I have £100 what underground albums would you recommend with that money?

MastaAceTheGOAT
MastaAceTheGOAT Members Posts: 724
edited February 2011 in The Essence
About $150. Got it from parents for doing well in exams so could anyone recommend what I should buy

Comments

  • rip.dilla
    rip.dilla Members Posts: 17,412 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2011
    If you haven't got these already, I recommend:

    Q-Tip/The Renaissance

    J Dilla/Donuts

    Masta Ace/A Long Hot Summer

    Reflection Eternal/Train Of Thought

    Talib Kweli/Eardrum

    Slum Village/Fantastic Vol. 2

    Pete Rock & CL Smooth/The Main Ingredient

    Rawkus Presents Sound Bombing II

    Slum Village/Fantastic Vol. 1

    Madvillainy/Madvillain

    Raekwon/Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II

    N.E.R.D/In Search Of... (Studio Version)
  • RuffDraft
    RuffDraft Members, Writer Posts: 4,753 ✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2011
    CYNE - Evolution Fight
    Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons
    Binary Star - Masters of the Universe
    Blu & Exile - Below the Heavens
    Fashawn - Boy Meets World
    Kendrick Lamar - The Kendrick Lamar EP
    Common - Resurrection
    Cradle Orchestra - Velvet Ballads
    CunninLynguists - A Piece of Strange, ? Acres
    Dela - Changes of Atmosphere
    Del - Deltron 3030
    Pigeon John - ... and the Summertime Pool Party
    Jazz Liberatorz - Clin d'oeil
    Jeru the Damaja - The Sun Rises in the East
    K-Os - Joyful Rebellion, Yes!, Atlantis: Hymns for the Urban Disco
    Kno - Death is Silent
    The Left - Gas Mask
    RJD2 - Dead Ringer

    --

    Highlight the ones you haven't listened to and I'll tell you why they deserve your money :tu

    Congratulations on your exams.
  • _Menace_
    _Menace_ Members, Writer Posts: 26,613 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2011
    Killuminati 7 Day Theory
    Illmatic
    All Eyes On me
    Me Against The Worl
    Stillmatic
    The Documentary.
    Ready to die
    Straight Outta Compton
    Paid In Full
    Reasonable doubt
  • MastaAceTheGOAT
    MastaAceTheGOAT Members Posts: 724
    edited January 2011
    RuffDraft wrote: »
    CYNE - Evolution Fight
    Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons
    Binary Star - Masters of the Universe
    Blu & Exile - Below the Heavens
    Fashawn - Boy Meets World
    Kendrick Lamar - The Kendrick Lamar EP
    Common - Resurrection
    Cradle Orchestra - Velvet Ballads
    CunninLynguists - A Piece of Strange, ? Acres
    Dela - Changes of Atmosphere
    Del - Deltron 3030
    Pigeon John - ... and the Summertime Pool Party
    Jazz Liberatorz - Clin d'oeil
    Jeru the Damaja - The Sun Rises in the East
    K-Os - Joyful Rebellion, Yes!, Atlantis: Hymns for the Urban Disco
    Kno - Death is Silent
    The Left - Gas Mask
    RJD2 - Dead Ringer

    --

    Highlight the ones you haven't listened to and I'll tell you why they deserve your money :tu

    Congratulations on your exams.

    thanks, i havent heard those ones.
  • beats&rhymes
    beats&rhymes Members Posts: 195
    edited January 2011
    Here's a few in my opinion classic underground albums off the top.

    K-otix - Universal
    Athletic Mic League - Sweats And Kicks
    Rasco - Time Waits For No Man
    Zion I - Mind Over Matter
    One Be Lo - SONOGRAM
    Oddisee - Mental Liberation
    Diamond District - In The Ruff
    Juggaknots - Re Release
    Jedi Mind Tricks - Violent By Design
    Mr Lif - Enters The Colossus
    Y Society - Travel At Your Own Pace
    Lightheaded - Pure Thoughts
    Decompoze - Decomposition
    John Robinson - Who Is This Man?
  • thedesolateone
    thedesolateone Members Posts: 4,526 ✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2011
    canibus-rtj2
    anything by goobs
  • princetavern
    princetavern Confirm Email Posts: 492
    edited January 2011
    _Menace_ wrote: »
    Killuminati 7 Day Theory
    Illmatic
    All Eyes On me
    Me Against The Worl
    Stillmatic
    The Documentary.
    Ready to die
    Straight Outta Compton
    Paid In Full
    Reasonable doubt

    Could you please name the artists to these albums? They're so underground that I don't even recognize any of the titles.
  • traestar
    traestar Members Posts: 6,030 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2011
    Loving the lists here, but if I were you (I'm waiting for Tax money), I'd go for some new albums/material!

    http://www.sandboxautomatic.com/
    http://www.undergroundhiphop.com/store/recommended_albums.asp
  • jackthemack
    jackthemack Members Posts: 11,491 ✭✭✭
    edited January 2011
    Could you please name the artists to these albums? They're so underground that I don't even recognize any of the titles.

