Classics / Canon edition of the DiS Hip-Hop Listening Club

The original thread (The Official DiS Hip-Hop Listening Club) has been going steady and strong for a while now but we thought it would be fun to do a round (maybe more) where we make picks leaning more towards the canon and classic end of the spectrum. We want to shy away from the all time top 10 obvious type of picks like Illmatic, 36 Chambers, The Chronic, etc and more towards the next wave, or even maybe undervalued picks from big artists. One of the main reasons we wanted to do this was to bring in some other forum voices to contribute who may have been less interested in the ‘deeper cut’ picks in the original thread. Hopefully some users find this thread useful for some discovery if they are just getting into hiphop and the others enjoy re-listening and discussing with new ears.

Here is how it goes:

  • One album/mixtape per week submitted by one user (every Wednesday)

  • To sign up simply DM me and let me know you want in and we’ll go in the order the requests come in at. The OG thread users dont need to do this as you’ve been grandfathered in already, we’ll go in the same order as we did but if someone new pops in then they will be put at the front of the line.

  • In order to be eligible to recommend an album, you have to participate in here a bit. So if someone DMs me that they want in but then they never post itt then I’ll just skip them in the queue and jump to the next active poster who wanted to do it. (dont take that too seriously, you dont have to post a ton but some engagement is necessary)

  • I’ll try and let the next person up know at least a couple days in advance. If you can’t do it on your week or if you want out then lemme know and I’ll rearrange

  • The only restrictions on the release you choose is it needs to be from the U.S. (sorry UK hip hop fans) and needs to have rapping on it, no instrumental albums

  • When it’s your turn, I can post the album for you if preferred. If you want to post it then just put the album art (I usually try and find an image that’s about 500x500 px) in your post as well as putting the artist and album tile in the header font which is done like such: hashtag hashtag space artist - album space hashtag hashtag

  • The more discussion the better, so outsiders/lurkers who may not want to participate in choosing an album should feel free to jump in as you wish

  • Don’t feel bad if you ‘get behind’. Feel free to come and go as needed and feel free to post about an album even weeks later

  • Be ready to defend your opinions and don’t be easily offended

Albums will be added to this playlist:

6 Likes

The Pharcyde – Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde

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This first pick was chosen by @incandenza

10 Likes

Didn’t even know they put out a 25th anniversary edition last year.

one of the first rap cd’s I ever bought, discovered them via their feature on a korn album embarrassingly* enough

*not actually embarrassed, I still like (some) korn

1 Like

what how have i missed this!? (update: i know how i missed this)

This is relevant to my interests.

Been years since i listened to this album: looking forward to revisiting.

2 Likes

think their cover of wicked may have been my introduction to ice cube too…

Love this album, love the artwork (one of my favourite rap album covers), still know all the words to ‘Ya Mama’, went to see them on the 20th anniversary tour of Bizarre Ride and got a high five from one of them* during the Soul Flower remix

*memory faded by alcohol and mary rather than inability to name individual members

very strong first pick, high hopes for the thread, will dig this out for a spin in the next few days

1 Like

I can’t pinpoint exactly when I heard it, but I know one thing for sure… It wasn’t before hearing Joe’s 2000 R&B smash Stutter (the remix featuring Mr. Shake Ya Ass himself Mystikal) which fairly heavily samples Passin’ Me By.

So for sure, Passin’ Me By was my way into this album and when I heard it it blew my young mind that an underground rap crew could be sampled for a massive pop hit (obviously Passin’ in turn samples Summer in the City, but that’s another story)

Have already given Bizarre Ride another spin. Gonna digest it a bit more and maybe let some others weigh in on it first, but I defs got a few onions on it.

3 Likes

Ah fucking belter. Definitely IN for this iteration

3 Likes

It’s a timeless classic of course. You mainly remember the fun of it, but listening to it again it’s striking how tight and funky it is musically. So many highlights - Ya Mama obviously, I’m That Type of Nigga, Passing Me By, Pack The Pipe. I could live without the skits, but they annoy me on almost every 90s hip hop album.

It came out at interesting time - here was not a lot of fun in hip hop in the early 90s. The scene was dominated by gangstas (and people trying to be gangsta) and by rather po-faced ‘conscious’ rap. Both scenes looked down on anyone seen to be ‘rapping for the pop charts’. The Pharcyde confronted this head on in ‘Jigabboo Time’ but they were also unashamedly fun and had mainstream pop hits. The album was just so damn good that no-one could really look down on it.

An interesting comparison is Das EFX’s Dead Serious, which came out in the same year and is similarly both brilliant and fun. To my mind Dead Serious and Bizarre Ride both stand up much better than 1992’s ‘big’ rap album The Chronic. Not sure if that will be a majority opinion though…

1 Like

I wanna get involved in this chat but mainly because I’d like to be educated more about the hip-hop. So probably won’t make a suggestion to start with. I’ll download Pharcyde and share my novice thoughts at some point.

1 Like

great description, will be thinking of this when listening

2 Likes

i dig this opinion. feel like das efx have largely been forgotten about, shame really. rarely see their names come up in best rap group discussions any more. i can hear the comparisons between dead serious and bizarre ride, the loose funk sound.

this dichotomy has just never gone away and probably never will

On holiday at the moment but downloaded this for the drive home tomorrow. Been a while since I’ve given it a spin.

Yes. A very good album. Just revisited as I saw they were playing in Brixton and couldn’t decide whether I wanted to go and see them or not.

I dug their delivery at the time but I think, long term, it hurt them. I was fielding interest amongst some mates and I think they’re regarded by a lot of people as a bit of a novelty act.

yup the miggity digity blippity flow hurt them for sure, and they became a little self serious (dead serious?).

IMO Straight Up Sewaside is also a classic. They were clearly trying to go a bit more rugged and serious on it but the delivery is still on point

And the Pete Rock remix of Jussumen is one of the best rap songs of all time

j-swift coulda gone down as one of the best ever producers but his life just went straight-up sideways.

really loving re-listening to this atm. every song sounds fresh to me. i’m a weirdo and prefer labcab a bit but i may need to re-think that stance over the coming days. gonna do a deep dive and get to the bottom of it.

3 Likes

the sound/beat on this song (once the organs come in) is like the blueprint to the sound on the first couple-few records by the roots.