The 10 Essential Hip-Hop Albums
Hip-hop stands as one of the few uniquely American cultural developments of the last century, yet the genre remains misunderstood. The artistic subculture first combined spoken poetry with instrumental beats, original compositions and sampled elements from across the spectrum of blues, jazz and rock and roll, building on what came before to create a cultural juggernaut and global phenomenon.
Because the lines between pop and hip-hop have blurred over the last two decades, a majority of casual listeners continue to define the genre based on what they hear on the radio. Many music fans paint the entire hip-hop world with the stereotypical brush rather than take the time to understand it.
Whether you’re a hip-hop fan since birth or just looking for an intro to the genre, these ten classics deliver.
And Parental Advisory Warning: many videos feature lyrics NSFW.
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The Chronic marked the solo debut of Dr. Dre, formerly of N.W.A., who staked his claim as one of hip-hop’s most respected production innovators. Released in 1992 on his own Death Row Records label, the album features guest appearances by Snoop Dogg, who used the album as a launch-pad for his own career. The album peaked inside the top five on Billboard, going triple platinum and widely popularizing the G-Funk sub-genre within gangsta rap. This album remains among the most influential of the nineties, known for its top-notch production values. Dre waited a decade to release a sophomore effort, but as far as singular debuts go, this one’s a can’t miss.
Essential Tracks: “Let Me Ride,” “Nothing But A ‘G’ Thang,”
#9 – Wu-Tang Clan – Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Wu-Tang Clan released Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in 1993, creating the blueprint against which every ensuing hardcore rap album would follow. The album, and the sly sense of humor and free-associative lyrics, marked the beginning of the East Coast Renaissance. Eventually artists as diverse as Nas, the Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z would emerge in their footsteps to dominate the genre in future years. Notably, the band maintained control over its own publishing rights, samples and production, a level of artistic control virtually unheard of at the time. And though few expected the raw underground sound on 36 Chambers to achieve mainstream radio play, the album had surprising chart success, reaching the Billboard Top 10 and eventually going platinum.
Essential Tracks: “Protect Ya Neck,” “Can It Be All So Simple”
2Pac slammed his way into the scene in 1991 with 2Pacalypse Now, which stands out even from his diverse discography despite less polished production compared to his later albums. His most overtly political work, addressing contemporary social issues of the day, the future icon sounds off on police brutality and teen pregnancy. While failing to achieve the sustained commercial success of 2Pac’s later work, 2Pacalypse Now showcases his political convictions and his rarely equaled lyrical dexterity.
Essential Tracks: “Brenda’s Got A Baby,” “If My Homie Calls,” “Trapped”
The Score was the breakthrough second (and final) album for the Fugees, and the album’s wide-ranging use of samples and instrumentation put it at the forefront of the “alternative” hip-hop movement which would eventually dominate the late nineties. A commercial success, the album reached the pinnacle of the Billboard chart, going 6x Platinum in the process. The Score’s eclectic nature arose from the collaborative production process, which showcased the group’s amazing chemistry. Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean would go on to dominate hip-hop via solo careers, but this portrait of the ghetto as a mythical landscape would prove difficult to top.
Essential Tracks: “Ready or Not,” “Fu-Gee-La,” “Killing Me Softly”
#6 – Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP
Say what you will about Eminem, his Marshall Mathers LP still stands as one of the most cohesive hip-hop efforts of the new millennium. Though his major-label debut dabbled in horror-core and shock rap, forcibly pulling the mainstream to him, Marshall Mathers saw Em focusing more seriously on personal demons. The result is a diverse album. And though it suffers from obvious bloat due to Eminem’s unwillingness to edit, most tracks showcase otherworldly lyrical skills, shocking wit and a willingness to dig into his psyche. You may still hate him, but there’s no denying the skill behind this dizzying effort.
Essential Tracks: “Stan,” “Kill You,” “The Way I Am”
That Jay-Z made The Black Album eight albums into a career steeped in NYC legend is stunning in itself. Even wilder: the album later lost to protégé Kanye West’s The College Dropout for Best Rap Album in 2004. But The Black Album did what seemed impossible, bridging the gap between old-school and modern hip-hop, showcasing Jay Z at the top of his game both from a production and lyrical standpoint.
The album also gave birth to the infamous Grey Album by Danger Mouse, which blended Jay-Z’s lyrics with samples from the Beatles’ White Album. This only further illustrated how deft the rapper’s lyrics were, even when showcased outside their initial context.
Essential Tracks: “99 Problems,” “Dirt Off Your Shoulder,” “What More Can I Say”
Illmatic serves as a gift and a curse for Nas. Everything since this spectacular debut has met endless comparison with the original. This is among the most powerful examples of hip-hop as social commentary, and Nas’s lyrics were miles beyond his contemporaries in both their vocabulary and delivery. Illmatic redefined the game, and though it only achieved Gold status from the RIAA, the album has proven to be perhaps the landmark East Coast rap album of the era. These are highly detailed first-person narratives which put listeners squarely in context with the life Nas lived in the projects of Queensbridge, New York. DJ Premier’s minimalist production on the album lets the lyrics speak for themselves. The result is an essential album even beyond the confines of the genre.
