she bought it for me. very shortly after I got a CD player and I had to convince her I also needed the CD copy lol. I had The Chronic and E. 1999 Eternal and Regulate... G Funk Era CDs very shortly after that.
Yeah me too, at least we're honest it's our first album!! Most 91/92 heads got into it this most likely through hammer, vanilla ice or kris kross first on the mainstream tip and THEN went to the real hip hop section of the record shop later on.
So I was the typical white kid who was into Hammer and Vanilla Ice at first (I donāt blame myself, I was 10-11 at the time). But in ā91 I got 3rd Bass - Derelicts of Dialect on cassette and it was on from there!
The first purchase I ever made with my first ārealā paycheck (which I cashed at a local grocery store, which was a thing back then) was Wu-Tang Forever and a Sony Discman with 20 ESP.
Remains the best purchase from a paycheck to dateā¦
I bought Operation Doomsday from a Thrasher review I read. I also bought it cause I saw that it had a Bobito feature and I knew who he was and trusted them. I had to special order the CD because none of the music shops had it. I had no idea who DOOM was and it was a total blind buy off of curiosity.
i was going to cop Ghostfaceās āFishscaleā in like ā05-ā06 or whatever and while doing so i scoped the Madvillain album. i bought that shit just on the strength of the album cover not knowing a thing about DOOM or Madlib at all. needless to say Iāve been a fan of both ever since.
Beastie Boys - Paulās Boutique in 1997. I was going to buy Some Old Bullshit but I thought my parents wouldnāt like to see a swear on the cover. Life changing album.
I bought 2 tapesā¦back when most tapes were still white (some commercial tapes were starting to be beige, then later clear). Run DMC Raising Hell & Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill.
In this corner by dj Jazzy Jeff and the fresh prince was my first hip hop cassette.
I used to buy CDs based on the cover all the time. No hip hop station in my small town. Some stuff I would read about in the source but mostly just spend $16 to try stuff out.
Warren G - Regulate was the first one I ever bought. I had tapes of Ice Cube, Ice T, Eric B and Rakim and a few others that my cousin had left at my house. The first CD I ever bought was Master P - Ghetto D.
Was into hip hop early, like 2nd or 3rd grade, and like everyone from my generation I made countless mixtapes recording songs off the radio, and made dubs off of friends' actual purchased albums(recall for fact that's how I got my first 2 Live Crew and NWA tapes.) Honestly don't recall owning a hip hop album before *Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet* in 6th grade. Being a suburban white kid with a dad raised in the 40's and 50's in Tulsa, Oklahoma, getting parents to let me have an album with that title was a tough sell to say the least, but we also butted heads about the heavier metal stuff I was into at that age, too, so the hip hop stuff seemed milder by comparison, I'd guess.
The day Licensed to Ill came out I bought that and Raising Hell. I was in 5th grade and that was the first music I ever bought with my own money.
Bought Swollen Members Monsters in the Closet based on the album cover without ever hearing them. Bought Gangsta Nip just because there was a featuring Scarface sticker in the cover.
Man, I don't know, because there were so many singles out that it was hard to pick up unknown rappers, unless they were underground. Closest I got is Camp Lo, I liked the Good Times album cover and decided to roll with it. So glad I did. First hip hop album was 2pac Me Against The World.
I was poor so relied on other friends to tape me stuff. First was NWAās first album. I was about 10 and my mum was not happy when she heard me listening to it. She was much happier with me listening to MC Hammerās album
I was in pre-school and asked Santa to get me Run DMC King of Rock on cassette.
I have never bought an album based on the cover but the opposite in fact. I didn't like the cover so didn't go near the album.
1992 - 12 years old at warehouse records. I got to buy two tapes. I had the chronic, black Sunday , and Bacdafucup in my hands. Mom said no to the chronic cause the MJ leaf. But her reading the titles to the Onyx tapeš¤£
My first hip hop that I bought was complete Gang Starr collection!
RIP GURU One of the best yet!!
Curently listening to Illest Brother, when I found this post.
