Hi dere welcome to Planet Rock, this is the real hip-hop (listening club.)

Hello ilm!

Many of you would have heard of this 'rap music' before and have known it to be pleasant. Others may want to follow in yr footsteps. Geir may also say something.

Each Friday there will be 2 albums announced, 1 classic for beginners and 1 relative obscurity or forgotten gem for the goons. Hope you enjoy.

Firstly, the album that came 8th on ilx's 90s poll-

http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/BDAVIS/nas%20illmatic%20album%20cover%20pic.jpg
Nas' Illmatic (1994) Spotify link

And then secondly, for the fans of Erykah Badu's recent albums, one of Madlib's most underrated records...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hxvhMhdGW5s/Rx58HEji2YI/AAAAAAAAAAg/IXyCZSKDkJQ/s320/2005692128615387996_rs.jpg
The Lootpack's The Lost Tapes (2004) Spotify link

Enjoy! Or don't, it's your choice.

one of Madlib's most underrated records... for real, i've never hear this, just Soundpieces: Da Antidote!

Excellent idea Sam, Would like to check out rap so it's perfect for moi.
I'm sure some of those who will take part might be interested on the OG records that have been sampled so please check out ILX0RS - FREE YOUR MIND AND YOUR ASS WILL FOLLOW.... TO THE ILM FUNK LISTENING CLUB! (This Weeks Albums are Funkadelic , Ohio Players and Mandrill.) where I hope some of you will join in! Sam & Shakey already posted a list of samples used by this weeks albums on there.

As time goes on I will def. pick some more funk heavy records. I was going to go for the Chronic as my first classic but it wasn't on spotify. Illmatic's samples are more jazz heavy, due to the DJ Premier/Pete Rock influence and Madlib is def. a jazz sampler more than... well... anyone!

What arsenal players are they? ;)

great picks, i owe like fifty bucks in late fees at the downtown library for a copy of 'the lost tapes' i took out a year ago and lost

oh oh oh i just realised this was a series of ilx threads - great idea! dunno if i'll have the time but i'll try to follow the funk thread (i STILL have the funk zips herman put together from YEARS ago and i still haven't got round to them yet aargh). no doubt i'll pick up a lot of stuff from here too, rap albums from before i got into rap albums.

sam you'll be covering the first ladies of ho-rap in here, right?

would join and exclusively ho-rap listening club organized by lex tbh

Lex the idea is anyone can have a week to choose albums (1 classic for noobs/1 obscure seems to be the idea)
So you should totally book a week.

i thought most of the other threads were doing 3 albums at a time?

some dude, please come back to the funk thread, the youtubes wont be too heavy, it was only to try get folks to check out the mandrill!

can i get a week, pls!

never even heard of that Lootpack record - like Zvookster only the Soundpieces:Da Antidode album.

xxpost: I'm gonna suggest on the Jazz thread sticking to 2 a week 'cos its getting a bit overwhelming already!

well i have my 3 for jazz week ready! It was hard enough only choosing 3!

lex- ho-rap isn't something i know too much about tbh, feel free to take a week or two by yourself!

some dude- thought considering 3 albums on all the others is a lot if you want to follow many of them, i'll keep this more popular genre to two.

scmidt- feel free to take next week if you want :)

pfunk - okay go for 3 but after that, 2 for evryone else

a hoy hoy: word is bond

kool let me know when a week is free then!

actually if there's a) interest b) other people want to get involved with the pedagogue side of things, an r&b thread should happen!

will that be singles or albums or both?

Enjoying this Nas album btw. Good choice Sam!

Fuck, The World Is Yours is so fucking classic

I sip the Dom. P. watching Gandhi, till I'm charged - I always liked Nas' steez

Friday 30th - Tannenbaum
Fri 7th April - Lex's amazing feminine lady products week
14th April - Gonna have a personal boom bap week :D

couldn't have picked a better album for Hip-Hop 101 imo. Illmatic is the motherfuckin mountain top

[Verse One: AZ the Visualiza]
Visualizin the realism of life and actuality
Fuck who's the baddest a person's status depends on salary
And my mentality is, money orientated
I'm destined to live the dream for all my peeps who never made it
cause yeah, we were beginners in the hood as five percenters
But somethin must of got in us cause all of us turned to sinners
Now some, restin in peace and some are sittin in San Quentin
Others such as myself are tryin to carry on tradition
Keepin the schwepervesence street ghetto essence inside us
Cause it provides us with the proper insight to guide us
Even though, we know somehow we all gotta go
but as long as we leavin thievin we'll be leavin with some kind of dough
so, and to that day we expire and turn to vapors
me and my capers-ll be somewhere stackin plenty papers
Keepin it real, packin steel, gettin high
Cause life's a bitch and then you die

This looks neat. Love the Nas album, haven't heard this Lootpack (like others, I know Soundpieces but not this one!) so looking forward to it. Would be happy to curate a week if there's a space.

of course there is a space, it will hopefully turn into a successful rolling thread.

yeah i was only sorta kidding on the funk thread, like i said i will try to come back and participate after i DL the albums.

put me somewhere in line, eh?

3 albums doesn't seem like that much more than 2 to me, and in this instance the 2 just felt very limited since it's 1 album i'm slightly tired of thinking about and 1 by an artist i'm just totally disinterested in. this thread def has potential, though.

i switched my motto, instead of sayin fuck tomorrow
that buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto

has to be one of my favorite rap couplets of all time

i guess it'd be albums herman?

Lootpack is not Madlib tho some dude

that summer my mom paid me to paint the garage, so all i did for like 2 weeks (i was a lazy and slow worker) was listen to the cassette of illmatic on my knockoff radio shack version of those old yellow sports walkman.

perfect album in every respect.

Yes! I am definitely in for the listening. Busted out Illmatic this week for the first time in a while, plus I've been listening to the Rub's hip-hop history thanks to that best hiphop singles from that one week in 1996 poll. I've never heard the Lootpack, so I'll try and scrounge that up tonight and give it a spin.

well we aren't going to like every album posted sd. its to get discussion going more than anything. i originally proposed just a 1 obscure rap album p/w listening club because i thought w/ many different clubs and seemingly the classics being heard by everyone, it'd be cool like that but i think its better this way. And most weeks a loose definition of classic/obscurity is cool, i just thought it being the first week i'd go with one of the top 10 all time rap records.

Some Lootpack youtubes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTrkgPAUN2Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AvuzoertWY&feature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApngT22Ya88&feature=related

actually that whole album is on youtube

well if this thread is mostly aimed at people who haven't listened to much hip-hop, i think the "classics" are absolutely necessary, and should there be any dissent from the canon from hip-hop fans then they can chime in with their tuppenceworth.

ya i can sympathize with i don't like madlib but lootpack are hard to resist

The only madlib I've ever heard was a Quasimoto track that I thought was awful, but I'm willing to give this a chance.

Sam, what should i check out next if i liked the nas?

Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt

and can I put in for a week?

rev want a week for the funk club?

sure.. my funk skillz ain't as leet as yours tho

you know what you like and that's good enough.

