Stakes Is High by De La Soul (prod. Jay Dee)

 

To say that the Alternative Hip Hop sound of late 1980s was the responsibility of a single group of musicians would only be telling part of the truth. In fact, the Native Tongues Posse as a whole was really responsible for the emergence of the sub-genre. Alternative Hip Hop in its origin would revolve around the ideas of Afrocentrism and the celebration of unity among people of different backgrounds. This was the ethos of the Native Tongues Posse, a collective of different Hip Hop groups which was founded by the groups A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers and De La Soul.

Despite the emergence of the Alternative genre being an effort of all three groups, De La Soul did in fact release their album prior to the Posse's co-founders. Members Posdnuos, Maseo and Trugoy (now known as Dave) released 3 Feet High and Rising in '89, which by some has been described as "the Sgt. Pepper of Hip Hop". The production on the album is a collage of samples taken from cartoons, commercials, and various genres of music; this would also consequentially make them the first musical group to be sued for unauthorized sampling. The lyrics were abstract and strange in a fun loving manner. And while some received the album well, others labeled De La Soul as weirdo Hip Hop hippies due to their bizarre antics and use of peace signs and daisies on their album cover.  Trying to break away from this image, De La retorted with the album De La Soul Is Dead in 1991 declaring the D.A.I.S.Y. Age dead. However in 1996 things had reached a grim point in not only the Hip Hop industry, but society as a whole. The title of their 4th album said it all, Stakes Is High.

Passin' Me By by The Pharcyde (prod. J-Swift)

In 1991 Slimkid3, Imani, Bootie Brown and Fatlip all had big breaks when they passed on their demo tape to Mike Andrews, a record executive at Delicious Vinyl Records. That same summer they were signed.

Slimkid3, Imani and Bootie Brown had all gone to high school together, and had their start in entertainment as dancers with their most notable feature as background dancers for the television show In Living Color. The three soon met Fatlip and producer J-Swift in an after school music program taught by RnB musician Reggie Andrews. Andrews (who had done music with Rick James) considered J-Swift his star pupil. J was a musical prodigy who was an excellent piano and bass player. Andrews encouraged J-Swift to pursue production and beat making, buying him an Akai MPC60. When the 5 had formed The Pharcyde, their demo tape contained the songs 'Ya Mama', 'Passin' Me By' and 'Officer'. These tracks would soon be released on their debut album Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde.

Jazz (We've Got) by A Tribe Called Quest (prod. Q-Tip & Pete Rock)

In 1991 (five months before I was even born) A Tribe Called Quest released their seminal album The Low End Theory. In their short career Tribe managed to release some of the greatest albums in hip hop, and their discography remains to be the greatest having released in my opinion 3 classic albums and 2 otherwise great albums. The Low End Theory being their second release is what really put them in the good graces of mainstream audiences, despite Jive Records believing the release would be a commercial failure.

Me or the Papes by Jeru the Damaja (prod. DJ Premier)

Back in '96 Jeru released his sophomore album Wrath of Math. Like his previous release, the album featured themes of Afrocentricity, the preservation of hip hop culture, and criticized materialism. His first album The Sun Rises in the East was precieved well by hip hop heads, but was not free from criticism. The single Da Bitchez left some of Jeru's audience partially divided. Pras from the Fugees even made a couple of disses in response to this song in particular. The song explicitly describes a certain type of woman, and Jeru is careful not to generalize.

"Now a queen's a queen and a stunt is a stunt/ You can tell who's who by the things they want."

Despite this, Jeru felt that on his '96 release he would have to clarify exactly who he was referring to.