Nots

Nots, “Rat King”

Their 2016 album, Cosmetic, is a relatively short record, but it makes up for it with the energy it has. I’m always down for some noisy punk, especially if it’s willing to get kind of strange, so of course I was always going to like this.

J-Zone, “Edit These”

Well, I would have played this on the radio for my audience of, like, four.

Ghostface Killah, “Mighty Healthy”

Supreme Clientele is widely regarded as the best Ghostface solo album, which I guess I have trouble arguing too much with. It also demonstrated that Ghostface could thrive even without the RZA doing all the beats, as he only had a few songs on the record. It’s still an extremely Wu-Tang-sounding recording, which of course is a good thing, but on later albums Ghostface would explore his sound more. But still, it’s just a great record, and still sounds fantastic today.

Nots, “Cold Line”

Another surprise record! Feels like we’ve had a lot of those recently. I wonder what the actual count of surprise records is in the ol’ collection. I’m not sure I want to know.

The Dillinger Escape Plan, “The Running Board”

I know what this is!

The parts of songs where the Dillinger Escape Plan drops into something like the post-hardcore in the middle of this song were always effective. It can be easy for that kind of thing to just sound like a lame gimmick, but they always pull it off with aplomb.

A couple of very influential releases today.

Eric B. & Rakim, “My Melody”

This is a track from Paid in Full, a groundbreaking record where Rakim raised the bar for MCs far beyond where it was before. It’s a record where his rhyming still sounds fresh, a testament to how far he was ahead of the game. The beats haven’t aged quite as well, but the record as a whole is still a great listen, and is one of the crucial records for understanding where hip-hop came from.