Back in the day when I was actively listening to Nas I recall playing It was written a lot more than I ever played Illmatic. I haven’t heard both records in time so I’m due a listen to both and I’ll get back to you!
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I can’t believe no ones mentioned Lupe Fiasco yet. Is there any love for Food & Liquor? One of my favourite Hip Hop albums post 2000 for sure
Unfortunately after Food & Liquor it was all downhill for Lupe in my opinion which is a real shame as he’s got insane wordplay and flow
Some great choices here. There are many forgettable skits on hip-hop albums but this Masta Ace/MC Paul Barman one makes me crack up even years later:
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I don know much about hip hop, and fairly sure this is equivalent to posting a ‘best of house music’ in other threads, but I had this in teenage years and it’s bloody ace
i’m just here to say that the first two pete rock & CL smooth albums were pretty much perfect, not a note out of place.
the silly vulgarity didn’t age well but i could say the same thing about the first black sheep album, it completely knocked at the time. dres has one of the finest voices in hip hop.
other unsung hip hop classics of that era:
the nonce “world ultimate” The Nonce – World Ultimate (1995, Vinyl) - Discogs
dred scott “breakin’ combs” https://www.discogs.com/Dred-Scott-Breakin-Combs/release/431792
o.c. word… life" https://www.discogs.com/OC-WordLife/release/605020
lord finesse & mike smooth “funky technician” Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth – Funky Technician (1990, Vinyl) - Discogs
and so on. i love most of the albums mentioned here but i’ve kind of put them away for the time being. there’s something about living in the states around a certain type of person who once they find a love for a good hip hop album, they never quit talking about it. i love 36 chambers and illmatic as much as the next guy but i don’t need a yearly documentary/thinkpiece on em.
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also, and maybe it’s its own thread - but it’ll be a long time before i need to hear a whole lot of scratching again. i guess being my age, coming up being fascinated by it in it’s infancy, watching it mature, and then the whole explosion of turntablism thing - the burn out was severe.
i’m sure we’ll hear it done well again, but the likelihood of me ever watching an ITF or DMC battle video on youtube in this day & age is next to nil.
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these are a fun listen:
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I was recently lamenting the use of scratching in modern day rap/hip hop - it’s like it’s been phased out altogether! A generation of children raised with no zigga zigga or fffff-ffff-fffreshhhhhhhh
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I think they did something for LV? (benji B is a massive Sa-Ra fanboy- doing music for Virgil Abloh)
OMmas Keith engineers for massive people like Frank Ocean, Taz Arnold make some freaky punky fashion music, and Shafiq did some neo soul beat stuff for Alexander Nut’s Eglo label,
deffo prefer them in voltron mode but hey, the universe must expand
this album is absolutely outrageous - an all time fave - insane samples and amazing skills
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always find live hip hop to be absolutely amazing or utterly woeful
edan firmly in the amazing category - insane talent - and mos def firmly in the woeful camp - turned up late and could barely string a rhyme together
It can work both ways - Anti Pop Consortium were incredible live but their album released around the same time was nowhere near as good.
Yeah I remember Benji B championing them on his show. Listened to Rosebuds the other day. Still blows me away. That and Glorious.
we banged this when it came out, e-soul vibes similar flows to Casual, Del and that Hiero crew
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6CmG2WaENI
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Agree, Edan is amazing live, a few other good acts Ive seen live are Kanye West (around the time of his first album, it was just him and a DJ, it was nuts), Common, Atmosphere (seen them a bunch if times) and Ugle Duclking.
I’ve seen countless other live hip hop acts, probably spent hundred’s of pounds, many hours traveling, days off work etc and most have been crap, I seriously think twice before going to live Rap shows now and many people I have spoken too feel the same.
I was lucky enough to DJ as an opener at Edan’s Sydney gig - to this day he’s easily the best live act I’ve seen, although Ice Cube and Cypress Hill together were fucking amazing as well.
If you’ve never seen Edan’s “Echo Party” videos…prepare yourself for a treat
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I’ve been digging this J Wavey sound - killer psychedelic samples and hazy raps