Six good essentials 90's hip hop albums that would be a nice place for a true neophyte to get started imo

Nas - Illmatic
Jay Z - Reasonable Doubt
8Ball and MJG - Doin' It Down South
Wu Tang - 36 Chambers
Tupac - All Eyez on Me
Biggie - Ready to Die

not like that's a rocket science post or anything; just a good direction to follow up on

8Ball and MJG - Doin' It Down South

so essential and canonical as the other albums you listed that I've never even heard of it and there's no mention of it in their wikipedia article

"Six good essentials 90's hip hop albums that would be a nice place for a true neophyte to get started imo"

sub in comin' out hard if you want to.

actually a quick looksee suggests down south was a 2000 release, so if you're feeling pedantic Comin' Out Hard, In Our Lifetime or On Top of the World are all equally (or better) worth the trouble.

if you like illmatic the obvious choices imo are-

az's do or die
mobb deep's the infamous
yeah, reasonable doubt and ready to die, similar heavy premo style
pete rock and cl smooth's mecca and the soul brother (pete rock did the beat to 'the world is yours' on illmatic, and a couple crackers on ready to die, as well as possibly the greatest break of all time, which is on this album)
main source's breakin atoms (Nas's first verse on illmatic, the one on Genesis, can be heard in full here but its all killer no filler/Large Professor did the beats to on One Time 4 Yr Mind/It Ain't Hard To Tell and maybe Halftime? on Illmatic).

Also I recommend checking the Gang Starr POX that sprung up in the past couple days after Guru's death, I don't think Premier (the Gang Starr producer who was responsible for NY State Of Mind and Memory Lane on Illmatic) ever made a bad break.

Oh, and...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxvZDoKMasE

The only madlib I've ever heard was a Quasimoto track that I thought was awful, but I'm willing to give this a chance.

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Friday, 23 April 2010 16:50 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

You never listen to New Emerykah, Fish Scale Madvillainy or Jaylib's Champions Sound? You are missing out on so much! Following Madlib needs a bunch of quality control but the guy is arguably the best producer of the past decade. (Note- arguably, def. top 5.)

Rev, feel free for many weeks if you want!

"as well as possibly the greatest break of all time, which is on this album"
presumably?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiOcVWQY2bc

Friday 30th - Tannenbaum
Fri 7th April - Lex's amazing feminine lady products week
14th April - Gonna have a personal boom bap week :D
21st - ilxor
28th - forks
4th May - the rev
11th - Sam's super electro spectacular
18th - Intro to ukhiphop 101

give me the 25th

Friday 30th - Tannenbaum
Fri 7th April - Lex's amazing feminine lady products week
14th April - Gonna have a personal boom bap week :D
21st - ilxor
28th - forks
4th May - the rev
11th - Sam's super electro spectacular
18th - Intro to ukhiphop 101
25th - Le Sarge

i'd be really interested in an r&b version of this.

ayo ILX R&B LISTENING CLUB week one: Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, Luther Vandross, Amerie

18th - Intro to ukhiphop 101

lol

I'd like to get a week on this too.

Friday 30th - Tannenbaum
Fri 7th April - Lex's amazing feminine lady products week
14th April - Gonna have a personal boom bap week :D
21st - ilxor
28th - forks
4th May - the rev
11th - Sam's super electro spectacular
18th - Intro to ukhiphop 101
25th - Le Sarge
2nd - Keyes

It's hard to come up with anything to new to say about Illmatic. I've probably listening to it more than any other album--going through two tapes, a CD & digital files. I'll probably buy it when it comes out in swallowable capsule form in 2030.

The slightly sad thing about it is remembering back to when it came out and how it seemed to merely show the potential of what Nas could do--but now is considered the pinnacle of hip hop, immune to all criticism. Not that negative criticism of it would really make sense. Newjacks on message boards get clowned for saying they don't get it or they think the beats are boring or whatever.

Yeah, maybe Illmatic wasn't a great choice for starting discussion. btw the wiki article on it is a terrific read and it links to the xxl classic album piece etc.

I think if some crazy person put a gun to my head and said he'd shoot if i couldn't quote an album word for word i'd hum something instrumental i think i could stay alive with illmatic. my mate ad and i used to run-dmc style quote lines of it one after the other when we were bored in class. (see also: ready to die.)

Reading into Serch's influence on Illmatic- anyone ever hear that first solo post-3rd Bass album, Return of the Product?

it's nice to come back to illmatic; i had a bunch of the instrumentals buried in itunes and damn if they aren't ridiculously enjoyable too.
i do not know Lootpack; am hunting now.

what did pete rock produce on ready to die, a hoy hoy?

machine gun funk iirc

oh wait no, uncredited co-producer on mgf & juicy

http://www.blindiforthekids.com/music/2009/07/nasty-nas-91-demo-tape/

well there's not a great deal for people familiar with illmatic to say about it but let's wait for the people hearing it for the first time to come back to us!

going through two tapes

did you put it in your box when your shit eats tapes?

lol

I didn't know about this:

http://thekaoseffect.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/nas-michael-eric-dyson.jpg

added to amazon wishlist :) still need to give whiney some hipster pupPE moneys too.

I think life would be complete if Bobbito ever cracked out an autobiography.

WHENEVER FRUSTRATED I'MA HIJACK DELTA

Finally got hold of Lootpack. The beats remind me a lot of DJ Krush, who I liked a lot when he was just doing instrumental shit. I'm not crazy about the lyrics -not much has stuck with me except a couple places where they talk about how they use mics not tecs, etc. which ok fine. They do some really interesting things with their (and I mean this in the best way) sort of retarded group dynamic. Okay, I'm listening to Psyche Move right now - is it supposed to be all distorted like that?

i liked lootpack on the alkaholiks 2nd album, but could never get into their album when they finally released stuff under their own name. good beats but they seemed so boring as rappers. dull voices and the lyrics never seemed to be about anything more than defining themsleves by what they werent and talking about returning to the real etc etc. recently sold my copy of their first album on discogs as i never listened to it.

Sort of reminds me of Jurassic 5, in that regard, although not as skilled at crafting rhymes.

btw, really appreciating these threads guys, alerting me to some amazing music in my blindspots, keep it up

Just realized that when I downloaded Lootpack, all the tracks were in the wrong order. Anyway, this song is the last on the album and I think it best represents the slurry/speech impediment feel of the record. The backing track is nice - try to imagine yourself getting a haircut or a pedicure to this shit.

1 classic for beginners and 1 relative obscurity or forgotten gem for the goons.

So, where exactly is the line between these two? I mean obviously, Illmatic = classic, but what about something like... Pete Rock & CL Smooth, or maybe EPMD -- something that was "classic" back in the day but is relatively forgotten among the Kanyes and Waynes of today?

im glad i heard illmatic when it came out. if i was listening to it today after all the intellectualisation/canonisation of it, it would prob be a lot more difficult.

one not exactly classic but no less great album you could compare it to from the time that sounds nothing alike - kurious' constipated monkey.

1 classic for beginners and 1 relative obscurity or forgotten gem for the goons.

So, where exactly is the line between these two? I mean obviously, Illmatic = classic, but what about something like... Pete Rock & CL Smooth, or maybe EPMD -- something that was "classic" back in the day but is relatively forgotten among the Kanyes and Waynes of today?

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Tuesday, 27 April 2010 13:23 (30 minutes ago) Bookmark

ilxor, I hear you.

Here's a selected run-down of album released from 1990-1995; so much happened in those 5 years! I got some thoughts on the matter but will post 'em when I got more time.

