Features

Protoclown · #1

This one goes out to Les Waste in particular because I know he's into rap, but anyone is welcome to answer.

I'm getting more and more interested in rap lately, I guess it's because of the Beastie Boys. But I want to branch out and check out some other things. I don't really know too much though, so I was hoping for some suggestions.

I was thinking I would start by looking into Public Enemy, Busta Rhymes, and the Wu-Tang Clan. Is there anything else that you'd recommend I DEFINITELY check out as an introduction to the genre?

Rez · #2

all three of those are good groups to check out. i'm no expert myself (far from it), but here are some i've really liked these days:

cannibal ox
jurassic 5
anti-pop consortium
mr. lif
sole (not for everyone.. ya either hate it or love it)
prefuse 73
foreign legion

Les Waste · #3

I'm gonna make a list of albums I recommend when I get done with class which I have to go to in ten minutes and I'm not even wearing pants right now

Protoclown · #4

Cool, album suggestions would be great.

And Rez, can you tell me anything about any of those suggestions so I can get an idea of what they sound like? If it's too annoying to bother with or too difficult to describe to someone largely unfamiliar with the genre, don't bother.

Rez · #5

allright, i'll give it a shot.

i just know what i like. i cant really tell you much of why, since i dont know much about rap and where all of this music is really coming from... so this'll sound a bit pedestrian:

cannibal ox. they rap, by their beat arrangements are entirely different than any other rap group i've heard. they've got groove no doubt, but all of it strikes me as amazingly original. not to mention they're good with lyrics.

jurassic 5. this was when i was listening to them that the radio station, so i'm sure i would recognize it if i heard them agin, but as it is, it's kinda foggy. i remember liking it a lot, though. some sort of old school stuff that sounded really good.

anti-pop consortium. anyone who likes em automatically gets accused of being elitist, which isnt fair. they're just different, and on the warp label. like cannibal ox, but the other way around, instead of the beats being all fucked, the lyrics are more or less stream of conscious with some funk to boot.

mr. lif. the album i know from him is called "I Phantom" and it's a concept album about birth leading to the end. i know it sounds like crap and something to run away from, but due to the fact that he's an extremely gifted lyricist, i suggest you find him and listen in. "the now" is a good track that shows his talent. plus, it's got an assload of amazing producers to back him up. some accuse him of being emo, which i find to be crap reactionary bullshit.

sole. thank god there's an mp3 available of one of his better songs. judge for yourself. go to anticon.com, enter site, look for mp3's, get sole's "salt on everything"

prefuse 73. also on the warp label. mostly instrumental stuff with some glitch and wicked samples can funk like no one else when he really wants to. "why i love you" "plastic" and "one word extinguisher" are the best tracks to check out from his new album.

Protoclown · #6

Fantastic. That will help a lot. Thanks, Rez!

Miss Modular · #7

De La Soul, Three Feet High and Rising (1989). It's one of my favorite albums EVER, let alone one of my favorite hip hop albums. It's loads of fun, and very sample heavy--hard to get away with today. I admit I'm not really familiar with their work from then on, as they did take a darker turn from there.

A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory (1991) and Midnight Marauders (1993). Both of these albums have a great Jazz/Funk vibe. Phife and Q-Tip are very clever, quick witted, and self-depreciating rappers when they were working together. You could say that Arrested Development was a more pop-oriented ATCQ, but to me their work doesn't hold up as much. While there are some dated references in both those albums I mentioned, the production is very understated and the albums hold up for the most part. ATCQ recently reunited, but I hear their new single isn't as good as their old stuff, but they were going downhill before they broke up anyway.

ItalianStereotype · #8

southern rap is the ONLY way to go.

may I suggest:
Lil' Flip
Three Six Mafia
Freestyle Kings
Swishahouse
Big Moe
Mr. Lucci

Bennett · #9

Pharcyde: sometimes in the same vein as Tribe

Dr. Octagon-Dr. Octagonacologist: Weird, funny, tight lyrics produced by Dan The Automator... one of my favorite hip hop records feat. Kool Keith (of the ultramagnetic m.c.'s) as (one of his) alter-egos: Dr. Octagon

Rongi · #10

I dunno about rap, but everyone should listien to the 101ers

EverythingWillSuck · #11

I like Atmosphere, Dilated Peoples, Hieroglyphics and Deltron.

Quarashi's pretty similar to Beastie Boys too.

Protoclown · #12

Rongi, you're talking about Stummer's old band? Do they actually have cds available?? I didn't think they did!

Everyone else, thanks for the suggestions. I'll check them out!

