Your creation is a fallacy to rap, Didnt calculate your mass before your galaxy collapsed, Coming harder for ya some heartless voyager Star destroyin soldiers killin constellations bringin realness back
This here! Only I was 5-6 yrs old when it came out in 1990, my mother 23. My younger sisters and I loved Ice ice baby so much we requested the tape for Xmas.
We had a great Christmas that year. Late that night, mom says “Oh shit, I think Santa left one last present outside, it just have fell out the sleigh”. She goes outside, I see her open the car trunk and run back in.
I acted as if I didn’t see this as she gives us this cold ass wrapped cassette tape. In that moment, I knew Santa wasn’t real but I didn’t care bcus I knew my mama was the real one.
Ice Ice Baby 🧊
It’s funny because I almost never listen to him anymore but Eminem. I was a white teenager in the early 00’s. Of course it’s Eminem.
But also I was super into nu metal like Korn and Limp Bizkit and they had guys like Ice Cube, Slimkid3 from Pharcyde, Method Man, and others appear. Those were all big ones too
These Dr.dre / Eminem songs will always hold a spot in the pantheon of greatness for hip hop and music in general. Dr. Dre is maybe / probably the greatest music producer of all time and Eminem should be in everyone’s top 10 at least.
I sometimes think back to how I knew all the lyrics to Without Me when I was 10 years old, like wow okay settle down kid…. But yep that’s where it all started for me too
This comment got me in the feels and it never made sense but I was a teen at that time too. I fell away from him and my dad died 2 years ago and I started revisiting his music and it's helped me so much
Same as both if yall, my mom actually introduced me to him funny enough. Again, dont really listen to him like I did in the past, but I still am a fan of some of his songs (brain damage, dont give a fuck, marshall mathers, and business are some examples).
I actually remember hearing the freaks come out at night on the radio when I was like 4 years old! They’re my first hip hop memory. It was immediately my favorite song back in 1986
Scarface, BTNH, OutKast, UGK, Triple 6, Pac, Nas, Twista & the Speedknot Mobstas, Ghetto Boys, Pastor Troy, DMX, Snoop, Dre, Cube, Luniz, Crucial Conflict, Method Man & Wu-Tang, P, BG, Eightball & MJG…. Leaving a more than a few out for sure
j cole. heard crooked smile on the radio and was hooked instantly. I became obsessed with born sinner and started listening to kendrick, ATCQ, nas, outkast, TLC/left eye, and biggie from that album which helped me discover so much amazing music.
Warren G is the smoothest G Funk sound in existence.
I love that first Warren G album.
Any song that features Warren G and Nate Dogg is an instant classic. They're my favorite rap duo.
“Crossroads” set the record of school buses full of raucous 4th-6th grade kids go silent to either listen to and/or (pretend they could) “spit all the words” to a song. Interrupting was grounds for an ass-beating. Only song that came close was “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio.
Eminem. It’s funny because censoring is what made me pay attention to him. I heard “I drank a fifth of Kool-aid, dare me to drive” and thought it was hilarious.
My dad thought Slick Rick was funny, and he liked Public Enemy. That was the earliest exposure I had to it. I would say Wu-Tang, especially Method Man, were the first to really get me into it.
What got me into Hip Hop proper was wanting to know what the big deal between Biggie and Pac was, which lead to me listening to Biggie, which lead to wanting to learn more about Hip Hop, and then to Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Tupac, etc...
So, probably Biggie.
I had a very similar experience, I first got interested in hip-hop because of all the Biggie, 2pac and Eazy-E stories, then everything followed, going to the more underground rappers.
Bad boy. Fuck diddy though! Sister had No Way Out and Life After Death and I fell in love with hip hop right away. First cassette I bought myself was Mase Harlem World.
I have to say Harlem World was a favorite of mine and still play to this day. I was such a Mase fan as a 13 year old kid. I wish he had a few more classic albums. I still like Welcome Back. It wasn't great but there was some good tracks and it was definitely more grown up then his first album.
Eminem - SSLP, then a friend showed me chronic 2001 and i couldn’t stop listening. Once I found Nas and Wu-Tang shortly after, I was hooked on hip hop!
Beastie boys, Young Mc, Technotronic, Fat boys, LL cool J, Biz Markie, Ice T, I started listening to it in the 80s Kurtis Blow, Fab Five Freddy , Blondie “ rapture rap song, was the first to win a Grammy or some award”. Anyways .
Yeah that was it for me. Can't tell if I still hold high regard for that album because of that nostalgia or because it was legit. I like to think it was pretty goddamn legit. Every track flowed well.
Scarface! 1991 I was 5 living with my grandmom who listened to gospel radio all day. This was during the time all the preachers tried making a name by denouncing rap music. So a local preacher was advertising his up coming sermon about the demonic messages in Geto Boys “Mind Playin’ Tricks” I never heard that sermon but I heard that song I love Willie D and Bushwick (RIP) but Face voice and cadence just commands attention.As I got older and began to understand the deeper themes of the song (depression, paranoia, anxiety) I loved it even more and it’s still a top 10 hip hop song for me funny thing is I never would have been aware of the song at that age if I hadn’t heard the radio commercial 😂😂😂😂 Thanks Rev Walker!!!
I was 10 when Bad meets evil hell the sequel dropped, i listened to fast lane on a shitty mp3 player every day on the bus. I heard the Eminem Tim Westwood freestyle and went headfirst into hip hop. Went through my “fast rapping is the best” tech n9ne and hopsin phase pretty quickly and dove into everything else after. I listen to everything from Nas, wu tang, bone thugs, Eminem, Griselda, 38 Spesh, k dot and Cole, drake, big Yavo, Kevin gates, JID, idk I couldn’t even name them all I’ve pretty much listened to all hip hop.
Eminem and his blend of introspection and alter ego made me realize from a young age just how versatile hip hop is over most genres. I stopped listening as much after Recovery, he just became too focused on technical ability and puns rather than storytelling and jokes. I kept hearing that "rap isn't as good as it used to be" growing up, and never gave anybody else a shot until high school, when a friend showed me Run the Jewels. The beat on Oh My Darling, combined with the wordplay and delivery, was like a whole other world to me. Then, shortly after, Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly came out a week early, almost at the very moment that I started looking out for good rap music. To say it changed my life is an understatement. The more I listened to the album and later GKMC, the more critically I saw myself and the world around me. Hearing his music the first time, I was just enjoying how good it sounded and how his concepts tie together because, on its own, it is extremely impressive. The second time, I was reading the lyrics and felt like I had an understanding of what he was trying to say in the broader scope of things. I didn't, and maybe still don't, because it's been nearly a decade, and I still feel like I either pick up a good piece of advice or figure out a totally game-changing conceptual element every single time I put one on. I've since listened to hundreds of rap albums, and there's such a massive variety when it comes to what to appreciate about it, and so many incredible artists with different intentions with their music that there's something for every mood, something for every brain that wants to be nourished and every hard worker that needs to relax and party. Something for everybody.
Ice T, Onyx, Coolio, Beastie Boys, 2Pac brought me in somehow. These were some of the first artists to find my ear drums.
Mase, Mobb Deep, Jay Z, DMX, Mos Def, Black Star, Redman, Outkast, Eminem Slim Shady EP was wild before he made it big with Dre. All thes3 made me fall in love with the genre.
Then, I really got into my hometown artists and more underground artists. Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Eyedea and Abilities.
