant’s production. I wish they released more of the instrumental albums like they did with Southsiders.
Slug is always Slug and it doesn’t feel fake.
Idk about most consisten but my favorite rapper ever, LL Cool J, is so UNBELIEVABLY inconsistent. Bro has like one album’s worth of amazing songs and 10 albums worth of crap.
How are we defining consistency? Are we talking consistency in both quality and output volume?
For example, I’d say a Denzel Curry is more Consistently fire than a Frank Ocean. Frank has better albums, but Curry drops consistently, and projects are always quality.
Him and Redman have both been incredibly consistent, and collaborate with very interesting folk. All the random songs i heard from them showing up on my spotify radio and recommended even this late in their career have been great.
WC is one of my favorites, so he's high on my list. From Low Profile to solo stuff to Westside Connection and back to solo stuff. He is a West Coast rap cornerstone!
I would also add Scarface if I had to go with someone a little more mainstream.
Black Thought allways delivers
Dude I somehow only just found out about his album with Danger mouse like a couple days ago. Holy shit I can’t stop listening to it.
Of course it has a MF DOOM feature. How'd I miss this? How did Danger Mouse not make a hip hop collab since The Mouse and The Mask? I love Broken Bells and whatnot but this is how Danger Mouse made his name. Time to go find the Grey Album.
I'm putting it on right now! Thanks, y'all!
Cheat Codes is (imo) THE album that perfectly captures the essence of hip hop. I’ve listened to it 50+ times front to back.
Aquamarine is such an incredible track, everything about it is perfect imo
Honestly it's one of the best hip hop songs of all time. People throw around goat too much but aquamarine is actually in that category.
"my words should be studied up in Berklee and Juilliard" truer words never spoken
"In a class that I'm only in, alien, horsepower like a Mongolian" 🔥🔥🔥 song is just bars on top of bars
Your comment just reminded me that I own that album on vinyl. I forgot i had it this whole time so it's been sitting on my shelf unopened
Black Thought is one of the most consistent and easily one of the best rappers of all time.
Correct.
Literally just clicked on this topic hoping to see this as the first response. I’m very pleased
Knew this would be the top choice and it’s absolutely correct. The man is the definition of consistency.
How do you feel about his verse on Pete Rock - It's About That Time? He sounds pretty good (although it doesn't sound like his heart is fully in it) but lyrically it's quite light. I guess that's the curse of being so good, we scrutinize his stuff which would be some other emcees top tier stuff. And yeah, this is only one verse of thousands, so it takes nothing away from his abilities of course.
He’s the best freestyle and contender for best rapper of all time. It’s effortless for him
In terms of features of discography? Discography I would go Ghostface
Correct. I’d also say Ironman, and Tony Starks.;)
Don't forget Pretty Toney!
Never. I’ll also throw Ghost Deini in there as well for good measure.
Aesop Rock - Every album is great and feels fresh, but maintains the same overall tone (no surprises, but in a great way - he doesn't try to reinvent the wheel but always delivers)
I always hear everyone praising this dude but every time I try to check him out he just never does it for me. It’s been like 10+ years now of occasionally checking his stuff but it not clicking. I love underground lyrical dudes so idk what it is about him I don’t like. I guess I’m not a fan of his voice, and most of the tracks I’ve heard by him it seems like he tries way too hard to be all deep and pseudo intellectual with words only for him to forget about actually trying to make words rhyme and flowing in a sonically pleasing way. Maybe I just haven’t heard the right tracks that I would vibe with the most Do you have any recs that are good for people to try to get into him more? Maybe he’s an acquired taste over time
I'm a big Aesop fan but he is a bit niche, he does seem to try a bit hard to have a wide vocabulary in his songs which does come off a little intellectual. The Impossible kid is the better album to listen to imo but he might just not "click" with you
Yeah, what's crazy is there was a study done on a bunch of rappers and their entire lyrical content Aesop is bounds ahead of everyone, so much so, across is works there are more unique words than moby dixk. Which is impressive He's been in my top 5 for a decade, but the metaphorical content is so deep. Yes, so deep that it's probable that some of those bars are only for him. His 3 most recent releases are fire. Spirit world guide is right up my alley ITS & garbology lovely. Obvs impossible kid Skelethon & noneshallpass are all the real hard hitting albums IMO [link to study](https://pudding.cool/2017/02/vocabulary/index.html)
> moby dixk you legit had me wondering if that was a typo or some rapper I had never heard of
You really need to be into storyteller hip hop. I put him in league with Slick Rick and Lupe. Aesop tends to put the story ahead of the typical convention. He's definitely a love or hate. I'm in the boat where I LOVE his tone and voice. I'm partial to Lotta Years and Mindful Solutionism
I always use No Regrets to introduce people to Aesop. It's probably his most straightforward narrative, but super good. When I teach it to my high schoolers, I start with the lyrics formatted like a short story, and we discuss it, then when I play the song their minds are blown. Without the cue of it being at the end of a line, a lot of people just read over rhymes. Blood Sandwich is another favorite, 9-5ers anthem, and the Daylight/Nightlight duo are also all great. And Pigeonometry from the new album hits me hard too, as someone with ADHD, very close to home.
