Artists that Genuinely Amazed You When You First Heard Them

[stillmatic]

On first listen.

- NWA: Even after they had broken up, and it was around 1996 we still had to sneak their CDS around and hide them from our moms. Being 9 years old and listening to Straight Outta Compton for the first time is something I'll never ever forget. The moment you could just hear Ren's voice saying "N1ggaz with attitude" and then the beat going silent, and then ice Cube starts rapping. Wow. Even though things in New York with the cops were never as bad as they were in the Cali, we still had to deal with a lot of bullshit. NWA seriously got us through all that bullshit. I couldn't believe we had a voice like that for us out there. It was almost scary listening to it, I remember all the gun shots in their songs would make me jump.

Nas: The first time I heard Nas was when my uncle took me to the Hammerstein Ballroom in 1996 and Nas had a concert there. The first song Nas did for his set was the one that got me - Life's a bitch. I was a kid man, and to this day I reckon I was lucky Nas did that song first because the hook was easy to understand, like it grabbed your attention. If Nas did almost any other Illmatic track, who knows whether I'd be a fan today, because I wouldn't have understood it. I still remember his energy at that show man. A few weeks later, I bought my first CD and it was Illmatic. 2 years too late, but better late than never. A few months later It was written came out, and I was hooked forever.

Mobb Deep: This was all after Nas, where I was a hip hop head 24/7. At the time, everyone around our areas would always talk about their 'hoods and how they had the best rappers. So my friends introduced me to Mobb Deep. So after a minute of shit talking, P went in - Alright now, pay attention to the crime rhyme Houdini P/Keepin you niggaz in perspective/Mobb, representative, call me the specialist/Professional, professor at this rap science. That shit got me going crazy. It was so fucking grimey. The funny thing is I'd never even seen the Scarface movie at the time.

Tupac: All the older kids at school would always come to school with red bandanas on, and we never knew why. They were bullies so we never really had the balls to approach them, I mean it wasn't like we wanted to. One day at school a teacher didn't rock up, and no substitute was organized or something like that. So we had a free period. This around the time the older kids had their lunch breaks, so we were in the yard with them. They had a ghetto blaster with them with a 'Pac cassette, and the song that I heard first from start to finish was "If I die 2nite"....to this day it's still my all time favourite Tupac song. Man, I was speechless after I heard that song. That's probably my favourite rap song ever too. Since that day, no matter what the circumstances, every time Yo MTV Raps had anything Tupac related, I would skip class and run home to watch it. When Tupac died, it was like a close family member died. Can't believe they killed him like that. He was a prophet.

Biggie: Niggas in my faction don't like asking questions/Strictly gun testing, coke measuring/Giving pleasure in the Benz-ito/Hitting fanny, spending chips at Manny's. How do you NOT get hooked to that? That was the first Biggie song I ever heard, and I don't think I blinked for the entire first Biggie verse. Hook was scary. Got my heart racing. Damn. Funny thing is I made sure to watch Casino after that song. And how I got to watch that during those days is a whole other story lol.

50 Cent: The first time I heard about 50 was around 1998 or early 1999 when there was news on how this old lady that everyone sort of knew was robbed by some wannabe Mara Salv gangbangers outside her home in Baisley Park. Then word got around how some scrappy kid called "Boo Boo" went there alone with some gear and took it all back and left them in a bit of trouble. Word started getting around about him more and more every week doing this kind stuff. Then we started seeing him, and he was running with Supreme, and then against Supreme and everyone knew of the shit he was doing, but he was still good to the regular people. We heard he was coming with a CD, and everyone was praying he was a good rapper. Heard 'How to rob' and everyone was instantly hooked. Rap never had seen charisma like that before. Then he got shot. That was a bad day man, I remember my mom was even upset that day and she hated hip hop. Everyone knew it was Tyson's bodyguard Homicide on the orders of Supreme that got him, and then he got killed a few weeks later. Since then, we all know how its played out. 50's a legend in so many ways.

Eminem: White boys don't rap. Vanilla Ice. This, that. Gimmick. Waste of time. Friend tells me to start with track number something. "Just don't give a fvck" starts. Jaw drops.

[VenomBlackViper]

On first listen.

- NWA: Even after they had broken up, and it was around 1996 we still had to sneak their CDS around and hide them from our moms. Being 9 years old and listening to Straight Outta Compton for the first time is something I'll never ever forget. The moment you could just hear Ren's voice saying "N1ggaz with attitude" and then the beat going silent, and then ice Cube starts rapping. Wow. Even though things in New York with the cops were never as bad as they were in the Cali, we still had to deal with a lot of bullshit. NWA seriously got us through all that bullshit. I couldn't believe we had a voice like that for us out there. It was almost scary listening to it, I remember all the gun shots in their songs would make me jump.

