Can we revisit Black On Both Sides for a second?

[Jshockmtl]

I remember buying this the week after it came out at Fat Beats. Bought Pharoahe Monch's album also. I was on a weekend trip with my boys from university. I met Q-Tip at Fat Beats that day.

First time going to Tunnel that sunday!!!

 

[YoungMoneyCashMoneyBoy]

Black on Both Sides
Let's Get Free
Like Water For Chocolate

These albums came out around the same time and helped shaped my thinking growing up. This was when cash money and ruff ryders had shyt on lock and I loved them. But these albums opened my eyes and mind and shifted my thinking with Black On Both Sides starting that shift.

 

[Goat poster]

Mos was amazing at this point.

Rawkus really had a lane with thier brand of hip-hop.

 

[Piff Perkins]

It's a perfect hip hop album. Classic. People may point to it as the definitive "backpack" rap album but I'd argue most of that type of rap that came afterward missed a key part of that album: the beats are not only dope, they knock. So much late 90s and especially 00s era backpack shyt sounded paper thin and had forgettable beats. That album bumped.

 

[BmoreGorilla]

What a dope year 99 was. It was a pivotal year in my life. I graduated hs, turned 18, went to college on a football scholarship and it was my first time being around cacs


But that era in hip hop was crazy. After Big and Pac died shyt changed. There was no more east/west dominance. Every region in the country shined. And everybody had their own sound.

We even got a white boy who was respectable


But the craziest part was we had shyt like this getting mainstream attention. shyt that would’ve been dismissed as simply weirdo backpack rap was getting serious radio spins. And everybody was going platinum.

What a time it was

 

[Trot LaRoc]

BOBS is a top 20 hiphop album of all time

It was baccpakk but the beats banged and Mos had swag to his shyt. It wasnt sum carrot juice n incense nerd shyt. Dude just had that IT factor and A1 flow

Coulda been crossover star if he wanted to go that route

 

[thaKEAF]

Probably in my top 10 albums. Didn’t hear it in full until years after release but it’s everything you could want in a project.

 

[maxamusa]

BUMP...this is one of the hardest albums ever created

 

[Cloutius Maximus]

this aged very well. even the cover looks modern.

 

[Yayo Toure]

I'd add The Listening to that list. Phonte was highly influenced by Mos Def. I used to describe him to people as a down south version of Mos Def and Black Thought back before The Listening came out.

I never asked him outright but I believe strongly that Phonte singing was at least partially influenced by Mos. I wanna even say that 9th Wonder and Phonte became friends because one saw the other reading a Source magazine with Mos Def on the cover and they struck up a convo.

Must've been crazy for Phonte when he made that track with Mos.

 

[Da King]

Top 5 album

 

[EndDomination]

easily one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, and one of the greatest albums of all time

 

[BmoreGorilla]

I feel like some of the themes on this album are even more relevant now than they were back then

 

[BlackMajik]

What great album

 

[NormanConnors]

Link Mos up with Ski Beatz for a full album and you'll have another classic.

Ski gets entirely too slept on in here imo