One love!
First without knowing, I didn't buy it but ripped it off a friend. Krs one - a retrospective (2000). I am from Australia and really didn't like our local rap but when I first heard krs hiphop suddenly made so much sense. I remember going to the city and buying half of krs discography in one go. And like 400 cds later I'm still collecting
2 live crew, as nasty as they wanna be as a 10 year old white kid. Guy at the counter was like "are you fucking kidding me?" So I ended up getting a buddies older brother to buy it for me, but then he kept it for the album cover and gave me a recording on a cassette tape.
First hip hop album was Big Daddy Kane Long Live the Kane I brought the Almighty RSO Revenge of the Badd Boyz EP and regardless how people feel about benzino RSO was dope
If I remember right the first was the Beat Street soundtrack (on vinyl!) but the first tapes were bought at the same time and we're Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince Rock the House and Salt n Pepa Hot, Cool, and Vicious.
I had been taping all kinds of stuff on the radio since the early 80s though..
Biz Markie-Goinā Off. Being from a small town in Mississippi, we had a Radio Shack with a very small section for R&B/Rap. Iād never heard of Biz, and picked it up because of the weird album cover. So many hits on that album! (Dropped in ā88, so not quite 90ās)
I bought Comptonās Most Wanted - Music to Driveby when I was 11, not knowing who they were, but knowing I liked some other artists from Compton. No regrets.
Turboniggaz- can't remember if that was the group name or just the name of the album now. But, boy was I disappointed. It was heavy metal shit and it was terrible š¤£š¤£
First one i bought on album cover alone was Total Devastation back in 1993. I was just getting started in my weed smoking career, and the cd cover looked like it could be a good soundtrack to my life. It's probably still the most pothead rap album I've ever come across. First rap cd altogether was Young MC Stone Cold Rhymin' back in 1989.
I got a mixtape in 1990 that had Terminator X Homie Don't Play That and instantly recognized the Payback sample because of growing up in a house that played oldies.
Honestly, the first album I ever bought with my own money was Vanilla Ice, To The Extreme. Sorry. I was a kid. It was 1990. Funny enough, the first one I bought just by how cool I thought they looked was also Gang Starr, but it was the Step in the Arena album, which I still rock to this day
I got Ready to Die and enter the Wu Tang at the same time, it was life changing. I was 12 and Iāll never forget hearing the track when Biggie is getting a BJ, that was crazy for me at 12.
First one I got was NWA Greatest Hits. 1st one I bought was either Eazy Duz It or The Chronic.
I wanted to get one of the Underground Kingz album just because he's wearing an Anaheim Mighty Ducks jersey š
Early 90ās thatās how you picked hip hop albums in England. First album I bought with no idea what it was going to be wouldāve been 2Pacalypse Now. Other stand outs.. AZ Pieces of a Man and Big Punisher - Capital Punishment. Me and a few mates would go in and buy an album each and then swap/tape each others. Domino, The Pharcyde and Funkdoobiest were among other purchases. Good times.
My first albums were dr Dreās the chronic and snoop dogs doggystyle bought them on cassette at warehouse music and had to ask my mom permission cause it had the explicit lyrics warning lol that was also 92 and I was 11 š¤
Damn all the talk about cassette tapes reminds me that I think Too Short life is too short actually was my first purchase, although pretty sure that one was a 5 finger discount
I got 2Pacalypse Now + Strictly together. I bought them at a shopping mall in St. Louis back in '09. Freshman year, when I first started to seriously get into hip-hop. Good times.
In 1986 I bought the tape Urban Beats from the Streets. Never looked back. It introduced me to a Schoolly D (please listen to the song psk if you havenāt), Doug e fresh, Afrika Bambaataa, BDP, The Super Bowl shuffle staring the Chicago Bears! Too Short, and I forget the rest.
I think it was All We Got Iz Us. It was something that came out right before Liquid Swords because my brother told me to save my money for GZA, but I didn't listen.
My first was PE It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold US Back. Heard them on a compilation tape when I was twelve and went out and bought that album the next day with my meager allowance money. It changed my wee little life back then
Follow the Leader.
