new old school

When I was 11 years old I purchased my very first rap cassette, The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest. That was in 1992. I have no idea where I got the money. It must have been from my allowance. I'm not sure how I managed to get to the store without an adult, but I can remember standing in front of the dusty wall of new and used tapes at the shop near my grandmother's house. My buddy Matt was with me. My guess is we had ridden our bikes or that my grandmother had taken us along on a run to the craft store and we decided to wait for her next door, eyes glued to the rap section. I didn't know what I was doing, of course. I understood about half of the lyrics. The other half just sounded cool.

I grew up on rap and hip-hop. I don't know why or how that happened. My folks listened to their share of Motown and Sam Cooke so, perhaps my exposure to that early soul music primed my ears for the soul-sampling sounds of 90's hip-hop. My parents certainly didn't approve. They didn't ban it either though, which I am grateful for. Perhaps that's just because they didn't listen to most of it. If they had my guess is they would have been completely repulsed. When I listen to Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle today I'm a bit repulsed myself. That album is a classic though and the music holds quite a bit of nostalgia for me. I spent countless hours with my friends listening to Wu-Tang, Dr. Dre, Biggie, 2Pac, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Mobb Deep, early Nas and Jay-Z and pretty much every other classic mainstream album from the mid-90's. I soaked it up like a sponge and I came to understand that in order to really appreciate most rap music you must have a working knowledge of it's history.

Unlike any other genre, except perhaps jazz, rap music regularly dips into it's past with name drops, beat samples and lyrical quotes. This is one of my absolute favorite things about rap. You can take one Isley Brothers sample and trace it's history through the past 20 years of hip-hop (I don't know the stats, but I'd wager that the Isley Brothers are the most sampled group in the history of music). I don't think it's an overstatement to say that I have an unusual knowledge of the history of rap music. That's not me bragging, it's just a fact. When you've been listening as long as I have you're bound to learn something. But another thing I love about rap is that there is always more to learn.

I listened to a lot of rap radio growing up. We didn't have the internet back then. It was the only way to hear new music. As a result, I missed out on a lot of great stuff happening in the underground. There was one weekly radio show dedicated to "underground" and unsigned hype but they really focused more on exclusives from established acts and when they did play something unknown they rarely took the time to tell you much about it. So, I've had to play a bit of catch up with a lot of the underground classics. Just last year I got into Breaking Atoms (1991) by Main Source. I had known about the posse cut "Live at the Barbeque" for a while but to be honest that's mostly because it features a young Nas in his very first recorded performance. I really wish I had heard this album 20 years ago. I may not have been ready for it though. I was too into gangsta rap and all it's sensationalism. Now that I'm older and a bit wiser I'm ready for something a little less profane and a little more thought provoking. Breaking Atoms is just that and it absolutely deserves to be recognized as one of the greatest rap albums of all time. I don't think many would argue with that. It's influence on production and sampling is widely known. I'd always heard the Large Professor's name dropped in other songs, never really familiar with who he was. Now I understand. He's one of rap's greatest producers. Not a bad lyricist either.

Last year I also took the time to check out Slick Rick's second, lesser known release The Ruler's Back (1991). I also decided it was time to dip into Return of the Boom Bap (1993) by KRS-One. Those are two great albums (ignore what the critics might say about The Ruler's Back). Most recently I embarked on a journey through the underground hall of fame that lead to a treasure trove of classic records I'd been missing. Most of the names were familiar to me. I'd heard of Souls of Mischief, Hieroglyphics, Organized Konfusion, Big L, The D.O.C., Big Daddy Kane, Masta Ace, Kool G Rap, UGK, EPMD and, of course, Common. I never took the time to give most of their work a listen, despite how much the mainstream referred to them. Here's what I think you need to listen to straight away.


