With 14 Rap Classics
From the moment Rap burst on the scene, it seized the nation. It was attention getting, it was robust, it was innovative and it took little time to distinguish itself as a fully realized art form. The innovation of Rap spawned the creation of new musical forms. It influenced drum machines, as it glorified un-natural sounds. It redefined the role of synthesizers, created an industry of sampling and scratching and brought the DJ out of the booth and the hood rat squarely onto the center stage. Rap also was amazingly accessible. All it required was a DJ, microphone, speakers, rapper, a handful of albums and that one amazing ingredient, a killer concept.
Rap, was born out of the social forces of the late 60's and early 70's and given birth to by inner city blacks who were recently armed with new and bold iterations of their identity informed by civil rights, black empowerment and black consciousness. Black, Latino and Caribbean inner city youth seized upon Rap to highlight urban life, hopes, disappointments and experiences as well as to provide entertainment as a relief valve to the despair.
As far as hip hop portraying negative images and glorifying negative occupations and themes of murder, death and violence, let us not forget, hip hop is the voice of the urban landscape and this landscape is rife with these themes.
These problems exist in urban communities not because of hip hop, rather, because of the historical effects of racism, discrimination, poverty, inequity, political impotence, a lack of opportunity, a divestiture of services in the inner-city, failing schools, ineffective law enforcement... THESE are the elements -the chemistry- that serves as the essential DNA and biology of hip hop.
Hearing about these issues IN hip hop isn't the problem. The fact that these problems exist IS the problem. Hip hop IS a vital part of the solution.
Almost all of the songs here are classics while others are included because they are representative of a feel, a moment or theme that is important to the overall hip-hop movement.
Songs are presented in no particular order.
Songs are presented in no particular order.
1. Ultramagnetic MC's - Critical Beatdown
2. Schooly D - Smoke Some Kill
3. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message
4. Gang Starr - Step in the Arena
5. X-Raided - Lord Have Mercy
6. Boogie Down Productions - Super-Hoe
7. Quasimoto - Spaces
8. Afrika Bambaata & The Soulsonic Force - Looking For The Perfect Beat
9. Rob Swift featuring Supernatural & DJ Radar - Interview with A Colored Man
10. Digable Planets - Blowing Down
11. Diamond District featuring Steve Smith - First Time
12. The Jungle Brothers - Black is Black
13. Snoop Dogg - Gin & Juice
BONUS TRACK: 2 Live Crew - Cut It Up
1.
Ultramagnetic MC's
Critical Beatdown
Ultra is from the era where ever rapper and rap crew had to have raps that include braggadocio about how much better their mc rapping was than “sucker mc” raps. It is presumed that “sucker mc's” are the ones that are unable to secure record contracts. In this era, Rap was treated as if it were Greek God type affair, where those at the top were the ones that had successfully scaled the Rap mountain and were thus rap deities. It is taken for granted that unless named personally, these Sucker MC raps did not pertain to any other rap deity. The Ultramagnetic MC's are an old school rap outfit composed of Ced Gee, Tim Dogg, TR Love, Moe Love and the venerable Kool Keith. Ultra preceded WuTang and set the model for New York rap “crews”. They were preceeded by the first wave of rap crews, such as the Soulsonic Force, Grandmaster Flash, Sugar Hill. Their samples were innovative and expanded the rap volume. Their DJ was also involved in the seminal Boogie Down Productions Criminal Minded disc. This fact alone is enough rap credibility to infuse the entire group across the threshold of Rap Legend status –if they hadn’t already done it on their own accord. Critical beat down features the "spoken word" style of rhyme of Kool Keith. Much like too short and Eazy-E, his raps are not complicated, just direct, heartfelt and delivered with a cadence and unique voice that projects confidence, necessity and immediacy. Critical Beatdown follows the old school rap formula. One MC starts with a concept, or the crew has a concept. One MC Raps about it and the next MC on the microphone must meet the bar and exceed it if possible. In this way all of the crews MC’s get a shot or two at the Microphone. As the song is developed and edited, this can lead to a dizzying display of lyricism and innovation.
