Suggest a Rap song
 

I got an idea for hopefully a good solid thread..

Everyone posts their favorite rap song, or just a rap/hip-hop beat in general they really enjoy.

Maybe we can help provide some people who are looking for some new beats a good song or two. I will start it off...

Beatnuts - Watch out now
Beatnuts - Se Acabo

I will post some more later, check those out they are very good..

Check out anything by Buck 65, 'Batchelor of Science' or 'Pants on Fire' in particular. I'm also quite partial to 'Soopa Feen' by Del tha Funkee Homosapien, absolutely hilarious song about a delusional crack addict who thinks he's a super hero.

I'm not really a fan of rap, though I love the Licensed to Ill album by the Beastie Boys.

If you want REAL rap, listen to Public Enemy.

Atmosphere - Save the Day
Mos Def & Talib Kweli - Definition
Gang Starr - Moment of Truth

NO! SLEEP! TILL BROOKLYN!

8pt Agenda by The Herbalizer feat. Latryx

Binary Star 'New Hip Hop'

I could list songs for days. But I wont :).

Blackalicious - Deception
Actually, even easier. Everything on Nia and Blazing Arrow (the two Blackalicious albums*)

Mos Def - Miss Fat Booty
Mos Def - Umi Says
Big L - Holdin It Down
Big L - Put It On feat. Kid Capri
J5 - What's Golden
J5 - Concrete Schoolyard
J5 - Quality Control
J5 - Unified Rebelution
ATCQ - Can I Kick It
ATCQ - Award Tour
De La Soul - Me, Myself and I
De La Soul - Buddy feat. ATCQ, Monie Love and Queen Latifah
Slum Village - Raise It Up
Roots Manuva - Dreamy Days
Roots Manuva - Witness The Fitness
Roots Manuva - Join The Dots feat. Chali 2na
Dj Format - We Know Something... feat. Akill and Chali 2na
Dead Prez - Hip Hop
Latyrx - Lady Don't Tek No
Blackalicious - Swan Lake
Gang Starr - Full Clip
Gang Starr - Ex Girl to the Next Girl
Gang Starr - Royalty
Gang Starr - Skillz
Black Twang - So Rotten feat. Jamahli
The Pharcyde - Drop
The Pharcyde - Oh Shit
MF Doom - Dead Bent
MF Doom - ? (Question)
Masta Ace - Take A Walk
Swollen Members - Take It Back
Swollen Members - Lady Venom
Swollen Members - Deep End
Swollen Members - Bless and Destroy
Company Flow - End to End Burners
El-P - Deep Space 9mm
Aesop Rock - Daylight
Aesop Rock - Boombox
Cannibal Ox - Iron Galaxy
Cannibal Ox - Ox Out The Cage
Cannibal Ox - A B-Boys Alpha
Dilated Peoples - Worst Comes To Worst
Dilated Peoples - Self Defence
Dilated Peoples - Heavy Rotation feat. Tha Liks
Dilated Peoples - Live On Stage
Dilated Peoples - Proper Propaganda
Jedi Mind Tricks - Contra
Jedi Mind Tricks - I Against I
The Roots - The Seeds
The Roots - The Next Movement
The Roots - What They Do

* - I know Blackalicious have another EP, only availible in Asia atm iirc. It's not a full album and tracks are hard to find on the net so I left it out.

ATCQ = A Tribe Called Quest
J5 = Jurassic 5

To be honest, you should buy all the albums the above songs come off.
I left out loads of songs because I'd be here all night, but we'll call this part 1. ;)
Oh and if you haven't heard of most of the above artists then shame on you. :p


[edit] Actually Blackalicious have 2 Eps. I totally forgot about A2G Ep, which has some gems on it. Another fantastic song is Alphabet Aerobics, listen to it and you'll know what I mean. Mind blowing. Gift Of Gab I bow before your lyrical skills. If you get a chance to see Blackalicious live dont miss them. Best concert I've ever been to. [/Edit]

NWA - express yo'self

Eiresol, you have awesome taste!!!

The best almost never heard rap song is What's Up Fat Lip? by Fat Lip (formerly of the Pharcyde) Please let me know if you find any legitimate way to buy this song. I've only found it online, but I would love to support Fat Lip.

Sage Francis - Makeshift Patriot

It's the only intelligent rap/hip-hop I've ever heard. The rest is just worn out commentary about who can kick who's ass and who has more money. It's not talent, it's trash.

Ditto,
BTW IM impressed by your choice cuts Eiresol, much respect due.

