The Best Hip Hop Albums You Haven't Heard

The more I listen to mainstream hip hop, the more I feel that hip hop has changed for the worse.   MC's used to tell stories in their rhymes, stories about the places they were from and how life was for them, they were clever and interesting stories.   It wasn't all about guns, drugs, money and ho's, of course there was some of this (a lot of these MC's came from pretty hard places to live), it just didn't dominate every song!

I'm a BBoy, so I listen and dance to a lot of old school funk, soul and break-beats.   The history of this culture, albeit it short, is very rich and deep.   From the days of DJ Kool Herc DJing and rapping over the beat, to Afrika Bambaattaa throwing the original block parties.   If you happen to know where hip hop came from, then like me you're probably disturbed by where the mainstream is taking it.   Luckily we still have the underground, and that's where some of the best music you haven't heard is hiding.

This is a list of albums I think all hip hop heads should hear. This is what I hope hip hop, at least underground hip hop, sounds like for years to come. In no particular order:

Mos Def - Black On Both Sides - This album has stayed in pretty much constant rotation for me since it's release in 1999 on Rawkus Records. With a slick rhyming style and melodic voice, these tracks just keep me coming back for more. If it's your first listen check out "Mathematics", "Miss Fat Booty" and "Got". Some amazing people in the hip hop community helped create this album, Mos Def worked with a mix of different DJs and producers - Psycho Les of The Beatnuts, Ali Shaheed Muhammad of Tribe Called Quest and DJ Premier, among many others.

Talib Kweli/Mos Def - Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star - Talib Kweli and Mos Def formed to put out this timeless album, as relevant now and it was in 1998 when it was released by the Rawkus Record label (Be on the look out for another collaboration by them in 2010). The song "Definition" is a direct response to the east coast/west coast feud that started with Tupac and Biggie that got blown way out of proportion. "Children's Story" is a play on the original by Slick Rick, with Mos Def rhyming about the danger of materialism. "Thieves In The Night" a masterful track based on a paragraph from the book "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison:

• "And fantasy it was, for we were not strong, only aggressive; we were not free, merely licensed; we were not compassionate, we were polite; not good but well-behaved. We courted death in order to call ourselves brave, and hid like thieves from life."

Talib Kweli explains that he read and was inspired by the paragraph in high school. He said it "struck me as one of the truest critiques of our society".

Atmosphere - God Loves Ugly - Atmosphere consists of MC Slug and DJ/producer Ant. Slug is an amazing lyricist, with Ant backing him up, they released this hype album in 2002. "Fuck You Lucy", a great song, alludes to being about his on-off girlfriend and mother of his son. He's also stated that the common "Lucy" theme has evolved to describe women in general and political statements. "Hair" is about his interaction with female fans, pretty clever and funny. A neat perspective on rap stardom and the fans that go along with it. "Godlovesugly" touches on materialism and self image, over an amazing piano melody.

Common (formerly Common Sense) - Resurrection - Way back in 1994 (hah) this amazing album was dropped and propelled Common to underground popularity. The title track "Resurrection" has a really nice jazzy piano hook and is about trials and tribulations of his life. Like most of the songs on the album it has really clever lyrics. "I Used To Love H.E.R.", is about the path hip hop was taking at the time (and has arrived at now, sadly), criticizing and blaming west coast gangsta rap for hip hops mainstream destruction. This caused a couple of back and forth "attack tracks" involving Common, Westside Connection and Westside Slaughterhouse. The feud has long since ended. An unfortunate side effect of the albums popularity, he was sued by an Orange County-based reggae band with the same name, forcing him to shorten his name to Common.

RJD2 - Deadringer - Probably one of my favorite DJ/producers in hip hop, although he's not exclusively hip hop, he's dropped some of the most amazing hip hop beats I've ever heard. His tracks are not easily described, but once you hear them, it's a challenge to forget them! His solo debut album, dropped in 2002, and is littered with gold, "Chicken Bone Circuit" has a really organic funky beat, while "TheHorror" has a spooky sci-fi, down tempo flavor, then he hits you with a soulful funky track called "Ghostwriter". Amazing beats, be sure to check out this album!

I'm going to end this here for now, it's only 5 albums but I plan to add more later. Hope you all enjoy these artists as much as I have over the years.

-Gregg