Rongi · #13

Indeed I am. They don't have any cds available, but I found a neato site with some of their songs

http://www.emuhome.com/~clashmp3s/the_file.php

You need to sign up. Don't bother posting there though

Cap'n Crunch · #14

I suggest Lil' Bow Wow ( whoops, he lost the lil'!), Kris Kross, Lil' Romeo ( the star of his own tv show on nick! ), and B2K. I wish I could remember who sung that song Braid My Hair! I think it was Mario?

Snatchtastic · #15

Some of the coolest shit I've listened to that I would highly recomend is,

Busdriver-The weather
Deltron 3030
Aesop Rock-Labor Days

And of course Redman, Outkast and The Office Space soundtrack.

Schimid · #16

Actually, "Imaginary Places" by Busdriver is better than "Weather", in my opinion.

I'm sorry.

Geggy · #17

insane clown posse is a lot of fun to listen to, that if you don't take them seriously. definitely an ear candy type of music. give them a try w/ an open mind. i would suggest albums riddle box, great milenko and forgotten freshness volume 1, 2 and 3. if you want to download some songs before buying the cds, try piggy pie(w/ sex pistols), toy box and house of horrors(w/ slash). other bands from their label, psychopathic records, i wouldn't recommend wasting your time with any.

cypress hill's black sunday is one of my favorite rap albums. public enemy is good, i enjoyed fear of a black planet. wu tang and busta rhyme are great even. run dmc, pharcyde, dmx, 3 six mafia, nas, so many more bands.

Royal Tenenbaum · #18

The 101ers stuff is out there... I have the album somewhere.

Sam · #19

Snatchtastic beat me to Deltron 3030. But I'll second it.

Les Waste · #20

The 101er's actually cut two albums. Keys to your Heart is a great song.

Here are the albums I would suggest and why:

Raekwon - Only Built for Cuban Linx. You know how rappers always have this weird fascination with the mafia? Like how on MTV cribs, EVERY rapper has at least one copy of Scarface on DVD? Well, this is what started it. The entire album might as well be done in a foreign language because the slang is impossible to understand at some points, but the production is incredible, and Ghostface Killah is probably the best rapper ever. Rainy Days, Glaciers of Ice, and Wu-Gambinos are my favorite songs on it.

Boogie Down Productions - By All Means Necessary I would recommend getting ANYTHING by Boogie Down Productions or KRS-One, but this is probably the best album.

GZA/Genius - Liquid Swords This album is fucking brilliant. I can't possibly even imagine why someone wouldn't like this album. This might be the best rap album ever made because EVERY song is good. The best part is probably the samples taken from Kung-Fu movies, which is done on pretty much every single Wu-Tang clan related album, but synches up perfectly here. Labels, 4th Chamber, Cold World, and Shadowboxin' are all totally killer sweet.

Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele. Some people say that Ironman by Ghostface is a better album, but I love this one because it's probably the closest thing to a dadaist rap album.

Deltron 3030 This is a concept album done with rapper Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and producer Dan the Automator, done from the perspective of people living in the year 3030. I personally like this one more than Dr. Octagon, which is a hilarious album done by Dan the Automator and Kool Keith.

Non Phixion - The Future is Now Non Phixion are white, somewhat socialist and somewhat Jewish rappers who sound like a white version of Public Enemy. Their songs have names like "The CIA is Trying to Kill Me" and "Black Helicopters" and also they're good.

Nas - Illmatic Nas was good before he started to fucking suck and became the biggest sellout in the world.

Wu Tang Clan - Enter the Wu tang: The 36 Chambers Part of the reason why this album is so great is because it sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom, and it probably was. The Mystery of Chessboxin' is like, whoa.

Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep This album was made as a reaction to how the only rap acts that record companies wanted were gangsters who bragged about how many people they killed. So RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan and Prince Paul from De La Soul, along with two guys named Frukwan and Poetic, made an album about how they were actually crazy and evil and how they actually killed people. It's funny as rhetorical hyperbole, but it's also a good album.

The following people are good too:
Dead Prez, Wyclef Jean, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Blackstarr, Common, The Roots, Cormega, Grandmaster Flash, A Tribe Called Quest (their first three albums are good), Canibus, Eric B and Rakim (or just Rakim too), Eminem (fuck you all some of his stuff his good), RZA, Inspectah Deck, Killah Priest, Sunz of Man, Public Enemy, The Coup, LA the Darkman, Method Man.

soundtest · #21

I haven't heard any older Kool Keith but I thought Black Elvis was really really boring.

I say start with the basics and download yourself N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton", then work yourself up to the other stuff.

Geggy · #22

NWA was awesome. Eazy E was the only solo worth listening to after they broke up. Some of Dr Dre and Ice Cube's stuff were ok, but Eazy E was the nigga, yo.