Alot of rap these days is some homey talkin about one or all of the following:

1. How much money he has.
2. Fucking ability, frequency or technique.
3. Drugs & guns.
4. "Life on the streets"
5. How he is the greatset rapper EVAR.
6. Pimping, playing, hustling.

Its booring & unimaginative (sp?) I loose respect when an "artist" settles for this subject matter. There are of course exceptions.

If youre so inclined I highly recommend going old school, back when innovators were doing something creative rather than following a formula, IMO its the golden age of hip hop & you can learn alot about how the music evolved by picking up a few of these gems:

Stetsasonic: Talkin' All That Jazz (A song about sampling)
De La Soul, 3 feet high & Rising (album)
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, The message (A classic)
Sugarhill Gang, Rappers Delight
M.A.R.R.S. - Pump up the volume. (hip hop/dance tune)
Incredible Bongo Band, Apache (gives me goosebumps)

Also keep an eye out for:
Beastie Boys early stuff, but not too early, they were a punk band to start with.
Mantronix
Run DMC (minus Jason Nevins) RIP Jam Master Jay.
Kurtis Blow
Doug E Fresh
Public Enemy
Rahzel (beatbox king)

Im big into Turntablism but Its an acuired taste & sometimes is too technical to appeal to someone who doesnt scratch so, If youre interested here are a few:

Camel Bobsled Race, Qbert & Dj Shadow. (24 minute session)
MixMaster Mike
A Trak
Invisibl Skratch Piklz
THe Beat Junkies
Rob Swift
Dj Babu
Kid Koala
The X-Ecutioners (The X-Men)
Dj Noise


Newer school Hip-Hop:

DJ Shadow: Words cannot describe how good this guy is, If you want a taste check out. Stem/Long Stem, Organ Donor, The Number Song, Six Days and anything live.
Beatnauts (J-Lo should fuck off)
Jurassic 5
Saul Williams - Originally a poet, his lyrics are inspiring & command attention, very unique style.
Latyrx, Check out Lady don tek no.
Quannum: Lyrics Born, Chief Xcel, Gift Of GAb, Lateef the Truth Speaker & Shadow (see above) The Breezeblock mix is mindblowing.

Thats all I got for now.

magpie, spektr, eiresol. great choices. i would make a list myself but you guys have pretty much covered anything that i think is worth listing.

Anthing by Dan the automator is worth a listen, or vanilla ice for that matter!

Large Professor- The Mad Scientist
Jeru Da Damaja - Playin' yaself
Fu-shnickens - La Schmoove (I went to the wayback bachine for that one)
Common & the Roots - HipHop(Love of my Life)

More to come in the future..

Not enough talk about Tribe Called Quest on this thread.

The entire Low End Theory album is great, but if I had to pick one cut, it would probably be "Jazz"

And KWSN is right. P.E. is the shizznit.

Aesop Rock - How to be a Carpenter
Immortal Technique - Dance with the Devil
J-Live - Them That's Not
J-Live - The Best Part
J-Live - Like This Anna
J-Live - The 4th 3rd
RJD2 ft Copywrite - June
Sage Francis - Rewrite
Sage Francis - Runaways
Sage Francis - Inherited Scars

the humpty dance

-run-

Anything by Souls of Mischief is good.

My personal favorites are "93' Til Infinity" and "Cab Fare" though.

Hell YES! I've been a huge PE fan since about '88 when I frist "discovered" them. I've even stayed a fan through some of the lesser known albums and such. Chuck D is just a fantastic lyricist.

Also, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince.

Generally all of the "classic" artists are consider classics for a reason.

LL Cool J
Run DMC
Eric B & Rakim
KRS One
Too Short
I can go on & on.

But one of my absolute favorites from back in the day is:

MC Breed - Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin'


I guess goosebumps whenever I hear it still!

I'm so glad that the likes of Nelly, DMX and Ja Rule didnt come up in this thread.

Magpie is right, Dj Shadow is amazing. I left him out though because his music is more instrumetal / turntable orientated and may not be to everyones liking.
Organ Donar (Extended Overhaul) is probably in my top 5 favourite songs of all time.

A couple of other ones I thought of

Cage - Agent Orange
Dr. Octagon - Blue Flowers
Smut Peddlars - Bottom Feeders
Souls of Mischief - 93 til Infinity (like Sketchy said)
Blackalicious and J5 - Concentration
Lyrics Born and Poets of Rhythm - I Changed My Mind

For a little bit more mainstream, Biggie's Ready to Die album is pretty good too.