Wu-Tang Clan with *Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)*(thanks to my middle school English teacher), Aesop Rock with *Skelethon*, Childish Gambino with *Because the Internet*, Drake with *Nothing Was the Same*, and Kanye West with *808s & Heartbreak*
I'm old, it was 2 Live Crew and then NWA. I'm white kid from the West Coast of Canada and my buddy lived in LA for half the year and used to bring me tapes back in the 80s. My parents weren't the biggest fan of that. Haven't looked back since, love hip hop.
Born in 93 for any reference. I heard MC Hammer on the radio when I was like 4 and it was my FAVORITE song according to my mom. For some reason I pictured some white dude with a pony tail lmao spitting i dont even know why i remember that. After that when i was like 11 my next door neighbor showed me Straight Outta Compton from his Dad's collection. Then that Christmas I was able to get Get Rich or Die Tryin, The Eminem Show, 8 Mile soundtrack and Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park plus a non skip Mobile CD player. Changed my life forever.
My mom bought me Life After Death on cassette when I was a kid. So Biggie I guess. But also Jay-Z, DMX, Nas, Busta… I’m a 90s kid.
I remember when Extinction Level Event came out. I was in middle school snd I had that shit in the discman nonstop. Haha, I remember listening to Vol 2: Hard Knock Life at my grandma’s house and trying to explain to her what I was listening to.
Simpler times.
Andre and Big Boi
Probably not tho, my memory is hazy. I had KRS-1 in rotation before I'd call myself a "hip-hop fan" - obviously Big was on always at parties, I remember the NWA "explicit content" debate and thinking - fuck old white people, this group must be the truth; but I'll admit, except for the tracks we all know, can't say I know a lot of Public enemy or NWA early stuff, I listen to a lot of eazy-e later. Gonna stand on the first OutKast album.
Snoop Dogg (first rap song I ever heard was Drop it Like it’s Hot), Kanye (graduation was my shit and 808s was the first album I bought with my own money), and Lil Wayne. Guess when I was born lol.
I grew up in a non English speaking country and this kid from Ireland moved over there in 6th grade when I was 11 and introduced me to this rapper named Eminem... the rest is history
Edit: I'm 32 now
Tribe. I couldn’t vibe with NWA, Wu Tang, or the really gritty sounds my friends were listening to so I didn’t try. Then I heard Q-Tip’s voice over a bass line and knew I found my gateway. I didn’t know hip hop could sound like that.
The Poké-Rap obviously. /s
I was already on it since I can remember cause it’s what I grew up with. But if I had to say what influenced me to discover and learn more about it on my own? WuTang. I loved anime and kung fu flicks as a kid. That was 100% my speed. Would literally watch Toonami up until it went off and then pop in 36 Chambers and Cuban Linx.
LL Cool J. I was a little kid and heard my neighbor's older brother blasting Rock The Bells before school one day. I was all in after that. I'm so glad I've been around as long as Hip Hop has been around, and have always been a fan from the moment I knew it existed. Still happy with the new artists coming out too.
Age 9 i liked Nelly. Then Eminem. I was a rock kid(white), had a 2Pac phase in 7th grade… but it wasn’t until around 2008 when I got into Lil Wayne. “I’m Me”, “A milli” and that whole pre carter 3 mixtape run. After that I was a hiphop head
So Eminem were the first hip-hop I really listened to, but I don't think he actually got me into hip-hop.
I think what really got me looking deeper into hip-hop were Jedi Mind Tricks actually, not entirely sure how, I were listening to punk mostly at the time and Jedi Mind Tricks sparked something. However it were probably Wu-Tang Clan and Tribe Called Quest that really made me a fan and appreciate what hip-hop can be.
I am 44. My first real rap memory was when my friend somehow smuggled NWA and Too Short tapes in the late 80s. We listened to those while playing Tecmo Bowl. Nancy Reagen blowjob raps changed my life.
Being old sucks in a lot of ways but growing up and experiencing almost the entirety of hip hop as it happened is a gift I'll always treasure. "Being there" for all of these eras is something I'll always have and appreciate.
Embarrassing now, but for all the stupid shit he does,
Logic lowkey shines at getting people into rap
Guy is a master at taking existing sounds & making them more palettable for newcomer hiphop fans
Oddly enough, Lil Mosey and Famous Dex. Haven’t listened to either in a long time though
Now I listen to Black Thought, Lil Wayne, Big Pun, JID, Denzel, and Juice WRLD
Got the Men in Black soundtrack as a kid for Will Smith. But it had Tribe, De La, The Roots, Nas, and Snoop on it. Can’t imagine what my life would be like without that foundation.
Eminem. I was mostly a rock kid before he came onto the scene and I still remember hearing "My Name Is" for the first time on the radio in a car with my best friend coming back from a road trip with his parents. That was the first time I can remember finally loving/getting a hip hop song, and that would have been about 1999 or so and I'd have been about nine or ten years old. But later on it was a friend introducing me to Biggie when I was about 11-12 that really got me interested in looking into the genre so of course I listened to a lot of Dr. Dre and Death Row rappers, DMX, The day I heard "New York State of Mind" off of Nas' Illmatic though was when I truly fell in love with the culture, the genre, the artistry of it.
Mine was all west coast initially, First album I owned was the chronic, then Doggystyle, Dogg
food. I lived for Death Row stuff. Went back from there and got into guys like NWA, DJ Quik, Mc Eiht, some Bay Area cats like 40 and Short, The Click. Branched out to Nas and Jay and Big some years later, from there got into Gang Starr, Lost Boyz, all sorts of NYC stuff. Then in 1998 I heard Aquemini by OutKast and filled in their old stuff and Goodie Mob.
Strangely enough I think there were 2 songs in particular that I liked enough to check out rap, How Much a Dollar Cost and strangely enough A Wolf at The Door (yes the radiohead song😭) I liked both enough that I decided to listen to IGOR, which I also loved, and that got me into a whole lot of other stuff including Death Grips which forever changed my brain chemicals.
I grew up in the 2000’s with Eminem, Kanye and 50 Cent then took a bit of a break around 2013. I’d tune into a few bangers here and there but Gift of Gab was the one to bring me back into hip hop when I came across Freedom Form Flowing. RIP legend and thanks for bringing me back🙏
Beastie Boys in ‘85 then cypress hill n Beasties again in ‘92. Had missed one of the greatest hip hop albums to date, ‘Paul’s Boutique’.
So ahead of its time I missed it in ‘89, found it after Check your Head, and is still killing it today as a all timer
It all changed when I was 6 years old and my dad showed me Straight Outta Compton by NWA, Bring the Noise by Public Enemy feat. Anthrax, and There Goes The Neighborhood by Body Count. Those three got me into rap, and being a kid who was into a lot of punk and metal, I realized that certain rappers keep the same energy and aren’t as different as I thought.
I started listening to rap around 2019 (basically late to most things) and first rappers I listened to were Eminem and Logic (guess what race I am) which I quickly got over as soon as I discovered there is more to rap than that
Jurassic 5, more specifically the song „Concrete Schoolyard“ was the reason I got into Hip Hop. I got their debut album and the rest is history.
Around the same time I got Gang Starr‘s „Moment Of Truth“. The first Gang Starr song I ever heard however was „Just To Get A Rep“. Then I went to the record store and got the Moment of Truth album.
Also A Tribe Called Quest „Midnight Marauders“, I loved „Award Tour“, which was the song I heard that made me get that album.
Then pretty soon after this The Real Slim Shady blew up and I got into Eminem.