1990 -
* Erick B & Rakim - Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em
* A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels & Paths Of Rhythm
* LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
* Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet
* Ice Cube - AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
* Brand Nubian - One For All
* Boogie Down Productions - Edutainment
* Digital Underground - Sex Packets
* EPMD - Business As Usual
* Paris - The Devil Made Me Do It
* Intelligent Hoodlum - Intelligent Hoodlum

1991 -
* A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
* De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead
* Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill
* Gang Starr - Step In The Arena
* KMD - Mr Hood
* Organized Konfusion - Organized Konfusion
* Ice T - O.G Original Gangster
* Main Source - Breaking Atoms
* Geto Boys - We Can't Be Stopped
* Ice Cube - Death Certificate
* Public Enemy - Apocalypse 91.. The Enemy Strikes Back
* Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - All Souled Out
* Freestyle Fellowship - To Whom It May Concern...
* UMC's - Fruits of Nature
* 2Pac - 2Pacalypse Now

1992 -
* Dr Dre - The Chronic
* Redman - Whut? Thee Album
* Gangstarr - Daily Operation
* Pete Rock & CL Smooth - Mecca and the Soul Brother
* Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II
* EPMD - Business Never Personal
* Eric B & Rakim - Don't Sweat the Technique
* Diamond D - Stunts, Blunts & Hip Hop
* Da Lench Mob - Guerillas in tha Mist
* Ice Cube - The Predator
* Paris - Sleeping With the Enemy

1993 -
* Souls Of Mischief - 93 Til Infinity
* A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
* Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
* Cypress Hill - Black Sunday
* Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle
* Ultramagnetic MC's - The Four Horsemen
* KRS One - Return Of The Boom Bap
* Geto Boys - Till Death Do Us Part
* Onyx - Bacdafucup
* Ice Cube - Lethal Injection
* De La Soul - Buhloone Mind State
* Guru - Jazzmatazz - Volume 1
* Funkdoobiest - Which Doobie U B?

1994 -
* Nas - Illmatic
* Notorious B.I.G - Ready To Die
* Common - Resurrection
* Gang Starr - Hard to Earn
* Outkast - Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
* Warren G - Regulate... G Funk Era
* Jeru The Damaja - The Sun Rises In The East
* Organized Konfusion - Stress: The Extinction Agenda
* The Roots - Do You Want More?!!!??!
* Beastie Boys - Ill Communication
* Method Man - Tical
* The Beatnuts - The Beatnuts
* Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - The Main Ingredient
* Kurious - A Constipated Monkey

1995 -
* Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
* Mobb Deep - The Infamous
* GZA/Genius - Liquid Swords
* Big L - Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous
* Group Home - Livin' Proof
* Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version
* Goodie Mob - Soul Food

I'd say at least 33% percent of those fall into the something that was "classic" back in the day but is relatively forgotten among the Kanyes and Waynes of today category.

I dunno man, I was thinking it would be loose enough to play with it. I mean Illmatic is a stone cold classic obv to everyone but if Three Times Dope or OJ Da Juiceman dropped a 5 mic record in your opinion, then feel free to treat it as such.

I have a feeling I'll just end up picking two dope records, and not worrying much whether they are more so classic or undiscovered, or somewhere in between.

As long as they are dope :)

Sort of reminds me of Jurassic 5, in that regard, although not as skilled at crafting rhymes.

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Tuesday, April 27, 2010 6:42 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark

*vomits*

sorry

kip

jeez not all hiphop has to be http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4chJL00Sz5M/Sx0CGvpDzjI/AAAAAAAAAMk/PqSA4vK9cVE/s200/600615.jpg (cool fucking tape btw); lootpack is just relax, fun and filled w/ some terrific beats. I thought especially post-Erykah that ilx might be interested but I guess you are all still bearing the taint of liking non crack rap pre-dipset.

rediscovering this lootpack album is a major factor contributing to my happiness the past few days

:)

besides lootpack is not backpacker or conscious-rap really, it's weird oakland teenagers trying at b-boy revivalism

They can quite easily get confused though, non? A tint towards boom bap full of jazz samples + not rhyming about being a crim = ...well, whatever you want to make it. Jurrasic 5 et al suck because its made a big fucking deal that they aren't wanting to be stereotyped as a character on The Wire while Lootpack are just having fun w/ that shit.

Jurassic 5 are unforgiveable ugh

well... yes. truly hiphops dave matthews band.

i still think the concrete schoolyard EP is pretty fun, EP is a perfect format for J5

If J5 is too shitty to make even an album's worth of decent songs, they shouldn't be releasing EPs instead of albums -- they should just quit music altogether, and save us all the trouble.

^ not diggin this logic, hip hop could use more EPs imo

pretty certain that if you got rid of all skits, hiphop would basically just be an ep genre.

there's a lootpack song about not smoking weed, but i don't know if they ever talk about not being criminals, i don't even think they have a song about how life is hard.

lol at there being a song associated with madlib about not smoking weed. nah i just meant that stupid divide of hiphop w/ crim activity and hiphop without it in ppls minds.

i think the madlib verse is actually like, 'i smoke a lot of weed but not THAT much yo.'

the only smoke wildchild get be second hand

aren't they from Oxnard?
Lost Tapes is ok, but I think the beats on Soundpieces are a cut above.

i dunno man, the J5 hate is probably the most boring to me, they bring out the hardman in everyone...i just thought that first one was kinda fun and engaging in a throwback type of way...i sorta love the one dudes old school deep bass voice a lil' bit too...

but yeah over the course of their career it just got old cuz that's all they CAN do, but i thought for one EP it was sorta fun

like i still love this piano loop, it's a great classic kool aid smile nostalgic loop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZmQIGLNxBs

you open for Fiona Apple=internet hardmen reflexively diss you for life

i spose i dunno i feel like a lot of stuff that gets props on ilm is way wacker than J5, who seem like harmless and fluffy at worst

this track has a nice soul clap type beat to it imo

re j5: Yeah, naw... Their first ep was really fun, then their debut album came out and it got seriously old. Didn't they recut a couple of the ep tracks, but in versions that were kinda lifeless? I think that was them....

whatever happened to dizzy dustin, young einstein, and andy cat?

http://www.thebeijinger.com/files/u43397/UglyDuckling.jpg

i'd imagine j5 get extra-hated because they kind of put all their weight on positing themselves as these revivalists of true hip hop spirit but do such a bad job selling it they just seem like hacks

i liked that ep by that new old school duo. um, you know the one. they ride skateboards and love the native tongue people. everyone on ilm hates them.

i haven't heard this first jurassic 5 ep, so i'm only basing this on what i have heard mind you, but the shit i've heard is way more lifeless than the ignant shit they talk down to.

"i'd imagine j5 get extra-hated because they kind of put all their weight on positing themselves as these revivalists of true hip hop spirit but do such a bad job selling it they just seem like hacks"

who IS good at doing this though? it's hard to do without looking like a cornball. probably deejays in general have an easier time of going back in time and looking cool. but for rappers its harder to pull off. blackalicious were pretty good at it , i guess.

so you're a gansta cool, but on the mic ya what's the difference
off the top can you drop rythmatic metaphoric flows for instance?
nah i didn't think so
you're just like the floppy sloppy who like to sit back and copy like it was kinkos

Yeah, I haven't heard anything by them since like 2000 or something. I have no idea.

all my friends who were into j5 in middle school/high school are all in prog-rock bands right now

one small step for stonerkind.

I own the 1st and 2nd J5 albums and off the top of my head i can't even think of a single track that's on some "yes yes y'all we rockin n shockin n bringin back that tru hippity hoppin" shit.

who IS good at doing this though? it's hard to do without looking like a cornball. probably deejays in general have an easier time of going back in time and looking cool. but for rappers its harder to pull off. blackalicious were pretty good at it , i guess.