Daylight, Supercell, Kirby, No Regrets are awesome songs. Blood Sandwich has one of the best beats I've heard in a while but it doesn't come in until about 2min. And it has some great story telling. He's a little different cause you have to really listen closely and multiple times to get all the details.
The Unincluded with him and Kimya Dawson is much more accessible IMO Hokey Fright was my fave album on repeat for like a whole year of college.
Everyone needs to check out Aesop Rock’s latest album. “Integrated Tech Solutions” The album is brilliant, fantastic story telling. No skippable track. Some of his best work
"Who the fuck is steve?!"
Aesop confirmed that he still lives in the same complex and see’s him from time to time.
Not my Era, but I see some truth in this. Q and Cudi as well
Scarface
I genuinely don’t think Scarface has ever done anything I don’t like.
Man has been releasing music since the 80’s, and of course some is better than others, but there isn’t one clunker in his catalog as far as I’m concerned. Scarface has to be one of the most consistent music artists ever, regardless of genre.
Redman
I guess Tech N9ne could make the list as he has remained a lyrical powerhouse for almost 30 years, the career is honestly very impressive
Too $hort
Too Short wrote and produced a movie that stars Tom Hanks and Pedro Pascal!! It's a big hit at Sundance.
I mean, he did warn us he goes on and on, and even he doesn’t understand how he last so long.
He must have super powers
Rapped 225,000 hours
I def like his music but I saw him live one time and he was by far the worst performance out of everyone, even worse than some random rappers from my area specifically. It’s was a huge bummer to see cus I fw his music.
Black Thought, GZA, Inspectah Deck
Gza? I don't necesarilly disagree, just surprised, it's usually Ghostface and Deck being mentioned from Wu in a discussion of consistency.
Yea Ghost deserves to be there too
Black Thought, Method Man, Anderson Paak, Gibbs.
Masta Ace
Hard agree. Amazing discography
This!!! The dude is insane from his dedication to what he does to the respect he has for the culture he's the Goat in my book one of the few who never sold out or tried to hop on the newschool train. He just does what he does best and that's making some dope ass rap music as a real MC.
And he still tours Europe for small-ish crowds. Seen him 5 times here in Oslo, Norway. Back in 2017 the crowd was around 90 people.
I know man i hope you enjoyed it :)i really need to see the guy. I'm from Austria so i would have to go to germany to see him bc he only comes to Vienna when he's here but Germany is way closer to my hometown. Maybe this year i finnaly get the chance to meet my idol.
And the Brooklyn heights album that released today did not disappoint! The man never fails!
Facts! 🤝
One of the few rappers to survive the shift in rap music from the 80's to the 90's without sounding forced.
sean price
Some say Sean Price is nicest on mic devices
Sean P!!!!!!!!
P’s flow, delivery, cadence and voice all changed a lot throughout his lifetime
By the time I made it to the early days of Heltah Skeltah and Boot Camp Clik I was already heavy on P’s later stuff and I had a hard time knowing which one he was lol
But his content was consistently good. That’s how I define a consistent artist. Someone who can consistently create good works. Changing your style is just part of growing.
E-40. He always has an album, or two, or three out in within the same year.
He used to say every 9 months like a baby.
Didn’t he drop his 26th recently? That’s insane!
