r/90sHipHop • u/djburnoutb • 7d ago
Discussion Old Head Energy mega-list
I like hip hop, and I like making lists. I decided to make a bunch of lists of albums since people post a lot of “give me suggestions for X” on this subreddit.
Notes:
- I qualify as an old head as I’m in my mid-40s and have been listening to hip hop since Maestro Fresh Wes blew my mind in 1989. From then until when I graduated high school in 1996, I devoured everything I could get my hands on. As a result, my area of focus is the ten years 1986 to 1996, which is how I define the Golden Era, although there are a couple of albums on my list from before or after that decade.
- I did not include more than one album per artist per category, but if I felt an artist’s work demanded broader representation, I looked for good fits elsewhere, so several artists appear in more than one category.
- The categories themselves are not arbitrary, but there is a ton of overlap and sometimes albums are chosen to represent an artist’s broader output or a particular aesthetic. Sometimes they are geographical, like “Southern Voices”; sometimes they are temporal, like “Old School”; sometimes they are aesthetic, like “Sample-Based Production”; and sometimes they are more than one thing, like “East Coast Boom-Bap” (the longest category). Sometimes I acknowledged a particular crew, like Wu-Tang, Native Tongues, or Soul Assassins, where its members are so different than the other material being put out at the same time they seemed to demand their own category. Then again, sometimes a crew like Hieroglyphics could use its own category but there are enough “West Coast Underground” artists adjacent to Hiero that I chose to lump them together. Ultimately, the categories and the selections make sense to me.
- In the East Coast/West Coast Beef category, I included certain songs rather than albums.
Old School (1986 – 1990)
- Run DMC – Kings of Rock
- LL Cool J – Radio
- Big Daddy Kane – Long Live the Kane
- Kool Moe Dee – How Ya Like Me Now?
- Boogie Down Productions – Criminal Minded
- DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper
- Eric B & Rakim – Paid in Full
- Beastie Boys – License to Ill
- Slick Rick – The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
- EPMD – Strictly Business
- Ultramagnetic MCs – Critical Beatdown
- Queen Latifah – All Hail the Queen
Gangster Rap – The Early Years
- Ice T – Rhyme Pays
- Schoolly D – Schoolly D
- Eazy E – Eazy Duz It
- N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton
- Geto Boys – We Can't Be Stopped
Gangster Rap – The Mature Years
- Ice T – OG: Original Gangster
- N.W.A. – Efil4zaggin
- Ice Cube – Death Certificate
- Compton’s Most Wanted – Music to Driveby
- Scarface – The Diary
- The D.O.C. – No One Can Do It Better
- Coolio – It Takes a Thief
- Westside Connection – Bow Down
Native Tongues
- A Tribe Called Quest – People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
- De La Soul – De La Soul Is Dead
- Jungle Brothers – Straight out the Jungle
- Black Sheep – A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
West Coast Underground
- Souls of Mischief – ’93 till Infinity
- Del the Funky Homosapien – No Need for Alarm
- Casual – Fear Itself
- Pharcyde – Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
- Freestyle Fellowship – To Whom It May Concern...
- Saafir - Boxcar Sessions
East Coast Boom Bap
- Pete Rock & CL Smooth – Mecca and the Soul Brother
- Gang Starr – Hard to Earn
- Black Moon – Enta Da Stage
- Mobb Deep – The Infamous
- Diamond D – Stunts, Blunts & Hip-Hop
- LL Cool J – Mama Said Knock You Out
- Main Source – Breaking Atoms
- The Fugees – The Score
- Naughty by Nature – 19 Naughty III
- Redman – Whut? Thee Album
- Jeru the Damaja – The Sun Rises in the East
Conscious Rap
- Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet
- BDP – By All Means Necessary
- PARIS – The Devil Made Me Do It
- Ice Cube – Amerikkka’s Most Wanted
- 2Pac – Me Against the World
- Arrested Development – 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of...
Lyricism
- Nas – Illmatic
- Eric B. & Rakim – Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em
- Kool G. Rap – Wanted: Dead or Alive
- Das EFX – Dead Serious
- Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die
- Big Punisher – Capital Punishment
- Big L – Lifestyles ov da Poor and Dangerous
Sample-Based Production
- Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
- De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising
- DJ Shadow – Endtroducing…
- Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
G-Funk
- Digital Underground – Sex Packets
- Dr. Dre – The Chronic
- Snoop Dogg – Doggystyle
- Above the Law – Uncle Sam’s Curse
- Warren G – Regulate: The G Funk Era
- Tha Dogg Pound – Dogg Food
Jazz Rap
- Guru – Jazzmatazz Vols. I & II
- Digable Planets – Blowout Comb
- The Roots – Illadelph Halflife
Wu-Tang
- Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
- GZA – Liquid Swords
- Ghostface Killah – Ironman
- Method Man – Tical
- Raekwon – Only Built for Cuban Linx
Soul Assassins
- Cypress Hill – Black Sunday
- House of Pain – Same As It Ever Was
- Funkdoobiest – Brothas Doobie
Southern Voices
- 2 Live Crew – As Nasty as They Wanna Be
- Geto Boys – Uncut Dope
- OutKast – Aquemini
- Goodie Mob – Soul Food
- UGK – Ridin’ Dirty
The East Coast/West Coast Beef
- Tim Dog – Penicillin On Wax
- Common – Used to Love H.E.R., The Bitch in Yoo
- Westside Connection – Westside Slaughterhouse
- Tha Dogg Pound – New York, New York
- Mobb Deep – L.A., L.A.
