26 Years as a Hip Hop Head: Hedonist Edition

’93 Til Infinity (Souls of Mischief)
Souls of Mischief is a subgroup from the California based collective, Hieroglyphics, consisting of members A-Plus, Opio, Phesto and Tajai. They utilize a distinct and challenging internal rhyme scheme, and beats centered around obscure jazz and funk samples. The title track is a largely underappreciated mainstay in hip hop, and the stunning nature of the album is (I believe) thanks to consistency throughout, not individual highlights. Souls of Mischief continue to be incredibly influential to me as a critic, emcee and fan within the culture, and serves to me a perpetual reminder of the importance of committing to excellence when creating art.

Runner Up: Midnight Marauders (A Tribe Called Quest)

Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (Outkast)
Andre 3000 and Big Boi are without a doubt two of the most beloved and influential cats in hip hop, and their debut album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik may not be their most well-known and loved; however, to me it is the most important. It’s a truly Southern album, which incorporates analog elements, soulful beats, and a coming of age theme that resonates as strongly with me as someone now closer to 30 as  it did when I was still a preteen. It was also a relatively controversially received album – at the 1995 Source Awards, they were booed when they went onstage to accept their “Best Newcomer” award; however, their legacy was only beginning its stronghold, and was beautifully foreshadowed by Andre 3000’s assertion that “the South has something to say”.

Runner Up: The Sun Rises in the East (Jeru The Damaja)

1995
Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version (Old Dirty Bastard)
Wutang Clan is for the children, and while ODB isn’t singularly responsible for my adoration of the Clan, he’s certainly the most influential member in regard to this gal’s paradigm. Misunderstood and largely underrated, addiction and mental illness plagued my favourite clan member and certainly come through sonically in the hallmarks of the album; that is to say, the spooky production, bizarre lyricism, and completely off the wall plot combine for a one in a million album that is equal parts hilarious and deeply concerning. On the surface, this one gets glossed over too frequently. I maintain that it is an absolute necessity in the treasure troves of any true hip hop head.

1996
The Score (The Fugees)
Certified an incredible 6 times platinum by the RIAA, The Fugees’ final studio album is an absolute masterwork in the realm of alternative hip hop. To me, it’s a symphony – one cannot truly appreciate each individual track without hearing the album from beginning to end. Lauryn Hill is one of my all time heroes, and the Fugees are one of my top 3 favourite bands of all time. This is a pivotal album for me as a head, as it marks my foray into more adult hip hop, and forever sounds like the comforting sonic blanket that got me through the roughest spots in my life.

Runner Up: It Was Written (Nas)

Life After Death (The Notorious B.I.G.)
Released posthumously, Life After Death features collaborations with hip hop heavyhitters including (but definitely not limited to) 112, Jay-Z, Lil’ Kim, the Lox, and R. Kelly. A landmark in hip hop, it is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time. To me, what stands out is bifold. Primarily, the collaborations are on point; and secondarily, the fact that Biggie passed so shortly prior to the album’s release gives even more poignancy and profound beauty to the collaborations, as they remain in the realm of the living hip hop heads as eulogistic goodbyes from hip hop greats to a now-deceased hip hop King. I am forever a Biggie fan over a Tupac fan, and I couldn’t even begin to estimate how many times I’ve played this one through beginning to end.

Runner Up:The Psycho-Social, Chemical, Biological & Electro-Magnetic Manipulation of Human Consciousness (Jedi Mind Tricks)

1998
Capital Punishment (Big Punisher)
The only album released by Pun prior to his tragically early passing, Capital Punishment  is the first Latin hip hop record to go certified platinum. Pun was a lyrical mastermind, with incredible flow and intricate structure that to this day serve as the benchmark in my mind for excellence. He was nominated for Best Hip Hop Album at the 1999 Grammy Awards, but lost to Jay-Z’s “Vol 2…Hard Knock Life”. The sampling choices on the album are also all over the map, from the Mancini Orchestra to Mobb Deep. A Latina growing up in North America myself, the struggles that Pun expounds upon are presented in a way that makes more sense to me still somehow than pretty much any other rap album, ever. Big Pun is one of my top three artists of all time, and I’ve bought Capital Punishment on cassette tape, CD, and digitally more times than I can count because I literally cannot go without the ability to have it in rotation at any given time.

