What's On AB's iPod? : Classic 90's Hip Hop Mix.

Hip Hop was born in the 70's. The golden age was the 80's. It died in the 00's. My favorite decade by far was the 90's, the era of "the mixshow".



I'm not talking about "mixtapes" and I'm also not talking about the cliche'd "mix" that your local Hot/Power/Kiss FM station plays at drive time. I'm talking about actual, real live "mixshows" like the ones on my Negro College HBCU radio station where you'd hear the latest underground hip-hop played continuously for 2 hour stretches with no corny assed DJ talking over everything, no R&B tunes, no playlists, and no commercials. Those were the days.

cRap music has been creatively dead for about 5 years now, and will be commercially defunct by the next decade. It has officially gone pop. Is it any coincidence that the two biggest selling "rappers" (Lil' Wayne and Kanye West) seldom actually "rap"? There's lots of culprits: corporate dictated playlists, label mergers, payola, music piracy, Southern influence, the melding of rap with R&B, poor artist development, and just plain musical evolution. Either way, it's a rap. Pun completely intended.

Since I'm all about filling up your iPod (or Zune) with free goodies, cop this dazzling 150 (!) minute mix (95 songs!) of some of the best above and underground tunes from the 90's, courtesy of Swiss DJ Hands Solo. This ain't no jiggy crap, this is New York, Timbs, hoodies, and Carhartts music. Pour out a lil' Alize and toast the days when rap music didn't suck.

It's history that likely won't be repeating itself.

Question: Why does rap music suck so badly? What (if anything) needs to happen for commercially viable rap music to become interesting again?

Hands Solo: Classic 90s Hip Hop Mix [via Kev|Nottingham]