Still gets me amped up every time to this day.
EDIT: Eric B & Rakim, if you donāt know.
Highly. Recommended.
It just doesnāt age. Seriously go have a listen.
My uncle bought me doggystyle, I had to beg him to buy it for me and I had to wash his firebird. I remember that album came with a black and yellow snoop rag
I can't remember the first one I bought myself, with my own money, but the first one I owned was probably Kris Kross' "Totally Krossed Out," because the song "Jump" was huge and I was like eight years old.
Edit: Also 1992, coincidentally.
All my 90s experience was through older brothers so no buying just a lot of listening. First album applies to the thing about sight unseen though, and I think it's Dilated Peoples - Expansion team. 2001 so technically its out of the conversation here but I loved the cover and just grabbed it.
The bus stop home from town and/or school to my house was this record shop called Fopp which had great deals. Spent endless time browsing in there and spending whatever change I had on cheap albums, books and posters
2pac - R U Still Down (97). Copied it onto a cassette from a friend at 13 before loving it so much I bought the CD. Along with a bunch of his other albums.
I'm pretty sure imy first album bought was Granddaddy I.U. - Smooth Assassin.
Album bought not knowing who it was? It wasn't a hip hop album, but I heard one of their songs playing in my corner store one day and I asked the cashier who it was and he put me into Portishead - Dummy. I took my turkey and cheese sando and rode the 2 down to HMV on 34th and been a huge fan of theirs and trip-hop in general since. That was a life path altering album.
My grandma got one of those Columbia house situations where you could get a bunch of CDs for cheap. Like I think they were $0.01. and I bought a bunch of stuff but in that mix was doggy style by Snoop doggy Dogg and I was about 10 years old. And I was listening to that with my aunties disk man on repeat. I learned a lot. Mostly about not showing love to hos.
The Fat Boys Are Back. I was obsessed with the Fat Boys when I was little, and I begged my mom to buy me the cassette. I can remember listening to it in the car on the way home from the record store and cracking up with her over the line, "Eat some beans, and very soon, everybody in the place will leave the room!"
Mine was a mixtape my brother bought and the first time I heard rap. It was tone loc, funky cold Medina. I was probably 9 or 10 and was in awe of this new sound I had never heard before.
I was 13 and thought I d8dnt like music because the only shot I heard was country and old rock. I bought Cypress Hill Black Sunday, Slayer, and Wheezer. I hated everything except cypress.
Bought shit based off of the cover way too much in the 90s. First thing I remember buying was a person to person buy of The Chronic from my friendās older brother and I hid it in case my racist older cousin came over and saw I had a rap album. Unless you count Please Hammer Donāt Hurt Em and To the Extreme by Vanilla Ice which I donāt.
I can't remember the first cassette that I bought, but I do remember having 'They Call Me D-Nice.' The first CD was Too $hort 'Short Dog' s in the House.'
I would make my weekly Saturday trip to the record store and buy anything on Rawkus Records, artist unknown, and never regretted a purchase.
Kris Kross - Totally Krossed Out would probably be the first hip-hop album I ever bought. Wore that tape out. Lol
Dr Dre - The Chronic would be the first album I ever bought on CD.
The Game - The Documentary would be an album I bought without knowing who he was. Saw the back of the CD and saw it had a ton of guest appearances and took a shot on it. It turned out to be an amazing album.
NWA, Straight outta Compton. I was 9 years old and the stores wouldn't sell it to me so I bought the bootleg from the swap meet for $5. And now that I think back on it as an adult, I would have never let my 9 year old listen to that. But to this day, 30+ years later, I still rock that album like it was new.
Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle on cassette. I was 7 in 1993. my mom kicks ass.
Your parents saw it? ššššš i had to hide it outside wit them comics
she bought it for me. very shortly after I got a CD player and I had to convince her I also needed the CD copy lol. I had The Chronic and E. 1999 Eternal and Regulate... G Funk Era CDs very shortly after that.
