Ok guys, I'm hoping you can help me out. After years of being anti-rap I've finally realised that rap is the same as any other genre. 95% of rap is mediocre, but 5% of it is awesome. Unfortunately any of the rap my friends listen to is mostly mediocre. So can any of you suggest any essential rap albums? I've heard Jay-Z's The Blueprint, and I loved it. And I've also heard Tupac Shakur's All Eyez On Me and I loved it. But other than that I've heard very few rap albums. Any takers?

I am gonna post on here like crazy.....

Nas - Illmatic - Nasir Jones made this debut album at the age of 20, already armed with the calm perceptiveness and been-there-done-that attitude of a much older ghetto vet, though sometimes his inner callow youth shows itself. Illmatic is a look back at a life spent in the culture of the projects, acknowledging joy as much as pain and taking note of violence as a fact of his environment rather than a focus of his life. It's enlivened by Nas's kicky, deep-threaded multiple rhymes--you can tell he grew up listening to Mr. Magic's rap show and internalizing the secrets of everybody's flow--and by tracks from a bunch of all-stars, including the Large Professor, DJ Premier, and, most memorably, Q-Tip

De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising - De La's debut represented a new path for hip-hop, a reaction to conventions that had turned into clichés. It was friendly and playful enough to cross over to a pop audience (thanks to Prince Paul's production, which found the funk hiding inside Steely Dan and "Schoolhouse Rock"), but complicated and tough enough to be hugely influential in the hip-hop world. Cryptic but ecstatic, and sometimes sexy (especially the ingenious double-entendre "Buddy"), Trugoy and Posdnuos's lyrics invented a "new style of speak," dense with self-invented slang and metaphors. The hits, including "Say No Go" and "Me Myself And I," are delightful, but the little sketches and sound-experiments between them make the whole disc flow effortlessly.

Mos Def - Black On Both Sides - Black on Both Sides is a manifestation of compelling, honest hip-hop. The genre's underground torchbearer, the mighty Mos Def (half of Black Star), injects intellect, humor, and knowledge into all of his rhymes. Overall, the album has an understated quality, but pure enjoyment comes with discovering the clever lyrical gems Mos drops. The expansiveness of his mindstate is showcased best on "New World Water," in which he fully limns our uses of, needs for, and exploitation of water. On "Ms. Fat Booty," a love tale with unexpected twists is woven intricately around Aretha Franklin's wailing vocals. Whether rapping, singing, or lecturing, Mos Def is firmly rooted in African American consciousness and examines social issues with great ease. Black on Both Sides will endure for many years; it's an album worthy of numerous listens.

Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded - BDP's first album--and the only one to include the late DJ Scott La Rock--sounded harder than hell when it came out in 1987. Though the simple beat-box patterns on a few tracks sound dated, most of La Rock's tracks are bluntly effective, especially the AC/DC riff he appropriates on "Dope Beat." And KRS-One still performs most of his Criminal Minded rhymes, because his audience knows them word for word: the ultraviolent dancehall of "9mm Goes Bang," the battle cry of "South Bronx" (and its counterpart, the anti-Juice Crew screed of "The Bridge Is Over," with its little Billy Joel homage), the catalog of La Rock's condom collection on "Super-Hoe." KRS bloomed later; here, he just rocked.

Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back - It Takes a Nation of Millions was the sign that hip-hop had exploded like a grenade. A rap record as abrasive, hardcore, and eloquent as a JFK speech, the 1988 disc is one classic track after another: tense, multilayered, harmonically wild music. Chuck D. declaims like a master preacher with foil Flavor Flav's voice darting around his. They've got the desperate energy of people fighting for their lives, and everything from their pumped-up rhetoric ("Prophets of Rage") to the group's quasi-paramilitary organization to the sirens and sax squeals in nearly every track declares how urgent their mission is. It's a hugely influential album, and it still sounds fresh and frightening after all these years.

give me some time, I'll come up with a bunch more.....

And Org Note me if you'd like to hear some great hip hop man, I'll send ya some.....
[Edited 9/12/04 9:06am]

Beastie Boys, definitely. Get Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head, and Hello Nasty.

Outkast too. Get Aquemini, Stankonia, and Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.

