Freestyle Fellowship - To Whom It May Concern... (1991)

Aceyalone, Self Jupiter, P.E.A.C.E., J. Sumbi & Myka Nyne; the anti-gangsta rap from the West Coast- these guys were kinda like the De La Soul of the L.A. scene. When everyone else (N.W.A., Ice-T, et. al.) were rapping about gats and hoes, these five MCs were waxing poetic on the state of welfare, education, higher consciousness, yeah.

Even though it's 20 years old, it doesn't sound the least bit dated. Give it a spin...

Freestyle Fellowship - To Whom It May Concern... (1991; Sun Music)

Boogie Down Productions - By All Means Necessary (1988)

"People still takin' rappin' for a joke
A passing hope or a phase with a rope
Sometimes I choke and try to believe
When I get challenged by a million MCs
I try to tell them, "We're all in this together!"
My album was raw because no one would ever
Think like I think and do what I do
I stole the show, and then I leave without a clue
What do you think makes up a KRS?
Concisive teaching, or very clear speaking?"

- KRS-One, I'm Still #1 

Boogie Down Productions - By All Means Necessary (1988; Jive Records)

Main Source - Breaking Atoms (1991)

First off, these beats- considering this album is almost 20 years old, these beats still sound as incredible to my thirty-something ears as they did to my teen ears. And then there's the rhyming, that archetypal early-90s rap flow done to perfection; and oh, let's not forget the samples- James Brown, Donald Byrd, Ike & Tina, Sister Nancy, Bob James, Lou Donaldson, Kool & The Gang, Miles Davis, MFSB, The Meters and Funkadelic (among many others; it's like walking into the Soul section of a record store and just grabbing all the best shit).

One of the first "international" hip-hop releases; two Toronto natives (K-Cut & Sir Scratch) hooked up with Queens-based Large Professor to give you the Main Source. Listen for the first verse ever from a very young and very hungry Nasir Jones- later known as Nas, as well as some of the most socially conscious and relevant lyricism on any hip-hop release, now or then.

Another insanely overlooked album from the Golden Age of Hip-Hop...

Main Source - Breaking Atoms (1991; Wild Pitch Records)

Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030 (2000)

What can I say about one of my favorite hip-hop records of all time? As far as concept albums go, it's one of the best- an intergalactic futuristic rap battle over Dan the Automator's productions and Kid Koala's scratching, El Cerrito's Del tha Funkee Homosapien absolutely kills everything in sight. Appearing here (respectively) as The Cantankerous Captain Aptos, Skiznod the Boy Wonder and Deltron Zero; the trio play so well together it's as if their spinal cord is fused into one being, that being is an album named Deltron 3030.

This was the impetus for the Gorillaz; the small-scale success of the Deltron project (is calling 1.2 million albums sold "small-scale" an insult?) gave way to the mega success of the ten-plus million units moved by that first record- just listen to the track Time Keeps on Slipping (featuring Blur's Damon Albarn) to hear an "early" Gorillaz song.

Anyway, if you want to hear what an intergalactic rap battle to save humanity while fighting oppressive governments and evil multinational corporations is all about, peep this joint.

Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030 (2000; 75 Ark Records)

Aesop Rock - Labor Days (2001)

This is kind of a no-brainer for today. Aesop Rock was working as a waiter during the writing and recording of this, so at times it's a bitter record; there's themes of disillusionment, regret, anger- but there's also the light at the end of the tunnel, which is the solution to all these negatives. What do we do to give our lives meaning? We find the work that satisfies us, fulfills us, helps us to transcend all the bullshit of daily life.

It's a concept album based on what it's like for us day-to-day working stiffs- existentially speaking we're just these bodies that get up every morning, drag our asses to our jobs, punch a clock, fulfill certain duties, eat, shit, go home and do it all over again. Ultimately, our jobs begin to define us; construction worker, pre-school teacher, karate instructor, CEO of a Fortune 500 company, etc. How do I want to be defined? By my job title itself or the lives I touch through my work? 

So, happy Labor Day, folks. I hope you love your job as much as I do, and I hope you can find a life full of meaning through it...

