Recommend good Rap/Hip-Hop songs/groups

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

I made thread about recommending good metal a long time ago and I meant to make one for rap next. Well I finally got to it about year later.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.393118-recommend-some-metal-songs-bands#15877335
The metal thread had some success. Still don't care for most metal but I can respect the talent need to make theses songs. I can enjoy metal but I am very pick about the metal songs I enjoy and that thread helped by expanding the metal I listened to.

rap and hip hop are similar enough to not justify there own separate thread from my limited understanding these genres.

feel free to recommend anything that is not gangster rap. lyrics is mostly what rap has and I have no interest in hearing rap about gang related things because they don't appeal to me.

So far most rap that I ever heard is garbage. I don't have a positive option of rap but I will do my best to be open minded(I make mo promises). My view of hip hip can so far be described as a meh. over all I don't have much respect for the talent in these genres of music.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I don't really follow hip hop as a genre, but I like good music, despite the genre, so here's the first that comes to mind


The anime is also worth watching since it does use a lot of hip hop themes throughout.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

Ask and ye shall receive...

Macklemore:

Spoiler

Childish Gambino:

Spoiler

Mos Def:

Spoiler

Hodgy Beats:

Spoiler

 

[Total LOLige]

Time for the Beastie Boys, if you ask me, they've got it all wit, attitude, general awesomery.

Spoiler: Story of how the Beastie Boys met

Spoiler: Other Beastie Boys songs

I also recommend Cypress Hill but they kind of fall under the bracket of gangster rap in some of their lyrical subject matter. Black Sunday is an awesome album, so is Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom. Cypress Hill have some amazing beatwork, not just about the lyrics,man.

Spoiler: Cypress Hill

Spoiler: Cypress Hill + Pulp Fiction = WIN

Spoiler: Did someone say Beastie Boys feat Cypress Hill? Hell Yeah

Spoiler: Cypress Hill & Sonic Youth joining up together in celebration of their shared love of Mary Jane

Also if Rage Against The Machine count as a rap group, listen to them. They might have already been recommended in your metal thread.

Spoiler: Rage Against The Machine

Spoiler: Rage Against The Machine feat Cypress Hill? Right On

MF DOOM has got some awesome stuff too, also he's a supervillain.

Spoiler: MF Doom - Operation: Doomsday

 

[Shadowstar38]

My personal favorite, Tech n9ne.

Spoiler: Tech N9ne

Tyler the creator for some really good lyrics and instrumentals.

Spoiler: Tyler

And RA for some really good flow

Spoiler: RA

And if you don't know who hopsin is, fix it.

Spoiler: Hop

 

[uneek]

I have none myself, but I just want to let you know you've been given some very good choices. If you don't like any of those, you can officially claim you don't care about Hip-Hop.

 

[Nouw]

Ninja'd on Beastie Boys in a hip-hop thread, today is a good day.

Spoiler: Obligatory Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West.

The former album especially deserves to be listened through in a sitting.

 

[TheLastSeraphim]

A few of My Favorites

Spoiler: Ces Cru

Pretty Much the Entire Constant Energy Struggles album

Spoiler: Tech N9ne

One of My All Time Favorties

Spoiler: Bone Thugz N Harmony

You can never go wrong with Bone

And of Course Pac

Spoiler: 2pac

One of The Best Songs EVER

 

[Bureacreative]

Hieroglyphics have always been good to me. Don't know how to embed stuff but they're all over youtube

 

[TheLastSeraphim]

Hieroglyphics have always been good to me. Don't know how to embed stuff but they're all over youtube

Take the Link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BBbxLt-whk
Copy the end:=8BBbxLt-whk
Add the Youtube code [*youtube=8BBbxLt-whk] ** minus the asterisk**

 

[InsanityHalls]

Several good ones posted already.

 

[captnb2thep]

Common

Spoiler: Common - I Used To Love H.E.R.

