Alternative Rap Essentials

Apple Music Hip-Hop/Rap

Editors’ Notes In hip-hop, what’s considered “alternative” is often dependent on geography and era. Back in the early ‘90s, as the rap airwaves were taken over by smooth ladies' men in stylish suits (with the glossy production to match), East Coast crews like De La Soul and Digable Planets were distinguished by both the lack of gold jewelry around their necks and a sonically dense sound that incorporated breezy horns and reverberating basslines plucked straight from the instrument itself. Meanwhile, on the West Coast, groups like The Pharcyde and Souls of Mischief provided a cerebral counterpoint to party-pumping gangsta rap, by rhyming about emotional complexities and social anxieties over jazz and funk samples. But alternative rap is also a forum for artists to experiment with persona: Del Tha Funkee Homosapien adopted the sci-fi alter ego Deltron 3030, while Madvillain’s MF DOOM became one of rap’s most revered MCs by posing as a comic-book anti-hero.
Madvillain, Madlib, MF DOOM
Madvillainy
2:10
 
J Dilla
Donuts
2:57
 
Earl Sweatshirt
Doris
4:03
 
Aesop Rock
None Shall Pass (Bonus Track Version)
4:03
 
Open Mike Eagle
Dark Comedy
3:31
 
A Tribe Called Quest
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (25th Anniversary Edition)
4:11
 
The Pharcyde
Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
5:03
 
Black Sheep
A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing
4:19
 
The Roots
Illadelph Halflife
5:57
 
Mos Def
Black on Both Sides
3:43
 
Beastie Boys
Check Your Head (Deluxe Version) [Remastered]
4:16
 
Run The Jewels
RTJ4
3:01
 
De La Soul
The Grind Date
3:05
 
Common
Like Water For Chocolate
4:21
 
Souls of Mischief
93 'til Infinity
4:46
 
Jurassic 5
Quality Control
4:48
 
Fugees
The Score
4:20
 
Tierra Whack
Whack World
1:00
 
Kid Cudi
Man On the Moon: The End of Day (Expanded Version)
4:55
 
Tyler, The Creator
Cherry Bomb + Instrumentals
3:09
 
Joey Bada$$
1999
3:22
 
JPEGMAFIA
Veteran
2:37
 
Shabazz Palaces
Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star
2:41
 
Rapsody
Laila’s Wisdom
5:34
 
MIKE
tears of joy
1:44
 
Lupe Fiasco
Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor
4:15
 
Vince Staples
Summertime '06
3:03
 
Freddie Gibbs, Madlib
Piñata
3:46
 
Billy Woods, Kenny Segal
Hiding Places
3:52
 
Mac Miller
Watching Movies with the Sound Off (Deluxe Edition)
3:40
 
Run The Jewels
Run the Jewels 2
2:32
 
MF DOOM
Operation: Doomsday (Complete)
4:18
 
Aesop Rock
Labor Days
4:26
 
Kool Keith
Matthew
3:03
 
J-Live
The Early Works of J-Live
3:12
 
Dilated Peoples
Expansion Team
3:36
 
Black Star
Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star
5:46
 
Cannibal Ox
The Cold Vein (Deluxe Edition)
4:27
 
Mr. Lif
I Phantom
3:58
 
Dead Prez
Let's Get Free
3:34
 
Aceyalone
Magnificent City
5:29
 
Latyrx
SoleSides Greatest Bumps
3:38
 
Atmosphere
Seven's Travels (10 Year Anniversary Edition)
4:17
 
Quasimoto
The Unseen
3:14
 
Cypress Hill
Black Sunday
3:28
 
A Tribe Called Quest
Midnight Marauders
3:46
 
Teenage Fanclub, De La Soul
Judgment Night (Music from the Motion Picture)
4:25
 
Jungle Brothers
Straight Out the Jungle
4:38
 
Ultramagnetic MC's
Critical Beatdown
5:26
 
Guru
Jazzmatazz, Vol.1
4:39
 
Digable Planets
Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)
4:21
 
Spearhead
Home
5:09
 
The Pharcyde
Labcabincalifornia
5:36
 
The Roots, Erykah Badu
Things Fall Apart
4:19
 
Queen Latifah, Monie Love
All Hail the Queen
3:58
 
Beastie Boys
Ill Communication (Deluxe Version) [Remastered]
3:19
 
Freestyle Fellowship
To Whom It May Concern
4:33
 
People Under the Stairs
O.S.T.
4:55
 
Madvillain, Madlib, MF DOOM
Madvillainy
1:58
 
EL-P
Fantastic Damage
3:47
 
Danny Brown
Atrocity Exhibition
2:57
 
clipping.
CLPPNG
3:43
 
Busdriver
Temporary Forever
3:15
 
2Mex
B-Boys In Occupied Mexico
3:57
 
Murs
Murs for President
4:08
 
Joey Bada$$
1999
3:31
 
Earl Sweatshirt
Doris
4:37
 
Little Brother featuring Joe Scudda
The Minstrel Show
3:51
 
Fashawn
Boy Meets World
5:13
 
Black Milk
Tronic
4:55
 
Pharoahe Monch
Desire
2:52
 
Cunninlynguists
Will Rap for Food (Deluxe Edition)
2:27
 
Del Tha Funkee Homosapien
No Need for Alarm
3:46
 
Black Star
Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star
3:26
 
Kidz In the Hall
The In Crowd
4:03
 
The Coup
Pick a Bigger Weapon
4:35
 
Jean Grae, Quelle Chris
Everything's Fine
4:42
 
Camp Lo
Uptown Saturday Night
4:00
 
Arrested Development
3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days In the Life Of...
4:32
 
Jurassic 5
Power In Numbers
3:08
 
Dr. Octagon
The Man from Mo’ Wax (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
3:21
 
Eyedea & Abilities
First Born
3:50
 
The Roots
Phrenology
4:27
 
De La Soul
À nous Paris 2017
4:39
 
A Tribe Called Quest
The Low End Theory
3:36
 
Common
Resurrection
4:38
 
Saba
CARE FOR ME
2:42
 
Logic
Under Pressure (Deluxe Version)
3:38
 
Childish Gambino
This Is America - Single
3:45
 
Black Eyed Peas
Behind the Front
3:35
 
Talib Kweli
Quality
3:47
 
MF DOOM
Operation: Doomsday (Complete)
3:16
 
Jaylib, J Dilla, Madlib
Champion Sound
3:22
 
Nujabes
Modal Soul
2:55
 
Edan
Beauty And The Beat
2:55
 
Divine Styler
Spiral Walls Containing Autumns of Light
5:42
 
Sage Francis
Personal Journals
2:21
 
Blu & Exile
Below the Heavens
4:25
 
98 SONGS, 6 HOURS, 21 MINUTES

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