Essential Tracks: “N.Y. State of Mind,” “One Love,” “Halftime”
#3 – NWA – Straight Outta Compton
In 1988 N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton redefined the direction of hip-hop, driving the gangsta subculture and — for better or worse — creating the lens middle-Americans use to see hip-hop. Heard without context, the album seems to glamorize gang violence, but what stands out upon repeat listens is how nonchalantly the band’s members lay out the violence for us to dissect. “Fuck Tha Police” can be dismissed as a vile mess glorifying the destruction of law and order if you’re not willing to give the music a deeper examination. From N.W.A.’s perspective, they voiced the widespread resentment towards the LAPD which boiled over in the 1992 L.A. riots. Taken literally the lyrics threaten anarchy, but these aren’t words meant to be taken literally. Straight Outta Compton is a brilliant hybrid of eye-on-the-street social commentary, sly humor and uncensored young rage. Jon Caramanica of Rolling Stone had it right when he described the album’s 2002 reissue as “a bombastic, cacophonous car ride through Los Angeles’ burnt-out and ignored hoods.”
Essential Tracks: “Fuck Tha Police,” “Gangsta, Gangsta,” “Straight Outta Compton”
#2 – Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Released four months prior to Straight Outta Compton, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back seems to be that album’s opposite. In Public Enemy’s sophomore release the band sought to make the hip-hop equivalent to Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, an album of strong social commentary which could address the state of the world as they saw it. The album takes on such topics as self-empowerment, white supremacy, and (on “Caught, Can We Get A Witness?”) even the music industry itself for attempting to stifle sampling within the hip-hop culture. The album sold half a million copies in its first month without significant promotional efforts by Columbia Records, eventually peaking at #42 on the Billboard chart. Widely regarded as the group’s strongest work, the album still stands as a complex fusion of music and politics which few have equaled.
Essential Tracks: “Don’t Believe The Hype,” “Louder Than A Bomb,” “Caught, Can We Get A Witness”
#1 – Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
Paul’s Boutique was initially considered a commercial failure by Capitol Records, paling in comparison to the popularity of License to Ill. But the group’s magnum opus didn’t fall into obscurity. Recognized as an album vastly ahead of its time, Paul’s Boutique stands tall as the ultimate sampling fan’s album, bringing together elements from 105 songs to form the most sonically diverse album of the hip-hop era. Few expected that level of adventurous exploration from the creators of “Fight For Your Right To Party,” but, with the production skills of the Dust Brothers, Paul’s Boutique established the practice of multi-layered sampling as an art in itself. Thanks to the group’s refusal to succumb to one-hit-wonder status, we have irrefutable proof that, in the long run, creative depth trumps commercial pandering:
Few pop records offer this much to savor, and if Paul’s Boutique only made a modest impact upon its initial release, over time its influence could be heard through pop and rap, yet no matter how its influence was felt, it stands alone as a record of stunning vision, maturity, and accomplishment.
Essential Tracks: “Egg Man,” “B-Boy Bouillabaisse,” “Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun” … but the album’s at its best when you listen to it straight through.
To not have Ready to Die on here is shameful.
The components of music are melody, harmony, and counter point. To call hip-hop “music” is to call ebonics a classical language. To call any hip-hop “essential” is to make Mencken sit up in his coffin and scream “ah tolez yaz so!”
Beastie Boyz? I used to hang out in the studio where the Beastie Boyz producer (Rick Rubin) and RUN DMC producer (Russell Simmons) were working on rap/rock fusion (Chung King Studios, named as a play on the name of studio owner John King). RUN DMC took Walk This Way to the charts and the former punk band Beastie Boyz had their Jerry Lewis style rap. Beastie Boyz are a novelty act that do not belong on this list.
Their first album featured the novelty single, but I wouldn’t lump their entire discography into the category of “novelty” music.
Few Beastie fans will disagree with your assessment of License to Ill. But if you look closely, you’ll see that the album being reviewed is Paul’s Boutique. Do yourself a favor and give it a listen.
I’d swap NWA with PE on the list, but other than that, solid.
I was surprised three weren’t by unflinching racists. Maybe you’re right and I am uninformed. I thought it’d be 100%.
Shallowist, stupidist and most racist musical genre in American history. If the word ‘conformity’ had a multi-media picture in the dictionary it would show shaking hands/demi-hugs, required use of slang terms, baseball caps worn sideways and archive footage of a cop killing a black kid.
If the word ‘fascination’ had a bathos category, it would be the endless fascination some people have with the sound a record makes when you scratch it backwards. Couldn’t it evolve to the sound of brakes screeching or fingernails on a blackboard?
Although rap is THE default expression of cool in America today, I can’t think of a more perfect expression of what used to be called ‘squares.’ Usually you figure people would like to leave Plato’s Cave rather than bust in and put in a plasma TV next to the memorial of the book they almost read one day.
Fail Burton — interested to know, which are three you say are NOT unflinching racists?
