Hip Hop & Rap recommendations for Taters


There is a rather heated thread that is fairly universally bashing rap & hip hop here in the music section of the Audiogon forums.  This is a thread to search for the best that the genre has.  Please recommend artists, albums, and songs that you feel are the best that hip hop & rap have to offer.  What tracks would you recommend to someone who enjoys music, but is quite far outside of the usual listening audience for hip hop and rap?

Here is the thread that inspired this post:
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/when-rap-came-out-30-years-ago-i-thought-it-was-just-a-fad?la...

So, to start it off, I'll offer up a few of my favorites.  I'll surely come up with a few more, but for now, this is where I would start.  I hope you enjoy this challenge!

- Mark


Format:
Artist
Album
Track


A Tribe Called Quest
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
Bonita Applebum

Mos Def
Black On Both Sides
Hip Hop

Mos Def
Black On Both Sides
Ms. Fat Booty

Us 3
Hand On The Torch
It's Like That

Common
Like Water For Chocolate
The Light

Kanye West
The College Drop Out
All Falls Down

Digable Planets
Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)
Where I'm From

2 Pac
All Eyez On Me
Only God Can Judge Me


marktomaras
Boy oh boy Taters, you just don't get it.  I tried.  For some reason, you seem to prefer pointing out that other's preferences are poor rather than have any positive or meaningful discussion about music.  But, to each his own.

I found a t-shirt that you may like though!
Click This Link
Marktomaras,

I would love to have a meaningful discussion about music with you. It is probably one of my favorite topics. The problem is the music you bring up I have no respect for. Let me give you an example. I am a foodie and I love to talk about different restaurants and the food they serve. I am also (time permitting) willing too drive 2 hours to eat at a certain restaurant.

Just since I like food doesn't mean I would want to discuss certain restaurants with you or the food they servre. Meaning we could discuss steakhouses but I would not want to talk about Sizzler or Outback. We could have a discussion about Mexican food but I would not want to talk about Taco Bell or Jack in the Box.

I am sure there are millions of young people that would not want to discuss Cole Porter, Frank Sinatra, Louie Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Ella, etc, etc. (of course there are always exceptions to the rule)

If these young people don't like this kind of music I don't have a problem with them. Like I said in an earlier statement most people like the kind of music they grew up on. (And yes there are always exceptions to this). 

If you ever want to discuss, Classic Rock, Classical, Blues or Jazz I am all in.













Taters you evidently have some kind of problem. Has any Hip Hop artists come to your grand abode asking to be heard? Since they're millionaires, I rather doubt it.

If all of these people are so beneath you, why are you so curious about them? Most people go to "Google" to satisfy their curiosity; why do you clutter up the music forum with all your irrelevant threads about Hip Hop?
Taters,

Ok, I'l hand it to you, you are being a good sport.  I am doing my best to be nice and even keeled, but that t-shirt recommendation was a tiny bit on the harsh side (though I find that t-shirt hilarious!).

There is a problem with your food analogy though.  With your analogy, you suggest that as a food lover, you are happy to discuss the best a particular cuisine has to offer.  Ruth's Chris is a steakhouse worth discussing; Sizzler is not.  You mention something similar about Mexican food - the best it has to offer is a worthy topic of discussion.  This is precisely what I am suggesting the entire time.  But the fault in your analogy is, that it explains how you are interested in discussing quality within a particular genre.  In the music sphere, especially with the subject at hand, hip hop, you refuse to accept that there is any quality to speak of within the entire genre.

If I were to adjust your food analogy to match what your postings on music are, it would look like this:

Steak houses are worthy of discussion, as are Italian and French restaurants, but Mexican is not worth talking about.  All Mexican food is garbage, and I won't even discuss it.

The millions of young people who don't want to talk about Cole Porter don't matter.  The people who come to this site, we are fans of music of a different level.  We like to discuss and dive deep into music.  We shouldn't say all Mexican food is garbage, even if we can't understand how anyone could appreciate those spice combinations and those god awful refrained beans.  Someone does appreciate it, and that is good enough reason not to belittle their preferences and suggest that the music is not even worthy of a fine sound system!

The other posters are right.  It may be a good idea to stop all the irrelevant posts about hip hop.  The manner of which you ask the questions you ask seems to simply seek support for your own point of view, calling for many to just agree and offer up the same bashing and name calling, not exactly a high brow discussion.

You don't have to like hip hop, but I would hope you can at least see the problem in your logic.  It is better to treat hip hop like a cuisine that you don't care for, but don't forget that many people enjoy that food, and within it, there are top chefs and greasy spoon hacks who make junk.

Good Luck,
Mark