Also, if you wanna hear some good indie rap, there's this one cat named Beans. I saw him live and he was pretty cool. He had some clever and intelligent lyrics.

Also, for awesome beats from the underground, you gotta check out Madlib, Jaylib, Madvillain, and Yesterday's New Quintet.

These are my favorite from back when I listened to rap:

Paid in Full - Eric B and Rakim
Radio - LL
Dana Dane with Fame - Dana Dane
Power - Ice T
Greatest Adventures of Slick Rick - Slick Rick
The first three BDP albums
Straight out of Compton - NWA
Fat Boys - Fat Boys (Stick Em)
It Takes A Nation.... - Public Enemy
EPMD - The first one
UTFO - UTFO
Whodini - the firsts two

There are a few more but they are all around this era.

As you can tell, I stopped listening to rap by the time 1990 came around.

OMG, here we go.....

Run DMC - Run DMC - showcased two rambunctious voices working at the top of their game (and their lungs), finishing each other's sentences and laying waste to sucker MCs, all over a minimal pulse: the sound of the first new school of hip-hop. Some peaks: Rock Box, a fierce introduction to their rock/rap fusion, and "Wake Up," a fantasy in which Ronald Reagan is spotted at a concert by our heroes. It was a dream, they admitted. But Run, D.M.C., and turntable king Jam Master Jay took it to the world.

LL Cool J - Radio - Before he went pop and wack - Although just a teenager at the time of this recording, LL booms with shocking authority on tracks like "I Can't Live Without My Radio", the ferocious, burning, wax-and-metal battle cry of "LL Cool J is hard as hell!" and "I Need a Beat." Rick Rubin completes the soundscape with Def Jam's early signature arena-rock guitar strangulations and mechanical drum fills.

Beastie Boys - Licensed To Ill - The joke of Licensed to Ill's cover--that the Beasties could crash their jet into the side of a mountain and keep on tickin'--serves as a good metaphor for a career that even some of their 1986 admirers thought might be over after the one-time-only shock of this full-length debut. That thousands of funk-junkie wannabes have since failed at re-creating its groove, breaking-the-law vibe, and ear-splitting mix of rock and rap is an even better joke. And funniest of all is the record itself, which packs dexterous boasts, aural puns, and lots and lots of yelling into a disc that can still be listened to with as much pleasure as it gave in '86.

Please let me add :


Dr Dre - "The Chronic" : Best gangsta rap album ever....

Snoop Dogg - "Doggy Style" : 2nd best gansta rap album and snoop's best by far

Tribe Called Quest : Any of their 3 first albums

Gangstarr : HipHop classiest act.... you can pick any of their albums exept maybe the first one...

Beastie Boys : all their album are to be checked out...

Wu tang clan : "Enter the 36 chamber", classic among the classics.....hugely influencial

B I G : "ready to die" : the other great NY album from the 93-95 era...

Jurrassic 5 : first album

NWA : "Staight outta compton" or the greatest hits....

Cypres hill : "Black Sunday" is the most famous but the first one, "Cypress hill", is the best IMHO

NTM - "93, j'appuis sur la gachette" or "Paris sous les bombes" : Really good french hiphop

Roots Manuva - "Run come save me" : really good british hiphop

Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) -This debut revolutionized hip-hop (and launched half a dozen solo careers), as much for The RZA's raw barrage of off-kilter, off-key loops and sound effects as for its elliptically violent lyrics. Martial arts--at least as they appear in kung fu movies--are the Wu-Tang Clan's favorite metaphor, but they're also the organizing principle of the group, a crowd of eight rappers, each with his own way-out-there "fighting style." They created their own little self-contained culture, with its own symbols and shifting identities, and let listeners figure it out for themselves. This album hit like a fucking atom bomb.

