Houblon de Hanche

While almost all Americans stick with home-brewed hip hop, they're missing out on a large, untapped reservoir of foreign made music. One of France's premier hip hop instrumentalists is DJ Cam, who began recording jazzy downtempo music in the mid-nineties. His major label debut, The Beat Assassinated is a fusion of minimalist and dub reggae vibes combined with east coast, sample-driven production featuring guest vocals from dubber Otis and NY rap group Channel Live.


Broadcasting Live (featuring Channel Live)
L'invasion (feat. Dadou from KDD)

Swing It Babees

When House of Pain ruled the singles chart with "Jump Around", Da Bush Babees snuck in through the back door and generated buzz with their own anthem, "Swing It". This NY trio consisted of Jamaican refugees Kaos, Mister Man and toaster Y-Tee. These guys featured some of the who's-who of producers on their debut album Ambushed including Jermaine Dupri and A Tribe Called Quest's Ali Shaheed.

One of my favorite hip hop cuts of all time, "We Run Things" evokes a nostalgic feeling of the days when hip hop stressed realness over sales every time I hear it.

Swing It
Just Can't Stand It
We Run Things (It's Like Dat)

A pair of Juggaknots

Another amazing duo who entered the hip hop game at the wrong time, Bronx producer Buddy Slim and emcee Breezy Brewin' make up the Juggaknots. After being put on the shelf by Elektra, they eventually released Clear Blue Skies EP on Fondle'Em Records back in 1996 which was criminally overlooked. This is a beefed up re-release of album featuring a bunch of new songs and remixes. They have a moody style similiar to their independent counterparts Company Flow and Darc Mind.

Take two No-Doz and don't sleep.

Trouble Man
Clear Blue Skies

You Blockhead!

Aesop Rock's producer Blockhead crafted this beauty of an album in 2004 showing off his composition skills. Straight outta Manhattan, Block utilizes obscure string samples and old drum breaks to create a melancholy orchestration. It's inevitable that I compare him to RJD2 and DJ Shadow since there are so very few instrumental hip hop artists that garner as much attention as them, but he has an ear for melodies and harmonies that few possess. This is one of my favorite chill albums, especially on a rainy day or a dreary winter night.

Enjoy.

You've Got Maelstrom
Sunday Seance
Insomniac Olympics

It's like dat...huh? Ya know!

This was a re-release of producer Jay Dee's (AKA J Dilla, R.I.P.) first successful group consisting of emcees T3 and Baatin. Originally released in 1996, it was a small sample to what would become the Detroit sound.

(Little known fact: The cut 'Players' was a battle song aimed at Eminem's posse D12)

The Look of Love
Players

Our Ghetto Pop Lives

Before Dangermouse blew up on the pop scene, he made a fantastic album with NY rapper Jemini the Gifted One. Jemini suffered the disappointment that so many up and coming emcees face in the mid-nineties after the deaths of 2Pac and Biggie, having his debut album shelved by the record companies who wanted more dumbed down, gangster-image dance records.

But as luck would have it, London-based producer Dangermouse was a fan of his work and contacted Jemini to show him some of his beats and offered to collaborate on a project. Their product was one of the best throw back albums of the 2000 era. Jemini features a high pitched voice with infectious hooks while Dangermouse layers the grittiest, chopped up drum breaks over lush, orchestrated samples.

Ghetto Pop Life
Medieval ft The Pharcyde

Diggin' up an Artifact

Although graffiti is one of the four elements of hip hop, it always tends to be at the bottom of the list of rapper's song topics just below "party joint" and "chicken heads".

Enter the Artifacts, a dynamic group who wrote THE definitive hit song about getting up in the brick city. Hailing from New Jersey, Emcees El da Sensai and Tame One have unique styles that reflect off their affiliates EPMD and Redman (who also produced half the album), carving their own niche in hip hop's golden age. Their debut album, Between a Rock and a Hard Place is littered with heavy drum loops, dissonant jazz samples and complex rhyming verses.

Wrong Side of da Tracks
Whayback