With this column, we want to reintroduce anyone who cares to listen to the fun, truly introspective and downright funky music that is real hip-hop music. Therefore, we are bringing you our classic hip-hop picks, records that embody the sound and expand the scope of hip-hop in amazing ways. As Redman once said, "we're gonna reminisce on that old sh*t ... So light your spliffs up and let the funk be your guiding light."
-SAMMY SKRILLA AND THE BIRDGANG
Sammy Skrilla's Pick:
Wu-Tang Clan, "Enter the 36 Chambers" 1993, RCA Records
On the Wu-Tang Clan's debut, "36 Chambers," the group's nine MCs - the RZA, the GZA, Old Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Raekwon the Chef and the Masta Killa - craft a sound that is filled with honesty, grime, violence and the absolute wildest of rhyme styles. Right from the opening track, the RZA, the group's supreme guide, challenges any contender, "If you want beef/Then bring the ruckus/Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuthin to fuck with!" And he's right. The Wu-Tang Clan, especially on "36 Chambers," is unlike any other hip-hop group ever. Period.
The stage is set by the minimalist production of the RZA. Here he creates a realm that serves as the musical incarnation of the streets that shaped the Clan. It is barren, dark, tumultuous and unforgiving. Off-key piano loops, finger snaps and screams roll over earth-shattering bass thumps, setting up the backdrop for the truly amazing lyrics.
Every MC in the Clan steps to the mic in a different way. Method Man lets his booming voice scat and dance all over the beat, Old Dirty Bastard screams his way wildly through every verse, Ghostface comes with as much heart and soul as Al Green, the GZA defines precision and the RZA conveys unparalleled urgency. On "Tearz," a song about the deaths of loved ones, for example, the RZA relives his younger brother's murder by rhyming, "I ran frantically, then dropped down to his feet/I saw the blood, all over, the hot concrete/Picked him up, then I held him by his head/His eyes shut, that's when I knew he was.../Aw man! How do I say goodbye?!/It's always the good ones that have to die." With verses like this, the Wu-Tang Clan hits the careful listener right in the heart. If you can't feel Clan "stabbin' up the pad with the vocab," then you're missing "hip-hop that will rock and shock the nation/Like the Emancipation Proclamation."
Birdgang's Pick:
Blackstar, "Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Blackstar" 1998, Rawkus Records
Perfection is the only word that could be used to describe this groundbreaking album. Mos Def and Talib Kweli are like hip-hop's Stockton and Malone, bringing you one of the deadliest lyrical tandems ever established. Their lyrical sequences are uncanny, their messages are relevant and influential and their beats are banging.
With their ridiculous rhyme styles and endless flavas, the album is fit from cover to cover. If Mos and Talib aren't doing some masterful story telling, or spitting a touching love song, they are rocking out with the microphone, giving serious rhyming clinics. Like when the mighty Mos says, "Most cats cannot proceed us/In the jungle with the leaders/We're the lions you the cheetahs."
Talib is also a serial criminal charged with hundreds of cases of lyrical murder. Why? Because of lines like these, "People thinking emcee is short for MisConception/Let me meditate, set it straight/Came to the conclusion that most of these cats are featherweights/Let me demonstrate."
With Blackstar, these lines are endless. They are on a mission to find the perfect sequence. This is as good as hip-hop music gets. These men are diseased beyond cure; styles do not get more ill and flows do not get sicker. Talib Kweli and Mos Definitely will rock it to the tip-top of hip-hop, so be there to listen.