Black Moon - Enta Da Stage - This album is a prime example of what hip-hop evolved into during the mid-90's - a eye-opening new wave sampling expedition that was truly appreciated by the hardcore "crate diggers" in us all. Black moon was one of the first groups who tried using bass filters to create new sounding loops - a tactic most copied during 93-95 in underground hip-hop. It creates sort of a muffled, yet deep and gritty sound that permeated every backpacker's dream of being a MC. The song "Who Got the Props" may have been the well known anthem for this group, but the original version of "Buck 'Em Down" and "How Many MC's" are the two stand-out songs. Also, the "Ni**as Talk S**t" and "Enta Da Stage" will defintely have your head nodding (depending on your age and musical ear). If you buy this album, you DEFINITELY MUST buy Smif-n-Wessun's album "Dah Shinin'" as well. It is the perfect package.

Eric B. and Rakim - Paid In Full - This debut album, basically a collection of early singles ("Eric B. Is President," "I Know You Got Soul," the title track), is the motherlode of late-'80s New York rap--assured, serious, and hugely influential. Rakim, a rapper's rapper, is the Chow Yun-Fat of hip-hop: cool as steel, absolutely calm, absolutely deadly. His verbal wit and rhythmic gift go hand-in-hand. He flows like a waterfall, playing around the beat, leaping from one ingenious phrase to another, letting the words do all the work. And Eric B.? He comes up with some straightforward but effective backing tracks (he favors James Brown grooves), scratches on a couple of block-rocking instrumentals, and makes room for the master to do his thing.

A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm - quite simply, one of the finest albums in hip-hop. It's easy to argue that A Tribe Called Quest reached their zenith on this, their debut album: though they went on to produce another world-class disc (The Low End Theory) and broadened their palates and their consciousness, never again were they quite this naturally free and easy. Q-Tip and Phife's delivery is deceptively simple, flowing like wine and tasting like candy, and Jairobi adds some contrast. The music, so self-assured that it never raises its voice to make a spectacle, follows suit. Four albums later, on their last tour, songs from Paths of Rhythm still were at the top of the set list.

N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton - A lone voice sneers "You are about to witness the strength of street knowledge," and with that warning the greatest-ever gangsta album begins. Then these Niggas with Attitude--wicked rhymes by Ice Cube, Easy E, and MC Ren; soulful production courtesy Dr. Dre; beats provided by DJ Yella--come barreling into your face, just daring you to ignore the streets of Compton (or any American city) even one day longer. From the anti-police brutality anthem "F__k Tha Police" to the angry, unflinching realism of "Gangsta Gangsta," to the pro-free speech "Express Yourself," this is slammin' and ruthless.

Common Sense - Resurrection - the Chicago MC now known as Common dropped this impressive sophomore set, marking him as one of the most versatile MCs to emerge in the 1990s. Shirking the often derivative flows of his debut, Resurrection finds the Windy City rhymer ably assisted by the voluptuous jazzy excursions of producers No I.D. & Ynot. He revels in ear-tickling wordplay, slinging countless witty punchlines and similes on "Orange Pineapple Juice" and "Communism"--songs that require several listens to unravel. Far from relentless chest-thumping bravado, Common's lyrics have substance, exploring inner faults and fears on "Book of Life" and touching poignancy on his classic metaphorical ode to hip-hop culture, "I Used to Love H.E.R.," a track that is perhaps more relevant today than when it was released. The beginnings of Common's ongoing struggle between his boyish effusiveness and moral responsibility, which figures greatly in his subsequent releases, is captured on this essential release.

Dr. Dre - The Chronic -Snoop Doggy Dogg (The Chronic marks his debut) and Dre's raps are for everyone; the subject matter is the sex, drugs, violence, and politics of South Central Los Angeles, and the phrasing is explicit, to say the least. But The Chronic's real genius is the music. By breeding hip-hop, jazz (studio instrumentation includes saxophones and flutes), funk, and soul (sampled artists include Parliament, Donny Hathaway, and Isaac Hayes), Dre creates downright intoxicating grooves. If you can't feel The Chronic pulsating through your veins, maybe your heart's not pumping.

J-Live - All Of The Above - The understated East Coast hip-hop messenger J-Live delivers the goods on his latest indie release, which may lack big-budget studio acumen but still contains some gems that will rock the house, and make you think. He may not have the big-time star power of Nelly or Jigga, but records like this show why J-Live gets serious love in the underground scene. With a sexy but serious vibe that places it in the same camp as records by fellow alt rappers Mos Def and Common, All of the Above straddles the fence between somewhat preachy odes on the state of hip-hop, à la the emphatic "Do That $#!%," and playful love poems, such as the bouncy "Like This Anna," which brings to mind the classic days of A Tribe Called Quest.