I changed my mind: add NAS. That leaves the Beasty Boys and Eminem.
And no, it doesn’t take millions to hold you back, just one depraved value system.
If you don’t like something, like hip hop or Guns n Roses, why do you feel compelled to post in threads and tell everyone? Fans don’t give a rat’s hind end what you think, so you’re really just trolling.
BTW, I don’t like hip hop either, but I’ve read enough of your other musical opinions to believe your taste in music sucks. And you’re arrogant about it. So do the rest of us a favor and stop sharing.
So, critics have no right to speak??
I enjoy Fail Burton’s comments. If they annoy those who want to restrict free inquiry, I’ll consider that a bonus!
Cheers!
My understanding of what a troll is is a person who writes for reaction but doesn’t really believe what they are saying. This is not true of me. It is only my opinion, stating it authoritatively is considered arrogance only by the politically correct; however one states it, 2 + 2 is still 4. If you are delicate and shy, put a IMHO in front of all my comments and imagine me as a shy Shirley Temple or perhaps a diffident professional clown.
As for rap and Guns and whatever, if that is the benchmark then I am proud to have no taste in music. I can’t imagine why any American would think music that is at its heart, anti-white and even in some cases, anti-Semitic would feel a cool vibe. I like the whole anti-establishment thing as much as the next guy but there are limits.
I understand musical tastes are subjective but there are limits to this as well. Everybody’s not everything plus there is the first time a thing was done and the tenth time a thing was done.
Let’s be honest about rap: it is foul, vulgar, animalistic, ignorant, stupid, uncreative, obsessed with race, worships a cult of cool to a point of shallow idiocy, repetitive, droning and dull. It reflects a value system whereby, if one truly buys into it, is practically a guarantee of never having the brains to hike the Inca Trail or motorcycle around Indonesia. In short, hip-hop culture is a culture of failure and narrowness.
It is the kind of music I would have expected Adolph Hitler to create and embrace. For every 100 rap songs produced, there is likely more effortless inventiveness in a 1942 Tom and Jerry cartoon. Rap music is the kind of thing that makes me want to do my hair up in a bun and write an essay that categorically proves Jane Eyre, Doris Day or Cary Grant was cooler than any rap artist ever born. Rap is the perfect expression of the lady doth protest too much. Therefore I have come to believe rap artists are sissy people who never get any, do any or think any.
I have probably had cooler one year segments in my life than the entire careers of any rap artist ever born. Certainly there seems to be a notable lack of them at Egyptian revolutions, the tops of live, erupting volcanoes, a beach on Karpathos, and the champion’s parade at Rio’s Carnaval among eight zillion other things that are actually cool rather than an evil and sick version of The Monkees kind of cool – the kind of cool where one almost literally doesn’t get out of the house much.
My goodness. What a dull & boring world indeed it would be if all people did is preach to the choir. The use of the term “troll” has become too broadened, IMO, to the point that it has gone from its appropriate usage which applies to people whose only purpose is to flame to now encompass the expression of contrasting POVs. It’s ridiculous.
BTW, I hate rap with a passion. It’s nothing but noise. For the most part the lyrics really suck out loud. These people are devoid of any real musical talent, IMO.
FailBurton,
> As for rap and Guns and whatever, if that is the benchmark then I am proud to have no taste in music.
Agreed. Rap, hip hop, whatever, are dreadful and its fans revel in dreadfulness and dare you to call them on it. I stand behind no one in my contempt for this so-called art form.
But one thing that it is, is masculine. That is the reason for its success. There aren’t many outlets in our feminized culture, which sees men as defective women, where masculinity is allowed any expression at all — at least not without being accompanied by snickering putdowns.
It wasn’t always this way. In the world of symphonic music, we have the macho, rhythmic assertiveness of Beethoven, the aggressive orchestrations and cadences of Tchaikovsky — gay or not, Tchaikovsky wrote music like a man; you’ve got Wagner, Mahler, Respighi, Shostakovich, and more, all composers of masculine music. Jazz itself is mainly a masculine art, and when it is done well by women (I’m thinking of Ella Fitzgerald), it is done in a manner that acknowledged and complements the masculinity of the music without tearing it down.
But modern rock/pop music opened the door to feminizing when it decided there was no place for men singing in their natural vocal register. I like Neil Sedaka, don’t get me wrong, but no one will ever mistake his voice for a masculine one. With all the falsetto and over-sentimentalization, many singers learned to check their “man card” at the door. Yes, there were groups like the Doors, with Jim Morrison’s unapologetic baritone belting out the tunes, but they were swimming against the tide. Even many of the heavy-metal groups get nowhere without the lead singer screeching out nihilistic lyrics in a ridiculously high register that reflects more outraged powerlessness than confident masculine power.
So now we are left with rap, the last refuge of masculinity in music. No wonder it sounds so angry.
…except for country music, that is. So far, they’re caught in a time warp that still values masculinity in music. But it just doesn’t speak to young black men.
