Ten Hip-Hop Album Recommendations-Part 2

Young Hov!

This post is the remaining 5 hip-hop albums I'd recommend to check out if you are looking to get into some 'good rap'.  Its in no particular order-don't think of these as 6-10.  Each album has a description, a first track to get you into it and a follow up track to keep you in it.  If you dig the album, check out the recommended follow up album.

Anything here you like?  Anything I left out?  Leave a comment below

Also, definitely check out Part 1 which you can find HERE.

Jay-Z - The Blueprint

Jay-Z is king right now, gracefully transitioning from drug dealer to media mogul with ownership in restaurants and basketball teams.  When you hear Jay brag, it is larger than life-but believe it, it is completely true ('Shit, I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can').  The Blueprint is just that, a blueprint for his move from domination of the rap game, to domination of, well, whatever he chooses to touch.  This is the album of a self-made man.

Track: IZZO (H.O.V.A.)
Follow Up Track: The Ruler's Back
Follow Up Album: Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury



Snoop Doggy Dog - Doggystyle

In general my tastes for rap and hip-hop run east, Chicago is about as West as I go.  But the West Coast has produced some greats (some argue 'the greatests') in rap: Dr. Dre, N.W.A., Tupac, Snoop Dogg, etc all hail from California.  Of these, Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle is my indisputable favorite.  This is perfect BBQ music, and if anyone questions your selection you're allowed to pull trump; they are wrong, you are right.

Track: Gin and Juice
Follow Up Track: Murder Was The Case
Follow Up Album: Dr. Dre - The Chronic



Blackstar - Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Blackstar

Yeah, I'm doubling up on Mos Def here, but it almost can't be helped, this album is that good.  One day Mos and Talib decided to put out an album, and it was even more amazing than the two of them separately.  Talib and Mos bounce off each other as easily as the beats bounce off the speakers.  This is about as fun as rap gets.

Track: Definition
Follow Up Track: Brown Skin Lady
Follow Up Album: Mos Def - Black on Both Sides (if you already checked that out, Talib Kweli - Quality)



Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill

Personally, this isn't my favorite Beastie Boys album; early Beasties was frat-rap with a lot of casual misogyny and Licensed to Ill lacks the spirituality and inventiveness that makes later albums so much more interesting.  But this is still a great album and undeniably a classic album.  The Beastie Boys, when it comes down to it, were about friendship and here they are in their purest form, goofing and riffing and acting like idiots because thats what young guys do when they get together with their friends.

Track: The New Style
Follow Up Track: No Sleep Till Brooklyn
Follow Up Album: Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty

The Weeknd - House of Balloons

People will scoff at my inclusion of The Weeknd in here.  This album came out last year, it was a free self-release, and really closer to R&B than it is to rap.  All of these are fair arguments.  Here are mine: 1) I believe the most interesting things that happen in hip-hop are when genres are blended, this album is a beautiful blend of hip-hop, R&B, trip-hop, and so much more; 2) I tossed around a lot of albums that are producer focused (J-Dilla's 'Donuts' is definitely more 'classic'), but I believe amongst them this stands best as an album, to be listened to; 3) There's not much new on this list, after Kanye's 2010 the next closest is 2004.  This album is one of my favorites from 2011.  Warning: this music may create babies.

Track: What You Need

Follow Up Track: House of Balloons / Glass Table Girls

Follow Up Album: J-Dilla - Donuts

Ten Hip-Hop Album Recommendations-Part 1

Andre 3K and Big Boi, in a patriotic moment.

So a week ago I got a great email from my brother-in-law.  He's looking to get more into 'good rap' (as he puts it) and wanted my recommendations of artists to check out.  I was looking for a project and this seemed like a lot of fun.  So, I brainstormed and put together this list for him.

This isn't a 'Top 10 Hip-Hop Albums' list; this is more of a '10 Hip-Hop Albums I Would Want With Me On A Deserted Island (in no particular order)' list.  I readily admit-I have no qualifications with the exception that I'm a pretty strong fan of rap, hip-hop, and associated genres, which is really the only qualification that counts.

Take a look below.  Each entry has a description for some context, a recommended first track to listen to and then a second in case you like what you hear.  If you're jamming to this album and want some more in that vein, I've also provided a recommended follow up album.  The entires below are in no order whatsoever.

I'd be curious in what anyone's opinions are.  Do you agree with these choices?  What would be on your list?  Is any of the stuff below new to you?  Leave a comment below.

