Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic (1974)

Recently my younger brother got seriously into Steely Dan and begged me to listen to everything they'd ever done. I told him I'd get around to it sometime, but I can't just skip ahead every time someone suggested I absolutely had to listen to something. I skip around in my list often enough on my own. If I kept jumping ahead to things I wanted to listen to I'll never get to the crap that everyone would agree doesn't belong.

N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton (1988)

I am now about to witness the strength of street knowledge, brought to me by some guy who thought "Ice Cube" was a badass name and lots of cheesy dated drum tracks. Nope, can't fuck with that! The knowledge he imparts has something to do with how he's a badass and some people are pussie niggas and some women are bitches. And damn that shit is DOPE! I am impressed with Ice Cube's ability to rhyme "product" with "narcotics." I already feel like I've been listening for an hour, but really it's been 3 minutes, and there's still 57 to go.

Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun (2000)

I'm not really surprised that the album pictured above opens with a reggae-inspired number. I am a bit surprised that I sorta like it. Aside from the vocal track having a sharp tone applied (I don't know the technical term) the instrumentation is deep and balanced, and the song winds up being more than just a long slow groove. It's a nice kick-off to an artist I've never heard of before.

Portishead - Dummy (1994)

The Kinks - Are The Village Green Preservation Society (1968)

Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation: 1814 (1989)

Leonard Cohen - Songs From A Room (1969)