Sorry this didn’t come earlier, but my computer keeps being overrun by the Blue Screen of Death. I’m really sick of that.
Anyway, I find No Limit Records is the butt of many jokes about the mid-’90s. I mean, there were plenty of good reasons to do that. Lots of bad records, but that’s the be expected when artists are turning out 26-track albums every nine months or so.
However, there was some serious heat put out by that label, so I’m going to try to name 25 of those songs. There’s a good chance I’ll have to stop sooner, though.
Important caveat–only doing records made on No Limit. No stuff from Mystikal’s first record, but definitely the good stuff from when Snoop was on the Tank (Bitch Please, namely). So let’s roll.
Make Em Say Uhhh. I hear this was a big hit across the country. I have to say it like that because I lived in Atlanta during ’97, so everything No Limit was a hit. This was an unequivocal banger, though. The song that finally made people admit that some of the stuff off the Tank was hot. However, dunking on an 8-foot rim in the video was embarrassing, especially considering that P is actually pretty tall.
Akickdoe!. Featuring UGK. You’ll find that No Limit/UGK collabos were always winners. This from C-Murder’s surprisingly good record, Life or Death.
The Man RIght Chea. Good cut from Mystikal. Big problem–sounds too much like “Here I Go,” but isn’t nearly as good.
No Limit Soldiers. One major part of the No Limit branding formula was to lead each album off with a song proclaiming loyalty to the Tank. This was probably the best one. Sad part–Itaught myself to play the beat on a piano. I don’t play piano.
You Don’t Wanna Go to War With a Soldier. See the above formula, but from Mia X’s strong Unlady Like. Too bad I can’t remember too many other songs off that one. And I wasn’t wild about “The Party Don’t Stop,” so I ain’t puttin’ it on this list.
Where You From. That goddam Skull Duggery. This is a classic, and anyone that doesn’t agree is lying.
Fuck Dem Niggaz. Originally on Snoop’s No Limit Top Dogg, but so good that P put it on C-Murder’s second record when the label began to flounder. Featured the drastically underrated Magic. Speaking of Magic…
Freaky. Magic gave us a really, really good sex record with this one.
Hot Boys and Hot Girls. Featuring many of the usual suspects, but people forget Mac’s blazin’ verse on this one. Don’t expect another one for a long time. I’m pretty sure he’s still in jail for a murder that there’s serious evidence that he didn’t commit.
Bitch Please. Another from No Limit Top Dogg. People don’t think of it as a No Limit record because it was produced by Dre and features Xzibit, but it showed that P did have some savvy. After pumping Snoop into his assembly line, he realized that he couldn’t market Snoop the same way. He let Snoop put out a Snoop record instead of a No Limit joint, and this was the song that showed that P had a better handle on things than most of us realized.
How You Do Dat. Well, this isn’t really a No Limit record. The story goes that Young Bleed already recorded and, I believe, released this song when P came calling and wanted to put it on the soundtrack to “I’m Bout It.” Bleed said he’d only do so if he got a one album deal. He got the deal, went gold and was never heard from again. How far did he fall? I got a snippet tape from his second album when I was in college, and the cat that gave it to me looked really familiar. After thinking, I realized who handed it to me–Young Bleed.
Pick a song from Mr. Serv-On. It’s been forever since I heard his record, so I can’t say a song in particular. However, the record was off the chains. For real.
Freak Hoes. Another that could have made the list of songs I’m ashamed for liking. However, it makes the girls bounce they asses and touch they knees with they elbows.
It Ain’t My Fault. It’s taking everything in me to acknowledge that Silkk Da Shocker did anything good. But htis one is good, and he was on it. Not sure he had a lick to do with making it good, but he’s on the song.
Ice Cream Man. NOT!!!! Biter alert!!! Ask the Luniz about this one. What up, Dame!
Hoody Hoo. NOT!!! Biter alert!!! Ask OutKast about this one. The biting was so bad that Big Boi called P out on stage at the Birthday Bash in Atlanta about that. I argue that was the day the No Limit empire officially crumbled into the sea.
The Mercedes Album Cover. They put a picture of her bending over with her ass facing the camera in every album they had for about two years. The record SUCKED. However, anyone that remembers No Limit remembers this album.
Shake it Like a Dog. Kane and Abel’s best cut, perhaps the most Un-cut video before Ludacris’ “P-Poppin.” The song actually wasn’t released on No Limit, but I’m pretty sure it was recorded during that time.
For the N.O. From the tragically slept on Fiend.
Ain’t No Limit. Okay, stuff off Mystikal’s Unpredictable is hard to put on this list because it wasn’t produced by Beats by the Pound (it was an album done as a joint venture between No Limit and Jive). However, nobody can front on “A-I-N-T-N-O-L-I-M-I-T!…”
Swamp Nigga. For real, TRU 2 Da Game was off the chains. Interestingly, it was sold as a double but was shorter than many No Limit single discs.
‘Bout It ’95. That synthesizer on “‘Bout It” was legendarily added when KLC’s daughter played around with his equipment, prompting him to spank her…but go back and work with what she’d done. It’s incredible. And it’s better than the version done on Ice Cream Man. But gracious, why did Cam’Ron decide to even though this? He just messed it up. He just messed it up.