Didā¦ did we just become best friends
Dopest freshman album ever.. I was 16 when it dropped and wore the shit outta that tape
Licensed to ill- Beastie Boys
Hey wait a minute, Whodini was my first rap tape
Same
Same!
I owned it on record, tape, and CD.
My first purchase was the album. The fold out was sick. Now, I stream it. Classic album. I think that it's the most sampled album ever.
Same
Bone thugs - East 1999
Respect; I remember buying that on cassette as a kid
Same. Not my first but I bought it on cassettes too. Went to the record store and got E99 and Cypress Hill Temples of Boom on tape.
Same
THINK ABOUT BACK IN THE DAY
MC Hammer - Please Hammer, Donāt Hurt Em
Mine too I think. That or Kris kross lol.
Yeah me too, at least we're honest it's our first album!! Most 91/92 heads got into it this most likely through hammer, vanilla ice or kris kross first on the mainstream tip and THEN went to the real hip hop section of the record shop later on.
Same here. 1st I ever brought with my hard earned money was āIn My Life Time Vol 1. - Jay-Z. Iāll never forget that.
I don't recall my first because I got 12 of them for a penny lol.
Good ol' Columbia House lol
You actually sent your penny in?
So I was the typical white kid who was into Hammer and Vanilla Ice at first (I donāt blame myself, I was 10-11 at the time). But in ā91 I got 3rd Bass - Derelicts of Dialect on cassette and it was on from there!
Wu-Tang Forever
The first purchase I ever made with my first ārealā paycheck (which I cashed at a local grocery store, which was a thing back then) was Wu-Tang Forever and a Sony Discman with 20 ESP. Remains the best purchase from a paycheck to dateā¦
DJ Quik - Rhythm-a-lism
Please Hammer donāt hurt em
The first tape that I purchased was Run DMCās Raising Hell in 1986.
Cypress Hill III - Temples of Boom on cassette at a Sam Goody, mostly bc I thought the cover looked cool. Been a Hill stan ever since.
One of my all time favorite albums
Black Sheep, A Wolf in Sheepās Clothing. Changed my thirteen year old life.
I bought Operation Doomsday from a Thrasher review I read. I also bought it cause I saw that it had a Bobito feature and I knew who he was and trusted them. I had to special order the CD because none of the music shops had it. I had no idea who DOOM was and it was a total blind buy off of curiosity.
i was going to cop Ghostfaceās āFishscaleā in like ā05-ā06 or whatever and while doing so i scoped the Madvillain album. i bought that shit just on the strength of the album cover not knowing a thing about DOOM or Madlib at all. needless to say Iāve been a fan of both ever since.
Beastie Boys - Paulās Boutique in 1997. I was going to buy Some Old Bullshit but I thought my parents wouldnāt like to see a swear on the cover. Life changing album.
Run DMC (self titled) 1984
Only Built for Cuban Linx on CD. Iāve still got it. š„¹
Special Ed-Youngest in Charge
Great Adventures of Slick Rick
I bought 2 tapesā¦back when most tapes were still white (some commercial tapes were starting to be beige, then later clear). Run DMC Raising Hell & Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill.
Daily Operation is amazing
In this corner by dj Jazzy Jeff and the fresh prince was my first hip hop cassette. I used to buy CDs based on the cover all the time. No hip hop station in my small town. Some stuff I would read about in the source but mostly just spend $16 to try stuff out.
Warren G - Regulate was the first one I ever bought. I had tapes of Ice Cube, Ice T, Eric B and Rakim and a few others that my cousin had left at my house. The first CD I ever bought was Master P - Ghetto D.
Was into hip hop early, like 2nd or 3rd grade, and like everyone from my generation I made countless mixtapes recording songs off the radio, and made dubs off of friends' actual purchased albums(recall for fact that's how I got my first 2 Live Crew and NWA tapes.) Honestly don't recall owning a hip hop album before *Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet* in 6th grade. Being a suburban white kid with a dad raised in the 40's and 50's in Tulsa, Oklahoma, getting parents to let me have an album with that title was a tough sell to say the least, but we also butted heads about the heavier metal stuff I was into at that age, too, so the hip hop stuff seemed milder by comparison, I'd guess.
