OT: Favorite Hip Hop Artist

[specialisthusky]

Til this day the Black Star album is my favorite hip hop record of all time.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Til this day the Black Star album is my favorite hip hop record of all time.

One of the GOATS for sure

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I'm an indie rock kid at heart but I can listen to nothing but Kanye for a month and not miss any other music. "Gone" is easily one of my favorite songs ever. Tough to classify solely as hip hop, but I love Why?

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Jay-Z
Angel Haze
Toolez

No love for Ed Nelson?

 

[junglehusky]

As someone who will have a 6 in front of his age before the end of the decade, I'm obviously from the original generation of Hip Hop heads who spent their 20s in the 1980s. I still have my 12 inch of the original "Superrappin" by Flash and the Furious Five from 1979. To me, Melle Mel was the greatest rapper from the first era of recorded rap, which would run from King Tim III, up until Run DMC turned the genre on it's head in 1983. Then you have what I call the "beat box" era. Stripped down beats, with few instruments. LL is the king here. The 12 inch acoustic version of Rock The Bells (not the album version, which is also a monster), is in my opinion, one of the greatest examples of MC-ing ever put to wax. Then comes the sample heavy, Golden Era, of Hip Hop. This gave us a quartet of royalty. KRS-One, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, and Kool G Rap, as well as Public Enemy, and De La Soul. To me, it never got better than this. Still, there was plenty to like in the early 90s from Cube, Dre, Snoop, Cypress Hill, The Geto Boys etc. Illmatic was really the last album that truly moved me. By that time, I was in my late 30s, and my interest in rap began to wane, although I did like Outcast. I have become a card carrying member of the "today's music sucks" crowd. This cuts across all genres. I satisfy my need for "new"music by looking to the past, beyond my era of the late 60s, to the mid 90s. I've been enjoying artists from the original jazz era, such as Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ella, etc. I've gotten into the ska music that came out of Jamaica in the early 60s, and set the table for reggae. Lately, I've been digging into the endless supply of doo wop records, made in the 50s, and early 60s, and enjoying it immensely.

Have you gotten into the the DapTone sound? Sharon Jones (RIP) and the Dap-Kings put out a lot of solid soul records. And Sharon wasn't emulating that era/sound, she's from that era, just never broke out until the 2000s. Having said that, there are younger musicians mining that era (and other eras), Gregory Porter is a jazz and soul singer, Kamasi Washington was mentioned on this thread, he's going back to classic Blue Note era complex compositional jazz. And I like the fact that you have crate digging DJ's like Kon & Amir and Oliver Wang, and labels like Numero Group finding and compiling/re-releasing old, forgotten soul music.

But if you want another genre of older stuff to maybe explore, I'd suggest Brazilian music. Similar to North America, there's a wealth of different eras to choose from. There are many different genres over the decades coming from African, Native and colonial cultures that influence each other (as well as being influenced by American and UK rock, jazz, electronic genres), recombine and evolve...

There's a million entry points, the obvious one is early 60s samba (Joao Gilberto) but I got really into 70s samba-funk which combined their samba and jazz with contemporary funk coming from the US... I highly recommend the compilation Samba Soul 70! for a taste.

 

[junglehusky]

I really liked Digable Planets and Arrested Development. I thought they were the future of hip hop and had great, positive messages. But then the Gangsta Rap influence won out and they went the way of the dodo.

Isn't the guy from Digable Planets now doing Shabazz Palaces? I checked out one of his projects but couldn't get into it.

 

[CTBasketball]

Kendricks new album drops next Friday.

I am excited.

 

[Huskyforlife]

I'm going to give this man his own post, because I'm hoping people will give him a chance.

Montana of 300. He's the best in the game right now. Currently independent, he continues putting out fire. He's a drill rapper from Chicago, so he mainly raps about the streets, religion, and his tough up bringing. His lyrics are incredible, word play, metaphors, everything. He leads his group called FGE, he mentors the other members, they're all very talented, but he's the best.


Holy Ghost Chiraq(Remix) , Angel With An Uzi , Slaughterhouse, Air Jordan,

 

[Huskyforlife]

Another name I haven't seen mentioned, Logic.



Logic - Under Pressure (Full Version)

Logic ft. Big Sean - Alright (Official Audio)

Logic - Nikki (Official Audio)

 

[Huskyforlife]

Another name I haven't seen mentioned, Logic.



Logic - Under Pressure (Full Version)

Logic ft. Big Sean - Alright (Official Audio)

Logic - Nikki (Official Audio)

Logic Explains "Nikki"

Listen to Nikki then watch this video.

 

[Huskyforlife]

I'm going to give this man his own post, because I'm hoping people will give him a chance.

Montana of 300. He's the best in the game right now. Currently independent, he continues putting out fire. He's a drill rapper from Chicago, so he mainly raps about the streets, religion, and his tough up bringing. His lyrics are incredible, word play, metaphors, everything. He leads his group called FGE, he mentors the other members, they're all very talented, but he's the best.


Holy Ghost Chiraq(Remix) , Angel With An Uzi , Slaughterhouse, Air Jordan,

If you're interested, here are the three Cyphers FGE has done. 1 2 3

1 and 3 are the best.

 

[storrsroars]

Since summer is coming, I'll just drop my favorite here as a PSA to warn y'all about the dangers of skin cancer.

 

[junglehusky]

I'll just put this here...

 

[UC1985]

Til this day the Black Star album is my favorite hip hop record of all time.

I worked for Rawkus through a lot of this era and it just breaks my heart that Kweli turned out to be such a and Mos could absolutely care less about rapping.. The Rawkus run from Sounbombing 2, Blackstar, Big L albums was epic. The good ol' days

 

[Horatio]

 

[Horatio]

I worked for Rawkus through a lot of this era and it just breaks my heart that Kweli turned out to be such a and Mos could absolutely care less about rapping.. The Rawkus run from Sounbombing 2, Blackstar, Big L albums was epic. The good ol' days

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I worked for Rawkus through a lot of this era and it just breaks my heart that Kweli turned out to be such a and Mos could absolutely care less about rapping.. The Rawkus run from Sounbombing 2, Blackstar, Big L albums was epic. The good ol' days

I used to wear those Soundbombing records out when I was younger. Oddly enough, I thought Company Flow was duck___ terrible but I love El-P circa 2017.

 

[UC1985]

I used to wear those Soundbombing records out when I was younger. Oddly enough, I thought Company Flow was ___ terrible but I love El-P circa 2017.

End to End Burners was a great record! I never was really into them, and I know I"m in the minority but I don't like the RTJ records now..

I'm a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE fan of Westside Gunn & Conway right now though, Capone & Noregaa 2.0

 

[huskiesNhoos]

No love for Tech N9ne?

I like tech, actually almost went to see him this past year at Red rocks but my folks were in town and they're not as hip hop forward as the members on this board

 

[Walker11]

I can't believe how good Damn is. I've already listened all the way through 5x while at work.

 

[Chely's Home]

no xxxtentacion? jk

 

[Horatio]

I can't believe how good Damn is. I've already listened all the way through 5x while at work.

Damn?

 

[CTBasketball]

Damn?

Kendrick Lamar's new album.

 

[Horatio]

Kendrick Lamar's new album.

Ok. Thanks

 

[Scoe]

No love for Olander?