Hip Hop — All Formats  

17 full-length tracks produced by Domingo and DJ Rob. Ok, maybe not the strongest compilation all the way through but still a couple nice tracks not available on any other LP or single, including a nice remix of the Cocoa Brovas' "Super Brooklyn" featuring Mista Cheeks, Eminem/J Black/Masta Ace "Hellbound(H&H rmx)", and Cocoa Brovas "You Cant Take Me Out." The production on the other tracks ranges from Wu-Tang inspired to the hot sound to a few tracks with a latin sound. Also includes: TOMMOROWS WEAPON "Que Que", GHG "Roll Wit Me", ILLA NOISE "Who R U?", ROYAL FLUSH/J-MEL/151-RON/BACARDI/RAH BUMP "Creep", JNJ PROJECT "Chica Bonita", SU "Mamita", JNJ PROJECT & MISTA CHEEKS "Puff Harder", MASTA ACE "Spread It Out", DHARK CITI "Petrified", GROOVY "Smokin Trees", GODFATHER/ROYAL FLUSH/RAH FESE "Think Like Street", , COCOA BROVAS/XUN TSU/THE MOST TALENTED "Punch Out", J-BLACK/JUGGA/STEELE/GODFATHER/P DAP "Game Over", COCOA BROVAS "Super Brooklyn (original)"

"Wreckgonize" features Black Rob.

Revolution-minded hip hop from the Black Opera collective – with production by J-Bizness, 14KT, Astronote and Nick Speed. Titles include "The Black Opera" with Melody Betts, "Manute Boll", "Dark Comedy" with scratches by Rhettmatic, "Monstors And Robots", "ThrILL" feat Fyza, "Fantom", "The Magician" with Vaughn G & Jade Latham and more.

A Native Tongues (more or less) hip hop classic from 1991! We hardly need tell you about this one, but in case you can't remember, this is the LP with "Flavor Of The Month", "Similak Child", "Pass The 40", "To Whom It May Concern", "Butt In The Meantime", "Strobelite Honey", and more! CD includes the bonus tracks "The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)" and "Yes".

The Digables certainly weren't the first or most innovative hip hop group to rely upon cooled out jazz for the backbone of their sound. In fact without Tribe Called Quest's second album, Digable Planets probably wouldn't even have existed, at least not in anything close to the same form. What they did do though was pave the trail blazed by Tribe and De La with pure gold – and Blowout Comb is a fine ride! Loads of tripped out arrangements on live instruments (a huge step after the largely sampled debut), layer upon layer of groovy vocals in addition to the easy rhymes of Butterfly, Ladybug and Doodlebug, and even an appearance by Jeru. One of the catchiest jazz-rap fusion record of the 90s, not that there's anything wrong with that! Tracks include "The May 4th Movement Starring Doodlebug", "Black Ego", "Dog It", "Jettin", "Borough Check", "Highing Fly", "Dial 7", "The Art Of Easing", "KB's Alley", "Graffiti", "Blowing Down", "9th Wonder", and "For Corners".

Foreign Exchange and friends get some remix love! As impressive and eclectic as Nicolay and Phonte are as the flagship FE duo – and given the depth of their excellent +FE Music catalog – you probably expected them to attract the crème of the crop of cosmic soul remixers, and that they do! Reworks features top shelf tracks by FE – plus tracks led by Deborah Bond, Zo!, Sy Smith, Jeanne Jolly, Vikter Duplaix, solo Phonte and others – and remixes/works by 4Hero, Nicolay, Tall Black Guy, James Poyser's and ?uestlove's Randy Watson Experience and others. Tracks include "So What If It Is", "The Last Fall (Focus. . .+FE Experience Remix)", "Fight For Love (Nicky Mendes And Brasil '66 Remix)", "If She Breaks Your Heart (Randy Watson Experience Remix)" feat Yahzarah and more by Foreign Exchange, plus "Games You Can't Win (Nicolay Remix)" by RJD2 feat Kenna, "Flight Of The Blackbyrd (4Hero Remix)" by Zo feat Phonte, "Electric Love (Nicolay Remix)" by Vikter Duplaix, "The Art Of You (Nicolay Remix)" by Sy Smith, "Love Songs" by Phonte feat Focus & Sy Smith, "This Could Be The Night (Tall Black Guy Remix)" by Zo feat Eric Roberson, Darien Brockington & Phonte, "Acslater (Nicolay Remix)" by The Hot At Nights and more. 21 tracks on 2CDs.

