PixlBit

Hey Pixlbit! I think I am coming down with a cold. Who does this? Who does this especially in the middle of July? I woke up with it and I am not too happy, and the best part is, I started taking Vitamin C a couple of days ago. Well played Vitamin People!

Anyways I thought I’d continue my blog series about my music library with my Hip-Hop/Rap collection. Now this part of my library is slowly growing, as I am going back to listening to stuff from artists I like, and taking chances on folks I haven’t really listened to.

 

This is my Hip-Hop/Rap book (I find it kind of funny that I am listening to Sara Bareilles’ new album while typing this blog. When you think of Hip-Hop/Rap you think her, and then Michelle Branch)

 

Source: I bought this CD along with 2Pac’s Greatest Hits when SDSU went to the Las Vegas Bowl. I needed music for the bus ride when I was part of the marching band. I think I bought it for Big Pun’s “Still Not A Player” and “Luv 2 Luv U (Remix)” by Timbaland and Magoo.

Icy Blu: Now I bought this because of a minor hit “I Want To Be Your Girl” which my friends all liked this song. I ended up finding this CD at Warehouse Music in their .99 bargain bin.

Biggie: When the whole Pac & Biggie thing happened, I sided with Pac, and never bought a Biggie album. I’d buy his singles, but the albums. After college and after Pac & Big, I fixed that by picking up Ready to Die, and Life After Death. I found a couple of tracks on both that never got any radio play, that I really enjoyed.

 

Jay-Z: When I first heard Jay, it was on Foxy Brown’s album Ill Na Na. Before this point I wasn’t big into Hip-Hop/Rap because where I grew up, it wasn’t played. I liked his flow on the track I’ll be, but didn’t think anything more until I heard “Hard Knock Life” with the Annie Sample. I became a fan but never got around to buying his albums. I’m fixing that and hopefully soon I can have is discography in my library. My favorite Jay-Z album is actually a mashup made by DJ Danger Mouse called the Gray Album, which took the vocals from Jay’s Black Album, and the instruments from the Beatles’ White Album. I don’t think that CD ever left my car’s CD player, and I had it on my Minidisc (remember the Minidisc?)

 

N*E*R*D: I wasn’t a big fan, but I knew of their work. When In Search Of was released, I bought it and made a copy for my brother, and made a copy for myself because it would sit in my portable CD player. For the most part In Search Of had all but three songs I really liked.

Their album Clones, that was a bunch of different artists had the same effect as well

Gang Starr: I wasn’t exposed to them until after I graduated college and they were playing in my cousin’s car. The Ownerz was the first album I heard, and I became a fan. I haven’t been able to run into their music here in the valley, and I’ve thought about just buying the digital copies to hold me over until I can find a physical copy.

 

2Pac: I think I bought my first copy of his Greatest Hits for my trip to Las Vegas for the Las Vegas Bowl. I lost disc one someone along the way in college, and I didn’t replace my incomplete copy until a couple of months ago when I had a trial membership for Amazon Prime. I do like 2Pac’s work, but the later stuff that his mom released after his death I really didn’t care for. I always found his message kind of funny because he could go from “Brenda’s Got A Baby” to “I Get Around” to “Keep Your Head Up”.

Murs: I didn’t find out about Murs until I read on a message board about who are artists that are underappreciated. I like his overall work, and Murs For President is my go to album when I go vote (I’m the guy in a jersey, big head phones, some kind of patriotic cap, and usually the youngest voter in my polling place)

 

Nas: I didn’t really start listening to Nas until towards the end of college because of “Either”. I liked Jay, but I liked Either that much more. I think I’m missing five albums to complete his discography, and of course I’m on the lookout. I have two copies of Illmatic 10^th Anniversary collection because the copy I bought at K-Mart turned out to be edited (SMH). I bought the explicit version of Best Buy for the same price.

 

Beastie Boys - Licensed To Ill: Growing up this was the album my friend had. I think he bought a bootleg version from Mexicali (border town on the California/Mexico border). We used to listen to this while playing some Nintendo. I didn’t listen to it again until my first and only dorm roommate in college played it non stop.

 

Eminem: I used to really love listening to the Marshall Mathers LP, but now I’m not a big Em fan. I don’t know what happened, but listening to his music just isn’t the same for me. I can listen to one or two songs every once in a while, but it’s not something I’ll go look for.

Foxy Brown: This was the first Rap album I bought. I bought it in Hawaii at a Sam Goody at the local mall. I ended up buying the Wu Tang Clan’s Wu-Tang Forever for my brother a couple of weeks later. As for the Foxy Brown CD, this was the first time I heard Jay-Z. “Get Me Home” became my favorite song off the album.

 

Vanilla Ice: I bought this just for Ice Ice Baby, and because it was $5 at Walmart. The rest of the album is really bad, and that includes the Ninja Turtles Song

 

Dr. Dre - The Chronic: I remember having a taped copy in high school, and didn’t buy a CD copy until I think my Senior Year in high school. I ended up giving it to my cousin, because he was getting into Rap, and didn’t have a lot of cash for music. I bought this copy a couple of months ago and it is one of those CD/DVD combo discs.

Positive K – Found this in the Warehouse Music bargain bin for .99 cents. I bought it for the song “I Got A Man”. It was one of those fun radio songs I remember listening to in high school.

 

 

Zapp & Roger: This is a group that I associate with high school. I know that they don’t rap, but it feels more at home with this book, than the R&B/Soul book. There were a ton of songs on “All Their Greatest Hits”, and it seemed like every single high school dance had at least two or three Zapp & Roger songs in their playlist. I kind of regret not seeing them when they played a show at the local JC.

 

Will Smith: Love him or hate him, the guy is talented. He had a couple of songs I remember from Growing Up (they were also radio friendly) and during my Walkman days I had “Summertime” in every other mixtape.

I thought I’d end my Rap/Hip Hop book when two CDs of two artists, one really good, and the other well…

 

Snoop Dog (I’m not calling him Lion): I have to admit, this is an album I slept on in college. I was happy with my Chronic tape, and never got around to listening to this album. I liked the singles but wasn’t an overall fan, until college. That goodness for all these re-releasing of albums or else I would have missed this one.

Snow: Remember him? The dude who had the one hit Informer? Yeah I own a copy and I still have no idea what he's saying "In-former..fdkfhlfhfldlfhfhjkfhaff, hdfla boom boom down"

Well there you have it, my Rap/Hip Hop book. I've since added a couple of albums to it, but I already took the pics so, there you go.

 

That’s all for now, more later!

-Chris