Runner Up: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (Lauryn Hill)

1999
Black on Both Sides (Mos Def)
Mos Def (AKA Yasiin Bey) is pretty much my lyrical hero. His debut album came a year following his duo effort with Talib Kweli, Black Star, which set an incredibly high precedent and standard for his solo foray. The album is stunning for a host of reasons: the lyrical content and alchemy, the fact that there are barely any collaborations on the album – and that the ones that are there are exceptional (see Busta Rhymes on Do It Now, Talib Kweli on Know That, Q Tip on Mr. Nigga, and DJ Premier on Mathematics), the impeccable production, and the fact that almost 10 years later, the album is virtually unchallenged in its worth and value as a standalone masterwork. Forever the bar I strive to one day even glance.

Runners Up: Things Fall Apart (The Roots), The Chronic 2001 (Dr. Dre)

2000
The Marshall Mathers LP (Eminem)

Selling more than 1.76 million copies in its first week alone, The Marshall Mathers LP is the fastest selling studio album by any American recording artist in history. Featuring more introspective lyrics and heavily layered production, it’s a meditation on the rapper’s rapid rise to fame, critical acclaim and dismay, and personal challenges arising from addiction and lingering trauma. It’s a pivotal album for me as a head because it was the first album I put up a legitimate fight to attain. My parents HATED Eminem, but 10-year old Mel memorized every single bar and watched the VMAs with newfound political interest (see Bill Clinton), appreciation for the artistry of an album as a whole (see: Ken Kaniff), and it remains one of the reasons that I am sitting here today. I always loved hip hop music; however, MMLP marks my entry into the culture. I was less a fan of MMLP2; however, that’s a discussion for another day. Say what you want about Shady, it’s an exercise in futility trying to convince me that this one isn’t brilliant.

Runner Up: Masters of the Universe (Binary Star)

2001
The Realness (Cormega)
Cormega is hugely underappreciated. The Realness is one of my all time favourite albums, and is one of the most poignant glimpses into the life of a societal misfit that’s ever been conceptualized in the game. Cormega is a serious heavy hitter – an original member of The Firm (alongside Nas, AZ, and Foxy Brown), his debut album remains in heavy rotation on my iPod and definitely shaped me as an emcee – and as a person.

Runners Up: Devil’s Night (D12), Will Rap For Food (Cunninglynguists)

2002
God Loves Ugly (Atmosphere)
Atmosphere consists of DJ Ant and Emcee Slug. Hailing from Minneapolis, they’re cornerstones of Rhymesayers Entertainment, and defined a sound that’s moving, honest, and harkens back to the roots of what backpack rap is meant to be. God Loves Ugly  changed my life, and I know that sounds hyperbolic, but it’s the truth. Slug has a beautiful cadence to his words, a thoughtfulness, a meditative honesty that speaks to my soul. Ant has a dreamy, gritty quality as a turntablist that elevates Slug’s rhymes to an ethereal, dreamy place. Everything Atmosphere’s ever put out has made a serious impact on me, and if you haven’t yet had the pleasure of being exposed to their art, I highly recommend that you take a listen.

Runner Up: Under Construction (Missy Elliott)

2003
Chicken & Beer (Ludacris)
Ludacris’ 4th studio album utilizes his signature rapid fire flow, a political overtone, and (excessive) doses of adult humour to weave together an album that to this day gets me amped about the fact that it’s playing. Two of four singles off the album, “Stand Up” and “Splash Waterfalls” became Luda’s first to peak on the top 10 on the US Billboard 200. Debaucherous and raunchy, but in equal measure well crafted and thoughtful, critical reception was varied. I maintain; however, that Ludacris is one of the most fluid, malleable emcees on the scene, and that he retains relevancy to this day through active maintenance of his worth as a fixture in the scene. This was the soundtrack of my first summer as a teenager, a half a lifetime ago, and thirteen years later, I still enjoy bumpin’ to it just as much.