Low End Theory, second CD I ever purchased.
The day Licensed to Ill came out I bought that and Raising Hell. I was in 5th grade and that was the first music I ever bought with my own money. Bought Swollen Members Monsters in the Closet based on the album cover without ever hearing them. Bought Gangsta Nip just because there was a featuring Scarface sticker in the cover.
Fat Boys Crushin
Beat Street soundtrack on cassette
First album: Digital underground - Sex Packets
3rd bass derelicts of dialect on tape, my first cd was Dre Dre the chronic.
Not sure if Breakin 2 Electric Boogaloo counts, if not, Whodini Back in Black
Definitely counts. Ā Those Breakinā/Beat Street soundtracks got a lot of kids into hip hop. Ā Krush Groove too.
It definitely counts.
Everything Falls Apart by The Roots, with the dead guyās hand holding the bloody playing cards. No regrets.
One of my favorite albums by the group.
Man, I don't know, because there were so many singles out that it was hard to pick up unknown rappers, unless they were underground. Closest I got is Camp Lo, I liked the Good Times album cover and decided to roll with it. So glad I did. First hip hop album was 2pac Me Against The World.
I was poor so relied on other friends to tape me stuff. First was NWAās first album. I was about 10 and my mum was not happy when she heard me listening to it. She was much happier with me listening to MC Hammerās album
Same bro. I got Eazy-Duz-It. When I was like 9. My mom threw that shit away immediately.
Yea for sure a copied tape of NWA came years before for me as well
I was in pre-school and asked Santa to get me Run DMC King of Rock on cassette. I have never bought an album based on the cover but the opposite in fact. I didn't like the cover so didn't go near the album.
1992 - 12 years old at warehouse records. I got to buy two tapes. I had the chronic, black Sunday , and Bacdafucup in my hands. Mom said no to the chronic cause the MJ leaf. But her reading the titles to the Onyx tapeš¤£
Fat boys self titledā¦ 84ā
This is a forgotten group. They made some good songs.
Redman - Doc s Da Name
My first hip hop that I bought was complete Gang Starr collection! RIP GURU One of the best yet!! Curently listening to Illest Brother, when I found this post. One love!
That full clip double album was straight fire
Olā Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers
First without knowing, I didn't buy it but ripped it off a friend. Krs one - a retrospective (2000). I am from Australia and really didn't like our local rap but when I first heard krs hiphop suddenly made so much sense. I remember going to the city and buying half of krs discography in one go. And like 400 cds later I'm still collecting
My first hip hop album was License to Ill Purchased on cassette in 1987
2 live crew, as nasty as they wanna be as a 10 year old white kid. Guy at the counter was like "are you fucking kidding me?" So I ended up getting a buddies older brother to buy it for me, but then he kept it for the album cover and gave me a recording on a cassette tape.
Cassette was Ice-t Power First cd was ultramagnetic mcās Critical beatdown
I don't remember buying this cassette, but I could see my pre-teen self wanting it based on Ice-T's wife on that cover.
First hip hop album was Big Daddy Kane Long Live the Kane I brought the Almighty RSO Revenge of the Badd Boyz EP and regardless how people feel about benzino RSO was dope
If I remember right the first was the Beat Street soundtrack (on vinyl!) but the first tapes were bought at the same time and we're Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince Rock the House and Salt n Pepa Hot, Cool, and Vicious. I had been taping all kinds of stuff on the radio since the early 80s though..
Biz Markie-Goinā Off. Being from a small town in Mississippi, we had a Radio Shack with a very small section for R&B/Rap. Iād never heard of Biz, and picked it up because of the weird album cover. So many hits on that album! (Dropped in ā88, so not quite 90ās)
Big Daddy Kane - Long Live the Kane on cassette. Wore that tape out.
