I realized Jay-Z hasn't a big solo hit. As in a hit without a feature on it. The last single that was big which was just him. Was Show Me What You Got in 06. The rest all had featured rappers or singers on them. Eminem has only had a few too without features or singers.

Do you prefer rappers solo? or rappers with lots of features? i feel like the features thing is getting crazy. Every album has 8-10 guest spots on it

Jay has almost always had features, even in the prime of his career his singles were things like "Can I Get A" with Ja Rule, "I Just Wanna Love U" with Pharrell, "Big Pimpin" with UGK....... Blueprint was the one album where there was no features except the Eminem feature on Renegade, all the singles from that record were Jay solo..... but that album is mostly the exception and not the rule.

Militant said:

I keep reading the title of this thread "Rappers With Huge Tits That Don't Have Features".

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Militant said:

Jay has almost always had features, even in the prime of his career his singles were things like "Can I Get A" with Ja Rule, "I Just Wanna Love U" with Pharrell, "Big Pimpin" with UGK....... Blueprint was the one album where there was no features except the Eminem feature on Renegade, all the singles from that record were Jay solo..... but that album is mostly the exception and not the rule.

Hard Knock Life ... his breakout hit was him alone.

True.

But that was actually his 13th single. 7 of those singles had features on.

Militant said:

Jay has almost always had features, even in the prime of his career his singles were things like "Can I Get A" with Ja Rule, "I Just Wanna Love U" with Pharrell, "Big Pimpin" with UGK....... Blueprint was the one album where there was no features except the Eminem feature on Renegade, all the singles from that record were Jay solo..... but that album is mostly the exception and not the rule.

That's always bugged me about Jay. He is always full of features... i mean Kanye is too. But even on The College Dropout. Kanye had solo hits with Jesus Walk & Through The Wire. Which were all him. And some of his other biggest hits (Stronger, Love Lockdown, Heartless, Power) were just him solo.

Public Enemy & Run-DMC didn't have many features. At least in their prime era.

You should not consider features a weakness. It actually takes a certain kind of talent to collaborate well with others without smothering their styles.

And besides, he had plenty solo hits
"Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)"
"I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)"
"Izzo (H.O.V.A.)"
"99 Problems"
"Encore"
"Dirt Off Your Shoulder"
"Show Me What You Got"
"Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)"

Cinny said:

You should not consider features a weakness. It actually takes a certain kind of talent to collaborate well with others without smothering their styles.

And besides, he had plenty solo hits
"Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)"
"I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)"
"Izzo (H.O.V.A.)"
"99 Problems"
"Encore"
"Dirt Off Your Shoulder"
"Show Me What You Got"
"Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)"

I Just Wanna Love U isn't really a solo hit, because Pharrell sings the chorus.

Cinny said:

You should not consider features a weakness. It actually takes a certain kind of talent to collaborate well with others without smothering their styles.

And besides, he had plenty solo hits
"Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)"
"I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)"
"Izzo (H.O.V.A.)"
"99 Problems"
"Encore"
"Dirt Off Your Shoulder"
"Show Me What You Got"
"Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)"

Encore wasn't a hit unless you count his collab with Linkin park. Roc Boys didn't even reach top 40. And as Militant mentioned IJWLY had Pharell on chorus. 99 Problems, Izzo and Hard Knock Life for sure. Show Me What You Got... i always forget that song. I haven't heard it played anywhere since i was in 10th grade

Militant said:

Cinny said:

You should not consider features a weakness. It actually takes a certain kind of talent to collaborate well with others without smothering their styles.

And besides, he had plenty solo hits
"Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)"
"I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)"
"Izzo (H.O.V.A.)"
"99 Problems"
"Encore"
"Dirt Off Your Shoulder"
"Show Me What You Got"
"Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)"

I Just Wanna Love U isn't really a solo hit, because Pharrell sings the chorus.

Pharrell didn't have a verse. All he sung was "Give It To Me" and also Memphis Bleek is on the chorus also.

But I wouldn't call that a feature, compared to "Money, Cash, Hoes" which featured 16's from DMX or "Ain't No Nigga" with heavy features from Foxy Brown.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Militant said:

I Just Wanna Love U isn't really a solo hit, because Pharrell sings the chorus.

Pharrell didn't have a verse. All he sung was "Give It To Me" and also Memphis Bleek is on the chorus also.

But I wouldn't call that a feature, compared to "Money, Cash, Hoes" which featured 16's from DMX or "Ain't No Nigga" with heavy features from Foxy Brown.

He sang more than that.

"I'm a hustler baby, I just want to you know, it ain't where I've been, but where I'm about to go

Now I just wanna love ya! but be who I am, but with all this cash, you'll forget your man

Now give it 2 me... but don't bullshit me"

That's the hook. Comes in before anything else in the song and again repeated at the end. How is that NOT a feature? lol. Hell, Pharrell did the beat too. It's even more his song than Jay's! He also sings that bit:

Militant said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Pharrell didn't have a verse. All he sung was "Give It To Me" and also Memphis Bleek is on the chorus also.

But I wouldn't call that a feature, compared to "Money, Cash, Hoes" which featured 16's from DMX or "Ain't No Nigga" with heavy features from Foxy Brown.

He sang more than that.

