OK, sorry I've taken a while with these.
First one, love his voice. Not so sure about the sort of very dramatic hook music. Feels quite an old thing. But his voice is so powerful, it doesn't matter. Haha I wrote that as he said "don't matter".
Yeah this is up there, I think i even prefer it to goody mob, purely based off the sound of the voice.
It's pretty aggressive though, not for everyone, I tried putting it on last night and it got a "no" straight away from my wife.
I can't really place the era, feels quite classic 1995 time, but is probably newer. No idea where they are from, sounds like new York.
2nd one, I do actually know Rick Ross, I'm pretty sure James massiah/escrow had one of his tunes in his 420 mix, which I really liked. Not heard this one before. Haven't heard the opening sample (?) before. Interesting long opening generally. The rain/thunder is actually pretty well done. Voice wise he has a good sound and delivery. Not as sure about what he's actually saying, but lost already. Feels a bit generic. The "used to see you on a screen, wonder if it was a dream" is reminiscent of biggie in his epic days.
It's a bit slow. Bit over dramatic and in love with its own seriousness. Does also have a similar confessional style to Kanye I would say, but I can't really relate to much of what he's saying, or be that bothered to find out more. The beat also quite un hip hop and pretty nice.
Of the 2, prefer the first one.
