Articles

20+ hip-hop albums more significant, influential and/or pivotal than Illmatic. (a-z)

A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders*
Beastie Boys - Pauls Boutique
Biz Markie - Goin Off
Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded*
Brand Nubian - One For All
De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner
DJ Quik - Quik Is The Name
Edan - Beauty and the Beat
EPMD - Strictly Business
Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full
Gang Starr - Step In The Arena*
Geto Boys - Grip It! On That Other Level
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message
Ice-T - Rhyme Pays
Jungle Brothers - Done By The Forces of Nature
Just-Ice - Kool & Deadly
KMD - Mr. Hood*
N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton
The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II
Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back*
Run-D.M.C. - Run-D.M.C.
Slick Rick - The Great Adventures Of

* indicates I'd take 2 or more albums by this artist but left them off for a cleaner list.

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01. LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/300x300/44688915.jpg

02. A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
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03. Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
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04. Ice Cube - AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
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05. Brand Nubian - One for All
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06. Above the Law - Livin' Like Hustlers
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07. Compton's Most Wanted - It's a Compton Thang
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08. Eric B. & Rakim - Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em
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09. EPMD - Business As Usual
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10. Intelligent Hoodlum - Intelligent Hoodlum
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01. N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton
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02. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
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03. Eric B. & Rakim - Follow The Leader
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04. EPMD - Strictly Business
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05. Boogie Down Productions - By All Means Necessary
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06. Slick Rick - The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick
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07. Eazy-E - Eazy-Duz-It
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08. Ultramagnetic MC's - Critical Beatdown
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09. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo - Road to the Riches
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10. Big Daddy Kane - Long Live the Kane
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01. Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded
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02. Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full
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03. Public Enemy - Yo! Bum Rush The Show
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04. N.W.A - N.W.A. and the Posse
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05. MC Shan - Down By Law
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06. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Rock The House
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07. Ice-T - Rhyme Pays
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08. Kid 'N Play - 2 Hype
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09. T La Rock - Lyrical King from the Boogie Down Bronx
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10. Too $hort - Born To Mack
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'First, make a list of your overall top-20 artists. Then, for each of these artists, add the 8 most similar artists to your list. Delete any duplicates, add up the number of entries on your list and this will give you some idea of how eclectic your listening habits are. A score of 9 represents an extremely unvaried musical taste while a 160 represents an extremely varied one.'


1. Faith Evans
2. Mariah Carey
3. Aaliyah
4. Whitney Houston
5. Michael Jackson
6. Alicia Keys
7. Ce Ce Peniston
8. Janet Jackson
9. Maxwell
10. Brian Culbertson
11. Blu
12. Lyfe Jennings
13. Toni Braxton
14. Body Count
15. En Vogue
16. N.W.A
17. Ginuwine
18. Xscape
19. LL Cool J
20. Jon B.
--
21. Monica
22. Kelly Price
23. SWV
24. Tamia
25. Fantasia
26. Lil' Mo
27. Tweet
28. LeToya

29. Brandy
30. Leona Lewis
31. Jennifer Lopez
32. Beyoncé
33. Destiny's Child

34. TLC
35. Ashanti
36. Amerie
37. Ciara
38. Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes

39. Céline Dion
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So, spotify has recently gotten around to add more and more hip-hop music that I've been looking for for ages, since it's getting closer to perfection with country restrictions holding it back in a huge way, I've decided to use the metadata to find all the albums that I get around to and add them here. As a hip-hop fan, it also can help spotify users to get more familiar with the genre or find their favorite rapper or group they've been missing for a while. And if you ever want an artist added, just tell me and I'll link whatever I can find. This database also only puts up STUDIO albums and official EPs/compilations meaning no mixtapes or randomly put together compilations. Some artists have so much of that, it'd take ages to be finished with the whole thing and putting up all the links I can find. For now, I'll start with what I listen to then expand by your suggestions. And about why I decided to post this in last.fm. Well, I don't use any blogs and I figured this would be the most fitting…

source 5 mics
rap
hip-hop
The Record Report is a special feature in the publication in which journalists rate albums. Ratings range from one to five mics', paralleling a typical five-star rating scale. An album that is rated at four-and-a-half or five mics is considered by The Source to be a superior hip hop album. Over the first ten years or so, the heralded five-mic rating only applied to albums that were universally lauded hip hop albums. A total of 44 albums have been awarded five mics; a complete, chronological list is below.

Albums that originally received five mics:
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm ☆ A Tribe Called Quest
Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em ☆ Eric B. & Rakim
AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted ☆ Ice Cube
One for All ☆ Brand Nubian
De La Soul Is Dead ☆ De La Soul
The Low End Theory ☆ A Tribe Called Quest
Illmatic ☆ Nas
Life After Death (disc 1) Life After Death (disc 2) ☆ Notorious B.I.G.
Aquemini ☆ Outkast
The Blueprint Jay-Z
Stillmatic ☆ Nas
The Fix ☆ Scarface
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rage is an Australian music video show. New videos are shown on Friday night. A guest artist hosts the show on Saturday night with a play list of their own. This week, Rahzel (formerly of The Roots)and DJ JS-1 (The Rock Steady Crew) are on the couch.

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/7781/rahzel01.jpg

Playlist:
The Rock Steady Crew - Uprock
Wu-Tang Clan - Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)
Wu-Tang Clan - Method Man
Cypress Hill - When The Shit Goes Down
Das EFX - Real Hip Hop
Das EFX - They Want Efx
Public Enemy - Night of the Living Baseheads
Public Enemy - Burn Hollywood Burn
Public Enemy - Fight the Power
Eric B. & Rakim - Microphone Fiend
Eric B. & Rakim - Juice (Know the Ledge)
Eric B. & Rakim - Don't Sweat The Technique
KRS-One - Step Into The World
KRS-One & Marley Marl - Hip Hop Lives
The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight
Kool Moe Dee - How Ya Like Me Now
Kurtis Blow - If I Ruled The World
Run-D.M.C. - Down With The King
…