What Makes a Hip-Hop Classic?

Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor changed my life for the better. I listened to it so much I probably can't fully allow myself to enjoy it like I should. For a period of time in my life, I was lost in the universe Lupe created with this body of music. I would listen to it and search for slang terms I didn't understand. I used the knowledge collected from studying these albums in real life situations. I was depressed and going through some crazy moments in my personal life, and this music taught me a thing or two about the world. This is the beauty of a great hip-hop album. This is the type of music that educates you, energizes your mind, and speaks on violence, sex and drugs, all at once. Anything can happen at any given moment and it feels so much like a movie you don't want to stop listening.

The actual ingredients of a classic hip-hop album are debatable but the formula is consistent. Be yourself and push the rock as far as you possibly push it. I'm sitting here nodding off as I type this but I don't want to stop listening to music. It sounds so good to me and my ears are begging for more. I can name a thousand classic albums that have changed my life. I'm sitting here flashing back to memories of running to the record store and running back home to the basement and going straight to the CD player in search of some privacy. I needed to be alone with the music. Master P released an album entitled Ghetto Dope that had the same effect on me. The first time I heard Slum Village the same feeling struck me. Brotha Lynch Hung, Twista, Big L, Fiend, the same science applies. I spent summers and winters listening to these guys. I dove as deep into the music as I could and didn't want to come out. I remember when Eminem released his second album. I sat at my computer in silence when I finished listening to the Marshall Mathers LP, and I knew I had just heard a body of music that was destined to change the world. These memories are important to me and will forever mean something to me.

I wanted to be in a position to allow the music to speak directly to me. These are the aftershocks of music on this level of creativity. It changes what we thought we previously knew about the genre. We find ourselves defending these songs in arguments at barbershops. We judge our friends and family according to their opinions concerning certain albums. If you don't like Makaveli's 7 day Theory I more than likely won't get along with you. If you don't think Outkast's Stankonia is a classic then there is really no point in us knowing each other. We're two different kinds of people and our world views are too different for me to personally ignore. In the process of writing this column, I was reminded that, as Tef Poe, everything I do begins with the music. I don't have off days or moments that allow me to beg for mercy from the general public.

While I'm sitting here on the computer typing someone somewhere in the world is preparing what may be the next big classic hip-hop album. The cycle never stops and this in general is how hip-hop works. The number one rule is keep anything dope, fresh, and respectable alive for as long possible. So with this said I have no shame in listening to rap albums that come from nearly two decades ago. I embrace the memories these bodies of music gifted me. Some good, some bad, and ugly yet they are my memories and the music played a large role in the process. It all starts with the music hence that's the very reason we are even here today.

*Picks of the week Yelawolf "Heart of Dixie" Rockwell Knuckles "Helmet" (single) Rob Gullate "ATP" M-Eazy "Light Cheese"