Sorry, but “hip-hop” or “rap” has no cultural value at all. It is symptomatic of the degraded culture we live in that it has gained such popularity and become “mainstream” to a large degree. It is cheap, shallow, vulgar derivative garbage produced by vacuous, degraded minds that lack the musical talent to compose anything original (they merely “sample” – i.e. steal – music from other original artists), the lyrical talent to express their feelings without resorting to extreme profanity, vulgarity, and hatred. They spew almost nothing but profanity, misogyny, violence, disrespect for authority figures (I find it sickening the way Marshall Mathers “raps” about his mother – whatever happened to “Honor they Father and Mother?”) and other unsavory topics. I have yet to encounter a rap by any of these “luminaries” in the field that was in any way uplifting or enlightening to the human spirit. I’m sorry PJ Media has someone on staff promoting this kind of depravity as “art.”
“I’m sorry PJ Media has someone on staff promoting this kind of depravity as “art.”
Thank you, Doc. Hey PJM, keep this up, and watch your readership slip.
My sentiments exactly.
Indeed.
Hip Hop was at times fun in the 80s when it was centered almost entirely on dancing – that changed pretty quickly. It is, in many ways, the typical liberal understanding of the arts: anything that is angry and angst-ridden, is therefore important. After all, the “its all relative” argument is the very reason why the no one holds rap “artists” accountable for their “music” – their music is reflective of their “culture.”
Articles like this and the earlier one on Taratino show a gross lack of understanding of conservative values from PJMedia. Most conservatives have little against rap in general, rather they despise what rap elevates as acceptable topics and behavior. The same goes for any genre of music (or film for that matter)that glorifies previously unacceptable behavior. PJMedia wants us to think that rap is more than “bitches, guns, and money;” PJMedia, there is nothing you can do to change what we see everyday with our very eyes. You are only as strong as your weakest link, and rap – generally as a rule – has done little to strengthen the chain of American culture.
A couple flat-footed statements:
Rap is not music. “Sampling” is theft. “Music” involves not just rhythm, but also these things called “melody” and even sometimes “harmony”.
Nothing these guys do requires any real skill, knowledge, or training. It’s just an excuse to glorify bad behavior, and legitimize the actions of street trash.
Sampling isn’t theft if it is cleared legally, which in modern hip-hop it is by anyone on a major label (no label wants a new single or album to be derailed by lawsuits). In the case of the Beastie Boys’ album, all samples were also cleared, contrary to popular belief, though at lower costs than would have been possible today. There’s no way you can fully substantiate an argument that “nothing these guys do requires any real skill, knowledge, or training,” or that everyone involved in hip-hop is “street trash.” Or can you?
This is from memory but wasn’t it figured that Fear of A Black Planet would have cost them 70 million dollars today they stole so much.
Always loved that title. Classic projection.
Found this via Wikipedia … Public Enemy didn’t clear their samples. Don’t know about the cost in millions, but it does confirm they would have lost $5 per album if they’d had paid for all the samples outright:
The album was conceived during the golden age of hip hop, a period roughly between 1987 and 1992 when artists took advantage of newly emerging sampling technologies before being perceived by record labels and lawyers.[16] Accordingly, Public Enemy were not compelled to obtain sample clearance for the album.[16] This preceded the legal limits and clearance costs later placed on sampling,[28] which effectively limited hip hop production and the complexity of musical arrangement in hip hop.[16] In an interview with Stay Free!, Chuck D discussed the use of sampling on the album at the time, stating “Public Enemy’s music was affected more than anybody’s because we were taking thousands of sounds. If you separated the sounds, they wouldn’t have been anything–they were unrecognizable. The sounds were all collaged together to make a sonic wall”.[29] An analysis by law professors Peter DiCola and Kembrew McLeod estimated that under the sample clearance system that had emerged in the music industry since the album’s release, Public Enemy were to lose at least five dollars per copy if they were to clear the samples for the album at 2010 rates; McLeod noted in the analysis, “a loss of five million dollars on a platinum record”.[30]
Sure I can substantiate it. Pick one, toss them a chord chart, tell them we’ll be playing in B flat, and ask them what the next couple chords would be on the chart.
Nine out of ten rappers think a “chord” is what you pull to start a lawnmower.
As far as sampling not being theft because it’s been “cleared legally”, it’s not the legality that’s the point. It’s the contempt for someone who takes someone else’s work, makes a few minor (a-tonal) modifications, and claims it as their own. It goes to proving rappers have no real discernible talents.
Are you kidding me ? Rap is music and does require talent ! Having a good voice, making (good) beats and also the ability to flow consistently do require skill. Putting all of it together and making it sound good is definitely harder then most people assume. You should be ashamed to even name yourself “Musician” if you’re as close minded as you seem to be.
“As far as sampling not being theft because it’s been “cleared legally”, it’s not the legality that’s the point. It’s the contempt for someone who takes someone else’s work, makes a few minor (a-tonal) modifications, and claims it as their own. It goes to proving rappers have no real discernible talents.”
What ? You’re just speaking nonsense.
What’s your point? Many famous and critically-acclaimed musicians couldn’t read music.
