I'm craving some good rap and I need recommendations. No Nellyesque garbage, please. I'd like to hear more stuff from The Roots, Notorious, Jay-Z, and whoever else would be good. Essentials, non-essentials-but-fun, old school or whatever I might enjoy.
Jay-Z has almost unlimited remix potential, scarily enough--Grey Album, Collision Course, and even Jay-Z vs. Radiohead -99 Anthems are pretty damn good. As for hip-hop I'd recommend (with prerequisite images)
Dan the Automator is an asshole. Though Dr. Octagonocolygist rocks a lot... mostly 'cos it's Kool Keith, and Kool Keith fucking rules. "Shootin' jism, she ride like a Geo Prizm / I'm outta Cali, San Bernardino Valley." Though I will say comparing The Grey Album to that pap smear which is Collision Course is a tragedy.
The Game record is way way way better than it should be, it's been spinning in my stereo for weeks and weeks and weeks.
Muzappers EP
Jeru the Damaja - The Sun Rises In the East
1200 Hobos - Tapes, Skills, and Technics / Mr Dibbs - Turntable Scientifics
MC Ren - Kizz My Black Azz EP
That Turntable Scientifics mixtape is one of my favorites of all time. I still have the original that i bought directly from mr. dibbs himself, when he and his 1200 Hobos crew were trying to make a name for themselves out of Ohio. The tape was passed around (and held on to) by so many of friends that I ended up just making copies of it for whoever would ask for it. Good times
Emergency Rations EP > I Phantom
Further I can throw down a big list of rappers, producers and albums here, but since I'm lazy and all that surf down a couple of websites, read some reviews and do some research yourself.
My favourite rap albums of all time are the following (keep in mind I prefer the West Coast brand of rap with clean production and minimal sampling (and sometimes lacking lyrical content) that was prevalent in the mid 90s:
-Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - "E. 1999 Eternal"
-Above the Law - "Time Will Reveal"
-Mac Mall - "Illegal Business?"
-MC Eiht - "We Come Strapped" or maybe "Death Threatz"
-Jayo Felony - "Take a Ride"
-Blac Monks - "Secrets of the Hidden Temple"
-Havoc and Prodeje - "Kickin' Game"
-Spice 1 - either "187 He Wrote", "Amerikkka's Nightmare" or "1990-Sick"
Foreign Exchange - Connected
Little Brother - The Listening
Public Enemy - Fear of A Black Planet
Foreign Exchange is the Little Brother people, except with production by Dutch producer Nicolay. They're similar to The Roots. If you want something a little heavier, check out Public Enemy.