Debuts:

The Notorious B.I.G., "Juicy"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noTvdpAYeHE

Nas, "The World is Yours"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYZ_RD–Lpg

OutKast, "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T0SorIk3n0

Fugees, "Nappy Heads (remix)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD_Enr3Ea1w

Kurious, "Walk Like a Duck"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tmzwEp8cQ4

Jeru the Damaja, "Come Clean"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B5dOCSBBEI

*Wu-Tang Clan, "Protect Ya Neck"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GDPZpRmTg0

We also got:

Common, "I Used to Love H.E.R."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y12YgEIFcAY

The Roots, "Proceed"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPepJ43SqJY

Scarface, "I Seen a Man Die"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQeN-OXZrLo

Organized Konfusion, "Stress"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbFVp6ifTOw

*A Tribe…

The question in the title refers to everything that follows. But I'm going to go ahead and answer it now.

"No."

1985
*Michael Jackson still looked human.
*Lionel Richie was more famous than Nicole.
*Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen trading off…if you don't love that then I wonder about you.
*Ray Charles is no longer with us.
*Quincy Jones is a powerful man. Rumor has it that he warned everyone to leave their egos at home. Considering the fact that Diana Ross behaved, he must have been quite convincing.
*God didn't actually turn stone to…

November 11

Femi is wondering why black women don't like hip hop. 11:21pm

On Friday, November 9, I hit downtown Austin to see one of hip hop’s best live performers, Lyrics Born. As I sat in the back waiting for the wack second act to mercifully get off the stage so that LB could rock the spot, I engaged in a favorite activity of mine: people watching. In doing so, I observed a group of people to my right. What stuck out is that two members of the group were black females. So I thought to myself, “Hey, two…

Recently, I've started listening to my CDs a lot more. It wasn't a conscious decision; rather it was something that I had to start doing out of necessity.

One of the first things that I noticed about Austin after moving here: no sports radio. Specifically, no ESPN radio. So with no Mike & Mike to listen to on the way to work, and no Galloway and Company to hear on the way home that automatically eliminated any chance whatsoever that I would be listening to the radio. At least until I finally get Sirius.

So that meant that I was…

(I just want to point out that, from the very beginning, I did say that I'm using the term "group" in the most hip hop way possible.)

GROUPS

11. SALT N PEPA
http://www.last.fm/user/MagusiMusic/journal/2006/06/26/165248/#comments

10. INVISIBL SKRATCH PIKLZ
http://www.last.fm/user/MagusiMusic/journal/2006/07/27/193045/

9. GANG STARR

GROUP EIGHT
"I got so much trouble on my mind, refuse to lose/ Here's your ticket, hear the drummer get wicked."
-"Welcome to the Terrordome"

Hip hop's coming of age was signified with Public Enemy's introduction to the world, especially with the release of their second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us…

I started this a while back and never completed it. Interest seemed to wane, which kinda discouraged me from continuing but for the sake of completion, I want to finish this with brief summaries about anyone I haven't already covered. I realize that I'm doing a horrible disservice to those artists who aren't getting entire posts to themselves. I might go back and write complete articles for them later, even if just for myself. Right now, I'm finishing up solo emcees. I'll do groups another journal entry.

Anyway, here we go:

INTRO (The Ten Most Essential Emcees and Eleven Most…

What would be your ultimate band lineup? If you could take whatever mix of musicians and put them together, who would you choose? You don’t have to worry about how they would actually sound together, this is just your fantasy lineup. And it could be anyone that you choose. If you’d like to see 12 country singers, a flute player and a drum n bass DJ, cool. There’s only one rule: all members of the lineup must be alive.

As of right now, here’s mine:

LEAD VOCALS
Lauryn Hill
Common
Christina Aguilera
Ben Harper
Serj Tankian (System of a…

"Something touched me deep inside/ The day the music died."

Don McLean, "American Pie"


I was 13 years old when "Brenda's Got a Baby" dropped. His debut single wasn't a particularly significant song for the era. A lot of hip hop songs at the time spoke on social issues; but for some reason this one stood out. Maybe it was becasue we all knew someone like Brenda; maybe it was the stark black and white video; maybe it was the unique song structure (instead of the standard two or three 16-bar verses, he opts for the Slick Rick approach:…

"I'm a self made monster of the city streets, remotely controlled by hard hip hop beats."

The most notorious sub-category in the musical genre known as hip hop is one which is most often referred to as "gangsta rap" which, on the surface at least, is categorized by its obsession with violence and misogyny. While its origin is debatable (people in Philadelphia will tell you that Schoolly D had the first gangsta rap song way back in 1985) there is no questioning where it took up residence: Los Angeles, specifically South Central. And for all intents and purposes, the trail…

Invisibl Skratch Piklz

If hip hop can be likened to a body, each of the elements serves its own function. Emcees are the mouth and the mind, graf writers the eyes and the hands, bboys and bgirls the body. Where does that leave the DJ? They serve as the feet (as in the foundation) and the heart.

In the early days of hip hop, DJs were the stars. It is not for no reason that Kool Herc is seen as hip hop's father, Afrika Bambaataa its godfather and Grandmaster Flash its favorite uncle. If you wanted to be known in…