20 Horrible Songs Made By Great Rappers

Legends of the fail.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Think about the sheer volume of material a rap artist creates over a career. All that writing, all those beats, all that work. Tens of thousands of words, thousands of bars, hundreds of songs. Even the greatest legends can't keep up quality control for that long.

Sometimes they make concessions for commercial reasons. Sometimes they hop on a trend that doesn't suit them. Or experiment with a weird new style that isn't quite ready yet. And sometimes they just mess up. Hey, nobody's perfect. Not even rap stars. 

Weird. Shocking. Disappointing. Here are 20 Horrible Songs Made By Great Rappers....

Written by Al Shipley (@AlShipley)

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Nas "Who Killed It?" (2007)

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Album: Hip Hop Is Dead
Label
: Def Jam/Columbia/The Jones Experience
Producer: Salaam Remi, will.i.am

Some MCs have a thousand voices they can slip into to portray different characters and perspectives, but all Nas needs is one voice: that incredible Nas voice. So it was bizarre to hear Nasir Jones slip into an Edward G. Robinson impression on "Who Killed It," a laughably ridiculous detective story that sought to find the culprit of the supposed genre-slaying at the heart of his 2006 album Hip Hop Is Dead. Nas's catalog has its share of bad ideas, but there's nothing as straight up embarrassing as listening to his voice crack as he says, "She's a real looker/They say her old man's a bootlegger!"

Common f/ Erykah Badu "Jimi Was A Rock Star" (2002)

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Album: Electric Circus
Label
: MCA
Producer: ?uestlove, James Poyser, Jeff Lee Johnson, Pino Palladino

If Electric Circus was released today, nobody would bat an eye at an MC like Common making a rambling, neo-psychedelic album featuring 8-minute tracks full of guitar doodles and zero rapping like "Jimi Was A Rock Star." In that respect, Electric Circus could be considered ahead of its time, an album that predicted the genre-bending experimentalism so many would indulge over the next decade. But that doesn't change the fact that the record is, in a word, terrible. And we're not gonna go blaming this on "Baduizm"—this is Common's album and Common fucked it up.

A Tribe Called Quest f/ Brand Nubian "Georgie Porgie" (1992)

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Ice Cube "You Can Do It" (2000)

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Album: Next Friday soundtrack
Label
: Priority
Producer: One Eye

If anyone ever says that Ice Cube is not in the absolute upper echelon of all-time great rappers, they are wrong. In his prime, he was as good as it gets. Still, his decline in the late-'90s was steep, culminating with the release of this tepid bit of club fare that actually throws the virtues of "We Be Clubbin'" into stark relief. The song barely scraped the Top 40 in America. But the British, always eager to give us reasons to question their appreciation of hip-hop, took a bizarre interest in the track in 2004, sending it to No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart five years after its release.

Busta Rhymes "Get Out!!" (2000)

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Album: Anarchy
Label
: Flipmode/Elektra
Producer: Nottz

"Hard Knock Life" was the kind of once-in-a-lifetime smash hit that nobody should attempt to copy. Which in hip-hop means that of course attempts are inevitable. Jay-Z's own Xerox of the formula, "Anything," was saved by great verses, but when Busta Rhymes belatedly looped up some more singing movie children for "Get Out!!" in 2000, the only person we wanted to get the hell out was Busta. Released in advance of his fourth album, Anarchy, "Get Out!!" was a dispiriting fall-off from the MC with a previously unimpeachable run of lead singles that included "Woo-hah! Got You All In Check," "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See" and "Gimme Some More."

T.I. f/ Chris Brown "Get Back Up" (2010)

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Album: No Mercy
Label: Grand Hustle/Atlantic
Producer: The Neptunes

For years, Tip succeeded in spinning his legal setbacks into career triumphs, releasing smash albums like Urban Legend and Paper Trail on the heels of arrests and jail stints. He did it with lyrics that shrewdly wove those events into the narrative of a troubled talent who was trying to put his checkered past behind him. That seemed to be the formula once again in 2010, as he finished out a house arrest stint and announced a comeback album entitled King Uncaged.

However, that fall, Clifford Harris once again jeopardized his recently regained freedom with a completely avoidable drug bust. He tried to spin the situation once again, retitling the album No Mercy, but fans had no sympathy, especially after the repentant single "Get Back Up," which paired T.I. with perhaps the one other star whose "struggles" people were less willing to empathize with: convicted domestic abuser Chris Brown.