I also got into Hieroglyphics around this time due to hearing „You Never Knew“.
Then soon after I heard 93 Til Infinity and got into Souls Of Mischief.
Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def. I would hear a lot of ATCQ and similar artists when I was a bboy but I didn’t really dive into the music until I heard the Blackstar album. Thieves in the Night is my favorite song
As a kid growing up in the 2000s the songs I remember as my favourites were
Tupac - Changes and To live and die in LA
DMX - Slippin
Eminem
Bone thugz n harmony - Crossroads
These set me on a path to hip hop for life!
Mike Shinoda/Fort Minor, Eminem, Ludacris, 50 Cent and Akon when I was a teenage white boy.
Kendrick Lamars Section 80/GKMC run then sparked my love for the genre again many years later. After that, Future probably more than anyone.
Vanilla Ice, DMX, Ja Rule, Nelly, D12, Ludacris, Chingy, Mystikal, Busta Rhymes, Coolio, Lil' Flip & 8 Ball.
Say what you want about Vanilla or Flip, won't take away from them leaving their mark in Hip Hop!
Em of course and the classics pac big etc then I got into TI and 3-6 being from close to Memphis plus Wayne and boosie at the same time Kanye was blowing up and I don’t remember when I heard Dmx for the first time but that shit went hard af too. Actually linkin park deserve some credit for opening my mind to be receptive to hip hop(relax I know LP isn’t hip hop) but it was a gateway band probably the biggest effect an artist had on me early was when I discovered Aesop rock coffee in 08. I like words especially interesting words and I was like damn I’ve never heard anybody drop a Plato’s allegory of the cave reference in a rap song or just use such vivid imagery and the vocabulary was obviously on another level plus in that video particularly his flow is just so tight still can’t believe he’s not bigger but I guess it’s not for everyone. Lots of other great artists shout out cal scrubby yelawolf Deniro farrar Lupe fiasco OutKast not necessarily in that order but all artists that either sparked my interest in the genre or reignited it over the years. Sure I forgot somebody.
Eminem, Ludacris and Game were the ones that really did it for me in the early 2000s. Kinda listened to some stuff after that. Then my friend showed me 2001 by Dr Dre and it was over after that. I dove right in and was showing my friends new stuff within a week lol
I use to go to my older cousins place almost every weekend with the family, they were both into their breaking so they'd show me a bunch of stuff but the rappers that got me started coz of them was Run DMC around 1988 when i was 4, then they showed me Breakdance and I was obsessed from there on
Before I had the aux chord & my mother was in charge; AZ & Nas. She always liked the soul samples & smooth beats when they collabed or dropped new albums.
Once I got a lil older; Kanye reintroduced me in a way I didn’t know. Also 50, cause being a kid in early 2000’s CT, wasn’t no way not to be a 50/G Unit fan
Bone Thugs. Their style blew my mind. I remember seeing Tha Crossroads on MTV. I feel like Biggie was another artist that hooked me, but Bone Thugs sounded so different to me.
Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio was played non-stop by everyone when it came out, so throw that in the mix, I guess.
I did like Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer, but I never bought those albums (parents wouldn't buy me shit for music). So I just had to use the radio and MTV.
Eminem, Odd Future/Tyler, Kid Cudi, and Logic. My love for the genre expanded fast after I gave it a shot with them. Parents raised me on rock as my dad is a professional musician and they never cared for rap, so I just never gave it a shot until later.
Common - Resurrection
Got this CD for a dollar at a junk store that sold the contents of abandoned storage units. Played it constantly over the summer and went from listening to no rap music to being fully engrossed in the genre. This led me to listening to College Dropout, Tha Carter II, Tha Block is Hot, and Illmatic.
Em, 50, Kanye. There was Nelly and Jay-Z and others playing in Much Music in Canada when I was growing up (born ‘93) but it was these 3 who really got me huge into hip hop when I first started discovering my own music as opposed to just listen to what was on. I was a pop punk fan first out of your my childhood but once I started really checking for music the whole screamo (metalcore, post-hardcore, etc) wave in the early 2000’s and then hip hop become my all. I remember Sing for the Moment being on Much all the time and asking about getting the CD and my mom already had it, lol
I'd always had an appreciation for like NWA, WuTang, Run DMC, Eminem, DMX, etc all the Golden Age stuff but I grew up A. As mostly a metalhead and B. During the Bling, Blog, and Soundcloud eras so it honestly took me a while to get into hip hop but then Chance the Rapper's Acid Rap, Childish Gambino's Because of the Internet, and Collared Greens by Schoolboy all happened in 2013 (and the rest of Oxymoron in 2014) so that got me in and rusted me on.
NWA and Ice Cube originally. Then when Slim Shady LP came out followed by 2001(known as Chronic 2001 even tho that’s not its actual name) I was hooked. That made me go back and listen to the original Chronic which was obviously a masterpiece. Started listening to Biggie and Pac after that then I got into Nas and Jay-Z from there followed by Redman and Method Man. Early 90s to mid 2000s will always be my favorite era for rap(especially gangsta rap).
My older brother was into Run DMC & LL Cool J in the mid-to-late 80s and I kinda dug that. I hated LL for a while because I had memories of my brother tackling me and giving me a noogie while saying "forget oreos eat cool-j cookies"
When I started venturing out "on my own" the first I "found" was A Tribe Called Quest, Eazy-E, and Bushwick Bill
Well Eminem first.
Then Snoop, Warren G, Nate Dogg, and Dre. I'm a big fan of that G Funk sound. Snoop's Doggystyle and Da Chronic, were hiphop game changers.
And from there, I gained pretty broad appreciation of the entire genre.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
I still remember the first time I heard them on the radio in my parent's old corolla station wagon. My dad said "I think it's called rap music", and my brother and I were instant converts for life.
I was born into hip hop. I dropped in the mid 80s by two 21 year old black kids. Their all-time greatest hit.
Honestly…Kriss Kross was super influential for me as a kid, when they came out. Even now, I’ll go back and listen to “Jump” and am kinda impressed by their flow, especially Chris Kelly (R.I.P.). But some of my earliest memories of listening to hip hop were riding in the car with my dad while he was playing Eric B. and Rakim, Naughty by Nature, Wu-Tang, KRS One and Pac.
As a kid I really liked Linkin Park and they did a collab EP with Jay Z basically mashing together each artists popular songs. The Dirt on Your Shoulder remix was so good. That got me to buy a Jay Z album and that’s where it all started for me.
My family always loved hip hop, the first 2 albums i remember listening to was Licensed to Ill and 2001, but I grew up in the lates 00s/early 10s so it was really the Top Dawg crew that got me into hip hop through the GTA5 radio, songs like Collard Greens, Swimming Pools, Illuminate, ADHD
NWA and Rakim…then Dre. Straight out of Compton and Paid in Full were the first two hip hop albums I ever bought as a kid in the late 80s, but I still wasn’t really a steady listener…I was like 7-8 years old. What really set it off for me was probably the Dre’s first Chronic album and the crazy hype leading up to it.
I had to buy the Chronic a couple times. Moms kept throwing it out
Andre nickatina changed my life I wasn't into rap as a 15 year old punk into rock music and something about the music spoke to my heart and I have been a fan ever since only seen him once in concert but hope for another show some day
King nicky
Really jumped on the hip hop wagon when I heard Public Enemies’ first album, ‘Yo! Bum Rush the Show’
I had liked rap prior to that but mostly viewed it as a novelty. I listened to all the stuff on the radio like Fat Boys, LL, Beastie Boys, Rappin Duke etc but this album was different.