They didn’t all gather in one place and declare a genre.
Thank you.
If the goal is to have some sort of dialogue about the meaning, purpose or value of music in our culture, then it might be helpful to articulate the standards or criteria used to rank or include artists or albums in such lists. What sorts of criteria can we use to identify or differentiate exemplars of a particular genre?
Some of these criteria may be stated or implicit in the article and responses, but I’d like to see them brought to the foreground.
It’s subjective, Don Jaime Asarloa. The way I approach a list like this is to focus on the artists and albums which provide an entry-point to various styles of hip-hop, building my list based on impact an album had, whether commercially or culturally. Then I pare the list down to focus on good entry-level albums which give listeners an idea where the genre began and where it is going. People will quibble about who is on the list and who got left off, but the actual rankings come down to subjective opinion during the writing process. This list is my perspective, and it is where I would recommend starting out if you’d never heard an ounce of hip-hop. Where you go from there has infinite possibilities. Anyway, I hope that helps answer your question.
You really have no clue what you’re talking about. Sampling is to music what photography is to art. You are taking bits and pieces of old music and re-framing them for a new audience to appreciate. You think rappers and DJ’s don’t need any skills, knowledge, or training? Hip hop is largely a continuation of jazz culture – improvisation is highly valued (for example freestyle rapping or freestyle scratching). Why don’t you try it in front of an audience, then come back and tell me how little skill it requires. I fully agree that a large body of rap/hip hop music is filled with ignorant lyrics and bad messages, but the same is true for any genre of music. I think you haven’t given it a proper chance.
Look up the term “camera obscura” and ask yourself who was stealing from who. 17th century paintings of Venice with depth-of-field out of focus sky lines wasn’t a superb insight.
The vast majority of all paperback cover art is done from photos, as was all of Gil Elvgren’s pin ups plus virtually every other pinup artist.
Photography and classic painting share many concerns, they do not necessarily steal from each other.
Photography is not art! In photography you are just recording either the nature as it is or the work of the real artist.
Let’s have an example: Flying green pig living in the dark side of the moon:
A painter can do a drawing or painting of flying green pigs living in the dark side of the moon.
A poet can compose an ode to flying green pigs
A sculptor can make its version of how flying green pigs look like
But cannot take a picture of them!
Unless some real artist (who may be or not the same as the photographer) makes and prepares the subject to be photographed.
I can’t believe you don’t have biggie’s “ready to die”, the tribe’s “low end theory”, brotha lynch’s “season of da siccness” (which invented horror-core by the way), onyx’s “bacdafucup”, or bone thugs “e. 1999 eternal”!! I mean, c’mon! For shame…
Okay, that guy, which five albums would you replace on this list with those five? The list is 10 Essential Albums. I’m not saying these are the ONLY essential albums. Obviously there will be others which have to be left off, but at least this is a starting point.
Where is A Tribe Called Quest Midnight Marauders?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkLxEk_9Vjk
I was going to ask the same thing. Seriously, how can you put up Jay-Z and totally skip over tribe. LAME
the fuck is wrong with you people, hip hop is the most exciting and fastest evolving musical genre of the past 50 years. It’s the only genre left where artist are trying to be innovative and creative and push themselves to the boundaries of what the genre means. It’s the only genre where the artists try to outdue each other and become the greatest alive. To me, it’s exciting to live in such a culturally rich time.
Really?
Try this on for size
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXqPYte8tvc
Why does it have to be “music vs. hip-hop,” as though there’s not talent in every genre? I enjoyed that guitar video. I’m a fan of classic rock, country and blues, even heavy-metal on occasion. I’ve found that even in genres I don’t have a deep understanding of, it’s possible to dig deep and find artists of value.
There is a ton of innovative rock music out there. Eagles of Death Metal, Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters. All music is evolving. Just because you particularly like Hip Hop doesn’t mean there is nothing else out there. It just means you aren’t listening to it.
The fact that young people have narrowed their musical interests to an incredibly narrow field does not then make that field creative. The last soldier standing after a battle is not a go-to guy as an expert on living, but proof all the other soldiers are dead.
The massive genre-popping work of Jackson Pollock, and the abstract expressionists narrowed art in the end because they consumed everything else, like a fish in a lake. They didn’t expand genres, they destroyed their credibility. If every science fiction novel was a version of Star Wars, yes, after 20 years they would seem innovative for lack of competition.
Dude,
Relax. People have the right to think what they want. In the past, I didn’t particularly care for country for example. To me it wasabout people crying and moaning about the raw deal life has given them and the country twang got on my nerves. To a country fan, the genre offers much more than my limited perspective allowed. I am now more enlightened and have discovered that there is more the genre than I thought.
BTW, it was a Hip Hop song that turned me on to Devil went down to Georgia. check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi8iiqD0ADM
No, no other musicians anywhere do any of that. They all just sit on their hands doing jack squat putting out staid, boring garbage, don’t they?
I think it’s time you expanded your horizons, young man.
