OT: What Are You Listening to Now?

[fatlever]

bizarre ride actually made my top 50, one of only two hip hop albums. it might be the only album in my top 50 to make an appearance on someone else's list. we'll see. i did not care too much for labcab...

[Snidely FC]

My Favorite Top 20:
Cal Tjader Soul Sauce
Herb Ellis Ellis In Wonderland
Wes Montgomery Movin Along
Wes Montgomery Bags Meets Wes
Vince Guaraldi Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus
Chet Baker She Was Too Good To Me
Ahmad Jamal At The Pershing
Dave Brubeck Jazz Impressions of Japan
Hubert Laws Morning Star
Herbie Hancock Maiden Voyage
Wes Montgomery Tequila
Glenn Gould Goldberg Variations (1981)
Jim Hall Concierto
Michael Franks Art of Tea
Cal Tjader Soul Bird
Ramsey Lewis The In Crowd
Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto Getz/Gilberto
Dexter Gordon Gettin' Around
Thelonious Monk Solo Monk

[fatlever]

snidely a huge jazz man. was always more of a george benson fan over wes montgomery though. your list just reminded me of an album i need to put in my top 60 - herbie hancock headhunters.

[Eoghan]

I love "Gas Mask", Tupik. You called it.

Quick and Dirty Top Twenty:
1. The Pharcyde: Bizarre Ride II

wow, Pharcyde at number one. That's **** awesome, Dave.

That being said, unpopular opinion alert - I prefer Labcabincalifornia over Bizarre Ride II. I like the maturation the group went through between the two albums and the more laid back J Dilla production. Labcabin is one of those albums for me where I couldn't name some random tracks off it if someone played it for me but I absolutely enjoy it from the start to the end. I love the mood and sound of it. The tracks just don't seem to stand out.

As for Bizarre Ride II, it seems a bit too inconsistent and playful with those skits for me. It's still a very good album, in my book, don't get me wrong.

And I find it interesting that you have both Tribe and Pharcyde on your list, Pharcyde basically kind of being the West coast version of Tribe.

I didn't necessarily rank those in order but that album is up there regardless, especially in hip hop only genre. I have no qualms with liking labcab better, it's a very solid album. ATCQ is easily my favorite group of all time. I love the mid 90s stuff and pretty much checked out in the 2000s. You kids with your Joey Bad Keesters and Kedrick LeMar's, I just shake my fist and yell at yall to get off my lawn.

[countryboi]

In no order because its like picking my favorite child

Nas- Illmatic/Stillmatic/Life Is Good
Jayz- Reasonable Doubt/The Black Album/The Blueprint
Biggie- Ready to die
The Roots- Things Fall apart/Do You Want More?!!!??!/Undun
Outkast- ATLiens/Aquemini/Pretty much every outkast album not named idlewild
Wu Tang- 36 Chambers
Tupac- All eyes on me/Me against the world
DMX- Its dark and hell is hot/Flesh of my Flesh
GhostFace- Ironman/Supreme Clientele
50 cent- Get rich or Die trying (I hate to even put this on the list)
Snoop- Doggystyle
Ice Cube- Death Certificate
UGK- Riding Dirty
Kanye West- College Dropout/My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy/Pretty much every Kanye Album
Lil Wayne- The carter 3
Common- Be
Little Brother- The Minstrel Show
Kendrick Lamar- GKMC

And these are a few artist that if you are not listening to you are missing out.
Killer Mike (Go listen to "run the jewels" right now)
Little Brother/Phonte
Pusha T
Ghostface
Curren$y
ASAP rocky (I am tempted to leave him off this list because of his laziness)
Big Krit (He is insanely underrated)
Schoolboy Q (everyone has heard of Kendrick)
Flatbush Zombies
Action Bronson

[thruthefire]

I've been listening to IceJJFish lately.

[countryboi]

I've been listening to IceJJFish lately.

what the hell did you just have me listen to?

[Diop]

its tough as my favourites change with my mood. i started with metal but then started liking other stuff as I got older. Went through a stage of loving Led Zep, the Beatles and even John Lee Hooker.

