PLEAE DO NOT POLLUTE THIS THREAD, THIS THREAD IS FOR SHARING THE BEST HIP-HOP / RAP THAT WE OTHERWISE MIGHT HAVE LOOKED OVER. Here is where we start Diggin' in the crates (d.i.t.c) for real hip-hop, old, new, funky, simple, deep, just true expressed emotions in poetic verses. I started out like i think most hip-hop heads do, the older generations who first started truly and deeply influencing hip-hop. Biggie Smalls, 2pac, Big L, Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, Nas, and those of the sort. Then i started looking at underground artists who weren't discovered or chose not to be. Immortal Technique, Jedi Mind Tricks, Brother Ali, Sage Francis, etc. People who could take rap to a new level, through immense creativity and breaking the barriers which were once the framework for hip-hop. They would talk very violently about 3rd world countries, about oppressors, our government, politics, shit that truly mattered on a daily basis, which has been happening for thousands of years. Now i'm more into deep expressed emotions and the artists ability to play on words and use creativity through metaphors and using complex antonyms to incorporate multiple meanings and situations. I'm currently into Blu & Exile, Emc, Binary Star, Deltron 3030, Canibus, and A tribe called quest. I'm finding it harder and harder to find good rap/hip-hop. I like nice beats but i thoroughly enjoy nice meaningful lyrics which capture the song and the essence of emotion. But this thread is here for us to express which Hip-Hop we enjoy, please post your very favorite Artists, not mainstream Kid Cudi, Jay-z, Notorious B.I.G, Lil wayne, but serious Artists with real Lyrical Abilities, people who you want to purchase their album to support. Here are some of my favorite albums from the Hip-Hop generations, would encourage you to buy them, they are that good. Binary Star - Masters of the Universe Big L - Lifestyles of da poor and dangerous Blu & Exile - Below the Heavens Emc - The Show Mobb Deep - Amerika's Nightmare Eminem - Infinite Devin the Dude - Waitin' to Inhale Canibus - For whom the Beat Tolls Jedi Mind Tricks - Servants in Heaven Kings in Hell Hip-Hop means a lot to me, i love the originality and expression of self through music and carefully selected words. I don't enjoy Lil Wayne, Lil Weezy, anyone with Lil in front of their name, Kid Cudi, most mainstream rap. We are in search for True Hip Hop, not the garbage that is being blasted on Mtv and BET all day, not the stuff being replayed 50x on radio stations either, the true fiend's hip-hop bell is what i'm trying to ring.
A Tribe Called Quest Formed in 1985, ATCQ are considered the pioneers of Jazz Hop. Uplifting, positive and sometimes socially criticizing lyrics with lots of technical skills. To this date five albums are released, the last two of them featuring production work by the legendary J Dilla. Albums: 1990 - People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm (Sample Track: Can I Kick It?) 1991 - The Low End Theory (Sample Track: Buggin' Out) 1993 - Midnight Marauders (Sample Track: We Can Get Down) 1996 - Beats, Rhymes And Life (Sample Track: Jam) 1998 - The Love Movement (Sample Track: Find A Way) The Roots No further explanation needed. Live band Jazz Rap awesomeness with Black Thought, one of the best lyricists, on the mic. Assortment (!) of albums: 1995 - Illadelph Halflife (Sample Track: UNIverse At War) 2002 - Phrenology (Sample Track: The Seed 2.0) 2006 - Game Theory (Sample Track: Baby) The Sound Providers Originally consisting of rapper Profile and producers Jason Skills and Suolo, Profile left the group before they released their debut album in 2004. They then produced two more albums, making it a total of three to this day. Their records feature guest appearances by Little Brother, The Procussions and Asheru among others. Albums: 2004 - An Evening With The Sound Providers (Sample Track: Braggin & Boasting) 2006 - Looking Backwards: 2001 - 1998 (Sample Track: The Field) 2006 - True Indeed (with Surreal on vocals) (Sample Track: Life & Rhymes) Madlib Hailing from Oxnard (CA). Also known as Quasimoto, Yesterday's New Quintet, Monk Hughes, Malik Flavour, Beat Konducta, Sound Directions, Otis Jackson Jr. Trio, Suntouch, The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble, Ahmad Miller, Kamala Walker And The Soul Tribe, The Jazzistics, The Eddie Prince Fusion Band, The Jahari Massamba Unit and Yesterday's Universe All Stars. A virtuoso of merging musical styles together, ranging from Hip-Hop to Jazz, Fusion, Soul and others. His most outstanding record is "Shades Of Blue" on which he focused on instrumental Hip-Hop using nothing but samples of records released on the legendary Jazz label Blue Note. Assortment (!) of albums: 2003 - Madlib - Shades Of Blue (Sample Track: Distant Land) 2004 - Yesterday's New Quintet - Stevie (Sample Track: Little Girl) 2005 - Quasimoto - The Further Adventures Of Lord Quas (Sample Track: Don't Blink) 2005 - Sound Directions - The Funky Side Of Life (Sample Track: Dice Games) Jazz Liberatorz