Rap it up

Like any male suburbanite kid growing up in the late 80’s I was stuck with two different musical genres to get behind. Either line up in the hair band metal crap or rap music. I picked rap music. Sure, I got ridiculed as most of my classmates and friends all went out and bought Slippery When Wet and Theater of Pain with reckless abandon. Me, I spent my senior year wearing out my cassette tape of Run DMC’s Raising Hell. By the time I hit Moraine my rap days were over but I still have a soft spot for the genre. I am in no ways an expert but, anyway here are my top 10 rap songs. These may not be the greatest rap tunes of all time, but more of a list of ten jams that get my pasty poser Italian ass moving. Also, I limited this to one song per artist.

1. 911 is a Joke, Public Enemy – For my money PE was the best rap act of all time. Chuck D is a prophet and spoke through his words like few in the genre can even dream about. With that said it is a Flav song I dig the most. I don’t care where I am, at home, at a bar, at work, if I hear this song I start grooving to it.

2. Straight out of Compton, NWA –Man is this a good fucking song. NWA were the first gangsta rappers and invented a much copied genre. This and Fuck the Police are the quintessential NWA jams. I was first introduced to this one by a friend in the late 80’s and never looked back. Cube, Eazy E and MC Ren kick some major ass on this one.

3. Gin and Juice, Snoop Dogg – I have a huge soft spot for this entire record. I must have listened to it a million times in my 92 Corolla. Gin and Juice is my favorite track on the record. Sure G’s and Hustla’s also rocks but there is something about this one.

4. Tougher then Leather – While I think overall Raising Hell is the better record, for my money the best tune Run DMC ever crafted was Tougher then Leather. Run DMC was responsible for me getting into rap in the first place. The threesome was a softer more innocent rapping act. Before the Cube’s And Dr. Dre’s of the world Jam Master Jay, DJ Run and D.M.C. created the most addictive rap music of the 80’s. This song should have been bigger, give it a listen and I guarantee even if you aren’t a rap fan you will dig it.

5. It was a Good Day, Ice Cube – Some of the best lyrics and rhymes of all time. My favorite is still, “Even saw the lights of the Goodyear blimp, and it read Ice Cube’s a pimp.” This was Cube somewhere between his N.W.A. past and his Are We There Yet future.

6. Colors, Ice T – The theme song to the 1988 film is a jam. Before Ice T was playing a cop on Law and Order SVU he was a pretty good rap artist. In the summer of 88, I was playing this tape a lot and this tune in particular. I am also the one remaining fan of Ice T’s metal band Bodycount.

7. Mama Said Knock you out, LL Cool J – Any white boy in the burbs that tells you they didn’t like this song is simply lying. I’m sorry you have to try to not enjoy this song. LL Cool J was never one of my favorites but this is his “Goodfella’s.”

8. No Sleep Til Brooklyn, The Beastie Boys – I know what you are going to say. They have grown so much since License to Ill why would you pick something off of that record? Well, what can I say, I still love this song. I really love where the Boys music went and evolved. I love Paul’s Boutique and Check Your Head. Still, I always go back to their first record and this jam.

9. Rapper’s Delight, The Sugarhill Gang – The O.G. Rap song. How could I not include it. Still has an infectious groove and all these years later I still think I know most of the words to it.

10. Jump Around, House of Pain – I know it is lame, but I like this one. HOP only really had one album that anyone paid any attention to. This song is impossible not to enjoy. It always brings me back to some random party in the mid 90’s at our friend’s house in Oak Lawn. The house is now known as the “House of Pain” simply because of Keith’s (a friend who lived in the house) love of this record.