My favorite rap albums...

Hey, it's David, aka Jackson. I'm with WALT. Instead of introducing myself I'll just tell you:

My 10 fave rap albums are as follows...my fave album overall is

Cee Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections. But as far as hip-hop...here we go:

Honorable Mentions:

10) Little Brother- The Minstrel Show Ya'll know why I love this. Jammin from top to bottom. I already talked about this a million times. So, on to #9!

9) Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Forever. This is where I first heard Ghostface Killah. But besides that, this is the only great rap Double Album out there. Every Wu rapper was on point. This was Method Man's last great outing, and you had 10 guys coming together to make one damn great album. Great lyrics, great beats and the album was deep.

8) Hov Reasonable Doubt It's crazy to listen to this album and think about how far Jay-Z has come. It's really inspirational. You look at how successful he became and you listen to this album and realize why. Dude was hungry! He attacked every track and killed them all. His song with Biggie is one of the greatest songs ever made. I don't think that Jay-z ever reached this level again lyrically. His flow and ability to ride the beat is what really made him better as time went by.

7) DMX It's Dark and Hell is Hot So let me paint a picture for ya'll. My parents divorce, I move from a nice house to a small apartment and we're strugglin for money...and on the radio is Diddy tellin me how much richer he is than I am. Till I hear this DMX dude rappin with the same anger and resentment I was feelin at the time...I think I listened to this album for like 6 months straight. I have never connected with an album like I did with this one. Unfortunately, over time, I realized that the lyrics weren't as good as I though they were. But the raw emotion is something that really helped me out in life. I just hope that DMX gets over his personal demons to make another classic like this one.

6) Raekwon and Ghost- Only Built for Cuban Linx. Look ya'll, every rapper cliche you see now, started with this album. When Raekwon and Ghostface did it, though, that s*** was cutting edge. They were the first rappers to talk about Cristal and they began the whole Mafia/Scarface/rap shit, and it started with this album. The only difference is these bruhs knew they were playing roles, making songs that were like crazy action movies. Unlike these dudes that act like they live it. It was technically a Raekwon solo joint, but Ghostface was on every track and really made it a classic. Plus Nas had one of the best verses ever on one of the tracks. Add in some cuts with Meth in his prime. And they're thinly veiled disses towards Biggie and you got one of the best hip-hop albums of all time.

5) Nas Illmatic I'm almost obligated to put this on the list. It's the best rap album of all time. Just not my favorite. I can't explain it. I listen to it, and can't help but being like "this shit is the best thing I've ever heard in my life", but it just doesn't resonate with me like some other ones. But, I mean, this album is like 12 years old, and you can put the lyricism up against anything today. I play this every time I'm doing work. Dude was only 18...that's crazy.

4) Outkast- Speakerboxx/ The Love Below. Outkast is my favorite music entity ever. I've been an Outkast fan since ATLiens when I was 10. I remember waiting for "Elevators" to come on the radio so I can pop a blank tape in and record it and learn Andre 3000's last verse (which I can still recite flawlessly, don't even need the damn instrumental). But Outkast never had that perfect album. Even though this one was my shit, they never had one that I could listen to all the way through. This is the closest they had. I was lookin forward to this album for months and it came through. It never gets old.

3) The Greatest Rapper of All Time- Supreme Clientele. C'mon man. It's Ghostface Killah...the G.O.A.T. I've listened to this album almost once every couple of weeks for the past 5 years. I bought a pair of Wally's just off the strength of this album. This was the first Ghost album I bought, and he became my favorite MC immediately. I mean, he makes you think, and he always drops knowledge and uplifting music.

2) Madvillain- Madvillainy This is just real hip-hop. I mean, like 22 songs, no hooks, just a producer (Madlib) using jazz samples and random ass TV show snippets and MF DOOM wreckin every track. I mean, it's like 20-something songs and it's only like 55 minutes long. DOOM is one of my fave MC's and he just killed everything. He is the Concept King (sorry Papoose), I mean, what other album had an anti war song, a song about bad breath and a damn good break up song (prolly my fave break-up rap song ever besides "Big Ol' Butt"). By far the best album of 04.

1) Hov- The Blueprint Here it is man. This is my all-time fave, fuckers. yea yea yea, it's not the deepest of albums. But, this one, like the DMX album, has emotional resonance. I bought this album on 9/11/2001 and listened to "Renegade" all nite and watched the news just reflecting. But on it's own, this album is still greatness. I mean, 15 songs with only one guest and it's jammin the whole way through. Hov was beefing with Nas and you can tell it really motivated him. Also, an unknown cat named Kanye West produced six cuts. This album is flawless. It's a documentary of a man who is coming at every doubter with his head high, and he proved himself agains the odds. Who can't feel that?

Thanks for reading. Feedback is welcome.

Ben Folds Covers the Postal Service

Hat tip on this one goes to the crowd at All Things Go.

Watch out for the macarena cameo. Unsuitable for small children who weren't alive or awkward middle-schoolers when the macarena was popular.

State of the WALT

WALT has gotten off to a tremendous and record-breaking start this season. As of the end of last week, we have 74 student DJs hosting 46 shows. Simply put, this is the greatest student participation we've seen in the life of WALT since its humble start almost a decade ago. There is a great mix of content: music, talk, and everything in between. I am also pleased to announce that almost every single show from this semester will be available on the web as podcasts. That's right! Head over to WALT's home on the web and subscribe to your favorite shows!

Taylor, Owen, and I were recently interviewed by The Davidsonian about the history of the station, its recent successes, and its future plans. Be on the lookout for the article in a future edition of the campus paper!

More will be coming on this soon, but be on the lookout for details about...
- the second annual WALT benefit CD
- the second annual Freestyle Battle
- more eboard-in-action pictures
- and more!

Another video for your viewing pleasure...

Here's a fun little ditty. Dubya performs "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2 for his State of the Union address.

Meet the Eboard!

Although these will go up on the WALT site soon in some wicked-sweet flash player contraption, I thought I'd give you blog readers a special sneak peak at...

...the new...

...the improved...

...the WALTacular...

Meet the Eboard album:

WALT Eboard '06

For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti

Sufjan time. This one goes out to all of those (like me) who couldn't get tickets to the Chapel Hill show. dammit.

What We're Listening To: The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers

I lack both the street cred and the wit to write lengthy reviews on this blog or elsewhere. What I hope this will become will be a forum to share what new (or rediscovered) stuff Eboarders and DJs have been listening to incessantly. I'm hoping if I kick things off, others will follow (fingers crossed).

The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers


Look past the verbosity (hint: the song titles aren't any better) of the "begging to be taken seriously" band name. These guys, like me, are from Chapel Hill...and we're suckers for mellodrama.

I first ran into this band on a podcast from KEXP (out of Seattle, WA) about a month ago. The music is at once orchestral and raw, deliberate and driven, and I think it suits this, the first cold night of the fall. So there you go. The good news is that the band is offering a ton of free MP3 downloads here. Any of the songs that have links can be downloaded by right-clicking and hitting 'save as'. They'll have a *new* full-length out soon. Enjoy.

In case you're dense (we love you anyway):
Band.
Free Songs.
Buy It.