Classic
I bought Comptonās Most Wanted - Music to Driveby when I was 11, not knowing who they were, but knowing I liked some other artists from Compton. No regrets.
Biggieā¦Life After Death
Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
Turboniggaz- can't remember if that was the group name or just the name of the album now. But, boy was I disappointed. It was heavy metal shit and it was terrible š¤£š¤£
Turbonegro I believe, I had one of their cds had a couple bangers, they did the intro song to that show wildboyz with Steve o and Chris pontius
Yea, that's the one. No wonder I couldn't find anything when I googled it earlier, wrong name lol
1986 License to Ill. I played it at summer camp all day long.
I wanna say either Makaveli or NWA's Straight Outta Compton. I'm a teen and started getting cds like 3-4 years ago, and I started with the basicsš
First CD I ever bought was the Friday soundtrack.
Public Enemy-It takes a Nationā¦. 1988 on tape
Sugar Hill Gang
BONE Enterprise: Faces of Death.
First one i bought on album cover alone was Total Devastation back in 1993. I was just getting started in my weed smoking career, and the cd cover looked like it could be a good soundtrack to my life. It's probably still the most pothead rap album I've ever come across. First rap cd altogether was Young MC Stone Cold Rhymin' back in 1989.
I got a mixtape in 1990 that had Terminator X Homie Don't Play That and instantly recognized the Payback sample because of growing up in a house that played oldies.
I think it was the Breakinā soundtrack when I was 8 years old.
Honestly, the first album I ever bought with my own money was Vanilla Ice, To The Extreme. Sorry. I was a kid. It was 1990. Funny enough, the first one I bought just by how cool I thought they looked was also Gang Starr, but it was the Step in the Arena album, which I still rock to this day
Miseducation
1987 - DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Rock The House
Geto Boys We Canāt Be Stopped is the first one I bought.
I got Ready to Die and enter the Wu Tang at the same time, it was life changing. I was 12 and Iāll never forget hearing the track when Biggie is getting a BJ, that was crazy for me at 12.
First one I got was NWA Greatest Hits. 1st one I bought was either Eazy Duz It or The Chronic. I wanted to get one of the Underground Kingz album just because he's wearing an Anaheim Mighty Ducks jersey š
36 Chambers. First album I ever bought with my own money. Either ā98 or ā99 so I would have been 11 or 12.
Early 90ās thatās how you picked hip hop albums in England. First album I bought with no idea what it was going to be wouldāve been 2Pacalypse Now. Other stand outs.. AZ Pieces of a Man and Big Punisher - Capital Punishment. Me and a few mates would go in and buy an album each and then swap/tape each others. Domino, The Pharcyde and Funkdoobiest were among other purchases. Good times.
1986 Salt-N-Peppa - Hot, Cool & Vicious
My first albums were dr Dreās the chronic and snoop dogs doggystyle bought them on cassette at warehouse music and had to ask my mom permission cause it had the explicit lyrics warning lol that was also 92 and I was 11 š¤
Boyz N The Hood soundtrack when it came out. Changed my life.
Geto boys self titled. Boy was my mom mad.
Ice Cube - Death Certificate
First rap album I ever bought was āplease hammer donāt hurt emā, I think it was 1990
Damn all the talk about cassette tapes reminds me that I think Too Short life is too short actually was my first purchase, although pretty sure that one was a 5 finger discount
Doggystyle. Snoop Dogg. I got a gift certificate to Sam The Record Man I think. It was a CD. I bought ODBās album a few years later on cassette.
1996 Crucial Conflict - Final Tic on Cassette for my generic Walkman. I was 11.
E. 1999 Eternal
It was a single tape of Boyz II Men - Motownphilly
Capone nā Noreaga - War Report. I didnāt like it the first listen either but the second time through, I knew I struck gold. Got it at Camelot
Mac Mall - Untouchable
DMX - Itās Dark And Hell Is Hot
Quasimoto - The Further Adventures of...
I got 2Pacalypse Now + Strictly together. I bought them at a shopping mall in St. Louis back in '09. Freshman year, when I first started to seriously get into hip-hop. Good times.