Runner Up: Balance (Akrobatik)

2004
The College Dropout (Kanye West)
Say what you want about Kanye, he’s been putting in work for a hot minute on the scene. Recorded over 4 years, The College Dropout was his foray from production to being accepted as a rapper in his own right. He handled the production himself and developed his signature “chipmunk soul” flavour, which has lingered (albeit highly evolved) as the years have rolled on. It was a massive commercial success that was bolstered by universal critical acclaim, and it served as a mainstay on my highschool iPod playlists. “Jesus Walks” is still a banger, and I still f*ck with Kanye. Yes, he’s gotten increasingly bizarre as the years have clambered along; however, we’re all still talking about him, and he’s still churning out art that’s worthy of discussion and recognition.

Even the name of this album is a delicious hip hop tidbit: a play on Thelonious Monk, the famous Jazz pianist responsible for inspiring hundreds of beautiful works over the years. Fatlip started his career as past of the Pharcyde, and The Loneliest Punk  was his debut solo work. It’s a masterwork of lyricism, with bars that haunt me for their accurate capture of hopelessness, loneliness, disappointment, self-deprecation, and the underwhelming nature of adulthood in general. Production of the album was handled by the legendary J-Swift, and features only Chali 2Na and Shock G (aka Humpty Hump) as guest MCs. A perennial favourite of mine, I rarely go a week without “What’s Up, Fatlip?” on my playlist du jour. I aspire to be as brutally accurate with my writing, and can only hope that one day, this album receives the kudos it deserves from the hip hop community as a whole.

Runner Up: Demon Days (Gorillaz)

2006
Food & Liquor (Lupe Fiasco)
Lupe’s debut disk is still in heavy rotation in my life. It’s one of the few that I have a truly difficult time finding fault with. The production team includes practically all of the heavy hitters of the time, from the Neptunes to Mike Shinoda. Lyrically, Fiasco’s flow is like none other, and contains topics from Islam, terrorism, racism, poverty, and individuality. The album was nominated for four Grammy Awards, with the song “Daydreamin'” winning Best Urban/Alternative song. The most resounding critique of the album was the lack of creative hooks and overabundance of witty, sociopolitical critiques by means of intricate lyricism – which, to me, is a laughable and striking reflection of what’s been going steadily more wrong with hip hop recently. I am a huge Fiasco fan, and have been listening to this disc again in heavy rotation after hearing that The Cool II is finished, but not to be released, as he has (supposedly) retired from the rap game once again.

Runner Up: Mo’Mega (Mr. Lif)

Carnival Volume II: Memoirs of an Immigrant (Wyclef Jean)
In his 2nd solo studio album, the ex-Fugee, Wyclef Jean, delivers a feast of global rhythms from bhangra to samba and  punctuates them with lyrics and vocals that are thought-provoking and deeply moving. Jean has been quoted as saying that “music is the language of all the world’s people,” which is absolutely the truth, and a very important one for this first-generation Canadian child of immigrant parents. Music gives us a place to fit in with each other as human beings, and removes the divisors that make the Earth a cruel place to be, sometimes. Carnival Volume II is rife with perennial favourites and beautiful collaborations, most notably Paul Simon on Fast Car and Akon and Lil’ Wayne on Sweetest Girl. It’s a symphonic masterwork, and I always enjoy the album from beginning to end.

Runner Up: None Shall Pass (Aesop Rock)

2008
Paper Trail (T.I.)

This was practically the soundtrack for my first year in University, and  I have incredibly fond (albeit fuzzy) memories of blunt cruising with then-new-now-old friends through Lethbridge singing at the top of our lungs and having the time of our lives. T.I.’s Paper Trail is his 6th studio release, and the first album for which he actually wrote his lyrics down. It sold well over 500,000 copies in its first week, and received accolades for its ability to blend pop-py hooks with insightful lyrics. Now certified double platinum by the RIAA, it is forever one of the most important albums in the context of my existence and never fails to put a smile upon my face.

