Let’s discuss any and all music here. Got a new artist who’s rocking your boat that you want to talk about? Post a video! Found out about that unearthed Coltrane album that has the jazz freak in you losing your mind? Lay it out for us! Have a theory about what your favorite band might do for their next album? Let’s hear it! Anything and everything music-related goes here.

This week’s discussion prompt comes courtesy of The Avocado’s very own Prighlofone:

What are your favorite “hip-hop”1(i.e. rap music) lyrics?

Rap music is one of my earliest musical loves, as rap music began to permeate the mainstream just around the time I was starting to notice music. I still love some of those songs that I loved as an 11-year-old kid just as much if not more today.

The PolyTel compilation Rap Traxx served as both the soundtrack to my summer of ’89 and my introduction to a lot of great songs and artists from what has come to be known as the golden age of rap music. Just look at that track listing – it’s a virtual “who’s who” of late eighties greatness (okay, I’ll concede that the Morris Minor and the Majors song is more of a novelty track, but it’s still pretty fun). I genuinely love almost every song on that tape, and no less than four of them (“Going Back to Cali”, “Push It”, “Paid in Full [The Coldcut Remix]” and “Fight for Your Right”) appeared in my top 25 lists a couple years back for our old weekly feature Songs by the Letter. And Rap Traxx 2 and Rap Traxx 3 aren’t too shabby either.

Rakim is one of my favorite MC’s of all time, and while there are no shortage of excellent examples of his lyrical prowess and groundbreaking delivery, push comes to shove my favorite is probably “Paid in Full”:

And while it features the same single verse, the version that blew my mind as a kid and still rocks my world today is the “Seven Minutes of Madness” version:

As always, any and all music-related posts are welcome. Have fun, and rock out with yr guac out!