Hip Hop — LPs  

The first full-length Beatnuts album – pressed on 2LP for the first time ever! Street Level is designed to succeed on, well, street level – but it's actually pretty damn diverse in retrospect! One of those more-is-more 90s albums with lots of tracks and some stellar production. Includes "Props Over Here", "Psycho Dwarf", "Hellraiser", "Ya Don't Stop", "Are You Ready" featuring Grand Puba, "Hit Me With That", "2-3 Break", and 10 more.

One of the last releases from the Wild Pitch label. Seven track ep with the dark side of the early 90's dirty south.

Now a classic, and pretty tough to get a hold of on vinyl. Beats by Buckwild, Showbiz and Lord Finesse, rhymes by Harlem's finest. Big L didn't leave behind much recorded work, but if this LP has to stand as his legacy, it's a mighty fine statement. Alongside some of the latter day QB hip hop, probably the pinnacle of streetlife lyrics from the east coast. 12 tracks in all: "Put It On", "MVP", "No Endz, No Skinz", "8 Iz Enuff", "All Black", "Danger Zone", "Street Struck", "Da Graveyard", "Lifestylez Ov Da Poor And Dangerous", "I Don't Understand It, "Fed Up Wit The Bullsh#t", and "Let 'Em Have It L".

One of the best debuts in the history of hip hop – and one of the most important albums the genre ever produced! Criminal Minded is landmark for a number of reasons. Among the biggest is, of course, that it was recorded with the late great DJ Scott La Rock – and he was soon to fall prey to the very street violence that BDP documented with such raw brilliance, courtesy the lyricism and delivery of KRS-One. Importance aside, though, Criminal Minded is simply a great, timeless record that no true fan of gritty classic hip hop should be without. The track list alone is a full chapter in the hip hop book of legends – with tunes like "Poetry", "Elementary", "South Bronx", "Super-Hoe", "Bridge is Over", and the "P is Free" remix. Also includes "Criminal Minded", "Dope Beat", and "9mm Goes Bang".

Dana Dane's first LP with the title cut, "Delancy Street", "Nightmares", "Cinderfella Dana Dane" plus more.

MC Breed's crew steps out on their own, with production by Breed, Warren G and DJ Slip, and guest spots by MC Eiht and Bushwick Bill lets you know this LP's got a very street level approach. Includes "Caps Get Peeled", "Things In Tha Hood", "Digga Bigga Ditch", 'Roll With The Clan", "Hands On My Nine", "You Can Get The D!ck", "Pass The Hooter" and more.

The timeless sounding underground classic debut of Frank-N-Dank – which is a strong first full length statement for the duo – and a significant milestone in the J Dilla production canon! It has more of a straight up, street ready rhyme style than was typical for Dilla productions at the time – with smoky, pulsing production and unpredictable beats. The rhymes are stronger than we gave 'em credit for a decade or so back – and the raw electro funky bounce provided by Dilla really opened us up to how diverse his style could be outside of the jazzy/funky/soul beats he'd laid down in the preceding couple of years! Tracks include "Rite Bites", "Street Life", "Pimp Strut", "Where The Parties At?", "All Seasons", "Take Dem Clothes Off" and more.

A strong set from MC Substantial and fellow DMV hip hop heavy Oddisee on mixing and executive production duties – with production by Eric Lau, M-Phazes, Slopfunkdust, Street Orchestra and others. Includes "Spilled Milk", "See Her" and "The Verge" with Steph, The Sapphic Songstress, "Mr. Consistent", "Resilient", "Check My Resume" feat DJ Jav, "Make Up Sex" with Olivier Daysoul & Deacon The Villian of Cunninlynguists, "Umoja" and "Grateful" with Kenn Starr & Kokayi.

The funky foundations of rap – and one of the best, most focused compilations of its kind we've ever stocked! You can truthfully call the treasure trove of funk singles here "pre-rap". Every track is a direct precursor. We mean that on the vocal tip – and also for the heavy funk bass and drums on the bottom end. We've seen some similar sets that go back to the 50s and even earlier – with jump jivin' R&B that originally planted the seeds – but this one focuses squarely on the late 60s and 70s material that most directly fertilized all rap to come! It also largely eschews the righteous and political precursors of the Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron school, for party funk proto rappers such as Pigmeat Markam, Bill "Butter Ball" Crane, Blowfly and others – but there's some socially aware cuts here, too. Great stuff with a just a couple of well-known numbers and many more funky rarities! 16 in all: "We Got The Number" by Pigmeat Markham, "Butterballs" by Butterball, "Get On The Good Foot" by James Brown, "Sesame Street" by Blowfly, "Smoke My Pipe" by AJ Rowe, "Snake Hips" by Timmy Rogers, "Everybody Says" by Billy Dee & Sugar Bear, "Do You Have A Good Woman" by Rufus Beacham and more.

