January 2019 Hip-Hop Mix
At a young age, my roots were watered by hip hop music and, as a result, I grew in knowledge and perspective. I had a paper route as a teenager and went door to door with Ice Cube blaring through my Walkman. Ice T taught me about “Colors” and N.W.A. showed me that you could do much more with an “Automobile” than just drive it. I could spit out all of Chuck D’s lyrics and, along the way, learned about this country’s history of racial injustice. I took rap music with me wherever I went in high school. My buddy, Chris Fuller, and I would drive around Waterloo, Iowa, in his pickup truck with EPMD on full blast. We kicked the “Crossover” so many times. My cassette tape case was overstuffed with Paris, Slick Rick and Wu Tang Clan albums. I was so down with O.P.P., considered myself a “freak of the industry” and loved the “around the way” girls. “The Chronic” recallibrated my sophomore year. I partied with 2Pac, Biggie and Jay-Z jams in college and blasted Snoop’s greatest hits in the limo with my wedding party.
Purvis Young – The Struggle (January 2019 Hip-Hop Mix)
The Netflix documentary series “Hip-Hop Evolution” has me revisiting my old catalogs and has me fired up to make a new set of monthly mixes. My rules will be as followed: 1) The mix must fit in a 120 minute CD. 2) An artist must only be used once every six months but, since there’s so much collaboration in the industry, I’ll be a little looser on this one. In addition, I’ll make a cover for each CD featuring art that fits the genre. As always, in sharing this part of my life with you, my hope is that you will comment on songs on these playlists that move you, and maybe you’ll be inspired to make this a habit, too. Now let’s get to it… January 2019.
1. Geto Boys – Mind Playin’ Tricks on Me
2. The Nortorious B.I.G. – Juicy
3. 2Pac + K-Ci & JoJo – How Do U Want It
4. Dr. Dre – Fuck wit Dre Day (And Everybody’s Celebratin’)
5. N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton
6. Ice T – New Jack Hustler (Nino’s Theme)
7. Eminem – Lose Yourself
8. Jay-Z & Kanye West – Ni**as in Paris
9. Public Enemy – Can’t Truss It
10. Beastie Boys – Sabotage
11. Paris – The Devil Made Me Do It
12. EPMD – You Gots to Chill
13. Queen Latifa & Monie Love – Ladies First
14. Run-DMC – It’s Tricky
15. Naughty By Nature – O.P.P.
16. Digital Underground – Freaks of the Industry
17. Cypress Hill – Insane in the Brain
18. House of Pain – Jump Around
