Hip hop/rap recs for an absolute beginner

[rachelmanija]

This isn't music I grew up with, so most of my exposure consisted of people playing me songs with brilliant lyrics on the theory that I'd appreciate them because I'm a writer. But here's the problem: for me, music is primarily about sound, not lyrics. I can appreciate great lyrics when I don't like the sound, but I won't ever listen to the song more than once. So because my early rap recs were all based on lyrics, I got the impression that there were tons of fantastic writers in the genre, but I didn't like the sound, so as a musical genre, it just wasn't for me.

Then I heard Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" and experienced the exact same moment my Dad did when he first heard the Beatles "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" play on the radio. Three beats in, across forty years, both of us sat up straight and said to ourselves, "My God! What's that sound?!"

So when I ask for song and artist recs, please consider the musical qualities over the lyrics. I'm not worried about finding good lyrics; from my very limited experience, the genre seems to have a very high proportion of good lyrics. That's the easy part.

Unfortunately, I have a poor musical vocabulary, so rather than try to list musical qualities, I will list songs that I like musically, and maybe people who know more about music than me will be able to extrapolate from there.

I have checked out other works by the same artists, but if you want to rec specific albums by them, that would be great.

Songs with a sound that I like:

"Jesus Walks," Kanye West (Generally liked College Dropout, but that was far and away my favorite)

"None Shall Pass," Aesop Rock

"Without Me," "Mockingbird," "Like Toy Soldiers," Eminem

"Entrez Vous," Sniper

"Ode to O-Ren Ishii" RZA (Kill Bill soundtrack)

"Baby Got Back," Sir Mix-A-Lot (It's catchy! I can play it over and over!)

Others seem to have vanished into the mists of memory and my car's CD stash. yhlee, what was that first song on the mix you made for me recently?

Recs for female artists would be nice.

Comments

[hooveraardvark.livejournal.com]

there are just not many female artists out there, at least prominent ones. the most obvious is missy elliott, i personally really like jean grae though more for her skills and lyrics than the music.

try the following:

wu-tang clan - enter the wu-tang: 36 chambers
dizzee rascal - showtime (i love all 3 of his albums though)

i will have more shortly, let me think about it.

[gwynnega]

These are pretty old recs, but...I was a big fan of NWA's Straight Outa Compton album when it came out. Also "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Nothing to recommend, but wanted exactly the same thing--thanks! I'll check back and see what you get.

I'm liking Kanye's "Stronger" and Rihanna's "Umbrella" which is only in that category because of the J-Z at the beginning, I think.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

I recently got some great hip hop recs. My latest hip hop mix includes several Faith Evans songs. I deeply love the sound of her voice rising out of the lyrics--it's just....beautiful. "Hope" is my current favorite.

I've also been listening to Nelly's Country Grammar CD.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

OMG! Sometimes I think I am one of few people on my flist who listen to music as sound, rather than music as lyrics. Glad to know I have company. heresluck did a hip-hop pimping post over the summer, if you can find it. Late August or early Sept., I think.

I have a weird relationship with Jay-Z, in that he's got some cool musicality going on (he sampled "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie one time), but I couldn't keep "99 Problems", even the Gray Album version, which was cool, because I couldn't get over the use of "bitch" in the lyrics. Like, I didn't think I cared about lyrics at all, till I discovered I couldn't ignore them. If you can bear that, I think you might like him.

All of my female rap entries are turning up late-80s/early-90s, and after that I skew towards R&B instead. So, do you have any thoughts on Neneh Cherry? She famously did "I've Got You Under My Skin" for the original Red Hot + Blue, but I have one of her earlier albums lying around somewhere.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

"What Would You Do" by City High. The rest of the songs on that album are not very like it, however.

I'll be watching to see what people rec you! *g* I'm the same way--I appreciate lyrics intellectually, but I want the sound.

[oyceter]

Sometimes I think I am one of few people on my flist who listen to music as sound, rather than music as lyrics.

I totally do that as well! And then I feel stupid when I realize I cannot recall lyrics to any songs that I don't play repeatedly in my car (and even then, it's a toss up).

[oyceter]

Watching this space for recs, since my musical knowledge is somewhere in the negative numbers.

Btw, did you see the Robin Wood vid and like the song? I can send it to you; it earwormed me.

