Top Ten Cosmic Hip-Hop Songs

Top Ten Cosmic Hip-Hop Songs
Forever Begins - Common
Sunshine - Atmosphere
As The World Turns - Blackalicious
Gravity - Da Bush Babees
Astronomy - Black Star
Bring Back Pluto - Aesop Rock
Time and Space - Digable Planets
Intergalactic - Beastie Boys
Positive Contact - Deltron 3030
Fett's Vette - MC Chris

I was jamming to some hip-hop today and Bring Back Pluto by Aesop Rock played on random.  I really did  the entire None Shall Pass album but that particular track got me thinking about the best cosmic and cosmic related hip-hop songs so I decided to make a Top Ten.  The order listed isn't my ranking, just the best flow for all the tracks.  Hit the link to check them out on YouTube or you could always go to one o fmy personal favorite websites, GrooveShark, and make a playlist. Enjoy

Lupe Fiasco - Lasers

Caught a few songs of Lupe Fiasco's third album Lasers on GrooveShark.  Of the songs I heard the track Space Love is absolutely JAMMIN!  Even though GrooveShark says it's from Lasers, it's actually not.  The other songs are very good as well so no big deal.  Good hip-hop artists tend to follow a pattern in my experience, three solid albums and then they just fall off.  Look at Kanye West.  College Dropout, Late Registration and Graduation are all excellent (save for a few songs), 808s and Heartbreak was awful.  Very little sweet lyrical rapping, a quality which defines the best in hip-hop, and a lot of trendy, shitty auto-tune.  Is it shitty because it's trendy?  Well, partially because it gets played out, but mostly because it has always been garbage even before it was trendy.  My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy?  Over-produced vomit propagating into your ear drums.  What's that you say?  You love those albums?  Well I'm sorry to hear that you are lying to yourself.  Just be honest, listen to his first three albums and then listen to the last two.  You'll hear the difference and it will be substantial.

That all being said, I expected Lupe's third album to be excellent and, from what I've heard, he hasn't disappointed.  Now the true test for all time, can he keep it going on album four and beyond?  Time will tell.  Until then, I'm gonna be feeling the Space Love.

Starving for Hip-Hop

It's been quite a while since the last time I've found a hip-hop artist to be excited about.  I have a wide range of musical interest but hip-hop is one of my absolute favorites.  I'm talking about Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, Digable Planets, Da Bush Babees, Aesop Rock, Blackalicious and many more.  Look up any and all of those people.  Excellent artists.  Da Bush Babees album Gravity is one of my all time favorite albums and I listen to it often.  The last artist I heard and became excited about is a guy named Random aka Mega-Ran.  He uses a lot of 8-Bit samples in the tracks and raps about nerdy stuff.  I can relate to that.  Check him out if you haven't heard of him, http://megaran.com/, he has a lot of excellent music.  On top of that, I ran into him a few times and he's a cool guy so I definitely give him props when I can.  I'll have to look a little harder for the hip-hop.  The thing I'm most excited about currently?  Baseball is BACK!  Yes it's spring training, but I love spring training.