The Do-Over: Ten Rappers That Could’ve Used One

If only…

Sometimes, it seems as if the wishes of artists are compromised in order to make a composition more compatible with tastes, only to pigeonhole the composition into one set classification. Now, as I’ve mentioned, I’m in no way Wale’s biggest fan. But, thinking back to the release of Attention Deficit, it was an album that was all over the place, albeit in a good way. It had a lot of ambition. But, the album didn’t do as well as it could have. Had the single release order been switched, per Wale’s thoughts, I think the album could have been bigger. As I said, it would’ve been the “DMV”-flavored/hometown party track, the mainstream party anthem, and the deeper shit track which would’ve opened more people up to the album from the jump. But, at least Wale continued to put out tapes and catching everyone’s attention to the point that Interscope’s miscues with AD didn’t hinder his career. Hell, you could argue that the mishandlings allowed Mr. Folarin to actually make more of a mark in music. Without the flubs, Wale could very well still be at Interscope/Allido and not positioned with MMG.

With that in mind, I’d like to present ten artists that, for one reason or another, probably wish that they could’ve had a do-over on an album/project/single/career. Feelings may be hurt, and I will probably ruffle some feathers, but it’s me. If I don’t ruffle a feather or two, I’m not doing my job as a thought-provoking individual. Mind that this list is not a ranking of who’s had more of a struggle.

10) Yung Joc: Joc went from having the world cranking their Yahamas to doing internet rapper numbers on DatPiff.

9) Can-i-Bus: DZK cosigns aside, especially since they don’t really mean much outside of the internet (and, at this point, not even there), the guy was spitting intergalactic fuckery before it was cool. But, for quite a few reasons, the guy lost his shit and was never able to recover. However, “Second Round KO” was my shit. He can take solace that he probably influenced every nerdy white guy to become a rapper and spit bars about the extraterrestrial intergalactic space participle–or something.

8) Charles Hamilton: Enough said.

7) Jibbs: Not so far removed from the days of “Grillz” and other Paul Wall-assisted tracks, Jibbs arrived in 2006 with the song “Chain Hang Low.” Seven years later, he hasn’t released an album since 2007 and has pretty much fallen back into regular dude mode. But, hey, at least his Twitter’s verified.

6) Soulja Boy: In a case similar to what happened with Joc, Soulja was potentially one of the first rappers to get signed based on YouTube. What transpired since souljaboytellem.com has been nothing short of tragic. Coke. Kat Stacks. Attempting to go all gangbusters on Bow Wow and Chief Keef. More coke. Face tattoos. Probably some MDMA. Even more coke. Now, I’m not saying that Mr. Way was a lyrical genius or anything, but the kid probably wishes he had a do-over.

5) DMX: This can be seen as a case of “kicking a man while he’s down,” but I’m sure that Mr. Simmons wish he had it more like the other Simmons(es). I could’ve put Boosie in Dark Man X’s place, but, no disrespect, DMX had a harder fall than Boosie, with seemingly an endless way to go (including being paraded out on OWN that one time)

4) Jay Electronica: Something like the late-2000s answer to ‘Bus, Jay came out to internet and mainstream acclaim. I mean, in 2009 or so, everyone except your’s truly had an “Exhibit [Letter Here]” freestyle. The guy was critically acclaimed–even though he tried too hard on some of his earlier, non-“Exhibit” shit–and the equivalent of what would’ve happened if Jordan was ever a free agent. Fast forward to 2013. We’re still waiting for his album/second mixtape/new song, and he’s probably about to marry into money/possible Illuminati fuckery (if you believe that sort of thing).

3) Archie Eversole: Now, “We Ready” is one of the greatest hype songs ever. So, I’m sure that Archie’s still getting money off of just that song. But, since that 2002 track, we have heard all but crickets from “Mr. Atlanta.” Guess he really wasn’t, ahem, ready for y’all.

2) Yung Berg: Ummm…yeah. Berg’s musical life has been one miscue after another.

1) All those dance rap groups from the early-to-late 2000s: D4L, Dem Franchize Boyz, Dem Heizman Boyz (a/k/a 3rdFlo), The New Boyz, Cali Swag District, The Rej3ctz, Dem [Random Adjective Here] Boyz/Boys, Hotstylz–the list goes on and on and on. You can blame Soulja Boy for the influx of dance rap, but to be fair, dance rap has been around since before even the days of Shock G.