    ROFL what an idiot that dude is. Naming Pac and Nas albums
  • jackthemack
    jackthemack Members Posts: 11,491 ✭✭✭
    edited January 2011
    Most of the underground albums I got are instrumentals.
  • traestar
    traestar Members Posts: 6,030 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2011
    ROFL what an idiot that dude is. Naming Pac and Nas albums

    And Jay-Z, don't forget, lol
  • traestar
    traestar Members Posts: 6,030 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2011
    Most of the underground albums I got are instrumentals.

    And there's absolute nothing wrong with that, there are alot of classic instrumental albums out there!!
  • RuffDraft
    RuffDraft Members, Writer Posts: 4,753 ✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2011
    thanks, i havent heard those ones.

    Binary Star were a Hip Hop group formed in 1998, members One Be Lo and Senim Silla, they formed during their time in a correctional facility.

    Masters of The Universe is a remixed version of their first album, Waterworld. It's filled with great rhymes and beats and 'realness', it's highly regarded among most heads in the underground and an essential for any collection, IMO.

    Cradle Orchestra released a great album back in 2009, entitled "Velvet Ballads" they put the soul in music that year with guest artists Talib Kweli, Black Thought, CL Smooth and O.C. They created a great album for chilled out listening, well worth a purchase, IMO.

    Dela released some peoples favourite album of 2008, 'Changes of Atmosphere' is another collaboration album featuring J. Live, J. Sands, Talib Kweli, Termanology, Blu, Large Professor and more. I listened to this quite a few times in 2008 and really enjoyed it, check out some of the cuts and see what you think :tu

    Jeru The Damaja - Sun Rises in the East is an album completely produced by DJ Premier, with one of the best emcee's of the 90's in the underground, Jeru rocks the mic with merciless rhymes that many people still regard as one of the albums of the greatest year of hip hop, 1994.

    Kno - Producer of the CunninLynguists made a solo album last year that was in many peoples top 10's... strongly regarded as one of the best producers in the underground, Kno showed his prowess on the mic and produced an introspective album that is definitely worth checking :tu



    The Left - Gas Mask has a thread here.

    RJD2 - Dead Ringer - if you buy any album on my list, this is the one I'd say to cop. Classic Album, Godly producer, RJD2 builds beats that are mastered beyond many producers abilities. He has about 6 classic cuts on this album, IMO. Some of which can be heard below:
    Here's a few in my opinion classic underground albums off the top.

    K-otix - Universal
    Athletic Mic League - Sweats And Kicks
    Rasco - Time Waits For No Man
    Zion I - Mind Over Matter
    One Be Lo - SONOGRAM
    Oddisee - Mental Liberation
    Diamond District - In The Ruff
    Juggaknots - Re Release
    Jedi Mind Tricks - Violent By Design
    Mr Lif - Enters The Colossus
    Y Society - Travel At Your Own Pace
    Lightheaded - Pure Thoughts
    Decompoze - Decomposition
    John Robinson - Who Is This Man?

    Bolded are worth a purchase too, I can c/s for them. Especially Y Societies, that's a great album.
  • _Menace_
    _Menace_ Members, Writer Posts: 26,613 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2011
    Could you please name the artists to these albums? They're so underground that I don't even recognize any of the titles.

    lol ? .
    i didnt know he meant underground
  • RuffDraft
    RuffDraft Members, Writer Posts: 4,753 ✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2011
    _Menace_ wrote: »
    lol ? .
    i didnt know he meant underground

    lol to be fair to you, it wasn't in the thread title at the time! But it is The Essence (underground and independent hip hop), good that you're stopping by Menace :tu
    Allergens wrote: »

    J-Live is dope, can't go wrong with him, agreed. But I can think of better producers albums he could go for...

