100 Mandatory Golden Era Hip Hop Tracks or We Declare Exterminatus: #21-30
The catalog of The Most Holy grows. Kneel or know oblivion.
Below: Writeups for tracks 21-30. (Xtra thanks to Glyxphagor the Executioner)
21. Eazy-E, “No More ?’s”
The ultimate testament to the power of production in making a rapper’s name. As outlined in the biopic, Eric Wright was a crack dealer who couldn’t rap worth a shit when N.W.A. formed. Get him in crime reporting/advocacy mode, give it some storytelling structure with a novelty interview format over one of the best Dre tracks of all time? Voila. Masterpiece.
22. Intelligent Hoodlum, “Arrest the President”
This kid (later known as Tragedy Khadafi) was talking about George Herbert Walker Bush, but the sentiment still applies. In boxing they talk about “selling out” in the ring: Taking a risk to land a big blow. Marley Marl crafts a pulse-pounding, stripped-down breakbeat and siren capped by a sample stab; Hoodlum goes for it with all the oxygen, piss and vinegar in his young body: “Al Islam, read the Kuran/Grab the mic and drop bombs.”
23. A Tribe Called Quest, “We Can Get Down”
Based on the Midnight Marauders tracks that they did videos for and what the algorithms push you to, “Award Tour,” “Oh My God,” and “Electric Relaxation” are all the star efforts of this disc. The algorithms are WRONG. DJs who play these are WRONG. I mean, they’re all fine tracks, but none of them hold a candle to “We Can Get Down.” No, I will not be taking questions.
24. Nice and Smooth, “Hip Hop Junkies”
Stop thinking. Don’t listen at the fucking thing. Shut up and party. Greg Nice and Smooth B are in the house and they brought a Partridge Family sample. I love the way Smooth just purrs through his bars and Greg Nice did whatever rhymed to get the party up, producing dependably entertaining non sequiturs every verse: “I’ll be damned, gag me with a spoon/Who loves Popeye? Alice the Goon.” (I was once at a throwback hipster party in 2008 and requested that the DJ play this and he made a funny little scrunchy face because he was a fucking bitch. You’ll also want “Sometimes I Rhyme Slow” off this platter. As my old rapper friend D.O. once said, 1991 literally wouldn’t exist without these tracks.)
25. Big Daddy Kane, “It’s Hard Being the Kane”
Highly in demand after making his name during his work with Stet and De La, Prince Paul shows up to guest produce tracks for everybody, almost singlehandedly saving the crappy Taste of Chocolate LP with this undeniable party in a can. Kane’s bag of tricks were getting a little shopworn by the early ‘90s, but he hits classic form one more time over Prince Paul’s brilliant companion hooks, buildups and breakdowns. Every few measures there’s some minor, flawless new transfer of energy to subtly higher levels of excitement. What a touch he had.
26. King Tee feat. Tha Alkaholiks, “Bus Dat Ass”
The Chronic eclipsed almost everything released about this time. Sure, Dre broke Snoop and defined the West Coast sound for years. But King Tee and DJ Pooh were no slouches, giving Tha Alkaholiks an introductory bow on Tha Triflin’ Album: When a gangster legend gives you a couple guest verses on his LP, you throw lyrical haymakers on every second of mic time and leave it all in the ring, which is precisely what J-Ro, Tash and E-Swift did.
27. KMD, “Peach Fuzz”
There were a handful of Golden Era underground MCs who managed to hang in there and find even more fame as their peers were forgotten. Here, taste the humor and lyrical dynamism of KMD’s Zev Love X, riffing about how girls laugh at him because he can’t grow a real beard. Nobody’s laughing in the 2000s when he dons his supervillain mask and hits second-stage glory as MF Doom. (RIP DJ Subroc and MF Doom. Now both dudes from this group are dead. I hate this century.)
28. Yaggfu Front, “Busted Loop”
One of the more welcome developments of the early ‘90s was the pure-MCing, big-crew, call-and-response style that came out of the East. Major practitioners: Onyx, Leaders of the New School, Fu-Schnickens. Hyperactive and wholly focused on the art of “show, don’t tell” verbal ping pong with razor-sharp hype-men interjections from your squad. “Busted Loop” is one of the better specimens of this delirious little trend. Also has a video where they make a carjacking look as wholesome as a Buster Keaton reel.
29. Kwame, “The Rhythm”
I’m a sucker for when a producer uses that raspy “gasp” effect to pep up a beat. (Although nobody did it like Stet on “Sally.” God, what a beat.) Here the dapper Kwame, he of the flawless high-top fade, shows he has style to burn with heaps of clever, clever bars.
30. Black Moon, “Who Got Da Props?”
This was an instant underground classic that put Buckshot Shorty and Evil Dee on the map. Black Moon were with the Boot Camp Clik (including Heltah Skeltah, Smif-N-Wessun — who became the Cocoa Brovaz after the gun manufacturer lodged a strong objection). I remember going to a show in 2006 featuring Denver indie rappers and one of the Radio Bums dropped this beat and I looked around the room and everybody was lip syncing it word for word, and that was one of the happiest nights of my life.