I Miss the 90's

My childhood memories are inextricably mixed a (perhaps fantasized) image of the "golden age" present nowadays in the lyrics of wizened old MC's. I remember a 90's New York (more specifically, Prospect Heights and Flatbush, Brooklyn, where I grew up) as a blur of BBQ's, West Indian Day Parades, and red cherry ice's that cut your lips. Call me nostalgic, perhaps even romantic, but at some point I became obsessed with this period of New York City's history. The transition phase--a no-man's land between the wreckage of the eighties and the inflated, hipster-filled realm of the 21st century--a time when you could still buy loosies or use tokens. When red painted train cars still ran, at the height of graffiti, this was the glory age of Hip Hop...

My junior year of high-school I beat my friend in a game of c-lo for a Mecca t-shirt (remember them?) and a DJ Skribble mixtape. Suffice to say that the mixtape didn't leave my cd player for a month or two. It seemed at the time that I had finally found the sound I had always been searching for (again, forgive my romanticism). Anyway, the mixtape, which dug deep into the a quickly dying music tradition of the 90's, became my new drug--and I spent the next two years exploring that incredible moment in hip hop history...

When I got to college, that music began disappearing from my life. New people turned me on to new music and I moved on. Fast forward two years and I'm sitting in my bedroom listening to yet another fast-paced electronica remix or something...UGH. Don't get me wrong, I love the stuff, but goddamn...sometimes I gotta bring it back. I started searching through my computer and what do I find? NaS's Illmatic...ahhhhh. Anyway, since then I've been on a serious east coast 90's kick, and I thought I'd share some of it with you. I threw this sampler together for anyone interested.

I Heart 90's NYC
Track Listing:
Powaful Impak!-Black Moon
Woo Hah-Busta Rhymes
Oh My God-A Tribe Called Quest
The Rep Grows Bigga-Gang Starr
Bucktown-Smif N Wessun
Everyday Struggle-The Notorious B.I.G.
Memory Lane (Sittin' in the Park)-NaS
Drink Away the Pain-Mobb Deep
Supa Star-Group Home
Rainy Dayz-Raekwon the Chef
D'Evils-Jay-Z
Street Struck-Big L
4th Chamber-GZA
Come Clean-Jeru the Damaja
Outta Here- KRS ONE
Return of the Crooklyn Dodger-Various Artists

Or you can download a zip of the singles

Enjoy,

(speakeasy)