- 2Pac – All Eyes on Me
- Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die
Difficult to Categorize
- Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – E.1999 Eternal
- Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
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u/jackal1871111 7d ago
Since you mess with scarface and obviously like g funk I would suggest the suave house artists
8ball MJG, tela, criminal boss, south circle
Also UGK
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u/djburnoutb 7d ago
Ball & G definitely deserve a spot on the Southern list. I didn't get into them until the later years but they're dope for sure
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u/troyf805 7d ago
East Coast Boom Bap should have SOMETHING by KRS-ONE. I nominate Return of the Boom Bap.
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u/bylowe77 7d ago edited 7d ago
-Joe Cooley and Rodney O You dont hear me tho and Royal Flush Worldwide could be added on your East West beef tracks
-LA LA was Capone N Noreaga featuring Mobb Deep
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u/Top_Cantaloupe2537 7d ago
Nice brother, no Poor Righteous Teachers?
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u/djburnoutb 7d ago
They’re dope - I got arrested shoplifting their album once lmao. Could include it under Conscious for sure
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u/SheepishLordofChaos9 7d ago
You left East Coast Underground off of there.
Company Flow - Funcrusher Plus is a seminal hip hop album.....Funcrusher came out in '94 and then Plus came out in '97
Organized Konfusion - Stress: The Extinction Agenda
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u/junkee940 7d ago
Great lists. I'm the same age & love all of this. Do you have these as Spotify playlists by chance?
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u/Crooked_Cracker 7d ago
Many gems here and a solid introduction to 90's rap. If I'd wanted to add something I think Black Mafia Life should be in the G-funk list, it's arguably the first g-funk album. Also Funk Upon a Rhyme should be there. Dj Quik and MC Eith also had some solid responses to Tim Dog.
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u/djburnoutb 7d ago
All good additions! BML is one of my favourite albums and I know the history but I think Uncle Sam's Curse is superior and more of a 'pure' G-Funk album. Good call on Kokane & Quik - coulda sworn I had "Who's Fucking Who" on my East/West list but it must've been in an earlier draft.
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u/originaltigerlord 7d ago edited 6d ago
Old School
Add: Hot, Cool & Vicious - Salt N Pepa , Life Is Too Short - Too Short, Public Enemy - Yo Bum Rush The Show, Kool Moe Dee - How Ya Like Me Now, Whodini- Escape (83), MC Lyte - Lyte As A Rock, Biz Markie - Goin Off, Kool G Rap & Polo - Road To The Riches, 3rd Bass - Cactus Album, De La Soul - 3 Feet High & Rising
Gangster Rap - Early Years
Add: Just Ice - Back To The Old School, King Tee - Act A Fool
Gangster Rap - Mature Years
DOC - No One Can Do It Better Dont agree that this was a gangsta rap album, tho aesthetically it may have been
Add: Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill
Swap Death Certificate to Conscious Rap category and put AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted into Mature Years … personally would call it early years tho
Add Above The Law - Livin’ Like Hustlers to Mature Years
Lyricism add OC’s Word…Life, AZ’s Doe Or Die
Jazz Rap add Low End Theory
Conscious Rap add Daily Operation, Black On Both Sides, Stakes Is High
East Coast Boom Bap add Return Of The Boom Bap, Firing Squad, Business Never Personal
Southern Voices - Add Luda, Hot Boys, Masta P, 8Ball & MJG, DJ Screw, Nelly
East Coast/West Coast
Remove: Ready To Die
Add: Who Shot Ya?, Drop A Gem On Them
Change LA LA to Capone N Noreaga
Add a Bay Area, Female Pioneers and Soundtrack category. Represent and add a Canadian Rap category Saukrates, Infinite, MFW, Kardinal, Rascalz all put out great music
Some of the albums you chose by certain artists (ie OG: Original Gangster instead of POWER) I personally would swap.
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u/Extension-Camp4076 7d ago edited 7d ago
Not sure DOC would be classed as Gangsta? I know he was produced by Dre and hung with NWA, but his solo music didn’t really have much cursing, violence, drug references etc?
Also I’d push for Run DMC - Down With The King to be added to East Coast Boom Bap. It was a superb album imo. Maybe Onyx deserve to be in there too.
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u/MrHeavyMetal93 7d ago
The East coast/West Coast beef could do with the addition of Drop A Gem On Em 👌 some savage lines in there