10 Greatest Rap/Hip-Hop Bands...

[jterrell]

Here's one you probably won't recognize.

UTFO (starring Kangol)

They were always battling with Roxanne in their songs.

"Roxanne Roxanne... I wanna be you man."

I liked UTFO a lot.

 

[jterrell]

Altho my hubby burns or brings home more new stuff than we have time to listen to, I too peaked with Guru. I admit a great fondness for DMX tho, and yeah, I can actually listen to Ja Rule with something like a straight face. And I love Outkast - can see why they rate high with NFL players

A few of the old school artists I really loved.

A Tribe Called Quest - anything, but Midnite Marauders was my fave.

Public Enemy - I highly recommend the "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" CD. This was the direction that rap looked like it was going in when I fell in love with it.

The Fugees - Lauryn Hill

Black Star = Black Star Mos Def!

Dr. Dre - he's the artist I most identify "growing old " with.

Ice Cube - before he went Hollywood, he was my guy. Death Certificate, lol.

And of course Guru - the Jazzmatazz albums are state of the art.

Dang, yes shoulda got Outkast on my list. They grew up as I did so while their first album is my fave I can identify alot more with Hey Ya now then Players Ball.

 

[jterrell]

Actually the Beastie Boys did that. Eminem may have made it a touch more popular, but he didn't bring "white america" into rap.

Can't see how Biggie is underrated. Might not have been mentioned earlier, but I'm sure it's more oversight than anything else. He was lyrically gifted.

However, I am mad that I missed Outkast. Those cats got flow as well as content. I LIKE them.

Run DMC did that. Beastie Boys brought in a punk rock crowd for sure tho.
Most whiye 30 soemthings will have begun their rap ntros with Run DMC's Walk This Way.

Raising Hell was one of the very best albums of all time by any genre. I can still sing 75% of the words to that album regardless of song.

 

[Qwickdraw]

Actually guys, to say that the Beastie Boys or Eminem brought rap to white people is entirely incorrect.
What they did is represent white people as respected artists in the hip hop world. But hip hop's largest fan base has always been white, suburban teens. White kids are the ones who predominantly purchased the music, memorized the words and immitated the "street" lifestyle because of how appealing it was due to it's alternate lifestyle and rebelious nature.

How do you think so many of those guys went platinum? The white teenage community is possibly the largest, most profitable consumer target in the entire world.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Actually guys, to say that the Beastie Boys or Eminem brought rap to white people is entirely incorrect.
What they did is represent white people as respected artists in the hip hop world. But hip hop's largest fan base has always been white, suburban teens. White kids are the ones who predominantly purchased the music, memorized the words and immitated the "street" lifestyle because of how appealing it was due to it's alternate lifestyle and rebelious nature.

How do you think so many of those guys went platinum? The white teenage community is possibly the largest, most profitable consumer target in the entire world.

The majority of the people who do buy rap is white.....but it was not that way at one time.

Heck in my neck of the woods you had to have a friend from somewhere else visit and then copy all of his rap tapes (UTFO is an actual example of this in my case) because many of the area stores did not carry rap.

It was very rare to have any rap tapes at one time, even though they were bigger in some larger cities. That changed when MTV started playing the rap videos and def jam started mixing rap with rock riffs to help the cross over.

Now eminem had nothing to do with this as this was long ago but Beastie Boys did have much to do with it at the time, just as aerosmith and run DMC did.

I remember visiting my grandparents in PA and hearing a few stations that played rap music...there were NONE that played it in my neck of the woods until Aerosmith and Run DMC had that song...and also the Beastie boys.

One other little tidbit...I mentioned Chocolate City by P-Funk, but another song back in the day that helped spark rap was Rapture by Blondie.

 

[Qwickdraw]

The majority of the people who do buy rap is white.....but it was not that way at one time.

Heck in my neck of the woods you had to have a friend from somewhere else visit and then copy all of his rap tapes (UTFO is an actual example of this in my case) because many of the area stores did not carry rap.

It was very rare to have any rap tapes at one time, even though they were bigger in some larger cities. That changed when MTV started playing the rap videos and def jam started mixing rap with rock riffs to help the cross over.

Now eminem had nothing to do with this as this was long ago but Beastie Boys did have much to do with it at the time, just as aerosmith and run DMC did.

I remember visiting my grandparents in PA and hearing a few stations that played rap music...there were NONE that played it in my neck of the woods until Aerosmith and Run DMC had that song...and also the Beastie boys.

One other little tidbit...I mentioned Chocolate City by P-Funk, but another song back in the day that helped spark rap was Rapture by Blondie.

Rapture. OMG

To this day that songs is like listening to fingernails on a chalkboard.
Blondie attempting to rap...

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Rapture. OMG

To this day that songs is like listening to fingernails on a chalkboard.
Blondie attempting to rap...

For some strange reason I always liked Blondie....I don't know if it was whoever did the music or what but I always liked her.
Someone could throw on a best of blondie cd and I would catch myself liking it.

 

[jterrell]

For some strange reason I always liked Blondie....I don't know if it was whoever did the music or what but I always liked her.
Someone could throw on a best of blondie cd and I would catch myself liking it.

me too but dont tell anyone

 

[Tio]

For some strange reason I always liked Blondie....

LTN told me she is a bimbo, and I have to believe her if I know whats good for me. THats reminds me, where has princess been lately?

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

me too but dont tell anyone

Well different time back then I guess....and I am sure that in the day you thought she was pretty hot as well eh?

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

LTN told me she is a bimbo, and I have to believe her if I know whats good for me. THats reminds me, where has princess been lately?

If I remember she is either still recovering from her accident while she was on vacation, or she is trying to catch up on work where she had to recover from the mentioned accident.

