1. “A Nigga Witta Gun,” Dr. Dre
Aw, hell yeah, kickin’ things off with some Chronic. The Chronic has to be my favorite album of all time. It was released15 years ago but it’s still as raw as ever. Basically, if you ain’t down with it, you ain’t down with Hip Hop.2. “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See,” Busta Rhymes
Busta is also fuckin’ raw as hell. He might not be as fast as Twista, but in my opinion he is lyrically more clever and has a biting sense of humor, and I would rather listen to him any day of the week. More emcees need to take a look at Busta Rhymes and get some lessons in what it means to be a hard-ass rapper. Too many pussies are clutching the mike these days.
3. “Scenario,” A Tribe Called Quest
Ohhh man, speaking of Busta. He guests on this track and gets the last verse. I’ve been a big fan of Tribe for a long time. Phife and Q-Tip are just silky smooth and always a pleasure to hear. Sometimes after a long day of giving C’s to decent papers, when I need to unwind, I play some Tribe and am always relaxed. You can’t listen to gangsta all the time.
4. “Juicy,” Travis Fondow
This is a pretty good cover of the Biggie song. Travis is pretty young, but has some good chops. Look out for him.
5. “Fuck tha Police,” N.W.A.
Fuck the police indeed, man. I can’t stand the cops in Appleton. They’re always harassing people for no reason, especially if they’re on a bike. It’s sort of like bike racism, a new kind of prejudiced profiling. All I gots to say is that these policemen are lucky every time they walk away from another racist encounter with me.
6. “This Is Why I’m Hot,” Mims
OK, now I know that this is not a great song. Mims is just another generic ring-tone rapper with pretty bad flow and nothing to say. But the song is pretty catchy, and if you ever are playing music for a party you have to have that ring-tone shit on your iPod. Everybody knows that shorties love to get down to it.
7. “Holidae In,” Chingy
Anytime you got Chingy, Snoop, and Luda on the same track, you know it’s gonna be off the hook. Have you guys seen the music video for this? It’s crazy, man, you gotta YouTube it.
8. “Got Your Money,” Ol’ Dirty Bastard.
Sad times. I still remember where I was when ODB died. It was a Saturday and I was watching “Back to the Future III” on TNT when I got a phone call. It was Bill (Hixon) and he asked me if I had heard the news. I was, like, “No,” and he was like, “ODB just died.” I think a little piece of me died too, and I remember the moment every time I pour some out for him.
9. “Bitches Ain’t Shit,” Dr. Dre
Hahaha, I’m glad that The Chronic got on here twice. I know that the Ben Folds cover is pretty popular, but I feel like he’s just making fun Hip Hop culture. I made a mistake by not capping that white little son of a bitch when he came here 4 or 5 years ago.
10. “For Emma,” Bon Iver.
Oh man, how did this get in here? This is kind of embarrassing.