Hip Hop & Rap recommendations for Taters


There is a rather heated thread that is fairly universally bashing rap & hip hop here in the music section of the Audiogon forums.  This is a thread to search for the best that the genre has.  Please recommend artists, albums, and songs that you feel are the best that hip hop & rap have to offer.  What tracks would you recommend to someone who enjoys music, but is quite far outside of the usual listening audience for hip hop and rap?

Here is the thread that inspired this post:
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/when-rap-came-out-30-years-ago-i-thought-it-was-just-a-fad?la...

So, to start it off, I'll offer up a few of my favorites.  I'll surely come up with a few more, but for now, this is where I would start.  I hope you enjoy this challenge!

- Mark


Format:
Artist
Album
Track


A Tribe Called Quest
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
Bonita Applebum

Mos Def
Black On Both Sides
Hip Hop

Mos Def
Black On Both Sides
Ms. Fat Booty

Us 3
Hand On The Torch
It's Like That

Common
Like Water For Chocolate
The Light

Kanye West
The College Drop Out
All Falls Down

Digable Planets
Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)
Where I'm From

2 Pac
All Eyez On Me
Only God Can Judge Me


marktomaras
Taters wrote:
"I am a foodie and I love to talk about different restaurants and the food they serve. I am also (time permitting) willing too (sic) drive 2 hours to eat at a certain restaurant."

In my formative years, I had the good fortune to study with a Tibetan Buddhist monk who knew extreme deprivation until he miraculously managed to escape to the United States.  He once told me that it was better to go hungry than to live with a full stomach and a closed mind.

This "simple" utterance changed my life- I can only strive to live up to this maxim.
PS,  excellent.  Love the Buddhist Monks.

Please have a look at my photography from a philanthropic medical expedition to the remote regions of Tibet:
http://www.marktomaras.com/tibet-gallery#1

enjoy!
- Mark
Wow Mark, very beautiful photos. I take it you are a professional. If not you should be. Regards jet