Outrhymed On Your Own Track

Sometimes an emcee will ask another emcee to drop a verse on his song.  For the most part, this process is relatively simple.  The featured emcee usually emails his verse and the producers mix it and the song is complete.  At times, the emcee asks the other artist to drop a verse because of the chemistry they have with each other on wax, or it could be motivated by a need to sell more records. Either way, there have been times when the emcee whose album the record will be featured on is completely in over his head.  No matter who your favorite emcee may be, if he/she has been around long enough, he/she has likely been outshined on his or her own track.  Below, I will briefly discuss my favorite tracks where one emcee stole the show on another emcees project.

As much as I hate to admit it, the poster child for being outrhymed on his own track is none other than Jay-Z.  Jay-Z released a classic album in 2001 entitled The Blueprint.  The production, lyrics and overall feel of this album is second to none.  The album would have been perfect if it were not for the song entitled “Renegade.”  Jay-Z definitely came with great lyrics but he was outshined on his own song.  Eminem’s verse was one of the best I have heard to date.   In an act you rarely see in hip hop culture, Jay-Z seemed to admit that Eminem out dueled him on a track on Blueprint 3.  For the longest time I was in denial, but now, I must admit Eminem outrhymed Hov on “Renegade.”  Check out the audio and make your own decision.

In 1995, Raekwon released the critically acclaimed album, Only Built For Cuban Linx.   This is one of my favorite albums and Raekwon is my favorite emcee from the Wu Tang Clan.  Despite this, I must admit he made the mistake of asking a young, hungry and focused Nasir Jones to appear on the best track on the album, “Verbal Intercourse.”  The track featured Nas and Ghostface.  All three emcees brought great lyrics to the song, but Nas’ verse embodies excellence and is light years ahead of the other verses on the song. Check it out.

In 1997, The Lost Boys, a hip hop group from Queens, New York released their second album entitled, Love, Peace and Nappiness.  The Lost Boyz were definitely a well respected group at that time.  “Beasts From The East” is widely considered to be one of the best posse tracks of all time.  The song featured A+, Redman and Canibus.  All of the verses on this track were good, but Canibus shut the song down with his verse.  He was the last emcee to rhyme and you could tell he had something to prove on the track.  I think he proved his point.  Check it out. 

In 2004, Kanye West released The College Dropout album.  At this particular time, he was not the lyricist he is now.  As a result, he took a major loss on the track “Never Let Me Down” which featured Jay-Z.  Kanye’s verse was not bad, but it could not compete with the verse Hov dropped.  Check it out.

In 1997, the Notorious B.I.G. released the album entitled Life After Death.  At the time the album was released, Bone Thugs n Harmony was a very successful group and their rhyme style was different than most because they rhymed very fast.  Up until this album, I had not heard anyone flip their style better than they did.  However, once I heard B.I.G.’s verse on “Notorious Thugs” I had to add them to the list of being outshined, even though that was not their album.  In their defense, B.I.G. is widely considered the greatest emcee of all time.  Check it out.

Mase released the Harlem World Album in 1997.  On the track, “24 Hour to Live,” Mase had the worst verse on his own song.  The track featured Black Rob, The Lox and DMX. Every artist featured on the track was a better lyricist than Mase and I do not think anyone was surprised that he was outrhymed on his own song.  I think DMX had the best verse on the track.  Check it out.

Peace