 

[WoodysGirl]

me too but dont tell anyone

Actually me too. Tho I often wonder why.

How did you guys like Beyonce's rip off of the "I luv to luv u baaaby."

Can't think of the name of the song right now. Actually trying to stay focused on work (yeah, uh huh, I know), but I liked that one too.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Actually me too. Tho I often wonder why.

How did you guys like Beyonce's rip off of the "I luv to luv u baaaby."

Can't think of the name of the song right now. Actually trying to stay focused on work (yeah, uh huh, I know), but I liked that one too.

That was a Donna Summer song if I remember correctly....BTW she was not bad in her day, singing and visually either.

I remember having that double album and seeing as a younger guy...think it was called Bad Girls....good stuff for a young man lol.

 

[WoodysGirl]

That was a Donna Summer song if I remember correctly....BTW she was not bad in her day, singing and visually either.

I remember having that double album and seeing as a younger guy...think it was called Bad Girls....good stuff for a young man lol.

Dangit, I've been wrong a lot lately. That's another one of those I could've sworn it was Blondie... Aaggh

I liked Donna Summer, too. Of course I luv'd the working woman's anthem. "We work hard for our money, so hard for our money. We work hard for our money, so you better treat us right..."

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Dangit, I've been wrong a lot lately. That's another one of those I could've sworn it was Blondie... Aaggh

I liked Donna Summer, too. Of course I luv'd the working woman's anthem. "We work hard for our money, so hard for our money. We work hard for our money, so you better treat us right..."

The brain does not work as well when you get older....trust me I know.



One other one of the early songs that had some rap in it before rap ever became main stream.

I doubt many people even remember this song or the group but there was a song called Pop Music by a group called M that had some rap in it....man alive that was back in the days when K-Tel was popular on records and 8-track tapes lol.

 

[Qwickdraw]

I never really minded Blondie, either. In fact, I liked a couple songs. It was just that rap portion of Rapture that was so God awful IMO.

 

[jterrell]

Blondie got her rap influence from the streets of NY and it was authentic. She played the same NYC punk clubs as BeastieBoys did years later.

One of the greatest musical minds is Rick Rubin. He helped start DefJam and launched Russell Simmons on his way to megamillionaire as well as gave us a ton of great music in all genres. His latest Jay Z offering is an amazing fusion of rap and hard rock which was probably invented by Rubin in his dorm room.

Blondie was pretty hot to me as a kid but nothing like Beyonce' is to me now.
Lord, I love Texas girls.

 

[miamicowboy21]

Wow so many great groups to choose from. My personal favorite is GANGSTARR. Between those sick beats of preemo, and the uplifting lyrics of GURU they're hard to beat. THey never sold out to the mainstream. It sucks that this group has been slept on for so many years. Other that Dr.Dre no other producer can touch preemo, and few can bless the mic with Gifted Unlimited Rymes Universal. Moment of truth is a must have for hardcore rap fans.Also GURU'S ability to mix jazz with rap was very creative, few cats can do that. We'll here is my list. I'm favoring the old school as well. TOday's rap just isnt the same, everyone rapping about the same thing, nothing creative.

1.Gangstarr

2.rakim.

3.N.W.A

4.The roots

5.Nas

6.Big Daddy Kane

7.Redman

8. Jurrasic 5

9.M.O.P.

10. Dilated peoples.


honorable mention.-common, mos def, pete rock, sir- mix -alot, ll cool j, doug e. fresh.,and camp lo, and outkast.


Also being from miami i gotta rep 2 live crew and the poison clan. Shake what ya mama gave ya is still the best club hit around.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Wow so many great groups to choose from. My personal favorite is GANGSTARR. Between those sick beats of preemo, and the uplifting lyrics of GURU they're hard to beat. THey never sold out to the mainstream. It sucks that this group has been slept on for so many years. Other that Dr.Dre no other producer can touch preemo, and few can bless the mic with Gifted Unlimited Rymes Universal. Moment of truth is a must have for hardcore rap fans.Also GURU'S ability to mix jazz with rap was very creative, few cats can do that. We'll here is my list. I'm favoring the old school as well. TOday's rap just isnt the same, everyone rapping about the same thing, nothing creative.

1.Gangstarr

2.rakim.

3.N.W.A

4.The roots

5.Nas

6.Big Daddy Kane

7.Redman

8. Jurrasic 5

9.M.O.P.

10. Dilated peoples.


honorable mention.-common, mos def, pete rock, sir- mix -alot, ll cool j, doug e. fresh.,and camp lo, and outkast.


Also being from miami i gotta rep 2 live crew and the poison clan. Shake what ya mama gave ya is still the best club hit around.

To show how long I've been around, my brother and I found a way to tape 2 Live Crew Get it Girl and a couple of their "infamous" songs to our 8-TRACK...lol

My mom didn't have a tape player just yet, so we worked it out w/what we had.

 

[adbutcher]

1. Tupac – Favorite album: Makaveli
2. Ice Cube - Favorite album: Death Certificate
3. Scarface - Favorite album: The Diary
4. Notorious B.I.G. - Favorite album: Ready To Die
5. Dr. Dre - Favorite album: The Chronic (Still A Classic)
6. Run DMC - Favorite album: Raising Hell ( The best concert I ever went to was the Raising Hell Tour)
7. KRS - Favorite album: Criminal Minded (Scholar Rock Had Em All, He is a supa ho)
8. C-Murder - Favorite album: Trapped In Crime
9. A Tribe Called Quest – Favorite album: Midnite Marauders
10. NWA - Favorite album: Straight Out Of Compton

Honorable mention: Eight-ball and MJG, LL Cool J, Goodie Mob, Outcast, JZ, Eric B. and Rakim, and UGK.

I almost need an old school and new school list.