OLD Drake
Specifically the "So Far Gone" album/mixtape. Most of his newer music is crap to fill a niche, but he does release a few competent tracks on his studio albums. Recently this is one of his best new tracks. (He even drops a line where he says "Drizzy still got some '06 in em")

Spoiler: Drake - Jodeci

Others to check out are Eminem's first two albums (Slim Shady LP and Marshall Mathers LP), Slim Shady LP is an instant classic, one of the best albums of all time in my opinion.

Definitely check out Wu-Tang clan even if you don't like gangster rap, they have plenty of classic non-gang related tracks. Also as said before: Kendrick Lamar, Beastie Boys, Rage Against the Machine. Kanye West's studio albums besides 808's and Heartbreak. Many people like J. Cole, but I could never get into him, but there's no denying he's talented. Some Childish Gambino is good, other tracks are reaching a little bit.

Definitely plenty of good posts in here, I approve lol.

 

[SonofaJohannes]

I don't really listen to all that much rapBut I like this one, it's really calm and nice.


Edit: Actually let's post the first one too. I like it as well.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Well, seeing as gangsta rap is the only kind I'm into, I guess I can't link anything. But I'll have you know, OP, that you're wrong. Lyrics aren't the only thing Rap has. That's an incredibly ignorant thing to say, to be honest.

 

[War Penguin]

Seriously? No one has mentioned Aesop Rock yet? For shame, Escapists! For shame!

Spoiler

Hell, just buy the album Labor Days. You know what we call that shit where I'm from? We call that shit dope!

*Ahem*

So yeah... Aesop Rock is good if you want your hip hop to be a bit more poetic. Though bear in mind that you'll might want to re-listen to a lot of his songs in order to understand what he's saying. You hear it the first time and you hardly have an idea of what he's saying. You look up the lyrics and you have even less of an idea than before. So yeah. Aesop Rock is a lot of fun to listen to if you want to deconstruct his music. That and the beat is just nothing short of sick!

EDIT: WHAT?!? No Sage Francis either?! Come on people! If [user]Vault101[/user] were still here, she'd be all over this shit!

Spoiler

Let me put it like this: Sage Francis made the first rap song to make me cry. He makes it a much more personal experience and feels a lot more emotional and open than a lot of other rappers.

The only exception is Slug from the group Atmosphere, but thankfully someone already posted an example of that. That said, I'm gonna post my favorite song of their's anyway!

Spoiler

And hell, I haven't seen anyone post Deltron 3030 yet, so allow me...

Spoiler

You know the Gorillaz? You remember the rapper from the song Clint Eastwood? That's this guy. And he's fucking awesome! I'll admit, he's a little bit... nerdier than most other rappers that I've heard, but I like that. It gives him much more personality, which makes him stand out.

I uh... like talking about music. <.<

 

[5-0]

I don't enjoy hip hop much, but I can appreciate when it's good, and I like individual songs. I'm used to listening to genres with more going on musically and instrumentally; I get bored of the same samples over and over. With that said, I really like the use of piano in this track. I first heard it in the soundtrack to Tony Hawk's Underground, and it's stayed with me for life. In fact the whole album that this is from (Illmatic) is an absolute classic, and the only hip hop album I can listen to the whole way through.

Spoiler: Nas

I've also always liked these songs. As a drummer, I appreciate good beats. Mos Def writes with intelligence and wit.

Spoiler: Mos Def

Talib Kweli makes use of a classic sample here.

Spoiler: Talib Kweli

And this is Mos Def and Talib Kweli's collaboration project.

Spoiler: Black Star

Finally another all-star collaboration

Spoiler: Kanye West, Rakim and KRS One

 

[Ldude893]

Ask and ye shall receive...

Macklemore:

Spoiler

God, I love the Mack. He's not the best rapper out there, but I've never heard the subjects of his songs anywhere else in the genre. Also, he also made two of my favorite [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEr5H4E4r3I] songs [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjpo5_aC9XE] relating to art in general.

 

[Bradmaster Flash]

I'm not a massive hip-hop/rap fan, but I do have soft spots for The Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, Jay-Z, and Death Grips especially.


Death Grips' first two releases are available for free, as well. Highly recommended!