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

I am soooo, so not rap or hip hop-knowledgable, but you'd probably like Eve ("Gotta Man" and "Let Me Blow Ya Mind") and Queen Latifah (try "U.N.I.T.Y.") I also highly recommend DJ Danger Mouse's mashup of the Beatles' White Album and Jay-Z's Black Album into the Grey Album (which isn't for sale, of course).

I actually need to find some music along these lines myself since I'm about to write some Gunn fic and feel like I have very little understanding of his cultural background.

[kintail.livejournal.com]

This one of those questions I keep thinking I should ask (and then forgetting to), so I'll be looking up the ones you like and watching the comments for recs, too.

Sorry I don't have any to offer, but thank you for asking the question!

[oracne.livejournal.com]

This is Lifesavas, from SPIRIT IN STONE:
http://download.yousendit.com/0776528875555D35

And I'm totally grooving on Gipsy's ROMANO HIPHOP.

A friend recently recced a Japanese group to me, called Dragon Ash. I don't have their cd yet, though.

Female artists:
You've heard Lauryn Hill, right?

I love Salt-N-Pepa's VERY NECESSARY--"Shoop" and "Whatta Man" were big hits from that one. It's a classic!

If Mary J. Blige counts, I like her, too.

Queen Latifah--she's hit or miss for me, depending on the song. I actually like her singing better than her rapping.

I have an Australian cd by Macromantics--so far I only love one song on it. Needs another listen.

I didn't get into Foxy Brown or Charli Baltimore.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I've heard of her. Must try some.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Talk to M and B. (he played one for me a couple weeks ago that just slayed me.)

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

"Jesus Walks" blew my socks off too, but I haven't been that enamored of his other stuff. Oh well.

I like MC Solaar, who's French. Try "Caroline" and "La Belle et Le Bad Boy." Oh, there's some good stuff (Nujabes, etc.) on the Samurai Champloo soundtracks. I think "Battlecry" is my favorite. If you like "Ode to O-Ren" you'll probably like this stuff too. I had more hip-hop on my old computer but I'm not finding much on this one.

(Here are my "fake hip-hop" recs that I'm embarrassed to mention: For pure goofiness I love Halcali, a Japanese female duo, but that's pretty much pop with occasionally fast spoken-word interludes. Check out several of their videos on Youtube if you ever need a lift, heehee. I recommend "Giri-giri Surfrider," "Tandem," and the non-live version of "Marching March." Rip Slyme is a related group, more laid-back but also with wacky videos. Cibo Matto also did great spoken-word stuff, but it's visual-kei, not hip-hop. "Sci-Fi Wasabi" and "Le Pain Perdu" are my favorites. I also sometimes like Energy, a Taiwanese hip-hop group, but I can't defend 'em--they're terrible, crappy bubblegum that's just fun to me for some reason. Dragon Ash is probably one of the more credible Japanese hip-hop groups, but they don't appeal to me.)

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I just sent MJB's "Work That" to a friend.

Oh, and somehow I forgot Gorillaz. :)

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

In addition to "Hope", the other one I have that is really accessible is "Missing You". I think it's listened as P. Diddy w/Faith Evans in music stores, but she is as important a voice as his in that song, IMO.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I am listening to "Hope" right now [that was quick, huh?]. I sampled on Amazon--I think I like the songs best that mix her singing with rapping.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

"Work That" is such a hot song!

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

I'd suggest at least taking a listen to some of the groups in the very beginnings of rap - Grand Master Flash (and the Furious Five) and the Sugar Hill Gang.

Neneh Cherry does some rapping as well.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

The new Kanye West album, GRADUATION, is more like COLLEGE DROPOUT than the last one, and has that darker tone I liked from "Jesus Walks" and "Two Words."

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I think he has had some feminist consciousness-raising between The Black Album and American Gangster, because I really liked the latter and do not remember a huge number of "bitches."

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Okay, I might have to check it out in that case. :)

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Oh--remind me to play you some Nellie McKay if you haven't heard her. She does some pop but also rap, and "Toto Dies" is fantastic. She works for me musically and lyrically in some amazing ways.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

What part of LA is Gunn from? I might be able to fill you in on some (non-musical) elements.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I love the Samurai Champloo music. Though "Battlecry" was my second-favorite. My first is the Okinawan folksong that played in the Mugen's backstory episodes.