Posts Tagged Hip-Hop
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June 21, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 289
Run-DMC, Walk This Way [Single] (1986) I’m pretty sure I knew this version and knew about Run-DMC before I knew the Aerosmith version and maybe even before I (really) knew about Aerosmith. I certainly got into Aerosmith (for a while) on the back of this. I remember that much. Then it was to Beastie Boys and Public Enemy and all sorts of things on the […]Archive
April 10, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 144: Cee-Lo Green – “Cee-Lo Green…Is The Soul Machine”
Cee-Lo Green…he’s a bit like the Elton John or Sting or Eric Clapton of his day really, in that people now might struggle to believe how potent, how good he once was. Since everything happens a lot quicker now this happened a lot quicker to Cee-Lo. There he was in Goodie Mob killing it and then across his first couple of solo albums […]Archive
March 29, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 139: Mike Ladd – “Welcome To The Afterfuture”
Mike Ladd is a rapper I’ve been aware of for a while – yet I never heard this. It’s fantastic. Everything I’ve heard him do – or heard him on – has been great. I love his albums with jazz pianist Vijay Iyer. He’s one of the people you can point to as furthering hip-hop, taking it beyond anger […]Archive
March 12, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 132: Jeru The Damaja – “The Sun Rises In The East”
Now I knew about this album – maybe not quite at the time, but sometime shortly after, and I just never quite made it through to it. A shame. And good to be there now. Because not only is Jeru The Damaja great, and certainly career-best here on this debut, but also I was into all the stuff that came up around this time […]Archive
March 3, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 129: Ice Cube – “The Predator”
I rate Ice Cube – big time. Made it work for him in acting (wasn’t/isn’t great, yet isn’t flat out terrible, etc…) but really his true strength, apart from building a business empire, a brand, is his rapping, or even – actually – his writing. Dude is one of the great lyricists in hip-hop. A pioneer even. […]Archive
February 16, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 125: Gang Starr – “Step In The Arena”
This is the sort of straight-up banger that makes me pleased I signed up for and carried on this ridiculous ‘Challenge’. Here I am going through old albums I missed at the time. Mostly finding gems. A few duds. A few ‘who really cares’, a few ‘you had to be theres/time/place’ but mostly finding gems…then there’s something like this. You’d […]Archive
February 10, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 123: Digital Underground – “Sex Packets”
Yes, yes, I know The Humpty Dance – because who doesn’t? Even people who are sure they don’t know that or maybe don’t recognise the title do actually know that song. But I had never heard the whole album. I had heard one or two other Digital Underground tracks, but never a whole album – and this, their debut, is one of […]Archive
February 4, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 121: Jungle Brothers – “Done By The Forces of Nature”
I know the Jungle Brothers. Love them. But I know them only from single tracks. From their overall sound, from their inclusion in mixtapes and compilations, DJ sets too. I had never heard any of their albums but as soon as I heard this I loved it. Not just the content (the feel and flow) but the production. This album […]Archive
January 5, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 344
Avantdale Bowling Club, Avantdale Bowling Club (2018) I was sold on this on first listen – I’ve liked most of what Tom Scott has done ahead of this project, but this is the one. And in fact when I reviewed the album I talked about it being the local-act album of the year; more than […]Archive
January 3, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 116: Queen Latifah – “All Hail The Queen”
I was going to say that I was very much Team Neneh Cherry back in this day – but a) I still am. And b) it wasn’t about choosing sides. I just mean that – for whatever reason – I never listened to Queen Latifah. I was aware of her, heard a song or two, […]Archive
December 21, 2018 by Simon Sweetman