"T.R.O.Y." The Most Overrated Song In Rap?

Every time this song comes on in any rap venue on the East Coast (and most of the rap venues otherwise) everyone loses their shit.

"Oh my god, here it comes! My song!" everyone thinks. They start to rap along too, though about 20 seconds in, everyone forgets the lyrics and just violently nods until the chorus kicks in.

I'm part of "everyone." I've done this many a fucking time. I've felt goosebumps when that saxophone line kicks in. It's like, "Here it coooomeesss!!! Best song eveR?!"

But does anyone actually like T.R.O.Y.? Sure, the beat is pretty hot. Thanks, Pete Rock and Large Professor. But does CL Smooth have anything going on? Is his voice ill? Are his lyrics killer? Are they memorable?

No! CL Smooth sucks. He's like Guru, without the dope voice.

My hypothesis is that everyone feels like everyone else loves this song so they too must pretend like they love it. And then, after a few listenings, they end up thinking it might actually be a dope song. Not only is "T.R.O.Y." the most overrated song in rap music, it's the object of one of the greatest acts of peer pressure in rap EVER (and that's saying a lot for a genre of music that both fetishizes drug dealing and sneaker purchasing).

Once we all admit T.R.O.Y. is overrated, I think the song can sink to its proper place in history--a mediocre East Coast rap song that came out the same year as The Chronic.