#361

Kinda with you here. I did enjoy Extinction Level Event once I finally checked it out for Busta.

#362

OK - will check Adrenaline Rush!

This thread is giving me a serious backlog of albums to listen to. I haven’t really been listening to anything but hip hop since the Witchdoctor album in the first post in September.

Not that that’s a bad thing.

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#363

Good stuff, glad you’re enjoying it.

re Busta, there’s nothing wrong w being the greatest one-verse guest verse emcee of all time. He and Inspectah Deck can share the crown. No real classic albums to their name alone but the body of work is up there.

#364

Wednesday tomorrow!

odb-o

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#365

Early one from me today as I’m on West Coast time.

image

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#366

This is it for me. This is the one, the perfect marriage between beats and flow with syllables, drums, and melodies dancing around intricately. Kweli raps about the struggle, about hope, about love, heritage, and family. DJ Hi-Tek traverses the full range with his production from hard-hitting battle rap beats, jazz, afrobeat, through to the delicious melancholy on Good Mourning.

Feels like this gets slept on vs. Black Star and then the Kanye West connection seems to fuel attention for Quality. But this is my all-time hip-hop number one and this is your opportunity to tell me how bad my taste is :wink:

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#367

not listened to it for a while so will be nice to revisit it. I always preferred it to black star too

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#368

I’ve never really clicked properly with Black Star. Which is weird because I really like Mos Def and adore Kweli.

#369

always found black star a bit, idk, too serious maybe. like, it’s objectively good but it’s not much fun, would much rather listen to ‘know that’ than anything off that album.

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#370

Know That is the best Mos/Kweli duo joint by a country mile. Love the bit where they’re bouncing lines off one another.

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#371

RE: Mobstability, I’ve enjoyed it on my couple of listens through so far. Going to give it a couple more then cherry pick the best tracks. Was really surprised by the strength of the production. As mentioned, it can be a bit exhausting listening to a whole Twista album, so it’s nice to have a bit of variety, though I can’t say the other dudes have particularly grabbed me. Got to be about on par with Adrenaline Rush and will probably be the record I reach for if I want some Twista for a while.

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#372

Looking forward to this week’s - always heard about it but never actually played it through.

hate to also bring it back to Black Star but reminded me of this which is imo one of the most beautiful hip-hop songs

#373

It’s good, aye. Some of the better Black Star production and Kweli has such a distinctive style which almost always works for me.

#374

Just gonna throw some scattered thoughts out here per usual.

I have a weird relationship w Kweli’s music. There was a time when I thought he was a major star and had the goods but I’ve also had times where I couldn’t even stomach a single verse from him. His delivery can be off-putting, and he tends get a little self important. Think it worked pretty well in his early years but I’ve had a harder time connecting w him post The Beautiful Struggle era.

Haven’t listened to this in ten+ years, was surprised by how much I remember from it. I think I’m leaning towards some of the stuff I didn’t remember ie Touch You into Good Morning is a really nice one two punch. Name of the Game is good, didnt recall that one.

Blast is probably still the best one on here. Hi-Tek by way of Dilla really works on that one. Very beautiful track. Same w Too Late & Sweet Memories. The De La track is good.

Hadn’t made this connection before but the first thing that came to mind when Some Kind of Wonderful came on was The Watcher: https://youtu.be/a5HvHzV5JtI Makes me think a good Hi Tek comp is a solid mix of Dre and Dilla.

The Kool G Rap track as well as the Mos Def tracks should be better than they are.

I have pretty strong feelings about the Black Star album. Thing is really overrated in certain circles. Has like three classic songs then the rest is just mediocre. Prefer any of Kwelis first three albums to it and obv all of mos defs solo work.

I really like all three of Hi-Teks Hi-Teknology installments. He has all kinda weird combinations of rappers and it mostly all works. Handling My Bizness (clean edit) is one of my kids favorites.

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#375

never heard this mix!

#376

love it so, so much. I found it randomly on a 12" of Pete Rock remixes which is generally A+ in quality. also features a remix of Hip-Hop Hooray which is even better than the original

#377

heres’ a little Dilla and Hi Tek connection: https://youtu.be/nHt-sfY1I94

#378

for anyone interested. pete rock has no right to be taking already classic rap songs and remixing them into monsters

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#379

Agree generally on the post-TBS comment, although I really. like Gutter Rainbows.

Had never made that connection on Some Kind of Wonderful, but you’re spot on with that bassline. Not sure I’m going to be able to unhear it now. Thanks… :wink: Love the “on the way out I smacked 'em in the face with a metahpor” line in that one.

He addressed this pretty directly on Prisoner of Consciousness (which is a pretty bad album IMO) where it seemed he felt somewhat like he was constrained by the ‘conscious rap’ label. Which is kinda weird, given that he’s opted into that lyrically and with his subject matter.

Just looked on that Spotify and it looks like he released an album in November. Will give it a spin at some point I guess but don’t feel that excited by new material from him generally these days. Which is a shame given how much I love those early albums.

#380

Legit Ballers just came on shuffle and Liffy Stokes first verse on it is A+ material

A ni*a been hustlin’ so long, God knows I’ve done so much wrong
I was 16 grown and holdin’ chrome, servin’ blows, weed in’ zones
My mom didn’t understand me “Boy, you gon’ die just like your daddy
from two to the head, dumped in the riverbed
I didn’t to hurt you so badly,” I was young and dumb
Fast life sprung of the money and hoes that it brung
Had a clip full of hollows to bring your momma sorrow
But now regret what I’ve done

1 Like