New Jersey Wins

[ericluxury]

I was reading Check The Technique (probably the best book about rap I've read) and it mentioned that one of the guys in Das Efx is from New Jersey. There we have one place where New Jersey does not defeat New York. Very few good rappers are from Jersey.

(note that while I live in Brooklyn, I would never say that's where I am from. San Francisco is where I am from and I am well aware that the bad music to good music ratio from San Francisco heavily favors the bad)

[Forrest]

New York wins in the battle of having interesting shit to do every night.

Boo-ya!

[TL]

I was reading Check The Technique (probably the best book about rap I've read) and it mentioned that one of the guys in Das Efx is from New Jersey. There we have one place where New Jersey does not defeat New York. Very few good rappers are from Jersey.

(note that while I live in Brooklyn, I would never say that's where I am from. San Francisco is where I am from and I am well aware that the bad music to good music ratio from San Francisco heavily favors the bad)

Wait, whuuuuuuuuut??  Redman, Queen Latifah, Naughty by Nature, The Violaters, Biz Markie lived in Newark for a while...  There's gotta be more...  Anyone?

[Forrest]

Dalek.

[ericluxury]

Biz Markie moved around a lot and lived in Harlem and Brooklyn for much of his life.
You can, however, add Lords of the Underground, The Artifacts, Joe Budden and The Fugees to your list. Still, every single borough of NYC has a more impressive list.

[JonFromMaplewood]

New York wins in the battle of having interesting shit to do every night.

Boo-ya!

You clearly have never been to Bunny's Pizzeria in South Orange.

[TremblingEagle]

Biz Markie moved around a lot and lived in Harlem and Brooklyn for much of his life.
You can, however, add Lords of the Underground, The Artifacts, Joe Budden and The Fugees to your list. Still, every single borough of NYC has a more impressive list.

Brooklyn represents something very different to hiphop heads than it must for rock people

I never had a clue it had a reputation for being a seat hipsters etc until  I heard it on the Best Show

[masterofsparks]

Being an Ohioan, I'm pretty much impartial to this whole argument, but I've gotta give it to Brooklyn for all the great stuff coming out on Daptone Records (Budos Band and Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings in particular).

[Sarah]

Not NJ related but on the topic of hip-hop:  one of the funniest things I've heard recently was Dick Button saying that a Japanese figure skater has absorbed hip-hop into his very soul and now embodies it.  This is what inspired the accolade:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eeivMpd2jc[/youtube]

[JonFromMaplewood]

That guy has Kool Moe Dee's double axle down pat.

[B_Buster]

I know they're considered "soft," but PM Dawn are from Jersey City.

[Forrest]

I know they're considered "soft," but PM Dawn are from Jersey City.

I consider them more "fall-off-the-stage-y" than "soft."

[gravy boat]

I love NJ but it can't come close to NY for homegrown rappers.

[Tim K in DC]

Jason -

Now that the NJ DMV has gone computerized, things go pretty fast there. Don't fear the Jersey DMV!

I cannot speak for the New York DMV, but I can only imagine that it is a nightmare.

Suck it one more time, NY!

Tom.

I've had moments at the DMV in East Orange recently that were so smooth and easy and fast that I was like, "Oh!  Really??  That's it??  I'm done???  Thank you - I LOVE you!!" 
Now, the Rhode Island DMV in Pawtucket?  That's like the Vestibule of Hell.

East Orange sounds like Boston, as insane as that may be to believe. Every experience I have had with the Massachusetts RMVs has been mind-bogglingly smooth, courteous, and all those other good things you never would expect. The first time I registered a car in Massachusetts, I got back to work and promptly sent them a glowing note of thanks for their service. Total gracious pros, all.

I do feel you re. the Rhode Island DMVs, though, TL. Nightmare s hit, to be sure. It blew my mind that I could walk into the one in Providence and not have to go through a metal detector, because those nasty (and that is putting it mildly) clerks were nothing if not ripe for... well... ah... you know where I'm going with this. It has to be some bizarro-world, fractional-modicum-of-service-anti-ethic that gets instilled in all Rhode Island bureaucratic operations, whether it's a motor vehicle registry or a state college registrar's office. Signing up for classes when I was going to URI was as harrowing as getting my driver's license renewed when I still lived in the state. I do not miss it in the least bit.

[TremblingEagle]

I know they're considered "soft," but PM Dawn are from Jersey City.

As an outsider and a huge fan
NY/NJ sound has always been pretty indistinguishable
In rap I mean.