truth hurts - "addictive"
am i the only person to remember the bizzare mid-to-late nineties radio practice of editing rap songs to the point where there was hardly any rhyming on them - i'm thinking particularly of jay z's "ain't no nigga" (two big chunks taken out of the first verse with shoddy fucking editing so the whole thing makes zero sense! it goes into the chorus like "no question i got more black chicks--ahhh!"), pras's "ghetto superstar" and "rumble in the jungle" by the fugees. it was presumptious and strange to think a radio audience didn't want to hear an mc drop a whole verse, and probably added to how annoying "ghetto superstar" became since it was almost one long half-arsed chorus.

i suspect this was imparted to radio stations by their listeners, as now we even have the straight version of "oh boy" on daytime radio, and even on r'n'b songs the guest verses (which are sparingly used these days) are longer anyway - like rakim's verse on "addictive", which is not only very, very tight (bodes well for his dre-produced [!!!] album if it ever comes out), it actually makes sense; he's given just enough time to produce something meaty and well-rounded to contribute to the song.

anyway yeah i just heard "addictive" on the radio for the third time today and it's still astonishingly good.