Originally Posted by gotrocks
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Anything by wu-tang, pretty much, although recently their albums have had fewer hits on them to be quite honest. And I'm a die hard wu-fan.
Some of their gems:
Pass the bone - GZA, Solo Album
Babies - Clan, off Iron Flag
9 Mili Bros - Clan, off GFK SoloAlbum Fishscale, likely the last great Wu-tang track featuring all the original members, as it has cuts from ODB who's now dead.
Triumph - Clan, Wu-tang forever, not a hidden gem by any means, but was a landmark track when it dropped and needs to be mentioned in every 'great hiphop' songs list.
Nas - Pretty much the entire illmatic CD. Other cds had some big hits and misses but illmatic was a sublime experience the whole way through.
Memory lane - illmatic - best track on the album, imo
Take it in blood - it was written (album), classic track
The message - it was written (album)
Ether - Stillmatic? (cant remember for sure it was on that album or not) Best "beef" track ever recorded, It's basically 5 minutes of Nas taking the song Jay-Z wrote to try and bash him, ripping it apart completely and then putting it *back together* to tear Jay-Z a new whole to breath from somewhere in his pelvic region.
Mobb Deep - damn these guys were good back in the day. I haven't listened to them recently, but I had heard they went 'hip-pop', which is unfortunate because they were a big part of the 'underground' queens bridge rap movement. Can't think of any favorites that diplo didnt' already mention
T.I. - I generally don't like south rap at all, as artists from down there generally come out with 'pop-y' tracks that can sound good on the ears, but have little real substance in their lyrics. Mike jones is a fantastic example of this. But T.I. has real talent, his lyrics are usually pretty deep and full of meaning, and I really enjoy most of his tracks. Don't form your opinion of him based off his singles, because there is a lot more there.
Motivation - T.I., Urban Legend
Told you so - T.I., King
T.I. vs T.I.P. - T.I., T.I. Vs T.I.P.
Bankhead - T.I., King
Lots of others by T.I., he's definitely worth checking out if you haven't already. There's a reason why they call him the King of the South, despite Lil' Wayne attempting to claim that title/thinking it was his. There's only one king in the south, wayne, and you aren't it.
Tons of other artists to look at, like jedi mind trick, or deltron. Some of these guys are still making great albums even in this decade and the last one, so don't give up hope. Hip hop is still very much alive.
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