Sample Line:
Move, while I enter the groove
I’m on top and having to prove to whack MC's who claim to be better than,
no way, I’m frankly more clever than all of you -each and every one my son
pay close attention -I'll take your brain to another dimension
hold it, -mold it, shape it.- you got a knife? yes I want to scrape it
up and down sideways anywhere i can -be rude to you.- But I’ll rap and be crude to you and eat up, -
toy ducks I beat up…
2.
Schooly D
Smoke Some Kill
Known as “The Illy from Philly”. Schooly is another "spoken word" MC. His formula is simple rhymes told behind the booming bass of the 808 drum machine and stories told with a masculine, no frills matter of fact, crucially black, testosterone fueled confidence. Smoking marijuana, sex, storytelling, misunderstanding parents, silliness and frivolity, slaying sucker mc's, material possessions, and a simple rap theme following the old formula of rapping on a theme and several verses, perhaps a simple chorus. Schooly features liberal, brain damaging scratches from DJ Code Money, and on this particular album, healthy doses of Black Liberationist Samples.
Sample Line:
Woke up early Sunday morn' jumped out the bed -Filas on.
-thought about -the hangover -kissed the dog, called my mom rover.
Went into the kitchen captain crunch, turned on the tube -the Brady Bunch.
Instead of a house, they lived in a palace, Jan was fu**in Mike and Mike was fu**in Alice.
My little eyes opened up wide, the thing in my pants started to rise.
Sat down on the couch to cool and chill -cracked me a forty, rolled some kill.
I was smokin’ I was tokin’, my mom said, “Boy, you must be jokin’!“
Threw me outside it was rainin’ I was soakin, -that weed so damn provokin’.
3.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
The Message
Not just one of the greatest rap songs of all time, this classic is perhaps the greatest song ever made from the number 1 rap crew of the first generation of rappers. The immediacy of the song, coming off of the bankruptcy of New York City and the age of urban decay with the disaster of central planning, huge housing projects, the oil embargo, inflation, the horrible effects of redlining, civic over-spending, racism, discrimination and de-institutionalization, this song tells the story of this caustic bog from the perspective of their effects upon the ghettos and boroughs of New York City. Starting off with a driving, methodical, steady pounding beat, shimmering synths, and percussion that harkens to the Carribean/Puerto Rican/Dominican/Latin immigrant influence. The cut touts themes of struggle, hopelesseness, depression, human waste, vermin, drug use and crushing despair. The song was an anthem for millions of underclass blacks who struggled to survive day by day, hand to mouth. Several perspectives and first person vignettes form the core structure of the song It is doubtful that any think tank or academic research group could compose a theme more immediate or visceral to illustrate this particular time in NY, without compromising in any way the artistry, beauty, and ass-shaking musical innovation of the composition.
Sample Line:
Broken Glass everywhere
people pissin on the stairs, you know they just don't care
I can't take the smell, I can't take the noise
got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice.
Rats in the front room, roaches in the back
Junkies in the alley with the baseball bat.
Tried to get away but I didn’t get far
Cause he man with the tow truck repossessed my car.
Don’t -Push Me -Cause -I’m- Close To The -Edge,
-I’m -Tryin’ -Not -To -Lose -My –Head -a-huh-HUH-HUH- HUH!
It’s like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep from goin’ under.
4.
