Ableton Forum

Common, but older Common when he used to be called Common Sense.

Pharaohe Monch

Nas

Afu-Ra

Jeru (The Damaja')

Mr. Lif

Some of these aren't quite like Mos Def but you'll probably dig if you liked Black on Both Sides and/or socially conscious hip-hop:

Slum Village

Little Brother (and most things Justus League related)

KMD

3rd Base

Jungle Brothers

Native Tongues

Leaders of the New School

In addition to ATCQ, check out some of Q-Tip's solo stuff.

some more new school nuggets to peep:

platinum pied pipers
c.r.a.c. (ta'raach + blu, their solo shit is off the hook too)
jneiro jarel and all his various projects
samiyam
brother ali
wale
jay electronica

Doesn't quite sound like Mos Def, but Gangstarr is fucking sick. I think someone said Black Star already. He was funny in Be Kind Rewind, albeit one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen; entertaining though.

dillweed4 wrote:i'm not much of a fan for intense rapping - But I do like:

Sinatra and Biggie - a fat album

I heard this last year and thought it was some unreleased mash up, is that the title of the album?

Tohtruck wrote:Common, but older Common when he used to be called Common Sense.

Pharaohe Monch

Nas

Afu-Ra

Jeru (The Damaja')

Mr. Lif

Some of these aren't quite like Mos Def but you'll probably dig if you liked Black on Both Sides and/or socially conscious hip-hop:

Slum Village

Little Brother (and most things Justus League related)

KMD

3rd Base

Jungle Brothers

Native Tongues

Leaders of the New School

In addition to ATCQ, check out some of Q-Tip's solo stuff.

Good list.... although Native Tongues is a collective of emcees and artists that includes Mos Def and Talib Kweli, the Roots, Erykah Badu (a must check out if you like a little r&b flavor) Jill Scott, and many many many others.... other peeps to include outside of this list... There's a crew out of Cali called the Native Guns who recently broke up, but they put out some awesome awesome music.... Kiwi is an incredible emcee. Also on the mainstream tip you should check out Lupe Fiasco... I can't stop listening to him.

^^^ Word I figured just mentioning that would point dude out in the general direction.

I was actually thinking about mentioning Lupe Fiasco. Sonically a bit different from Mos Def but similar in that he's an incredibly talented MC who rhymes about themes that are more significant than bling and gunz.

I remember flipping through the tv and saw that he was actually getting play on BET. Its so funny how different he sounded compared to the rest of the countdown because he was actually rhyming with poignant lyrics. The difference was like night and day with the rest of the music that was on the countdown (completely lopsided in terms of talent with the rest of the crap music there) and the audience seemed kinda baffled at the song as if they'd never heard hip-hop music before (those crazy kids and their loud crunk music).

I'd also like to add Digable Planets to the list.

Tohtruck wrote:^^^ Word I figured just mentioning that would point dude out in the general direction.

I was actually thinking about mentioning Lupe Fiasco. Sonically a bit different from Mos Def but similar in that he's an incredibly talented MC who rhymes about themes that are more significant than bling and gunz.

I remember flipping through the tv and saw that he was actually getting play on BET. Its so funny how different he sounded compared to the rest of the countdown because he was actually rhyming with poignant lyrics. The difference was like night and day with the rest of the music that was on the countdown (completely lopsided in terms of talent with the rest of the crap music there) and the audience seemed kinda baffled at the song as if they'd never heard hip-hop music before (those crazy kids and their loud crunk music).

I'd also like to add Digable Planets to the list.

Good call on Digable Planets.... If you go there, definitely check out Black Moon and Black Sheep too... (Black Moon is considered by many to be the god fathers of the Native Tongues Movement...)

As far as bad taste on BET goes, that comes with the territory... I'm not sure how old you are, but you gotta remember what the older heads said about the "crap" we were listening to when we got into music... It goes in cycles, and hip-hop will circle back to more thoughtful lyrics again.... Don't forget, we listened to ish like Two Live Crew back in the day, and you can't tell me that that ish wasn't at least as bad as the stuff that's coming out now... remember a song called "Hey we want some p****y?" It was actually a popular song if you ran in some circles.... and As Nasty As they Want to Be the record was one of the first platinum selling records in Hip-Hop.....

theres some pretty good mix tapes located here
i only just realised you can dl them, good way to check out lots of different artists legitimately for free
all sorts like mos def, j dilla, talib kweli, mf doom, etc..

All good rappers indeed, no doubt

however, not my cup of tea - when I was a kid writing graffiti surfing around on skateboards and snowboards all that shit was cool

Common is still cool and so is some of the older school stuff mentioned - good call on the Common Sense (that was the shit)

you forgot the Alkoholics and Pharcyde

but like I said, that was cool back in 1993

my favorite rappers today (and this isn't a joke) are

Lil Scrappy
TI
Jeezy
Yung Joc
Webbie
E-40 (Still after all those years)
Bun B
Project Pat
Three Six Mafia
Birdman
Trickdaddy

Call it growing up and getting educated

but those cats in my opinion keep it way more real than most (not all) of the above aforementioned artist.

Gangsta rappers = positive Economics

the other rappers = normative economics

but like I said, they're all gifted in their own special ways

I can see the appeal of TI. E-40's pretty cool especially if you like that hyphy stuff. Three Six is fun to listen to when I'm in that mood. Project Pat, my best friend and I use to think his song "Chickenheads" was the most hilarious thing ever.

I actually took a listen to Bun B's album and I have to say I was actually kind of impressed.

As a general rule of thumb these days I just try to stay away from anyone with Lil' or Yung in their name (exceptions Lil' Sci, Lil' Jon sometimes, and Lil' Evil).

TeachONE wrote: Good call on Digable Planets.... If you go there, definitely check out Black Moon and Black Sheep too... (Black Moon is considered by many to be the god fathers of the Native Tongues Movement...)

As far as bad taste on BET goes, that comes with the territory... I'm not sure how old you are, but you gotta remember what the older heads said about the "crap" we were listening to when we got into music... It goes in cycles, and hip-hop will circle back to more thoughtful lyrics again.... Don't forget, we listened to ish like Two Live Crew back in the day, and you can't tell me that that ish wasn't at least as bad as the stuff that's coming out now... remember a song called "Hey we want some p****y?" It was actually a popular song if you ran in some circles.... and As Nasty As they Want to Be the record was one of the first platinum selling records in Hip-Hop.....

Dude! BLACK MOON!!! In my opinion, one of the greatest hip-hop groups EVER! Anything Boot Camp Clik is bound to be pretty good but still have that "fuck you!" appeal.

Buckshot 5FT DJ Evil Dee Mr. Walt; amazing lyrics incredible delivery and of course MPC3000s SP1200s. Doesn't get much more hip-hop than that!

2 Live Crew, touche. Good point about older heads always being critical at whatever's the new shit. I turned 24 this year and I just don't get alot of the stuff that gets played on the radio and tv.

In terms of pure lyrical quality, it's KRS-One FTW in my book. I like his music more and more too over the years. I've been really loving "I Got Next" lately...incredible album...I was always turned off by all the skits and non-musical tracks, but there are some incredible rhymes and the music is fantastic...feels very 'live'.

It goes without saying that KRS is a major source of inspiration for every single MC mentioned on this thread.

Also, "Paid in Full" and "Don't Sweat the Technique" are incredible albums by Eric B. & Rakim. Classic!

Along the lines of Dig Plans, the first Camp Lo album is a fucking CLASSIC. (Uptown Saturday Night)

Deep Puddle Dynamics "The taste of rain...why kneel?" album is excellent also.