20 Thats Changed Me

I’m on Facebook and I get tossed the idea of listing the 20 albums that changed my life. (Whatup Dionne!). The list was actually kind of difficult to do because there’s a difference between my favorite albums/songs and the ones that changed my life, though there is some overlap. As I compiled the list, it became clear that this was good post for Indie 5. So here you go. In no particular order.

What’s your list look like?

1. Run DMC - Run DMC  & 2. Run DMC - Raising Hell : Krush Groove is the
single most influential Movie I have watched in my life. The flows, the
attitude, the …. Err swag. LoL. These two albums encompass every
reason I wanted to be an MC.

3. Beastie Boys - License to Ill : Every MC has a “thing”. Mine is
timing. This album was the epitome of well timed EVERYTHING. Its one of
those albums that you even know all of the “haha’s” and “wordups”
between each song. MC timing at its finest.

4. LL Cool J - Bigger and Deffer : If I was birthed from an Album….
Its this one. No other MC had the vocabulary, attitude AND skill blended
so well. *Im Bad and I need love give this album an unjustified pop-py
rep… Please revisit*

5. A Tribe Called Quest - Low End Theory : Before this album, rhymes I
wrote could be classified as “Gangsta Rap“. This album changed
everything I though you could do with rap music.

6. De La Soul - Stakes Is High : This was my “Holy Shit…. Back to the
lab” album. I call this the last GREAT Start to Finish hip hop album.
After this one “Yo go to track 8″ started.

7. X Clan - To the East Blackwards : This album directly coincided with
my “Black Fist” days. I can remember freshman year of CSU, me, Marcus
and Dame got by work days reciting lyrics from this album. Nothing like
it before, nothing like it after.

8. Souls of Mischief - 93 til Infinity : Its just probably my 2 or 3
favorite hip hop album ever. lol

9. NWA - Straight out of Compton : I think this album brought it home to
me that West Coast cats wasn’t nothing like us. LoL. I don’t mean in a
violence way cuz hoods is hoods, but in a speech, approach and lifestyle
kinda way. I like Niggaz4Life, The Chronic, Amerikkas Most and Death
Certificate just a much but by that time I was used to the glaring
difference in culture. SOC set it.

10. Camp Lo - Uptown Saturday Night: This is probably my most
impressively produced hip hop album EVER. Next.

11. New Edition - New Edition: These cats were our Jackson 5. Stage
presence and hits. We were trying to BE them.

12. DeBarge - In a Special Way : There was a time where I could recite
every word to every song on this album. Yup. Used to sing. That’s all
I’ll say.

13. Michael Jackson - Thriller : Self explanatory.

14. Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain : Self Explanatory

15. Temptations - Greatest Hits : What can you say about a group who’s
songs that weren’t even hits were hits. First off let me say that I’m a
die hard classic soul head. Temptations are my favorite group ((1b) next
to Run DMC) of all time.

16. Boogie Down Productions - By All Means Necessary: KRS did so many
things on this album, its amazing that half the songs are on the same
album. There is NO album on the planet that I’ve listened to more than
this one.

17. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to hold us back : Enter
Noisy Hip Hop. Hey, half of our songs are noisy. Case closed.

18. Stevie Wonder - The Definitive Collection : Some people are talented
and some are gifted. It doesn’t even make sense that this guy can make
the music that he does. Its not even fair that Gucci Mane got what he
got and Stevie got what he did. Gods a funny dude man.

19. Earth Wind and Fire - The Ultimate Collection : NOBODY has range
like Earth Wind and Fire. The Ultimate collection works better for me
because none of their albums were Start to Finish for me. (and yes that
includes “That’s the Way of the World“)

20. Boyz II Men - CooleyHighHarmony : So many personal pieces of my life
bring me back to this album. The funny thing is, I didn’t even like the
WHOLE album. But the album played a backdrop to so many episodes in my
life. Plus it was the beginning of the new R&B for the hip hop head.