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>For my HipHop old heads, where were you when these records >dropped? I copped both at The Wiz on Georgia Avenue in DC. > >Twenty years later, I wound up writing a book on 36 Chambers: >http://amzn.to/2lsJYxU
No one in my family was connected to hip hop, and I was the youngest child (at the time, till my folks split up). Watched TV more than I listened to music, and radio was much better than, as was video programming. Rap City, Yo MTV Raps, the Box, etc. In high school, I had folks who would make tapes for me, and I had Midnight Marauders, Tical, and Ready to Die in some combination on a tape. Can't remember what the 4th album was or if one was alone.
Release dates weren't something I tracked until I got to college, in the middle of nowhere and at the cusp of the internet (1996). My first CD was Mobb Deep Hell on Earth. I bought Ironman on tape because I didn't have a stereo that played CDs yet. My two closest friends were a big influence because they stayed playing the latest stuff. I remember one saying how "this Reasonable Doubt by Jay-Z is pretty dope." In any event, they started putting me on to stuff. I think I got a Columbia House or BMG membership and started building the catalog. By the time Wu Tang Forever came out, I was a full fledged head. I had heard 36 chambers several times by then, but it was only through repeated extended listens that stuff started to really seep in. I don't have a "when I first heard it" moment, that started with Ironman as far as Wu albums went.
MM, because Tribe was generally more accessible and radio/video friendly, was getting many more regular listens. As a matter of fact, I had been through MM no less than 30-50 times before I ever listened to LET, which many say is better. I will forever put MM at the top.
Regardless of being there for the release date, with time and experience, I can truly appreciate the significance of what they represented, especially at that time. Those two will always be in my top 20 hip hop albums of all time (likely my 10).
That 1998 release date was a hell of a day as well, but I wouldn't put any of those albums over either of these two. This wasn't just a "great day for hip hop releases," it was a seminal day in hip hop history.
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