But I guess if I had to list 20 albums:

Metallica - Master of Puppets
Metallica - And Justice for All
Nirvana - Never Mind
Slipknot - Slipknot
Slayer - Decade of Aggression
Metallica - Ride the lightning
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Nirvana - In Utero
Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
Ministry - The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste
Dream Theater - Images and Words
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Rollins band - Weight
Pantera - Cowboys from Hell
Pantera - Far Beyond Driven
Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik
Pearl Jam - 10
Rage against the machine - Rage against the machine
Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix (I know best ofs are a bit of a cop out, but this was the album I listened to)
Stone Temple Pilots - Core

[HornetJail]

I'll do a real list later, but I'm up real late studying and I need a breather lol

This probably isn't even 20, and it sure as hell isn't in order, but here goes nothing. Mostly rock/metal/punk bands, some are more obscure than others lol

311 - 311
Affiance - the Campaign
A Day To Remember - Common Courtesy
A Day To Remember - For Those Who Have Heart
A Hero A Fake - Let Oceans Lie (metal band from Charlotte)
August Burns Red - Leveler
Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil
Between the Buried and Me - Colors
Between the Buried and Me - Parallax II: Future Sequence (I get to see them play this live this weekend!)
Blink-182 - Enema of the State
Coheed and Cambria - Afterman II
Everyone Dies in Utah - Seeing Clearly
Fleetwood Mac - Say You Will (prefer the new-ish stuff, but the old ones are great too)
Fleetwood Mac - The Dance (favorite live album of all time)
Flogging Molly - Screaming at the Wailing Wall
Four Year Strong - Rise or Die Trying
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Pantera - Cowboys From Hell
Rise Against - The Unraveling
Shreddy Krueger - The Grieving
The Gaslight Anthem - Sink or Swim
The Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten
Trivium - In Waves
Trivium - Shogun

[Tupik]

That being said, unpopular opinion alert - I prefer Labcabincalifornia over Bizarre Ride II.

That sure is unusual. Bizarre Ride is in my top 50 for sure, probably in my top 20 too. I don't think I could ever narrow it down to 20 though there's just too many albums to choose from.

[LamarMatic7]

I'll start off with my top20 favorite hip hop albums of all time:

1. Nas - Illmatic
2. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing.....
3. Mobb Deep - The Infamous
4. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
5. Celph Titled & Buckwild - Nineteen Ninety Now
6. A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
7. Black Star - Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star
8. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
9. Joe Budden - Mood Muzik 2: Can It Get Any Worse?
10. Cunninlynguists - Southernunderground
11. MF DOOM - Operation: Doomsday
12. O.C. - Word...Life/Jewelz (I can't choose one)
13. Jeru the Damaja - The Sun Rises in the East
14. Gang Starr - Hard to Earn
15. Black Moon - Enta da Stage
16. Nine - Nine Livez
17. Non Phixion - The Future Is Now
18. Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030
19. Keith Murray - Enigma
20. Murs & 9th Wonder - Murs 3:16 The 9th Edition

a lot of personal favorites are on the list. obviously some albums wouldn't stand their ground against certain hip hop classics and I acknowledge that those might be worse albums.

the top 8 was rather easy and it might even be in an order that I would agree with a month from now but there were about 30 contenders for the rest of the 12 spots.

[countryboi]

I'll start off with my top20 favorite hip hop albums of all time:

1. Nas - Illmatic
2. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing.....
3. Mobb Deep - The Infamous
4. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
5. Celph Titled & Buckwild - Nineteen Ninety Now
6. A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
7. Black Star - Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star
8. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
9. Joe Budden - Mood Muzik 2: Can It Get Any Worse?
10. Cunninlynguists - Southernunderground
11. MF DOOM - Operation: Doomsday
12. O.C. - Word...Life/Jewelz (I can't choose one)
13. Jeru the Damaja - The Sun Rises in the East
14. Gang Starr - Hard to Earn
15. Black Moon - Enta da Stage
16. Nine - Nine Livez
17. Non Phixion - The Future Is Now
18. Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030
19. Keith Murray - Enigma
20. Murs & 9th Wonder - Murs 3:16 The 9th Edition

a lot of personal favorites are on the list. obviously some albums wouldn't stand their ground against certain hip hop classics and I acknowledge that those might be worse albums.

the top 8 was rather easy and it might even be in an order that I would agree with a month from now but there were about 30 contenders for the rest of the 12 spots.

