[BabyHughie]

I don't know if this is the appropriate forum for this, so mods please feel free to move this where ever it needs to go.

I noticed that 'The Lorax' had a dope jedi mind tricks quote in his sig and sent him a PM about it. It came to our attention that we need a thread here dedicated solely to hip hop. So I said, HELL YEAH Im going to make it right now! And here we are now


This thread is for my fellow heads to discuss WHAT IS GOOD!! I know there are more of us out there, so lets get this party started! Please give us a little backround info. How long have you been a head, what type of ish do you listen to mostly, what first got you into hip hop, your favorite crew, ect ect ect.

Ill start the jump off

I first got into hiphop back in my sophmore year of high school (6+ years ago) when I was at a homies house and heard 'Sunsprayed' from Logcabin. For those who don't know, Logcabin was a local bay area crew, made up of Eligh, Murs, and Scarub from the Living Legends crew (that many of you may have heard of by now). A fellow by the name of Tom Slick also got down with the crew. The recording quality was shit (recorded on a 4 track) but the content was top notch.

From there, I started listening to basically the whole rhymesayers crew, the LL crew, aesop rock, Sage Francis, and the like. Basically all your typical 'white boy' ish. Being on the west coast Heiro is HUGE, 93 til was my favorite track. For the longest time that was all I listened to. But at some point I had an epiphany.

I discovered what I call 'golden era' hip hop. That classic boom bap sound. Names like De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, Ultramagnetic MCs, Gangstar, Diamond D, Souls of Mischief, FuSchnikans, Pete Rock and CL, Showbiz and AG, just to name a few.

For the longest time I was stuck on the old school and quit listening to the white boy ish all together. Now, I would say I am a well rounded head. I listen to anything that is good, whether it be some funky flavor from an early Beastie Boys track or some of that new school flavor from my man Sage Francis who is still rockin the MIC like he did at the begining.

I have seen all to many of my favorites fall off the face of the earth content wise, and so many more new faces emerge. My all time favorite will always be De La Soul. IMO they have the most influence on the direction of the hip hop that I know and love than any other. De La were true inovators, and NOBODY will ever come close to touching their sound.


Hip Hop will never die, even though the pop culture has raped its origins. I hate what the pop culture has done to hip hop, but it happens to everything good. Just look at rock and roll. And that is not to say that I do not like a good mainstreme track. I love the Black Album from Jayz. You could say I have underground roots but am a well branched tree. :wink:


I could right a book on this, but that is a brief introduction to WHAT IS GOOD in the ears of Hughie. Tell me, WHAT IS GOOD to YOU?

PS. Even if you don't listen to hip hop right now, read along and maybe we can open your mind to a whole nother realm of dopeness!

PSS. Even though I piss in the mainstream, you mainstream heads are more then welcome to make your presence felt. Lets just keep it civil, OK.

[Blazed_Out]

Okay, let me see...
First heard hip-hop back in 92-93 when I was like 9 or 10 years old from artists like De La Soul, Naughty By Nature, Public Enemy and N.W.A. I wasn't really into the music until I heard 2Pac's Keep Ya Head Up and Wu-Tang Clan's Da Mystery of Chessboxing which made me understand the different types of hip-hop there was. From here onwards I was feeling the 'gangsta rap' with Death Row Records rising, Snoop and Dre was the shit! DPG and the whole West Coast rap scene was what I liked with their funky basslines and pitch bent pads and leads. I like the Notorious B.I.G and
I'm from the UK and hip-hop wasn't the preferred music here til about 98 and climbed up slowly into the charts and into the youth culture. From about here onwards music from Nas, Jay-Z, DMX, Meth & Red, Ja Rule and Mobb Deep was what I was into.
2000 to the present day I've been digging up music from rappers like Necro, Immortal Technique, Jedi Mind Tricks, Cormega and many more...
At the moment I'm feeling the beats from the Diplomats, D-Block and those Down South people like Swishahouse and rappers like Yukmouth (keepin' it real in the West), but I've been also tuning into the UK hip-hop scene with rappers like Jehst, Klashnekoff, Moorish Delta-7, Skinnyman and Taskforce. The scene has made a change here with UK Grime taking over, a type of music sprung from hip-hop, garage and drum n bass, which is real BIG with the youth culture nowadays.
I mostly listen to the DJ mixtapes because most albums from big name rappers have not been consistent (maybe their hunger for fame and getting their name out has diminished).
I'm more into making my own beats now and have been studying Sound Engineering at college and would like to actually take this as a profession in the near future.

