Music

Old School Hip Hop

I grew up with hip-hop. So I was into (and still am) Run DMC, Eric B & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions / KRS-One, Public Enemy, EPMD, A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, De La Soul – just to name a select few.

Hip Hop barely had any radio time when I discovered it. But there were a few stations that would play it late on weekends, so I would stay up late and record my ass off. I had bags and bags of tapes. I would also spend what little allowance and lunch money I had on new albums, tapes, and later on: CDs.

Of all the types of music I've ever gotten into, Hip Hop has always had a big influence - there's always been something about it drawing me back in. But I'm really only talking about that sound from that magical era - 1985 through 2000. Sure there have been awesome artists and tracks since that time, but to me, those were the BIG years for Hip Hop.

I even got into making my own tracks which I go deeper into here.

Old School Funk, R&B, & Jazz

Because of Hip Hop, I started digging into where most of the samples came from, which pointed me into the direction of older Funk, R&B, and Jazz.

Groups and artists like Funkadelic, Parliament, and Bootsy......

Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Barry White, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding......

Grover Washington, Jr, Herbie Hancock, Roy Ayers......

Reggae

While I was growing up spending time getting my Hip Hop collection in order, we had some neighbors that moved into our apt building straight from Jamaica. And they blasted Roots Reggae every weekend.

All the neighborhood kids would be out playing, but more often than not, I'd stop and sit by their window, listening to something I never heard before and I was digging it. A LOT.

To this day, I still rock artists like Barrington Levy, Yellowman, just about all of the Marley's, Gregory Isaacs, Burning Spear, Alpha Blondy, Jimmy Cliff, Majek Fashek, Midnite....... There's just too many to list.

Alternative, Hard Rock, Grunge, and Metal

Late in high school, I started to open up to more genres like Alternative, Hard Rock, Grunge, and Metal.

I remember going through my uncle's record classic rock collection, and I made a mix tape of many different bands. But the band that really pulled me in, was Black Sabbath. Specifically tracks from their first 3 albums. I don't know what it was- maybe it was the hip hop head in me that really liked a lot of the funky grooves and drum work they had.

Then Nirvana's Nevermind album BLEW UP and then Grunge started to pull me in. Before I knew it, I was into bands like Tool, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Radiohead, Metallica, Megadeth, Type O Negative, Slayer, GWAR, Iron Maiden, Deftones and many, many, many others.

I got deep enough into these genres that I even joined up with a few rock/metel bands between 1998 and 2010.

Trip Hop, Jungle, Drum & Bass, Deep/Soulful House

When the 2000's rolled around, I still had a thirst for that old school hip hop sound – you know that boom bap sound with the chopped-up samples and scratchin. But for me, hip hop musically and lyrically took a turn for the worst around that time. At least the popular stuff. It completely changed to a whole different vibe.

So when the internet really started rolling and changing the music scene, a friend of mine introduced me to Trip Hop, Jungle, Drum & Bass and Deep/Soulful House (Shout out to the no longer online MonkeyRadio.org btw!!!).

Some of my favorites artists to this day are Portishead, Massive Attack, Bonobo, DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, Zero 7, Nightmares on Wax, Mr Scruff, Goldie, Roni Size, Photek, LTJ Bukem...

Misc

And there's a ton of other music I didn't even mention yet that I got into somewhere along the way like the original Van Halen with Diamond Dave, Motley Crew, ZZ Top, as well as other great classic rock stripper music lol... I also dig artists like Pink Floyd, NIN, Tori Amos, Depeche Mode, Enya.......

Lately I've been digging on Brothertiger. If you like chill music with an 80's vibe, you'll wanna check it out.