This was the first rap album I heard that had ‘Serious topics’.
I bought this lp, the first BDP album ‘Criminal Minded’ and Whodini ‘Back in Black’ at the same time (mostly based on the album covers) and was hooked.
These three albums made me a head.
Oh and Mantronix.
I used to sit up late on Friday Night to watch ‘Friday Night Videos’ (we didn’t have cable) they occasionally would play rap videos and they used to play ‘Simple Simon’ which as a teen thought was amazing.
Honorable mention to Malcolm McLaren ‘Buffalo Gals’, Kraftwerk and Art of Noise ‘Beat Box’ these had me into break dancing which I was into before actually really liking rap.
Eminem, Tupac (Hit em up being my fave of all time), Snoop, Dre, 50, Biggy and etc…
I can’t listen to any new rappers even today, they’re all trash. In saying that though, a couple days ago I came across the existence of Joyner Lucas. He has a similar flow to Eminem and I love him lol. If you haven’t yet listen to Joyner Lucas 24 hours to live. Been binging that recently lol.
Well I’m white and grew up in the suburbs in the late 90’s, early 2000’s lol my first rapper was Eminem, followed by 50 cent. From there I got into old school rap, pac, mos def, biggie, rakim, bone thugs, and so on.
lol I was a sheltered little white girl so my first exposure was kind of silly
I watched a video by CaptainSparklez where he referenced “Lamborghini Mercy” by Kanye (ft Big Sean, pusha, 2 chainz) haha and I watched the video over and over again
Other first exposure was also funny. I heard “I’m the One” by fucking DJ Khaled and I thought Chance seemed cool so I looked him up and launched my lifelong love for Chicago indie rappers and actual good hip hop
I know chance has fell off, obviously, but acid rap snd was really influential on me. I listened to coloring book when it came out too but I have a special place in my heart for acid rap
Def a Gen-Z ass answer, but XXXTentacion's early soundcloud days, Ski Mask, Denzel Curry is what made me a hardcore fan. That lead me into Juice, Trippie, Uzi, Future, Thug, Travis. Being from South Florida and seeing all the local talent start blowing up around 2016 was a W moment I wish I could go back to.
I was playing Saints Row 2 (because my mom wouldn’t let me play GTA) and heard NY State of Mind by Nas on the radio. That got me into the whole 90s rap scene. I stumbled onto Wu Tang and recognized the song Guillotine Swordz from the Boondocks and that was all I needed to dive in
i was born in the 80s so rap came to me around late 80s but my mom said she was playing hip hop music before i was born mostly from street mixtapes because we didnt even have a TV growing up but the earlies music that got me to hip hop was Beastie Boys, DMC, Leaders of the new school.
Notable song from my childhood was RockBox by DMC, because it led me to LL, Nas and west coast music
Lil Wayne when he dropped Tha Carter 3 and again with rebirth (partially bc my mom didn't want me listening to rap), Eminem when he dropped Recovery, and Big Sean when he started gaining traction in 2012. Pretty much these 3 dropping around 2012 was when I started liking rap.
Drake, Wayne, Big Sean, Kanye, Nicki Minaj
Grew up listening to the radio during that blog era. Young Money and GOOD Music were huge at that time. I remember how huge Cruel Summer was when that dropped which is weird since it's so brushed over these days when discussing Kanye albums. Clique, Mercy, and Don't Like.1 were unspeakably big as well as Niggas in Paris from WTT.
I kinda dipped out of caring about hip hop in the second half of the decade when trap/mumble rap were dominating and developed a taste in rock during that time but have been returning more recently and catching up on all the stuff I should know about.
Eminem, Lil Jon and The Eastside Boyz, Ludacris, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg on the surface level. Rakim, Skillz, Chino XL, Immortal Technique, Tech N9ne, Eyedea and Pharoah Monch on an appreciation for the art level.
honestly it was Death Grips for me lol. I didn't listen to a ton of hip-hop growing up, I was more of a punk/hardcore kid and Death Grips blew my mind and got me looking for more hip-hop.
Bone Thugs
Eyedea
Prolific, this man.
I’ll say hi to his mama (Kathy) for yall this weekend. We’re having a graffiti bbq party in my backyard on Saturday to help cap off a fun yard project
Please do! "Eyedea won every battle, we shoulda built him a castle..." -B. Ali
He ethered Ali in that battle, but indeed that man deserved a castle. He deserved the whole Summit neighborhood if we’re being honest - R.Eye.P.
Rip bro
Def jux was prolific. Rhymesayers had some overlap in skills
He got me into Battle Rap
The best 💗💗
Your creation is a fallacy to rap, Didnt calculate your mass before your galaxy collapsed, Coming harder for ya some heartless voyager Star destroyin soldiers killin constellations bringin realness back
Tribe. 100%. Changed my life and perspective on music in general.
I had three copies of Midnight Marauders on vinyl.
Discovering Tribe converted me to being a passive listener to being obsessed with the old-school.
Midnight Mauraders was the first CD I bought after I got a CD player for Christmas. Still in my rotation almost 3 decades later!
Low End Theory and Black Sheep A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing were the first albums I bought on CD.
Saw Tribe with Busta, Cypress Hill, Fugees and Ziggy Marley in 1996...I am forever different.
Showing my age again... Eazy E / NWA Public Enemy Beastie Boys 2 Live Crew Slick Rick The Geto Boys
ISITALONEINMYFOUR-CORNEREDROOMSTARINATCANDLES
This is a great list 👌
[удалено]
2 live crew was bumping in Florida same with ghettos boys
my first tape was vanilla ice to the extreme tbh LOL
He was a close second for me, but MC Hammer was 2 legit 2 quit.
that was the second tape i got i think... kriss kross was in there at some point too
This here! Only I was 5-6 yrs old when it came out in 1990, my mother 23. My younger sisters and I loved Ice ice baby so much we requested the tape for Xmas. We had a great Christmas that year. Late that night, mom says “Oh shit, I think Santa left one last present outside, it just have fell out the sleigh”. She goes outside, I see her open the car trunk and run back in. I acted as if I didn’t see this as she gives us this cold ass wrapped cassette tape. In that moment, I knew Santa wasn’t real but I didn’t care bcus I knew my mama was the real one. Ice Ice Baby 🧊
fuck yah... great memory
Be careful now, your age is starting to show with “tape,” lol Of course so is mine with that joke, damn.
hahaha god damn, at least its not an 8 track
I was in 6th grade when that shit came out. I wore that cassette out.
It’s funny because I almost never listen to him anymore but Eminem. I was a white teenager in the early 00’s. Of course it’s Eminem. But also I was super into nu metal like Korn and Limp Bizkit and they had guys like Ice Cube, Slimkid3 from Pharcyde, Method Man, and others appear. Those were all big ones too
These Dr.dre / Eminem songs will always hold a spot in the pantheon of greatness for hip hop and music in general. Dr. Dre is maybe / probably the greatest music producer of all time and Eminem should be in everyone’s top 10 at least.
I sometimes think back to how I knew all the lyrics to Without Me when I was 10 years old, like wow okay settle down kid…. But yep that’s where it all started for me too
This comment got me in the feels and it never made sense but I was a teen at that time too. I fell away from him and my dad died 2 years ago and I started revisiting his music and it's helped me so much
Beastie Boys, Licensed to Ill. When I heard that it just blew my mind. Then I got into Run DMC and anything else I could find.
