from roughly 1994 until 2000, hip hop was completely dead to me. it wasn’t until i came across aesop rock’s float and the deltron 3030 record that my interest in the genre began to flourish for a possible round two, round one being from ‘88 - ‘94. during the younger days of hip hop, i fully immersed myself into the music and it made a big impact on my later listening habits. but i got truly tired of the inconsistency. i could never depend on an artist/crew to put out two or three succesive records of good to great material. it was more like one great record, the rest, pure shit. this lead to distancing myself from all hip hop. even though i have gotten back into hip hop, i could never fully give myself over to hip hop as i did in younger days, for fear of feeling betrayed yet again. but the select artists i have found, since the reawakening, have made, collectively, a pretty big impact on my soul. quality over quantity.
in case you need a reintroducing, here’s a killer mix to help you on your way. thanks aesop real.
1. paradise - c-rayz walz (prod el-p)
2. grand ol party crash - cage feat jello biafra (prod dj shadow)
3. goin off - blueprint
4. fumbling over the words the rhyme - edan
5. up 2 no good - tame one
6. the ride - oh no featuring medaphoar
7. 2 brothers from the gutter - percee p featuring diamond d
8. the point of no return - immortal technique
9. 18 with a bullet - murs
10. american history x - ill bill
11. crap artists - despot (prod blockhead)
12. heavy artillery - mr lif
13. windsprints - cool calm pete
14. jump muthafuh - hangar 18
15. run the numbers - el p w/ aesop rock
16. behold - lodeck
17. scream phoenix - cannibal ox (prod el-p)