The laid back classic, finally back on vinyl! The Digables certainly weren't the first or the most innovative hip hop group to rely upon cooled out jazz for the backbone of their sound. In fact without Tribe Called Quest's second album, Digable Planets probably wouldn't even have existed, at least not in anything close to the same form. What they did do though was pave the trail blazed by Tribe and De La with pure gold – and Blowout Comb is their shiniest ride! Loads of tripped out arrangements on live instruments (a huge step after the largely sampled debut), layer upon layer of groovy vocals in addition to the easy rhymes of Butterfly, Ladybug and Doodlebug, and even an appearance by Jeru. Probably the catchiest jazz-rap fusion record of the 90s, not that there's anything wrong with that! Tracks include "The May 4th Movement Starring Doodlebug", "Black Ego", "Dog It", "Jettin", "Borough Check", "Highing Fly", "Dial 7", "The Art Of Easing", "K.B.'s Alley", "Graffiti", "Blowing Down", "9th Wonder", and "For Corners".

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".

A Native Tongues (more or less) hip hop classic from 1991! We hardly need tell you about this one, but in case you can't remember, this is the LP with "Flavor Of The Month", "Similak Child", "Pass The 40", "To Whom It May Concern", "Butt In The Meantime", "Strobelite Honey", and more! Totally legit, with the original cover, and everything!

You probably already know the story to this one: a few years back, King Ad Rock released this album in a very limited pressing, under a fake name. The record is a nice batch of beats, but none of the tracks have sample clearance, so the record never had any sort of legitimate history, and disappeared immediately. Tracks include "Go Get Lifted", "Copsuckers", "The Coffee Drinker", "Computer Pervert", and "Nobody Beats BS 2000".

"This here is the victory lap," raps Hov midway through The Black Album, as you'll hear loud and clear on these acapellas! We may still have to lean towards Blueprint as his late masterpiece, but this is way up there. "December 4th", "What More Can I Say?", "Encore", "Change Clothes", "Dirt Off Your Shoulder", "Threat", "Moment Of Clarity", "99 Problems", "Justify My Thug", "Lucifer", "Allure", "My First Song", and a couple of interludes.

One of the crunchiest efforts we've heard from IG Culture in awhile – a record that's filled with the cosmic beats we've always loved in his music, yet firmly grounded on earth overall! The set mixes heavy rhythms with lots of vocals and rhymes – efforts from ID 4 Windz, Mr Mensah, Julie Dexter, K Banger, Bilal Salaam, and John Robinson – all wrapped and layered together in ways that are quite different from conventional hip hop, and which really resonate with the kind of collective, collaborative spirit we love in IG's music! There's an even darker feel here than usual – which we really appreciate – and titles include "Catalog Pieces", "Futures Back", "Black Renaissance", "Core Exit", "Truth", "Tangile Dream", "Outsider", "What's Happening", "The Sankofaz Peace Ark-Extra", and "Do The Math".

13 tracks (plus 5 interludes) on 2 LPs produced by DJ Honda with vocals by Mos Def, De La Soul, Black Attack, KRS, Beatnuts, Al Tarik, Problems, No ID, and Syndicate, with tighter production than his first US LP. The best cut here is "Travellin Man" by Mos Def. It has a sprawling, orchestrated track with Mos Def singing the chorus of Jerry Butler's melancholy "Memories Don't Leave Like People Do" – worth the price of the LP all by itself.

Foreign Exchange and friends get some remix love! As impressive and eclectic as Nicolay and Phonte are as the flagship FE duo – and given the depth of their excellent +FE Music catalog – you probably expected them to attract the crème of the crop of cosmic soul remixers, and that they do! Reworks features top shelf tracks by FE – plus tracks led by Deborah Bond, Zo!, Sy Smith, Jeanne Jolly, Vikter Duplaix, solo Phonte and others – and remixes/works by 4Hero, Nicolay, Tall Black Guy, James Poyser's and ?uestlove's Randy Watson Experience and others. Tracks include "So What If It Is", "The Last Fall (Focus. . .+FE Experience Remix)", "Fight For Love (Nicky Mendes And Brasil '66 Remix)", "If She Breaks Your Heart (Randy Watson Experience Remix)" feat Yahzarah and more by Foreign Exchange, plus "Games You Can't Win (Nicolay Remix)" by RJD2 feat Kenna, "Flight Of The Blackbyrd (4Hero Remix)" by Zo feat Phonte, "Electric Love (Nicolay Remix)" by Vikter Duplaix, "The Art Of You (Nicolay Remix)" by Sy Smith, "Love Songs" by Phonte feat Focus & Sy Smith, "This Could Be The Night (Tall Black Guy Remix)" by Zo feat Eric Roberson, Darien Brockington & Phonte, "Acslater (Nicolay Remix)" by The Hot At Nights and more. 21 tracks on 2CDs.

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.