Hanif Abdurraqib's rambling and perceptive "love letter to a group, a sound, and an era" inspired me to listen to a number of old school hip-hop albums-- most of which I am familiar-- but a few of which I never heard; his book, which Zman recommended to me and I recommend to you, is called Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest and it astutely points out the difference between the gangsta rap of NWA and the mellower musings of A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and the other Native Tongues rappers is that the members of NWA were “absolutely rooted in some idea of what would make young white people most excited and old white people most afraid”, while the Native Tongues rappers were “absolutely rooted in some idea of what would make young black people most curious and old black people most welcoming”;
Abdurraqib explains that the jazz samples of The Low End Theory was the first hip-hop that he could really play around his parents without fear of criticism; I also learned that the hip hop magazine The Source only gave their coveted five mic rating to a select group of albums:
- People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm – A Tribe Called Quest
- Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em – Eric B. & Rakim
- AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted – Ice Cube
- One for All – Brand Nubian
- De La Soul Is Dead – De La Soul
- The Low End Theory – A Tribe Called Quest
- Illmatic – Nas
- Life After Death – The Notorious B.I.G.
- Aquemini – Outkast
- The Blueprint – Jay-Z
- Stillmatic – Nas
- The Fix – Scarface
- The Naked Truth – Lil' Kim
- Trill OG – Bun B
- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy – Kanye West