SOMEBODY STOP ME..... !!

Fugees - The Score - Their remake of "Killing Me Softly" was the hit, but that's only the beginning of the story. A hip-hop trio whose talents reach out into the world of the pop song (Wyclef Jean is a fine guitar player, and Lauryn Hill's a heck of a singer), the Fugees are also all distinctive, inventive rappers--you find yourself waiting for each of them to take the next verse in turn. The beats are the familiar crossed-armed boom-bip, but the group's understated grooves and subtle effects lie low in the mix. Aside from two kicky covers of classics (the other is Marley's "No Woman, No Cry"), The Score's focus is on the stars' rhyming with the free-form grace of performance poets and showing that they've thought deeply about the issues they raise.

The Roots - Things Fall Apart - Very few hip-hop groups make it to their fourth full-length recording, and perhaps only the Roots have made it to that level while still ascending. Although lyrical and musical vision is sorely lacking from most hip-hop (as Puff and Master P have proved, vision isn't necessary to bum-rush the mainstream goldmine), such qualities are cornerstones of the Roots' music. Their second recording, 1995's Do You Want More?!!!??!, and its follow-up, 1996's Illadelph Halflife, intelligently linked hip-hop to its musical forebears funk and jazz, and their lyrics provided unique, postnationalist hip-hop critiques. On Things Fall Apart (named for the Chinua Achebe novel) the sextet takes on a more somber tone, but at no cost to their musical innovations. "If we had to depend on black people to eat, we'd starve to death," says Denzel Washington, sampled from Mo' Better Blues, at the outset of the recording. It's not self-pity--rather, the group frequently returns to the theme of how many African Americans confuse uniformity with unity. Musically, the group is at its best with guests like Mos Def and Talib Kweli from Black Star contributing some old-school fun and technique to "Double Trouble." Erykah Badu's supple vocals on "You Got Me" are offset by innovative percussion, including an organically developed jungle beat. At a point when most rappers are running on fumes, the Roots are synthesizing new ideas. --

[Edited 9/12/04 9:34am]

Don't forget about Dead Prez.

MF Doom - Operation Doomsday - Underneath his mysterious metal mask, MF Doom hides the cachet underground legends are made of. After KMD's 1994 sophomore album Black Bastards was turfed by Elektra in 1994 and Subroc (one half of the sibling rhyme duo) passed away, surviving KMD member Zev Love X mutated into the MC Avenger known as MF Doom. The rap world is better for it. This 19-cut, deep LP is ridiculously dope, in a bizarro Ol' Dirty Bastard kind of way. Doom sounds either high or drunk on most of the tracks, his self-produced beats are gritty, and his rhyme styles are almost indecipherable. On arguably the best track, "Rhymes Like Dimes," Doom weaves some pointed lyrics through his abstract wordplay, spitting "only in America could you find a way to earn a healthy buck / And still keep your attitude on self-destruct." Doomsday features female vocalist Pebbles the Invisible accompanying the masked rhyme avenger on his journey to denounce wack MCs, while on "?" he trades hot verses with former Columbia artist Kurious. Doom's avant-garde ghetto-rhyme philosophies take even more intentionally weird twists on "Tick, Tick..." where he and guest MC MF Grimm's flows warble over a rhythm track whose tempo speeds up and slows down continually. The comic-book themed skits, many of which include snippets of dialogue from Marvel's Dr. Doom series, will help take you deep into the mind of an MC who is as otherworldly as they come. And in today's bland commercial rap universe, Operation Doomsday's left-of-center beats and rhymes are the perfect remedy.

Quasimoto - Unseen - The high-pitched alter-ego of the Lootpack's Madlib, Quasimoto concocts one of the most creative hip-hop albums in recent times. Sounding like a lost demo tape from 1992, and made under the influence of some serious mind-altering substances, The Unseen finds Quasi indulging in scattered, stream-of-consciousness rhymes and a collection of dusty jazz breaks and loops. Not only does the album sample the frantic vocals of '70s playwright Melvin Van Peebles, it also shares an affinity with Peebles's spoken-word albums, such as Serious as a Heart Attack. Both artists are most interesting when they take chances, risking alienation and/or ridicule.

