Guess Oprah's Monday sports guest ...

One more thing: Also, some rappers evolve in their music. Some of them will admit that, in the beginning, they rapped about a lot of salicious stuff to get paid. And once they did, they changed up. I think this is what happened to Jay Z and Nas, who I would also recommend.

And if you're looking for specific albums, my faves:

Mos Def -- Black on Both Sides
De La Soul -- Stakes Is High
Jill Scott isn't hip hop, she's an R & B artist, but buy any of her albums
The Roots -- all of their albums
Rakim -- everything


I'd also put Ice Cube on the list. Yes, he's made some questionable stuff, but he's also made some really good music. To be honest, most rappers represent the conflicts we all have as people. Tupac rapped about Thug Passion and really dumb things, but he also wrote really strong, moving, stuff like "Wonder Why They Call You B***h (which isn't exactly what it sounds like) and "Dear Mama" or "Lift Your Head Up."

 

What you are also getting is more of a blend with R&B type music which is a nice combination. I like Akon's work with Gwen Stefani.

Let's all agree though that Blondie really created the rap catigory in the early 80's

 

Ahhh, Dear Mama(in my opinion, probably the greatest song of all time) and Lift Your Head Up(in the top 5).

 

Jemele, excellently made points. Have you heard Chris Rock's routine on women clubbers and rap music? Covers some of the same ground.

 

Most of sohh hates todays hip hop.

If you bring up Mims, Jim Jones in their you'll get laughed off that board

 

Russell Simmons is a fukkin clown.

Rather than promoting MC's that actually address those issues, he pushes MC's that embody its failures.

And his faux concern fighting against the Rockerfeller drug laws is utter crap.

When he orchestrated the protest rally against it at city hall in NYC, the Def Jam Street team showed up to promote Jadakiss.

Oh the irony.....

 

You want to tell the folks why Big Chee.

 

Jemelle, this is really superb analysis. It's particularly cogent coming from a black woman. Your line of reasoning makes a lot of folks who bash you here look look foolish. Keep up the great work. And no, I don't know you, never met you. But I like to hear smart thoughts. Why the hell weren't you on Oprah? Best.

 

Big Chee, welcome back. We're going to get you on the right side of history before too long.

 

SOHH? Sons Of Hejira Henry? Is that like Sons of Sam Horn?

 

Clubber: Thanks

M Gee: Is that the Chris Rock routine where he talks about his job as a Daddy is to keep his little girl off the pole?

hockeydaze: Thx, too.

Can't remember who said to add Public Enemy to the list, but I couldn't agree more. Actually, "Burn Hollywood, Burn" was one of my favorite songs. And although, it was talking about hip hop, a lot of what Chuck D said in that could be applied to this. Speaking of which...Chuck D would have made a great panelist.

 

That would be me. And Jemele, you're right, Chuck D would have made a great panelist. I was disappointed to see Oprah go the conservative route with hip-hop's panel reps.

But like she told Ludacris and Ice Cube in so many words, it's her show, she will do what she wants.

And just in case I failed to mention it before, great post on the previous page.