The Hip-Hop Thread, or Dids's Top 10 Hip-Hop Albums

[LyinKing]

NT, loving your thought process here, and your conclusions. We seem very much in line. I like the mention of Funcrusher Plus as well. And nothing wrong with the kudos to Shadow, turntablism remains a component, if fleeting.

"Dishonorable Mention: Anything by Atmosphere or Aesop Rock. I can't describe how much I have grown to despise these rappers."

Absolutely correct. There comes a moment when you realize that these cats simply don't have it. There is something about the sincerity of rap and rappers, some sort of ethereal quality. Cats either have it or they don't.

Do be careful of criticizing Cam, however. Cam's personality is highly telling in his music: he's apathetic to the point of complete aloofness. That's reflected in his product. You can tell him to his face that his records grossly vacillate in quality, and he'll scoff and remark on his riches and Lambos. He just doesn't care that much. He still has the innate ability to dazzle on the mic, almost to the point of unintelligibility to the casual listener. Often, he's content to simply make do. That said, he still slips in so many double entrendres and much clever wordplay that sail right over many heads. He continues to be misunderstood.

And I have to favor Illadelph over Game Theory, as I do Reflection Eternal over Black Star, narrowly. I said 1,2,3 Mos Def and Kweli....ooooh how nasty that is though.

Love the mention of Lifestylez, you'd be hard pressed to find someone more fervent about Big L than I am. But that record doesn't quite do it. It's raw, it's compelling especially given his age, but his leap in flow on the Big Picture alerts you that this is an artist who had so much growth to come. That foreknowledge sours my impression of Lifestylez to some degree. Incidentally, the 8 year anniversary of his death comes a week from today. Wow.

OutKast is sheer timelessness. Players' Ball remains an extraordinary record, as does Elevators, etc etc. What they've accomplished almost defies comprehension. And you're firm on point about Aquemini: Skew it on the Bar-B and other such gems contain such fresh, cutting hooks and scintillating flow. In fact, I'm not sure any group in the modern era, of any genre, better understands the importance of structure, memorable choruses, and cadence. Comparisons to the Beatles do not intone sheer lunacy. Again, Organized Noize is equally to thank for the breathtaking sonic picture.

[ejay]

I personally favour anything jay-z/biggie/nas and other new york greats from mid 90's (no disrepect to anyone else)..I think the new jay-z is really good and proves just how bad all the southern [censored] (aside from luda/outkast-perosnal favs) is that is so popular today...

[LyinKing]

sidenote: what are the collective thoughts about another late & great, Big Pun?

and no one else mentioned the Score, thoughts on that record? They really captured a magical moment in music, again transcendent of genre.

[ThaSaltCracka]

The Score is a great album, certainly one of my favs. Not in top 10, but so what, I like hundreds of rap CD's.

RE: Big Pun. Possibly the best linguist ever. Amazing skills. Capital Punishment is a great record as well.

[NT!]

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Do be careful of criticizing Cam, however. Cam's personality is highly telling in his music: he's apathetic to the point of complete aloofness. That's reflected in his product. You can tell him to his face that his records grossly vacillate in quality, and he'll scoff and remark on his riches and Lambos. He just doesn't care that much.

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That's fine, I don't care that much about him either. People tell me he used to be hot, or he's talented or whatever. I've heard a few good punchlines from him but mostly total unadulterated crap. If anyone wants to point me somewhere to try and change my mind, go ahead, but I just don't like the guy, don't like what he's about, don't like his flow.

re: Aesop Rock and Atmosphere. Dids: different reasons for hating them, same overall result.

Aesop you get into if you're one of those people who likes sort of esoteric stuff, likes picking things apart and unpacking music. When I started listening to tracks like Daylight, Battery, etc I liked how nonlinear and off kilter they were, how challenging they are to the listener.

Then the more I listened to Aesop the more I realized that quite a bit of that stuff isn't just esoteric, it's just nonsense, and that nothing about his flow or delivery is actually compelling to me at all. The whole time I was listening to him I think I was enjoying the IDEA that his music was good, just sitting there waiting for the big picture to hit me, the other shoe to drop, the other 90% of his words to start sounding like English. Then one day I just kind of snapped out of it and was like wait, no, this is really kinda boring, he sounds the same on every track. I think that was around the time Bazooka Tooth came out. That album single-handedly got me away from Def Jux for about three years.

Atmosphere just makes me uncomfortable. You know how there's always that guy at parties in college or high school who gets into these long diatribes about really dark aspects of his life? You always see him carrying on this deeeep conversation with somebody (who's either squirming to get away or even more of a simpering codependent self-flagellating [censored] than he is) and sharing all these details about his life, without any context or artifice or humor or perspective, just kind of throwing himself at you as if it will somehow validate all the crap he's carrying around with him?

Yeah, that guy was a downer in person, I don't need to pay 15 dollars to listen to his RECORD featuring a bunch of elementary school piano samples and a bunch of crap interspersed about how good he is at rapping.

[SharkTank43]

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Some of the opinions in this thread are pretty LOL funny.



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This thread would be pretty lame if everbody had the same 15 albums. I like seeing differing opinions, as opposed to everyone listing Illmatic, Cold Vein, 36 Chambers etc.

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speechless

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It's been listed in this thread like 3 times, why are you speechless? It's a filthy album, you should check it out if you haven't already.

[Iron Tigran]

My guess is I am inviting many flames here, but am I the only one who likes PM Dawn? I wouldn't ever say Top 10 or favorite 10, but I always like their style and find it relaxing.

All: thanks for the discussion. I have many CDs to look for next time I hit my favorite used CD store. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Ribsauce]

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sidenote: what are the collective thoughts about another late & great, Big Pun?


[/ QUOTE ]Big Pun is so sick, good call on bringing him up

[LyinKing]

PM Dawn? Sort of ancillary to this discussion, not really enough content to discuss.

Das EFX however, a group known to many as a gimmick, were actually rather integral to the development of the music. Vastly underrated.

[TresDeuce]

please tell me someone has mentioned gangstarr in this thread...