"I'm a hustler baby, I just want to you know, it ain't where I've been, but where I'm about to go

Now I just wanna love ya! but be who I am, but with all this cash, you'll forget your man

Now give it 2 me... but don't bullshit me"

That's the hook. Comes in before anything else in the song and again repeated at the end. How is that NOT a feature? lol. Hell, Pharrell did the beat too. It's even more his song than Jay's! He also sings that bit:

"Can't deny me, why would you want to
You need me, why don't you try me
Baby you want to, believe me"

Somone singing a hook on a rap song is different than a rapper spitting a verse, IMO. When you get two or more rapper together, on the same song they're usually battling trying to get the best verse. No so much with a singer and a rapper.

The "featured" artist on hip-hop tracks has always been around, yet it didn't really take off until around the mid-1990's. Most of the early hip-hop tracks didn't need featured artists because most of the early tracks were by hip-hop groups, so multiple rappers within the group would do a verse on each track. Even the early albums by LL Cool J and 2Pac were primarily solo efforts. It wasn't until Dr. Dre released The Chronic and P Diddy started producing for his Bad Boy labelmates that the featured artists began appearing on hip-hop tracks in earnest, and when Mariah Carey had a huge remix hit of "Fantasy" with Ol' Dirty Bastard, that opened the floodgates and made it safe for pop artists to have hip-hop artists featured on their tracks and vice versa.

Since I'm only now starting to redevelop an interest in hip hop after 20-something years of being over it, I have only very limited knowledge of what's been out there. I do have to say, though, that all these collaborations devalue the showcase of a single artist's talent, in my mind. They're OK from time to time, but I like the idea of an emcee whose voice and bars are so commanding that they can seize a listener's attention for an entire track all by themselves.

These days there are no huge hits without features and heavy reliance on samples.

Bring me back to the days of two turntables and a microphone.

I think the overreliance on collaborations is just a lazy way of creating a hit for a cross over audience. Either they use a famous or upcoming rapper or a pop artist with a tacked on pop hook. Hip hop artists used to create their own hooks. A track like Black Sheep's "The Choice is Yours" is a fully realized song with a melody, a hook, and a bridge. And its all done with samples, drum machine, and a voice. There was no need for a pop singer or another rapper. Most of todays rappers just throw a verse on a beat. No effort is made to create a full song that lives and breathes.

This whole thing started with Method Man and Mary J Blige on All I Need. The first time was inspired now it so hopelessly played out. That song came out almost 20 years and they're still doing it.

Pokeno4Money said:

These days there are no huge hits without features and heavy reliance on samples.

Bring me back to the days of two turntables and a microphone.

But those turntables played nothing but samples.

.

Yeezus? Ye pretty much had no features on that album, and it was quite a hit with both the general public and critics alike.

.

Cinny said:

Pokeno4Money said:

These days there are no huge hits without features and heavy reliance on samples.

Bring me back to the days of two turntables and a microphone.

But those turntables played nothing but samples.

True! What I meant was a heavy reliance on samples from songs previously recorded by other artists.

Oh geez, I read Rappers with Huge Tits that don't have features...

purplethunder3121 said:

Oh geez, I read Rappers with Huge Tits that don't have features...

So as not to disappoint ...

Gunsnhalen said:

I realized Jay-Z hasn't a big solo hit. As in a hit without a feature on it. The last single that was big which was just him. Was Show Me What You Got in 06. The rest all had featured rappers or singers on them. Eminem has only had a few too without features or singers.

Do you prefer rappers solo? or rappers with lots of features? i feel like the features thing is getting crazy. Every album has 8-10 guest spots on it

99 Problems wasn't big? Say huh?

Pokeno4Money said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Oh geez, I read Rappers with Huge Tits that don't have features...

So as not to disappoint ...

I saw this and promptly hid behind my couch cringing.

Cinny said:

You should not consider features a weakness. It actually takes a certain kind of talent to collaborate well with others without smothering their styles.

And besides, he had plenty solo hits
"Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)"
"I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)"
"Izzo (H.O.V.A.)"
"99 Problems"
"Encore"
"Dirt Off Your Shoulder"
"Show Me What You Got"
"Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)"

I'd go the other way.

The reason that these cats have so many features is because they can't carry a whole project on their own.

Graycap23 said:

Cinny said:

You should not consider features a weakness. It actually takes a certain kind of talent to collaborate well with others without smothering their styles.

And besides, he had plenty solo hits
"Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)"
"I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)"
"Izzo (H.O.V.A.)"
"99 Problems"
"Encore"
"Dirt Off Your Shoulder"
"Show Me What You Got"
"Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)"

I'd go the other way.

The reason that these cats have so many features is because they can't carry a whole project on their own.

I know what you mean but I don't think Jay-Z had a problem composing

Cinny said:

Graycap23 said:

I'd go the other way.

The reason that these cats have so many features is because they can't carry a whole project on their own.

I know what you mean but I don't think Jay-Z had a problem composing

I guess not.

cars

hoes

drugs

murder

gansta

jewelry

money

Beyonce

Clothes

famous friends

other commercial products 4 sale

Graycap23 said:

Cinny said:

I know what you mean but I don't think Jay-Z had a problem composing

I guess not.

cars

hoes

drugs

murder

gansta

jewelry

money

Beyonce

Clothes

famous friends

other commercial products 4 sale

Too illuminati

Cinny said:

Graycap23 said:

I guess not.

cars

hoes

drugs

murder

gansta

jewelry

money

Beyonce

Clothes

famous friends

other commercial products 4 sale

Too illuminati

His subject matter is 4 teens..................he is 40 year old man.