Kane Is Still Able

It has nearly been 25 years since Antonio Hardy had his debut on Cold Chillin' Records, dropping his notorious single "Raw" to the hip-hop masses. As a 12-year-old kid back in 1988 all I knew was Thundercats, G.I. Joe, my ever growing crush on Hillary Grimm and Big Daddy Kane! When I reflect on how music especially hip-hop has evolved and then regressed over the past 25 years, there is one consummate that holds true and that is Kane was a ill MC back then and can still hold his own today.

I was in the gym working out and was just tossing up those 20 pound dumbbells like nothing when I was listening to "Ain't No Half Steppin'" and was just floored on how Kane was so precise and clever with his wordplay. It is said that he was Jay before Jay-Z. Yes, Kane came before his time and didn't benefit monetarily like MC's  rappers do today, but I think today's rappers can benefit off of Kane today. Kane brought swag before swag was even thought about, he had an energy about him that illuminated from his records and he actually had something to say! It was about two years ago when I saw Kane in Brooklyn at Prospect Park and he killed it! Okay, he may have put on a few more pounds and aged a bit but watching him perform you couldn't tell. So the question is could Big Daddy Kane hold his own today as a current artist in today's digital world and sub-par rappers? I think we all know that answer and that is a 44-year-old Big Daddy Kane is 90% better than most of the cats out here now claiming to be rappers.

Go back in time with me and enjoy some classic Kane tracks let the King Asiatic Nobody's Equal school us all.  It is of course "A Big Daddy Thing!"