from 87 through about 95/96 I was a pretty huge hip hop fan. since then i have not?paid much attention to the genre, cause frankly 98% of the stuff i have heard has been a sorry excuse. sure there are a few artists like aesop rock, mr lif, cannibal ox, el p, and a few others still droppin the science, but as a whole hip hop is in the shitter. any argument to the contrary is complete nonsense and as they used to say “straight up booty whack.” well, over the past 8 months tommy boy records have released 12 volumes of what they consider to be hip hop essentials from ‘79 - ‘91. me thinks they did a pretty good job collecting most of the classics, but there were some glaring omissions. here’s a brief sampler
ice t - im your pusher
eric b and rakim - microphone fiend
the d.o.c.?- its funky enough
biz markie - vapors
sir mix alot - posse on broadway
kool moe dee - wild wild west
digital underground - doowutchyalike
3rd bass - the gas face
You are so right! I’m always telling people that old skool hip hop is the best! I really love the photos they use on this series. I would rather listen to these songs than any new hip hop…which is now currently the hair metal of the 80’s. Fave rappers–Eric B and Rakim-Chuck D-Ice T…all smooth.
its true. hip hop sucks compared to back in the day. but there is new hope. the dyslexic speedreaders have a great song called “my dick” that goes back to the block party days.
Um, I think I love you right about now.
you are too kind mingaling. maynard, i will check out the dyslexic speedracers.
good post. hip hop died when 50 cent type crap came into play… there is some good underground stuff out there, mr. lif being one of them:)