So im not a huge hip hop listener but I like quite a bit of the late 80s/90s stuff. But as Kendrick and Kanye aside I have listened to very little modern hip hop.
Is Danny Brown worth checking out? I liked a track I heard by The Roots love that live instrumentation thing.
Please share your recommendations
A very brief list of stuff off the top of my head to tide you over till Shippers and the rest of the gang get here:
Little Brother - The Listening
Noname - Telefone
Isaiah Rashad - The Sun’s Tirade
Vince Staples - Summertime 06
Elzhi - The Preface
Blu & Exile - Below the Heavens
Killer Mike - Rap Music
A playlist of the best Black Hippy stuff (Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab Soul, Kendrick)
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
Mos Def - The Ecstatic
Madvillainy
El-P - I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead
Earl Sweatshirt - Doris
A playlist of the best Black Milk stuff (if you like The Roots style live instrumentation give Album of the Year a go by him)
Pusha T - My Name is My Name
Tree - Sunday School II
Chester Watson - Past Cloaks
I don’t like shit I don’t go outside > Doris for me, probably my favourite hip hop record ever actually.
That is an enormous shout, I like it well enough but I want my Earl Sweatshirt output to be more about the flow and the internal rhymes etc, prefer him when he’s rapping for rapping’s sake.
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc9emob510I
Viktor Vaughn - Vaudeville Villain (or any MF DOOM/ DOOM) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFdxjsBMmUQ
Spank Rock - Yoyoyoyoyo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdyFsRr2dSI
El-P - Fantastic Damage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZY-IzTaTkE
Action Bronson - Blue Chips (it’s probably still free) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw7PSM4R-bQ
Killer Mike - RAP Music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lIqNjC1RKU
Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibit - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVyGxlgeAjc
Run The Jewels (although I can only fully recommend the first one… - El-P and Killer Milke - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66iV3wuWWuc
I’m far from an expert but I like what I like…
Rich Gang: Tha Tour Pt. 1- probably one of my favourite mixtapes ever, just so many great moments on there.
Probably a playlist of the best Young Thug stuff, his discog is quite unweildy at this stage.
Gucci Mane is probably essential at this stage, but idk where you would start. The Woptober one was pretty great from last year
Hard to answer this!
17 years of a whole genre that has numerous different avenues/sounds/regions to explore.
Can you give us more than Kendrick, Kanye and some Roots? What sounds appeal to you about those? or do you just want another list of good albums?
Thats the problem the list I have is pretty bare in the past few years. Which is part of the reason why I decided to make this a wider thread about what people consider to be the best, or most important albums of the last 17 years.
But anyway in answer to your question:
Hip Hop artists I really like and are among my favorite of any genre:
Public Enemy
The Beastie Boys
M.I.A (Only her early stuff though could give or take her last few albums)
A Tribe Called Quest
Other Hip Hop Artists I like:
Kool Keith
K’naan (Okay maybe not musically the most interesting but I love the internationalist perspective. Fan of his first album and the following live one)
Wu-Tang-Clan
Prefuse 73
badbadnotgood
De La Soul
Noname
Death Grips
Some slightly cringey political uk hip-hop
Artists Ive listened to a fair bit but never really clicked:
Madvillain - Found it boring
Run The Jewels - The lyrics put me off
I think I like either relaxing music with interesting, conscious or story related lyrics. Or energetic empowering danceable stuff. I also like stuff that is a bit idiosyncratic.
Most of what I’d recommend too is covered off, bar Aesop Rock. Skelethon and The Impossible Kid are both great LPs.