Aesop Rock - Labor Days (2001; Definitive Jux Records)

Atmosphere - Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EP's (2001)

I can remember watching one of those HBO-televised rap battles years ago and was blown away that the dudes killing it were from Minneapolis of all places. I can remember Eyedea winning one year, and finding his first album he did with Abilities (2001's First Born). I wasn't blown away by that record, but I remember the clerk at Repo Records in Rosemont, PA (R.I.P.) telling me (I can't remember his exact words) that "I might want to check out the other rappers on Rhymesayers, like Slug or Brother Ali..." Long story short: I went back later that week and sold back that Eyedea album and picked up some Atmosphere.

Atmosphere is DJ Ant (Anthony Davis) and MC Slug (Sean Daley), also two of the founders of Rhymesayers Entertainment, a Minneapolis-based hip-hop collective that put the Twin Cities on the map. This album collects Atmosphere's first three EPs (Lucy, Ford 1 and Ford 2); it features production from a few other guys besides Ant- tracks from Moodswing9, Jel (of the group subtle and the anticon. collective) and El-P (founder of the DefJux label and Company Flow). The track The Woman With The Tattooed Hands is one of the best hip-hop tracks of all-time; I would consider it Atmosphere's signature song, in that it contains examples of all the trademarks of a great Slug rap: smart lyrics, great storytelling and excellent flow and delivery.

Grip this now!

Atmosphere - Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EP's (2001; Rhymesayers Entertainment)

Brand Nubian - In God We Trust (1993)

If you like the first Brand Nubian record, you'll probably hate this one. That one had party raps and fun jams, this one is serious; full of Nation of Islam imagery, Five-Percent ideology, Black empowerment and knowledge dropping left and right. If 1990's One For All was Grand Puba's coming out party (it had those "bitches and blunts" songs but was still politically charged and socially conscious), then consider this record Sadat X exerting his emerging influence over the group (Elijah Muhammad voice-overs, abrasive and anti-Semitic at times; anti-homosexual, anti-pork, anti-white, etc). Puba was more or less forced out of Brand Nubian before the recording of this album, so Lord Jamar would see more work on the mic, plus- he agreed with Sadat.

While Sadat X's protest jams can seem bloated and offensive, they serve as an important indicator to what was going on in the African-American community in the early-1990's. The Nation of Gods and Earths (also known as the Five Percenters) were an offshoot of the Nation of Islam, and seen as extreme and radical in its teachings (hence the anti- stance above on many issues). Many young black men sought refuge here from the negative things around them in the ghetto; and Brand Nubian considered themselves adherents to the teachings. Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Trenton's Poor Righteous Teachers and most notably the Wu-Tang Clan would also feature Five Percenter ideas in their music.

While I don't agree with some of the things that are said on this record, the views of Brand Nubian are taken as a history lesson (I consider myself both a fan of and an academic music appreciator) of what it was like in their part of the world almost 20 years ago. Controversy aside, the positive things on this album outweigh the negative, plus the music is so damn funky.

Brand Nubian - In God We Trust (1993; Elektra Records)

Organized Konfusion - Stress: The Extinction Agenda (1994)

Organized Konfusion was a hip-hop duo from Queens consisting of Prince Po and Pharoahe Monch; they were outspoken and politically-charged as well as socially conscious which is probably the reason they never got their due. The beats are tight, Po & Monch's flow is top ranking, there's only one skit and the only two guests are A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip and fellow New Yorker O.C. This album is the very personification of East Coast Hip-Hop; it's got all the proper elements- obscure jazz & soul samples, hardcore street knowledge and that proper boom bap.

Today's rappers need to take this one to heart; this is how it should be done...

Organized Konfusion - Stress: The Extinction Agenda (1994; Hollywood BASIC)
-link opens to YouTube-

Gang Starr - Step In The Arena (1990)

Rest In Peace, Guru. 

You were truly one of a kind...

Gang Starr - Step In The Arena (1990; Chrysalis Records)

KMD - Black Bastards (2001)

You may know KMD through two separate avenues; us old heads know them as the guys who rapped on 3rd Bass' The Gas Face way back in '89 and for also collaborating with Brand Nubian. You new schoolers know them as MF Doom's original group. Either way; KMD never got their due, and this album sat on the shelf for seven years before it was released.

Seven years pass by before this album sees the light of day. After the death of Subroc, causing the end of KMD, his emcee partner (and brother) Zev Love X would go through bouts of severe depression, homelessness and drug abuse before re-emerging and re-inventing himself as MF Doom. And everybody knows who Doom is, and if you don't know you better ask somebody who does, knucklehead.

So here's a forgotten gem of hip-hop goodness...

KMD - Black Bastards (2001; Sub Verse Music)