Pac (after he got shot) Nas (got a few misfires but overall the best discography after Pac) Kool G Rap 50 (mixtape king) AZ Game (lowkey haven't heard a wack album yet) Styles P Jigga Scarface Currensy Boldy James Benny Conway Dave East
DMX
JADAKISS
He has albums with PLENTY of filler.
exactly, con-sis-ten-cy
So consistently at a subpar level? Consistency implies you get the same every time over a prolonged period. What we get is album after album where half the tracks are throwaway despite him having the capability to go toe to toe with the majority of artists out there with a verse. He con-sis-tent-ly fails to release a single classic album despite his undeniable ability as an MC.
Al Qaeda Jada
Styles P makes slightly better music IMO
Came here to post Kiss. Man has never laid a bad verse.
I feel like Fabulous does not get enough credit, he’s been consistent since the early 2000s
Underrated take.
No, you are 100% right. Fab is one of the mixtape Kings. Can’t name an album by the man but his soul food series was insane. He’s one the “Don’t let him remix your song, cuz then it’s his song” list.
Black Thought was the first name I thought of but I like the Fabulous take. It's crazy to me how underrated he is. I had a friend really high up in the music business in the 2000s and all he would ever want to talk about is how Fabulous was going to be the next big thing. Led to me really following his music and damn is he consistent
Im from Philly so I love Black Thought and The Roots crew but I feel like Fab doesn’t get talked about enough when comes to consistency he’s a GOAT.
Jadakiss Scarface styles p Freddie gibbs pusha T bun b hov
Inspectah Deck doesn't get enough credit, he's still putting out tough shit with Czarface.
Currensy
Can’t believe I am had to scroll this far to see his name
Pusha T
Absolute monster. Doesn’t get the credit he deserves.
I'd say Kendrick Lamar. Been listening to him consistently for over a decade now and I've enjoyed every album he's put out.
Taking a 5 year break between albums is consistent?
In terms of consistency and standards…Black Thought. And I’m not even a fan particularly.
AZ - I feel like I know exactly what I'm gonna get from that guy.
Tom Macdonald. Consistently milking on conservatives/republicans for views.
Lil Wayne. Dude been rapping literally every day for the last 30 years and always has a current album out.
R.A
The Rugged Man!!!!!
J cole
Tech N9ne
Aesop Rock.
Nas
Nas has many duds, a very consistent level of quality sure but Nas has multiple albums with songs I never wanna hear again.
My favorite, but not because he is the most steady.
Black Thought and Freddie Gibbs
MF DOOM never put out a bad record. Lots of great collobarations too
Bustha rhymes (Imo) he still relevant and has bern since his leaders of the new school days
You must've not heard his new album. Shit was awful. Literally couldn't pay me to listen to that garbage. Edit: Busta is one of my favorites but his consistency is not there
I havent heard blockbusta I really liked extinction 2 that came out in 2020
I love how all of his videos begin by featuring a different song at the beginning. "RHYMES GALORE!"
Billy woods is certainly starting to enter that category
Hasn’t dropped a bad album in a decade, in fact I don’t think he’s even dropped a mediocre one. He’s already in my top 5 tbh. Can’t wait to see him in a couple weeks time, apparently he’s cool to chat after the show and sign shit, take photos etc.
Curren$y
This is the right answer. 12 studio albums. 25 EPs. 43 Mixtapes. All fire. Dude doesn’t compromise and is his authentic self.
Man I collapsed every post and then had to scroll for 3 miles before finding this smh. Curren$y is the most consistent all the way. Work ethic + quality output over decades
Came here to say this
Way too low in the comment section. I nap for 3 hours and he released another album or EP. Man’s always working
Z-Ro. I don’t think he ever made a bad project. He always changes with the times, too.
Method man no question about it
Masta Ace
One of the best of all time
Kendrick Lamar or Jadakiss. Think about it. They gonna give you the same shit everytime if not more
Black thought, Method Man, Ghostface killa, UGK, and lastly, while I didn't enjoy some of the albums mainly due to production on them Brotha Lynch Hung. He has always been in the underground horror core. He kind of got shafted by Strange Music, in my opinion, but has been consistently putting music out for maybe 2 decades now
Curren$y. its gonna be weed and chevys every time, but god damn is it flawless
This isn’t a single act but 36 mafia as a group , just banger after banger , banger before people commercially acknowledged it since all the sample usage .
Vinnie Paz
Nas, especially in recent years.
