What's good, y'all, this is J.I., and I'm about to see which one of these classic New
York rap hits gets my cosign.
When I think about New York rap, I think about the 90s.
It's funny, I kind of hated listening to old school music.
I didn't really appreciate it until I started making my own music.
You come to New York and you feel different energy.
The lifestyle is different, the people are different.
We contribute to culture regardless of what it is.
We always somehow contribute with like Biggie, Jay Z, Nas, Mobb Deep, all these rappers that came out.
Big Pun, for sure, as far as the Spanish heritage, because he was heavy on the Puerto Rican heritage
and where he came from and I feel like that's something I want to continue.
This is a classic.
Ooh!
Yeah this is a classic.
That's crazy, because he shot that right where I live at.
That's by the Brooklyn Museum.
It's crazy.
Their swag was different back then.
Like you see the coats they got on, their jackets they got on.
I got it made.
That’s OD, but I'm a big fan of Special Ed.
I was probably like three or four because this is something that my dad would play a
lot and my mom.
And then you go to parties with older people and they play it too.
Like barbecues and parties.
I grew up listening to that song.
That's a classic for sure.
I feel starting off young is the perfect time to start off because you have time to fulfill
your legacy if you're going to become something great.
I see Khaled.
Everybody was in this video. That’s the crazy thing.
He had mad people in his video.
Lean back (laughs).
There go Remy.
I ain't even gonna lie, when this came out BX was hot.
Nah, Remy Ma a G.O.A.T. She definitely a G.O.A.T.
Top five female rappers of all time.
She up there for sure.
I love these type of videos.
Cause it's like, there was always a story.
Like it's different now the videos now are way different.
Like each scene had a story and each scene was like, meaningful.
It’s crazy.
Like I'm watching it, and the dude trying to get through the metal detectors.
They make him take his clothes off and stuff like that.
Like, it’s mad funny.
But that's the typical type of music video you would see back then in the early 2000s.
Definitely impacted Fat Joe's career for sure and put him on the map.
“Talk about…” Yeah, I know this. “And me.”
I’ma be real.
This is hard.
Like out of all three songs, this is different.
The way they're breaking down the whole topic.
As soon as the song starts, like you hear the girl like, “Should we talk about it?”
And it's dope, cause it's all females too.
I don't know why that might be the one so far.
I don't know. I got to see.
Because the whole concept.
Nah, this is, and this is a classic, but that's what makes it a classic.
This is crazy.
I feel like if you're on that type of route, as far as raising awareness, you just got
to do it the right way.
People are strict nowadays as far as what they want to hear and what they feel is dope
as far as, you know, the quality of music being put out.
It’s just different now, ‘cause as far as the new and upcoming rappers, they're not
really doing it.
Like that's not the stuff being glorified, feel me?
That's my guy, Mos Def.
It's funny, ya know, cause my video guy takes dollar vans.
A dollar van is literally like a van that picks people up
and it takes you like, around the area that you need to go.
This is crazy.
The crazy thing is I’ve never heard this before.
And I know about Mos Def, I'm a big fan of him, but this record here is crazy.
The lyricism is always there with him as far as like when it comes to him delivering?
He always delivers, but the beat, it's just the way he was flowing.
Like he wasn't stopping.
That's why it's like, that's crazy.
Like, he's golden for sure.
That video was hard and that, nah, that's different.
I've never heard that record before.
I don't recognize as far as anybody.
This is fire.
I already know something crazy probably going to happen because, it's just the way he's
getting in detail with like, I don't know.
It's just hard, I like this.
I'm going to pause it real quick.
What I really like is how, for one he's descriptive.
He's just in the conversation that he's having with a female, like it's a typical conversation.
He's like, "Nah."
I think he said, "Philly's burn slow," or something.
Like that's mad random, who would even have time to put that in the song.
But the storytelling, it fits perfectly because it adds onto the story.
Then he's reminiscing on, "Why'd my shorty have to die?", and then a ghetto love.
It relates to the streets, what goes on in the streets as far as finding love and what
you got to deal with every day.
This is hard because it's aggressive too, he's not holding nothing back and it's just
a straight gritty video.
I like it.
This a classic for sure. Free Bobby. Free Rowdy, man.
This the highlight.
“SUBwave, free Breezy.”
“And tell my, Shmurda teaming, ho, ...caught a body about a week ago.”
It's crazy too, because it is a modern classic.
It's a record that caught everybody's attention
Once everybody heard that record, anybody was doing the Shmoney Dance, everybody knew
who Bobby Shmurda was.
Then they got locked up.
It was legendary.
The whole thing, the whole movement was legendary.
Like, Bobby had more time added to his sentence just so Rowdy could come home at the same
time as him, like that's real.
You feel me?
Nobody doing that nowadays, and it's rare.
I hope they come home and they make fire, because I'm going to be mad if they come home
and they don't release nothing.
Every artist on there definitely is a legend in their own way.
Special Ed was dope because he had punchlines and "I got it made,” you feel me?
It's nothing to brag about, it speaks for itself.
“Lean Back.”
That's a super classic, especially in my time period.
Salt-N-Pepa, “Let’s Talk About Sex,” that was a dope record, I liked that record a lot.
Black Star is fire.
I like that record with Mos Def, especially because his delivery on that record, got straight
to the point.
I love artists like that.
Lost Boyz, “Renee.”
It's an aggressive love story.
You can relate to it if you grew up in that type of environment and you see what you see.
Bobby Shmurda, “Hot Boy,” classic in the hood.
As far as the Shmoney Dance, then the music, the hype music that came behind it, I'm just
waiting for them to come home.
I hope they can continue, you feel me?
After watching all the New York classic rap videos, the rap video that gets my cosign
is Lost Boyz, “Renee.”
Like I said earlier, it had a hopeless feel to it as far as just having love in that type
of environment, growing up in the ghetto and falling in love.
You feel me?
It's dope, and it looked like it belonged in a movie.
The story plot was just, I liked it a lot.
As far as all the videos I watched, none of them were the same.
That's the thing, you can't.
Maybe “Hot Boy,” you could compare it to the drill scene, but the old school videos,
you can't compare it to New York City videos now because those videos are classics.
I don't want to say that people don't have classics now to this day, but those videos
are different, as far as the story plots, the way people dressed and looked and carried
themselves back then, it was completely different.
Prince of New York was just my Instagram name.
And then I went on TV and that's what they thought my name was.
So, I just ran with it, but I feel like I view myself too highly to put myself in the
category as a Prince and a King.
You got to get on your knees to pray to me, you understand me?
I view myself as a God.
Don't put me in a category with no Prince or no King, I feel like...
But at the same time it was my Instagram name, so I kind of put it upon myself.
You feel me?