Inspirational Hip Hop

I've always been into hip hop since I grew up with mostly R&B music as a kid and hip hop is always associated with R&B in some ways. But I always geared more towards underground hip hop as opposed to mainstream. Of course, the occasional Jay-Z, Eminem, and Drake songs blast through my speakers every now and again, but majority of my hip hop tracks are underground or indie. I think there's something a little more special about the sounds of underground hip hop. There's something more inspirational about these artists since they speak through their hearts and not through their paychecks. Feel me? :P

I'll be posting a lot of underground hip hop on here, no doubt about it, but I hope those who don't usually listen to hip hop will give these tracks a chance because I think the lyrics a lot more relatable and the beats are mellow as opposed to harsh and catchy. Not that there's anything wrong with that either, just a preference though.

My favorite sub-genre of hip hop is hands down, Jazzy Hip-Hop. What got me into that in the first place was through the discovery of NUJABES, born Jun Seba. I'm sure most people know who that is, but in case you don't, he's a Japanese DJ that produced really mellow, turntable beats and started a trend in turntable-ism dubbed "Metaphorical music". Most notably, his music is featured on the anime SAMURAI CHAMPLOO. He's actually made a big impact on my life through his music and he passed away last February in a car accident. To this day, I wish I could meet the guy and thank him for inspiring so many people with his inspirational tunes, mellow melodies, and vibrant beats.


Anyway, that's my little hip hop intro lol. So just to reiterate in plain text, I'm not exactly a "Tupac" kind of hip hop fan, although I do listen to even him sometimes. I'm more into the underground hip hop or old school hip hop like Souls Of Mischief or new age underground like Kero One and the PlugLabel artists. I also really love artists like Nujabes because I love that he produces Instrumental tracks, as he is not a rapper. But when he does get uhp artists to feat on tracks, they are very inspirational and peaceful to listen to. I think the one thing that draws me to this type of hip hop is the beat incorporated with an instrument melody, like violin or piano. In any case, I'm pretty picky but I'd like to think I have a pretty good collection of nice hip hop tracks.

Rhema Soul (feat. Nicole Amina) - I Been


Anan Ryoko feat. Kero One - Forever We Will Be [mellow hip hop]


Specifics - Look Alive


Aether - Variance [instrumental hip hop - mellow]


[Edit]
Thanks to Eileen for pointing this out, but it seems that the artist Trey Songz has used the sample from Aether's Variance in this track! How weird! Well, not really, but I always find it funny when I hear instrumental tracks I find being used by known artists. Must mean they have good tastes too then right? Haha but yeah, thanks for the music look out! Always cool to recognize this kind of thing. :) Keen with the sounds.

+Lo+