12. Keak Da SneakCopium

The hyphy movement is really important to me, because it was this local rap movement that was so positive, and it was all dance music – the BPMs were higher than most rap songs, and you’d go to the clubs and it was weirdly desexualized, women wearing mouths full of gold teeth and big baggy clothes. Technology was getting cheaper, anybody could start recording music in their home, so the influx of rap music happening around us was crazy. Radio DJs were really promoting it – you would be at the traffic light, and everybody hops out their cars, because everyone’s playing the same song at the time, and it’s someone local, it’s a key song, and everybody’s out in the traffic, dancing until the light turns green. It was just wild to be around. All the music from that era sounds really good in a car with a big subwoofer and really shitty speakers – that’s the environment it was meant to be listened to. Copium is Keak’s magnum opus. He’s one of my favourite rappers, and this is a really good representation of Oakland rap, with really thick slang. You probably won’t understand what he’s saying if you’re not from there and didn’t can grow up with people who talk like that. But this is Keak rapping at his best over really, really good beats. If I’m from trying to get somebody into Keak, I tell them to start with this record, because it’s a little more easy to digest.