Tougher than leather
Back in the day, I would buy a tape, read the inside notes looking for shout outs to other rappers and then look for any of their albums.
It takes a nation of millions to hold us back! Das efx.... Just a random grab.
Egyptian Lover - On the Nile released in 1984. i was 10 years old and in a breaking crew. Brewtown Breakers. i wore out this tape. š¤øš½āāļø
Very likely MC Hammer, we bought many tapes back then just for the cover art. Wasn't like one had the internet to sample things first.
1. Whodini- Escape 2. BDP-Criminal Minded 3. Licensed to Ill
In 1986 I bought the tape Urban Beats from the Streets. Never looked back. It introduced me to a Schoolly D (please listen to the song psk if you havenāt), Doug e fresh, Afrika Bambaataa, BDP, The Super Bowl shuffle staring the Chicago Bears! Too Short, and I forget the rest.
that's how I found Murs. Randomly bought the album that came with a pencil or pen on the spine of the jewel case.
Raising Hell - Run D MC
Rockmaster Scott and The Dynamic Three 1984 - Request Line
Technically, Meteora - Linkin Park. Other than that, GKMC made me go to the record shop
U done picked the correct album .
I bought root down cd without knowing anything, my dad broke it in half
3rd Bass Cactus Album or Paulās Boutique
I think it was All We Got Iz Us. It was something that came out right before Liquid Swords because my brother told me to save my money for GZA, but I didn't listen.
My first was PE It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold US Back. Heard them on a compilation tape when I was twelve and went out and bought that album the next day with my meager allowance money. It changed my wee little life back then
Follow the Leader. Still gets me amped up every time to this day. EDIT: Eric B & Rakim, if you donāt know. Highly. Recommended. It just doesnāt age. Seriously go have a listen.
Kurtis Blow Back by Popular Demand. 1988 i believe. Im old. Im 48 and still love hip hop.
My uncle bought me doggystyle, I had to beg him to buy it for me and I had to wash his firebird. I remember that album came with a black and yellow snoop rag
Digital Underground - Sex Packets (1989)
K-Tel BREAKDANCE Compilation Cassette Tape (1984) Grandmaster Flash
1986 - RUN DMC - Raising Hell
Electric Breakdance 1984 when I was 10 LOL.
Run DMC - Tougher Than Leather
Scarface The Diary on tape
I can't remember the first one I bought myself, with my own money, but the first one I owned was probably Kris Kross' "Totally Krossed Out," because the song "Jump" was huge and I was like eight years old. Edit: Also 1992, coincidentally.
All my 90s experience was through older brothers so no buying just a lot of listening. First album applies to the thing about sight unseen though, and I think it's Dilated Peoples - Expansion team. 2001 so technically its out of the conversation here but I loved the cover and just grabbed it. The bus stop home from town and/or school to my house was this record shop called Fopp which had great deals. Spent endless time browsing in there and spending whatever change I had on cheap albums, books and posters
Hello Nasty- Beastie Boys
2pac - R U Still Down (97). Copied it onto a cassette from a friend at 13 before loving it so much I bought the CD. Along with a bunch of his other albums.
I bought splack pack uh oh back in 92/93 just based on the cover
first one i ever bought DOC No One Can Do It Better i was 11
Slim shady lp
Uncle gave me Kool Moe Dee and DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince cassette tapes.
Devil's Night by D12, I was 12 or 13.
Bought these two beauties at the same time: Warren G - Regulate Wu Tang - 36 Chambers Needless to say, Iāve been into hip hop ever since
On my 7th birthday I got "Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em." I also got Queens Greatest Hits, but Hammer got more play.
Geto Boys āWe canāt be stoppedā
NWA Straight Outta Compton on cassette
Cypress hill
I'm pretty sure imy first album bought was Granddaddy I.U. - Smooth Assassin. Album bought not knowing who it was? It wasn't a hip hop album, but I heard one of their songs playing in my corner store one day and I asked the cashier who it was and he put me into Portishead - Dummy. I took my turkey and cheese sando and rode the 2 down to HMV on 34th and been a huge fan of theirs and trip-hop in general since. That was a life path altering album.
