It's nice to see some love for Bazooka Tooth. I've always felt so alone thinking that it's one of his greatest works. All of it. Also .. you're into Sunny Day Real Estate?
Back to original topic.
A Tribe Called Quest specifically
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
This was my first real experience with hip-hop. That is, the first time I took it seriously. Before this came out, all I really knew about was Public Enemy, and I never actually paid much attention to the lyrics, I just liked their logo. The high-pitched siren thing (I mean the sample they incessantly used, not Flavis Flav, which I also could never stand) turned me off of them. Also N.W.A.
These were all I knew before the Tribe album. So, for me, before People's Instinctive Travels the only rap I really liked was N.W.A who were kind of a joke to me and my friends who listened to it driving around in our parents' cars bewildered at the fact that these guys were apparently selling crack and killing each other for no apparent reason and still had the time to make awesome-sounding music with hilarious lyrics.
Then came De La Soul, and all of the other late-80s/early 90s stuff that I listened to occasionally and always just for fun. This lasted well into the 1990s when turntablism became a kind of respectable musical art form and I was into all those artists like Beat Junkies et. al. and I also got into DJ Shadow and all of that. None of this was life-changing.
Then, well into young adulthood came..
Viktor Vaughn and his
Vaudeville Villain album.
This album changed my life and will be a hard album to ever beat as my personal favorite rap album. It's hard to describe why exactly. It's just that it was the first album that ever felt so totally complete. Everything just fits. Doom's rhymes, his voice, the beats, even the skits. I honestly feel that this album elevates rap into the realm of high art. Or at least that's how it felt back when it changed my life. After this, I could listen to each and every rap album with a more critical ear and allowed me to explore my deeper feelings about all rap.
I love many hip-hop albums and artists but these two particular works stand out for me. Changed my perception of music and therefore changed my life.