Full disclosure, as usual: I know little about hip hop. But, that being said, the more I learn about hip hop the more I get at least some idea of what matters and what doesn’t. And I feel like I might be able to say that this has to be one of the most consequential …
Tag: Rap Rock
Hybrid Theory (2000) by Linkin Park
My roommate was so excited when Meteora came out and I was just like “What are you talking about? You like Linkin Park? What are you, 12?” Or something like that. And I moved on and probably didn’t think about them much again until their singer died. Maybe it’s because I just endured a Limp …
Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water (2000) by Limp Bizkit
Limp Bizkit are so monumentally dumb that, while I’m listening to a Limp Bizkit record, I have trouble imagining there are dumber bands. Now, I know there are plenty of dumb bands, but the scale of the Bizkit’s dumbness is so immense that, during the album, you just sort of forget that there could be …
King of Rock (1985) by Run-D.M.C.
As I said when I reviewed my first Run-D.M.C. record, I know nothing about the history of hip hop. Given that, it’s pretty easy to just think “well I’m ignorant and sop I’ll just go with the consensus.”
Significant Other (1999) by Limp Bizkit
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 …
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.
This Is the Day…This Is the Hour…This Is This! (1989) by Pop Will Eat Itself
One of the weirdest things to happen during the alternative era is that period of time when British rock bands started incorporating sampling into their music (and occasionally rap). The more of this music I stumble upon, the more I want to read a book about the whole scene because it’s kind of weird, right? …
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” …
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.
Judgment Night Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1993)
I know this record was a big deal to fans of these bands at the time, but I had literally no idea about it until an anniversary of it maybe 5 years ago. I had low expectations, despite how many of these rock bands I like.
Devil Without a Cause (1998) by Kid Rock
Full disclosure: I don’t like Kid Rock. I don’t like his urban hick persona. I don’t like his public support of The Donald. I don’t like that he owns a craft brewery that makes watery lagers because he didn’t think there were enough watery lagers available in the United States. If I never heard another …
Rage Against the Machine (1992)
So much of what Rage did became cliche by the end of the decade that approaching this after hearing too much Rage and too many Rage imitators, it’s really hard to imagine how fresh this must have sounded in late 1992.