A trio of French producers building the instrumental scenarios for the raps of Fat Lip, Asheru, Buckshot, J. Live, Mos Def and others. Two albums and various single productions released since 1999. Albums: 2008 - Clin D'Oeil (Sample Track: When The Clock Ticks) 2009 - Fruit Of The Past (Sample Track: Back Packers) Guru Better known as one half of Gangstarr. He also worked on solo projects, mainly mentionable the Jazzmatazz series featuring four records he did vocal and production work for, featuring a whole load of other great rappers and musicians, such as Isaac Hayes, Roy Ayers, Kool Keith, Erykah Badu, Common and many more. Albums: 1993 - Jazzmatazz Vol. 1 (Sample Track: Loungin') 1995 - Jazzmatazz Vol. 2 (Sample Track: For You) 2000 - Jazzmatazz Vol. 3 (Sample Track: Timeless) 2007 - Jazzmatazz Vol. 4 (Sample Track: State Of Clarity) Digable Planets An old school rap crew who formed in 1992 to release two albums in 1993 and 1994. They received positive reviews for their experimental fusion of Jazz and Rap and their effort to introduce female rap vocals to a culture dominated by men. They broke up later and reunited to put out another album in 2005. Albums: 1993 - Reachin' (A New Refutation Of Time And Space) (Sample Track: Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like That)) 1994 - Blowout Comb (Sample Track: Dog It) 2005 - Beyond The Spectrum: The Creamy Spy Chronicles (Sample Track: Nickle Bag Of Funk) Us3 A britain based formation of musicians with multiple people on instrumental production and vocals. They formed in 1992 and released a whole lot of records ever since, featuring eight albums and three EPs. Assortment (!) of Albums: 1993 - Hand On The Torch (Sample Track: Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)) 2001 - An Ordinary Day In An Unusual Place (Sample Track: World No More) 2006 - Shizophonic (Sample Track: Kick This) So, this is just to give you a short overview and a few names to look for when it comes to Jazz Hop. The variety of sounds i missed in this introduction is endless and there are tons of other mentionable artists. I may add one or another to this list later.
I recommend Carlos Nino and Lil Sci, cant remember the name of the album but it's awesome. Black Milk - Tronic is pretty good too. I love Deltron 3030 as well, any other Del albums worth checking out?
ZooKeePerRZ -- ZKPRZ The Trolley Stop: Search results for zookeeperz Dope shit. Haven't found practically anything about them except for their myspace, but it's a damn good album. PS: Masters of the Universe is so dope
eminem - infinite. EDIT: looks like you got that on there Well Ill add something not in OP The Last Emperor – The Legend of Bigfoot [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SPjPGeYlMU"]YouTube - Last Emperor - Secret Wars[/ame]
Does anyone ever listen to the Beatnutz? pretty tight, not too big on their lyrics as a lot of them are too "gangster" for me, but the beats are fucking dope, as the name would suggest haha.
my favorte hip hop albums are as follows and in no order. ( I warn you, most are different than what most are used to) Why? - "Part Time People Cage... Or Part Time Key?" - "Miss Ohio's Nameless" - "Why? / Odd Nosdam Split ep!!!" (Avant Garde Experimental Trip Indie Abstract Hip Hop) Themselves - "The No Music" (Experimental Ambient Avant Garde Hip Hop) cLOUDDEAD- "cLOUDDEAD 10" " (Avant Garde Surrealist Abstract Hip Hop) Object Beings - "Object Beings" (Half Spoken Word, Half Surrealist Ambient Hip Hop) Pedestrian - "Volume 1 : Unindian Songs" (Experimental Indie Hip Hop) Odd Nosdam - "Burner" (Beats, mostly. Surrealist Lyrics and film clips throughout the album) Mos Def - "Black on Both Sides" (hip hop, straight up) Gza - "Liquid Swords" (Gza's best album imo, samples the movie "shogun assassin" which has been deemed the greatest martial arts film of all time.) Ghostface Killah - "Supreme Clientele" (Real Hip Hop, from when it actually mattered to have talent. Purely Poetic Rhymes with spectacular beats) Aesop Rock - "Daylight EP" - "Labor Days" (underground hip hop, lyrics that are filmed with imagery and unique beats for both. definitely worth the money if you come across either) Deep Puddle Dynamics - "The Taste of Rain... Why Kneel" (Fantastic UG Hip Hop, surreal, and powerful. with purely insane lyrics and abstract beats.) Greenhouse Effect - "Columbus or Bust" (plain hip hop) Illogic - "Celestial Clockwork" (Abstract Hop, Off the wall lyrics with a lot of talk about space and time) El-P - "I'll Sleep When You're Dead" (very powerful, emotional hip hop) MF Doom & Mos Def - "Def Vs. Doom" (seriously, one of the best hip hop albums ever recorded. if you don't have it buy it today.) Blueprint - "Chamber Music" (a lot of beats, really off the wall, every song is very different) and i might get flamed for this, but... Three 6 Mafia - "Mystic Stylez" IMO one of the most underrated albums of all time. Lord Infamous is quite possibly one of the sickest rappers of all time and he gets no credit where it's due. and so so so many more albums.
