Son of Yo2MTVRapstalgia Double Jubilee

February 25, 2022 1:30 PM

Gang Starr - Manifest
Heavy D and the Boyz - We Got Our Own Thang
Queen Latifah - Dance For Me
Kid 'N Play - 2 Hype
Slick Rick - Hey Young World
Salt-N-Pepa - Let's Talk About Sex
De La Soul - Me, Myself and I
Kwame - The Man We All Know and Love
Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth - They Reminisce Over You

Previously

Once again, a quick two week Free Trial of YouTube Premium is recommended

Gang Starr - Moment of Truth
Heavy D and the Boyz - Is It Good to You
Queen Latifah - Latifah's Had It Up to Here
Kid 'N Play - Gittin' Funky
Slick Rick - Children's Story
Salt-N-Pepa - Ain't Nuthin' But A She Thang
De La Soul - Pot Holes in My Lawn
Kwame - The Rhythm
Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth - They Reminisce Over You (Instrumental)

Gang Starr - Jazz Thing
Heavy D & The Boyz - The Overweight Lovers in the House
Funky Four + 1 - Rappin' and Rockin' the House
Salt-N-Pepa - Tramp
De La Soul - A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays
Kwame - Only You
M.C Lyte - Cha Cha Cha
Gang Starr - Love Sick
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message
De La Soul - Ego Trippin' (Part Two)
Heavy D and the Boyz - Mr. Big Stuff
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - Pump Me Up
Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth - They Reminisce Over You (Extended Instrumental)

posted by y2karl (18 comments total)

Love it!

My kids have gotten me back into hop-hop recently, everything from the new Spider-Man unlocking the magic of De La Soul to A Tribe Called Quest finally getting their HOF nomination ( not that any fans care whether they get in).

And now there’s a new Q-Tip joint today with Robert Glasper!
posted by saintjoe at 2:01 PM on February 25, 2022

For no particular reason, one video from each of the years 1985-1995:

Marley Marl f MC Shan - Marley Scratch
Heavy D and the Boyz - Mr. Big Stuff
Big Daddy Kane - Raw
Stetsasonic - Talking All That Jazz
Stop the Violence Movement - Self Destruction
Boogie Down Productions - Love's Gonna Get Ya (Material Love)
Del the Funky Homosapien - Mistadobalina
Eric B & Rakim - Juice (Know the Ledge)
The Alkaholiks - Only When I'm Drunk
Jeru the Damaja - Can't Stop the Prophet
Blahzay Blahzay - Danger
posted by box at 2:05 PM on February 25, 2022 [6 favorites]

So good. I haven't heard They Reminisce Over You for so long.
posted by pinochiette at 2:12 PM on February 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

One of my favorites from 1995 though the whole "Lost & Found: Hip Hop Underground Soul Classics" album is great.

Pete Rock & INI - Microphone Wanderlust
posted by Hairy Lobster at 3:16 PM on February 25, 2022

Wow. It's been a long time since I heard so many of these.

Also, I wonder if "young people" listening to "Let's Talk About Sex" even understand the line, "Pick up the needle, press pause, or turn the radio off." Would teens today know that the needle refers to a record player?
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 4:06 PM on February 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Geto Boys - Fuck A War
Queen Latifah + Monie Love - Ladies First
Boogie Down Productions - You Must Learn
Arrested Development - Tennesee
Digable Planets - La Femme Fetal


Smooth it out, rrrrrrrrrt.

A Tribe Called Quest - God Moves Through

and a love supreme:

De La Soul - I Am I Be
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 4:23 PM on February 25, 2022

And now I am wringing out the fuck-this-world feeling of the past few days out by dancing around my living room to this piece of genius at VOLUME

DJ Kool - Let Me Clear My Throat
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 4:33 PM on February 25, 2022

Hell yes.
posted by TheCoug at 7:29 PM on February 25, 2022

Actions have reactions, don't be quick to judge
You may not know the hardships people don't speak of
It's best to step back, and observe with couth
For we all must meet our moment of truth

To me, these are some of the most important lines in rap history, ones I have contemplated at least once a month since Gang Starr put them out there.

In fact this whole song -- and Guru's entire oeuvre -- is full of such distillations.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 10:54 PM on February 25, 2022

I'll just leave this here:
Magnificent Seven - The Clash.
posted by Paul Slade at 11:43 PM on February 25, 2022

From Station Eleven's excellent seventh episode, "Goodbye My Damaged Home":

Frank finds a familiar sample in his interview tapes

posted by pjenks at 7:08 AM on February 26, 2022 [2 favorites]

This is brilliant! So much great music, T.R.O.Y. is incontrovertibly canon. I remember playing it for an OG DJ friend of mine a while back and she said she hadn't heard it in decades, it really took her back. RIP Rose .

ILM just happens to be in the midst of a poll of the GREATEST music videos of all time (which I'm helping out with). This was my favorite hip hop find so far - really the video is pretty amazing:

- Nas - One Mic


We're in the nominations phase of the ILM poll right now, feel free to pop by and drop off some noms of your own!

Link
posted by viborg at 8:06 AM on February 26, 2022

Ice Cube - Dead Homiez
Notorious BIG - Miss U
The LOX - We'll Always Love Big Poppa
Gang Starr - In Memory Of...
DITC - Tribute
posted by box at 9:45 AM on February 26, 2022

It has been a sobering thought to find out so long after the fact that both Heavy D and Guru were long dead before I ever posted the original set of links.

Also, thanks to Ice Cream Socialist for his massive and quel yeomanly contributions to two threads separated by nine years. Had I a hat, it would be tipped towards thee.
posted by y2karl at 12:25 PM on February 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

The pleasure has been all mine, y2karl. Thank you for the original and the reminder, as well! These threads are a gold mine.

This one bangs around in my skull quite a lot. It confused me when it came out because they were so far ahead of the game:

Freestyle Fellowship ft. Daddy-O - Innercity Boundaries
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 5:29 PM on February 26, 2022

Hey, are there any classic compilations from the era for purchase?
posted by Kitteh at 3:30 AM on February 28, 2022

There are some label-specific ones, like Tommy Boy's Greatest Beats and the Def Jam 25th Anniversary box (and some soundtracks, and some more indie things like Soundbombing, Lyricist Lounge, and NY Reality Check, etc.), but a lot of these are out of print.

(See also The Rub's History of Hip-Hop mixes, which aren't available for purchase, but do a good job of capturing the zeitgeist.)
posted by box at 6:15 AM on February 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'm enjoying this thread so, so much. At the tail end of the 80s in northern Alberta, metal ballads and similar glammified metal ruled the school so to speak: Motley Crue, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, etc. Then along came two big(ger than Heavy D) Metis brothers who single-handedly introduced many of us to rap and hiphop via mix tapes, and I feel so lucky I was within reach of their distribution channels.

Canada represents: Maetro Fresh Wes, "Let Your Backbone Slide"
Dream Warriors, "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style"
posted by elkevelvet at 11:07 AM on February 28, 2022 [1 favorite]