Gang Starr
Step in the Arena
Guru is an intellectual and technician with a unique voice and musical style reminiscent of the Audio Two and beats similar to Das FX. Guru’s raps are smooth enough, but what characterizes them are that , they're mathematical verbal barrages linked together like a old school chain forming a formidable, uninterruptible verbal assault. Where Guru falls short in smoothness and fluidity, he makes up for in intelligence, command, vocal distinction and technical skill. A rappers gift can come from virtually anywhere and any particular talent from cadence, vision, voice, story, personal experience, culture, time... like a giant equalizer, each rapper's skill depends on a unique mix and mojo from the rap "EQ" of vocal attributes showcasing the uniqueness of the human voice and individual MC verbal gifts and talents, much like the qualities we seek in radio personalities. Some voices are flat, others, are melodious, or urgent, or piercing or aesthetically pleasing. Guru was one of the MC’s that ushered in an era of rap that utilized intellectual and technical skills to make up for a lack of “natural” creativity and ambition, thus opening up a a new grab bag for a different type of MC, than the traditional naturally gifted (and this isn’t my quote) “big-cocks/biggest-nigger-on-the-ghetto-block” rappers
Sample Line:
I’m like claws that will rip cause your gift is merely flesh
Superficial and I wish you, would give it a rest
But if you don't, -I'll un-sheath my Excalibur
-Like a noble knight, -so meet a challenger,
A true hero, -while you're a through zero
-Getting’ beat to a pulp so that you can’t run for help…
5.
X-Raided
Lord Have Mercy
One of my favorite and enduring favorite ghetto poets. “X” is a gang banger and a vocal angel. His songs illustrates the “journalism” quality of his raps. He dispatches missives from the deepest, and at times, most disturbed corners of our communities. His talent and the beauty of his flow is a 5 star delight. Spicy, sour, sweet, crunchy, smooth, salty, and chewy. Insight is perhaps his greatest gift. There are but a handful of rappers that can self-reflect, and paint both visual landscapes and internal subjective poets at the same time giving he listener a telescoping view of the carnage. Despite the world X comes from, the sins he’s committed, the sadistic and masochistic repetition compulsion he has with the streets, violence and blind loyalty to his gang banging buddies. X provides a complete unexpurgated view of the ghetto gang banger grind pulled together in a style and flow and musicality and classic song structure. Unfortunately, in real life, X is serving a life sentence for the cold blooded murder of the mother of 2 gang rivals. This song is especially poignant as it acknowledges a wayward life that X is trapped in and unable to escape… a reality that is experienced in inner cities and prisons across the nation.
Sample Line:
Lord forgive me for all the wrong that I did,- all of the pain I inflicted as a kid,
on judgment day consider this before you curse me, -I was only a child so Lord have mercy!
forgive me for all the wrong that I done, -all of the pain I inflicted when I was young.
On Judgment day consider this before you curse me, I was only a child so Lord have mercy! Forgive me!
6.
Boogie Down Productions
Super-Hoe
With Sparse production, a drum machine a few samples and some ghetto-ass back-up singers, The Blastmaster KRS-One and Scott LaRock of Boogie Down Productions unleashed this ghetto anthem during the heightening crest of the Rap Borough Battles. In fact, the narcissistic ego of KRS-One is largely the reason Borough rap battles began, as Kris virtually climbed the Empire State Building, holding the microphone like it was a blonde white virgin and proclaimed to all within earshot that HE was the greatest MC in all of New York, and that the Bronx was the birthplace of the heart and soul of the NY rap genealogy. Legend has it that KRS-One and Scott LaRock met at the Morrissania Men's Shelter where Kris Parker was a youth and Scott LaRock was a social worker. Recognizing Kris’ talent, they formed a partnership that only ended with the tragic slaying of Scott LaRock after the first album. The fact that this song has been a classic since the 80's and lasted over 5 minutes with nothing more than the wit of KRS-One and a every-possible-angle rap on the single subject of his DJ's sexual proclivities speaks volumes to the powers of Boogie Down Productions. [I really should have included, The Bridge Is Over instead of Super-Hoe since ‘Bridge’ is a rap history lesson that discusses the origins of rap, as seen from the perspective of Boogie Down Productions, but as a disclaimer: I was born in the Boogie Down Bronx at the now defunct Morrissania Hospital definitely endears this particular rap crew to my heart.]
Sample Line:
We were bein' interviewed there live on air, every girl in the city and Scott had an affair.
KM in the AM had asked his last question, but Scott LaRock said “Wait, I've got to mention
the fact that I'm single, I like to mingle, and one more time, bust the fresh jingle.”
