I'll just second the Wu-Tang and Roots recommendations. I'd recommend starting with Enter The Wu-Tang(36 Chambers) and Things Fall Apart respectively. Also consider GZA's first solo album, Liquid Swords. If you want to try some of the more "alternative" hip-hop out there, there's aways Dälek.
Gza's first album is actually "Words from the Genius" but compared to Liquid Swords its not very good IMO very much 80's beats and style of rapping vs his Wu-Tang stuff which is much better. Liquid Swords and Beneath the surface are both great stuff by him I still listen too.
also to be fair the album might carry his name but the amount of other people featured on it almost makes it a Wu-Tang cd.
Also to add to the list:
Strange Fruit Project - Soul Clap
Jeru the Damaja
not sure if Gang Starr was mentioned.
Also to add to the list:
Strange Fruit Project - Soul Clap
Jeru the Damaja
not sure if Gang Starr was mentioned.
Wow Jeru, he brings back memories. I wonder whatever happened to him.
I just picked up Havoc (from Mobb Deep) The Kush for the collection at lunch today. After 6 tracks I'd say it was worth the purchase
After thinking about this more and looking at the type of stuff I like I came to the conclusion that allot of it is beat and producer related.
For example subtract RZA from Wu-Tang and you get the GZA's first album which is miles apart from Liquid Swords.
for me anything that RZA, Premier, and Alchemist touch are usually pure gold.
http://www.myspace.com/djpremier the first video link to the left is just amazing.
Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been) - DJ Premier Remix Rakim, Kanye, Nas and KRS One all in one song....
Looks like most of the ones that I am listening to these days have already been called:
Aesop Rock
The Roots (Game Theory should be required listening!)
Taleb Kweli
Since we have also branched off into DJ Premier and Jazzy Jeff, let me point you to:
And while we are at it:
People Under the Stairs.
Also, check out Street Sounds on KEXP. Great hip hop mix, with a distinctively underground vibe. Lots of new stuff comes up there.
Would you consider Ozomatli hip-hop? I discovered them because their music was used in Veronica Mars.
After listening to None Shall Pass based on suggestions here I tried out some more Aesop Rock, and I have to say, on a overall solid album basis, Float demolishes None Shall Pass. Both good stuff though.
I know this thread is a month dead, but if you don't mind something slightly different, there's a few good French hip-hop artists/groups out there. Mafia K'1 Fry in particular is good (Jusque le Morte is a great album), and I like Iron Sy as well.
Sage Francis and Buck 65 were playing shows together for awhile, and I had never heard of either. But it quickly became apparently most of the crowd was there for Sage Francis (he's like a hipster magnet). For the quality of the live show though, Sage Francis was extremely disappointing, especially compared to (and following) Buck 65.
Cannibal Ox : The Cold Vein. One of the best hip hop albums of the last decade. If you like Aesop Rock and El-P, this should fit.
Arise!
Dont sleep on JMT (Jedi Mind Tricks) latest Army of the Pharaohs release.
Ritual of Battle
Former JMT member Jus Allah returns... who is ridiculously awesome.
Along with the current god of Rap.. Celph Titled.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cASLfP6mk...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xTg-rW3JF...
Philly leading the way for the resurgence in real hip hop.
I've been listening to Rhymefest's Man in the Mirror which is a Michael Jackson tribute/satire.
Public Enemy has a new album out. Chuck D is good and angry. Again. It's gleefully wonderful.
Also, "The Greatest Story Never Told" should be really good. If it ever comes out.
For the quality of the live show though, Sage Francis was extremely disappointing, especially compared to (and following) Buck 65.
Huh. I felt the exact opposite. I saw those guys at the Bowery show in NYC, and Sage tore it up. Buck 65 was just... awkward. He was just too weird and awkward to get anyone enthusiastic about the show, and threw a little fit about some issue with his turntables.
I stumbled across something very cool recently--Binary Star's album Masters of the Universe.
