Top Five List

I received some new CD's for Christmas and my birthday, and it's with that in mind that I have put together a top five hip-hop album list. This, obviously, is purely subjective, and based only on what I own and have heard.

Top Five Hip-Hop Albums I've Heard (At the Moment Until I Expand My Collection with A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and Others):

1. Nas -- Illmatic
2. Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star -- Black Star
3. The Roots -- Illadelph Halflife
4. Common -- Like Water for Chocolate
5. Gang Starr -- Moment of Truth

I just got into Kweli and Mos Def recently, and I have expanded substantially my Common collection. Their music, in addition to the albums listed above, is the reason hip-hop became such a social force early in the '90s. Turn off the radio rap crap and listen to some of this stuff. It's worth the time.

(As a side note, Jay-Z, in his song "Moment of Clarity" off his last (thankfully) release The Black Album, raps, "If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be/lyrically, Talib Kweli/Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense/But I did five mill' - I ain't been rhymin like Common since." Here's a prime example of why I don't like Jay-Z the sell out. I have more respect for people like Kweli and Common who appreciate artistry more than financial gain and mainstream acceptance. In the bursting at the seams homogenized world of hip-hop, Jay-Z is just another mediocre rapper. Blueprint was a masterpiece, but he never put forth that kind of effort before or since on an album. But, at least according to his lyrics above, Jay-Z can admit he's garbage lyrically.)