Break Em Off Something. Yeah, this is the winner. The beat kills. P’s first bar is part of the Southern canon. Pimp C rips it. And my goodness, Bun B. “You can call on the cavalry/reinforcements/and the local PD/they gettin somewhere if they see me/my nigga, that’s how these G’s be/we three/Me, C and Master P/sippin on gin and kiwi…” Whoo!
Stoppin at 23. Harder than I thought, but there was a lot good from No Limit. There was just more bad. That wouldn’t have been a problem if P would have put out albums of traditional length instead of just putting so much stuff on there HOPING that one song would make someone buy the album.
But that’s the list. Interesting mail call on Monday.
17 thoughts on “25 Strong No Limit Records”
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Blue screen huh? Waiting patiently for Rex to try and sell you a Mac….
woo buddy
that damn no limit.
how i used to hate upon them.
how we used to lump them with cash money and just refer to cash limit/no money records as one giant wack entity (how wrong we were, wadup weezy! wadup manny!)
then they had about seven fire singles in a row and i had to rethink it.
the “ain’t my fault” remix is ridic too
with mystikal screaming steve urkel’s famous line over and over
so is “wobble wobble”
hootie hoo is damn near unforgivable and youse a lie if you want us to believe you actually heard mercedes’s album
but the two points you lose for even asserting that thing came out after being advertised in the sauce for four years you get back for helping the movement towards bringing back the term “NOT” from 1994. wayne and garth would be proud. not.
I think “Ghetto D” has to go up there. For someone as lyrically inept as Master P, he really did justice to “Eric B. Is President”, in my opinion. He could have done a LOT worse (see “I Need Dubs – or rather, don’t). Plus, you can’t front on a song that’s all about cooking crack – not just the act, but cooking it up, weighing it, bagging it up, etc.
Great list, only thing I would add is Fiend’s “Baddest Mother Fucker Alive” and any version of the Mystikal “Still Smokin” tracks that came out on either of his albulms on the Tank. The Unpredictable version was a favorite of the West Anchorage High School class of ’99. With that I want to froget the No Limit chapter of my life beacause, “I’m mo deadly than a dope fiend fienin for DOPE.” Nice work P.
You know you are my boy. But I draw the line on No Limit. I just can’t do it.
slow ya roll- mac
heart of a ghetto boy -fiend
sittin here waiting on god- fiend
can i ball- mac
Man, I can go and on. True, the tank but out a LOT of bull, but mixed in there are some classics. I think how much you feel no limit depends on where you were and what age when they were big. Lots and lots of nostalgia when it comes to no limit. Being a Mississippi boy has a lot to do with, that can’t be all. BTW, Ice Cream Man is one of the pillars that the tank was built on. The luniz may of had the beat first, but look at what P did with it.
HSuess…
Fiend’s “Baddest Muthafucka Alive” was done when Fiend was on Big Boy Records (NOTE: Big Boy was at one time the top local New Orleans label with Black Menace -Fiend and some other dude-, Mystikal and Parners-N-Crime).
I liked Fiend’s “Talk it Like I Bring It” and “Mr. Whomp Whomp” from his No Limit selections.
Other No Limit tracks would include the following:
From Ice Cream Man: “Killa Pussy” and “Back up off Me”
From Down South Hustlers (the double CD): Magnolia Slim AKA Soulja Slim’s “I Want It”, Tre 8’s “Fright Night”, “Bounce Dat Azz”
Other songs include
“War wounds” and “Somebody watching me”
That damned Skullduggery. That “Where you from” shit is a guaran-damn-teed fight starter in the state of Louisiana. Me and my brother nearly fell out after that song played and I had to pull him out of a bar fight. I can count at least 10 times easily that a fight started once that song came on.
But on another note, I hate seeing Cash Money like it is now. Manny Fresh been droppin’ beats since I was in sixth grade (1989-1990). It’s Manny who I credit with taking that New Orleans bounce sound and making it a national phenomenon.
Juve’s gotten better with age, but Wayne’s best days might’ve been when he dropped “The Blockburner’ on the Classic Get it how you Live album. Turk’s in jail somewhere and BG’s kinda languishing. Those four were still better than dang near er’ rapper put on the payroll.
Bo, I remember “The Georgia Bounce” song and the Lil’ Jon bounce remix to “What about us.” Great takes on the bounce sound.
no u forgot That slow one that was on that wack movie they made -well maybe I was the only one who liked it
TheOtherBO-The Luniz didn’t have the BEAT, they had the whole CONCEPT. Dru Down & The Luniz came with a song called Ice Cream Man in 93-94, they even had a video for it where C&H was going around in a Ice Cream Man suit just like the one P used on his cover selling crack and shit. Look it up on http://www.youtube.com , it’s there. And it’s not like P can pretend he didn’t know about the song-he was based in Richmond, CA at the time. As a “rapper”, his whole history was built on biting. He had songs where he rapped just like Scarface, then went around and bit the Ice Cream Man thing, then went around and bit back… I swear, he even had a song where he tried to rap like E-40 on 99 Ways To Die. Seriously.
