Run-DMC? Public Enemy? N.W.A? Outkast? Or possibly the Geto Boys, the Wu-Tang Clan, Salt-N-Pepa or A Tribe Called Quest. Who would you say is the greatest rap group of all time?
The way Offset sees it, his group Migos holds the title, and he’s already gotten a passionate response from two legendary rappers.
“We the biggest group ever, ever in hip-hop, pop all that,” Offset told Big Boy on his radio show “The Neighborhood.” “‘Cause every genre is motivated or [has] structured music right now off us.”
After hearing those words, Turk from the 90s New Orleans group Hot Boys responded, and let’s just say he was was none too pleased.
“Y’all know I’m gonna keep this sh– all the way real, and I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t,” he said on Instagram Live. “But for a n—-a to say they the best group ever — not the best group right now that’s doing they thing — but the best group ever, man that’s some real disrespectful-ass, foul-ass sh– right there. I wouldn’t be right, me being in a group that was big, that n—– emulate to this day, including the motherf—-ing’ Migos.”
Turk also said that Offset should do a little more thinking before he makes such a statement, but he admitted to having a lot of respect for the Atlanta trio.
“Straighten it out,” said the Hot Boys member. “I don’t think you really meant ‘the best group ever’ like you said it on Big Boy. Maybe I heard it wrong but nah, bro, y’all are not the biggest group ever. I think y’all are great and y’all are the culture right now, but y’all are not the biggest group ever … Y’all say y’all bigger than some of the pop groups. That mean like Kiss, the rock and roll groups, The Beatles. Come on, man.”
The rapper Bizzy Bone from Bone Thugs-N- Harmony also took issue with Offset’s proclamation and was confused how his group — who scored massive hits and have been copied repeatedly — didn’t get mentioned.
“We’re in the ranking of Metallica, Guns N Roses, The Beatles, for real,” explained a riled up Bizzy. “Longevity, relevance, each individual member is a powerful motherf—er within their own right. It’s cool Big Boy don’t want to mention Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, but they mentioning us in the Rock and Roll Hall of fame. The higher you go up the ladder is when you start hearing Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s name.”
From there, the Cleveland rapper launched into a fast paced flow that some say he and his group members invented.
“Now that is 1991. Do the math,” he said after ending the short verse. “You know they rap fast. You know the Migos rap fast, and you really just like trying to act like we never existed? … Are you rapping fast and harmonizing? Okay, who’s the f—ing’ first ones that did that shit?”
https://youtu.be/cOEXd-jOfMY
Bizzy was talking about a style sometimes referred to as a triple time flow, where a rapper uses an upward cadence and places emphases on the triplet — basically cramming three mini lines into one full line.
It’s a rhyme pattern that Migos re-introduced in 2013 with the song “Versace,” and now the style is called a “Versace Flow.”
While it’s clear that Bones began rhyming in triplets long before Migos, there were others who did it even before them. Some of the earliest traces can be found on Public Enemy’s 1988 Cut “Bring The Noise” during the second verse.
“Soul on a roll but you treat it like soap on a rope / ‘Cause the beats and the lines are so dope / Listen for lessons I’m saying inside music that the critics are blasting me for,” rhymes Chuck D.
But while the P.E. member would help birth the triplet flow, it was the Memphis rappers who would make it huge.
In 1993 Memphis rappers DJ Paul and Lord Infamous dropped their sophomore release “Da Serial Killaz,” where Infamous would use the style in whole songs, not just in one verse like Chuck.
Gangsta Pat, also from Memphis, help to popularize the flow as well, especially on his 1995 LP “Deadly Verses.”
Then fast-forward to the mid-2000s, and the Memphis styled triplet flow was all over rap music, thanks to the group Three Six Mafia being one of the biggest acts at that time.
Their Billboard success led to a whole new generation of kids being exposed to the style but not just rappers, the producers were influenced as well and made beats that went along perfect with it.
“Triplets were always in rap,” said music critic Martin Connor during an interview. “But with the advent of trap, it was a marriage made in heaven.”
Migos didn’t talk about re-introducing the triplet flow, so it’s not clear if that’s why they believe they’re the biggest rap group.
Either way, their latest album “Culture II” is slated to do some huge first week numbers, because according to Hits Daily Double it’s projected to be streamed 180,000 to 200,000 times, with 30,000 to 40,000 units being actual sales.
Of course, what the album ends up selling remains to be seen, but if sales figures determine who the biggest rap group is Migos will have some catching up to do. Outkast, for example, sold 25 million records worldwide and Run DMC close to 250 million.
