Styles P

And I was listening to a lot of the locks on that trip.

Jadakiss, Styles P, Chic Looch.

I was listening to a lot of them.

So we get to New York.

Mm-hmm.

And, uh, Styles P actually helped me change my life, because Styles P said, "Young brother, I'm surprised you made it this far and nothing has happened to you physically," right? Like, like, we, like, like-

[laughs] God damn

... like, with taking such a-

And that we are now are in a era where we are seeing a lot of great elder statesmen and legacy acts age gracefully within ...

in rap, whether it be Nas, um, Jada Kid, Styles P, The LOX in general-

Yeah

...

So you don't want no shit to pop off.

But do y'all remember the, um, the, uh, the, the freestyle that Styles P does?

Yo, let me give you this here, this shit.

Tech, let's go.

They are a collective, right? There's a difference between niggas being in an actual group and a couple of people being solo artists and coming together to do something that's dope.

It's not the same.

Now, remember when Cam, right, when Cam said that he got into the pushing match with Styles P on the stage? Here's a call with Sheek Louch where he explains how that shit was going and the tension that night.

I was going at Cam.

Okay.

Uh, Styles P's wife.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yes.

She just made her return back to fashion week, so I was there last night supporting her.

[laughs]

And I saw Styles P.

He is so ex- He was, he listens to the show a lot.

Who had daddy issues, is biracial, had dad issues, but, like, went all the way the other w- way.

Remember when Styles P came out with, "I'm Black"? Yeah.

And then he had the promotional T-shirts.

Bro, she used to wear that thing everywhere.

But yeah, I wanna give one shout-out, though.

I wanna shout out Styles P, man.

I'd have had this debate on with bro, I'd have had this debate with the homie when I said I think Styles P is a better artist than Jadakiss, and his music actually stands the test of time better than Jadakiss.

And I saw an interview with Akon, and Akon shouted out Styles P and said Styles is who solidified his spot in hip hop because the song Locked Up, he already had spinning for 10 months, almost a year, and they didn't know where to place it.

Once he did the remix and Styles did the verse, they said, "Oh yeah, this hip hop right here."

That's Styles.

And that really blew him out of the water and his biggest hit in his damn career, damn near, thanks to Styles P.

And I think Styles P is underrated, man.

This is the first one.

So this week, we have Styles P, a gangster and a gentleman.

Great, wonderful album.

This album, A Gangster and a Gentleman, was released on Rough Riders and Interscope Records in June of 2020, June 2002.

Because I really think the song with Ludumoe could have been a single in itself.

I even imagine a Bonnie and Clyde-esque video shoot would have been really cool for that.

One of the reasons why we only got two singles from this album is because Styles P was on the run.

He had a worn out for his rest that same summer.

Some rappers have argued using other writers automatically undercuts your authenticity as an artist.

Styles P of The LOX has argued that any rapper who uses ghostwriters can't be a part of the top lyricist debate.

At the very same time, rappers like Logic have admitted that ghostwriting is a vital part of the music industry.

Imagine you're a newly signed artist.