The Rap Gordon Shuffle

Today I broke my personal record for “most rap albums listened to in one day.” Much less one week.

In order of how much I enjoyed them (all were first-time listens, and yeah, my rap literacy rate is astonishing poor. But I’m working on it.):

Nas – Illmatic
“I don’t sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death.” The production on this record is sick, and Nasty Nas’ flow? Incomparable.

De La Soul – De La Soul Is Dead
What a bizarro album. Skits, references everywhere, characters randomly talking to each other, and in between, a few awesome “regular” songs. I’m going to have to spin this one again.
“Talkin’ Bout Hey Love”: mp3

A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory
For whatever reason, I avoided these guys for years. Not sure why. This is pretty great, and it blows my mind that Busta’s guest verse on the last track was recorded two years before ODB apparently stole his shtick for 36 Chambers.
“Scenario”: mp3

Boogie Down Productions – Criminal Minded
Ok, the “Hey Jude” reference is awesome and the lyrics are amazing (“I don’t wear Adidas ’cause my name ain’t Run”) but this is definitely way oldskool. And sounds it. “But it’s KRS-One, man!” At least that old Sublime song makes more sense to me now.

—

Completely random bonus track from Phil Elvrum. This sounds like everything you would expect from a Phil Elvrum track, except that unlike the last couple albums he’s released which everyone has politely ignored, forgetting that this is the guy who released the fucking Glow Pt. 2 a mere four years ago, this is really, really awesome.

Mount Eerie – “I Whale”: mp3