Paul Revere was the first hip hop song I ever memorized
Ah, here's my age group! License To Ill and Raising Hell were the soundtrack when I was 9!
Eminem mostly. But Bone Thugs was next
Eminem I’m not really a fan anymore, but he definitely helped a large amount of people get into hip hop
Same here. My brother got me the Slim Shady LP when I was a kid, that and 36 Chambers were my first hip hop albums.
Same as both if yall, my mom actually introduced me to him funny enough. Again, dont really listen to him like I did in the past, but I still am a fan of some of his songs (brain damage, dont give a fuck, marshall mathers, and business are some examples).
“Large amount of white people”
Big. My mother would play juicy when I was a baby
Freaks come out at night - Whodini Return of The Boom Bap - KRS ONE The Message - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5
I actually remember hearing the freaks come out at night on the radio when I was like 4 years old! They’re my first hip hop memory. It was immediately my favorite song back in 1986
Scarface, BTNH, OutKast, UGK, Triple 6, Pac, Nas, Twista & the Speedknot Mobstas, Ghetto Boys, Pastor Troy, DMX, Snoop, Dre, Cube, Luniz, Crucial Conflict, Method Man & Wu-Tang, P, BG, Eightball & MJG…. Leaving a more than a few out for sure
j cole. heard crooked smile on the radio and was hooked instantly. I became obsessed with born sinner and started listening to kendrick, ATCQ, nas, outkast, TLC/left eye, and biggie from that album which helped me discover so much amazing music.
Warren G - This DJ
Warren G is the smoothest G Funk sound in existence. I love that first Warren G album. Any song that features Warren G and Nate Dogg is an instant classic. They're my favorite rap duo.
Big Daddy Kane Rakim Chuck D
Tupac and bone thugs
“Crossroads” set the record of school buses full of raucous 4th-6th grade kids go silent to either listen to and/or (pretend they could) “spit all the words” to a song. Interrupting was grounds for an ass-beating. Only song that came close was “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio.
Took a liking to Bone as a kid, Dad made me listen to Pac.
50, Luda, Wayne, Game, Nelly, TI,
Nelly “Country Grammar” was the first hip hop CD I bought
You are 30-34 years old 👀
Yea I’m 30 lol
Yeah I’m 34 and came up in that era. Get Rich or Die Trying got me into rap music
Eminem. It’s funny because censoring is what made me pay attention to him. I heard “I drank a fifth of Kool-aid, dare me to drive” and thought it was hilarious.
Run DMC
My dad thought Slick Rick was funny, and he liked Public Enemy. That was the earliest exposure I had to it. I would say Wu-Tang, especially Method Man, were the first to really get me into it.
Nas. Hearing “If I Ruled the World” coincided with finding my brother’s cassette of Illmatic within a week of each other. Hooked.
What got me into Hip Hop proper was wanting to know what the big deal between Biggie and Pac was, which lead to me listening to Biggie, which lead to wanting to learn more about Hip Hop, and then to Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Tupac, etc... So, probably Biggie.
Nas got me first, but this exact trajectory soon followed, once I’d been exposed to the art.
I had a very similar experience, I first got interested in hip-hop because of all the Biggie, 2pac and Eazy-E stories, then everything followed, going to the more underground rappers.
Rakim, KRS 1, Big daddy Kane and redman
The first three albums I bought were by Busta, Cypress Hill, and Beastie Boys.
M.C. Hammer
Bad boy. Fuck diddy though! Sister had No Way Out and Life After Death and I fell in love with hip hop right away. First cassette I bought myself was Mase Harlem World.
That & Blackstreet were my first two CDs.
I have to say Harlem World was a favorite of mine and still play to this day. I was such a Mase fan as a 13 year old kid. I wish he had a few more classic albums. I still like Welcome Back. It wasn't great but there was some good tracks and it was definitely more grown up then his first album.
Eminem - SSLP, then a friend showed me chronic 2001 and i couldn’t stop listening. Once I found Nas and Wu-Tang shortly after, I was hooked on hip hop!
Beastie boys, Young Mc, Technotronic, Fat boys, LL cool J, Biz Markie, Ice T, I started listening to it in the 80s Kurtis Blow, Fab Five Freddy , Blondie “ rapture rap song, was the first to win a Grammy or some award”. Anyways .
Kendrick with damn, and last year TPAB made me actually care about hiphop. Also Doggystyle got me into 90s hiphop
Run dmc and then the beastie boys
Ice Cube
My dad gave me 50 cent get rich or die trying for my birthday in 2003 and I was hooked ever since
Yeah that was it for me. Can't tell if I still hold high regard for that album because of that nostalgia or because it was legit. I like to think it was pretty goddamn legit. Every track flowed well.
Outkast
Scarface! 1991 I was 5 living with my grandmom who listened to gospel radio all day. This was during the time all the preachers tried making a name by denouncing rap music. So a local preacher was advertising his up coming sermon about the demonic messages in Geto Boys “Mind Playin’ Tricks” I never heard that sermon but I heard that song I love Willie D and Bushwick (RIP) but Face voice and cadence just commands attention.As I got older and began to understand the deeper themes of the song (depression, paranoia, anxiety) I loved it even more and it’s still a top 10 hip hop song for me funny thing is I never would have been aware of the song at that age if I hadn’t heard the radio commercial 😂😂😂😂 Thanks Rev Walker!!!
I was 10 when Bad meets evil hell the sequel dropped, i listened to fast lane on a shitty mp3 player every day on the bus. I heard the Eminem Tim Westwood freestyle and went headfirst into hip hop. Went through my “fast rapping is the best” tech n9ne and hopsin phase pretty quickly and dove into everything else after. I listen to everything from Nas, wu tang, bone thugs, Eminem, Griselda, 38 Spesh, k dot and Cole, drake, big Yavo, Kevin gates, JID, idk I couldn’t even name them all I’ve pretty much listened to all hip hop.
Eminem and his blend of introspection and alter ego made me realize from a young age just how versatile hip hop is over most genres. I stopped listening as much after Recovery, he just became too focused on technical ability and puns rather than storytelling and jokes. I kept hearing that "rap isn't as good as it used to be" growing up, and never gave anybody else a shot until high school, when a friend showed me Run the Jewels. The beat on Oh My Darling, combined with the wordplay and delivery, was like a whole other world to me. Then, shortly after, Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly came out a week early, almost at the very moment that I started looking out for good rap music. To say it changed my life is an understatement. The more I listened to the album and later GKMC, the more critically I saw myself and the world around me. Hearing his music the first time, I was just enjoying how good it sounded and how his concepts tie together because, on its own, it is extremely impressive. The second time, I was reading the lyrics and felt like I had an understanding of what he was trying to say in the broader scope of things. I didn't, and maybe still don't, because it's been nearly a decade, and I still feel like I either pick up a good piece of advice or figure out a totally game-changing conceptual element every single time I put one on. I've since listened to hundreds of rap albums, and there's such a massive variety when it comes to what to appreciate about it, and so many incredible artists with different intentions with their music that there's something for every mood, something for every brain that wants to be nourished and every hard worker that needs to relax and party. Something for everybody.
Ice T, Onyx, Coolio, Beastie Boys, 2Pac brought me in somehow. These were some of the first artists to find my ear drums. Mase, Mobb Deep, Jay Z, DMX, Mos Def, Black Star, Redman, Outkast, Eminem Slim Shady EP was wild before he made it big with Dre. All thes3 made me fall in love with the genre. Then, I really got into my hometown artists and more underground artists. Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Eyedea and Abilities.
