My Top Ten Favorite Hip Hop Albums
So, I thought I would do this, and let Rob know, he is not alone. Plus I like making lists, and it is friday aftenoon and I do not want to go outside just yet.
I am not sure where hip hop came from for me. I have a feeling it was because of NYC punk rock, and a shot of Russell Simmons at a Dead Boys show 100 years ago. I think Spin used to cover the convergance between hip hop and punk rock back in the day. Either way, this is old for me. I saw Run DMC when I was 16, and I am 37 now. I rode in a van with the Beastie Boys in Europe a long time ago as well. Hip Hop is a part of me. As is punk rock. I think hip hop is more though.
I am a head. I study hip hop with an aggressiveness that I never exhibited in school. I never paid as much attention to Chaucer as I did to the comings and going of the Def Jam stable. Nothing shook me as much as Hank and Keith Shocklee, not even Iggy Pop. And that is saying something. Those early PE records defined my sonic palatte, in a way that has never shaken.
1. Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Keep Us Down. This album came out in high school. The Bomb Squad (Hank and Keith Shocklee) made a sound explosion that was so perfect. Nothing, absoltely NOTHING ever came close. The only reaction similar was seeing The Black Keys live. Not much in the whole world is better than this record. The layering, the sonic violence. It is all amazing. It is beyond understanding, especially when you become aware that it was ANALOG.
2. LL Cool J-Radio. I think that this might be the perfect Boom Bap record ever made. LL was 18 or 19 when he made it, and he was fully formed. I have it on cassette, vinyl, and cd. It was REDUCED by Rick Rubin, and Rick makes no real mistakes. His lyrical prowess makes all others sit and watch. In hip hop, the title of Greatest of All Time is fairly bestowed on LL Cool J.
3. Boogie Down Productions-Criminal Minded. I had no way into this record, other than Kris Parker, KRS One wanted me to understand. This was one of those neighborhood records. Calling out another hood, to battle. Songs like 9mm goes bang, scary. I think it was also the last record by Scott LaRock.
4. Ice Cube- Amerikkka Most Wanted. This is the lyrical fury of a young Ice Cube, fresh out of NWA, declaring himself. With the cache of Chuck D, and the Bomb Squad adding real steak to the sizzle. Cube was fearless.
5. Ice T-OG Original Gangsta. This is the first album when Ice T had a bit of time. He introduced us all to Body Count, had the amazing song New Jaack Hustler. Again, this is a young Ice T, still fearless, willing to go further, and deeper into hip hop. I wish this Ice T kept going, not the home invasion, Law And Order horrer movie Ice T.
6. Wu Tang Clan- Enter the 36 Chambers. I think that this is a stretch. Honestly, I have no idea what these guys were talking about ever. But the way they talked about it, it was like nothing I have ever heard, and I have been to Scotland. The depth of the RZA is the thing, it is beyond all of the other things I have heard in hip hop. Beyond the Boom Bap, beyond the floss. It is a deeply cinematic this. The Wu Tang, is not for the faint of heart. It is advance hip hop.
7. Third Bass- The Cactus CD. I had the great fortune of coming of age in the golden age of lyrics. And what Serch and Prime Minister Pete Nice did, amazing. They took people on. They discovered NAS. they brought Chubb Rock to the front of the line, and they made it funny.
8. Run DMC- Tougher than Leather. I took my ten year old brother to see the Runs House world tour. Mary Mary, amazing. the kings. They invented it. We live what they birthed. Right now. I am wearing dickies, Run wore dickies.
9. De La Soul- Three Feet High and Rising. This record I hardly ever stopped playing. It kept going, over and over and over again. it was funny, and smart, and it dared you to rise to it. It was so special. Still amazing to this day.
10. Eric B and Rakim- Follow the Leader. Rolling Stone writer Toure said that Rakim was so strong, that he single handledly changed the direction of hip hop all by himself. rakim is the greatest emcee of all time, lyrically. LL Cool J may be the greatest, but lyrically NO ONE is as good as Rakim.
robertmentzer said:
You are so right about Rakim.
But I am not so sure about LL. I think his stuff has not aged that well? Perhaps I need to put on some headphones and try to sink into an early-80s b-boy mindset or something.
Also, where is Paul’s Boutique?
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:55 am #
Dino Corvino said:
The fact is, in todays market, we do not make careers. Every emcee is up and down. Alive, then a clothing label, then gone.
LL Cool J is the Rolling Stones. I may not dig them, but they can get on stage with anyone and not lose, ever.
LL Cool J has had a 30 year career. Non stop.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:20 am #