    I like Cool Kids stuff but sometimes think the beats, whilst original, are sometimes repetitive. The Bake Sale was an example of that. Definitely a nice sound though :tu
  • beats&rhymes
    beats&rhymes Members Posts: 195
    edited February 2011
    @ RuffDraft
    Travel at your own pace is a mad slept on album, one of the better albums I've bought in recent years. You need to check some of the other albums if you have not already. Don't sleep!!!! That Dela Album is dope, Jazz libz? I'm impressed, You got me on some good stuff in the past, That Cyne album Evolution Fight is very nice indeed. Good lookin with the recommendations.
  • RuffDraft
    RuffDraft Members, Writer Posts: 4,753 ✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2011
    @ RuffDraft
    Travel at your own pace is a mad slept on album, one of the better albums I've bought in recent years. You need to check some of the other albums if you have not already. Don't sleep!!!! That Dela Album is dope, Jazz libz? I'm impressed, You got me on some good stuff in the past, That Cyne album Evolution Fight is very nice indeed. Good lookin with the recommendations.

    I only have Travel at your Own Pace, and agreed, it's a ? amazing album from the beats to the rhymes, one of the better albums of the 00's. But I don't have any of the other albums, what are they???

    Yeah, Dela album was one of my favourites of 2008 and Jazz Libz was flawlessly produced (Clin D'Oeil), I have another from them, Fruits of the Past I think it might be called but there were some from the other album on it as well, so I didn't play it as much as Clin.

    No probs Beats, I enjoy puttin' people on and having people put me on as well, if it's not blogs, sites or forums, it's Essence Heads putting me on!! Always was back in 2004 when I first started peeping The Essence instead of The Reason. It was a whole new world - lol.
  • beats&rhymes
    beats&rhymes Members Posts: 195
    edited February 2011
    RuffDraft wrote: »
    I only have Travel at your Own Pace, and agreed, it's a ? amazing album from the beats to the rhymes, one of the better albums of the 00's. But I don't have any of the other albums, what are they???

    Yeah, Dela album was one of my favourites of 2008 and Jazz Libz was flawlessly produced (Clin D'Oeil), I have another from them, Fruits of the Past I think it might be called but there were some from the other album on it as well, so I didn't play it as much as Clin.

    No probs Beats, I enjoy puttin' people on and having people put me on as well, if it's not blogs, sites or forums, it's Essence Heads putting me on!! Always was back in 2004 when I first started peeping The Essence instead of The Reason. It was a whole new world - lol.


    When hip hop started to take a nose dive towards the end of the 90's, I became disheartened until a friend of mine put me on to a whole bunch of new artists and I never looked back. My love for underground hip hop grew from there. Damn, that was a long ass time ago, good memories. Anyway these are some of the artists. Pretty old and might not be your thing but hey check them out anyway. PEACE!!!

    Pretty old and might not be your thing but hey check them out anyway. PEACE!!!
  • RuffDraft
    RuffDraft Members, Writer Posts: 4,753 ✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2011
    When hip hop started to take a nose dive towards the end of the 90's, I became disheartened until a friend of mine put me on to a whole bunch of new artists and I never looked back. My love for underground hip hop grew from there. Damn, that was a long ass time ago, good memories. Anyway these are some of the artists. Pretty old and might not be your thing but hey check them out anyway. PEACE!!!

    Pretty old and might not be your thing but hey check them out anyway. PEACE!!!

    Props, I've got the Juggaknots release, which is a great listen as well as JMT which was hailed as the greatest underground album release ever on the Essence, pre-upgrade x 2. I'm a big fan of Lif's - check my latest Essence Essentials; but the last two artists, k-otix in particular - I've never checked for, so massive props on that one!! Sounds dope, I'm going to have to check for more :tu Rasco sounds decent too, I'll check for that release from the video. Props! :tu

    As for how you got into the underground, that's dope. None of my friends like my music, which is why I've always had to resort to boards for discussion. I know what you mean though, hip hop just got stale after a few years of being into it and it was time for a change, I'm just glad I found the independent lane rather than retiring from hip hop as I know old posters had back in the day.
  • pingpong
    pingpong Members Posts: 14
    edited February 2011
    If it hasn't been mentioned already, Little Brother - The Minstrel Show. I still bump that album regularly years after I copped it. Classic ? .
  • RuffDraft
    RuffDraft Members, Writer Posts: 4,753 ✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2011
    pingpong wrote: »
    If it hasn't been mentioned already, Little Brother - The Minstrel Show. I still bump that album regularly years after I copped it. Classic ? .

    The only all round classic album from LB that I don't listen to, I seriously need to re-check it.

    I thought it was a good concept album when it dropped, but I wasn't feeling it on the level that I was feeling A Piece of Strange from CunninLynguists, think they both dropped around the same time.