On a side note... rappers like 50 Cent and G-Unit are garbage. Not hating because of their money and position in the music industry, just don't like someone who came from nothing, using his past to hype himself up, taking other rappers off the scene then taking their style, can't even leave his home without more police than President Bush and being straight greedy. This is someone I do not look at for inspiration.

[Artie Lange]

first hip hop album: wu tang forever

favorite hip hop album: illmatic

i cant even listen to new hip hop. absolute garbage.

shit i hate: DipSet, g-unit, southern hip hop in gerneral,

shit i like: older jay-z, nas,wu tang, and especially gangstarr

i went through a phase where i was real into necro, but he got pretty fuckin lame.

you know I have to get my .02 in here...

well first off I am shocked that you guys have such good memory haha. Ive only really been into hip hop for 6-7 yrs now, and its funny cause I used to hate it but hadnt really heard much. now.. god.. searching for good hip hop keeps me sane.. well, maybe not quite.. but you know..

i have no idea what my first cd is. truth is i was relatively poor and didnt really buy CDs like that.. instead just traded mixes, and got friends to burn em for me.

hip hop is in danger, imo. the problem is saturation. everyone wants to cash in on the industry, and with no-talent assclowns such as Baby making so much loot, its pretty much evident that anyone who can read lyrics that someone (who is hopefully more intelligent than them) has written for them can make big money. and saturation is whats going on with the mixtape market. its really sad. but i guess thats what diggin in the crates crew was all about - and that was probably my first introduction to (what i consider) good hip hop (taste is only subjective to a point in hip hop)

overall, I think hip hop is in a lot of trouble, because afterall it is fueled by its fans, and if they lose interest, hip hop dies. the problem is the pure amount of SHIT out there. not to say I think we're gonna wake up tomorrow and everyone is gonna put their mic down, but its a potential trend I have observed.

right now I am really into Saigon. I had only heard a couple of his tracks, and had mixed opinions at first.. but I went and picked up a few more.. and I am really liking his style etc. one problem I have with hip hop is that so much of it is unoriginal. a lot of rappers will just talk about the same cliche things, and the worst part is you look at them and you know that they are an actor as well as a rapper.

hmm kind of ranting, i'll leave it at that for now.

but back to the topic of hip hop in general.. I feel ya artie.. most southern rap sucks man.. its almost all just cliche bullshit thats based around "catchy" beats and delivery, with little to no emphasis on the content of the music. its all about how it sounds. meanwhile, NY/philly/mid atlantic is all about lyrics, and what you say. I mean delivery is important, always, but god, I can only hear about "being posted on the corner like a stop sign" so many times before I snap.

maybe we should make a list of all IC hip hop artist recommendations so that people can share the interest, and we can also turn new listeners on to good stuff so they dont get off to a bad start...

p.s. I have a confession to make.. diplomat (dipset) clique has some nice beats.. every so often i like to just drop the bass.. and killa cam is a good track to do that too.. I pretty much hate them all as people and dont care much for most of their shit, as its almost all the same, but there is something to be said for bringing a chick home drunk after the party and putting on "hey ma" (you gon' suck it or not?) lol. classic. but Im slowly getting too old for that.

[glock23]

Sup Lorax. OK guys...I've been into hip-hop for...hmm...about 15 years now. I started off listening to Public Enemy, NWA and Ice Cube...actually, no, my first loves were MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice...hehe...pretty funny to think about when I look back now. Cypress Hill and Dr. Dre got me interested in pot and look at me now...

There's a lot of crap out there...you just have to be more selective about what you listen to I guess. Kinda like with buds...gotta be selective

Artie..I met DJ Premier recently..he disappointed me though. He was catering to the champagne and caviar set and most of the stuff he was spinning was garbage. There were some gems thrown in though (old Gangstarr and Nas) and he even played some 70s type stuff...

[Closet Funk]

I like older rap and hip hop. Today rap and hip hop is pathetic, it has gone down hill big time. I can't stand even listening to it. I'm getting older and raps starting to fade away to me. Don't get me wrong I still love rap, but I'll just stick to the old school stuff when rap was good and creative. Today all the beats are the same and there are not many talented rappers. The shit gives me a headache really.