― scott seward, Tuesday, April 27, 2010 4:15 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i kind of think lootpack are good at doing this, to whatever extent they actually do. all the b-boy and non freestylin wack mcs stuff is calling for some sort of revival, but they it in a way that's fun and cool and you actually want to be on their side.

the retro stuff i tend to like IS along the lines of the stones throw/peanut butter wolf type of thing i guess. crate digger shit. and if its all instrumental, all the better. i've never heard any madlib that i've loved though. and i need to check out more dam funk stuff. cuz i would probably dig that more.

i finally heard jedi mind tricks a couple months ago! i liked them! uh, just throwing that out there. listening to them made me wish i still had that non-phixion album i liked all about black helicopters and stuff.

xp - are you serious? the one j5 song i have permanently burned into my brain contains the lyric "we takin it back to the days of yes ya'll in"

that's from the ep, i think

We're not balling, or shot calling
We take it back to the days of yes y'all-in'
We holding onto what's golden
(PE Sample) *On a stage I rage and I'm rollin'*

is that What's Golden? I skip that song. Ok there's one song out of 25 that mentions that shit. Point being there's a lot more to them than retro fetishism; their lyrics touch on way more stuff than Lootpack--who I like, but never have anything to say other than how wack other mcs be.

who I like, but never have anything to say other than how wack other mcs be

lol dude this is like 75% of rap lyrics

i know dude, point was a)it's 100% w/Lootpack and b)still like them

i just read the lyrics to "quality control" which is the only j5 song i remember really jamming back in the day and yeah that's some corny fucking shit

i'm sure all their shit has pretty dope prodcution tho so \(o_O)/

i would be down to smoke w33d & listen to a j5 album tho

is that What's Golden? I skip that song. Ok there's one song out of 25 that mentions that shit. Point being there's a lot more to them than retro fetishism; their lyrics touch on way more stuff than Lootpack--who I like, but never have anything to say other than how wack other mcs be.

― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Tuesday, April 27, 2010 4:37 PM (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

on my way home i remembered the lyrics to the other j5 song i'd listened to, hook is

let's take you back to the concrete streets
original beats and real live MCs
Playground tactics no rabbit in a hat tricks
just add classic rap shit from Jurassic

don't mean to seem like a crank or ballbuster, but "taking it back" is basically these dudes' mandate

We're known to make noise as the original b-boys
in the flesh, greater to the depth
... We on some underground certified Wild Style shit

― "Jayou", another cool beat (also on the EP)

guess I imagined all the other songs of theirs that have different themes than that, my bad

"i'd imagine j5 get extra-hated because they kind of put all their weight on positing themselves as these revivalists of true hip hop spirit but do such a bad job selling it they just seem like hacks"

who IS good at doing this though? it's hard to do without looking like a cornball. probably deejays in general have an easier time of going back in time and looking cool. but for rappers its harder to pull off. blackalicious were pretty good at it , i guess.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 27 April 2010 21:15 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

http://airplaneshadows.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/folder1.jpg

Primitive Plus + EDAN's EPs from that time (the one with MCs Smoke Crack, Food, Let's B Friends) is really a Classic (even if many haven't heard of it)

fuck a metal listening club, these are my jams https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMc5u9ZWSFA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XICKJXAqxXw

this goes out to all them motherfuckers who don't know how to earn a decent fucking buck so they gotta steal from kids... HELL YEAH!

my name is edan / and i still kid's shit /

this goes out to all them motherfuckers who don't know how to earn a decent fucking buck so they gotta steal from kids... HELL YEAH!

― tart w/ a heart (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, 27 April 2010 23:15 (1 minute ago) Bookmark

stealin' is the way / to go / that's how you get all your shit / you ain't gotta pay for shit!

still = steal, obv.

in the absence of something interesting ever being said on one of these threads...

RT @Questlove: that's what made Nas' Illmatic so ill: it introduced the idea a producer's buffet table. before that? ONE producer controlled the movie. there is a reason why the 'too many cooks in the kitchen....' idiom exists people

Funky Technician had 5 different producers, so I dunno if I really believe that. I'm sure there is another big name lp but I can't think of it off the top of my head.

Mos Def's "Black On Both Sides" has DJ Premier, Beatnuts, Diamond D, Ali Shaheed Mohammed amongst at least 3 other lesser known producers. Its pretty close to classic too.

yeah but black on both sides came out, what, 99? pretty certain it stopped being an exception to the rule by then. you'd already had funky technician, ready to die, illmatic, reasonable doubt, etc. etc. etc. all go off w/ multiple producers.

xpost: whoops left out some word from my last post.

I was mentioning "Black On Both Sides" after reading @QuestLoves comment:

the problem with buffets are you are so busy searching for "that hit" that the vision is lost on how to make a cohesive album

Yeah, mutliple producers is commonplace now.

BOBS is almost 'anti-hit' though, isn't it? I mean Umi Says was the second single! That and it wasn't that long before that Co-Flow had 'independant as fuck' scrawled over everything rawkus.

would like a week on this, if possible!

Illmatic: my favourite hip hop record after 36 Chambers, despite first hearing it only a couple of years ago.

why is everyone talking about BOB

BOBS i mean

I usually have no idea what I'm talking about.

But if there's some talk here about why Illmatic is considered more cannon than other forgotten classics from that period, here's my take:

1. Arguably Illmatic boosted the rebirth of East Coast hip-hop, amidst the West Coast rise of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Death Row Records
2. Nas reflected on situation on the streets of New York streets, and (post-De La/Tribe)in a style and level of poetic detail more often found in conscious rap.
3. made NYC the centre of hip-hop again and somewhat paved the way for Mobb Deep, Biggie, Jay-Z and the Wu
4. no skits - no filler - only one guest MC - Illmatic is so focused, no party tracks or bullshit like that
5. his age - 20 years old when he recorded it producing a yet a masterly document

horrible post, congratulations

hahaha

thx heavy deej!

"i would be down to smoke w33d & listen to a j5 album tho"

1&3- Pretty certain ETWuT:36C dropped a year before. Not to mention plenty of great ny records between chronic and illmatic. or do you not own return of the boom bap, bacdafucup and daily operation?

2- eurgh. can we give up on 'conscious rap' as a thing on this thread? or is nas unconscious on illmatic?

4- it has a skit. it has party tracks (halftime ffs!)

5- coincidence it also has a michael jackson sample? i think not. michael jackson molested nasir jones.

http://www.chromogenik.com/misc/histogram1.jpg

looooooooooooool. dunno what i come under. westwood maybe?

WEEK 2:

I was going to choose Mobb Deep's "The Infamous" but seeing how great the weather is, decided for something more sunny. It's also probably my favourite hip-hop album, and recommended last week as somewhere for the neophyte to go after "Illmatic".

This week's classic:

Pete Rock & C L Smooth - Mecca & The Soul Brother(1992)

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/2rKuVQd5CrQqXrhViDapEi

http://i44.tinypic.com/xqfbbb.jpg

HHC: "Dominated by one huge single, 'They Reminisce Over You (TROY)', it's easy to overlook the importance of the album that spawned it, as 'TROY' was more an indicator of its quality than a standout itself. The debut set by Pete Rock - who first came to attention on Marley Marl's radio show in 1989 - it showed him sharing the mic with CL Smooth to fantastic effect. Production was a good as hoped from Rock, who went on to become one of the decades's finest beat builders. Much of 'Mecca...' errs on the mellow side, but as the lyrics - themselves good enough to encourage repeated listening - advise, "Don't take my kindness for a weakness." Overall as fine a record as Pete Rock has ever produced."

One note, the Spotfiy version of "Straighten It Out" is different to - and not as good as - the version I have on my CD copy. Here's a YouTube clip with (imo) the better version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGl0dRZnygw&feature=player_embedded

This week's obscurity:
J-Zone - "Music For Tu Madre" (1998)

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t237/zoneloc12/j-zone_music-for-tu-madre.jpg

Not on Spotify, but these Chileans can help you out.

review: "Music for Tu Madre was the 1998 LP debut of J-Zone, which originally started out as a college project, yet caught the attention of underground hip-hop followers. Though J-Zone is perhaps best known for his comedic personna, which does shine through on Music for Tu Madre, he can actually be pretty caustic on the mic, taking shots at lesser emcees and big-time hip-hop radio stars (just listen to “F.M. Blues”), as well as ugly-ass ladies who think they’re fine (“So Pretty” ft. Al-Shid). The flow, however, isn’t compromised in favour of comedy and satire, just check out tracks like “The Zone Mission”, “Candy Razors” (ft. Huggy Bear), and “5 Years?”.