Goodie Mob "Fight to Win" (2012)

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Album: Age Against the Machine
Label
: Elektra
Producer: Rico Wade

Cee-Lo Green has come a long, long way from the days of "Cell Therapy." It's hard to begrudge the multi-talented singer/rapper for outgrowing his roots a little bit in his ascent to solo stardom. But when he finally did link back up with Khujo, T-Mo and Big Gipp for an overdue reunion, it wasn't unreasonable to expect a new Goodie Mob record to sound like Goodie Mob. Instead, Cee-Lo used his primetime gig as a coach on NBC's hit singing competition The Voice as a launching pad for this deeply horrible song, which not only completely failed to entice his new "Fuck You" fans, but also effectively said "fuck you" to all of the faithful old fans of the group's original '90s dirty south classics.

Missy Elliott f/ Timbaland "9th Inning" (2012)

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Album: Block Party (unreleased)
Label
: Goldmind/Atlantic
Producer: Timbaland

The Cookbook was good enough, and Tim never stopped making hits, but any fan of Missy Elliott and Timbaland knows they're better together than apart. At least, that's what we assumed, until their long-awaited 2012 reunion for a pair of ill-fated comeback singles. "Triple Threat" was merely missing the old magic, but "9th Inning" was actively bad, with Timbo mumbling usually justifiable boasts about the pair's status as hitmakers and innovators, while Missy spit sadly untrue predictions about her revived career: "I'm so hot, up on the charts number one spot/See me when I drop and I won't flop." Instead, Block Party went back into release date purgatory, and fans forgot they ever heard either song in record time.

Eminem "We Made You" (2009)

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Album: Relapse
Label
: Aftermath/Interscope
Producer: Dr. Dre, Eminem, Doc Ish (add.) 
Marshall Mathers may tell you that the worst vice he was ever hooked on came in the form of a pill, but for fans it was his addiction to cartoony, celeb-lampooning lead singles that really got ugly. The first couple made him a superstar, but by 2004's "Just Lose It" they'd gotten so strained and unfunny that nobody minded when he took an extended break. Then he returned in 2009 with "We Made You," and the formula had only grown more hollow and rotten. The lewd namechecks of starlets and the internal rhymes were still there, but the words felt scrambled and damn near incoherent: "Can he come back as nasty as he can?/Yes he can can, don't ask me this again/He does not mean to lesbian offend/But Lindsay, please come back to seein' men."

KRS-One "Aztechnical" (2011)

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Album: Just Like That
Label
: Killahpride
Producer: Mad Lion

KRS-One hasn't been making quality music for damn near two decades now. But his long line of forgettable and mildly embarrassing records reached its nadir just recently, when he ended 2011 by dedicating a single to the Mayan prophecy that the world would end in 2012. Of course, the world didn't end—and this tedious, number-heavy edutainment lesson feels like it never will. If you fall asleep by the time it's over, just remember when you wake up to take the pillow from your head and put a book in it.

Also, the video is ridiculous:

EPMD "It's Time 2 Party" (1989)

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Album: Unfinished Business
Label
: Fresh/Sleeping Bag, Priority
Producer: EPMD

Erick and Parrish made their dollars mostly by being true to themselves, and scored their biggest hit, paradoxically, with a classic screed against hip-hop sellouts, 1992's "Crossover." But the duo hasn't always been so faithful to their hard-hitting signature sound—as evidenced by this awkward, cheesy, ill-conceived club rocker. (Which came out three years before "Crossover.") 

Snoop Dogg "Freestyle Conversation" (1996)

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Album: Tha Doggfather
Label
: Death Row/Interscope
Producer: Soopafly

"I don't give a fuck about no beat," Snoop declares at the opening of this track from Tha Doggfather, apparently taking umbrage at the idea that his success was derived from how well his flow locked into Dr. Dre's drums. Instead of proving the haters wrong, though, he just confirmed their suspicions with this wack experiment in loosely talking over a half-assed G-funk track produced by Soopafly. Snoop's busy, arrhythmic delivery here almost seems to predict the flow of his future No Limit labelmate Silkk The Shocker.

LL Cool J "American Girl" (2008)

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Album: Exit 13
Label
: Def Jam
Producer: Illfonics

"Accidental Racist" may have recently revealed that LL's understanding of our country's history leaves something to be desired. But that's nothing compared to this clueless attempt to celebrate the women of our great nation over a cheeseball marching band beat on his final Def Jam album, 2009's Exit 13. "Way back in 1776/Who would've thought we would have these chicks?/Some kinda slim and some extra thick/They make me feel so patriotic/Man, American girls are something to see/I bet Thomas Jefferson would love BET." Word to Sally Hemmings?

