Now I know that I love soul music, but hip-hop is also a part of my life as well. With me being from New York, hip-hop is a big part of my city. Artists like Run DMC, the late Notorious B.I.G, Jay-Z, and Nas, just to name a few are from New York. As a result, hip-hop has a small part in my life. With me being born in 1986, hip-hop was starting to become mainstream with RUN DMC being played on MTV, which was a station that only played rock and pop videos. But with their song 'Walk This Way' with Aerosmith made mainstream America play attention to hip-hop. During this time until the late 90s, hip-hop was more of social media, artists talked about issues in our inner cities but now it has changed drastically. During my younger years, that's what made me fall in love with hip-hop because artists were making a statement with their music not with just personality and hot club song. Now artists are so determined to talk about girls, cars, and money not about social issues about our inner cities and communities. That's why I respected one of my favorite rappers Nas' album "Hip-Hop is Dead" because as far as hip-hop community making a statement it has died. That's why I am so glad that we can go back and listen to classics, so we can know what REAL HIP HOP is. In this blog entry, I want to take you back into the 4 albums that made me fall in love with hip-hop.
As I stated hip-hop was on the verge of becoming mainstream in 1986, the year I was born. Now even though, soul music was a big part of my house because of my mother, but my father was a big hip-hop head. The first time I can recall hip-hop was when I was two years old and my father used to play Slick Rick's "The Great Adventures of Slick Rick" around the house a lot and the songs I can remember from that album is 'Hey Young World' and the classic 'Children's Story' at two years ago these songs caught my attention. I was two years old in my carseat going off with my mother and father to Slick Rick.
Rock with me for a minute:
In due respect, I have to give Slick Rick respect for making me take notice of hip-hop at two years old. By 1993, my family had migrated to South Carolina, where music became a big part of my life. As I stated, my father was a huge hip-hop fan and one day my father brought home "Doggystyle" by Snoop Doggy Dogg. At first, my mother and I looked at my father in confusion because we didn't really know who he was. But when he played it, I fell in love with it because all of the cuss words. To this day, I told my mother "Doggystyle" taught me how to cuss. Every time family would come over that album had to be played. I used to love when my father would blast this album because I could cuss without my parents hearing it. Besides the cussing, Snoop's rap flow was flawless on this. You can tell with this album Snoop had something to say and he was going to let the world hear no matter how vulgar it was. Then with the love of soul music, the production from Dr. Dre he used a lot of Curtis Mayfield and George Clinton which was also caught my attention. So in all thanks Snoop for teaching me how to cuss. (LOL)
Vibe with music:
What's My Name
Doggy Dogg World
For All My Niggaz & Bitches
My Favorite Song on the Album
Ain't No Fun (If The Homies Can't Have None)
Now being from Brooklyn, my family definitely sided with the EAST when it came to the EAST vs WEST situation. In late 1994, I was riding home from school and I heard Brooklyn rapper made a song entitled 'Juicy'. When I heard this song, it made me feel something different. This rapper was telling his story about his struggle in Brooklyn and how he made it from negative to positive. So, I got home and told my family about it and my parents already knew this rapper. They told me his name was The Notorious B.I.G., I was surprised they knew with them being so "old" (just a joke mom). My dad said "Yeah we are going to get his album because he's from Brooklyn" (so biased). Now, with me being a Mary J. Blige fan, I didn't think this was the same guy that was on the 'Real Love' (Remix). But I didn't realize that later on. In Nov 94, my father brought "Ready To Die" home after that, The Notorious B.I.G became my favorite rapper of all time and still is. Biggie told stories about his struggles/outcomes and made you want to listen. This album in my opinion is the BEST HIP-HOP album of all time. Songs like Juicy, Everyday Struggle, Unbelievable, and Suicidal Thoughts are story-telling classics. This album is the main reason why I am so in love with hip-hop and every hip-hop album I listen to I try to compare it to "Ready To Die" and nothing can compare to this album, to me nobody has the story-telling gene like Biggie did and his flow is the best. (So what if I am being biased). Mine you this was hard for me to listen to anything else because "My Life" by Mary J. Blige came out around the same time so this album had to be epic for me to listen to because "My Life" was the only album was bumping to.
Listen to Biggie story-telling
Brooklyn hip-hop anthem
Juicy
Biggie rode this beat flawless
Warning
Unbelievable
One of his best story-telling songs
Suicidal Thoughts
My Favorite song on the album
Everyday Struggle
Now this next artist I really didn't get into his classic album until middle school. But it also came out in 1994. Nas' "Illmatic" after I heard this album I knew that hip-hop will always be a part of my life. In this "Illmatic" album Nas was talking about how you can make yourself better and schooling you on knowledge. I heard this album at school doing basketball practice and I literally stop playing basketball to listen to this him. With "Illmatic" he made want something better for myself. He was teaching me things that my school didn't teach me about my culture, it actually made want to learn more about my culture. Songs like 'NY State of Mind', 'Life's A Bitch', and 'The World Is Yours' changed my outlook on life. When an album can do that, you know that it's a masterpiece.
Learn something from Nas:
Life's A Bitch
My Favorite song on the album
NY State of Mind
Life Changing Song
The World Is Yours
It Ain't That Hard To Tell
As you can see I fell in love with hip-hop because of 4 rappers: Slick Rick, Snoop Doggy Dogg, The Notorious BIG, and Nas. These dudes caught my ear at a young age because all of them had a statement to express and they did through poetry.
Now I am about to do my top 10 hip-hop albums of all time:
1. Ready to Die - The Notorious B.I.G
2. Illmatic - Nas
3. Reasonable Doubt - Jay-Z
4. The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest
5. The Score - The Fugees
6. Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers) - Wu-Tang
7. Life After Death - The Notorious B.I.G
8. Doggystle - Snoop Doggy Dogg
9. The Blueprint- Jay-Z
10. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill- Lauryn Hill
WHEN DID YOU FELL IN LOVE WITH HIP-HOP?
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HIP-HOP ALBUM & WHY?
