What's good in 2004-era hiphop?

August 12, 2004 1:20 AM

I'm not usually a big hip-hop fan, but a buddy's got me listening to Immortal Technique, and I'm really enjoying it. So my question is, what music do you people have that's like this stuff?
posted by Yelling At Nothing to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

Perhaps check out Thought Breakers. I also really dig on Jurassic 5.

They aren't very much like Immortal Technique, but you might like 'em. Besides, the comment count was lonely.
posted by sciurus at 8:10 AM on August 12, 2004

I really like Aceyalone and Aesop Rock.
posted by trbrts at 8:19 AM on August 12, 2004

I'm not familiar with Immortal Technique, but I've been getting back into underground hip-hop lately. This is a pretty good list (not mine) of interesting stuff, plus I would add Freestyle Fellowship, Organized Konfusion, Blackalicious, and Public Enemy off the top of my head.
posted by hyperizer at 8:48 AM on August 12, 2004

I like Blackalicious, Black Sheep, Kool Keith, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, KRS One, Tribe called Quest, the Roots.

Listen to www.wefunkradio.com and you'll hear all sorts of great stuff.
posted by sonofsamiam at 11:44 AM on August 12, 2004

Take a look at MF DOOM (AKA Viktor Vaughn, King Ghidorah), Madlib (AKA Quasimoto, ....), DJ Shadow, DJ Nu-Mark, Mr. Lif, Akrobatik, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Gang Starr, Jaylib, RJD2, Jean Grae, 7L & Esoteric, Beyonder, Sage Francis....

The list could go on...
posted by SweetJesus at 12:29 PM on August 12, 2004 [1 favorite]

Here's the Audioscrobbler similarity page for I.T.
posted by sixdifferentways at 12:45 PM on August 12, 2004

SweetJesus almost nailed them all. I'll second his nominations for: MF_DOOM (and aliases), RJD2, 7L & Esoteric, & Sage Francis. I have all the others as well, but i think those are the better ones of the list. I would also add Binary Star and Cunninglynguists although they may not be considered as so Underground, but i think you'll like em anyways.
posted by escher at 1:33 PM on August 12, 2004

Hieroglyphics (just balls-out good), the Roots (insturmentalists), Mos Def (poetry), Common (unique and catchy flow), Ugly Duckling (at times thoughtful, at times hilarious), De La Soul (fathers of the genre), Pharoh Monch (militant and intellectual), Talib Kweli (just hooky goodness), A Tribe Called Quest (the kings of college rap), Dr. Octagon (another innovator), Dilated Peoples (rootsy), Blackstar (consistent quality), and I give a big second to J5.

Also check out anything put out by Definitive Jux (headed by El-P, who is pretty good on the mic in his own right), who are to college rap/educated hip-hop/whatever you want to call it as Motown is to, well, motown. For more commercial sounding (but still good) underground/intelligent compilations, check out Rawkus Records.
posted by ChasFile at 1:50 PM on August 12, 2004

Dr. Octogon (Kool Keith) is a mad genius. I also like cLOUDDEAD, sole, Dose One, and,well, pretty much everything put out by the Anticon crew...

Mr. Lif on Def Jux is pretty good. Viktor Vaughn/MF Doom/King Geedorah too!
posted by crank at 4:02 PM on August 12, 2004

Love Aesop Rock, AWOL-1, Typical Cats, Rehab. Recently a group of us did a CD swap and I contributed a CD of my favorite hip hop poems. It included the aforementioned plus Kanye West, Sage Francis, Atmosphere, MC Ren, Eric B. and Rakim. I'd love to swap my mix for some of the groups listed above (I'm not a big Mos Def fan though, just doesn't appeal to me...)
posted by vito90 at 10:01 PM on August 12, 2004

Relevant previous AskMe thread...
posted by vito90 at 10:27 PM on August 12, 2004