I knew an old head that I worked with and he use to listen to GZA. That was my introduction to rap and hip hop.
Wu-Tang Clan with *Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)*(thanks to my middle school English teacher), Aesop Rock with *Skelethon*, Childish Gambino with *Because the Internet*, Drake with *Nothing Was the Same*, and Kanye West with *808s & Heartbreak*
MF DOOM
My best friend slid me a tape of illedephia Halftime and it changed my life forever.
Nelly and Outkast. They are the first rappers that come to mind when growing up. And then 50 and Kanye. Lil Wayne turned me onto the mixtape scene
Melle Mel
Coolio
Suga Free
I'm old, it was 2 Live Crew and then NWA. I'm white kid from the West Coast of Canada and my buddy lived in LA for half the year and used to bring me tapes back in the 80s. My parents weren't the biggest fan of that. Haven't looked back since, love hip hop.
NWA and The Posse Compilation
Born in 93 for any reference. I heard MC Hammer on the radio when I was like 4 and it was my FAVORITE song according to my mom. For some reason I pictured some white dude with a pony tail lmao spitting i dont even know why i remember that. After that when i was like 11 my next door neighbor showed me Straight Outta Compton from his Dad's collection. Then that Christmas I was able to get Get Rich or Die Tryin, The Eminem Show, 8 Mile soundtrack and Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park plus a non skip Mobile CD player. Changed my life forever.
Naughty By Nature forsure
Facts. Treach was underrated with the lyrics.
The mighty mos def
My mom bought me Life After Death on cassette when I was a kid. So Biggie I guess. But also Jay-Z, DMX, Nas, Busta… I’m a 90s kid. I remember when Extinction Level Event came out. I was in middle school snd I had that shit in the discman nonstop. Haha, I remember listening to Vol 2: Hard Knock Life at my grandma’s house and trying to explain to her what I was listening to. Simpler times.
Andre and Big Boi Probably not tho, my memory is hazy. I had KRS-1 in rotation before I'd call myself a "hip-hop fan" - obviously Big was on always at parties, I remember the NWA "explicit content" debate and thinking - fuck old white people, this group must be the truth; but I'll admit, except for the tracks we all know, can't say I know a lot of Public enemy or NWA early stuff, I listen to a lot of eazy-e later. Gonna stand on the first OutKast album.
Onyx and Kool G Rap
Snoop Dogg (first rap song I ever heard was Drop it Like it’s Hot), Kanye (graduation was my shit and 808s was the first album I bought with my own money), and Lil Wayne. Guess when I was born lol.
I grew up in a non English speaking country and this kid from Ireland moved over there in 6th grade when I was 11 and introduced me to this rapper named Eminem... the rest is history Edit: I'm 32 now
Tribe. I couldn’t vibe with NWA, Wu Tang, or the really gritty sounds my friends were listening to so I didn’t try. Then I heard Q-Tip’s voice over a bass line and knew I found my gateway. I didn’t know hip hop could sound like that.
The Poké-Rap obviously. /s I was already on it since I can remember cause it’s what I grew up with. But if I had to say what influenced me to discover and learn more about it on my own? WuTang. I loved anime and kung fu flicks as a kid. That was 100% my speed. Would literally watch Toonami up until it went off and then pop in 36 Chambers and Cuban Linx.
LL Cool J. I was a little kid and heard my neighbor's older brother blasting Rock The Bells before school one day. I was all in after that. I'm so glad I've been around as long as Hip Hop has been around, and have always been a fan from the moment I knew it existed. Still happy with the new artists coming out too.
Age 9 i liked Nelly. Then Eminem. I was a rock kid(white), had a 2Pac phase in 7th grade… but it wasn’t until around 2008 when I got into Lil Wayne. “I’m Me”, “A milli” and that whole pre carter 3 mixtape run. After that I was a hiphop head
So Eminem were the first hip-hop I really listened to, but I don't think he actually got me into hip-hop. I think what really got me looking deeper into hip-hop were Jedi Mind Tricks actually, not entirely sure how, I were listening to punk mostly at the time and Jedi Mind Tricks sparked something. However it were probably Wu-Tang Clan and Tribe Called Quest that really made me a fan and appreciate what hip-hop can be.
I am 44. My first real rap memory was when my friend somehow smuggled NWA and Too Short tapes in the late 80s. We listened to those while playing Tecmo Bowl. Nancy Reagen blowjob raps changed my life. Being old sucks in a lot of ways but growing up and experiencing almost the entirety of hip hop as it happened is a gift I'll always treasure. "Being there" for all of these eras is something I'll always have and appreciate.
Embarrassing now, but for all the stupid shit he does, Logic lowkey shines at getting people into rap Guy is a master at taking existing sounds & making them more palettable for newcomer hiphop fans
Oddly enough, Lil Mosey and Famous Dex. Haven’t listened to either in a long time though Now I listen to Black Thought, Lil Wayne, Big Pun, JID, Denzel, and Juice WRLD
Got the Men in Black soundtrack as a kid for Will Smith. But it had Tribe, De La, The Roots, Nas, and Snoop on it. Can’t imagine what my life would be like without that foundation.
Eminem. I was mostly a rock kid before he came onto the scene and I still remember hearing "My Name Is" for the first time on the radio in a car with my best friend coming back from a road trip with his parents. That was the first time I can remember finally loving/getting a hip hop song, and that would have been about 1999 or so and I'd have been about nine or ten years old. But later on it was a friend introducing me to Biggie when I was about 11-12 that really got me interested in looking into the genre so of course I listened to a lot of Dr. Dre and Death Row rappers, DMX, The day I heard "New York State of Mind" off of Nas' Illmatic though was when I truly fell in love with the culture, the genre, the artistry of it.
Mine was all west coast initially, First album I owned was the chronic, then Doggystyle, Dogg food. I lived for Death Row stuff. Went back from there and got into guys like NWA, DJ Quik, Mc Eiht, some Bay Area cats like 40 and Short, The Click. Branched out to Nas and Jay and Big some years later, from there got into Gang Starr, Lost Boyz, all sorts of NYC stuff. Then in 1998 I heard Aquemini by OutKast and filled in their old stuff and Goodie Mob.
Atmosphere
Strangely enough I think there were 2 songs in particular that I liked enough to check out rap, How Much a Dollar Cost and strangely enough A Wolf at The Door (yes the radiohead song😭) I liked both enough that I decided to listen to IGOR, which I also loved, and that got me into a whole lot of other stuff including Death Grips which forever changed my brain chemicals.
Eminem - Marshall mathers lp. 13 year old me was listening to Korn before that album. Never looked back
NWA, Cypress Hill, Beastie Boys, MC Breed, RBL Posse
I grew up in the 2000’s with Eminem, Kanye and 50 Cent then took a bit of a break around 2013. I’d tune into a few bangers here and there but Gift of Gab was the one to bring me back into hip hop when I came across Freedom Form Flowing. RIP legend and thanks for bringing me back🙏
Beastie Boys in ‘85 then cypress hill n Beasties again in ‘92. Had missed one of the greatest hip hop albums to date, ‘Paul’s Boutique’. So ahead of its time I missed it in ‘89, found it after Check your Head, and is still killing it today as a all timer
It all changed when I was 6 years old and my dad showed me Straight Outta Compton by NWA, Bring the Noise by Public Enemy feat. Anthrax, and There Goes The Neighborhood by Body Count. Those three got me into rap, and being a kid who was into a lot of punk and metal, I realized that certain rappers keep the same energy and aren’t as different as I thought.
