Move over Jay-Z! Guardian readers pick a hip-hop playlist for beginners

We asked you to select tracks that would best introduce a newcomer to hip-hop. So here's your playlist for rap rookies

To quote Kritik from yesterday's blog about Jay-Z's choice of hip-hop tracks for rap rookies: "Picking a playlist is tough." That it is, Kritick, which is why we asked you lot to do it. Bear in mind the task was not to compile a "best of" list, nor provide a rundown of hip-hop's canon – the idea was to capture the kind of appealing words and noises that may persuade novices (especially Radio 4 listeners) sceptical about hip-hop to give the genre a go. That's why NWA's She Swallowed It was never going to make the list, no matter how many recommendations it got.


Edifice said: "Hip-hop was a social oppression-emergent music genre, so if you want to sample a little of its politically molten core, with some intellectual stimulation to boot, try (among others) Public Enemy – Bring the Noise". You'll find few dissenting voices to that one.

Other readers have previously tried to induct newbies to hip-hop, namely their relatives. "I did this with my dad a while back", explained Kissmeneck. "He wanted to know what on earth I could possibly see in hip-hop after 20 years of listening to it, so I played him Dead Prez – Hip Hop".

JohnCondor said: "I've noticed repeatedly that people who hardly know anything about hip-hop really get taken by surprise and then carried away by Mobb Deep's 1995 album The Infamous." So I chose Hey Luv (featuring 112), from 2001's Infamy, to show off rap's senstive side.

While we're on the subject of relatives, I couldn't help but add john615's recommendation of Luniz's I Got 5 On It. Not necessarily the most popular choice, but it still sounds great, and I recall an older relative being exposed to this song on repeat at one family gathering only to finally ask: "What's this song about then?" Failure to grasp its meaning may bode well for those who, while objecting to drug use, can't resist a sample of Club Nouveau's Why You Treat Me So Bad.

There were various suggestions for Mos Def, mainly for Mathematics, which doesn't appear to be on music streaming service We7 (which I used to build the playlist), so we opted for another popular choice – Ms Fat Booty, if only to impress upon the ignorant ear of a hip-hop novice the prevailing popularity of large female behinds within the rap community.

There were several nominations for Gang Starr, and we sided with Virtuallycircus's choice of Moment of Truth. Oh, and while I query whether an album in which one man offers to sodomise another with a piping hot coathanger is really a wise choice for the sceptical rap novice, there's no denying Enter the Wu-Tang Clan (36 Chambers) was a popular choice (so I opted for Bring Da Ruckus). Similarly, Kanye West's name was mentioned numerous times, as was his album The College Dropout, so in goes Jesus Walks.

I couldn't help noticing a lack of female nominations, perhaps unsurprising given I am a female who was always more fond of MC Lyte and Missy Elliott. With the brief in mind ("What's this hip-hop you speak of?" etc) I took up the few suggestions for Missy and added Work It.

Delving further back into rap history, Cytoskeleton offered "some classics from the days before sampling became outlawed. Rap music went down rapidly after that....", namely The Message by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. Similarlly, Kezabien picked Pharcyde's Passin' Me By and many of you wanted Erik B a& Rakim's Paid in Full. Equally, there were many nods for the Roots, and I think The Seed (2.0) is a good place to start for those who like a groove as well as beats – similarly, in goes A Tribe Called Quest's Can I Kick It. NWA, Lupe Fiasco, Dead Prez, Biggie, Outkast and Roots Manuva all got your recommendations too.

Thanks for all your suggestions, I haven't had this much fun putting a playlist together in ages.

Contributor

Rosie Swash

The GuardianTramp

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