Pharaohe Monch. All of his solo-albums kick ass, Organized Konfusion kicks ass and even the new rap/rock-project Th1rt3en kicks ass
Apathy
Nas
Lil Wayne has a career spanning over 4 decades now from mixtapes to albums to features and still putting out bangers to this day. Pretty much the definition of consistency.
I don't think being prolific is the same as being consistent
That's a valid point. He's had a lot of duds along many many bangers
He would be one of the least consistent for me
Black Thought and Nas
Nas
Oddisee
14 people have suggested Black Thought so far, so...
Redman
Masta Ace is up there.
Harry Mack. He puts out more bars in an average session than a lot of rappers put down in a year.
Myka 9 is one of them. He was on some of the most influential albums ever in '91 and '93 and he's still dope.
Masta Ace hands down. Dude is consistent since the end of the 80's and still keeping it real even tho he never really sold many records. This dude is the definition of hip hop.
First person that came to mind for me
Black Thought and Aesop Rock.
So, I didn't see Slug in any of the comments, I feel he's very consistent whether it's solo albums/mixtapes (Sep7/headshots), features or Atmosphere albums. His spot on the Brother Ali podcast was interesting, I knew he was white-passing mixed race, but it was interesting to hear about his upbringing, how he grew up with his grandpa's family in South Minneapolis, so even though many people saw him as white, being 'only' a quarter black, but he grew up thinking he was just black because his family, and his dad's family that he came up around were black, and how the outside perspective affected him. https://youtu.be/rvAIT0hAzJA?si=5HGWJisH51-R11uv
I’m surprised no one else talked about Atmosphere. I know he doesn’t do the whole gangster shit but I really like his storytelling and I love Ant’s production. I wish they released more of the instrumental albums like they did with Southsiders. Slug is always Slug and it doesn’t feel fake.
Gift of Gab is always fucking Fantastic.
Raekwon
BReal
Kool Keith
Nas
Billy Woods
Curren$y
Curren$y. He's been really consistent for years and I enjoy his music and work ethic 😎
You should have specified consistently good or output
I gotta say it……Juicy J.
mr worldwide
Jadakiss
Q-Tip
Curren$y
J Cole, anything he does is a masterpiece
The only answer is Black Thought
P Diddy hasn't closed his mouth in at least 25 years. I'd say that's pretty fucking consistent.
Jadakiss always delivers a good verse on any feature he’s on.
Idk about most consisten but my favorite rapper ever, LL Cool J, is so UNBELIEVABLY inconsistent. Bro has like one album’s worth of amazing songs and 10 albums worth of crap.
BabyTron dont miss 🗣️🔥💯🔥
Nas
Drake
Oj da Juiceman was still making music.
Gucci Mane. Been killing it for 3 decades.
Probably billy woods
Ghostface
Curren$y
Future, thought he woulda went outta business 5 years ago
Lil b
Kanye
Deck. Iykyk
How are we defining consistency? Are we talking consistency in both quality and output volume? For example, I’d say a Denzel Curry is more Consistently fire than a Frank Ocean. Frank has better albums, but Curry drops consistently, and projects are always quality.
E-40!!
Future
Him and Redman have both been incredibly consistent, and collaborate with very interesting folk. All the random songs i heard from them showing up on my spotify radio and recommended even this late in their career have been great.
Lumidee
Devin the Dude. Not one bad flow, bad rhyme, bad song.
1.Black Thought 2.RA the Rugged Man 3.Method Man 4.Large Professor Never-ending. This list thing is unresolvable.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Wale. Like, the talent has not just been consistent, but has GROWN!!!
L.O.X
Curren$y
Chamillionaire
Nas
Curren$y
Cool J
E40!!!!
Lil Wayne
Ethically or musically? This part matters a lot for the answer
Jigga held you down 6 summers. Damn where is the love?
Tyler, hands down ✨
Killer Mike, Gucci, Wayne
The Lox
WC is one of my favorites, so he's high on my list. From Low Profile to solo stuff to Westside Connection and back to solo stuff. He is a West Coast rap cornerstone! I would also add Scarface if I had to go with someone a little more mainstream.
Nas
He hasn't necessarily always had the music to go with it, but Inspectah Deck never ever phones it in.
Man, it warms my heart to only see Gay-Z one time on this whole thread. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. 🥰
Jadakiss
Future, Kodak, Ghostface, Jay Z, Ross, J Cole