Rapology.org

I grew up on 60s and 70s rock, and have been on a quest to find hip hop tracks that sample classic rock.  I’ve assembled a small playlist, but can’t seem to find much.  One of my alltime favorites is the Grey album, which is a mesh of the Beatles White Album with Jay-Z’s Black Album. 

Of the songs I know, these are my favorites:

Rabbit Hole - Living Legends (Jefferson Airplane, White Rabbit)
Hip Hop Is Dead - Nas (Iron Butterfly, Inagaddadavida)
Public Service Announcement Jay-Z/Dangermouse (The Beatles, Long Long Long)

I’d love to hear from anyone who knows of more like this!

Many of you may know of Will.i.am from the Black Eyes Peas. Discovering that he produced my two favorite tracks on the new talib kweli album motivated me to do some research into his other work. You can download both of those tracks, Say Something and Hot Thing, from my Talib Kweli post on June 28th. His impressive portfolio also includes work with Nas, Common, Lupe Fiasco, John Legend, Macy Gray, Amerie and Rihanna. I’m saving the Nas track “hip hop is dead” for another post I’ve got in the works.

A Dream - common
Colors - common
Gotta Work - amerie
Save Room - john legend

I’ve been a fan of the Black Eyed Peas since Elephunk was released, and after listening to will.i.am’s other production work, I’ve realized how instrumental he has been in developing their sound. I’m in awe of his talent.

Some of my favorite Black Eyed Peas tracks:

Hands Up
Like That
Weekends

I was recently turned on to Ill Doctrine, a video blog by Jay Smooth. He’s very humorous and insightful in his crituque of hip hop culture. I highly recommend checking it out!

On the subject of videos, this is hilarious.

There is more hip hop on the way soon.  I’ve got a post about the Beatnuts, one of my favorite artists, in the cue for you!