[Confispect]

Quote:

 some older OutKast, like Aquemini or Stankonia.

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Quote:

 Early Eminem is fun - The Slim Shady LP / The Marshall Mathers LP

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[ThumperSD]

Check out these albums
 
Nas - Illmatic
A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
Q-Tip - The Renaissance
Bone Thug N Harmony - E 1999 Eternal
Gang Starr - Full Clip: A Decade of Gang Starr
Mos Def & Kweli - Black Star
Too Short - Get In Where You Fit In
Outkast - ATLiens, Aquemini

 

[matthewh133]

Haven't read the whole thread, and I'm not huge into rap/hip-hop, but Kanye West's new album is great. Eminem is great. Scribe isn't too bad as well.

 

[Confispect]

Eminem > Kanye West
 
The new album is good though. His production as always is off the charts.

 

[Kiiskinen]

You should check out the Real Hip-Hop Recommendations -thread. It's been a very good discussion and a ton of good (and REAL) stuff has been posted there.
 
If you really want to start from the beginning listen to artists like Big Daddy Kane, Rakim, Fresh Prince and Public Enemy etc. But steer away from the 'mainstream' -- strangely enough, the worst hip hop is usually the kind that sells the most.

 

[Ynoskire]

Which is the case with most genres, sadly.

 

[Confispect]

Quote:

steer away from the 'mainstream' -- strangely enough, the worst hip hop is usually the kind that sells the most.

Unless he ends up liking what you don't.
 

 

[Arc6]

This is also an essential to anyone trying to get into West Coast hip hop.​

 ​

My two favorites are Check Yo Self and It Was A Good Day.​

​

 

[Hawaiiancerveza]

Strange Fruit project, Unknown Prophets, Coolio, House of Pain, Giant Panda, People Under the Stairs, Omega Watts, Lushlife, Jedi Mind tricks, N.E.R.D., Blackalicious, Jurassic 5, Dilated peoples, Gilbere Forte, Ghost Face killah, Floyd da Locsmif (personal favorite!!!), Black eyed peas (older stuff), Beastie Boys, Kno, KVbeats, A tribe called quest, The Roots, Atmosphere, and many more!

 

[FunToys]

A lot of good suggestions here, but I think it would be important to know, what aspects of hip-hop appeal to you? Why Biggie but not Public Enemy? Hip-hop is a pretty diverse genre (and I despise the fact that everyone dumbs it down into a mainstream vs. underground battle). If you like hip-hop that deals with social/political issues, try Dead Prez, Common, Talib Kweli, or Mos Def. If you like gritty storytelling and tales of street life, Freddie Gibbs, Wu-Tang Clan, Royce Da 5'9", and Jean Grae are fantastic. If you're into jazzy beats, look for producers like Pete Rock, DJ Premier, J Dilla, and Nujabes. Learning to appreciate hip-hop definitely requires a different perspective from that of rock, but with patience you'll discover how rich it is.

 

[Kiiskinen]

Quote:

Unless he ends up liking what you don't.
 

 
Not an impossible scenario, that.
 
But honestly most 'mainstream' rappers are terrible, especially lyrically. They sell with sex and gimmicks (autotune), which has for some reason become the norm in pop-music.

 

[Confispect]

^ True.
 
Going back in time is definitely good on the originality front you'll find that a lot of artist now-a-days took a thing or two from the oldies.

 

[ptownjungle]

 
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Your getting thrown way to many artist at once. Honestly I would just take a couple here and there.. sit down and really listen to them (I dont mean 20 seconds of one track).  While your listening to the artist do some research and get their history (wikipedia is a great resource for this type of stuff).  People always told me read the first chapter of a book before you make any assumptions about it. Same can be said for music.. don't let one track or even an album turn you off from someone.
 
When you find an artist you really dig check out who their features are or who produced 'em... then check out other artist produced by the same cat.  Honestly after a while I realized a lot of the artist I listen to are produced by the same people (9th Wonder, J Dilla, Young Guru, Dr Dre, Pete Rock, DJ Premier).  Once I realized that, I was just searching for songs produced by them and was liking 90% of what I found.  On another note you'll start to notice you can categorize the genre in so many different ways without realizing it (west coast vs east coast (im talking styles here not beef), hip-hop (boom bat) vs rap, commercial vs underground, et cetera) which will help you search for artist that fit to your likings.  I find that sometimes the digging is just as entertaining as the music itself.  
 
Sorry if this is all over the place but I tried to keep it short.. I could sit here and write a book to you on listening to hip-hop.
 
If you only get one thing out of what I'm saying.. let this be it.
 
"DO NOT TURN ON YOUR RADIO!" 

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[Ynoskire]

Quote:

 

On another note you'll start to notice you can categorize the genre in so many different ways without realizing it (west coast vs east coast (im talking styles here not beef), hip-hop (boom bat) vs rap, commercial vs underground, et cetera) which will help you search for artist that fit to your likings.  I find that sometimes the digging is just as entertaining as the music itself.​

I've got a lot of problems if I want to subgenrerize (is that even a word?) hiphop. Whilst rock and electronic music are subgenrerized to death with subgenres within each subgenre etc. There don't seem to be any obvious sub-genres in hiphop. Which is a positive thing, but it does make the digging a lot more difficult.
 

 

[chowbabyloving]

Be - Common.