Videos
Top 10 “Total Package” Hip Hop Tracks
Loading ...Gang Starr – Mass Appeal
There are so many reasons why “Work” should be here instead of Mass Appeal. “Work” does a great job combining various production styles; with horn stabs, jazzy piano loops, and the use of the siren (popularized by Public Enemy and the Bomb Squad). It has one of the most recognizable opening lines in Hip Hop (“I wanna be a Jedi”), and Guru’s vocals are a bit more colorful than his usual Rakim influenced monotone style… Mass Appeal is simpler in all respects, but it’s just so damn catchy you can’t help but choose it.
MF DOOM – Dead Bent
DOOM counters jiggy-era rap and brings in these samples that I don’t think were ever used that way by any producer before him. His complex wordplay with drunken delivery, his super obvious but very well done production causes confusion of whether he is being jive lazy or a genius. On Dead Bent he shows his remix prowess, vamping Isaac Hayes’s “Walk on By” to a stunning grandiose blissfull effect. His lyrics could be a tribute to personified female Hip Hop genre, or it could be some fucked up nonsense… but it’s the sheer boom of production with these lyrics that make it so great.
Eminem – Stan
A stroke of narrative genius for Eminem… exploring his paranoia, sense of responsibility, and the corruption of being a celebrity.
Mike Jones feat Slim Thug and Paul Wall – Still Tippin
Still Tippin was not the first Southern Rap, but it came so hard with its presence that you had to pay attention. It feels more like a declaration of war, a sense of putting it down, an announcement of arrival to the big time… Swishahouse, Mike, Slim… and pretty much Houston and all of Southern Rap.
Lupe Fiasco – Kick Push
The horns come in for a bar then fade off, leaving only some light strings to represent that glide right after you push off your skateboard. Lupe’s presence announced the rise of the new-skool Cool Kids, Hipster Skater types flourishing at the moment. And it was quite undeniable that the light sounds, laid back flow, and embrace of other subcultures was a complete contrast to what was happening in Hip Hop at the time.
Honorable Mentions
Souls of Mischief – 93 to infinity
Mos Def – Umi Says
Missy Elliot – Rain
Black Sheep – The Choice is Yours (revisited)
Making a list like this is no easy task. Hip Hop was cut-and-paste music… a hybrid of different genres, styles, flows, and productions that all live under one roof. Hip Hop’s very nature of competitiveness and individualism pushes emcees, DJ’s, and Producers to differentiate themselves—working angles such as wordplay, flow, storytelling, crate digging, and showmanship. And as Hip Hop spread to other regions, a wider array of worldviews started to catch light. All these pieces fit together to make sure Hip Hop is ever changing and rearranging with numerous motifs, tools, angles, and approaches.
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Hugo grew up on Yo MTV Raps, cassette tapes, and pupusas. A b-boy at heart, he discovered electronic music and dub reggae and has been exploring the intersections of all styles of beat, bass, and DJ music since. By day, he serves as an advocate for underrepresented intellects and leaders in higher education. These explorations can be read and downloaded from his blog, Chronicles of the American Pupusa (www.americanpupusa.blogspot.com). His own music can be heard at www.mysppace.com/illselection. An American from El Salvador and Guatemala, he lives in Washington DC.
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