I gonna pick 10 random songs from my collection...

tech_n9ne-05-hand_of_a_killer-ragemp3.mp302-playa_lo_funk_daddy_livio_youn g_skills_and_francci-hottest_shit-rage.mp3
18-fat_joe-statik_blend-atx.mp3
06-g-unit-wanna_get_to_know_you-rns.mp3 ---> NEW RAP IS CRAP!! AGREED!!
09-chamillionaire-grown_and_sexy.mp3 ---> HATE THIS FOOL! DONT EVEN KNOW WHY I HAVE THIS CD!!!
01-lil_wayne-intro.mp3 ---> i get high to this shit..
Eminem - Eminem - Steve Berman (Skit).mp3 ---> HATED HIM LOVED HIM NOW IM JUST BORED!
214-lucky_luciano-i_cant_call_it_(screwed)-sut.mp3 ---> SCREWED GETS OLD QUIKKQUIKKKKQUKKKQUKIQQUIKKK
04-b-legit_c-bo_celly_cel-wig_split-cr.mp3 ---> BAY AREA **408**
08_DJ_Quik-Loked_Out_Hood-OSR.mp3---> EAZY ICE CUBE QUICK THATS RAP2ME
15-jay-z-first_song-vinyl.mp3 ---> yah I listen to the big dudes from the east coast..


is that 10? well there ya go a random look into my mp3 play list...

[Laxpunker]

I too enjoy hip hop, even though I probably got a good 5 to 10 years on you rascals (I kid...more like hooligans!). I gotta say though I hate alot of the commercial shit coming out, Lil Wayne and Chamillionare are two guys on my shit list. G-Unit and 50 Cent should rot in hell, and Eminem can join them.

If you guys haven't heard it yet you should check out the Army of the Pharaohs CD, The Torture Papers. It's a collaboration between Jedi Mind Tricks, Apathy, and some other less well known MC's.

Obie Trice, Dilated Peoples, Immortal Technique are all in my top favorites. I just started listening to The Streets, one of the only bearable English rappers I've heard. No offense you guys from over the pond, but something about England just doesn't always carry over into rap.

Now that Wu Tang is gone I've found that GZA is pretty damn good, even without ODB (RIP) and the rest. Clipse has quite a few good songs, however some of the beats grate on my nerves. I know I'll get insulted for saying it, but Trick Daddy (not Trick Daddy and Lil John and all that shit) has some decent older stuff. Albeit a bit funny and not neccessarily AMAZING, it's still entertaining.

[BabyHughie]

JEAH! Thats what Im talkin about people!!! Good to see some old school peeps around too. You guys can take me to school on what is good from the glory days.

Blazed Out I feel ya man, lots of one track wonders. It takes a true G to deliver consistantly album after album. Da Mystery of Chessboxin is one of my all time favorite tracks. Wu tang never gets old to me.

Artie, Necro gets down on the track, and that fucker makes me laugh, but I can't listen to his shit all the time. Illmatic is a straight classic! People I know always hate on that album, but they are fools.

Lorax, glad you made it bro. Pop culture has really raped the roots, but like I said it happens to everything good eventually. To reference Awol One, hip hop will never die because there is so much good shit out there. It may fade away, but it will never die. There is so much quality shit from the early days that I am only just now hearing for the first time. And there are so many artists that pop up out of nowhere all the time. So much shit I have slept on.

Its just a shame that people sell out to make a buck, but can you really blame them? Everyone wants to get paid. This is the problem that you speak on. Its so easy to get paid anymore, WHY NOT?


glock23, I wish I listened to hip hop in the late 80s mid 90s when it was straight up gold! Primo is the shit, but he has sold his soul to the industry IMO. He still knows whats good though, otherwise the set would have been complete garbage, you know?


closet funk, feel ya bro. Like I said I was stuck on the golden era shit for a long time. But there are plenty of new peeps poping up all the time. Take Madvillian (MF DOOM and Madlib), tell me that cd is not original, tell me those fuckers are not creative. And there are so many more producers out there these days making shit like NOONE else. Blockhead, RJD2, Shadow, Automater on deltron, Madlib, Maker, Meaty Orge, Necro, Shalem ect ect ect ect.

Vortex G, I would be pissed if I hit random on my shit and thats what came up :wink:

Here are a few not so random tracks from my comp.

Tribe - 'Bonita Applebum
Abstract Rude - 'All Day'
Aceyalone - 'The Balance'
Adverse - 'Child Good'
Aesop Rock - 'Sick Friend'
Afu-Ra - 'Whirlwind Thru Cities'
Apathy - 'That ole Boom Bap'
Arsonist - 'Underground Vandal'
Artifacts - 'Lower Da Boom'
Atmosphere - 'The Woman With the Tattooed Hands'
Awol One - 'Static'


Theres a single track that I bump regularly from a few of the peeps in the "A's" on my itunes.

[BabyHughie]

LaxPunker sorry I missed you man. Wu tang comes together like voltron and GZA is the head. He drops the straight up knowledge. Even his later CDs are still pretty good. Liquid Swords is straight up fire though. One of my all time favorites for sure. That goes for all the first solo cds from wu. Classic shit. RIP ODB.