1. Wu-Tang ClanEnter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
This was the first hip-hop album I can remember really loving, like, listening to from start to finish, over and over. This and Dre’s The Chronic, but that was more like, with my brother in the car, just listening to it. But for obsessively looking at all the details of the production, the Wu-Tang album was the first time I was interested in what a producer did to make it sound like that. I loved the MC’ing, but it was really the production that caught my ear. It’s so harsh and aggressive, so mean sounding. When I listen to it I feel so tough. That’s what I love about it. It makes me feel like, "Yeah! I can do this. Don’t mess with me!" I love anything that makes me feel that way. Wu-Tang created a whole universe with that album – all the kung fu samples and stuff. That was so exciting. I love thinking about it. I haven’t heard the new album, but it feels to me like there isn’t that sense of unity any more. They aren’t all fully invested in it and that’s kind of a bummer. That was part of it too – they were all together presenting this thing to the world. Kind of: "You’ve never experienced anything like us." The confidence of it. That blew my mind.
