1/4/2024 0 Comments New hip hop this weekA pretty accurate summation of what the Jersey trio composed of Hill, Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel achieved with the stunning ‘The Score’. “It’s almost like a hip-hop version of Tommy, like what The Who did for rock music,” said Lauryn Hill of Fugees’ second (and final) album. While it may have been seen as an anachronism when it was released, this unique hip-hop album should feature in any collection worth its salt. Featuring the likes of N’Dea Davenport, Dee C Lee, MC Solaar, Courtney Pine, Ronny Jordan and Roy Ayers, it’s both a look to the past and to the future, with tantalizing tonal and tempo shifts that go from upbeat to chilled. The result was Jazzmatazz, a celebration of a musical symbiosis that boasts the fusion East Coast hip-hop with live jazz artists and honours both genres brilliantly. No surprise, as jazz has long been a part of hip-hop's roots, and for Guru, the next step was evident: reach out to original artists whose music they’d been sampling and book in some studio time. At the time, hip-hop artists like A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul were flipping jazz samples into their tracks. “Peace, yo, and welcome to Jazzmatazz, an experimental fusion of hip-hop and live jazz,” announces the ever-so-suave Guru at the start of the Gang Starr MC’s 1993 solo album. Savin Mattozzi Beastie Boys – Paul's Boutique (1989) If you want to listen to an album to get you riled up about injustice, look no further than both Public Enemy and N.W.A’s 1988 output. A performance of the song ‘Fuck tha Police’ was even disrupted by the police in Detroit in 1989. It wasn’t until the following year that the album got the attention it deserved when it peaked at number nine on Billboard’s Top R&B / Hip-Hop Albums. Ice Cube’s booming voice demands your attention as you start to get heated with him as he raps along. Rhythmic record scratching and synth sounds guide you through the raw sometimes graphic storytelling present in the album. The album’s most popular songs have since become international anthems against police brutality and the plight of Black people in the US: ‘Fuck tha Police’, ‘Gangsta Gangsta’ and ‘Straight Outta Compton’. The album depicts the life and struggles of living in a neglected and over policed area of LA County in the 1980s as Black people. The summer of 1988 saw the release of the unforgettable debut album from N.W.A. Pepper’s.’ is to rock-pop, and it ushered in a new and influential era of socially engaged hip-hop. So yes, ‘It Takes a Nation.’ is to hip-hop what ‘Sgt. This record showed that the musical genre could serve as a political tool, in order to soundtrack the Black experience and carve out more space for people of colour in mainstream media. The scratches and samples mixed with some of Public Enemy’s strongest lyrics make this album the band’s best work hits like ‘Don’t Believe The Hype’, ‘Bring The Noise’ and ‘Rebel Without A Pause’ served as an fiercer counterbalance to Run-DMC’s output, and their influence on hip-hop culture cannot be underestimated. Fuelled by righteous fury, it brings a punk sensibility to its themes of social injustice and Black empowerment. D wasn’t far wrong with his comparison: Public Enemy’s sophomore record, like the Beatles’ celebrated album, was utterly groundbreaking, and stands as hip-hop's first bone fide masterpiece. Public Enemy frontman Chuck D once described ‘It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back’ as hip-hop's ‘Sgt. They kicked off a popular appreciation for a genre that could well have gotten a different name had it not been for the Gang. The Sugarhill Gang weren’t lynchpins of the scene, but they tapped into the veins of the masses with an infectious and disco-inspired set of songs. (It's worth noting that the term's origin story stems from Robert Keith Wiggins aka: Keef Cowboy, a member of group Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, who mocked one of his friends who had just joined the army and began chanting “hip hop” to mimic the cadence of marching soldiers.) While the scene had been thriving underground, the single offered a mainstream visibility unseen until then. While not held in the highest of regards compared to most albums on this list, it remains an important landmark in the annals of hip-hop, especially for the track ‘Rapper’s Delight’ - which introduced the term ‘hip-hop’ into the wider lexicon. The self-tilted debut from The Sugarhill Gang is widely considered to be the first hip-hop studio album.
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