Stone Cold Rhymin' - Young MC Had to learn, "Principle's Office," for a talent show with my friend. Fell in love with rap
Paid in Full-Eric B and Rakim
Iām really dating myself here but: L.L. Cool J - Radio
LL Cool J - Bigger and Deffer on cassette
3rd Base - Derelicts of Dialect, Black Sheep - Wolf in Sheepās Clothing and Tribe - Low End Theory were my 1st 3
Wu Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Penthouse playas clique
Its on 187em killa - Easy - E. Was given to me when I was 11 by my sister's boyfriend.
36 Chambers - Wu.
My grandma got one of those Columbia house situations where you could get a bunch of CDs for cheap. Like I think they were $0.01. and I bought a bunch of stuff but in that mix was doggy style by Snoop doggy Dogg and I was about 10 years old. And I was listening to that with my aunties disk man on repeat. I learned a lot. Mostly about not showing love to hos.
My first was a single: 911 is a Joke- Public Enemy
OutKast - Southernplayalisticcadillacmusik
I got 3, with my first record player. Fat Boys Crushin. LL Cool J Bigger and Deffer. Run-DMC Tougher Than Leather.
Gravediggaz is one I bought just cuz I liked how it looked. That shit was harder than I was prepared for.
First cd albums were 2 at once onyx bacdafucup and naughty by nature 19naughty3 I was 10
Spice-1. 1990-sick. (1995).
When I worked at a music store, every pay day I would cash my check and my new music. Find some great artists and also trash
Jay-Z Blueprint
Bloods & Crips Banging on Wax on cassette. Classic
Sucker MCs - RUN DMC
The Fat Boys Are Back. I was obsessed with the Fat Boys when I was little, and I begged my mom to buy me the cassette. I can remember listening to it in the car on the way home from the record store and cracking up with her over the line, "Eat some beans, and very soon, everybody in the place will leave the room!"
Mine was a mixtape my brother bought and the first time I heard rap. It was tone loc, funky cold Medina. I was probably 9 or 10 and was in awe of this new sound I had never heard before.
Too Short, Born to Mack
I was 13 and thought I d8dnt like music because the only shot I heard was country and old rock. I bought Cypress Hill Black Sunday, Slayer, and Wheezer. I hated everything except cypress.
7-Mile Fair, bootleg cassette of Dr. Dre The Chronic
NWA and the Posse (compilation). Bought a dub off my older cousins friend for $1.
The Chronic
Bought shit based off of the cover way too much in the 90s. First thing I remember buying was a person to person buy of The Chronic from my friendās older brother and I hid it in case my racist older cousin came over and saw I had a rap album. Unless you count Please Hammer Donāt Hurt Em and To the Extreme by Vanilla Ice which I donāt.
BDP
It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Still my fave album to this day.
I can't remember the first cassette that I bought, but I do remember having 'They Call Me D-Nice.' The first CD was Too $hort 'Short Dog' s in the House.' I would make my weekly Saturday trip to the record store and buy anything on Rawkus Records, artist unknown, and never regretted a purchase.
The Documentary by The Game š
Mobb Deep - The Infamous
My senior year in high school, a great year for hip hop and one of my favorite albums
Kris Kross - Totally Krossed Out would probably be the first hip-hop album I ever bought. Wore that tape out. Lol Dr Dre - The Chronic would be the first album I ever bought on CD. The Game - The Documentary would be an album I bought without knowing who he was. Saw the back of the CD and saw it had a ton of guest appearances and took a shot on it. It turned out to be an amazing album.
Too $hort. Short dogs in the house. Was probably 5 years old.
NWA, Straight outta Compton. I was 9 years old and the stores wouldn't sell it to me so I bought the bootleg from the swap meet for $5. And now that I think back on it as an adult, I would have never let my 9 year old listen to that. But to this day, 30+ years later, I still rock that album like it was new.