(chorus) Scott LaRock Had 'em alllllllll. He is a SuperHoe!
7.
Quasimoto
Spaces
Quasimoto is a cutting edge beat junkie with the creativity of a schizophrenic savant prodigy who has dedicated himself to his own particular form of hip hop artistry with the dedication of a cult leader. Quasimoto is one of those rappers that are so prolific and immersed in the genre that he has to release albums under multiple names and with multiple collaborators to satiate his need to create and his need to give voice to the various angles and personalities his creativity takes. Lord Quas is a student of the game, firmly founded in the history of rap, and forcefully pushing into the unknown territory that lies ahead. Creative songs, innovative samples, eclectic vocal and musical styles, he employs an urban graffitti style sensibility to the musical tags he leaves. This particular song, Spaces is a perfect showcase of his talents. In it he creates a 7th heaven, dream like mix of an audio interview with a white stoner and the voice of Quasimoto rapping from multiple tangents about literal mental "spaces".
Sample Line:
Hey Yo, it's the mastadon, yo I'll hit you all spacey.
Lord Quas, Mister Buddha Madlib Master Bass MC's.
Comin' through like Thelonius Monk,
Came real dropped harmonius Funk.
I'll leave you suckin' like a crack heads ass
dropped the math on that ass fast cause if we in a battle you know you end up comin' up in last place.
Hit you with the slow and fast pace -on conceptual mode agree to wreck the whole space…
8.
Afrika Bambaata &
The Soulsonic Force
Looking For The Perfect Beat
This song is just amazing. The raps aren’t whack, but there’s just not much to them. But this song definitely belongs on this list because of the pedigree of the group and its contribution to the early phase of rap. music is timeless and Afrika Bambaata took the nation by storm with funk, rap, electro-dance grooves and a rap crew made up of Afrika Bambaata, Mr. Biggs, Pow Wow, and The G.L.O.B.E.,. Bambaata himself was a DJ who used his particular skill to take rap, at a nascent age and turn it into a purely infectious dance hit of synths, drum machines, scratches and an old school rap crew. The theme of the song centers around the Hero’s quest, search for and capture of “the world's perfect beat”. In this song, the perfect beat takes the place of the the chalice. It certainly doesn't hurt that the song is rave worthy and one of the few songs that can motivate even a quadruple bypass candidate to sprint on a treadmill for the last 5 minutes of a grueling workout.
Sample Line:
Universal people looking for the perfect beat
Mortal world of nations looking for the perfect beat
Mighty Zulu Nation they have found the perfect beat
I’m mighty Afrika Bambaata, I present the perfect beat.
Beat, Beat, Beat, Beat (Scratchin’)
9.
Rob Swift featuring Supernatural
& DJ Radar
Interview with A Colored Man
A unique opus/mix of several song fragments (samples) based around a fictional live audience interview of “Colored Man”, an Af-Am superhero Af-Am special powers that are revealed through the course of this short and sweet song. “Colored Man” has a firm MC/hip hop veracity and black liberationist perspective relating a depth and complexity of character that expands the genre of science fiction rap and reality from a Neil DeGrasse Tyson type perspective.
Sample Line:
Interviewer: Let’s get right to the First Question. We all know you were born on planet Ebony. Now just how far is planet Ebony from Mars?
Colored Man: 300 and 60 degrees from Mars and we got Black Stars
7 suns, -that's what we got -we run on Ebony -yo we speak ebonics
-smoke chronic, -got robots that got bionics, -think we on planets, -don't understand it?
-do you understand? -it's me your friendly neighborhood colored man.
-Walking through, -on my T, my colors are red, black and green
- on the back of my cape is, “no escape”, -the planet ebony I live on is truly great.
10.