Number in the excellent Electro series of compilations on the UK Street Sounds imprint, a great batch of prototypical hip hop and beeping electronic funk from the days when this stuff looked like the sound of the future, and for all intents and purposes practically was! Nothing but classic early and mid 80s numbers with snapping synthesized production, this volume features 9 numbers in all, including "It's Time To Rock" by Great Peso & Mr Nasty, "Fast Life" by Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde, "Techno Scratch" by the Knights of the Turntables, "Egypt, Egypt" by the Egyptian Lover, "Breakers Revenge" by Arthur Baker, "Captain Rock To The Future Shock" by Captain Rock, "Release Yourself" by Aleem, "The Buck Stops Here" by Fantasy Three, and "B Boys Breakdance" by the High Fidelity Three.

Street and clean versions of four tracks from Guru's independent label, Ill Kid – including "Total Wreck" by Bahamadiah, "Tres Pound God" by Operation Radification, "Beware" by Stikken Moov, and "Put You On Lockdown" by HL Rock (The Sly Fox), all with production by Guru.

Rob Swift, Total Eclipse & Roc Raida make with a murderous mix set – 60 minutes of the hottest X-ecutioner beats, breaks, and rhymes plus a sampling of some of the best hip hop of the last 10 or so years worth of beats. The X crew seamlessly cut up some of the hottest underground work, but they're not so stuck up that they won't occasionally pop their heads above the surface. They also splice pulp film dialogue and sound bites, rivaling Cut Chemist and Automator in the outer space cheese vein while keeping the hard core street feel. Nice!!!

Their first LP, and a classic bit of hip hop that gave the genre a whole new twist. Bottom heavy funked up Long Island hip hop with what was considered slow flow rhymes at the time, and Erick and Parrish's take on funky samples that managed to bring together hard to get breaks and commercial cuts in an age when you could have both street appeal and indie cred. With the classic cuts "It's My Thing", "You Gots To Chill", "Strictly Business", "You're A Customer", "Get Off The Bandwagon" and "Because I'm Housin'", plus "So Let The Funk Flow", "The Steve Martin", "DJ K La Boss" and "Jane".

Timeless hip hop instrumentals crafted from and inspired by rare and 70s soul, funky soundtracks and classic east coast hip hop – and some of the most hypnotic material from K-Def in quite a while! The insistent head-nodding beats and recognizable bits and pieces of classic material keeps it in the producer-centric hip hop realm pretty strongly – but it really does have a band feel – so the title is no joke! Solid work from the ever-reliable K-Def. Includes "Funky Fridays", "Dark Soul", "I'm Chillin", "Touching Realness", "Street Jazz", "K Comes Through", "NJ Dodgers", "Lovely Woman", "Watching The Clouds", "I Seen A Blind Bat", "Soul Paper", "Ghetto's Groove" and more.

Raw crackling hip hop funk beatcraft at its deepest from mighty Madlib – working in his Beat Konducta style for this third entry in the epic Madlib's Medicine Show Series! Beat Konducta In Africa is a hazy hip hop instrumental set from 'Lib (lest you thought it might be a funky compilation of rare African material) with some additional mixing from J Rocc – based on rare African vinyl. The sound is pure Madlib/Beat Konducta heady hip hop funk – recognizable as being spun from and inspired by African material, and impeccably so, with that instantly identifiable, exploratory Madlib sonic stamp. He looks far beyond Afrobeat and funk sources, with some raw funk rock beats, psych, garage and more with some trippy vocal samples – and he's building up from blueprints records originally pressed all over Africa – Zambia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Botswana and Ivory Coast. But too much mention of the source material risks making this sound like a compilation or a mix set, when it's Madlib all the way! Titles include "Motherland", "Raw Introduction To Afreaka", "Warrior's Theme", "Street Hustler", "Afritonic" (Pts 1 & 2), "Tradition", "Blackfire", "Obtaive", "Mtima", "African Bounce", "Freedom Play", "Natural Sound Waves", "Unika (Outro)" and many more. 37 tracks on the vinyl version.