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1. Atmosphere- God Loves Ugly- Don't be fooled by the heavy religeous title, Rapper Slug ,and Dj's Ant and Mr. Dibbs have made one of the most easy to listen to, catchy, and thoughtful CD's of all time. If you aren't a fan of rap think think of it more as poetry set to beats. Not their first and not their most recent effort, God Loves Ugly is cross section of Slug as he shares his thoughts about a woman he used to love and others he hopes to. An amazing CD from start to finish but it also has about five standout tracks: Onemosphere, God Loves Ugly, *$!% You Lucy, The Bass and the Movement, and Modern Man's Hustle. The best thing about this album is that ITS NOT 50 Cent, or any of those other classless rappers howling about what a pimp they are, and how much money they spend. Slug's vocabulary runs pretty deep and the intensity in his voice makes it sound like he recorded the album from the electric chair.

More can be heard and read at Rhymesayers.com

2. RjD2- Since We last Spoke/ Dead Ringer- A tie between two of the three full length masterpieces by the Ohio DJ. I must admit I HATED RjD2 the first time I heard him , mostly because I wasn't really in the right mood. If you're looking for something to sing along with in the car look further down the list because this is a montage of clips taken from old songs, beats RjD2 made up, a little singing, a little rapping, but smoothed all together like a bricklayer . These songs will make you FEEL things. Ghost rider could be the music that played during any scene in a movie when a villain does something evil. 1976 makes me feel like I'm at a wild , wild party, that the Village People happen to be at too. These songs are all different and all very rich in sound, you could listen to the whole thing 20 times and hear new things every time.

More at RJD2

3. Hollertronix-  A new genre of music is emerging .Young, musically inclined kids find themselves with downloaded songs by the 4 tops, Trick Daddy, the Clash, Bonecrusha, and Soft Cell all on the same PC. When that happens what else can you do except smash them all together. Enter Hollertronix, (Diplo and Low Budget) two guys from Philly who shred parties with their "lap hop" style of music. "Lap Hop" has been described as what it sounds like... hip hop made through computers. As I indicated earlier this is not typical hip hop as most of the beats and vocals in the music is manufactured from other songs. Really cool stuff if you want to drink to "Tainted Love " but just aren't feelin it .

Click the cd for link

4. 2 Many Dj's (Soulwax)- Anything you can download- Not that I advocate illegal downloading ..cough cough COUGH... But I really don't think there is any other way to get music from these guys. Soulwax is a radio program based somewhere out of Europe (I've heard Amsterdam and London so I don't really know). This, similarly to Hollertronix is "lap hop". 2 Many Dj's is the name of the two brothers who make the music and they are a prolific pair. They have over something like 50 hours of recorded stuff that has been circulating the Peer 2 Peer clients for years. Also blending songs that you would never think would go together, together, these guys make more fun music then party music. Missy Elliot vs. George Michael, Eminem vs. U2, Dolly Parton vs. Roykssop, and the Beatles vs. Kraftwerk just to name a few. 

5. The Life Aquatic Soundtrack- This soundtrack is great. Finally a soundtrack that is not the same old classic rock songs or completely obscure songs some composer made up. In place of the classic rock there are four beautiful David Bowie covers done by a Brazilian man called Seu Jorge. Life on Mars and Starman are both wonderful. And for the obscure composer creations- Mark Mothersbaugh, fairly well known for his work on all of Wes Anderson's soundtracks pumps out a few gems yet again. The Ping Island Lighting Strike song is awesome for almost any situation. The pulsating tones are perfect for running, doing hoemwork, or playing mario kart.

6.The Beatles. Not only are their original songs sweet but they lend themselves to the bomb covers, remixes, and mash ups. The grey album being the most prominent.

7. Danger Mouse and Gemini- Ghetto Pop Life- Most people know of Danger Mouse as the mastermind behind the grey album but what most people don't know is that Danger Mouse also made a sweet album with his buddy and lyricist Gemini. Although not a very well known rapper Gemini flows like Nas and the whole album with some help from Pharcyde and Prince Paul is a really clean well made album.

8.

Sweet Random Songs- Throw em' on a CD ,have fun!

Jadakiss featuring Pharrell -Hot Sauce to Go

Jon Brion- Knock Yourself Out

My Chemical Romance- You Know What They do to Guys Like Me

Spoon- The way we Get By

MC Chris- Cookie Breath

Brother Ali -Champion

Neutral Milk Hotel- Holland 1945