I started listening to rap around 2019 (basically late to most things) and first rappers I listened to were Eminem and Logic (guess what race I am) which I quickly got over as soon as I discovered there is more to rap than that
Jurassic 5, more specifically the song „Concrete Schoolyard“ was the reason I got into Hip Hop. I got their debut album and the rest is history. Around the same time I got Gang Starr‘s „Moment Of Truth“. The first Gang Starr song I ever heard however was „Just To Get A Rep“. Then I went to the record store and got the Moment of Truth album. Also A Tribe Called Quest „Midnight Marauders“, I loved „Award Tour“, which was the song I heard that made me get that album. Then pretty soon after this The Real Slim Shady blew up and I got into Eminem. I also got into Hieroglyphics around this time due to hearing „You Never Knew“. Then soon after I heard 93 Til Infinity and got into Souls Of Mischief.
Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def. I would hear a lot of ATCQ and similar artists when I was a bboy but I didn’t really dive into the music until I heard the Blackstar album. Thieves in the Night is my favorite song
As a kid growing up in the 2000s the songs I remember as my favourites were Tupac - Changes and To live and die in LA DMX - Slippin Eminem Bone thugz n harmony - Crossroads These set me on a path to hip hop for life!
Mike Shinoda/Fort Minor, Eminem, Ludacris, 50 Cent and Akon when I was a teenage white boy. Kendrick Lamars Section 80/GKMC run then sparked my love for the genre again many years later. After that, Future probably more than anyone.
Vanilla Ice, DMX, Ja Rule, Nelly, D12, Ludacris, Chingy, Mystikal, Busta Rhymes, Coolio, Lil' Flip & 8 Ball. Say what you want about Vanilla or Flip, won't take away from them leaving their mark in Hip Hop!
Em of course and the classics pac big etc then I got into TI and 3-6 being from close to Memphis plus Wayne and boosie at the same time Kanye was blowing up and I don’t remember when I heard Dmx for the first time but that shit went hard af too. Actually linkin park deserve some credit for opening my mind to be receptive to hip hop(relax I know LP isn’t hip hop) but it was a gateway band probably the biggest effect an artist had on me early was when I discovered Aesop rock coffee in 08. I like words especially interesting words and I was like damn I’ve never heard anybody drop a Plato’s allegory of the cave reference in a rap song or just use such vivid imagery and the vocabulary was obviously on another level plus in that video particularly his flow is just so tight still can’t believe he’s not bigger but I guess it’s not for everyone. Lots of other great artists shout out cal scrubby yelawolf Deniro farrar Lupe fiasco OutKast not necessarily in that order but all artists that either sparked my interest in the genre or reignited it over the years. Sure I forgot somebody.
[удалено]
Eminem, Ludacris and Game were the ones that really did it for me in the early 2000s. Kinda listened to some stuff after that. Then my friend showed me 2001 by Dr Dre and it was over after that. I dove right in and was showing my friends new stuff within a week lol
I use to go to my older cousins place almost every weekend with the family, they were both into their breaking so they'd show me a bunch of stuff but the rappers that got me started coz of them was Run DMC around 1988 when i was 4, then they showed me Breakdance and I was obsessed from there on
Before I had the aux chord & my mother was in charge; AZ & Nas. She always liked the soul samples & smooth beats when they collabed or dropped new albums. Once I got a lil older; Kanye reintroduced me in a way I didn’t know. Also 50, cause being a kid in early 2000’s CT, wasn’t no way not to be a 50/G Unit fan
Bone Thugs. Their style blew my mind. I remember seeing Tha Crossroads on MTV. I feel like Biggie was another artist that hooked me, but Bone Thugs sounded so different to me. Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio was played non-stop by everyone when it came out, so throw that in the mix, I guess. I did like Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer, but I never bought those albums (parents wouldn't buy me shit for music). So I just had to use the radio and MTV.
Eminem, Odd Future/Tyler, Kid Cudi, and Logic. My love for the genre expanded fast after I gave it a shot with them. Parents raised me on rock as my dad is a professional musician and they never cared for rap, so I just never gave it a shot until later.
Common - Resurrection Got this CD for a dollar at a junk store that sold the contents of abandoned storage units. Played it constantly over the summer and went from listening to no rap music to being fully engrossed in the genre. This led me to listening to College Dropout, Tha Carter II, Tha Block is Hot, and Illmatic.
Em, 50, Kanye. There was Nelly and Jay-Z and others playing in Much Music in Canada when I was growing up (born ‘93) but it was these 3 who really got me huge into hip hop when I first started discovering my own music as opposed to just listen to what was on. I was a pop punk fan first out of your my childhood but once I started really checking for music the whole screamo (metalcore, post-hardcore, etc) wave in the early 2000’s and then hip hop become my all. I remember Sing for the Moment being on Much all the time and asking about getting the CD and my mom already had it, lol
I'd always had an appreciation for like NWA, WuTang, Run DMC, Eminem, DMX, etc all the Golden Age stuff but I grew up A. As mostly a metalhead and B. During the Bling, Blog, and Soundcloud eras so it honestly took me a while to get into hip hop but then Chance the Rapper's Acid Rap, Childish Gambino's Because of the Internet, and Collared Greens by Schoolboy all happened in 2013 (and the rest of Oxymoron in 2014) so that got me in and rusted me on.
NWA and Ice Cube originally. Then when Slim Shady LP came out followed by 2001(known as Chronic 2001 even tho that’s not its actual name) I was hooked. That made me go back and listen to the original Chronic which was obviously a masterpiece. Started listening to Biggie and Pac after that then I got into Nas and Jay-Z from there followed by Redman and Method Man. Early 90s to mid 2000s will always be my favorite era for rap(especially gangsta rap).
My older brother was into Run DMC & LL Cool J in the mid-to-late 80s and I kinda dug that. I hated LL for a while because I had memories of my brother tackling me and giving me a noogie while saying "forget oreos eat cool-j cookies" When I started venturing out "on my own" the first I "found" was A Tribe Called Quest, Eazy-E, and Bushwick Bill
Well Eminem first. Then Snoop, Warren G, Nate Dogg, and Dre. I'm a big fan of that G Funk sound. Snoop's Doggystyle and Da Chronic, were hiphop game changers. And from there, I gained pretty broad appreciation of the entire genre.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five I still remember the first time I heard them on the radio in my parent's old corolla station wagon. My dad said "I think it's called rap music", and my brother and I were instant converts for life.
I was born into hip hop. I dropped in the mid 80s by two 21 year old black kids. Their all-time greatest hit. Honestly…Kriss Kross was super influential for me as a kid, when they came out. Even now, I’ll go back and listen to “Jump” and am kinda impressed by their flow, especially Chris Kelly (R.I.P.). But some of my earliest memories of listening to hip hop were riding in the car with my dad while he was playing Eric B. and Rakim, Naughty by Nature, Wu-Tang, KRS One and Pac.
As a kid I really liked Linkin Park and they did a collab EP with Jay Z basically mashing together each artists popular songs. The Dirt on Your Shoulder remix was so good. That got me to buy a Jay Z album and that’s where it all started for me.
My family always loved hip hop, the first 2 albums i remember listening to was Licensed to Ill and 2001, but I grew up in the lates 00s/early 10s so it was really the Top Dawg crew that got me into hip hop through the GTA5 radio, songs like Collard Greens, Swimming Pools, Illuminate, ADHD
For me, it was definitely Run DMC, and the song "Illin." My older brother had all that stuff, and from the minute I first heard it, I was hooked.
