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[jefflewis]

I've been digging around to try to find some great rap albums that I'd never heard, I'm sure there are many out there... So I asked Jack Dishel, AKA Only Son, (old college friend and former Moldy Peaches guitarist), I know he's a big fan of that sort of thing, and he sent me the following list of recommendations:

Nas - Illmatic
Biggie Smalls - Ready to Die, Life After Death
Gang Starr - Step In The Arena, Daily Operation, Hard To Earn (all amazing)
Kool G Rap and DJ Polo - any early shit
Eric B & Rakim - Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em, Follow The Leader, Paid In Full (all awesome)
UMC's - Fruits of Nature (slightly lesser known group but amazing….it's "fast rap"… happy vibe, really cool, smart lyrics)
Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele - if you like WuTang solo stuff…. I just got this and like it
Slick Rick - The Ruler's Back

I already know some of this stuff... I've had that Nas album for a while and it never really impressed me as much as I had hoped, it's considered such a classic record, but it never did much for me. Similar to Biggie Smalls - he's considered one of the greatest rappers of all time, and i just don't hear it. I haven't heard his "Life After Death" album but the "Ready to Die" album seems to me to be merely good, not extremely great. But I guess a lot of people disagree. Another one on the above list that I already have is Eric B & Rakim's "Follow the Leader" which I do think is a great and classic rap album of the period, really enjoyable lyrical barrages. Of the stuff I tried listening to recently on this list the one that really knocked me out is Kool G Rap's "Live and Let Die" album, wow, that totally impressed me. Of course it's full of the usual 90s gangster stuff, which a lot of people will find totally distasteful, nonstop killing and robbing and woman-hating etc., all the stereotypical horrible stuff, so I wouldn't recommend it to anybody who isn't into gangster rap. Like death metal or lo-fi music, there are good reasons why lots of people are going to really not like it or want to listen to it. But if you can handle that stuff it's amazing rap storytelling, track after track.

Anybody else have any rap recommendations? I still have a lot of the above list yet to check out, I've never heard Gang Starr. Also, come to think of it, I must admit I've never really heard Jay-Z, I guess I should hear some of that at some point.

[jefflewis]

(NOTE - In the above list of albums from Jack Dishel, all of the comments like "all awesome" or "I just got this and I like it" are all Jack Dishel's comments, not mine!)

[Dav]

The first Wu tang LP is great, enter the wu tang 36 chambers.
6 feet deep by the Gravediggaz
3 feet high and rising by De la soul
No need for alarm by Del that funky homocapien
it takes a nation of million to hold us back by Public enemy
straight outta campton by NWA
Black on both side by Mos def
Any early album by Biz marquee
The judgment night soundtrack was also nice, with songs by rappers and rock musician, like Del and dinosaur jr, sonic youth and cypress hill, had bad and good things on that but definitly worth a listen.

I think about it and post more stuff later.
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[misshelenc]

I try not to be genre-biased but rap is something I have never 'got' in general. I really feel no affinity with it whatsoever, it says nothing to me about my life and it doesn't sound nice to listen to. I figured I probably just lack the skills to appreciate it but I have tried and failed to find it entertaining many times. So no recommendations here. Sorry. Not sure anyone cares, shut up Hel! x
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[Dav]

Some of the wu tang solo lp are great, the first raekwon, liquid sword by Gza, bobby digital in stereo by Rza, return to the 36 chambers by ol' dirty bastard, tical by method man, all are quite different, the Gza might be my favorite, and the tical got some really nice dark instrumentals on it.
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[jefflewis]

I never got into the Wu Tang stuff, I did recently re-listen to that first album while I was on tour with Schwervon last fall, because Major Matt had it on his ipod so we listened to it in the car... I don't know why, that one just doesn't grab me so much. It's okay, but I guess it was more special and different at the time when it came out. I do like some of it.
But I really like the Gravediggaz album, I had it on tape in the 90s and now I just bought it as a digital download because I hadn't heard it in so long. I didn't even know it was sort of a Wu Tang side project, I thought it was a totally separate band that came and went. That combination of horror & rap is so perfect and crazy and fun, lines like "confront an alligator, let it eat you raw", from the classic "1-800 Suicide", so ridiculous and enjoyable. Like the early Geto Boys albums, that was the stuff that first got me back into rap during a time when I had disliked it for a while. I always loved rap when I was a little kid, all the early simple 80s stuff like Whodini and Run DMC, but then by the late 80s/early 90s it was all violent gangster stuff and I hated it. Somehow I didn't start to get into that stuff until I heard NWA and the Geto Boys, which doesn't make any sense because that is some of the MOST violent and awful stuff that was ever made... but I think that is what sort allowed me to "get" it, it was so extreme I stopped being offended by it as if it was something "real" and started to enjoy it as fiction, movies, crime novels, horror stories, or even documentaries. Also I think it was just "too close to home" for me in the late 80s/early 90s, because New York City was actually violent and scary at that time for me, I couldn't enjoy music that was celebrating things that made life hard... it wasn't until I went to college that I could start to enjoy that stuff simply as music, because it was a bit further away. Still, I can't listen to TOO much of the aggressive stuff without feeling like I need a change, back to some nice 60s garage rock or folk for a bit or something like that!
Anyway, thanks for the list Dav, I'll check some of this stuff out!
I totally remember that Judgement Night soundtrack, used to listen to that in college in the 90s because my roommate had it, we really liked the Sonic Youth/Cypress Hill collaboration and what was that other one, I think it was Sir Mix-A-Lot and Mudhoney or something like that. A funny idea. It seemed so revolutionary at the time. I guess it would still be an interesting crossover project today, even though it's been done so many times now...

[Fishkins]

My favorite recent album is Acid Rap by Chance the Rapper. It has some really fun tracks, as well as some sober descriptions of life growing up in South Chicago.

