Mos Def & Talib Kweli - Black Star
Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Eric B. & Rakim - Paid in Full
A Tribe Called Quest - Low End Theory
EPMD - Strictly Business

Outside of the rap phase I had in high school (which was mostly mid-90s west coast g-funk stuff), I haven't really explored the genre. I wanted to get some advice on my five choices before I hit the checkout button. Any I should substitute, or perhaps suggestions on where to go after this?

Thanks.

Can't really go wrong with any of those. I'd personally choose Follow The Leader over Paid In Full but you can get that afterwards if you enjoy the debut. Not really sure if any other EPMD albums are essential. If you can find them for cheap I'd grab the next 3, otherwise you can probably do without. Going back to ATCQ's debut might be kind of weird after Low End Theory as it's more of a mellow album but I still enjoy it a lot. As far as Wu-tang goes, I'd move onto some of their solo albums after that one (Method Man, Raekwon, GZA, Ghostface) rather than their group albums.

i prefer Mos Def's solo debut over Black Star, but I wouldn't sway anyone from giving it a try because a lot of people love it.

the Black Star hasn't aged all that well with me, and I agree with Shiv about EPMD not being essential, but there are still 3-4 really good albums to be had out of them.

There's so many directions to head from there, maybe the Quannum stuff or any Roots album outside of Phrenology or Tipping Point, or something like that.

I think we can all give you completely different suggestions or even agree on some, but it largely depends on what speaks to you from the albums you hear. It never hurts to browse some stuff you never would've thought to give a shot.

looks like a decent start. Agree with shiv that delving into some of the Wu solo albums is a good idea.

Liquid Swords - Gza
Ironman - Ghostface
Only Built For Cuban Linx - Raekwon
Tical - Method Man
Return to the 36 Chambers - Old Dirty Bastard

If you like what you hear from Black Star, check out: Talib Kweli and Hi Tek- Reflection Eternal

man, how did i forget odb?

Yeah, The Black Star album never really did much for me either.

For me i think you may want to look into:

Gang Starr - Daily Operation
Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst
De La Soul - 3ft High and Rising
Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein
Geto Boys - We Can't Be Stopped
Kool G Rap & Polo - Road to Riches
Nas - Illmatic
Black Sheep - A Wolf in Sheeps Clothing

I ended up DLing most of these instead so I've listened to 4/5 of them already.

Black Star, yeah, I'm with you guys, wasn't super crazy about this one. I liked it enough to want to hear Mos Def's solo debut, though.

Favorite so far has been Wu-Tang. It really blows my mind why I didn't listen to these guys back in the day. Should I just go onto solo records from here on out, or are there any other

Close second favorite was Low End Theory.

I went with Follow the Leader on shiv's suggestion, also enjoyed that one quite a bit. Paid in Full will be next.

Haven't heard EMPD yet.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

i'd go with the solo albums paper mentioned above first. none of their other group albums are as focused as their debut, though there is some good stuff to be found on them.

Go

Cuban Linx first then
Liquid Swords

Not a huge fan of Ironman (listened to this yesterday and like it a bit more than i orginally thought), Tical is OK and ODB is 1/3 Genius and 2/3 ok.

I love the second album, but yeah, it really shouldn't be two discs.

due to a quirk in my computer I could only listen to disk 2 for a full summer i think the second disk works on it's on as a near perfect album, and the first disk is really solid as well. Of course it could be whittled down, but i think it's consistency is pretty remarkable.

Ironman and Cuban Linx are the best of the best of the solo joints. I love Tical and Liquid Swords as well, but they're like another end of the spectrum.

You might peep that first Mobb Deep album if you like Wu and Nas...

I would also recommend the first 3-4 Ice Cube solo albums.

The NAS recommendation was a good one... Queuing that one up now actually

i want more updates on what you like and don't like

Haven't listened to much hip-hop since this thread, but I have managed to check out Nas - Illmatic, Mos Def - Black on Both Sides, Gza - Liquid Swords and ODB - Return to 36 Chambers. All of which I enjoyed.