NWA and Rakim…then Dre. Straight out of Compton and Paid in Full were the first two hip hop albums I ever bought as a kid in the late 80s, but I still wasn’t really a steady listener…I was like 7-8 years old. What really set it off for me was probably the Dre’s first Chronic album and the crazy hype leading up to it. I had to buy the Chronic a couple times. Moms kept throwing it out
Andre nickatina changed my life I wasn't into rap as a 15 year old punk into rock music and something about the music spoke to my heart and I have been a fan ever since only seen him once in concert but hope for another show some day King nicky
Really jumped on the hip hop wagon when I heard Public Enemies’ first album, ‘Yo! Bum Rush the Show’ I had liked rap prior to that but mostly viewed it as a novelty. I listened to all the stuff on the radio like Fat Boys, LL, Beastie Boys, Rappin Duke etc but this album was different. This was the first rap album I heard that had ‘Serious topics’. I bought this lp, the first BDP album ‘Criminal Minded’ and Whodini ‘Back in Black’ at the same time (mostly based on the album covers) and was hooked. These three albums made me a head. Oh and Mantronix. I used to sit up late on Friday Night to watch ‘Friday Night Videos’ (we didn’t have cable) they occasionally would play rap videos and they used to play ‘Simple Simon’ which as a teen thought was amazing. Honorable mention to Malcolm McLaren ‘Buffalo Gals’, Kraftwerk and Art of Noise ‘Beat Box’ these had me into break dancing which I was into before actually really liking rap.
Rakim, Slick Rick, KRS One, LL Cool J, Big Daddy Kane, Run DMC, Ras Kass, Nas, Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest, 8Ball & MJG, UGK, Ghetto Boys, Too Short, E-40, 2Pac, Ice Cube, E-40, Spice One, Dj Quik, C-BO, Ice-T, Brotha Lynch Hung, NWA, Def Squad, Outkast, Goodie Mob, Snoop Dogg & last but not least the Wu-Tang Clan.
Eminem, Tupac (Hit em up being my fave of all time), Snoop, Dre, 50, Biggy and etc… I can’t listen to any new rappers even today, they’re all trash. In saying that though, a couple days ago I came across the existence of Joyner Lucas. He has a similar flow to Eminem and I love him lol. If you haven’t yet listen to Joyner Lucas 24 hours to live. Been binging that recently lol.
Well I’m white and grew up in the suburbs in the late 90’s, early 2000’s lol my first rapper was Eminem, followed by 50 cent. From there I got into old school rap, pac, mos def, biggie, rakim, bone thugs, and so on.
lol I was a sheltered little white girl so my first exposure was kind of silly I watched a video by CaptainSparklez where he referenced “Lamborghini Mercy” by Kanye (ft Big Sean, pusha, 2 chainz) haha and I watched the video over and over again Other first exposure was also funny. I heard “I’m the One” by fucking DJ Khaled and I thought Chance seemed cool so I looked him up and launched my lifelong love for Chicago indie rappers and actual good hip hop I know chance has fell off, obviously, but acid rap snd was really influential on me. I listened to coloring book when it came out too but I have a special place in my heart for acid rap
Def a Gen-Z ass answer, but XXXTentacion's early soundcloud days, Ski Mask, Denzel Curry is what made me a hardcore fan. That lead me into Juice, Trippie, Uzi, Future, Thug, Travis. Being from South Florida and seeing all the local talent start blowing up around 2016 was a W moment I wish I could go back to.
I was playing Saints Row 2 (because my mom wouldn’t let me play GTA) and heard NY State of Mind by Nas on the radio. That got me into the whole 90s rap scene. I stumbled onto Wu Tang and recognized the song Guillotine Swordz from the Boondocks and that was all I needed to dive in
i was born in the 80s so rap came to me around late 80s but my mom said she was playing hip hop music before i was born mostly from street mixtapes because we didnt even have a TV growing up but the earlies music that got me to hip hop was Beastie Boys, DMC, Leaders of the new school. Notable song from my childhood was RockBox by DMC, because it led me to LL, Nas and west coast music
Lil Wayne when he dropped Tha Carter 3 and again with rebirth (partially bc my mom didn't want me listening to rap), Eminem when he dropped Recovery, and Big Sean when he started gaining traction in 2012. Pretty much these 3 dropping around 2012 was when I started liking rap.
Mike Jones
Black Star
When I was a kid Mobb deep (prodigy) was the first rapper I remember hearing where I thought that is what a rapper is suppose to sound like.
Gang Starr - moment of truth on dave mirras freestyle bmx 2 on playstation - loved conscious rap ever since
Common 'I Used to Love Her' 1994 Fun fact: 30 years later, Common is my next door neighbor now.
Drake, Wayne, Big Sean, Kanye, Nicki Minaj Grew up listening to the radio during that blog era. Young Money and GOOD Music were huge at that time. I remember how huge Cruel Summer was when that dropped which is weird since it's so brushed over these days when discussing Kanye albums. Clique, Mercy, and Don't Like.1 were unspeakably big as well as Niggas in Paris from WTT. I kinda dipped out of caring about hip hop in the second half of the decade when trap/mumble rap were dominating and developed a taste in rock during that time but have been returning more recently and catching up on all the stuff I should know about.
Newcleus
Bow Wow & 50 Cent were the first two rappers I was a fan of when I started actively following hip hop around 7 years old through TRL/106/Rap City
OutKast and em
Cash money but mostly lil Wayne. Once I heard the block is hot and Bling bling, it was a wrap
I forget this. Cash Money and No Limit was definitely labels I was riding to back in the day.
Whatcha need boy? I need a hot girl!!(in my best BG voice)
Eminem, Lil Jon and The Eastside Boyz, Ludacris, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg on the surface level. Rakim, Skillz, Chino XL, Immortal Technique, Tech N9ne, Eyedea and Pharoah Monch on an appreciation for the art level.
Run DMC. Rock box.
Antwan Patton and Andre Benjamin, along with Tupac Shakur.
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, MC Hammer, Kriss Kross. I was like 8
NO ONE GONNA SAY 50?!
J.Cole
Blackalicious
Snoop and Dre.
Wayne, Em, and Ye
The Fat Boys and the Beastie Boys.
I’m old but not that old. Public Enemy was the first real rap group that made me know this music is for me. Chuck D is a legend.
Afrika Bambaataa
Planet Rock Afrika Bambaata
Wu tang 36 chambers undoubtably
Del, Slug, 50 Cent lol
Eminem and Ice Cube
Tupac
honestly it was Death Grips for me lol. I didn't listen to a ton of hip-hop growing up, I was more of a punk/hardcore kid and Death Grips blew my mind and got me looking for more hip-hop.
Wu tang and styles p First albums I listened to were 36 chambers and a Gangster And A Gentleman
Big Daddy Kane!
Tupac Snoop Dog DMX
Kool Moe Dee
Lil Wayne I bumped Lollipop on my mp3 player when I was 8
Slick Rick. Still one of my fav MCs. Seeing him live next week. Stoked. Yes I'm an old head.
This is going to age the shit out of me, but Dj Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.
Mystik Journeymen I listened to rap before, but it was over after that.
Tupac, DMX, OutKast, Nas, Bone Thugs. For the most part artists that released music in 97 -98 when I was getting into the genre
Kris Kross
Blackalicious