Poets of Rhythm are worth checking out if you like Jazz orientated music.
Also RJD2 and Dj Vadim, Herbaliser.
Fuck it, buy everything you can from Ninja Tune.
See Xen Cuts for a good guide to Ninja Tune artists.
Now go out and buy some music and support some real musicians. :)

Actually for turntabalism you must and I stress must check out Dj Shadow and Cut Chemist - Brainfreeze.
HOLY SHIT

And then try and figure out all the songs they used.

Couldn't agree more to see his full talent d/l "If Your Mother Only Knew". On that track he sings and beatbox's AT THE SAME TIME. He even did it live. I think it's true.

the click - out my body

Yes yes yes, check out DJ Z-Trip too.

i'm not really a fan of rap, but i like bone crusher's song "never scared." i don't think it's really all that good, but i saw them perform it live on carson daly's late night show (so horrible...) and the performance was pretty funny.

pretty much anything by:
Too Short
NWA
Easy E
Dre
Wyclef Jean
Eminem
Black Eyes Peas
Ice-T
Boogie Down Productions
Slick Rick
Run DMC

blackalicious - alphabet aerobics

This song is lyrically incredible.

Also, check out RZA - Mantis Style.
RZA has such great flow.

Speaking of the Rza... I recently picked up "Rza Hits". Not a dud in the bunch!

Anything at all by DMX........if all you've heard is his commercial stuff, then youve really missed out. Nas is a genius, almost anything by him is good too. And I think that Mos Def is probably the most lyrically gifted artist out there. I don't go for that mindless "booty shaking" shit either. So this is really the only rap I like that much anymore. But sometimes I like to turn my brain off and rock some Ludacris or Nelly.

"Get by" by Talib Kwali has been on repeat a lot on my system...i saw it on BET, but can't seem to find a mp3 of it with out the "PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY" voice over halfway through the song. I'm waiting for Itunes to save me...

Other favs:
Passion by Blackalicious
Cryptic Souls Crew by Len
Dirty South by Outkast
and for fun...Gin and Juice covered by The Gourds

Mobb Deep - Shook Ones, Hell On Earth and Still Shinin'

Anything by the Wu Tang Clan (solo and group efforts)

Eric B & Rakim - Paid in Full (album)

Also agree with most tunes already listed above.

chavos:

Quality is a great CD, go out and buy it, you cheapskate.

Lot's of good stuff here. I'd have to add a few suggestions:

Soul Position EP - Great little disc from RJD2 and Blueprint

Illogic - This guy is a great MC, but he hasn't had the best production on his CDs. He's one of the best at legitimizing comparisons between the blues and hiphop. Check out the following

Stop Lyin
Hate In A Puddle
guest on Aesop Rock's One Brick

I should also mention Quasimoto as great if you can handle the mixture of sounds My girlfriend hates it because it gives her a headache after 30 seconds

Anything by Jurassic 5(they were AWESOME at Lollapallooza) and if DJ Shadow is in this category go buy every one of his CDs especially the first and the last he has incredible talent.

If you dig turntabilst action you must check out Morse Code out of Arizona. 3dj's and two emcee's, they keep it live. Check them out www.turntableband.com

I dig that Soul Position tune "Unlimited" as well as the Maroons single "Lester Hayes" (Lateef & Chief Xcel) .....and I'll plug my group as well...www.ostrichhead.com Check our site out and listen to some tunes, it's all free.

great to see other hip hop heads. this is my first day on here, usually other boards if you try to talk about hip hop everyone flames you. it really sucks...

right now i'm listening to deadringer by rjd2...

cut chemist - cuttin' class is an INCREDIBLE mix by the white dj of jurassic 5. you can only order it from www.hiphopsite.com, it's worth the 10 bucks.

i listen to all hip hop, mainstream and underground. i enjoy most of it. some of it does really suck, obviously, but there's so many artists out there dying for exposure who actually make good music.

the soul position EP is dope. other great underground stuff includes Little Brother (and their amazing producer 9th wonder), Murs, Copywrite, 7L & Esoteric, Masta Ace,...

my favorite MC right now is jay-z. i don't care if he's mainstream. he can flow, has great producers at his fingertips and really dominates live shows.

Anything by J5, they are truly awesome. Not only do they sound good, their music is about freedom and important stuff, not money, and how they are the best.

C-Bo - Bald head nut
Dre Dog - Killa Whale
Dre Dog - Muthafucka
Dre Dog - Smoke Dope And Rap
Brotha Lynch Hung - Liquor Sicc
Brotha Lynch Hung - Locc 2 Da Brain
Brotha Lynch Hung - Season Of Da Siccness
and
ANYTHING from Cougnut(R.I.P)/I.M.P