And as far as No Limit as a label… while it’s true many classic songs came out on the label, the label corrupted its artists by with using that NL formula that came about in late 97: overusing the same damn producers (sometimes even using the same beats on a few different albums), cluttering their albums with bullshit guest verses, having P himself yelling “huuuungh” and “No Limit Soulja, I thought I told ya” on 4-5 songs off every album and having albums recorded in a few days. The only good albums that came from the label after that were the few that stepped outside of that-Young Bleed’s album (because it was more Concentration Camp than No Limit in the production and features), Steady Mobb’n Pre-Meditated Drama (more Bombshelter Music-DJ Darryl’s label, which they were on before NL-than NL), Mac’s World War III (different producers, less guests, less P), Snoop’s Top Dogg, Fiend’s Street Life, etc. Everybody else that stuck to the formula quickly deteriorated. Compare Mr. Serv-on’s second album to his first, Mystikal’s Ghetto Fabulous to Unpredictable, etc.
“bit back” was supposed to be “bit 2Pac”-P got a nice large catalogue of Pac-biting songs.
Gooood-damn Mani. Your musical preferences boggle my mind. Your catalog of knowlege is as strong as anyone I know (much stronger than mine), with the possible exceptions of some who are djs and producers. Yet it remains inexplicable to me that the same person can both casually dismiss ATLiens as kast’s worst album, and still do a 25-deep No Limit tribute. You’re a mystery wrapped in a riddle. Plus you’re a crazy sumbitch.
how does saying atliens is kast’s worst album conflict with doing the no limit tribute?
that ain’t saying it’s wack
it’s wrong, stankonia is the wackest, followed by love below/speakerboxxx, but still it doesn’t neccessarily conflict
“it’s wrong, stankonia is the wackest, followed by love below/speakerboxxx, but still it doesn’t neccessarily conflict”
I’d agree with you on the former. Didn’t say they conflicted, but yeah, I could’ve phrased that better.
I’ll just say I get puzzled when someone whose taste I both respect (well-founded in knowledge, diverse) and usually agree with throws me these curveballs. ATLiens = thumbs down … a bunch of mediocre (at best) P tracks = thumbs up? Not directly related to each other, but both inconsistent with what I’d expect from his profile. In any event, the nature of subjectivity is such that I don’t have to understand it, so whatever.
umm Mystikal´s Unpredictable album from 97 WAS almost entirely produced by Beats By The Pound (mostly KLC n Craig B), so check your facts (not the only mistake in here)
oh and Mercedes´ album WAS pretty good, I guess you never gave it a listen…the track My Love off of that is my girl´s ringtone
oh you want good No Limit tracks? I give you some from some albums:
C-Murder LIFE OR DEATH: Where I´m From, Akickdoe, G´s N Macks, Ghetto Ties, Survival Of The Fittest, Picture Me…
Silkk the Shocker CHARGE IT 2 DA GAME: Throw Yo Hood Up, I´m A Soldier, Give Me The World, If I Don´t Gotta, How Many…
Tru TRU 2 DA GAME: No Limit Soldiers, Swamp Nigga, Gangstas Make Da World, I Always Feel Like, Smoking Green…
Fiend THERE´S ONE IN EVERY FAMILY: Take My Pain, Live Me Long, What Cha Mean, Only A Few, All I Know, Who Got Dat Fire…
and many many more…y´all haters should better LISTEN to these albums instead of just putting another cliche comment out…hatin´ ain´t cool no more
I´m out…
Ah, got a bit of nostalgia and downloaded a few No Limit albums tonight. Back in the day I will admit I had a whole slew of em. The fact is I thought most of these albums were horrible, yet I’d buy them and play the shit out of them. Makes no sense right? Maybe part of it was being an MC/producer, and thinking if these guys can sell records, I’m going to be alright. I’ll chime in and admit that there were a few solid albums in the bunch. C-Murder’s Life Or Death is probably the best thing No Limit put out. Maybe not, but I don’t want to thing too hard. Mac was the best MC No Limit ever had. Shell Shocked was great. World War III was almost as good. I’m also going to admit that I liked Silkk’s Charge It To The Game. Yes, I helped No Limit make a shit load of cash for ripping off so many people. I also made my local pawn shop a decent profit when I sold every last one of them.
man yall aint givin P his props! he made a lot of progress in the south when all of the attention was on the east coast! and he made plenty of hits! and his albums always had a mixture of subjects. youre right they always had a soldier song to start it off but the majority of the albums that came out of the label was fire! and its still killin 90% of the wack shit thats out now!!!! get at me http://www.facebook.com/leonard ballard
man yall aint givin P his props! he made a lot of progress in the south when all of the attention was on the east coast! and he made plenty of hits! and his albums always had a mixture of subjects. youre right they always had a soldier song to start it off but the majority of the albums that came out of the label was fire! and its still killin 90% of the wack shit thats out now!!!! get at me http://www.facebook.com/ leonard ballard