Nas: The first time I heard Nas was when my uncle took me to the Hammerstein Ballroom in 1996 and Nas had a concert there. The first song Nas did for his set was the one that got me - Life's a bitch. I was a kid man, and to this day I reckon I was lucky Nas did that song first because the hook was easy to understand, like it grabbed your attention. If Nas did almost any other Illmatic track, who knows whether I'd be a fan today, because I wouldn't have understood it. I still remember his energy at that show man. A few weeks later, I bought my first CD and it was Illmatic. 2 years too late, but better late than never. A few months later It was written came out, and I was hooked forever.

Mobb Deep: This was all after Nas, where I was a hip hop head 24/7. At the time, everyone around our areas would always talk about their 'hoods and how they had the best rappers. So my friends introduced me to Mobb Deep. So after a minute of shit talking, P went in - Alright now, pay attention to the crime rhyme Houdini P/Keepin you ***** in perspective/Mobb, representative, call me the specialist/Professional, professor at this rap science. That shit got me going crazy. It was so fucking grimey. The funny thing is I'd never even seen the Scarface movie at the time.

Tupac: All the older kids at school would always come to school with red bandanas on, and we never knew why. They were bullies so we never really had the balls to approach them, I mean it wasn't like we wanted to. One day at school a teacher didn't rock up, and no substitute was organized or something like that. So we had a free period. This around the time the older kids had their lunch breaks, so we were in the yard with them. They had a ghetto blaster with them with a 'Pac cassette, and the song that I heard first from start to finish was "If I die 2nite"....to this day it's still my all time favourite Tupac song. Man, I was speechless after I heard that song. That's probably my favourite rap song ever too. Since that day, no matter what the circumstances, every time Yo MTV Raps had anything Tupac related, I would skip class and run home to watch it. When Tupac died, it was like a close family member died. Can't believe they killed him like that. He was a prophet.

Biggie: ***** in my faction don't like asking questions/Strictly gun testing, coke measuring/Giving pleasure in the Benz-ito/Hitting fanny, spending chips at Manny's. How do you NOT get hooked to that? That was the first Biggie song I ever heard, and I don't think I blinked for the entire first Biggie verse. Hook was scary. Got my heart racing. Damn. Funny thing is I made sure to watch Casino after that song. And how I got to watch that during those days is a whole other story lol.

50 Cent: The first time I heard about 50 was around 1998 or early 1999 when there was news on how this old lady that everyone sort of knew was robbed by some wannabe Mara Salv gangbangers outside her home in Baisley Park. Then word got around how some scrappy kid called "Boo Boo" went there alone with some gear and took it all back and left them in a bit of trouble. Word started getting around about him more and more every week doing this kind stuff. Then we started seeing him, and he was running with Supreme, and then against Supreme and everyone knew of the shit he was doing, but he was still good to the regular people. We heard he was coming with a CD, and everyone was praying he was a good rapper. Heard 'How to rob' and everyone was instantly hooked. Rap never had seen charisma like that before. Then he got shot. That was a bad day man, I remember my mom was even upset that day and she hated hip hop. Everyone knew it was Tyson's bodyguard Homicide on the orders of Supreme that got him, and then he got killed a few weeks later. Since then, we all know how its played out. 50's a legend in so many ways.

Eminem: White boys don't rap. Vanilla Ice. This, that. Gimmick. Waste of time. Friend tells me to start with track number something. "Just don't give a fvck" starts. Jaw drops.

Damn you on some OG shit. This is why you're on of my favorite posters on this site

[stillmatic]

Thanks homie.

I love these threads, because it introduces me to new music whilst reminiscing over classics at the same too.

I mean looking at some of the people listed here, I've never even heard of them. Rhyme Asylum, Hopsin, Aloe Blacc, Macklemore and so many more that you guys have listed.

Gives me the opportunity to listen to them now.

[Hiphopdane]

NWA - The whole idea of not giving a fuck and standing up for what you believe in in your life is amazing. A lot of rappers have tried to copy their image and rebellious lyrics but most of them have failed.

Journalist - It is not often new artists inspire me this much but Journlist is truly one of the better lyricists right now. There's a couple of sub par tracks on his album, Gas mask, but also a lot of stuff that is so well written it is not even funny.

The Notorious Big - I remember listening to Juicy for the first time and my first thought was "Damn, this guy is the Barry White of hip hop" haha. I love how he makes you feel you're actually at the places he describes in his songs. One of my favourite lines of his is "I heard Tec got murdered in a town I've never heard of" - AMAZING storytelling!

