#ATOZCHALLENGE, Day 5: Eminem

On April 6, 2015March 31, 2015 By Luther M. SilerIn Music8 Comments

Artist: Eminem
Best Album: The Marshall Mathers LP
Best Song: Mosh
This Letter Could Have Been About: Eazy-E, EPMD, Eric B. & Rakim

Why I’m Writing About This Artist: Not because Eminem is the best white rapper who ever lived (he is) but because he’s one of the best rappers who ever lived, period. Now, Eminem’s music can be hugely problematic– his early albums in particular are full of homophobic and misogynistic lyrics and frankly in a lot of ways are the work of a man who is seriously fucked up in a whole lot of ways, but his talent is prodigious. And, frustratingly, he occasionally lets this weird progressive streak slip; I’ve often wished that I could have an album by Eminem that stripped all of the Eminem out of him and just let him write music without all the baggage, and the closest I ever got was the soundtrack to 8 Mile, which was basically autobiographical.

This was also the first artist where I had real trouble picking his best song, so I’m including three videos instead of the usual one. Note that if Eminem usually offends you, these three songs will not be problematic.

Also, if you’ve never seen 8 Mile, get on that.

Have a video!:

Fuck it, four. Pay attention to the way he plays with vowels:

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#ATOZCHALLENGE, Sunday Supplement 1: The Beastie Boys

On April 5, 2015March 31, 2015 By Luther M. SilerIn Music2 Comments

Artist: The Beastie Boys
Best Album: To the 5 Boroughs
Best Song: Rhymin’ and Stealin’

Why I’m Writing About This Artist: The disadvantage of this A to Z format is that it limits you on popular letters. K was full as hell, so KRS-ONE had to go to B as Boogie Down Productions, which meant that the Beastie Boys got knocked out of contention to have a post, because they only start with Bs. Similarly, you’ll see in a bit that I run into trouble with the letters M and N and E.

This cannot stand.

The A to Z challenge lets you skip Sundays. Well, screw that! I’m a rebel, so I’m going to do my regular A to Z posts on the days those happen, and you’re also getting supplementary posts on Sundays for artists I’ve had to leave out. BECAUSE I CAN.

Also, the Beastie Boys are amazing and foundational and Licensed to Ill just might have been the first rap tape I ever bought (as opposed to heard; that would have been the Fat Boys or the Super Bowl Shuffle) and I cannot leave them out period.

That is all.

Have a video!:

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#ATOZCHALLENGE, Day 4: The D.O.C.

On April 4, 2015March 31, 2015 By Luther M. SilerIn Music2 Comments

Artist: The D.O.C.
Best Album: No One Can Do It Better
Best Song: The Grand Finale
This Letter Could Have Been About: D12, Das Efx, De La Soul, Dead Prez, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Digital Underground, Dr. Dre

Why I’m Writing About This Artist: Because No One Can Do It Better is one of hiphop’s early masterpieces, probably one of the top 20 rap albums ever made, and in the right mood I’d put it in the top 10. It is, weirdly, my Spring Album. I’m writing this on March 17, and I just listened to it today– spring has not started until I’ve blared the entirety of No One Can Do It Better from my speakers, preferably in a car with the windows down. Unfortunately, five months after the album released, the D.O.C. was in a car accident that massively damaged his vocal cords, and while he technically has two other albums it’s best to pretend they aren’t real, as his voice was irreparably changed in the accident. He continued to ghostwrite for members of N.W.A. and affiliated acts after the crash; I’m halfway convinced that he was most of the reason The Chronic was the bestseller it was.

You should own No One Can Do It Better. Everyone should.

