Sorry if I've been on and off the boards a bit. Work, job interviews, house cleaning, watching too many movies, looking after the wife, etc. ... it's all kicking my *ss, time-wise (I like how I put movies before my wife... haha)
Anyway, back on topic: thanks for pulling out the wiki entry I left based on 10YOTO. That's exactly what I would've cited too: looks like it was an unintentional, one-sided beef on Madlib's part that eventually died down. I think threads like this are completely nerdy, but I love them and completely understand them (I'm the biggest nerd on here... have you seen my post count???) I don't hate ya, playas.
Here's a good example of my own misconceptions: I thought that the line "look, man... you shouldn't be our opening act!!" from "Up Yo Spine" on Fun DMC was a secret diss at Ugly Duckling for a while (because of their song "Opening Act")... but some other cats on the board set me straight (it was just a regular ol' rap on KK's part). I think the only tension that's existed between PUTS & UD was during the "A Little Salsa" remix: Thes wasn't given much time, and then just told to hand over his un-assembled, raw components, and then UD had someone else piece it all together to make the remix, so Thes was really not a fan of how it sounded on the final track, and he mentions that that's probably why he wasn't invited to be on Taste The Secret like KK was. (They are completely friends now, so it blew over, but still...)
I think the moral is that beef happens, whether minor or major, but most people shouldn't put much stock in it. PUTS apparently doesn't too much.
On another note: I'm not a monumental fan of DOOM or Madlib either, but I'm not about to say much regarding their talent. I've sorta found out lately that, even if I dislike their art/style/genre, there are a ton of artists that still probably deserve more respect than I give them, ESPECIALLY hip-hop artists and producers.
Most music I've been directed to from the PUTS boards, from word-of-mouth, etc. I end up not being a fan of, and most of what I end up REALLY digging isn't even hip-hop: Boards of Canada, Stereolab, MGMT (to some extent), etc. I think my problem is I need it to either sound organic (real instrumentation, funk, jazz, etc.) or it has to have a certain atmosphericness or static/distortion that's more ephemeral and innovative (and less cheesy/corny). There are a lot of artists out there who are good at what they do, but the beats just sound too keyboard/computer-ish or it has that "pop snap" kind of thing that I hate.
And don't even get me started on the emceeing: I've been trying for ten years to figure out why I like what I like, and I still don't understand it myself. Some people's flows just rub me the wrong way. I can't tell you why I love Rakim, but don't like Nas. I think we've all got our preferences.