Common - Resurrection (1994)

Allow me to explain why I included Common and EPMD in the list above. I've been listening to Common for quite some time, but I got into him in 2000 with his major label release Like Water for Chocolate after reading that The Roots (whom I have followed from the very beginning) were big contributors to the production. This past weekend I acquired Common's second album, Resurrection. It is easily the best lyrical work I've heard from him and that's saying a lot because the man is gifted. I also particularly like how he takes it the rap industry, true to form.
*History lesson - This was Common's second full length produced largely by No I.D., who just so happened to be one of Kanye West's first mentors in the game. Perhaps now you'll better understand the relationship between Kanye and Common, who have worked closely together on projects for Kanye's GOOD Music, including Common's Grammy nominated gem "Be". Also, "Resurrection" was one of the few releases done under the name Common Sense, before a legal issue forced him to drop the Sense and just be Common.


EPMD - Strictly Business (1988)

As for EPMD I'll say this...of all the albums I have slept on, this is the one I am most ashamed of. This debut is pure gold. While Breaking Atoms is often credited as influencing the future production techniques of rap, I would argue that no other album has made a greater contribution to the art of sampling. Let me just run down some of the artist's work you may recognize here: Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Kool & the Gang, Beastie Boys, Pink Floyd, Steve Miller Band, ZZ Top, Rick James and EPMD (yes, they even sampled themselves). P. Diddy pretty much owes his entire career to Erick Sermon ("E") and Parrish Smith ("P" - "Making Dollars") because without them the kind of sampling that made Puff Daddy and the Family a success would not have existed. I've always known that Erick Sermon had an ear for tight production, mostly through his work with Redman, Keith Murray and the Def Squad. I really had no idea this duo was so great. I mean I knew they were good, but seriously, this is a great album.
*Trivia note - Each of EPMD's seven studio albums has the word "Business" in the title. Each album also includes a track with the name "Jane" in it's title.


Souls of Mischief - 93 'til Infinity (1993 - surprise!)

Now, here is where we dig deeper into the underground. While just about every other West Coast crew was jumping on the gangsta rap bandwagon, these four Oakland natives seemed to make a conscious choice to be un-gangsta. Not a great way to sell records, which is a shame because this is undoubtedly one of the best from the '90s. As a kid, I consistently ignored advertisements for this album, thinking they must not be any good because I hadn't heard them on the radio. I could not have been more wrong. To my ear, this sounds more like a lot of the East Coast releases from the decade. There's not much slow funk here. It bounces with jazz instead, reminiscent of early Tribe Called Quest. That fits the rhyme styles of A-Plus, Opio, Phesto D and Tajai though. They are quite adept at the fast-rap.*History Lesson - Souls of Mischief made up a large part of the also excellent collective Hieroglyphics, whose other members included Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Casual, Pep Love and Jaybiz.
**Bonus Trivia - Del tha Funkee Homosapien happens to be Ice Cube's cousin and is the MC you hear on Gorillaz self-titled debut. That's right, he's the voice of "Clint Eastwood". Classic!


Organized Konfusion - Organized Konfusion (1991)

You may remember a wicked sounding song sampling the theme from the original Godzilla that made it's way to radio in 1999 called "Simon Says". The chorus pretty much went like this..."Get the f**k up. Simon Says get the f**k up!". Well, that was Pharoahe Monch. What I didn't know then was that Monch was not new to the rap scene. He made his debut back in '91 as one half of the duo Organized Konfusion (the other half being Prince Po). These guys are rapper's rappers. They're the kind that like to have fun with words, when they're not attempting to school you on politics. And it all sounds so easy. Many like to draw comparisons to Breaking Atoms but to my ear Organized Konfusion is a lighter. The production is somewhat simpler and one of the singles was a track called "Who Stole My Last Piece of Chicken". I rest my case.
*Trivia Note/History Lesson - The only guest appearance on "Organized Konfusion," (which was self produced) was O.C. on the track "Fudge Pudge". O.C. went on to become a part of the Diggin' In The Crates (D.I.T.C.) crew, which featured heavy hitters Big L, Buckwild, Showbiz & A.G., Diamond D and Fat Joe. O.C. also released an underground classic himself with "Word...Life" in 1994.