Is it just a personality thing? Help me out here. It’s not like it comes on the strength of any classic solo albums or overwhelming technical superiority, or anything like that. I actually have a hard time understanding how, exactly, Jadakiss came to assume his unofficial distinction as team captain of the Lox. His best bars are hotter his verse on Jay Z’s "Reservoir Dogs" is some of the most focused, lucid rapping I’ve heard in my life. So, now that Sheek is officially out of this convo: Who do you got, Jadakiss or Styles?Ĭharity: Jadakiss is the louder guy with the more distinct vocal rasp - that signature scratchiness that makes anything he says sound like the coarsest possible insight - but Styles has always been the more interesting musician on a few levels. Before the Lox signed with Puff or even had a music video, mixtape DJs bootlegged "Best of Lox" compilations on the sheer strength of their freestyles. They’re three stocky dudes from friggin’ Yonkers, for chrissakes. Mobb encapsulated a specific milieu Dipset was a viral "movement." The Lox, however, have always been strictly known for BARS, all caps. But there’s an important distinction to be made here. In all seriousness, what you’re saying about the Lox ranking below Mobb Deep or the Diplomats is somewhat accurate. We’ll ask for their opinion when we do a debate post on which baby rapper’s hairstyle is "more lit." (Funnily enough, I was going to say earlier that Sheek was the Ron Harper or Toni Kukoc of the Lox I went with the Heat analogy to dumb it down for the young’uns.)
Kwak: First things first, now and forever: Fuck millennial rap fans. Which is something I’ve noticed as I was trying to gauge online interest in the new Lox album that dropped Friday: Gen X rap fans recall the Lox fondly, but younger fans - people who’d claim stronger generational attachment to "We Gonna Make It" than to "It’s All About the Benjamins" - might remember the Lox as a weight class below contemporary NYC street-rap groups such as Mobb Deep or the Diplomats. But there’s no shame in being Chris Bosh.Ĭharity: Overall, I think a lot of millennial rap fans might balk at your placing the Lox at the level of the Miami Heat. But in totality - from his Lox work, to his guest features, to his solo albums - he’s simply not in their class. He’s even capable of outshining them occasionally, like on this memorable mixtape verse. Sheek is unquestionably a solid MC and a good complement to his fellow members. So why are we sleeping on Sheek? I’d argue he’s just too subdued on record and in public life, at least compared to Kiss and Styles.ĭonnie Kwak: We don’t talk about Sheek Louch like we do Jada and Styles in the same way we don’t talk about Chris Bosh like we do LeBron and D-Wade. Especially considering that the original state of the Lox - which released music as the Bomb Squad in the early 1990s - was just Jadakiss and Sheek, with Styles joining later. Justin Charity: I guess we should start by addressing why you and I have chosen to argue about the musical supremacy of Jadakiss and Styles P at the expense of Sheek Louch. Kiss or Styles, who’s your pick? Let’s dig in. - Donnie Kwak (Unlike The Great J.Cole Debate, which will never, ever end.) To mark the occasion, Justin Charity and I dusted off ye olde Lox debate to see if we could arrive at a definitive answer to the question. Last week, the veteran trio released their third studio album, Filthy America… It’s Beautiful.
THE LOX 2016 CRACKED
In 2016, they returned with their third album, Filthy America…It’s Beautiful, which cracked the Top 10 of Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.It’s a classic barbershop argument from the late ’90s: Who’s the best member of the Lox? And by that we mean, with apologies to Sheek Louch: Who’s the better rapper, Jadakiss or Styles P?.The group then signed to Ruff Ryders Entertainment and released their gold-certified We Are the Streets in 2000 before taking an extended hiatus.The LOX kept the momentum going with their platinum-selling 1998 debut album, Money, Power & Respect, which features their Notorious B.I.G.
2 smash “All About the Benjamins.” They also appeared alongside Mase on Mariah Carey’s “Honey (Bad Boy Remix).”
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