Tune in next Thursday for Part 2.

OutKast - Stankonia

If you ask OutKast fans which album is their best, you will have rabid proponents for almost each one, there are at least four that critics would consider 'classics'.  I chose Stankonia because its as wild and inventive as OutKast got, while still remaining a strong duo.  Later albums saw them separate a bit, but here they're still trading verse for better verse for even better verse.  Similar to Mos Def's Black on Both Sides, its almost prophetic how fresh and relevant Stankonia has remained.

Track: Outkast - B.O.B.
Follow Up Track: Outkast - So Fresh, So Clean
Follow Up Album: Outkast - Aquemini



Mos Def - Black on Both Sides

This is Mos Def's massive solo debut.  Recorded over 10 years ago, every single issue he raps about sounds as if he pulled it from headlines today.  Water scarcity, racial profiling, excessive misogyny and materialism, he covers it all while still remaining upbeat and optimistic about our potential as humans to transcend.  This album is one of two rap albums I have on an iTunes playlist called 'Perfect Albums'.

Track: Mos Def: Hip-Hop
Follow Up Track: Mathematics
Follow Up Album: Blackstar - Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Blackstar (if you already checked that out, Talib Kweli - Quality)



Kanye West - My Beautiful, Dark, Twisted Fantasy.

I think that Kanye is one of the most creative musicians working in the world today, and for years I've said that Kanye is hip-hop's Radiohead. And the masterpiece MBDTF his Kid A, where he shows how insanely talented, creative, and far-reaching he is.  His production is glorious and his inspirations are numerous; he utilizes indie rock, soul, revolutionary poetry, you can go on and on with this album.  This is the second rap album on my 'Perfect Album' playlist.

Track: Kanye West ft. Pusha-T - Runaway
Follow Up Track: Kanye West - Lost in the World ft. Bon Iver
Follow Up Album: Jay-Z and Kanye West - Watch The Throne



The Fugees - The Score

I struggled with this selection.  I really wanted to represent a solid female MC on this list and I was balancing between this and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (her solo debut following The Fugees).  In the end the tipping point was that The Fugees is simply more of a rap album.  The chemistry between these three is unquestionable and is probably a reason this rap classic is very commonly found in 'non rap lovers' collections

Track: How Many Mics (okay, and the classic track, Killing Me Softly)
Follow Up Track: The Mask
Follow Up Album: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill




The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free

Mike Skinner is a white Brit, growing up in a tradition of jungle, garage, and other more electronic oriented inspirations.  You'll hear that the production (the music, as opposed to the words, you hear) on A Grand is different from most of the other albums on this list.  But this man is an incredible storyteller, better than any other artist on this list.  This is a concept album, an easily followed story instigated by the loss of a thousand dollars that takes the listener through bar nights, cheating girlfriends, and fights with friends.

Track: Dry Your Eyes
Follow Up Track: Fit But You Know It
Follow Up Album: The Streets - Original Pirate Material

Beginnings and Questions

Looking for some direction? (photo by Evan Finn)

For those of you who don't know, I am a volunteer on Peer Support Network or PSN.  As a PSN member, volunteers call me up and speak, with full confidentiality, about whatever might be on their mind.  Whether about their latest success or their current low point, my main objective is to listen and validate the person on the phone.  Its a great service provided by all Peace Corps countries and I enjoy being involved in it.

So, why am I brining up this aspect of my Peace Corps service today?  Well, during our training to be PSNers we received information about the volunteer cycle of adjustment and vulnerability.  Almost all volunteers cycle through a semi-predictable pattern in their service, where they oscillate between feeling confident and well adjusted in their service and the culture to feeling anxious and vulnerable.

For much of 2012 we've been lucky enough to feel good about what we're doing.  We're in our second year and confident in our workspace.  Our secondary or passion projects are usually in full swing and we are comfortable with the cultural ties we've developed in our community.  However, all good things must end and our last four months of service are marked by a last swing into vulnerability.

From the conversations we have with one another, its fairly obvious to see.  There are concerns of what happens next and of what it will be like to leave the place we've called home, no matter how strange, for the last two years.  There are concerns about what it will be like to enter our American world of friendships and dating again-all of us have yearned for this for the last two years, but it can be a little intimidating to think about how much we may have missed.  We've all experienced a lot of personal growth here and there are concerns over what parts of our identity will transcend cultural mores and geographical borders and what parts were simply an 'Azerbaijani' aspect of ourselves.

