london posse - gangster chronicle (1990)

early 90's old-school british hip-hop. to be honest, I thought this was ok-not-great the first time I heard it, but the more I've been listening to it, the more I've enjoyed it. for one, I love posse hip-hop- the old school kind where posse members jump in and finish each other's rhymes and lines, and then everybody says the same thing at once. why don't rappers do this anymore? maybe because it was too fun. ok for two, I like hearing people with british accents rap, especially East London accents. it sounds cool. and three, I like old sample-based hip hop. this sounds kind of like a british version of EPMD, lots of great old jazz/funk samples and boom-bap. it gets a little old over the course of a whole album, but this stuff is great nonetheless.

London Posse - Gangster Chronicle
London Posse - Jump Around (Censored Mix)

super barrio bros - s/t (2007)

the Team Teamwork album made me think of the other major videogame/rap crossover album I know of, the Super Barrio Bros record. this album features two Project Blowed rappers, 8-Bit Bandit and Dumfoundead rapping about videogames over videogame samples. it works pretty well- its really really nerdy, not just because its about videogames, but because the rappers are the indie-backpacker type that put together overly verbose rhymes. I'm not really enough of a rap nerd to get way into that style of rapping, and one of the rappers has a really nasally voice that kind of grates on me. but its still a pretty interesting album, one i'd say worth hearing at least for its novelty value. I probably would have been all over this if I had heard it five years ago.

Super Barrio Bros - Bosses
Super Barrio Bros - Outro Instrumental

team teamwork - ocarina of rhyme (2009)

so I don't usually care much for mash-ups, but god knows I love videogames and this was floating around the internet today, so I thought I'd give it a shot. as might have been expected, this ends up being better in concept than in execution... for the most part. mostly, the samples from Ocarina of Time mesh poorly, and i'm not convinced that these guys really have all that good a grasp of how to construct a beat. however, two tracks definitely stand out. the first is the Aesop Rock remix, which makes good use of the already weird and rhythmic music from the Goron Village. the second is the Still Tippin' remix, which is a great song that's easy to remix, but also the juxtaposition of the rap with the Fairy Fountain music creates a beautiful and narcotic blend. I imagine Link tripping off fairy dust while Slim Thug sips sizzurp.

Aesop Rock - No Jumpercables (Goron Village)
Slim Thug & Mike Jones - Still Tippin' (Great Fairy Fountain)