Runner Up: 11th Hour (Del the Funky Homosapien)

Man on the Moon: the End of the Day (Kid Cudi)
A conceptual debut album narrated by Common, Man on the Moon followed Cudi’s debut mixtape. Production took three years, and spawned multiple hit singles. The album was eventually certified gold, and is critically acclaimed for its out of the box approach to hip hop, and for being something entirely unique. Though criticized for its heavy drug-influence, Cudi stated in a BlackBook interview in 2009 that, “each song is a message. All the hooks are stadium-worthy, crowd sing-along, powerful joints that I can’t wait for people to hear in stadium magnitude. My album definitely needs to be heard loudly, but it’s also a great album if you’re smoking and you need to go to sleep. So far I have the lineup of how I want the first seven tracks on my album and if I play the first seven from the beginning to the end, I’m zoned out and it’s the best trip ever. You need to be high to appreciate the instrumentation and how everything is put together on the album—but you don’t have to be high just to enjoy it in general.” It’s important to me for the same reason that Paper Trail is. It represents a microcosm of my existence and the soundtrack of the time period; however, I hold it slightly more dear to my heart for being lyrically and sonically capable of expressing things that I previously couldn’t.

Runner Up: By The Throat (Eyedea & Abilities)

Paz’s debut solo album is a work of art to behold, in all regards.A member of Jedi Mind Tricks, Vinnie Paz is one of hip hop’s all time best lyricists, and his departure from Jedi Mind with Season of the Assassin resulted in an impeccable track listing and critical acclaim. Though he exists in hip hop’s underground, he ruffled many feathers and released music that remains on the cutting edge of hip hop today. My personal favourite of his offerings from the album, Aristotle’s Dilemma, is the number one most played song on my iPod to this day.

Runner Up: Album of the Year (Black Milk)

2011
Banned From America (Madchild)
Okay, so I have to start out by explaining how near and dear to my heart Swollen Members is. The very first track I memorized (and subsequently spit at a dinner party when my parents put me on the spot) was “Deep End,” off of Bad Dreams. They aren’t the sole reason why I love hip hop, but they are incredibly influential in the paradigm of Mel & Music, and over the years, life’s been a funny one – they’re now some of my good friends and mentors. I digress; however, and return our attention to Banned From America, which came out following Madchild’s failure to acquire entry into the United States, and the beginning of his legal struggles following both addiction to opiates and a tangle with the Hells Angels. The disc didn’t actually perform very well – it didn’t tank, but it didn’t gain huge international acclaim, which is a fact that lies in tandem with his public persona taking a hit after separating from Swollen Members and becoming a self-professed “mindless, junkie loser”. I’ve always loved Mad’s wordplay and lyrical structure, which utilizes onomatopoeia, comic book characters, and sci-fi references heavily. Banned From America adds a reflective, introspective and painfully honest self-deprecatory flair that speaks to me on a deep level. Forever one of my favourite artists, this is by far my pick for Madchild’s most successful and important solo work.

Q’s second studio album is a reflection on his years gangbanging, with a focused narrative bookended by “Sacreligious,” which is a story about a killer’s meditations on salvation, and “Blessed,” in which he and TDE cohort Kendrick Lamar examine the necessary balance between respect and regret for one’s past sins. The album was released to critical acclaim, with “Hands on the Wheel” being named one of Complex magaine’s 50 best songs of the year. What I love about ScHoolboy Q is the way he manages to marry relatively traditional thug rap content with a brazen, new sound and intellectual lyrics with anthemic beats, which results not only in a varied fanbase, but this critic’s deep appreciation for the irony that this presents. What I mean to say is that I’ve always struggled with sharing musical selections with a large percentage of my group of friends, because on the whole, I lean towards the deeply intellectual lyrics over the bangin’ beats, and the fact that Q is an ex-gangbanger putting out club hits with profound messages give me hope for both the human race and hip-hop’s main stream. I am a huge ScHoolboy Q fan, and bump this album on the regular still. I can’t wait to see what this year’s album will bring!