The production is handled entirely by J-Zone himself, and is characterised by obscure and offbeat samples, both vocal and instrumental. Though there are a lot of interludes and skits, taking up at least half of the LP, it’s all good, since Music for Tu Madre is as much about the production, scratches, samples and general DJ showcasing as it is about the lyrics.

Music for Tu Madre has been out-of-print for some years, and even though it’s available pretty cheaply, good condition copies are actually relatively thin on the ground. So here’s your chance…"

Sweet. I can't wait to get home and check these out.

I've heard the Pete Rock & CL Smooth one, it didn't do much for me at the time. I'll give it another go...

didn't do much for you? it has the greatest song everererer on it?

also :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD at the j-zone. I own a couple records but not that one, excited am i. this is my jam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcSmv5BcehQ

Error 404 - File Not Found

The file you were looking for could not be found, sorry for any inconvenience.

Possible causes of this error could be:

* - The file expired because it was not downloaded for 60 days

* - The file was deleted by its owner

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* - Our server turned evil and is now rebelling against us (not likely)

;_;

TROY is great, yes, didn't get much from the rest of the record though- I probably just need to listen to it more, and thanks to Hip Hop club I will!

:D

Searching quickly I did find J-Zone's Ig'nant mixtapes if you wanna download something just fun as hell.

sorry, the click through is a bit confusing for the J-Zone "Music For Tu Madre". I've tested it and it still works.

use this and then when extracting you need to enter "http://rapalitos.blogspot.com/"; as the passwrd

yeah that works, cheers :)

you guys should get the thread title updated w/ the new week's records

still don't understand why this is the only listening club doing 2 albums at a time instead of 3, it's not like it's an all-or-nothing thing where adding one more album will scare anyone off listening to the other two

the brazilian club only has 1. and we can go up to 3 if ppl really want? i just thought considering a sizable chunk of ilxers are already autogoon... i'll start a poll.

how many records a week should the rap listening club be e'ery week?

yeah i dunno it makes sense for narrower or more obscure topics to have less records (i've thought about trying a Baltimore club listening club, and that definitely couldn't be 3 full-lengths at a time), but with something as broad and expansive as hip hop it's kinda like why hold back? i don't mean to make this a whole big thing, though, but i guess now that there's a poll we can see what happens with that.

Maybe I can also offer this as a half-way house between 2 and 3 albums per week, until the poll results are in?

Pete Rock & Marley Marl radio show, 8th December 1989 (WBLS New York)(45min)

Dope and upbeat, and all about the deejays.

Pete Rock & C L Smooth - Mecca & The Soul Brother(1992)

HI DERE U STOLE MY POSSIBLE PICK

Great great album, btw.

kerr, had a chance to listen to either albums? or the illmatic recommendations?

I enjoyed the illmatic and i shall play the pete rock album as soon as the Jimmy Smith album i'm listening to finishes. I have been busy listening to the other listening club albums but I have taken note of the suggestions .
Why dont you make a spotify playlist of classic albums and I can check them out there? I'm sure it could be useful for others too. A beginners Album Guide...

Ten random but essential post-1990 rap records, kinda east leaning (because death row isn't spotify), 4 southern classics, stolen from my 'should listen to again anytime soon' playlist.

Biggie's Life After Death
Jeezy's Recession
TI's King
Outkast's ATLiens
Beatnuts's CLASSIC NUTS Vol. 1 (wasn't sure which album to pick.)
Scarface's The Fix
Digital Underground's Sex Packets
Eazy-Duz-It
Gang Starr's Step In The Arena
ODB's Return To The 36 Chambers
Brand Nubian's One For All
Camp Lo's Uptown Saturday Night and Black Hollywood*

*inexplicably missing this, I guess due to sample probs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXyFYNiV-9I

favorite "deep cut" on Mecca: ghettos of the mind

I liked that a lot more on 2nd listen, perhaps because it's a long album it's difficult to digest to begin with. Really strong throughout, though, amazingly for an album that long.

CLSmooth doesn't really fit in with any recognised flow, does he? He's not really a punchline guy, not really a confessional sort of do, no huge ego or bravado. When he's good he's really good but often I find him hard to deal with and kinda wish there was another mc in the group or something...

Like hey nice and smooth, want a prolonged career, here is a terrific producer and guy who has the occasional great verse but doesn't really stand up over an lp, want to play?

I'm with you on all those hoy hoy, cept jeezy and camp lo.
i had that Pete Rock CL Smooth album on cassette; it was a good way to listen to it.

Guru is kind of similar in that respect isn't he, perhaps more of a story-teller though?

or do you not own return of the boom bap, bacdafucup and daily operation?

I got huge gaps. Of course, I'm aware of those but I've never heard any of them or Breaking Atoms or much Doom or much Tribe (outside the hits) or many of the solo-Wu albums.

Conversely, I'm a big De La geek, Eric B & Rakim, massively into Ice Cube and Ice-T output 1989-1994ish, early Rawkus, all that Eastern Conference stuff, Mr Lif, Edan, early West Coast electro and lesser crews and dudes (Skinny Boys, Intelligent Hoodlum, Demon Boyz). Basically maps period when I went through a hip-hop phase in my listening habits.

If we could wishlist future items on this thread I'd be looking for pointers in whats been good since 2000ish apart from Mos Def, Kanye, Jay-Z, Clipse.

I'm a big De La geek

you really really really should invest in mr. hood (although maybe that is pre-chronic? for our timeline) but maybe we should leave that for another week.

xpost: I got and really like both Mr. Hood and Black Bastards.

tell me more about mr. hood

Someone at Rate Your Music says:

This is a very clever album by KMD....Mr. Hood is a character taken from old story vinyls..he speaks all the way through the album as if he is having a yap with Zev-Love X (later became MF Doom) and Onyx...DJ Subroc (MF Doom's brother irl) is the producer here and the beats are spot on....uplifting and funky and they never let up all the way through...This was the only album released while the 3 were alive as DJ Subroc was sadly killed in a car accident...the follow up "Black Bastards" was shelved because of the cover and never seen the light of day until 10 years after this was released....i think this is very underrated ..mf doom as he was to be known never sounded so upbeat and i would recommend this to anyone who likes concept albums or just good fun hip hop....highly enjoyable ...just a couple of tracks that at the moment im not right into but that could change with more listens and a higher rating could be scored.

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/350564f06e3c5214089f62aaf2b80509/669598.jpg

burt reynolds robbed soul train
john coltrane stole my gold chain

whats been good since 2000ish apart from Mos Def, Kanye, Jay-Z, Clipse.

You'd prob like Little Brother's "Minstrel Show", Percee P's "Perseverance", and Asamov's "And Now".

And Jay Electronica's "Victory"

xposts: cool, and thanks! will check them out this weekend.

just reading about Little Brother and see this on wiki:

...another more serious obstacle reared its head when the entertainment network, BET (Black Entertainment Television), refused to play the group's video for the single, "Lovin' It", deeming it "too intelligent".[1][2]

??????

don't understand: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xxfqi_little-brother-ft-joe-scudda-lovin_music

yeah no-one understood wtf happened then. i mean one of their mcs is called big pooh and they get called too intelligent.

so the idea is everyone argues about the albums picked for a week and then we move on? did anyone who hadn't heard them actually post about the first two albums yet?