Digable Planets
Blowing Down
From one of the most unique and creative rap albums of all time, The Digable Planets are frequently erroneously referred to as a “one hit wonder” completely ignoring the majesty of their follow up album and the top to bottom quality of songs on their debut. Blowing Down is a unique creation that illustrates the magic that can happen when pure ambition meets raw talent among several MC's who combine talents and produce something that is greater than the sum of their parts. Blowing Down is a fine illustration of their rhymin’ style, which could be said to sacrifice clarity and succinctness for the sake of the cadence, syncopation and rhyme flow. Here, The Planets take a page from most rock groups who have nonsense lyrics that sound good, but make absolutely no fucking sense upon closer inspection. Sometimes this works, as it does with The Planets, seeing as the lyrics leave enough of a poetic flow and fragments of almost full ideas that anybody from he hood can “feel” to hint at/suggest at an underlying camouflaged coherent thesis that allows the mind to delve into an unconscious meditation/”planet-ary” groove. The Planets were composed of two fellas and a female, “Doodlebug”. The music and the rhymes mixed beautifully creating a sonic space that fully embraced a higher consciousness while never losing sight of the fact that it had the responsibility of reppin’ Crooklyn. The Planets were more than rappers. They were true entertainers that created mood music that provided fertile ground and a positive auditory relief to the issues confronting the youth of the early 90’s.
Sample Line:
No doubt we turns it out
'Cause we keep black movement and castle keep rockin' plus hang with my niggas and hit the dope spots.
Play in the corners and maybe even boogie ‘till the sun come up or a gun come up...
Shootin' at the breeze the local emcees,
stylin' wit ease,
doin' it like the sun is in here ‘cause we bomb rhyme, sayin', butter ain’t playin' Blowin out…
11.
Diamond District
featuring Steve Smith
First Time
One of the most creative rap groups ever assembled I’m eager to hear a follow up to this grand opus of grandmaster level of word wizardry. Old school beats, old school raps updated with an amazing cadence and style that's barely decipherable, due to a complex infection of alliterative machine gun verbal assaults from all three MC’s. From top to bottom, every cut works, is complete, is coherent and stupendous. The full effort is nothing less than mind blowing. The whole flavor of the album is so stunning I was expecting to see 3 well known producers/rappers or vagabond cast off members from 80’s an d90’s hip hop hall of fame groups. I was shocked to see this crew was organic and young. 3 ghetto wildflowers blossoming and in fact fully bloomed at the pinnacle of rap power from Chocolate City’s Diamond District. Neither the needs of the message or the lyrical mysticism are compromised. once again there are multiple layers that can be unpacked in each sentence, let alone song. The entire album keeps coming song after song after song.
Sample Line:
First things first, the first born, -wanted to be the first to put D. I. C. on
-First to cross the finish line for my first y’all
First to see the flow list yes first to serve y’all
First person that I met was mom's,
-First song I remember hearing I think was 'after the love is gone'
by earth first element then with fire inspired by the most higher person that I admired…
12.
The Jungle Brothers
Black is Black
One of the first "conscious rappers" and original “Native Tongue” rap groups, The Jungle Brothers black is black pride divined into a maple honeyed ecstacy. It’s true first generation “Edutainment” rap with old school James Brown samples, a drum machine and two Jungle Brothers tossin’ the mic back and forth. The Jungle Brothers were from that generation of rappers that felt the calling to provide the vital history lessons that were so woefully missing and are still missing in our schools curriculum. Issues of race, class, culture, skin tone, liberation, discrimination and black power realism are all covered at least to a high school proficiency with enough clues for intrepid listeners to follow up on Wikipedia. As a forerunner and original of conscious rap and a deep collaborative influence on BDP, A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep and De La Soul, this album and song are undeniable all-time classics.
Sample Lyric:
Today's the day we get together to try to change and make things better
If not where will be be tomorrow? Drowning in a pool of sorrow
Daylight shines but still few see that we must fight for unity
In a picture that's fixed as black and white why's it both that have to fight?
Uplift the race UPLIFT THE RACE! Leave the soul and out my face
All for one and one for all, Black is Black.. That’s right ch’all…
13.