Culturally rich, perhaps (I don’t think so but it’s another argument). There certainly is a lot of noise and there are many choices. But it is not a time of great cultural value. It does take a great deal of skill to produce these records, but it is perhaps skill not applied toward the best of endeavors.
At the end of the day, we have some folks who cussed in creative ways, skillfully. I may be in the minority, but offensive things are, well, offensive to me, skills notwithstanding.
i was 16 at the time “straight outta compton” came out and that sound was so ‘in your face’ – it was mesmorizing
my rap nostalgia rests with this era and i can appreciate tupac, biggie, and jayz (the old stuff at least) when the mood strikes (nothing like good tupac cruising around southern cali when the weather is nice and traffic is good; all who disagree are just haters- plain and simple)
my favorites were public enemy, icet, boogie down productions, mc lyte, beastie boys, ericb rakim, and nwa…
rap had so much more cred when the bad guy was the gubmint – not the old white guy
that’s all i got to say ’bout that
(never mind playing grand theft auto and careening around with their rap stations on the radio- the country too for that matter)
you like rap
you dont like it
you dont care
no need to hate- makes you sound old
I know where you’re coming from re: rap nostalgia. My entry-point to the genre included 2Pac, Dr. Dre, Run DMC and the Beastie Boys, but I branched out exponentially from there and have appreciated the wealth of variety the genre has to offer since those days in high school.
I think this is the first time I have ever read “Essential” and “Hip-Hop” in the same sentence!
I can only imagine Hip-Hop as being “Essential” if I want to think any disease, depravity, catastrophe, crime or pestilence is “Essential”.
Isn’t that a little like “Essential Syphilis” or “Essential Rape”, etc ?
I guess this is just a typical example of how the English language has become mallable and devoid of substantive meaning. Take a word (like “Essential”) and use it however you like. It has no longer has any meaning or conveys anything useful, so who cares how you use it?
It all depends on your definition of “essential.” If you’re going to give hip-hop more than a glance, you have to know where to start. In that regard, these are the albums I encourage people to start with. Therefore, they are “essential.” In the end it all comes down to personal opinion, and if you’ve decided that the entire hip-hop genre is depravity comparable to syphilis or rape, there’s not much anyone can say to change your mind.
Good list, but needs some Gorillaz.
I enjoy Gorillaz, but as far as the entirety of hip-hop is concerned, I wouldn’t call Albarn’s work “essential.”
IMO, De La Soul’s first album, “3 Feet High and Rising” should have been on the list (at least in the top five).
I agree.
Good list but Run DMC’s King of Rock should be on there.
Also The Fat Boys self titled album from 1984.
Perhaps Boogie Down Productions….Criminal Minded or By All Means Necessary.
Nice list and nice to read about this type of stuff amongst the more serious PJ fare. As to skill I can attest to the hard work that goes into good rap. My son writes and performs “old school” and he puts as much time and effort into writing his lyrics, the metaphors and message, and working on the flow as musicians in other genres. I’ve seen some of his friends attempt it too, and its not easy to produce something good. And then there is freestyle which takes another skill set entirely.
I remember the days when PJ Media used to be an intelligent news blog, with insightful articles.
What happened to it?
Just because someone doesn’t like or understand an art form doesn’t make it any less valid. I can’t stand ballet but I accept it and might still read an intelligent article about it.
I’ve got a really fun game. Pretend its 50 years ago and this is a list of “10 Essential Rock and Roll Albums” with Buddy Holly’s and Elvis Presley’s eponymous albums at No. 1 and No. 2, etc.
Now read comments 3, 4, 5, 10 and 15 again.
Somehow I doubt Elvis or buddy were encouraging their listeners to kill cops and white people, sell drugs, join gangs-nor were they characterizing all women as “bitches” and “hos.” Yes I know that the old have been complaining about the young since the beginning of time, but this really IS different….
Do you mean in the same way Shakespeare encouraged his audience to commit murder, incest, sedition, apostasy, etc?
Remember, the same album that gave you “F*ck tha Police” also gave you “Express Yourself”
I still express, yo, I don’t smoke weed or sess
Cause it’s known to give a brother brain damage
And brain damage on the mic don’t manage NUTHIN
but makin a sucka and you equal
Don’t be another sequel
Adam somehow I doubt Shakespeare was expecting the young to model themselves on his evil characters–indeed they usually got what’s coming to them in the end, nacht? And yes there are some interesting lyrics out there for sure. I’m not saying there is not some creativity going on and some talented people at work. Just that the end product is “black culture” and frankly I’d gladly give the cool tunes back if they’ll take their “culture” back…..
I’d argue that the tragedies are so named precisely because of the unfair resolutions. Otherwise, they’d be called the “justices” or the “get-what-they-deserveds.”
But that’s irrelevant. Certainly Shakespeare’s audience saw themselves, their neighbors and their government in the plays. The plays did influence behavior and were seen just as dangerous as today’s rap music, if not moreso. Likewise the plays of Marlowe and other of Shakespeare’s contemporaries.
Shakespeare, films, plays, paintings and novels don’t conflate reality with art. Therefore they are not encouraging anything other than art.