So I've heard M&tSB a bunch of times already, so instead--in honor of the club--I'm DLing the Main Ingredient, which I've never heard.

I've listened to the J-Zone 2 times (headphones & car) and am liking it. The beats & attitude remind me of classic Beatnuts.
I guess it comes from that late 90s zone where rappers spent too much time bitching about Versace/Don Dada Bad Boy lyricism, but I can forgive it. The track with the devil talking to the new President could have been on the Coup's "Genocide & Juice" (this is high praise.)

have you heard the All Souled Out ep?

No. I'll get that too.

i actually agree w/ GD on this -- all souled out is dope

can i get a week for this thraed

you may.

hell i think fruity swag types should be allowed to just add their own name to the list.

Friday 30th - Tannenbaum
Fri 7th April - Lex's amazing feminine lady products week
14th April - Gonna have a personal boom bap week :D
21st - ilxor
28th - forks
4th May - the rev
11th - Sam's super electro spectacular
18th - Intro to ukhiphop 101
25th - Le Sarge
2nd - Keyes
9th - deej

Talking of Reasonable Doubt on the other thread made me go back to Mecca& the Soul Brother. I mentioned the other day that CL didn't really fit in anywhere but I dunno, was he the first great 'i'm gonna say long words in an order that sounds like i've gone in way over my head but is actually great, makes sense and totally works' type? also...

I'VE GOT THE WILD WILD WEST TO YA CHEST

aprils been sam you drunkard

i've just noticed i've totes fucked up the dates...

Fri 7th MAY - Lex's amazing feminine lady products week
14th MAY - Gonna have a personal boom bap week :D
21st MAY - ilxor
28th MAY - forks
4th JUNE - the rev
11th JUNE - Sam's super electro spectacular
18th JUNE - Intro to ukhiphop 101
25th JUNE - Le Sarge
2nd JULY - Keyes
9th JULY - deej

ha xpost.

Fri 7th MAY - Lex's amazing feminine lady products week
14th MAY - Gonna have a personal boom bap week :D
21st MAY - ilxor
28th MAY - forks
4th JUNE - the rev
11th JUNE - Sam's super electro spectacular
18th JUNE - Intro to ukhiphop 101
25th JUNE - Le Sarge
2nd JULY - Keyes
9th JULY - deej
16th JULY - samosa

This thread got me thinking about old school stuff, so while I've been moving from Jersey to PA today I've listened to nothing but 80s Hip Hop I've been meaning to hear one day. A list of albums I heard:

1/2. Live Convention '81 & '82
3/4. Whodini- S/T & Escape
5/6. LL Cool J- Radio & BAD
7. Stetsasonic- On Fire
8. Too Short- Born to Mack
9. Kool Moe Dee- I'm Kool Moe Dee
10/11. Schooly D- S/T & Saturday Night
12. Mantronix- The Album
13. Just Ice- Back to the Old School
14. Afrika Bambaata- Planet Rock: the Album
15. Malcolm McLaren- Duck Rock

I think when you hear this stuff in big chunks it stops feeling dated and starts feeling dope.

i love the way pete rock scratches, there's really a tightness and a precision to it (this applies to both listening club new jack albums)

TROY is top three best hip hop song of all time T or F

love this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr3oGFti0AI

Pete Rock's flow is nice. That lollopibg beat is awes.

was it heavy d or grand puba who'd ghost write pete's verses?

i think it was Grand Pupa that did it

puba wrote some of them. that whole scene was fucking incestuous huh?
(no homo)

Was there supposed to be a new pick yesterday?

oh shit that was me - i had no idea and didn't come on ilx yesterday due to, you know, our election and being variously insensible or broken &c &c

i'll pick some now, i don't have to write anything about them though? still broken and have no words in me

actually it's ho-rap so i'll just quote some choice lyrics

Lil' Kim - The Notorious K.I.M. (2000)

http://67.225.180.36/photos/storage/1000.3153.6972621.notorious_kim.jpg

Trina - Diamond Princess (2002)

http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/t/trina/album-diamond-princess.jpg

Both of these are the technicolour hip-pop follow-ups to Kim and Trina's more monochrome, harder-edged debuts, and what I love about both is how greedily, gluttonously rapacious they sound on them - no holding back, no pretense of being one of the boys, a real "kid in a sweet shop" vibe except it's not so much a sweet shop as a sex shop with boys, boys all types of boys on display.

a youtube from each:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBqOFMaIpHc

I still know all the lyrics to this off by heart, 10 years on. the first verse might be my favourite hip-hop verse ever.

i been a lot of places, seen a lot of faces
aw hell, i even fucked with different races
a white dude, his name was john
he had a queen bee rules tattoo on his arm
he asked me if i'd be his date for the prom
and he'd buy me a horse, a porsche and a farm
dan, my nigga from down south
used to like me to spank him and cum in his mouth
and tony, he was italian
he didn't give a fuck, that's what i liked about him
he ate my pussy from dark til the morning
called his girl up and told her we was boning
puerto rican papi, he used to be a deacon
but now he be suckin' me off on the weekend
and this black dude, i called him king kong
he had a BIG-ASS DICK and a HURRICANE TONGUE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30ld7XSiWn4

"b r right" is the stand-out classic on diamond princess (the fucking monologue at the end is just jaw-dropping - "i'm fuckin' niggas in the face"! - and it's also probably my favourite kanye production ever) but i'm guessing most will have heard it, so here's trina's eazy-e jack "hustling", complete with this amazing verse:

HOST: but trina, what i really wanna know is, how would you get with a nigga who live with a bitch?
TRINA: WAIT - for his bitch to leave
miss trina got a trick up her sleeve
open up the door, i walk straight in the house
put your man down and put my COCK IN HIS MOUTH
(damn!) i need a heavyweight like georgie foreman
to work my ocean like the longshoreman
i'm real successful, i live off interest
so get it right bitch - i'm the diamond princess
banking, and it's all for the cause
(hey trina, would you suck a nigga dick?) bitch hell naw!
and fuck what a bitch tell y'all!
stay the fuck out of mine, whore, and go get a job

other key tracks:

kim - "suck my dick", which does explicit feminist role-reversal better than anyone before or since ("look, i ain't tryna suck ya, i might not even fuck ya - just lay me on this bed and gimme some head!"); the pulp fiction narrative of "aunt dot", which finds kim reprimanding a 10-year-old lil' shanice for cursing - i dearly want a sequel to this song because the story isn't finished!; "i'm human", the astonishing orgiastic electronic climax to the album which feels like the birth of a superhero.

trina - missy's astonishing spiralling guest vocals on "rewind that back"; trina yelling "CAN'T TALK WITH A PUSSY IN YA FACE" on the incredible "nasty bitch"; "u & me", an actually emotionally devastating story of BFFs growing apart.

no spotify links, sorry - there's no trina on spotify at all, and the only version of the notorious k.i.m. is the clean one, ie completely pointless and possibly instrumental.

Lex, I thought this the "Real HipHop" listening club ; )

I'm also gonna check out Lil Kim's "Hardcore" while Lex gets his week. What Foxy Brown album is good? May as well listen to her nemesis as well.

I used to have a clean version of 36 chambers that was wonderful in its Sisyphean and dadaist devotion to cleanliness; it was, as you note, mostly blank.

i've never been a foxy brown fan but imo, the third album was alright.

I know the singles off the Kim and am quite excited to listen to this lex! And it starts w/ Cee-Lo as her lawyer and Redman as her judge, you know this is gonna be fun as hell.

i really miss the 'needs one (1) sisqo on this album' years. whatever happened to that dude?