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien - This gem from 1991 shows Del tha Funkee Homosapien--the charismatic MC from respected Bay Area crew the Hieroglyphics--in a sharply promising debut, produced by Del, his cousin Ice Cube, and DJ Pooh. Unlike his famous cousin, Del has made a lyrical name for himself by not rhyming about the more violent aspects of inner-city life, instead taking a more laidback and humorous tack, though each rapper produces a stinging effectiveness in his lyrics. But even Cube has to make fun of himself, posing as a guest thug on a parody, "The Wacky World of Rapid Transit." The pair's penchant for creative, hard-hitting beats are certainly in alignment, as P-Funk gets referenced throughout, both in the album's title ("Brother George" = George Clinton) and in the raw grooves that snake in and out of the album. But above all, this is a prime chance to catch Del's mighty tongue unleashed in his most brazenly un-PC (and extremely fun) ode to black pride--check out "Pissin' on the Steps" or "Dark Skin Girls" for further evidence.

Leaders Of The New School - A Future Without A Past - The first thing that'll hit you while listening to this album is the uniqueness of the three rappers (Dinco D, Charlie Brown, and Busta Rhymes) in both lyrical content and delivery. Many of the songs have a real point to them (such as "Just When You Thought it was Safe" and "Teachers Don't Teach us Nonsense") but are still lots of fun. Then there's Cutmonitor Milo, who does some of the most creative sampling I've ever heard, on "What's the Pinocchio's Theory?" there are bagpipes and dialougue samples from Disney's "Pinocchio". Then there's "Sound of the Zeekers @#^**?!" the ultimate example of how strange and far sampling can go: There are 10 rappers in this song, you keep hearing things that sound like a chorus but are never repeated, and the music changes somehow with each rapper's part; maybe an extra sound, beat, or sample. This album is rap at some of it's best, and a must have for Busta Rhymes fans.

Slick Rick - Great Adventures Of Slick Rick - After he gained legendary status rapping on Doug E. Fresh's "La Di Da Di," it was only a matter of time before the world would clutch British-born Ricky Walters to its heart. Rick had already fancied himself a rabid storyteller (and a mighty good one) on Fresh's track "The Show," and Great Adventures became Slick Rick's novella. Not content with one perspective, Slick Rick often employed tag-team rhyming with himself as his own partner ("Mona Lisa," "Teacher Teacher"). His cautionary tales ("Hey Young World," "Children's Story," "Teenage Love") work much better than his freaky tales ("Treat Her Like a Prostitute," "Indian Girl"). Still, it doesn't take a musicologist to appreciate the complex rhyme schemes and scenarios of "The Moment I Feared," "Children's Story," and "Mona Lisa," and his slight accent heightened his distinctiveness, an essential B-boy document.

Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride 2: The Pharcyde - Like De La Soul's Three Feet High & Rising, the Pharcyde's 1992 debut came at a time when hip-hop was headed in one direction, but the group was going somewhere else entirely. A crew of spunky b-boys armed with a self-deprecating sense of humor, the Pharcyde made an album that was fresh and profoundly honest. "Ya Mama" is a clever array of mother jokes set to cartoonish beats; "On the DL" has each MC unguardedly making self-denigrating confessions (like Fat Lip admitting to masturbating--previously a hip-hop no-no); and "Passin' Me By" is an ode to hopeless crushes on unattainable women. The group's playfulness was also infused with smarts, too, most visibly on "Officer." Recorded around the time of the Rodney King verdict, the song was an indictment of racial profiling--shrouded, of course, in a comic tale that parodied Public Enemy's "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos." With animated beats from J-Swift (the West Coast version of Prince Paul) and four distinct rhyming styles, particularly Slim Kid Tre's melodiousness and Fat Lip's nerdiness, this album captures an innocence rarely seen in the music's posturing ways. It's something that this album captures forever.

Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst - Maybe it was that downtime at Creedmoor Mental Hospital, but after he tuned out following the breakup of the hardheaded seminal hip-hop group the Ultramagnetic MCs, something must have flipped Kool Keith's wig like a mescaline pizza. I can think of no other way to explain the mutant birth of Dr. Octagonecologyst. Literally assuming another personality on this record, Dr. Octagon--Kool Keith on the mike, with Dan "The Automater" Nakamura producing--transmits unearthly rhymes like tractor beams to your cranium. Then he squirms around in there, grabs some Vaseline from your medicine cabinet, and does a little dance. The first time you listen to cuts like "Earth People" and "Blue Flowers," you might have to change the way you listen to hip-hop. The standards are the same--verse, chorus, verse, with plenty of nasty skits in the middle--and there are electro-beat shades of his predecessors, such as Afrika Baambaata, but the wordplay and beat compositions are truly light years from most hip-hop. Listening to this album is like trying to read the glyphs from Stargate.

Immortal Technique - Revolutionary 2 - Despite the popular perception that the death knell has already rung for political hip-hop, Immortal Technique jams a shot of adrenaline through the chest plate into hip-hop's conscious heart. Tackling topics from America's complicity in the drug trade ("Peruvian Cocaine") to the cycles of inner-city poverty ("Harlem Streets") to the global military complex ("The 4th Branch"), Immortal Technique unabashedly radiates his radicalism in a time of apathy. There's a thin line between passion and didacticism, and, at times, he forces rhymes that sacrifice style in service of content, but most of the time his delivery is as razor sharp as his politics. The beats are mostly understated and minimalist, armed with just enough punch to accent the rhymes. "You Never Know" drifts sweetly on jazz-guitar strums while "Crossing the Boundary" snaps with a hard, funk edge. Clearly though, Immortal Technique is the strongest sonic force on the album, a claxon alarm that shatters the complacent silence.

Prince Paul - A Prince Among Thieves - The album, a cynical story of two friends that turn into rivals over a record deal, is solid on every level, with a full story, great music, and a strong cast. The disc is populated by a bevy of characters, many played by solid veterans--Chris Rock and De La Soul as junkies, Everlast as a crooked cop, Biz Markie and Special Ed as enforcers for Chubb Rock's gangsta don, and Big Daddy Kane as a pimp--but features a pair of talented newcomers (Sha and Breeze) as the leads. Sha and Breeze are dynamic, and they show up some of the bigger stars here--though only a couple of the characters disappoint (most surprising of which is Kool Keith's Crazy Lou). Ultimately, it's a hell of a record, with Breeze, Chubb Rock, Big Daddy Kane, Heroine, De La Soul, Xzibit, Brand Nubian's Sadat X, and Kid Creole taking best advantage of the killer tracks Paul serves up for them.

Ultramagnetic MC's - Critical Beatdown - Part B-Boys and part Bad Boys, the Ultramagnetic MC's took a series of mind-blowing singles, including "Ease Back" and "Funky," wrapped them around at least as many new tracks, and released Critical Beatdown, one of the greatest new-school albums. Combining seriously dog-eared samples (James Brown's "Funky Drummer" appears out of tradition, more than necessity, on "Give the Drummer Some," and the Meters' "Look-Ka Py Py" provides the backbone for "Ease Back") with very clipped rhyme patterns from the Kool Moe Dee/Big Daddy Kane school of linguistics, Ultra's style lives on in everyone from 2Pac to Company Flow. Production is tight, and the two-headed leadership of Ced-Gee and lunatic genius Kool Keith (just try to decode his astral cipher on "Ain't It Good to You") makes this album shoulders above other new-school heads.

Digable Planets - Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) - Digable Planets deliberately disavowed the toughness of hip-hop culture: the trio's leader called himself Butterfly, his foil Ladybug purred like Eartha Kitt, and they produced hooks out of lines like "We're just babies, man." Despite occasional flashes of sorrow (like the pro-choice recitation "La Femme Fétal"), the group's happy and laidback on this debut, with tracks made out of old jazz records and finger-snaps, and words that draw on 50s hipster slang. Reachin' spawned the Grammy-winning single "Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)

I just wanted to show that there is SOOOOO much good music in hip hop, the radio and media push the worst of the worst onto the public, hence why rap is looked upon as stupid.

