[Made a very similar topic during the famous "server crash"...so it got lost]

This is kind of a two part thread:

First part is for the lesser known (hence "underground") rap/hip-hop. I've recently been digging a little deeper to find some more laidback hip-hop to listen to. The style I'm looking for in relation to the more popular artists includes Common, Talib, Mos Def, A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, De La Soul, etc.

A little less mainstream: Dilated Peoples, Blackalicious (Gift of Gab), Slum Village, Cunninlynguists, Heiroglyphics, etc.

Then there's the least mainstream: Strange Fruit Project, People Under the Stairs, Ohmega Watts, Styles of Beyond, The Procussions, All Natural, Atmosphere, etc.

So I'm looking for some groups/artists more along those lines.


Second part of the thread is for the more instrumental hip-hop. I work in a bar and like to play some jazzy/hip-hop instrumental stuff as a bridge in between the dinner and late night bar crowds. I like to play the Beastie Boys instrumental albums (The In Sound From Way Out and The Mix-up). And the other day I found this group called "The Sound Providers" who have a kick-ass album called "An Evening With the Sound Providers" that has half of the songs just instrumentals (real jazzy type instruments with some good beats), and the other half instruments with featured hip-hop artists. All of its good, but I'd love more of just the instrumentals. Also have some stuff by "KanKick"...he has some good instrumental/beats songs but most of it has featured hip-hop artists too.

So any suggestions for some good jazzy/hip-hop stuff without the lyrics/rappin would be appreciated too.

4/17/2008 3:40:52 AM

play foreign exchange - connected for both categories

my #1 favorite hiphop album


also if you like that, try the Nicolay album "Here" and the Nicolay/Kay album "Time:line"

[Edited on April 17, 2008 at 9:57 AM. Reason : .]

4/17/2008 9:49:27 AM

pete rock's "petestrumentals" albums have a ton of jazzy instrumentals.

as far as artists suggestions, i like Kidz In The Hall. check out "School Was My Hustle", some good laid back type stuff on there.

4/17/2008 10:41:33 AM

guru - jazzmatazz vol.3 is another favorite of mine

might not be exactly what you're looking for, but i like the concept a lot

4/17/2008 11:06:42 AM

Guru - entire Jazzmatazz series (3 or 4 of them?)
Blockhead - Music by Cavelight or Downtown Science
RJD2 - Deadringer or Since We Last Spoke

4/17/2008 12:30:42 PM

Good stuff. Love the Foreign Exchange album (the instrumentals were a little too slow).

Petestrumentals was right on point too.

Already love RJD2. Guru has some good stuff too. Thanks guys.

4/17/2008 12:59:06 PM

Jedi Mind Tricks
Haiku D'Etat
Mr Lif
Brand Nubian
Akrobatik
MF Doom

[Edited on April 17, 2008 at 1:06 PM. Reason : Take not to 'blast' this music though.]

4/17/2008 1:06:06 PM

Quote :

"guru - jazzmatazz vol.3 is another favorite of mine"

I copped this from Agent 0 a while back, and it's still on rotation several years later.

4/17/2008 1:15:24 PM

also check the new eMC album

production is crazy (nicolay, etc), and not totally laid back but its a nice sound throughout the whole album


also second the newest akrobatik album...

give me some souuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuul god thats a sick beat

[Edited on April 17, 2008 at 1:36 PM. Reason : .]

4/17/2008 1:32:24 PM

oh and

Blue Scholars - Bayani

is very much the sound you're looking for, very much in the vein of foreign exchange type sound but with a little bit more of a political/activist tinge to the lyrics...good flow, good production

4/17/2008 1:39:04 PM

Quote :

"Jedi Mind Tricks"

they have great production, but certainly don't fall under the "laidback" category.

4/17/2008 2:44:06 PM

DJ Krush, in particular the "Zen" album.

4/17/2008 9:07:18 PM

good call on the jazzmatazz.

I can't find Foreign Exchange

4/18/2008 12:19:53 AM

DJ Screw, Screwed Up click and the old school Houston hip hop and mix tapes

lil keke, big hawk, big pokey, archie lee, old lil flip, botany boys, fat pat, big troy youngstar etc

the music is real laid back mainly a bunch of freestyles over slowed down beats of many mainstream songs and also original DJ screw production

4/18/2008 12:29:21 AM

the best part about spending so much time in houston is the local hiphop stations

4/18/2008 12:33:01 AM

yea i hear they are reallly good at promoting the local talent

unlike raleigh


theres definitely a well definited and deep rooted culture in the houston rap scene

4/18/2008 12:49:35 AM

For instrumental stuff:

Aesop Rock released a "Build Your Own Bazooka Tooth" disc that has instrumentals of the Bazooka Tooth album, and El-P has an officially released instrumental version of Fantastic Damage--lots of great beats on both of those albums, and the instrumentals are very easy to find since they're official releases of the entire album, no hunting down singles.

Eligh from the Living Legends crew has some good instrumental albums--if you like laid-back, jazzy kind of stuff, definitely check out his Gandalf's Beat Machine album.

I'd also really recommend Nettle's album "Build A Fort, Set That On Fire." All instrumental, chill beats that are extremely original and straddle hiphop, IDM, and a few other genres. It's kind of out there--the first thing you think when you hear it is definitely not "oh, hip-hop"--but it might be what you're looking for.

If you want some things that are hip-hop influenced but also have an electronic and jazzy flair to it, you could check out a few tracks by Tabla Beat Science and Kyoto Jazz Massive and see what you think. And I'll throw this out there as random, but there's a really fun group called Ojos De Brujo that's a Spanish band which plays heavily hip-hop influenced flamenco music--flamenco complete with turntable scratching, breakbeats, and rapping. Check out their Barí album first.



As far as stuff with lyrics--if you like Atmosphere, Styles of Beyond, etc., check out the following. "Underground" hip-hop is a ridiculously large category to be asking for, but I'll throw out some favorites.

Anyone on Definitive Jux and Rhymesayers Entertainment labels (I'll probably get labelled a backpacker for saying that, but at least 80% of the people on those labels are of a high caliber)--in particular, a few favorites on those, besides Aesop Rock and El-P that I already mentioned, are Rob Sonic, Hangar 18, Cage, P.O.S., and Eyedea
Aceyalone
Apathy
Loop Troop (Swedish)
Busdriver
Binary Star
Iam (French)
Non Phixion
One.Be.Lo
Pharoahe Monch
Bad Copy (Serbian)
RA The Rugged Man
Slow Suicide Stimulus

4/18/2008 2:50:08 AM

Quote :

"DJ Screw, Screwed Up click and the old school Houston hip hop and mix tapes"

No offense, but I can't stand DJ Screw.

Good calls earlier on the Pete Rock Instrumentals. I had about a two hour mix going last night at work with the Sound Providers (An Evening with the Sound Providers), Pete Rock (PeteStrumentals), and Kan Kick (From Artz Unknown)...and had at least a dozen people come up and ask me what I was playing.

Checking out some more suggestions now. Keep 'em coming.

4/18/2008 1:12:41 PM

check out Madlib. he's got some cool laid back stuff, tracks are kind of short but very cool.

also check out sweatshop union, specifically the song stolen memories for cool laid back rap.

the doesn't really help, but the georgia state radio station has a show every tuesday night called hush-hush. sometimes they have a DJ come in and the entire show is "performed" live. pretty cool.

4/18/2008 11:49:43 PM