Flowing off the top of the dome...

There was a time I really used to enjoy that staple of a solid mc, the freestyle. In fact a few years back I used to check for every freestyle I could. There was something dope about hearing your favourite mc flowing from the top of the dome, nothing but a mic and maybe a beat.

Then for some reason, I got bored. Now I just don't really care that much anymore, maybe I'm getting older, maybe mcs don't put much emphasis on it anymore, I don't really know to be honest. It seems like now every time I hear someone on the radio, they drop one standard freestyle over whatever the hottest beat of the moment is. That seems to almost always contain most of a verse from one of their tracks anyway, which is weak.

There are still exceptions, Common on Radio 1 a few months ago being a good example, not to mention when Mad Skills dropped by on Westwood. It's just the quality of freestyles seems to have got weaker for some reason to the point where a lot of mcs just do it for the sake of doing it now. I've heard some dope ones this year; a lot from the Dipsets, Jeulz Santana, Skillz, Common and a couple of others, but I've heard a hell of a lot of weak ones as well. I know a lot of heads will just say that I missed the best ones, but I’m talking over the whole spectrum, there are less dope ones.

So for your listening pleasure I've got a couple of dope freestyles for the last few years, just a random selection. Some very well known, so maybe not so well known, if you check for these, drop us a comment with your thoughts:

Big L & Jay Z - 7 Minute Freestyle
It's now legendary and you all have heard it at one point or another. Big L and Jigga just flowing crazy shit for 7 minutes.

A Tribe Called Quest - Freestyle
Being the Tribe fan I am, I had to hit you with this. One of my favourite of all time with Tip, Phife and Consequence flowing for 8 minutes strong.

Krs-One & Common - Freestyle
One that might have slipped your radar. Now this is some of that serious dope shit that I miss. Krs and Common flowing over "Who Shot Ya". Not to be missed.

AZ - Freestyle (b/w Ski Mask)
One from this year I've been feeling. AZ drops serious gems over the instrumental for Ski Mask.

Tags: Hip Hop, Freestyle,