Hip-Hop Heads and Rap Junkies

[LightspeedJack]

Any real rap fans out there in the Escapist community? What are your favourite artists/groups. Mostly I prefer the non-gangsta style rap, rap that has some intelligence to it so not macho rubbish like 50 Cent or mainstream crap like Soulja Boy. Below is a non-comprehensive list of my favourite rappers right now:

A$AP Rocky
Childish Gambino
Various members of Odd Future
Ye & Jay (they are hit and miss for me, Watch The Throne was genius though)
Mac Miller
Wu Tang
N.W.A. & Tupac
Biggie
Beastie Boys (R.I.P. MCA)
Lupe Fiasco
Random A.K.A. Mega Ran (sick underground dude who makes raps about Final Fantasy and Mega Man haha)
Eminem
Fort Minor
Das Racist
Mos Def
Public Enemy
Pretty much anything produced by Clams Casino

 

[Nouw]

They have a license to ill and they are known to let the beat,mmmm...drop! The Beastie Boys. They're just fantastic MCs that have wacky lyrics with a great DJ to top it all off.

Keep on 'illin MCA.

I also like Del the Funky Homosapien, best known for rapping in Clint Eastwood by the Gorillaz.

 

[Launcelot111]

Das Racist and Public Enemy tower over the rest of the rest of the rap landscape for me, though I've listened to far too much Kitty Pryde in the past week or so.

 

[LightspeedJack]

Das Racist and Public Enemy tower over the rest of the rest of the rap landscape for me, though I've listened to far too much Kitty Pryde in the past week or so.

Ahh I totally forgot about Public Enemy! And pretty much all the Gorillaz stuff featuring rappers is great, even the song with Snoop who I usually dislike.

 

[Vault101]

Sage Francis...


is awsome

 

[Fingerprint]

It's not really my thing but for a bit of nineties hip-hop I'd recommend DJ Format, more specifically Format ft. Abdominal.

 

[Vault101]

also what do you get when you mix rap/hip-hop with Mass Effect?

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

This is a random guy that I found interesting...

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I'll admit, I haven't listened to a lot of rap. That said, I like Public Enemy quite a bit, Beastie Boys definitely live up to their rep (RIP MCA), and I'm partway through "The Marshall Mathers LP" for a review, and I've been quite impressed by his skill.

People really need to stop judging rappers based off of 50 Cent, or worse, Pitbull. *shudder*

 

[Vault101]

People really need to stop judging rappers based off of 50 Cent, or worse, Pitbull. *shudder*

pitbull needs to be put down....

 

[testube]

Good stuff:

Substance Abuse feat. Tash of Tha Liks "Don't Get Us Wrong"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZascjLgw3eY&feature=related

 

[DoPo]

Wu Tang
N.W.A. & Tupac
Biggie
Eminem [older stuff]
Public Enemy

We have some overlap there. Also "Mostly I prefer the non-gangsta style rap, rap that has some intelligence to it so not macho rubbish like 50 Cent or mainstream crap like Soulja Boy" this part. I don't know some of the others from the list, I'll look into them.

I'll also add some more "exotic" rap, namely German.

Spoiler: Sido

Spoiler: Bushido

Spoiler: Chakuza

Well, he's actually Austrian

 

[Shadowstar38]

Really good list OP. Wu Tang and Eminem are the ones I really listen to a lot from that group.

If you want to hear something really awesome, try pretty much anyone signed to Strange Music with Tech N9ne

Spoiler: Strange Music

And everyone needs to know about Funk Volume.

Spoiler: Hopsin and Swizzz

And here's the Game and Kendrick Lamar to top it off.

Spoiler

 

[HardkorSB]

KRS One.
Most people just know his old stuff (which is great) but he's releasing an album every year, sometimes 2 per year.
Here's one great track from 2007:


Styles of Beyond.
True, the crew broke up but they made some awesome stuff:


Rhymester.
Some Japanese funky style right here:

 

[Andy Shandy]

Must admit hip-hop/rap isn't a genre I listen to much, but I do love me some Eminem. Also like Fort Minor since I listened to them from the link with Linkin Park. And I've listened to a couple of Childish Gambino songs, mainly because I also like Donald Glover (especially as Troy in Community as you can tell). Some of his stuff is quite good.

 

[w9496]

It's not a genre I listen to a lot, but I like a bunch of RUN DMC songs. They were the ones who brought rap/hip-hop into the mainstream if I recall correctly.

 

[JeffBergGold]

Any real rap fans out there in the Escapist community? What are your favourite artists/groups. Mostly I prefer the non-gangsta style rap, rap that has some intelligence to it so not macho rubbish like 50 Cent or mainstream crap like Soulja Boy. Below is a non-comprehensive list of my favourite rappers right now:

A$AP Rocky
Childish Gambino
Various members of Odd Future
Ye & Jay (they are hit and miss for me, Watch The Throne was genius though)
Mac Miller
Wu Tang
N.W.A. & Tupac
Biggie
Beastie Boys (R.I.P. MCA)
Lupe Fiasco
Random A.K.A. Mega Ran (sick underground dude who makes raps about Final Fantasy and Mega Man haha)
Eminem
Fort Minor
Das Racist
Mos Def
Public Enemy
Pretty much anything produced by Clams Casino

How do you dislike gangsta rap while simultaneously liking Biggie, N.W.A. Tupac, Eminem, and Public Enemy? They are pretty much avatars of the genre.

 

[LightspeedJack]

self snip

How do you dislike gangsta rap while simultaneously liking Biggie, N.W.A. Tupac, Eminem, and Public Enemy? They are pretty much avatars of the genre.

Notice that I said "I mostly prefer non-gangsta style rap" meaning that I do like some gangsta rap, just not most. I love these acts for the creativeness of the music and the lyricism, not BECAUSE of the fact that it is about violent thug culture. This list isn't in a specific order, if it was most of the less gangsta style acts would have ranked higher.

 

[JeffBergGold]

self snip

How do you dislike gangsta rap while simultaneously liking Biggie, N.W.A. Tupac, Eminem, and Public Enemy? They are pretty much avatars of the genre.

Notice that I said "I mostly prefer non-gangsta style rap" meaning that I do like some gangsta rap, just not most. I love these acts for the creativeness of the music and the lyricism, not BECAUSE of the fact that it is about violent thug culture. This list isn't in a specific order, if it was most of the less gangsta style acts would have ranked higher.

I'm curious as to why you don't like gangsta rap that is apparently about "violent thug culture".

Would you care to expand on that? It's an point of view I've never heard before by an avid rap listener.

 

[LightspeedJack]

I'm curious as to why you don't like gangsta rap that is apparently about "violent thug culture".

Would you care to expand on that? It's an point of view I've never heard before by an avid rap listener.

It kind of sounded like I was condemning that genre there, which I was not intending to do. It's not that I disapprove of or have something against that type of music it's just that I find it harder to relate to and I find a lot of modern rap is kind of just repeating the stuff that those guys like N.W.A. and Tupac did way back when. I just personally find rap music like Lupe Fiasco and Childish Gambino more interesting because it's something different, more interesting and I kind of feel it relates to my personally a little more, if that makes any sense at all.

I find it kind of hard to express myself about things like this so I hope that description makes some sense

EDIT: Also N.W.A. and Public Enemy were the originators of that genre which is why I consider them superior to most gangsta rap acts.