Television appearances

* 2000: Sisqó's Shakedown (MTV)
* 2001: Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (episode "Really Big Season Opener", October 5, 2001)
* 2008: Gone Country (CMT)
* 2008: I Love the New Millennium, 7 episodes (VH1)
* 2009: Keith Sweat's platinum house (Peachtree TV) premiere on February 23
* 2010: Celebrity Big Brother 2010 (UK)

should poll really.

there's been a whole clusterfuck Dru Hill reunion going on in Baltimore the past couple years (announced it live on the radio, then one member left the group in the middle of the interview, then they did a live audition for a new member, dropping new album soon)

xpost

loooooool

'broken silence' is a dope foxy brown album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmjWCD4YhEY

dru hill played bbking recently in NY after a 106 and Park appearance
new single is depressing

BOOM BAP WEEK:

http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/k/krs-one/album-return-of-the-boom-bap.jpg
KRS One- Return Of The Boom Bap
ATTENTION RAP PEOPLE

Premo + A focussed and not yet so crazy KRS + Some focus = rap classic.

http://www.mad-flava.com/mf_store/catalog/images/blackmoonentada.jpg
Black Moon- Enta Da Stage
Spotify link

Put up, what up, BO BO BO!
Suckers want to flow but they got no show
So I'm a grab the mic, flip a script, and leave ya stunned
Buckshot's the one that gets the job done!

NICE!

Enjoy the first, haven't heard the second album.

my ho-rap week was popular i see :(

I always liked this version of "Buck 'em Down" better than the LP one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5nk_J-SQ_4

Lex, to my surprise I've been digging Trina hellalot - "Hustling" is building up to one my summer 2010 jams.

And its also nice to have a bikini clad Lil'Kim avatar on my last.fm page this week!

Other than that, not got much to say - don't really go for Lil'Kim's voice or the production. Trina was great, especially the guests (the track with Ludacris also a fave).

I was too busy this week to listen to Lex's picks, but since I know this week's albums well enough already I'll go back to try to hear the Kim & Trina. The Kim album was the Source's most controversial 5 mic rating I imagine.

Unless they gave a Benzino album 5 or something.

that wasnt the kim album that got 5 mics iirc

it was the naked truth, kim's pre-jail album, that got the 5 mics - it's really good! would check for "lighters up", "shut up bitch", "whoa", "we don't give a fuck", "gimme that" and "kitty box" off it.

"gimme that" has the line "kitty-kat so mean it turns dudes into rapists" which is about the wrongest line i've heard on a hip-hop record

Sorry, didn't know she had more than 2 albums.

she has four!

hardcore - many people think this is her classic but i rarely listen to it tbh
the notorious k.i.m. - this one, pinnacle of technicolour ho-rap hip-pop
la bella mafia - a bit more subdued than the first two but half of it is def worth checking - she really works the mafia widow angle and "thug luv" is a jam 4 life
the naked truth - as discussed

pinnacle of technicolour ho-rap hip-pop

This genre has a pinnacle?

I prefer to think of it as a valley (i.e., the highest point in a valley is still part of the valley).

very insightful, thank you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HDVlJYNr3Y

lex i thought you choices were great. but my choices for listenings clubs all happened to fall this week (rap, r&b, funk, jazz!) and i barely had time to listen to others ppls things.

Since no one's been talking much about the KRS One LP:

When it came out I had kind of given up on KRS. That last BDP album Sex & Violence was, I think, pretty good, but things were moving so fast in hip hop that he seemed ready to fall into oblivion--or least into whatever void Chuck D fell into in the mid-90s. So I didn't even buy ROTBB or hear anything from it, other than maybe "Sound of the Police" which had a video--until Spike Lee used "Outta Here" in a scene in Clockers and I figured out where the song came from.

The album isn't perfect, but it has enough immortal songs that it probably rivals any of the BDP records. I liked the S/T follow-up too, but pretty much stopped following Kris after that--as he went batshit crazy.

my ho-rap week was popular i see :(

― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, May 14, 2010 8:05 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark

i was psyched for your ho rap week but you recommended me both of these albums in the electrik red thread last year :( you should do another

bump for ilxor

eagerly awaiting the sarcasm

UH OH... my turn, huh?

I forgot! Let me think... I'll get back to you guys.

Ultramagnetic MCs - Critical Beatdown (1988)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PKPF17DHL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

AMG review:

Besides being an undeniable hip-hop classic, the first album by the cult crew Ultramagnetic MC's introduced to the world the larger-than-life, one-of-a-kind personality of Kool Keith. That alone would make this some sort of landmark recording, but it also happens to be one of the finest rap albums from the mid- to late-'80s "new school" in hip-hop that numbered among its contributors Run-D.M.C., Public Enemy, and Boogie Down Productions. Critical Beatdown easily stands with the classic recordings made by those giants, and it is, in some ways, more intriguing because of how short-lived Ultramagnetic turned out to be. It would be wrong to assume that the finest thing about the album is its lyrical invention. Lyrically the group is inspired, to be sure, but the production is equally forward-looking. Critical Beatdown is full of the sort of gritty cuts that would define hip-hop's underground scene, with almost every song sounding like an instant classic. Although he turns in a brilliant performance, Kool Keith had not yet taken completely off into the stratosphere at this early point. He still has at least one foot planted on the street and gives the album a viscerally real feel and accessibility that his later work sometimes lacks. His viewpoint is still uniquely and oddly individual, though, and he already shows signs of the freakish conceptualizing persona that would eventually surface fully under the guise of Dr. Octagon. If Kool Keith gives the album its progressive mentality and adrenaline rush, Ced-Gee gives it its street-level heft and is, in many ways, the album's core. Somewhere in the nexus between the two stylistic extremes, brilliant music emanated. Critical Beatdown maintains all its sharpness and every ounce of its power, and it has not aged one second since 1988.

Gang Starr - Daily Operation (1992)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41PX5EGP41L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

AMG review:

On Step in the Arena, DJ Premier and Guru hit upon their mature sound, characterized by sparse, live jazz samples, Premier's cut-up scratching, and Guru's direct, unwavering streetwise monotone; but, with Daily Operation, the duo made their first masterpiece. From beginning to end, Gang Starr's third full-length album cuts with the force and precision of a machete and serves as an ode to and representation of New York and hip-hop underground culture. The genius of Daily Operation is that Guru's microphone skills are perfectly married to the best batch of tracks Premier had ever come up with. Guru has more of a presence than he has ever had, slinking and pacing through each song like a man with things on his mind, ready to go off at any second. Premier's production has an unparalleled edge here. He created the minimalist opening track, "The Place Where We Dwell," out of a two-second drum-solo sample and some scratching, but is also able to turn around and create something as lush and melodic as the jazz-tinged "No Shame in My Game" without ever seeming to be out of his element, making every track of the same sonic mind. For an underground crew, Gang Starr has always had a knack for crafting memorable vocal hooks to go with the expert production, and they multiply both aspects on Daily Operation. Every song has some attribute that stamps it indelibly into the listener's head, and it marks the album as one of the finest of the decade, rap or otherwise.

There ya go everyone. Again, sticking to the classics the first time around.

If someone want to post Sp0tify links, or anything else... have at it!

*ahem*

Spfy -

Critical Beatdown

Daily Operation

Thank you kindly.

Can I get a week at some point?

hmm

28th MAY - forks
4th JUNE - the rev
11th JUNE - Sam's super electro spectacular
18th JUNE - Intro to ukhiphop 101
25th JUNE - Le Sarge
2nd JULY - Keyes
9th JULY - deej
16th JULY - samosa

Okay I know that week is done but "Enta Da Stage" is a GREAT album. Buckshot isn't a great lyrical MC but his flow sounds great, and the production on that album is simple, hard and smoky. Black Moon knew their strengths and played to them as well as any rap group. The album has no filler.