[Devil'sAdvocate]

Crooked I.
Nas.
Diabolic.
Joell Ortiz.

those fucking blew me out the water kinda dope.

[MikeNUFC]

Eminem - Was about 8 when I saw Forgot About Dre live on Top Of The Pops and I loved it. Then The Real SLim Shady came out and it was impossible to go a day without hearing it. Bought it on cassete and was in awe and what he was saying even though I didn't understand why he was so great. Like Satire, Kim scared me so much when my brother played it for me.

Nas - Brother was a Nas stan and I took Stillmatic of him when I was like 10 and kept playing it without my mum knowing. Always remember my brother loving "I rock hoes, you roc-a-fellas". I pretended I understood it. Even at 10 I was in awe of his concepts.

Masta Ace - Only last year I heard Disposable Arts. Mind was blown. Amazing concepts, smooth rhyming and flows, such easy-listening. Amazing stuff.

Lowkey - Heard Terrorist last year and was basically shaking at how great it was. Immedialey downloaded his discography. The feeling I got when I first heard Relatives and Obama Nation was so intense.

OutKast - First heard So Fresh So Clean when I was kid and just loved how smooth and crisp the flows were. Had me hooked from there.

[Hiphopdane]

Big daddy kane would be another one for me. The first track I listened to was Aint no half steppin - which is not even close to being his track - and I was just blown away. His rhymes are up there with the best of all time while his flows and general mic presence are almost untouchable. Sometimes I even think he is arrogant because he is simply so good.

[Wallace]

It's hard for me to get impressed imediately with the first listen, cuz most of the time it happened when i was distracted, busy or other stuff. Only the first song fits on the topic theme, others were special adds..

In the end - Linkin Park

I always loved to hear that song on radio, it was so different with the melody, somethin I never expected... almost 11 years passed, and it's still on my top 10 songs for life. Though I only discovered its name in 2004, since when it was released, I felt this is one of the best songs I ever heard and ever will. I gotta put this to play LOUD on my funeral

Someday - Sugar Ray

I gotta add this song, even not gettin impressed for the first time. In fact, it's hard to happen with me gettin impressed by te first listen. But I put this song on my Top forever.

O dia que não terminou - Detonautas (The day that didn't end, translated)

Song from a brazilian rock band. I'm brazilian, so of course I had to add it. Melody of the guitar and overall singin', lyrics feelin is somethin thousand years-light ahead everythin I heard around 2004
The masterpiece of that rock group. Never heard somethin even remotely as good as this song from the band again.

Twisted - Tech N9ne

Atually, "she devil" was heard before and most exactly "this ring" was the song that brought me to tech N9ne. But Twisted was heard after She devil and features D12, and this ring was heard after "Twisted" and "I'm a playa" so I count this as a solo Tech song that amazed me.

S.E.X - Lyfe Jennings
Heard the clip on MTV, 2007 i think. Thought it was musically outstandin' comparin to all the stuff by that time, searched and put on my folder imediately. My favorite from him, I also love "Never never land", "Keep on dreamin" and "it's real".

I don't remember gettin into an artist that easily... most of the time i have to "discover" them. Especially when I stopped hearin radio definitely, in 2005 and started dl MP3.

Em doenst count, cuz I discovered him with multiple songs. "Lose yourself", "Without me", "like toy soldiers" and "mockingbird" were heard in dif years and associated with him at the same year (2004). I even recorded on the same tape 2 of these songs.

[ShadyNarkoticz]

Probably the only artist that has amazed me when I first heard them was Eminem. My other favorite artists took me a little bit to get into them.

Eminem - I remember I had to have been 7 years old and my brothers told me to come check out this new video on TRL. It was My Name Is, and I've been hooked ever since. I played that video on loop for hours, annoyed the hell outta my brothers, haa.

[stillmatic]

S.E.X - Lyfe Jennings
Heard the clip on MTV, 2007 i think. Thought it was musically outstandin' comparin to all the stuff by that time, searched and put on my folder imediately. My favorite from him, I also love "Never never land", "Keep on dreamin" and "it's real".

My n1gga!!!

Lyfe is that dude. I love Lyfe. He's my favourite R&B singer of all time.

He's one of the true definitions of a hip hop and r&B artist, and in that order. There's guys like R Kelly, but they are R&B first, whereas Lyfe's style and persona is more hip hop. His voice is as hip hop as it gets.

Lyfe is a true OG. His stories are none of that fabricated crap you hear from all these pop R&B artists..

Much respect to Lyfe for managing to sell crazy whilst staying true to himself.

[Konseptic]

@Stillmatic, After reading your post i have the utmost respect for you, hats off to you sir

[dead prez]

snip

Cool stories bro


Funny part is it's not sarcasm