Liquid Swords is awesome, I'm relatively new to the Wu so I've been listening to Gza, Ghostface, Meth and Raekwon albums. I prefer Fishscale to Supreme Clientele cus on SC he raps too much about his cars and money and shit, not what I would call "real hip-hop" really. 36 Chambers is where its at. And I thought that Def vs. Doom tape kinda sucked, just didn't like the way it was mixed or produced or something, I prefer to listen to Def and Doom separately. oh and Shogun Assassin is awesome! Edit: thought I'd post a list of some favourite albums Atmosphere - You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass Talib Kweli - Beautiful Struggle (Black Star with Mos Def is better) A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor or The Cool. (I might get some hate for that in this thread but Lupe is the shit, but there are a few songs on his albums that would turn off a true hip hop head.) Immortal Technique - Revolutionary Vol 1+2. (I thought I'd put this in here in case anyone hasnt heard these. I've kinda outgrown him but he's a good artist.) Common - Like Water for Chocolate or Be Brother Ali and Sage Francis is kinda good
Well, this might not be considered hip hop, but the street sweeper social club have lyrics that meet up with this. And ya, the singer raps, but the rest of the band plays Rage Against the Machine style. Tom Morrello is their guitarist and Boots Riley is their singer/front-man. Boots sang for "the Coup" and has a history in politics and shit like that, so a lot of his lyrics are politically fueled. Some of there songs Clap for the killers: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzFumFzoRnQ]YouTube - Street Sweeper Social Club - Clap for the Killers *NIN|JA 2009*[/ame] The Oath: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX41hs1Wt-I]YouTube - Street Sweeper: The Oath[/ame] Fight! Smash! Win!: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuVwJgs5WSw]YouTube - Street Sweeper: Fight! Smash! Win![/ame] Give it a listen and if you think it doesn't qualify, then feel free to delete it. Edit: thought I would add something from the Coup, they are pretty sick too [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsUDGxdeICw"]YouTube - The Coup - Dig It[/ame]
De La Soul 3ft High and Rising De la Soul is Dead Stakes is High Buhloon Mindstate Probably my favorite hip hop artists Dailymotion - De La Soul - Me Myself and I - a Music video (just one of their great songs) Also, A Tribe Called Quest, The Black Sheep, Jungle Brothers (Native tounges posse) = Amazing Forgot Jurassic 5 theyre awesome
BIG PUN----Cannibalism is livin in my metabolism-Givin em spasms and aneurisms at baby baptisms-That's all my thugs thinkin bout, drinkin your blood-Boriquans love flooded rugs bloody and bloated mugs-Leavin the reverand decap' and severn when I'm beheadin-The armageddeon is lettin demons slip into heaven-Goin back to spiritual ritual times-What you gon' find - shiftings of satan in critical bind-Nevermind, I do that often, I've risen often-Bust out my coffin, I'm a livin abortion-Battled the devil and deaded his demons-Trained other beings to be in his different levels of hell,Still screamin-Seein bodies bloody and babies bloated corroded-Know the chinese exploded-Know they run with gotti who know it (check it)I never run I never ran, the fattest motherfuckin man-I roll with cuban makin junk to jams-That's all I'm knowin and I'm never kneed-All on your soul I feed, I'm lettin punk motherfuckers bleed-Fuckin with me, better hide yo' seed-Better think twice, before you ride on me-Cause i'ma lift your weight,Then I'm droppin you in the incinerator-Then I'm hittin the hospital and poppin two in the incubator-That's how we do it pana, hardcore, no more goo-goo ga-ga-Oh I'm sorry pa-pa, was you the da-da?