Man most of these CDs are almost older than you are..I see you are a fan of the golden age

[Tupik]

In no order because its like picking my favorite child

Nas- Illmatic/Stillmatic/Life Is Good
Jayz- Reasonable Doubt/The Black Album/The Blueprint
Biggie- Ready to die
The Roots- Things Fall apart/Do You Want More?!!!??!/Undun
Outkast- ATLiens/Aquemini/Pretty much every outkast album not named idlewild
Wu Tang- 36 Chambers
Tupac- All eyes on me/Me against the world
DMX- Its dark and hell is hot/Flesh of my Flesh
GhostFace- Ironman/Supreme Clientele
50 cent- Get rich or Die trying (I hate to even put this on the list)
Snoop- Doggystyle
Ice Cube- Death Certificate
UGK- Riding Dirty
Kanye West- College Dropout/My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy/Pretty much every Kanye Album
Lil Wayne- The carter 3
Common- Be
Little Brother- The Minstrel Show
Kendrick Lamar- GKMC

And these are a few artist that if you are not listening to you are missing out.
Killer Mike (Go listen to "run the jewels" right now)
Little Brother/Phonte
Pusha T
Ghostface
Curren$y
ASAP rocky (I am tempted to leave him off this list because of his laziness)
Big Krit (He is insanely underrated)
Schoolboy Q (everyone has heard of Kendrick)
Flatbush Zombies
Action Bronson

Goddaaamn that's a really solid list. Only guys/albums I'm not a fan of are The Carter 3 (I love the Carter 2, this one not so much), Pusha T (don't really like his new stuff, anything by Clipse is a classic though), and Action Bronson (listened to a lot of his mixtapes, always find him boring). Great great list, I'm compelled to do mine now (I'll lay off on the descriptions this time lol).

Plus you've got Ridin Dirty on there, which, spoiler alert, will be in my top 5 for sure.

[LamarMatic7]

I'll start off with my top20 favorite hip hop albums of all time:

1. Nas - Illmatic
2. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing.....
3. Mobb Deep - The Infamous
4. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
5. Celph Titled & Buckwild - Nineteen Ninety Now
6. A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
7. Black Star - Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star
8. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
9. Joe Budden - Mood Muzik 2: Can It Get Any Worse?
10. Cunninlynguists - Southernunderground
11. MF DOOM - Operation: Doomsday
12. O.C. - Word...Life/Jewelz (I can't choose one)
13. Jeru the Damaja - The Sun Rises in the East
14. Gang Starr - Hard to Earn
15. Black Moon - Enta da Stage
16. Nine - Nine Livez
17. Non Phixion - The Future Is Now
18. Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030
19. Keith Murray - Enigma
20. Murs & 9th Wonder - Murs 3:16 The 9th Edition

a lot of personal favorites are on the list. obviously some albums wouldn't stand their ground against certain hip hop classics and I acknowledge that those might be worse albums.

the top 8 was rather easy and it might even be in an order that I would agree with a month from now but there were about 30 contenders for the rest of the 12 spots.

Man most of these CDs are almost older than you are..I see you are a fan of the golden age

hell yeah, I am. It all started with me hearing Pac's Ghetto Gospel when it came out as a posthumous single. I loved it and thus discovered his other, older stuff, as well as somehow finding out about the Wu. And then there was no turning back. Although the idea of a 11, 12-year-old me listening to Hit 'Em Up is a bit disturbing.

[countryboi]

In no order because its like picking my favorite child

Nas- Illmatic/Stillmatic/Life Is Good
Jayz- Reasonable Doubt/The Black Album/The Blueprint
Biggie- Ready to die
The Roots- Things Fall apart/Do You Want More?!!!??!/Undun
Outkast- ATLiens/Aquemini/Pretty much every outkast album not named idlewild
Wu Tang- 36 Chambers
Tupac- All eyes on me/Me against the world
DMX- Its dark and hell is hot/Flesh of my Flesh
GhostFace- Ironman/Supreme Clientele
50 cent- Get rich or Die trying (I hate to even put this on the list)
Snoop- Doggystyle
Ice Cube- Death Certificate
UGK- Riding Dirty
Kanye West- College Dropout/My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy/Pretty much every Kanye Album
Lil Wayne- The carter 3
Common- Be
Little Brother- The Minstrel Show
Kendrick Lamar- GKMC