I gather it's not very well-known, which is too bad because it's a superb indie/underground album. Strip away the intro stuff and you've still got 16 full-length tracks, nearly all of them rock-solid. Probably the best $9.99 I've ever spent at iTunes. And it's available as a DRM-free, high-bitrate iTunes Plus selection. Score.
I had no idea this was available on iTunes. This an amazing album. I picked it up from a friend in Michigan back when it came out.
Swollen Members. Strength, Lady Venom, Take it Back and many others are really great tracks. They have some of the most creative and distinct lyrics you'll come across, though they do often fall back into the "bomb-track" crutch of yelling about how awesome they are. Even then though, they're at least technically impressive.
Dilated Peoples is pretty good, as well. They have a great crossover track with ^SM called Counterparts.
Common is OK. I enjoy the laidback pace a lot of the songs have.
Public Enemy is always good.
Blackalicious.
Outkast.
Jedi Mind Tricks.
Heh, I had less and less energy for describing as I went along. haha. :p
I wholly approve of your taste in hip-hop.
If you don't mind buying entire albums, CD Baby has a nice selection of different sounding stuff (and more subgenres than I ever knew existed). You can also do "sounds like..." type searches (e.g. Common, Mos Def).
I think they work as an intermediary for getting tracks up on iTunes, but I'm not sure.
I recently picked up:
Know One - Know One's Home
Animate Objects - Riding In Fast Cars With Your Momma
All very non-gangsta.
RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE.
Two quickies. One, "The Listening" by Little Brother. A fantastic album, "Speed" and "Whatever You Say" are album highlights, but I tell people about LB if only because of 9th Wonder, who is without doubt one of the best Producers in hip-hop alive.
Second, and I mentioned this in the "Random Things" thread, "The Renaissance" by Q-Tip came out (you may remember him from seminary old-school group A Tribe Called Quest) and it's just insanely good. "Getting Up" has a single failing, that it's too short for such a awesome song.
WISE FROM YOUR GWAVE.
Corrected for you.
Also, Youngblood Brass Band are good times.
Youngblood Brass Band are good times.
Huge thumbs-up from me on Youngblood Brass Band - I really enjoy their stuff.
Off the top of my head ... chino xl. I will think more about this and look through my itunes library.
I think that Lupe Fiasco is fantastic. Both of his albums are just great, awesome rhymes and beats, plus he is from Chicago.
I'm going to put the big plug in for Aussie hip-hop
- Hilltop Hoods
- The Herd
- Any of the Culture of Kings compilations if you can find them.
And not Australian but has anyone mentioned the incredibly funky DJ Format?
The Streets
Its like the british Eminem without the women beating.
I listened to a good amount of hip-hop in the 90's (mainly for beats and lyrics) and would recommend Jeru the Damaja, KRS-One, Nas, Jay-Z, and Wu-Tang Clan in no particular order.
Saul Williams is a great example of how one can be both totally gangsta and sincere, literate and smart. African Student Movement is my supporting evidence.
Hey, I remember hearing about a group called the Cunnin' Linguists a while back; does anyone know if they're any good? Because with such an awesome name it'd be a shame if they weren't.
Since the thread is revived, let me highly recommend subscribing to eMusic for a while. Basically, it's sort of a subscription digital music store: for a flat fee, you get X use-them-or-lose-them downloads a month. It's way cheaper than traditional stores, but it's mostly small labels and indies. I find that it forces you to discover new artists after a while, but in the short run, a lot of stuff you might want anyway is really cheap.
My wife and I have discovered a lot of indie hip-hop there, including some of the bands mentioned here: a lot of QN5 music (start with the Asterisk 4 sampler), Aesop Rock, Lupe Fiasco, Gravediggaz. Once you start getting some of these, you'll be guided to similar music.
Of course, all kinds of other genres are there too. I get a lot of dance, indie rock, etc. One nice thing is sometimes they have albums before you can otherwise get them in the U.S.: they had M.I.A. before she had a U.S. distributor, The Pipettes, The Rakes, The Faint...
Tons of good stuff here.
I'll recommend The Sound Providers since they haven't been mentioned yet.
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