And of course Daily Operation is amazing. Brave is the knave....

Let's get some new picks.

#1 - Devin Tha Dude - Just Tryin' Ta Live (2002)

AMG Review: Reminiscent of other great storytellers like Slick Rick, Devin the Dude is a true gift to laid-back Southern rap. This is his first real solo LP, and he didn't do it alone, given the presence of Raphael Saadiq, Xzibit, Nas, and Pooh Bear, and a couple of appearances by the Odd Squad. It's obvious that Devin put a lot of soul into this album, and it shows through in deep and reflective stories that evolve slowly through the album. Most of the songs are rather humorous, such as "R & B," which would seem to be about rhythm & blues, but it's really about Devin's need for reefer and beer. "Lacville '79" follows, one of the smoothest tracks on the LP. Again hitting some comedy notes ("I'm rollin', car not stolen, prolly never will be, it's much too olden"), Devin continues to tell a story about how he's happy with his girlfriend because she didn't mind pushing the car when it stopped working. The track titled "Who's That Man, Moma" is equally as amusing. The beats on the disc are smooth and funky, perfect slow-driving music. Devin's style is a mix somewhere between Too $hort and Warren G; he almost sings as he raps and it works wonderfully on this album.

Recommended Tracks: 'Lacville 79, I Hi, Doobie Ashtray, Just Tryin' Ta Live, Zeldar

#2 - 8Ball and MJG - Comin' Out Hard (1993)

AMG Review: Along with OutKast's Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994) and Goodie Mob's Soul Food (1995), Eightball & MJG's debut, Comin' Out Hard, is one of the most influential rap albums to come out of the South. It wasn't as widely heard as those others albums, nor was it as professional-sounding; however, its independent release by Suave Records, based in Houston, and its basement-level production were influential in their own way. A generation of underground Southern rappers would arise by the end of the '90s, many of them following the template of Comin' Out Hard: underground hardcore rap modeled after West Coast gangsta rap yet delivered in a distinctly Southern manner, released via an indie label with major ambitions. Even the cover artwork of Comin' Out Hard, courtesy of Pen & Pixel Graphics, was influential, as the company would go on to design all the bling-blinging No Limit and Cash Money albums of the late '90s. Unfortunately, Comin' Out Hard is more historically significant than it is impressive from a strictly musical point of view. The production is admittedly lo-fi, credited to the rappers themselves, and while the raps are effective, the hooks leave room for improvement. Eightball & MJG would indeed improve in the years that followed, ultimately releasing a classic at the end of the decade, In Our Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1999). Comin' Out Hard pales in comparison, yet it's an interesting album to hear from a historical perspective and is certainly noteworthy for its widespread influence, especially throughout the South.

Recommended Tracks: 9 Little Millimeta Boys, Comin' Out Hard, Armed Robbery, Niggas Like Us

ooooooooooh, colour me excited.

neither are on spotify, gonna have to look for a dl

Unfortunately, Comin' Out Hard is more historically significant than it is impressive from a strictly musical point of view.
http://www.soulstrut.com/images/smileys/icallbullshit.gif

'its a shame' off that devin cd is one of my favorite dre beats ever

i don't agree with you a lot about music deej, but yeah, that AMG guys has issues.

furthermore that isn't devin's first solo album unless you feel like the odd squad took over THE DUDE which they did not

Just starting to check out this thread and enjoying it quite a bit.

from an onlookers pov can i just say if you're not writing something personal about your picks and just c&p amg instead you fucking suck imo

yes! also annoying: ppl who 'pick' a week but never actually comment on anybody else's choices

Since we skipped a week, is the whole schedule pushed back a week?

from an onlookers pov can i just say if you're not writing something personal about your picks and just c&p amg instead you fucking suck imo

Maybe it just means we don't care to spend more than 5 minutes on ILM per day, ya'think?

http://www.dbmlabs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/HipHopIsDead.jpg

I haven't heard Comin' Out Hard in ages. Lemme find my CD.

Maybe it just means we don't care to spend more than 5 minutes on ILM per day, ya'think?

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Monday, June 7, 2010 9:27 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this doesn't seem true of you and certainly not of the people being referred to

*bump*

I was looking forward to the electro special.

/11th JUNE - Sam's super electro spectacular/

looooooooool i thought that was in july. will be sorted by the end of the day :)

I spent about a half hour putting together a post for the RnB listening club and got about three quick responses; from a writers perspective, I do enough unrewarded, unpaid work elsewhere that I don't feel compelled to write an essay about two albums that are well-known and well-written about elsewhere on the web and people who have an issue with that fucking suck imo

pick two albums that arent well-known or are underappreciated then? or compare and contrast two big ones and say why? i dunno - i'm not the one volunteering here am i.

wouldnt be turning your nose up at writing practice if i were u either big man.

music is its own reward

4th JUNE - the rev
11th JUNE - Sam's super electro spectacular
18th JUNE - Intro to ukhiphop 101

Sorry to be the club policeman, but we slippin.

...

coup d'état?

http://img.tfd.com/wn/1C/6C068-gift-horse.jpg

rap music is for life, the world cup is only for this summer.

1. Ras Kass- Soul On Ice

http://www.straightgangsterism.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/soulonice1.jpg

Ras Kass feels like an early prototype for the buzzed about 00s rapper. His appearance coincided with the early days of the internet and as with Nasty Nas a few years earlier his guest spots and early singles had people checking for his debut. His guest verse on “Come Widdit” (at 1:55)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdLdeu2nIFc

where Ras drops lines like “Even if man wasn’t prehensile, I’d still find a way to grip mics, hold my tip when I piss and pick off pubic lice” is like the blueprint for a decade of backpack rap.
Ras started recording “Soul On Ice” and had the now familiar problem a demo version of the album leaking to the web, causing excitement among fans, who were ultimately disappointed to see tracks like "Remain Anonymous" and "Core Audience" dropped and replaced with tracks like "Anything Goes."

This site has info on the tracks that didn't make the retail version.

Of course the most famous song from "Soul On Ice" was "Nature of the Threat" a history of white supremacy that sparked a million message board posts.

http://www.youtube.co/watch?v=pKUrQMYMv04

Other key tracks:

"On Earth as It Is In Heaven"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siXzh-DwJBw

Diamond D's remix of the title track didn't appear on the album, but is well worth hearing along with it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu5dFf5E0CI

Let's try that "Nature of the Threat" link again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdJgVf4l1A0

Oh I should mention that track is way homophobic.

2. The Coup- Genocide & Juice

http://braindeadzombie.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/coupgenocidejuice1.jpg

So I guess the theme for this week is mid-90s West Coast rap that falls somewhere between poli-sci edutaining and hustler bragging.

This one starts off (after the intro) with three tracks linked by the setting of an upper crust cocktail party. "Fat Cats, Bigga Fish" is one of the great story raps, a precursor to their breakthrough "Me & Jesus the Pimp"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v-rIWUAQuI

(This video cuts out essential parts of the story, so try to listen to the album version.)

Lots of great stuff here besides, like "Repo Man" and "Taking These."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o9lEcmfWeA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOEDCnGDHXA

Genocide and Juice is pretty necessary

can i get a week?

or is this thing done

i was slated to post that charizma and peanut butter wolf album and the swishahouse vol. 1 comp in a couple weeks but ya looks like this is no longer gwan on

post something at yr leisure :)

Samosa, go ahead and post yours, since you were in original lineup. If others want to come back and claim their weeks, cool. If not, I'll go after you.