And these are a few artist that if you are not listening to you are missing out.
Killer Mike (Go listen to "run the jewels" right now)
Little Brother/Phonte
Pusha T
Ghostface
Curren$y
ASAP rocky (I am tempted to leave him off this list because of his laziness)
Big Krit (He is insanely underrated)
Schoolboy Q (everyone has heard of Kendrick)
Flatbush Zombies
Action Bronson

Goddaaamn that's a really solid list. Only guys/albums I'm not a fan of are The Carter 3 (I love the Carter 2, this one not so much), Pusha T (don't really like his new stuff, anything by Clipse is a classic though), and Action Bronson (listened to a lot of his mixtapes, always find him boring). Great great list, I'm compelled to do mine now (I'll lay off on the descriptions this time lol).

Plus you've got Ridin Dirty on there, which, spoiler alert, will be in my top 5 for sure.

man you have to do a list now. I feel like Pusha T is on top of his game right now, MNIM may be the album of the year. I am tempted to do a guilty pleasure list fuil of 2Chainz, waka, chief keef rick ross and like future. they cant all be classics.

[countryboi]

I'll start off with my top20 favorite hip hop albums of all time:

1. Nas - Illmatic
2. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing.....
3. Mobb Deep - The Infamous
4. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
5. Celph Titled & Buckwild - Nineteen Ninety Now
6. A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
7. Black Star - Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star
8. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
9. Joe Budden - Mood Muzik 2: Can It Get Any Worse?
10. Cunninlynguists - Southernunderground
11. MF DOOM - Operation: Doomsday
12. O.C. - Word...Life/Jewelz (I can't choose one)
13. Jeru the Damaja - The Sun Rises in the East
14. Gang Starr - Hard to Earn
15. Black Moon - Enta da Stage
16. Nine - Nine Livez
17. Non Phixion - The Future Is Now
18. Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030
19. Keith Murray - Enigma
20. Murs & 9th Wonder - Murs 3:16 The 9th Edition

a lot of personal favorites are on the list. obviously some albums wouldn't stand their ground against certain hip hop classics and I acknowledge that those might be worse albums.

the top 8 was rather easy and it might even be in an order that I would agree with a month from now but there were about 30 contenders for the rest of the 12 spots.

Man most of these CDs are almost older than you are..I see you are a fan of the golden age

hell yeah, I am. It all started with me hearing Pac's Ghetto Gospel when it came out as a posthumous single. I loved it and thus discovered his other, older stuff, as well as somehow finding out about the Wu. And then there was no turning back. Although the idea of a 11, 12-year-old me listening to Hit 'Em Up is a bit disturbing.

the first album i every owned was Lethal Injection by Ice Cube....im still not sure how my parents allowed it but i turned out alright lol

[LamarMatic7]

Man most of these CDs are almost older than you are..I see you are a fan of the golden age

hell yeah, I am. It all started with me hearing Pac's Ghetto Gospel when it came out as a posthumous single. I loved it and thus discovered his other, older stuff, as well as somehow finding out about the Wu. And then there was no turning back. Although the idea of a 11, 12-year-old me listening to Hit 'Em Up is a bit disturbing.

the first album i every owned was Lethal Injection by Ice Cube....im still not sure how my parents allowed it but i turned out alright lol

I'm sure they loved you listening to "Ghetto Bird", haha.

[Tupik]

man you have to do a list now. I feel like Pusha T is on top of his game right now, MNIM may be the album of the year. I am tempted to do a guilty pleasure list fuil of 2Chainz, waka, chief keef rick ross and like future. they cant all be classics.

I feel like Pusha is a bit too generic now, wasn't a fan of MNIMN at all. I'm seeing live at the end of next month with Flatbish Zombies and Underachievers, so maybe he'll be able to change my opinion of him. I definitely feel like he'll never be able to top Hell Hath No Fury though.
I might also do a all-trap muzik list as well, though I need to figure out my all-hip-hop list first.