 Runner Up: Snowgoons Dynasty (Snowgoons)

When my friend Spinny introduced me to Brother Ali, I though he was kidding, at first. “Mel, you’re gonna love this guy. He’s a blind albino Muslim, and he’s rapping with Rhymesayers!” I mean, really. I giggled, and then  I listened, and then, I was transformed. His rhymes are impeccable, and his intellect shines through by shaping his rich syllabic structures and painting them with sociopolitical, theological, philosophical, and allegorical lyrics that have been known to leave me weeping, giggling, and generally making an emotional spectacle of myself (and often, on public transit). Left in the Deck is a meditation on the musical influences (“left in the cassette tape deck,” for the younger readers..) and their periods of relevant time in Ali’s life as a man, father, husband, friend, preacher, artist, and emcee. From the opening with Jake One on the piano, to his angry, near-rants and sullen reveries, I have to go with Left in the Deck as the most stunning jewel in Brother Ali’s crown. He is touring Edmonton with Atmosphere on September 11th, 2016, and I urge all of my fellow hip hop heads and aficionados to take in a show that I promise you, will change your life.

2014:
The Theremin EP (Edward Scissortongue)
I was introduced to High Focus Records early in 2011, and ever since, I’ve been on a pretty steady diet of UK hip hop. Edward Scissortongue is a highly acclaimed wordsmith who weaves intricate plotlines into conceptual lyrics, and who is definitely unafraid to colour outside the lines and play with structure, time signature, and convention to create beautiful music that sounds completely unlike anything else. The Theremin EP is a beautiful disc, with Lamplighter’s production value to add to the sullen, melancholic feel. His music is rich, expansive, and influenced equally by Hayden as it is Tupac. He’s truly a pivotal player in hip hop’s renaissance, and serves to me as my ultimate inspiration. While I await his 2016 album, Tell Them It’s Winter, with baited breath, The Theremin EP remains in constant play on my headphones, and remains one of the single most moving works of art I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

Mr. Key is another British cat that is so highly unrecognized that it actually makes me sad. His eloquence, elegance, and energy are unparalled in the experimental hip hop realm, and his collaborative efforts with Greenwood Sharps are beyond stunning. Yesterday’s Futures is another disc that instantly changed my life as both a person and a musician – the layering, the production, the lyricism…it all combines into a multisensory experience that is nothing shy of groundbreaking. Additionally, the features include Jam Baxter, Dirty Dike, Edward Scissortongue, and Ronnie Bosh; which means essentially, all of my current hip hop heroes on one symphonic masterwork that I have never, ever skipped when it comes up on my iPod. If you’ve yet to experience High Focus Records, I highly recommend sitting down with Yesterday’s Futures with a good cup of coffee and an open mind. Beginning to end, it is one of the most incredibly moving pieces of music I have ever in my life had the good fortune of being exposed to.

Runner Up: Natural Order (the Four Owls)

At 21 years old, this Brighton native is by far one of the absolute best MCs in the game today. He rose to underground infamy in 2013, when the track “Walkin'” garnered well over 500,000 YouTube views wih absolutely no advertisement or promotion. Ocean has been approached since by nearly all the major record labels worldwide; however, he signed to the UK Independent High Focus (of both Edward Scissortongue and Mr. Key infamy) and released his debut album, Chaos ’93 earlier this year to both huge critical acclaim and surprise. Produced by Dirty Dike, Wisdom is an unmistakable voice – using Patois and linguistic skill to his advantage in order to spit rapidfire rhymes that are nerdy, beautiful, and brilliantly twisted. He is a harkening back to the golden age of hip hop, utilizing boom bap beats with as much skill as grime, and never ceasing to absolutely amaze me (and the rest of the world) with his incredible skill and love for the craft. I cannot even begin to explain how much I adore him as an artist, and can only hope that he blows up in the North American scene soon…although perhaps, not before getting him to collaborate with me on a Hedonist track (hey, a girl can dream, right?). All jokes aside, he’s stoked the fire in my soul once again creatively, and I guarantee that his career is truly only at its very beginning.

 What are your top albums of all time? Drop me a comment!