Snoop Dogg
Gin and Juice
If there was ever a rapper that earned the right to say, "I did it my way" (more than likely Doggystyle), it's Snoop Dogg. Who can forget when Snoop snapped onto the scene alongside Dre singing, “1-8-7 on an undercover coooop!”. Snoop amazingly is an unrepentant gang member, hard core, I mean, HARD CORE dope smoker, misogynist rapper, family man, entrepreneur, businessman, comedian, athlete, mentor, record company executive and evader of a murder conviction, the venerable Mr Calvin Broadhaus is perhaps the most sought after music collaborator in the hip hop scene of all-time. Even ten years ago, Snoop had reached the level of National Treasure. I can quite seriously say that the Smithsonian should consider placing him in the Institute while he’s still alive. Not only is his rap style one of the most unique, but he’s unmatched in his ability to freestyle. His songbook has the mojo to convulse scantily clad assess from Tehran east to Timbuktu. Gin and Juice is a classic that illustrates Snoop at the height of his powers. Perhaps the greatest testament to his legendary artistry is that even though he’s a confessed dope fiend, gang banger and rapper who has lyrically degraded women, condemned “snitches” and glorified virtually ever taboo subject imagineable, he was still afforded a White House visit.
Sample Lyrics:
-May, -I, kick-a-little-somethin’-for-the-G's, –and, make-a-few-ends-as-I-breeze,
through
-Two-in-the-mornin'-and-the-party's-still-jumpin'-'cause-my-momma-ain't-home,
-I got bitches in the living room gettin' it on,-and, they-ain't-leavin'-'til six-in-the-mornin'
So what you wanna do? Shit… I-got-a-pocket-Full-of-rubbers-and-my-homeboys-do-too!
So turn out the lights and close the door, but.. (but what?) We don’t love them hoe’s!....
…G’s up, Hoes down while you motherfuckers bounce to this…
Rollin down the street smokin’ Indo, sippin’ on gin and juice!
BONUS TRACK
2 Live Crew
Cut It Up
2 Live Crew is an excellent example of an old school classic Rap that uses very basic elements consisting of 2 MC's (Fresh Kid Ice and The Brother Marquis) a DJ (Mr. Mixx) a drum machine (the classic 808), samples (Soulsonic Force's Planet Rock) and a classic rap song structure based on praise for the groups abilities. 2 Live Crew is also an important footnote in rap due to their prosecution for *obscene lyrics on the single "Me So Horny". The case went to U.S. District Court, and the Eleventh Circuit for appeals whereupon 2 Live Crew emerged victorious. 2 Live Crew's victory in these two cases is seen as key in defining and establishing the rights of Rap artist to exercise free and protected speech. Henry Louis Gates even testified in the obscenity case in defense of 2 Live Crew. 2 Live Crew is also notable for having perhaps the best known and most popular Asian Rappers, Fresh Kid Ice (Chris Wong Won).
Sample Lyric:
I must give credit where credit is due
and at the same time make known to you
Because when you see is when you believe
that there is not another DJ with cuts like these
and I’m not making false accusations when I’m sayin’
he rocks the house every show he’s playin’
and with the addition of a rappin’ technician, someone quite like myself
enhancin’ all the cuts he makes and keep his mixes in perfect health...
*From Kimberly Crewnshaw’s, Beyond Racism and Misogyny:
Black Feminism and 2 Live Crew.
“Two positions dominated the debate about 2 Live Crew. Writing in Newsweek, political columnist George Will staked out a case against the Crew, arguing that Nasty As They Wanna Be, was misogynistic filth and characterizing their lyrics as a profoundly repugnant ‘combination of extreme infantilism and menace’ that objectified Black women and represented them as legitimate targets for sexual violence. The most prominent defense of 2 Live Crew was advanced by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.,… In a New York Times Op-Ed piece, and in testimony… Gates portrayed 2 Live Crew as brilliant artists who were inventively elaborating distinctively African-American forms of cultural expression… Gates argued, the characteristic exaggeration featured in their lyrics served a political end: to explode popular racist stereotypes about Black sexuality precisely by presenting those stereotypes in a comically extreme form.“
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