Documentary photography and films that lie, such as Robert Frank’s “The Americans” and Michael Moore’s fantasies, do in fact encourage a false view of reality. Rap sees itself very much as a political animal based in a real world. It encourages actual bad behavior and false views of the world.
Michael Moore and Robert Frank essentially take the script of “Hud” and “The Last Picture Show” and say “Look! America!” People are fooled. They are not fooled into going to New Orleans for a thrill after “A Street Car Named Desire,” play or film.
So music, as an artistic genre, is closer to documentary film than to a novel. Because it “conflates reality with art” music has a greater influence on people’s behavior than film or television.
This sounds like a pretty fundamental concept upon which we disagree.
Many hip hop artist see themselves as storytellers. I listen to country and I have heard lyric about killing your wife, cheating on spoises, and making a deal with the devil to win a golden fiddle. I don’t think that they were encouraging this behavior. Other hip hop artist see themselves as making social commentary kid of like john lennon or marvin gay. Some see themselves as revolutionaries. Other are not hip hop artist at all but rather rappers playing to masses to make money. If you really want to get a feel for what hip hop is really about, checkout this link. You may not agree with the philosophy expressed by KRS One in the video, but you might get some insight if you are willing to approach it with an open mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybufC_3KJwk&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Thanks to PJ and JS for trying to clue we stodgy cons on to what’s really important in current culture. As with a lot of pop music, I find it difficult to even hear the lyrics under layers of “production”. I have a few favourite rap pieces (I hesitate to call them songs), but they all have understandable words (not lyrics, lyrics are sung). Of all of the candidates presented here, only “Brenda Had a Baby” comes close to presenting a sympathetic view of the artist himself, as well as the subject of his art. Most of the rest present violent, narcissistic, and prideful doggerel as mileposts on the road to social disintegration. Liberals are the great enablers of this sort of thing. Let’s not let them set the standards. They set themselves up as the avatars of compassion and understanding, but they are self-serving in the extreme. Rap culture is bad, and the best rap lets us know it. It isn’t something to be admired or emulated.
“Fans don’t give a rat’s hind end what you think, so you’re really just trolling.”
Really? That’s what your little crystal ball tells you? I came in here, skimmed the article, listened to one song for about 10 seconds & promptly scrolled to the comment section, hoping to read opinion responses of people who had similar reactions to rap as mine.
Looks like you might need to invest in a new crystal ball.
If you could increase the length of the list to 12 instead of 10, you might add:
Tribe Called Quest – Lower End Theory
and
Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
For those of you hating on hip hop:
Some of your points of criticism are well taken, but…
…besides the artistic merit of a lot of hip hop, please consider that over the last 20 years, hip hop music and hip hop culture in general are one of the last few forces keeping up any kind of positive image of America in a lot of the world.
People don’t watch Hollywood movies as much as they used to. Woodstock and Martin Luther King, Jr. are gone. So are Frank Sinatra and Frank Capra. Elizabeth Taylor. Even Marylin Monroe had a certain larger than life appeal. Bob Dylan is old. So is Clint Eastwood. So are so many of the people and things that used to be the first things people knew about America and wanted to emulate. People always look to popular culture before they look deeper. You’re not going to get anyone reading the Bill of Rights or learning about the Civil War unless there was some more accessible “gateway” to American culture leading them to take more of an interest.
While Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have favorable numbers in a lot of countries, they do not provide any of the inspiration that JFK or to a more limited extent Ronald Reagan did. Our new cultural icons are sycophantic and shallow and don’t project any of the gravitas that their predecessors did. Think of George Clooney as compared to John Wayne. Our popular culture is caving in on itself and the world that used to look towards us for inspiration is tuning out.
Think whatever else you like about it, but hip hip is the one exception. There is rap in just about every language on the planet. And people know it’s American. They adapt not just the musical style, but all the mannerisms and a lot of American English words and phrases.
The more negative aspects of it that you point out don’t seem as prominent as you travel farther away, but the positive aspects of it do. It provides the fresh and hopeful alternative to what people see as moribund and stultifying in their own countries and cultures. They see it as liberating and empowering, and undeniably cool. And everyone knows how uniquely American it is, and that’s still part of the appeal, no matter what else they think about America.
There used to be more things of American origin that you could say that about.
Don’t knock it.
Great points, Naif
> hip hop music and hip hop culture in general are one of the last few forces keeping up any kind of positive image of America in a lot of the world.
I’m sitting here having trouble picturing how something so sullen, so angry, and yet so denuded of artistry could possibly give anyone a positive image of America, save for its dying off.
> Think of George Clooney as compared to John Wayne. Our popular culture is caving in on itself…
As I was saying.
> There is rap in just about every language on the planet. And people know it’s American.
And you insist that’s a good thing.
> They see it as liberating and empowering, and undeniably cool.
We can call it “nihist chic.” Hey, Che Guevara was cool. So was Lenin. So, I’m sure, is the Devil.
> Don’t knock it.
Too late.
> We can call it “nihist chic.”
Type much? I meant “nihilist chic”.