It is an actual art form, and like any other art form, the good must be found and then appreciated.....

having a friend like me also helps, if I can turn people on to hip hop, then I've done my part.

To quote Mos Def -

Listen.. people be askin me all the time,
"Yo Mos, what's gettin ready to happen with Hip-Hop?"
(Where do you think Hip-Hop is goin?)
I tell em, "You know what's gonna happen with Hip-Hop?
Whatever's happening with us"
If we smoked out, Hip-Hop is gonna be smoked out
If we doin alright, Hip-Hop is gonna be doin alright
People talk about Hip-Hop like it's some giant livin in the hillside
comin down to visit the townspeople
We +are+ Hip-Hop
Me, you, everybody, we are Hip-Hop
So Hip-Hop is goin where we goin
So the next time you ask yourself where Hip-Hop is goin
ask yourself.. where am I goin? How am I doin?
Til you get a clear idea
So.. if Hip-Hop is about the people
and the.. Hip-Hop won't get better until the people get better
then how do people get better? (Hmmmm...)
Well, from my understanding people get better
when they start to understand that, they are valuable
And they not valuable because they got a whole lot of money
or cause somebody, think they sexy
but they valuable caause they been created by God
And God, makes you valuable
And whether or not you, recognize that value is one thing
You got a lot of socities and governments
tryin to be God, wishin that they were God
They wanna create satellites and cameras everywhere
and make you think they got the all-seein eye
Eh.. I guess The Last Poets wasn't, too far off
when they said that certain people got a God Complex
I believe it's true
I don't get phased out by none of that, none of that
helicopters, the TV screens, the newscasters, the..
satellite dishes.. they just, wishin
They can't really never do that
When they tell me to fear they law
When they tell me to try to
have some fear in my heart behind the things that they do
This is what I think in my mind
And this is what I say to them
And this is what I'm sayin, to you check it

All over the world hearts pound with the rhythm
Fear not of men because men must die
Mind over matter and soul before flesh
Angels for the pain keep a record in time
which is passin and runnin like a caravan freighter
The world is overrun with the wealthy and the wicked
But God is sufficient in disposin of affairs
Gunmen and stockholders try to merit my fear
But God is sufficient over plans they prepared
Mos Def in the flesh, where you at, right here
on this place called Earth, holdin down my square
Bout to do it for y'all, and y'all at the fair

Thanks for the responses. As a white kid from Nova Scotia it can be pretty hard to hear new music so I appreciate all of the input. Basically if I want to hear something new I have to buy it and believe me I've bought an awful lot of bad music!

rialb said:

org note me, you don't have to buy it all man, that's what cd burners are for.

Wheres Hammer?

Buy a best of Hammer.....honestly a good introduction to rap.....fun as hell too!

"Funky headhunter" album hammer did in 1994 was slept on as it was hammer but album is good stuff too!


Hammers first album is more old school hiphop ("Lets get it started").....IT'S OK.....at least Hammer can hold his own as being original and bringing something new to the game.....Hammer did shit his way.....

DJ quik

"rhythem-alism"

you know the beat for "hearts of men" on "all eyez on me"? that was quik(though listed as david blake) . if your a prince fan quik is for you! he uses alot of live drums, guitars, and horns.

but it doesn't get better than "all eyez on me", man that album is a study of one of the most complicated, and tortured artists ever. it gets better with every listen.
[Edited 9/12/04 15:39pm]

It takes a nation of millions, Apocalypse 91 and Fear of A Black Planet, all by PE are fantastic

Blackalicious-My Favorite underground hip hop group. Nia and Blazing Arrow (so far their only albums) are both fantastic and prove that they are unmatched in hip hop for lyrical sophistication and melodicism. Gift Of Gab is one of the greatest rappers of all time

Jurassic 5-These guys are fantastic too. Quality Control and Power by numbers are great.

KRS-ONE-Spiritual Minded. Very gospel, very preachy, but I like it.

A Tribe Called Quest-The Low End Theory. Uses Jazz samples and has a more mellow and eerie feel.

