Welcome back everybody. We’ve got a good one today. On April 13th, 1993, the world was introduced to Mobb Deep. The Queensbridge duo released their debut album Juvenile Hell. Havoc and Prodigy burst on to the scene in their late teens and never looked back. Both Havoc and Prodigy shared time behind the boards and with the mic and made one hell of a duo. Juvenile Hell was not a massive mainstream success, but the duo went on to make plenty of classic music. They’ve sold over 3 million records throughout their career. “Shook Ones (Part II) is arguably one of the best known rap songs of all times and defined a term that countless artists would use throughout history. The two kids from the projects were telling their story and became famous for their hardcore delivery and street driven lyrics. They most recently released an album in 2014. On a sadder note, Prodigy passed away last June. But their music will live on forever. So over the weekend, check out the latest update to our playlist. It will feature all of Juvenile Hell and some other classic Mobb Deep hits. Enjoy your weekend y’all, may it be filled with dope music. I’ll see you back here next week for more hip hop history lessons.
Today was a relatively slow day in hip hop history, so I’m gonna dig real deep to bring y’all some knowledge. Let me bring it back to 1960 and the third annual Grammy Awards. The legendary Ray Charles took home four Grammy’s that night. Two of them were for his work on the classic “Georgia On My Mind”. Now y’all might be thinking, “Why is he talking about Ray Charles when we’re supposed to be learning about hip hop?” Ray Charles has been a huge influence in hip hop. Many artists have referenced him and his lyrics. And he has been sampled in over 100 songs, many of them being hip hop tracks. Ray Charles music was beyond soulful. His voice is one in a million and his skills on the piano are untouchable, even before you consider that he was blind. So today’s playlist is going to look a little different. We’re gonna throw up a bunch of classic Ray Charles songs and some of the hip hop tracks that sampled him. The Charles song will be followed by the tracks with the sample, so see if you can pick them all out. I couldn’t find all of the Ray Charles tracks I was hoping for, so I added some newer songs that have Charles samples without the Ray song to go with it. Appreciating hip hop is appreciating all music. So much of hip hop is pulled in from other genres of music, so why not pay homage to one of the best musicians of all time. Enjoy stretching out your musical palate tonight and I’ll see you back here tomorrow for another hip hop history lesson.
It took me years to depict the actual lyrics to Jay-Z and UGK’s “Big Pimpin“. I used to SWEAR it went “Big pimpin’, I be spending cheese” until my dad dissed me and told me the rappers were saying “It’s big pimpin, spendin G’s”. Thanks Dad if it weren’t for you, till this day I still probably wouldn’t make out what they were actually saying LOL.
18 years ago today, Jay Z released the banger and it still gets radio play. Everytime I hear this song it takes me back to all the old summertime cookouts and birthday parties I’d spend hours at with my cousins jumping on moon bounces and killing them at dance contests. When I found out this record dropped back on April 11, 2000 I couldn’t believe it. I was only 3 at the time!
If I had to choose some of my top favorite Jay-Z songs, this would definitely be in my top 10! Mainly because of this Timabaland-produced beat and the LIT video they shot for it. Jay and UGK had the hunnies, the bottles, the yacht, and they straight got their party ON. Check it out below, THAT is a REAL video shoot!
Welcome back to the hip hop history classroom ladies and gentlemen. We’ve got a lot of exciting news for today. Now, you already know that this is best class you’ve ever taken. But I also promised that it would be the easiest. And now, we’re making it even easier. Starting today, my brother Kennedy Hart and I will be making a Spotify playlist to go along with my classes. So all the songs and artists I discuss will be in one, easy place for you. Check the URL at the bottom of the article for the playlist. We’ll be updating this playlist with every article, so make sure you follow it to keep up. Now who’s better than me?
Our first playlist is guaranteed to be fire cause we’ve got a busy one in hip hop history today. Public Enemy released their third album, Fear of A Black Planet on this date in 1990 (Go check out my article about April 1st for more and Public Enemy).Dr. Dre released his first solo single “Deep Cover” in 1992 and introduced the world to Snoop Dogg. The two would go on to become the faces of the West for a generation. But I’m going to be selfish and take some more time to shoutout one of my personal favorites.
Today I want to send a big happy birthday to Q-Tip. Kamaal Ibn John Fareed (born Jonathan William Davis) was born on this date in 1970, making him 48 today. Q-Tip will go down as one of the best to ever do it along with his brothers from A Tribe Called Quest. Made up of four Queens natives, A Tribe Called Quest had some of the dopest sound coming out of New York throughout the late 80’s and 90’s. Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Jerobi, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad make up my favorite rap group of all time. Tip and Ali Shaheed cooked up an insane amount of dope beats for the group throughout their career while Tip, Phife and Jerobi handled the mic.The blend of jazz into hip hop will always be their trademark, and no one has ever done it better. Phife Dawg was the rawest lyricist of the group and always brought hard punchlines to a slick flow. Phife, Malik Izaac Taylor passed away in March of 2016 while he and Tribe were finishing up their last album. The rest of the group finished the album and it had great success, bringing that 90’s Tribe we all loved to the current hip hop vibe and immortalizing The Five Foot Assasin.
Q-Tip knew his way around a mic too. He had a ridiculous amount of flows and was always able to play off of Phife. The balance they brought to tracks is what makes their music so dope. It is all so simple. The beats are contagious and get you bopping. The rhyme schemes are simple enough to hear, but the lyrical content is sharp enough to make it hard to understand the first listen. I will never get tired of listening to some Tribe. Tip has also had some success as a solo act. He’s released solo albums and has production credits all over the game. He’s a true legend in the game, so it’s only right we show respect here.
Now make your way over to that playlist! We’ll have that Dre track, some Public Enemy and plenty of A Tribe Called Quest. It should have you set for the rest of the night. Check back later for your next lesson in hip hop history.
Twenty-six years ago today, Dr. Dre released his debut solo single Deep Cover on April 9, 1992. After he left N.W.A., this was the first track Dre released, and he introduced Snoop Dogg (who was unknown at the time). Also known as “187,” this song became one of the hardest tracks in all of rap history.
It all started after the record was featured on the Deep Cover film soundtrack starring actors Laurence Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum. Once the album reached #166 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, it also appeared as a single and was on Dr. Dre’s First Round Knock Out. From then on, it appeared everywhere on several greatest hits albums including Doggy Stuff and Doggy Style Hits. Listen to the song below, it STILL knocks today.
You guys know that I love my older hip hop. But that doesn’t mean I don’t listen to today’s stuff too. And today, I’m going to use a brand new track to teach our lesson. Flatbush Zombies released their second album today, Vacation In Hell. Now, besides Flatbush Zombies being dope as hell and the album being fire, they basically did my job for me today. So for today’s day in history, we’re going to be staying right here in 2018.Today, I want you to check out a track off the new album called “Headstone”. The Zombies break down 20+ years of hip hop history while they flip countless song titles, lyrics, and album names into a flow that is unique to the group. They use the track to pay homage to every artist that has influenced them and the game. They reference people like Biggie, Eazy E, Kanye West, Bone Thugs, 50 Cent, NWA, Nas, Slick Rick and so many more. So I’m gonna give you guys some homework for this weekend. Find the lyrics to this track, print them out and try to find all the different references they drop. Circle them up and make a playlist out of them. Its guaranteed to be a banger of a list and will walk you through years and years of influential tracks. The Flatbush Zombies break down some of the lyrics in a dope video by Genius, so I’ll leave that here for you to get started. Enjoy your weekend and may it be filled with fire hip hop.