“There is rap in just about every language on the planet.”
I’ll believe that when I hear African Bushman rapping.
How would one rhyme tongue clicks anyway?
How is this for musicality in hip hop?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19iqugpQMDs&feature=youtube_gdata_player
You’re right. That’s a great example of “musicality in hip hop”.
Now if only that person rubbing a stick on a miniature guitar-like thing would just stop.
Here’s another example of musicality in hip hop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQbU4NzY8Ts&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Does this take skill?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2epQzybZ9E
Some other you might want to try listening to before lumping all hip hop in to the crap category.
Common, “I Have a Dream”
Lauren Hill
The Fuji’s
Arrested Development
There are others but this will serve as a starting point. Also, I think the following video link will give some background of the hip hop mindset. KRS One lectures around the counrty and he does a good job of laying out the history of the hip hop movement and he even distinguished between hip hop as an art form and Rap as commericial endeavor. Warning, the following lecture is unabashable liberal, but if viewed with an open mind, it is very enlightening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybufC_3KJwk
If you choose to still call hip hop and rap crap after, well thanks for trying. In the end it really does not matter what any of us say. Hip Hop and Rap have been here for over 30 years and I have a feeling it is not going anywhere anytime soon.
This is a trick question. There is no such thing as “essential hip-hop”.
Also, white guys at the top? Seriuosly, dude? Seriously?
Further, one cannot simply call their album “the black album” or “the white album”. Those names must be conferred by the fans. “The White Album” isn’t even called “The White Album”. It’s a self-titled Beatles album. Similarly, there already exists a “The Black Album”. It’s Metallica’s fifth studio album, also self-titled.
And now to Soccer Moms and Blue Dog Democrats are we to add Hip-Hop Republicans?
Nice! Your #1 posting rule says: “1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.” But when I pass my mouse over the to of that Dr. Dre youtube video, GUESS WHAT POPS UP? That’s right….profanity. Hmmmmmm…..
Mentioning hip-hop and music in the same article is a friggin’ joke!Why should I waste my time listening to anti-white, anti-law enforcement, pro violence, anti women, drug glorifying shit?
PJM, what the heck is going on? You are losing your edge and becoming like Faux News- a purveyor of entertainment and pop culture crap. . . .
You are all correct and not crazy, horrifyingly racist, and kind of insane.
White guys, the number one purveyors in an unabashedly black genre. Damn if it doesn’t sound like the black man is being exploited for money once again.
You cant spell crap without rap.
My friend RareJ, (who I think is actually smarter than me) and I had a discussion about this post, (particularly FailBurton’s never hiking the Inca Trail response), and these were her comments:
It’s generally not recommended to make such blanket, opinionated statements about…anything. That said, a lot of the “old school” stuff that I LOVE, is certainly guilty of being demeaning, insulting, etc. But it’s got a good beat and I LOVE it. THAT said, I LOATHE “Death Metal” and refer to it as “that ‘kill your mother, eat the babies’ music” so when you don’t like something, no matter the reason, you chuck it – HARD – under the bus.
Off the top of my head though, I can think of 2 rap songs that are…”positive”:
‘Empire State of Mind’ by Jay-Z – a clip:
New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothin’ you can’t do
Now you’re in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Let’s hear it for New York, New York,
New York
…and
‘Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls’ by TLC – a clip:
I seen rainbow yesterday
But too many storms have come and gone
Leavin’ a trace of not on God-given ray
Is it because my life is ten shades of gray
I pray all ten fade away
Seldom praise Him for the sunny days
And like His promise is true
Only my faith can undo
The many chances I blew
To bring my life to anew
Clear blue and unconditional skies
Have dried the tears from my eyes
No more lonely cries
My only bleedin’ hope
Is for the folk who can’t cope
Wit such an endurin’ pain
That it keeps ‘em in the pourin’ rain
Who’s to blame
For tootin’ caine in your own vein
What a shame
You shoot and aim for someone else’s brain
You claim the insane
And name this day in time
For fallin prey to crime
I say the system got you victim to your own mind
Dreams are hopeless aspirations
In hopes of comin’ true
Believe in yourself
The rest is up to me and you
Eminem used to be funny, but his most recent stuff is vulgar and stupid. To call it ignorant is, in most cases, 100% wrong and therefore ignorance shining thru in the accuser. People like Jay-Z, 50 Cent, DMX…have very, very dark pasts, colored childhoods, criminal records. So, while their making money rapping about it seems unfair, and maybe it is, it surely isn’t ignorant. Does everyone want to hear about it? Pay for it? Clearly not. But Kurt Cobain sang about suicide & then made good on his promise. Bob Dylan sang a catchy tune that happens to be about LSD…we could go on & on. I don’t want to dance on peanut shell-covered floors to songs about tears in beer, broken trucks & sick dogs, but some people do. Then again, I actually heard a country song I liked once “Every Other Weekend” maybe? It…spoke to me, and I liked the sound. But it’s about co-parenting with your ex. So that’s not a good message for our children either. Just put Sesame Street music on shuffle & the nation’s future should be OK.