These are the concerns that volunteers ending their service dissect with each other on the phone, on the bus, and on the floor.  In less than 3 months, on November 15th, I'll be heading back to America.  Every day, literally every single day, I wake up and am grateful that I am one day closer to that moment, which has for so long seemed so so far away.  But just like every end, it is followed by a beginning, and all beginnings have questions.

I know I'll be heading home for the holidays-I've been away too long and want to see my family and friends and dogs.  But I also want to eat chipotle burritos and avocados, drink PBR and Maker's Mark, and be told I'm pretty by men who's names I don't yet know.  I know that I'll be traveling to South East Asia after that, but for how long and to where exactly I'm still unsure.  I'm unsure of where I will live when I come back and what I'll do for money-I'm confident these answers will come, but they haven't yet, and the questions remain.

There's really no conclusion to this post, its open-ended.  When I came to Azerbaijan two years ago (as of September) I knew that for the next two years I would not have to worry about my food, my house, my health, or my job-all of those things would be provided for.  And that was pretty nice.  But that time has now passed and I'm thankful for that.  And all of us all-too-recent bleary-eyed, jet-lagged 8s must begin thinking about these questions again.  Which is also kind of nice.

It just makes us feel vulnerable.

Photos From Ingrid's Visit

Josh and Ingrid (left to right)

A few weeks back my friend Ingrid came to visit Azerbaijan and get a taste for the Peace Corps lifestyle while on a tour break.  Check out some pics HERE.

Read about Ingrid's thoughts on Azerbaijan HERE.

Old City at dusk

Preparing For The Final Push

I'm looking over some notes made throughout the day of what to write about.  Summers are difficult when it comes to posts-there isn't a work schedule driving specific memories or emerging stories.  Instead, this note is populated by more mundane items: its super hot, its been a productive summer, hiding in my apartment, taking three showers a day.

Glamorous isn't it?

For a TEFL volunteer, August is a time of shifting towards newer projects.  About six months ago I wrote how the end of winter bears witness to an emergence from our cocoon and we begin to involve ourselves in projects and clubs again.  This seasonal phenomena repeats itself in August-first we hide from the extreme cold, now we cower from the extreme heat.  Our projects wane as the temperature falls too low or rises too high.  And currently, its been way too high.

But its now mid-August and I must prepare, both physically and mentally, for this final round of projects in September.  Its not like I need to get in shape for specific trainings-but the very act of getting into the habit again of leaving the house, walking to a meeting, perhaps leaving the house for two reasons even-all this is a rediscovery in a country with no air conditioning (and in a city with no clouds).

For the long summer, I've put off what must be done for September as a season away.  There will be time to select TED videos for our TEDx event, time to advertise our final three teacher trainings, time to develop the training for the new Peer Support Network volunteers.  Well, it turns out that August is halfway through, and that time is now.

This is unfortunate, because the weather is still explicitly summer, the air is still pregnant with humidity, and the movies on my hard drive are still mercifully devoid of required movement.  Frequently these past few months I've wished I had a video game system to play, but realize that would make me sweat too much (I sweat after 20 minutes of still meditation).  What can I say? I'm a sweaty guy.

Still, September comes.  And its good that its coming.  I've had a wonderfully lazy summer all to myself.  And while its been incredibly productive and eye-opening, its also has stirred less-than-pleasant feelings.  I feel bad that I never learned the language well enough to get to know all the people I have met, but I've also lived here long enough to realize there are a lot of people living here that I don't want to speak with much further.

I'm ready for some work to cleanse me of these feelings of guilt and resentment towards host country nationals.  Its nice that I get a couple months of work in before I leave.  Leaving while productive will be a final positive spin on my experience.

Hip-Hop From The Land Of Fire: A Souvenir To Myself

About a year ago I started posting Azerbaijani rap tracks on this blog.  I wanted to familiarize myself with Azerbaijani rap and I figured the best way to do that would be to post a track a week.  However, after almost 40 posts, I've run out of steam on this.  I still like many Azerbaijani artists but, just like in the US, most of what's released isn't that great and I found I was no longer proactively hunting down Azeri rappers.

What I'm trying to say is; this is the last regular post of Hip-Hop From The Land Of Fire.  But its a doozy.  Below is a 75 minute set of the best and brightest in Azerbaijani rap.  I figured this would be a fitting final flourish for this project, and it will probably end up being one of my favorite souvenirs from my time in Peace Corps.