[Tupik]

Ok this was extremely hard, but here's my rankings for top 20 hip-hop of all-time. More or less ranked, but I didn't put too much thought into it or else I'd have pulled my hair out by now. I cheated a bit because I'm putting several albums per artist:

Top 20 Hip-Hop

1. Nas - Illmatic
2. UGK - Ridin' Dirty
3. GZA - Liquid Swords
4. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
5. The Roots - Things Fall Apart & undun
6. Mobb Deep - The Infamous
7. Three 6 Mafia - Mystic Stylez
8. Quasimoto - The Unseen
9. The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
10. Black Star - Black Star
11. Goodie Mob Soul Food
12. 2Pac - Me Against the World
13. Kanye West - Late Registration & My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
14. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt II
15. MF DOOM - Operation: Doomsday
16. Blu and Exile - Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them
17. Outkast - ATLiens & Aquemini
18. Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt
19. Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030
20. ASAP Rocky - Live.Love.A$AP.

Honorable mentions (Honestly any 5 of these could be in the top 20 and are of same quality as the albums on the list):

Common - Be
Camp Lo - Uptown Saturday Night
CunninLynguists - A Piece Of Strange
Cypress Hill - Black Sunday
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city
Method Man - Tical
The Left - Gas Mask
Any Roots album not on the lisrt
Scarface - The Diary
Reflection Eternal - Train of Thought
Zion I - True & Livin'


EDIT: Forgot about MF DOOM for some reason! Shame on me!

[fatlever]

Fats' Favorite Albums As of Today

I had a hard time narrowing down my list, so what you get is 63 albums. Most of the huge classic rock albums from the 60s and 70s are not on my list because I had those on cassette tapes as a kid and listened to them so much that I got sick of them by the time I was starting my CD collections. They certainly didn't make it to my digital collection. Also would be several greatest hits albums by artists from the 60s, 70s and 80s not listed in my top 60, but many of those just didn't have enough songs on one album that I liked enough to rank.

Sorry hip-hop fans, only a few hip hop albums on my list.

1 Steely Dan : Aja
2 Steely Dan : Royal Scam
3 Steely Dan : Katy Lied
4 Steely Dan : Countdown to Ecstasy
5 Steely Dan : Can't Buy A Thrill
6 Steely Dan : Pretzel Logic
7 Frank Zappa : Roxy and Elsewhere
8 Phish : Lawnboy
9 Phish : Junta
10 Frank Zappa : One Size Fits All
11 Grateful Dead : Terrapin Station
12 Donald Fagen : The Nightfly
13 Steely Dan : Gaucho
14 Ben Folds Five : Ben Folds Five
15 Phish : Rift
16 Belizbeha : Charlie's Dream
17 Ben Folds Five : Whatever, Ever and Amen
18 Frank Zappa : Joe's Garage
19 Moe. : Dither
20 Tally Hall : Marvin's Marvelous…
21 The Dixie Dreggs : Freefall
22 George Duke : Brazilian Love Affair
23 Stevie Wonder : Fulfillingness First Finale
24 Grateful Dead : Wake of the Flood
25 Bela Fleck and the Flecktones : Live Art
26 The Clash : London Calling
27 Santana : CaravanSerai
28 The Beatles : Abbey Road
29 Stevie Wonder : Songs In the Key of Life
30 CSN&Y : Déjà Vu
31 Allman Brothers : Live at Filmore
32 Boz Scaggs : Silk Degress
33 George Benson : Breezin
34 Marshall Tucker Band : Where We All Belong
35 Santana : Moonflower
36 Ween : White Pepper
37 Grateful Dead : Blues for Allah
38 Santana : Lotus
39 Tower of Power : Bump City
40 Earth Wind and Fire : Gratitude
41 Herbie Hancock : Headhunter
42 Richie Havens : Mirage
43 Tower of Power : Live in Living Color
44 Earth Wind and Fire : Open Our Eyes
45 Groove Collective : We the People
46 Wilco : Sky Blue Sky
47 Donald Fagen : Kamakiriad
48 My Morning Jacket : Z
49 Talking Heads : More Songs About Buildings and Food
50 Jamiroquai : Traveling Without Moving
51 Neil Young : Harvest
52 The Pharcyde : Bizarre Ride II
53 Spacehog : Resident Alien
54 Ween : 12 Country Golden Greats
55 Neil Young : Neil Young
56 Stevie Wonder : Innervisions
57 Tower of Power : Tower of Power
58 Phish : Farmhouse
59 George Benson : Weekend In LA
60 Tower of Power : Urban Renewal
61 Brand New Heavies : Brother Sister
62 Pat Metheny : The Road to You
63 The Smiths : The Queen is Dead