Hip hop recommendations.

[Nemmet]

I recently rediscovered Black on Both Sides by Mos Def and would love to hear more rap albums as great as this one. Any album or artist recommendations would be great, thanks in advance.

[Shooichi]

I recommend "The Grey Album" if you can find it. It's a combination of the achapella version of "The Black Album" by Jay-Z and The Beatles' "White Album". It's got a real pleasant sound and it's very energetic.

[Dincrest]

Good hip-hop

-The 18th Letter by Rakim is a wonderful album.  Rakim is an excellent lyricist who uses very intricate wordplay.  The lyrics on this album are deep and well-written.  

-I think Stillmatic by Nas is a good album, though it does have a couple of weak tracks on it.  I love the beat that plays during Stillmatic- the intro

-The Roots are good artists.  They play their own instruments rather than using canned beats.  

-Hand on the Torch by US3 is a great album.  The group was a one hit wonder for the song Cantaloop, but I love their album.  It's a great blend of hip-hop and jazz.  Very musical.  

Though they're not hip-hop groups per se, hip-hop does play a vital role in the groups Screaming Headless Torsos and Ozomatli.  SHT's 1995 is a terrific album blending funk, rock, hip-hop and such.  Ozomatli's Street Signs is one of my favorite albums.  It's a happy blend of Spanish music, middle eastern music, and hip-hop.

[Dio]

Immediatly, I would recommend K-Os. Probably his best work is his song called Superstarr Pt. Zero. That is a great example of a Hip-Hop song that doesn't have to rely on the mainstream style and is influenced by older/inspirational music... This is one of my favorite songs of all time. :)
As far as it goes, K-Os' other tracks are great.

Other than him, here are other recommendations...

A Tribe Called Quest (My favorite group of all time)
The Roots
Black Star (Mos Def & Talib Kweli)
Talib Kweli
Common
De La Soul
Jurassic 5
The Pharcyde
Zion-I
Crown City Rockers (A great hip-hop band, like The Roots)
Digable Planets
Mostly anything Produced by J-Dilla aka Jay Dee

[alchahest]

glad to see the J 5 recommendation, definitely underappreciated hip hop right there.

if you can find Pocket Dwellers, they're an awesome listen, they're a bit obscure south of the border as far as I know, though.

The Streets, out of the UK, is an amazing yyoung artist. tons of praise internationally for him, I think part of the appeal is the accent, and the other part is the lack of gangsta bling bling garbage that pollutes an otherwise great art form.

-edit-


I somehow forgot Battlaxe Records.

Swollen Members, Moka Only, and Rob the Viking, also, a bit more weird, on the same label, Buck 65.

Swollen Members (often with Moka Only, who used to be an actual member, now is just a redurring guest vocalist) are catchy, smart, and nerdy. what more do you need?

Moka Only has a smooth voice and his subject matter ranges from hip hop to piano ballads to some jazz and R&B (the good kind. you know, with rhymes and instruments that aren't electronic drums)

Rob the Viking is a musician and producer that put together alot of the tracks for Battleaxe Records' various artists, and just recently released his own album, it's a completely instrumental hip hop score. which is bizarre, but amazingly nice to listen to while driving.  Pick up [Beats to Pillage And Conquer By, especially if you have friends that can freestyle.  it's pretty awesome when someone with flow runs into Rob the Viking.

Buck 65 is... bizarre. not my cup of tea, but he's fairly well accalaimed here in canada.

[Dade]

Del the Funkee Homosapien.

Namely his "Sci-Fi Album" Deltron 3030.

Best Hip Hop album ever.

http://www.hieroglyphics.com/features/video_vault/flash/deltron_3030_virus.html

Oh and who else has a rap song about video games (and mentions the powerglove and how hard Ninja Gaiden was).

[alchahest]

DADE

[CoheedIV]

I here Dieicide is a great hip hop Album.

[Daggerstrike]

I here Dieicide is a great hip hop Album.

What the fuck are you talking about. Not only is it HEAR, but Deicide is not Hip Hop, and I am assuming that Deicide is the band you meant since I could find no info about anyone called Dieicide. If there is a hip hop group called Dieicide then I apologize for my next statement, otherwise....Stop being a troll you fucking idiot.

Anyway....I am gonna agree with Dade. Del is awesome. I am also gonna agree with Dio about Black Star and Talib Kweli. Good good stuff.

[Marshmallow]

Not that I listen to much hip-hop at all, but I have to agree with Dio about Zion-I, who is freaking amazing.

[CoheedIV]

My bad, dude.  I was just joking around, heh.  Deicide is a Death Metal band and they're pretty damn good, so I thought I might recommend them.  But you're right, it wasn't ment for this topic, sorry.

[alchahest]

I'm just wondering if Coheed and Cambria are paying RPGfan for the advertising space you're handing out on their server, CoheedIV.

[Murdoc]

How about Danger Doom (Danger Mouse and MF Doom)?

Kayne West

or Gorillaz?

[Dincrest]

If you're going to recommend Gorillaz, then I would recommend their first album.  That one is more from the Del side of things and features more frequent and better hip-hop.  DJ Nakamura lays down some awesome beats.

I thought Demon Days was lousy.  Biggest disappointment of 2005.  It was more from the Damon Albarn side of things so it was more wussy "indie" rock with vocals that sounded like Damon was out to lunch and had barely gotten out of bed that morning.  There wasn't enough hip-hop on there and what little there was, wasn't that good.  The only good track on that album was the supremely overplayed "Feel Good Inc" because it had Del on it.  DJ Danger Mouse is good, but to me Nakamura + Del was pure gold on the first Gorillaz album.  

Oh, and for any musical recommendations, check out http://www.cdbaby.com for truly independent music in all genres.  I haven't perused the hip-hop genre there very much, but there is some excellent stuff there.  

One artist I'm digging lately is MC Divinity who is a skilled rapper and a darn good bassist (she played on Victor Wooten's latest).  And in that vein, "Plantation Lullabies" by Me'Shell Ndege'Ocello (I'm sure I misspelt it) is an amazing album.  Me'Shell can sing (I love her rasp), rap, and is one supremely funky bassist.  

I'm surprised more bassists don't study hip-hop lines when learning the instrument.  In genres like hip-hop, soul, R&B, jazz, gospel, and most any genre of music that people deem "black" music, the bass is what takes the forefront/center stage over, say, the guitar in more typically "white" genres like heavy metal and emo.  

I'm very surprised I didn't mention Plantation Lullabies before.

[Rindu]

"Liquid Swords" by Genius.  

the best.