The Tape

My 20 Favorite Hip-Hop Albums EVER! #16

Written by willshoob on Friday, 10 of October , 2008 at 9:04 pm

As some of you may know by now, I’m in the process of counting down my 20 favorite hip-hop albums of all time. Cam’ron’s Purple Haze came in at #17. Remember that I grew up on late 90’s and early 00’s music, so my hip-hop views are probably a lot more modern than a lot of “old school” hip-hop fans.

Anyways, coming in at #16 we have Rhymefest’s Blue Collar. Rhymefest is another great Chicago rapper who is known for his lyrics as opposed to his street “cred.” Rhymefest is signed to Mark Ronson’s record label, and he was also the co-writer of Kanye West’s “Jesus Walks.” Blue Collar is Rhymefest’s first and only album, although he has said that he is releasing an album in 2009 entitled El Che.

We start on the second track with “Dynomite (Going Postal).” Just Blaze is really good at making beats. He created one of my favorite beats ever in Juelz Santana’s “The Second Coming” which is featured in that super cool Nike commercial. Anyways, Just Blaze creates a perfect beat with a nice horn line to compliment Rhymefest’s voice. I might be the only one, but I feel like Rhymefest’s lisp makes his voice more interesting.

Highlight of the song:
Open my palm bitch, I got the world in my hand
Got a gun and a plan, I got the Torah and the Qu’ran
I got your toddler in the back of a van
I got a hostage and a list of demands

Rhymefest- Dynomite (Going Postal)

Skip two songs, and we arrive at “All I Do.” This is one of my favorite songs on the album. It starts out as a story , which I always enjoy more than someone talking about how good they are, or how many cars they have.

Highlight of the song:
You can take the boy outta slum, can’t take slum outta son
I should be lynched, I’m so high-strung
At 15 my mother tried to have me aborted
You gotta kill us both doc, I’m not the only one
It’s a package deal, comin’ up like a pack of rats
Fightin’ over scraps, the streets is ill

Rhymefest- All I Do

Skip three more, and we arrive at my favorite song of the album, “Devil’s Pie.” This features an amazing beat, which is The Strokes’ “Someday” all chopped up. This song is just about the struggles of a blue collar worker, hence the name of the album.

Highlight of the song:
My wife is nauseous, she pregnant as hell
My mistress on the cell saying she gon’ tell
My Uncle in the cell saying he want bail
My granddaddy can’t see, claiming he need Braille
I’m fighting for strength, in the street grinding for cents
I know I’m ahead of my time but I’m behind on my rent

Rhymefest- Devil’s Pie

Up next we have “Bullet”, which is two songs later and features Citizen Cope. I am not a huge Citizen Cope fan, but they wrote a catchy hook for this song, and they have that really catchy song that just uses words that end in -tion. I’m pretty sure this is an actual Citizen Cope sample, but I could be completely making that up.

Highlight of the song:
He got approached in the mall by the army recruit
Told him “If you wanna go to school we got money too,
Sign up at eighteen you be you when you twenty-two”
He joined the army airborne got his uniform went to boot camp got some
discipline Iraq is where they shipped him
He’s in the mission where bullets flying and missing him
Wishing he was a kid again with his family in Michigan
In the midst of fighting militiamen, one round took down six of them
He ain’t really a killa though, taking a lot of risks
This is what a poor person do for a scholarship

Rhymefest- Bullet (Feat. Citizen Cope)

The very next song is “Tell A Story.” “Tell A Story” features the sample that goes “La la, la la la.” It’s hard to describe, just listen to it and you’ll understand. I absolutely love this song.

Highlight of the song:
This is starting to get old
Got me feeling like whales in a fishbowl
In the city where summers can get cold
Bring yo army and Hummers gon’ get stole
Everybody & they momma got bad credit
It don’t matter, we ball like we athletic

Rhymefest- Tell A Story

Now we arrive on the last track, “Build Me Up” featuring the late, great, O.D.B. O.D.B. belts out a fantastic chorus over the song “Build Me Up Buttercup.” If any song really makes me think about the tragic death of Ol’ Dirty Bastard, it is definitely this song.

Highlight of the song:
Ook McGirt, I don’t wanna trouble ya
But this chick on my block, I’m in love with her
I wanna get up in her Bush like Dubya
Trying to get up in her Bush like Dubya
So write me back, let me know
How I’m ’sposed to hit it when I got no dough
How I’m ’sposed to spit it when I got no flow
Shimmy shimmy yay, shimmy ya, shimmy yo

Rhymefest- Build Me Up (Feat. O.D.B.)

Category: Miscellaneous

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