What does it say about your band when a lounge parody medley of your songs is better than your original songs? I don’t care that the music was created by a keyboard, I will take Richard Cheese’s “Nookie / Break Stuff” over the originals every day; the music is better and it shows that Durst’s …
Tag: Hip Hop
Ill Communication (1994) by Beastie Boys
The Beastie Boys confuse the hell out of me on this record, but that’s probably by design and likely what endears so many people to them. I have only heard a few of their other albums but this is the most traditionally “musical” of those, so it’s the one you’d think I’d like the most.
Fat Boys (1984)
I understand that I have no idea what I’m talking about, because I don’t know hip hop, especially early ’80s hip hop. And I know these guys are supposed to be a bit of a joke. But I feel like I’m listening to a different record than a lot of other people, especially the critics …
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994) by OutKast
Everything I know about scenes is confined to rock music, and most of the detailed stuff I know about rock scenes is confined to the psychedelic rock scenes of the 1960s. That’s probably the only period where I could hear music I don’t know and give a good guess as to where it was made. …
Illmatic (1994) by Nas
I am not a fan of hip hop and I pay no attention to hip hop or hip hop oriented media. One advantage of that, when I actually listen to hip hop, is that I have no expectations. I don’t know what albums are considered good or not good, beyond seeing some ratings or reviews, …
Run-D.M.C. (1984)
I know nothing about the history of hip hop but I particularly know nothing about the early history of hip hop, from when it emerged (early 1970s???) to when it began to be a commercial force. But everything I read paints this as a seminal moment in hip hop, the beginning of the “new school” …
The Slim Shady LP (1999) by Eminem
At this point, having listened to a number of big hip hop records over the last few years, I have two types of reactions to hip hop albums: The first is I admire the production (and/or the musical diversity) and can spend my time focusing on that. The second is, I can’t do that, because …
Plantation Lullabies (1993) by Me’Shell NdegéOcello
It’s hard not be impressed by the ambition of this debut; NdegéOcello seems to want to do everything within the R&B spectrum and, at times, it feels like she might succeed. She’s like a female Terence Trend D’Arby with more of a jazz and hip hop influence and a better sense of rhythm but with …
Aquemini (1998) by OutKast
When I was in first year university Stankonia was everywhere. I would walk down the hall and hear it. It was blaring so loud in my neighbour’s room that first semester I couldn’t escape it. Worse, it wasn’t really Stankonia, it was just the hits: “So Fresh, So Clean,” “Ms. Jackson” and “B.O.B.” just playing …
Whitey Ford Sings the Blues (1998) by Everlast
As you might imagine, I heard “What It’s Like” a ton in High School, pretty much completely unaware that this guy was in House of Pain until someone told me. But having not heard that song since it was in heavy rotation, I had no idea what I was getting into.
Return of the Boom Bap (1993) by KRS-One
It’s shocking, but the more I listen to hip hop the more I know what I like and don’t. (Imagine that.) And from the first time I heard this, I knew I liked it (well, the music) more than I liked most other hip hop I’ve heard to date.Something about the production here sounds more …
Psyence Fiction (1998) by UNKLE
I know next to nothing about ’90s electronica or the individual scenes at the time. So it is a shock to me at how this weird, all star album exists. Because this is some kind of line-up of guest vocalists for a group that, as far as I can figure out, had released a single …
Straight Outta Compton (1988) by N.W.A
Though I do not generally enjoy listening to Hip Hop, and still lack a frame of reference for most of it, if not all of it, I vowed to myself a few months ago that I would listen to more of it, at least to give myself some frame of reference – both for my …
Hello Nasty (1998) by Beastie Boys
If there is one hip hop album I’ve heard more than any other, it’s this one. Now, I’m not sure I’ve ever actually heard it all the way through, but my brother owned this one, I know a lot of it. Sure, I know the hits – a few of these were played on Much …
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988) by Public Enemy
Though I have no one coming on the podcast to help me with this record, I made a promise to listeners and myself that I would try not to ignore major hip hop releases, even if I feel like an imposter when I try to talk about music I have no context for. So, here …
Duck Rock (1983) by Malcolm McLaren
For much of 2017, there was an ongoing public conversation about “cultural appropriation.” It’s a concept and charge that I have a complicated relationship with because, on the one hand, I believe everyone should be freely able to access and to make use of any cultural artifacts but, on the other, I recognize that there …
Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival featuring Refugee Allstars (1997)
I have literally no idea what to do with this.
Glee (1997) by Bran Van 3000
I love genre-bending. A number of my most favourite bands are bands that can play a wide variety of genres well, and make these genres sound like their own – or, alternatively, convince you they are an entirely different band. So I should like this. I should like this even though it is based in …
AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted (1990) by Ice Cube
What the hell do I do with this? Well, here goes…
Fear of a Black Planet (1990) by Public Enemy
This is the first Hip Hop album I have ever given my requisite 3 listens to. I am 33 years old. There have been a number of R&B (or “urban”) albums containing raps and Hip Hop that I have listened to, and I listened to an EP recently that might have sort of qualified, but …
…Featuring Norah Jones (2010)
This is a compilation of some – though apparently far from all – of Norah Jones’ guest appearances after she became a star. (Though some feel more like duets.) I guess it’s a way for people to see what else she’s doing? I don’t know. Because the thing about this is that there’s a lot …
DJ Similac Presents Cut the World (2014) by JT Cuts
So I was walking home from work some time last week and this guy came up to me and tried to push his record on me. He asked me if I liked “dance” music. I told him no. He mentioned other genres I didn’t like. I kept insisting I didn’t listen to that stuff. I …
WIMF: the Wolfe Island Music Festival 2011
My friend recently noted that the acronym is confusing, making one think of the IMF, so I decided to spell it out. Just putting that out there. This was the 13th edition of the festival but my first. I must say I was unfamiliar with most of the bands, though I knew many of them …