Have a video!:

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#ATOZCHALLENGE, Day 3: Chuck D

On April 3, 2015March 31, 2015 By Luther M. SilerIn Music5 Comments

Artist: Chuck D
Best Album: Apocalypse ’91: The Enemy Strikes Black
Best Song: Fight the Power
This Letter Could Have Been About: Chubb Rock, Common, Coolio, The Crest, Cunninlynguists

Why I’m Writing About This Artist: Because I’m cheating again; yesterday I used a group to represent the work of a single artist, and today I’m using a single artist to represent the work of a group: Public Enemy. I said yesterday that no single person had had more of an effect on my development as a human being than KRS-ONE. Still true. But PE magnified and extended the influence that Boogie Down Productions had. They are the greatest group in the history of hiphop for a very good reason. If you haven’t been watching the videos, make sure to check this one out, and understand just how much PE terrified white people in the late eighties and early nineties.

Have a video!:

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#ATOZCHALLENGE, Day 2: Boogie Down Productions

On April 2, 2015March 31, 2015 By Luther M. SilerIn Music2 Comments

Artist: Boogie Down Productions
Best Album: Edutainment
Best Song: Blackman In Effect
This Letter Could Have Been About: The Beastie Boys, Brother Ali, Big Daddy Kane, Big L, Biz Markie, Black Sheep, Blackalicious, Blue Scholars, Bone-Thugz-n-Harmony, Brand Nubian, Busta Rhymes

Why I’m Writing About This Artist: Because KRS-ONE, whose name stands for Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone, crawled into my brain in the mid-1980s, took it over, and never left. KRS basically is Boogie Down Productions, and his last thousand albums or so have been solo albums– BDP hasn’t had a release since 1992’s Sex and Violence, but KRS-ONE has had a release or two just about every year since then. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that this man had more influence on my mental development and my worldview than any other living human being, and the fastest way to understand me is to start mainlining BDP songs. Imagine being a twelve year old white kid and getting hit with the video below. Then imagine what happens next.

Have a video!:

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#ATOZCHALLENGE, Day 1: Atmosphere

On April 1, 2015March 31, 2015 By Luther M. SilerIn Music5 Comments

Artist: Atmosphere
Best Album: You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having
Best Song: Trying to Find a Balance
This Letter Could Have Been About: Afrika Bambaataa, Arrested Development, Angie Martinez

Why I’m Writing About This Artist: Because if I was a rapper, I’d be Atmosphere. Or… well, okay, that’s not quite true. Atmosphere is two guys: Slug, the rapper, and Ant, the DJ. If I was a rapper, I’d therefore be Slug, who is a white guy in his early 40s from Minneapolis. This makes him only four years older than me and from basically the same cultural background, and we appear to have had basically the exact same childhood; the line hip-hop and comic books was my genesis appears in one of their songs. The song below, which was the song that got me to first notice the group, makes some direct references to Boogie Down Productions, which will always cause my ears to perk up when I’m listening to a song. Atmosphere also founded Rhymesayers Entertainment, and basically everybody on the Rhymesayers label is worth listening to.

They’re still active, so there’s plenty of music out there to go find. But start with this song, whose hook in the days of kings and queens, I was a jester was the tagline on my first blog for a very, very long time.

Have a video!

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#atozchallenge Theme Reveal!

On March 23, 2015March 17, 2015 By Luther M. SilerIn Music11 Comments

(I may have done this already, but this post makes it official!)

My theme for the A to Z Challenge will be…

Hiphop that You Should Be Listening To.

Each post is going to feature one artist or group, a few other names of artists who that day could have been dedicated to talking about, a bit of information about why you ought to be listening to them, and one video to give you a head start. I’ve got the posts created already, and am hoping to get all of them written in the next few days. (Actually, I’m writing this on the 15th, so hopefully by the time you see this, they’ll be done.)

Important: this is not The Best Hiphop Artists, or The Most Important Hiphop Artists, or anything like that. It’s all music I like, with one exception, the accursed letter V, and you can probably already figure out who that is. I skip over massively important musicians to spotlight people I like more, or who had more influence on me, or came around at a more important time in my life. The clearest example of this is the letter F, I think, at least so far. But it’s all good stuff. Feel free to explore the “other artists” section as much as you want to find more. 🙂

YOU WILL LEARN IMPORTANT THINGS FROM ME.

I promise.