Damn Jersey! Let some other people post!

Ummm, there's alot of good stuff on this thread, SO I'll add couple that haven't been mentioned yet.

The Book of Human Language -Aceyalone

Sex Styles - Kool Keith

Blackout - Red & Meth

Muddy Waters- Redman

Labcabincalifornia & Bizarre Ride II - Pharcyde

No Need For Alarm - Del The Funky Homosapien

Blowout Comb - Digable Planets

THe Unseen - Quasimoto

Mackavelli - Tupac

Tens years: A full clip - Gangstarr (best of)

Blackstar - Blackstar

THe Roots - Do You Want More
THe ROots - Illadelph Halflife
Mos Def - Black on Both Sides
Talib Kweli - Train of Thought
Common - Like Water For Chocolate
Outkast Entire Catalouge
De La Soul - Stakes is High
Mass Influence - Inderground Science
Bahamadia - Kollage
Slum Village - Fantastc vol.2


The is too much good hip hop to name, Hip hop thats not about shoting and gangs and negativity or stupid pop type rap (ie Nelly)

Don't go by 98% of stuff you see on TV

Couple of favorites:

Three Feet High and Rising--De La Soul
Paid In Full--Eric B. & Rakim
All Hail the Queen--Queen Latifah

Run DMC - First three albums (Run-DMC, King of Rock, Raising Hell)

LL Cool J - Radio

Whodini - Escape, Back in Black

Beastie Boys - License to Ill, Pauls Boutique

Stetsasonic

noone mentioned 2pacalypse? Or Digital Underground? Nas's Illmatic album as well as Tribe Called Quests Midnight Marauders, and De La Souls 3 Feet High & Rising and De La Soul is Dead are my favs.

It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back, Public Enemy -- Hip-hop's enduring statement. This album, more than any other, cemented hip-hop's credibility as an art form and revolutionized the sound of music in and of itself.

Blowout Comb, Digable Planets -- Hip-hop's underrated masterpiece. A true work of art.

The Low End Theory, A Tribe Called Quest -- Blended the realness of hip-hop with the eternal cool of jazz. An inspirational album to this day.

3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul -- The Pet Sounds/Sgt. Pepper of hip-hop. This album broke barriers for rap music. It showed that hip-hop wasn't owned by the b-boys and the gangstas. But for this album, the Digable Planets, ATCQs, etc.s may not have been heard.

Radio, LL Cool J -- A landmark. It showed the solo MC could carry an album on his/her own. LL is the prototype solo MC. Period.

Raising Hell, Run-D.M.C. -- One of if not THE first albums to prove that hip-hop could achieve crossover success.


Like jerseykrs, I could go on all nite, so I will post more tomorrow.

Soulchild82 said:

representing for my microphone wielding divas and mistresses of rhyme.....


1.Salt N'Pepa "Hot,Cool,& Vicious"

2.Queen Latifah "All Hail the Queen"

3.Roxanne Shante "Def fresh crew" 12" w/Biz Markie

4.MC Lyte "Lyte as a rock"

5.Sweet Tee "It's Tee time"

6.Antoinette "I got an attitude" 12"

7.Monie Love "Down to earth"

8.Nikki D. "Daddy's little girl"

9.Yo-Yo "Make way for the motherlode"

10.Bo$$ "Born gangstaz"

11.Da Brat "Funkdafied"

12.Nefertiti "L.I.F.E (Living In Fear of Extinction)"

13.The Conscious Daughters "Ear to the street"

14.Bahamadia "Kollage"

15.Lil'Kim "Hardcore"

16.Heather B. "Takin Mine"

17.Foxy Brown "Ill Nana"

18.The Lady of Rage "Necessary Roughness"

19.Mia X. "Unlady Like"

20.Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot "SupaDupa Fly"

21.Lauryn Hill "The miseducation of Lauryn Hill"

22.Eve "Let there be Eve/Ruff Ryders 1st lady"

23.Medusa "Work it the way you feel it" EP

24.Rah-Digga "Dirty Harriet"

25.Jean Grae " Attack of the attacking things" & "The Bootleg of the bootlegs"


This is my essential collection of ladies....some ladies were missed not unintentionally.