I second Dav's suggestions of De La Soul, Del, Public Enemy, and Mos Def. In a similar vein with De La, I'd recommend A Tribe Called Quest's Low End Theory.
Diverse's 1 am is another good positive tip album.

If you like Rakim, have you listened to Big Daddy Kane? Long Live the Kane is a good album. Ultramagnetic MC's Critical Beatdown is also a good, idiosyncratic album from the same time period.

On the more indie side, there are:
Deltron 3030 (the original; probably not Event 2). Very fun for sci-fi fans, although it's apparent Del's knowledge of science/technology doesn't go very deep.
Edan - Beauty and the Beat. It's kind of goofy, unusual rap by a Jewish guy who's obsessed with '80s hip-hop.
Madvillain (MF Doom + Madlib) - Madvillainy. Lots of short tracks with good beats. A lot of it is inspired by comic books and ganja.
Aesop Rock - Labor Days. I love this album, but it takes a fair amount of attention. It isn't great background/party music.

[jefflewis]

Thanks for the extended lists of recommendations!
Lots to check out!!
I do already have a couple of those De La Soul albums on tapes, and Tribe Called Quest's Low End Theory is another album I've had on tape since way back, has anybody seen that recent Tribe Called Quest documentary? I quite enjoyed that...

I also have an old Biz Markie album on vinyl (The Diabolical Biz Markie), which has some great stuff on it.
Do you know the classic track by Biz Markie, "Bad By Myself"? It's so fun and funny and enjoyable... it's the kind of thing that I think almost anybody would enjoy, even you don't usually like rap...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTj2ll7PONU

[Dav]

I love the song One Two by Biz marquie, he sings and beat box on it, a nice technical perfomance, the biz is always fun to listen to.

If you like old school hip hop EPMD has done some real nice stuff, Nice and Smooth also, i use to really enjoy smoothe da hustler back in the 90's.
The first das efx lp was really fun, and fresh back in the days, was called straight from the sewer, funny lyrics and original way of rapping, a real nice LP.

A tribe called quest and De la soul are great, the jungle brothers were part of the native tongue mouvement and were pretty good also.

Paul's boutique is one of my favorite hip hop LP, you gotta love the Beastie Boys!
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[Dav]

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[jefflewis]

Ha, great,
great beat-boxing.

I've been listening to the first three Kanye West albums... I can see why it's so popular, but it's all a bit too "club" oriented for me. Still, a lot of clever writing and musical ideas all over the place, I must admit. Even a nice Can re-write, that was a cool surprise to stumble on. Just not the kind of stuff I feel like I'd really want to own and listen to, I guess I prefer stuff with more storytelling or more humor or something. He's too much into the sexy/fashion/dance-club/money/pop side of things, I rarely find any of that stuff appealing. But I'm glad I finally checked his albums out.

Also took somebody's recommendation and checked out this popular new rapper Kendrick Lamar, but it really didn't impress me very much - the same old Compton-themed gangster rap stuff (a topic that seems 20 years out of date, like a rock band copying Nirvana style). I like the sort of lo-fi home-made style of some of it, and it's not like the writing is bad, there's some impressive parts, it's just totally lacking in new interesting concepts as far as I can tell.

I do need to revisit some Big Daddy Kane, I haven't heard that stuff since the 80s, and I don't remember it much.

Of the relatively modern rappers, I also have to mention Immortal Technique, I only know his first two albums (Revolutionary Volume 1 and 2), he probably has more by now.

And I'll have to check out that Acid Rap album by Chance... sounds interesting.

[m_coldham]

Jeff, my favourite rapper was a guy called Eyedea, closely associated with Atmosphere and Sage Francis (both worth checking out also!), who unfortunately died a few years ago, but has to have been one of the best freestylers/battlers of all time, as well as a super-intellectual and massively talented wordsmith... I'll shut up about it and post a link:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAWrscplyOA

Oh and this ones features all 3 rappers I just mentioned! Massive tune.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRsIAoMZyh0

I concur with what others have said about Tribe Called Quest... Low End is pretty good, but the album that followed it, Midnight Marauders, is an absolute gold classic, and is pretty much the best sample-based record I think has ever been made. Big hit for fans of more complex music like jazz and indie stuff, and really great lyrical flows. 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=08JS5EqyBVU

Apart from that... I don't know. There's a guy called MC Paul Barman you might like who is basically the nerdcore-est rapper in existence and rhymes in palindromes and 4-syllable couplets and stuff. The gangsta rap/more hardcore stuff isn't so much up my street. Happy listenings...

[jefflewis]

Thanks, I'll check out those links!
I do have a couple MC Paul Barman albums, in fact I found them really inspirational a few years ago when I first heard them (John Kessel made me copies of them, maybe around 2009 or something, I think maybe it's his first ep and first full-length?). I was even emailing with Paul Barman about collaborating on some stuff but it never came about! We still email each other sometimes and still talk about maybe doing something together someday.

[Fishkins]

I agree with you about Kanye and Kendrick. I've met a lot of people with good taste who like both of them, but I don't really get it. They each have some good hooks, but not enough content to really grab my attention.

I haven't really listened to Biz Markie. He sounds like someone I'd like, though.

Eyedea is definitely worth listening to. He was a very talented MC. There are some impressive recordings of him and Aesop Rock freestyling (other Rhymesayers are on the recordings too, but those two stand out to me).

In case you haven't seen it, I though this ranking of rappers by vocabulary was entertaining.

[linomat]

I'm not much into rap music, but when my friend showed me that one tonight, I remembered this thread and thought it should be here (I was quite impressed how this 14 years old is rappping, although I don't understand all he says as my English isn't good enough): http://youtu.be/P-fb1oPkINo