I really hope you enjoy listening to this.  I certainly enjoyed making it, and listening, researching, and writing about these rappers for the past year.  Listen to it below, download it HERE.



Hip-Hop From The Land Of Fire Compilation Mix

1) H.O.S.T. - H.O.S.T.
2) Qaraqan - Qaraqan Qayitdi
3) A-Team - Mene Money
4) Xan ft. Kavkaz Clan - Imza
5) PRoMete - Sus
6) Capo ft. Baku Beat - Milk and Coffee
7) AiD ft. Ayka - Hisslǝr Danişanda
8) A-Team - Arzularimi Qirma
9) Uran - Maşin Yolu
10) Baku Beat - Ara Gunlǝr
11) Qurd - Rǝqs Edir Hǝr Kǝs
12) H.O.S.T. - Mǝni Qaytar
13) Uran - Saray Şarilǝri
14) Uran ft. Ramil - Zonda
15) Qaraqan - Validǝynlǝr
16) Caspian Clan ft. Baku Beat - True or Not True
17) Enemy - 23:44
18) Xan ft. Kavkaz Clan - Yağış Olaram
19) Burito - Vdox
20) Kavkaz Clan - Arzular
21) A-Team - Don't Fall Down

Refreshed Eyes: Azerbaijan From A Visitor's Perspective

My eyes, though refreshed, sometimes see things a little blurry...

This past week I was lucky enough to get a visit in Azerbaijan from an American friend.  Ingrid has been living overseas, working for Cirque du Soleil, for a while now.  She first spent two years in Macau and is now traveling through Western Europe.  She had a tour break and decided to hop on by and see what Peace Corps life is like.

We spent our first night in Baku.  Now, I've spent a bit of time in Baku, and the Boulevard-the massive pedestrian mall that borders the Caspian sea-has become an all too common place.  In fact, it represents an annoying cultural quirk of the Azeri people-that more than doing activities, like going to the movies, or bowling, or whatever, they just like strolling up and down and up again.  Living here for a while, the Boulevard became an example of the lack of options for entertainment in Baku.

However, spending time with Ingrid I was able to enjoy it from her perspective, as a constant outdoor fair.  In becoming obsessed with all the people walking up and down I forgot to turn my attention to the carnival rides and haunted houses that dot the path, or the outdoor restaurants that look out upon the people and bay.  Thinking of all the things I could not do blinded me to the attractions I did have available to me.

Ingrid was most surprised to see that places like the Boulevard or Targova Square, which is a downtown area filled with restaurants and bars, outdoor sculpture and shopping, existed in Azerbaijan at all.  To some degree, she was expecting what we saw in outer Baku-its crumbling Soviet era buildings and snarled traffic-but instead she found she was shocked by how nice Baku was.

Getting to Khachmaz was where the Peace Corps experience became a bit more apparent.  After viewing Glendene's toilet and my shower she was amazed at the time and creative energy it took to keep personal hygiene up to a certain standard.  It was amazing to her the amount of effort it took to get my shower working-only to find that 'working' was simply a trickle of cold water.

And, hearing her mention that, I realize she is sort of right.  I probably spent over 10 hours trying to 'fix' my shower, and all the fix gave me was what we would consider a broken shower in America.  But this broken shower is my only saving grace when it comes to sleeping in any semblance of comfort during the hot, muggy summers.

In fact, most of Khachmaz, when she first saw it, struck her as a little bit slummy.  Keep in mind: this is the place I've been writing how nice it was compared to other cities in Azerbaijan for the past two years.  But she mentioned that the longer she stayed in the city and the more we walked around and saw the places I would go, the more she came to see the charm and enjoyment of it.

This reached a high point when we came home from the beach.  We spent the day at the seaside, eating watermelon and playing in the waves.  From there we went to Glendene's house to use her good shower and rid ourselves of the Caspian smell.  Finally, after a long and fun day, we arrived back at my apartment.  And here Ingrid realized how nice it was, what a relief it was to be in this place instead of another house or hotel.  Suddenly it no longer looked older and rundown, but lived in and comfortable. (video HERE)

And she's right-it is.  Certainly its not on a the same level as apartments in America.  But there is a homeyness in it that helps one to enjoy the time spent here, whether thats for 2 days or 2 years.

It was great to see an old friend and give someone a sense of Peace Corps living.  But it was especially nice to get their perspective on a culture that has become all too normal to me.  Being with a friend who was seeing Azerbaijan with new eyes helped me to see it with refreshed eyes.