Superking - Kool Keith was someone i paused on and thought to myself "i've heard the name, but did i hear good or bad?" outside of the misogyny, is the lyrical presentation and/or production exceptional? i can get past weak lyrics or subject matter in the interest of good style. even if somebody is a piece of shit and espouses/promotes shithead politics, if they bring it, style-wise or beats-wise, i'll buy it used, to hear it. the artist won't see a penny of my money, and i can always destroy the album after listening if it's that evil.
Tribe Called Quest, De La, Public Enemy, Run DMC, pretty much anything that was getting good rotation on Yo! back in the day, i'm already familiar with (and i definitely like all of the examples i gave). and i heard enough Dr Dre and Snoop back in college to know what they're generally gonna bring.
Wu Tang, Jurassic 5, and Pharcyde are all things i've been thinking about checking out, since a couple of good friends of mine were huge into them; though i've never heard any, i assume it to be good by proxy.
EL-P is definitely on the list for round 2, as the beats on the Cannibal Ox disc i got are phenomonal. his stuff, along with Pete Rock's, has really stood out so far as being very top-notch.
i just heard a good hiphop song when i was returning a movie at Earwax today... when i asked what it was, the clerk told me it was some radio station out of MPLS, and they had been playing a lot of rap battles between _______, ________, and Aesop, which were awesome. so it may have been him/them. Aesop was the only name i was able to retain. (really i was hoping for a much less complex answer from him, like "it is XYZ" or something).
i'm mostly interested in folks that bring either great vocal stylings or great beats, and not necessarily both, and not necessarily what i consider "smart" politics, though the complete package is obviously ideal. the Del the Funky Homosapien disc i got, for example, the beats are often weak, his lyrics vary between thoughtful and totally retarded, but his presentation is often thoroughly kick-ass. so i can dig it, in spite of all the negatives.
thanks for input, everybody! keep it comin!
PS - gordon, i'm probably one of the more outspoken "anti-hiphop" guys in those conversations when they come up on this forum. but my issue is with the sickness that lots (if not most, if not damn near all) of the mainstream hiphop folks are promoting, wittingly or unwittingly, to kids. i'm old enough to seperate the shit from the gold, subject-wise, as my personal politics are already pretty well formed. but it really saddens me how kids who are very much in the process of developing a worldview are inundated with heroes who advocate, in my opinion, really fucked up views. hopefully this thread will not veer off into that territory at all. for me anyways, this is all about checking out vocal skill and dope beats, politics be damned.