#14 Big Punisher - Capital Punishment (1998)



I first heard Big Pun on "Not a player". I thought he was nice but nothing more so I never checked the album at the time. Some time later I heard a local mc claiming Pun was the best ever and I didn't understand why someone would claim that but I decided to check out the album. I don't agree with the statment that he was the best ever but I understood why someone would actually claim that. Almost every track is basically "goosebump-good" and with lyrics like "Dead in the middle of Little Italy little did we know that we riddled some middleman who didn't do diddily" over one of the most beat-wise complete rap albums, I have nothing but long lasting love for this hip hop masterpiece.









#13 Kult - Spokojnie (1988)



When i was a little kid I was heavy into all types of rock music. Once I found hip hop I basically forgot about rock music for a good 10 years! This album is what brought me back. It also showed me the beauty of more melodic rock and was perhaps the first rock album I liked which wasn't hard. On top of that, since I'm half polish, it also had a big role in opening my ears to other great music from Poland, something I had been very sceptical towards throughtout my life until that point.









#12 Curtis Mayfield - Curtis (1970)



The positivity floating throught the music on this album is something else! Whenever some shit is going on in you life, this album will make you feel better for the time being and if you let Curtis' voice inside your head it will even help you fight your problems with greater power, which I'm sure was one of mr. Mayfield's intentions in the making of this album.

Top notch post man, well thought out.
You are dropping the heat right now, serious selections.

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“Lesser artists borrow... great artists steal.” - Igor Stravinsky
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^^ agreed .. GMM this must've been on your mind for a minute . Very interesting selections . I didn't expect to see the Kult joint . I also didn't expect to see Pun either , but can fully understand why it's there . When I met my wife , I remember her having a Pun cd in her car and me being like you and just dismissing him at first I wondered why she would keep it in the ride . One day I threw it in and was amazed . Dude was dope and I felt like a sucker for sleeping on him for so long .

Quote
jaybrown
^^ agreed .. GMM this must've been on your mind for a minute . Very interesting selections . I didn't expect to see the Kult joint . I also didn't expect to see Pun either , but can fully understand why it's there . When I met my wife , I remember her having a Pun cd in her car and me being like you and just dismissing him at first I wondered why she would keep it in the ride . One day I threw it in and was amazed . Dude was dope and I felt like a sucker for sleeping on him for so long .

It's comforting knowing I wasn't the only one sleeping on Pun. I did put a lot of thought into my list so I'm glad it shows. I hope you guys are already working on yours!

On with the program...

#11 Kaliber 44 - Tajemnicza Ksiega: Prolog (1996)



The reason why I love this album is probably the hardest one to describe. Kaliber 44 are basically the only non-enligsh speaking rap group I like. What's so great about this album? Well it has one of the most unique and original sounds both in production and in rap style. Judge for yourself below and don't worry about not understanding. It took me a few months to make out what the hell they were yelling anyway. The subject madder is very diverse with basically a different subject for each song. It has come to my attention that I like this album more than most fans of this group, most people don't hear what I hear. I guess I got into it at a point in my life where this made a much bigger impact on me that it would have a few years later or earlier.

The video is a cut together of 3 different songs






#10 Boogie Down Productions- Criminal Minded (1987)



This album is what got me stuck in the golden era for years and years. I played this so much this is probably the only album I've ever known every single lyric to. This album is what got me into hip hop as a culture, not just the music. It was the heaviest album I had every heard and it wasn't even that heavy-sounding. KRS's hard hitting lyrics slapped me up and told to sit down and learn everything I could about hip hop.







#9 EPMD - Strictly Business (1988)



Not only was this my absolute favortie album for close to 10 years but this album was also solely responsible for me to go out seek out the samples used in all my hip hop records. What a world it opened! And all because of how well they used their samples, it's so laidback, it's so funky it's jus so damn good all the way through. I think about 8 of the 10 tracks were my favrotie song on the album at one point or another.







#8 Goodie Mob - Soul food (1995)



The first couple of times I heard this album I hthought it was ok but nothing really special but one day I decided to really listen to it. Turned of the lights, sat on the couch, closed my eyes and just listened. It was a whole other album! The contemplations of life, society, death, love and every thing else hit me harder and deeper than perhaps in any other album. This is really Soul Food!








A lot of hip hop in this post but only 2 rap albums in the top 7...

# 7 James Brown - Sex machine (1970)



I am a bit of a James Brown fanatic and this is, in my opinion, his greatest album. You get both some very funky studio recordings including one of his absolute most important and best song in "Give it up or turn it a loose" alongside a superb live recording. The best of both worlds, or should I say three, 'cuase it also has some great soul renditions alongside the furios funk. This album has basically everything I love about James and after some concideration, I would name James my favorite artist of all time.







# 6 Siekiera - Nowa Aleksandria (1986)



I had heard of this album for a while so when I saw it in a record store very cheap I figured I'd give it a try. About a minute in to the first song I was already tripping. I had no idea there was such high quality new wave/post punk out there. I thought to myself "If the rest of the album is anything even close to this first song, this is gonna be amazing". By the end I realised that the first song was perhaps my least favorite on the entire album. It was the only thing I could listen to for over a month. There is almost no hi-hat throughout the album, heavy drums and melodic base. I got into this album at a time when me and my wife had finally gotten our own appartment and I spent many evenings just jumping around the livingroom along with my two-year-old, who also loved this album at the time. Happy times and great music!









# 5 Marvin Gaye - What's going on



There was a time in my life when I really needed to mellow down a bit. I decided to try and listen to some soul. I figured I'd start with the most obvious recordings. I listened to this album once and I've been hooked on soul ever since. There was a time when I would play this album from start to end on a daily basis just laying in the couch and lettnig Marvin's smooth voice carry me along fluffy clouds looking down on all the daily problems. Still nothing beats this album when coming home from a hard days work, just laying back and let Marvin's voice carry you away.









# 4 Dark Sun Riders feat Brother J - Seeds of evolution



This was definately not one of my first picks when I tryed to make this list, it is the biggest surprise to me on here. The reason It got on the list and even this high is for the share effect it has on my thoughtprocess and imagination. Not only does Brother J make you question certain norms and view life and society from a different angle, with his unique usage of metaphores he also sparks myimagination as a whole and makes me realise I'm not using my brain as well as I should. Along all this we have some heavy drums anddope nod-friendly songs intertwined with skits that are essential to the album concept instead of being annoying breaks between songs.