Jay-Z f/ Lil Kim & Puff Daddy "I Know What Girls Like" (1997)

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Album: In My Lifetime, Vol. 1
Label
: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
Producer: Sean "Puffy" Combs, Ron "Amen-ra" Lawrence for The Hitmen

In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 has some of Jay-Z's greatest songs ("Streets Is Watching," "Where I'm From!") But also some of his worst. Like this giant misstep on his path to superstardom. But 1997, Jay had certainly found his voice as an MC, but he hadn't yet mastered the art of the pop crossover. And Vol. 1's efforts felt like a hollow attempt at replicating the Bad Boy formula, nowhere more than on the Puff Daddy-assisted clunker "I Know What Girls Like." Puff may have loved to take hits from the '80s and make them sound so crazy. But it seemed crazy in all the wrong ways release this awful interpolation of The Waitresses' new wave classic "I Know What Boys Like" just a few months after lead Waitresses Patty Donahue succumbed to lung cancer. 

Big Daddy Kane f/ Barry White "All of Me" (1995)

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Album: Taste of Chocolate
Label
: Cold Chillin'/Reprise/Warner Bros.
Producer: Andre Booth

LL Cool J may have invented the shirtless loverman rap balladeer archetype, and Ja Rule may have exploited it to it's most lucrative extreme. But of the many MCs to have gone grown-and-sexy, none has done so more disastrously than Big Daddy Kane on his flop third album Taste of Chocolate. After conquering New York rap, suddenly Kane was hanging out with Barry White and what sounded like the Bad Ideas Unlimited Orchestra, mumbling absurd come-ons like, "I wanna just lay on the floor and make love to your shadow...sounds silly, don't it?" Yeah, Kane, it really does.

OutKast f/ Killer Mike "Land of a Million Drums" (2002)

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Kanye West f/ Twista, Keyshia Cole, & BJ The Chicago Kid "Impossible" (2006)

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Album: Mission: Impossible III soundtrack
Label
: Roc-A-Fella
Producer: Kanye West

In 2006, somebody had the strange idea that the best way forward for the Mission: Impossible franchise was to tap into some hip-hop street cred. The most memorable moment of thise ill-fated promotional campaign came when Tom Cruise went on 106 & Park and did Yung Joc's motorcycle dance. But Kanye's contribution to the soundtrack was a terrible mistake in its own right. "Impossible" employs plenty of Ye's favorite production tricks, but the soul samples and over-busy bongos never quite gel into something hot—and the rhymes are sloppier than usual. (Nobody's impressed with pronouncing "gospel" as "gosp-it-el" to rhyme it with "hospital.") Taking on the Mission: Impossible theme was a big job previously handled by some big names. But it says something that Kanye West wasn't able to live up to the standard previously set by U2's rhythm section and Limp Bizkit.

The Roots f/ Patrick Stump "Birthday Girl"

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Guru "Divine Rule" (2009)

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Album: Guru 8.0: Lost & Found
Label
: 7 Grand
Producer: Solar

The late, great Guru's voice was most often heard over Gang Starr partner DJ Premier's immaculately chopped loops, or the expert musicianship of his Jazzmatazz collaborators. However, in the MC's final years, while he was suffering health problems as well as the unwelcome influence of a controlling collaborator, the widely reviled Solar, he wandered into other sonic territory. But we didn't know just how far Guru had been led astray until 2009's Guru 8.0: Lost & Found, released just a year before his tragic death. The bland use of Cerrone's "Supernature" on "Divine Rule" fits Guru like an embarrassing outfit, and he struggles mightily to find a comfortable flow on the track. We should've known something was up when Guru sounded like a hostage on his own song.

Lil Wayne "On Fire" (2008)

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Album: Rebirth
Label
: Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown
Producer: Cool & Dre

Weezy's "rock" album, Rebirth, was always destined to be a drink coaster—as everyone knew when the butt rock anthem "Prom Queen" was released as its lead single. But even the overtly hip-hop second single, meant to reassure fans, was a flaming disaster from the "Fireman" rapper. Presumably "On Fire" was slotted on Rebirth due to the sample of Amy Holland's "She's On Fire," a cheeseball '80s rock song best known for its placement in the gangsta rap touchstone Scarface. But "On Fire" was otherwise an AutoTuned mess from the height of Wayne's sizzurp addiction, with occasional bursts of atonal noodling from Wayne's poor tortured guitar. Put it out.

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