- 01Do You Want More?!!!??!the RootsI was there because the Roots had been nominated for an award, Best Live Act, on the strength of the shows we were putting on in the wake of the release of Do You Want More?!!!??!from the chapter
- 02IllmaticNasThe two biggest records of the year, the two most important and acclaimed, were Nas’s Illmatic and Biggie’s Ready to Die .from the chapter
- 03Ready to DieNotorious B.I.G.The two biggest records of the year, the two most important and acclaimed, were Nas’s Illmatic and Biggie’s Ready to Die .from the chapter
- 04“Mind Rain”Joe ChambersState of Mind” sampled “Mind Rain” by the Philly legend Joe Chambers and painted vibrant urban pictures: “On the corner bettin’ Grants with the cee-lo champs / Laughin’ at base-heads, tryna sell some broken amps.” (Historical footnote: cee-lo was a Chinese dice game long before …from the chapter
- 05“Blowin’ Up in the World”Kool G RapState of Mind” sampled “Mind Rain” by the Philly legend Joe Chambers and painted vibrant urban pictures: “On the corner bettin’ Grants with the cee-lo champs / Laughin’ at base-heads, tryna sell some broken amps.” (Historical footnote: cee-lo was a Chinese dice game long before …from the chapter
- 06“Vibes and Stuff”A Tribe Called QuestState of Mind” sampled “Mind Rain” by the Philly legend Joe Chambers and painted vibrant urban pictures: “On the corner bettin’ Grants with the cee-lo champs / Laughin’ at base-heads, tryna sell some broken amps.” (Historical footnote: cee-lo was a Chinese dice game long before …from the chapter
- 07“Me and My Bitch”Notorious B.I.G.(And it even had its own cee-lo lyric, in “Me and My Bitch.”) That night, award after award came up, and every one went to Biggie.from the chapter
- 08It Was WrittenNasIt Was Written , his next record, was his most commercially successful release, but it was slicker and more radio-ready than Illmatic , with an overt move toward a street-hustler persona.from the chapter
- 09The ChronicDr. DreIt didn’t sound like Nas so much as it sounded like Nas sounding like Biggie, who, weirdly enough, cited Illmatic as his blueprint for Ready to Die (Puff’s north’s star was The Chronic ).from the chapter
- 10ControlJanet JacksonSee Control , 1987.) Puff came back in the other direction: “I live in the East, and I’m gonna die in the East,” he said, thankfully not prophetically.from the chapter
- 11AqueminiOutkast(André’s attempt to hold the negativity at bay—“We just want y’all to know the South’s got something to say”—went onto Aquemini , at the end of “Chonkyfire.”) The most controversial remarks came from Suge Knight, not surprisingly.from the chapter
- 12“Chonkyfire”OutkastAnd Outkast was jeered mercilessly.from the chapter
- 13Brown SugarD’Angelo(There was an extra irony in that I had missed a chance to play on Brown Sugar .from the chapter
- 14“Shit, Damn, Motherfucker”D’AngeloBob had invited me to record in a D’Angelo session with Ron Carter, the bassist.from the chapter
- 15VoodooD’AngeloFrom that moment, I was determined to connect with D’Angelo, and I did, through his second record, Voodoo , and beyond.)from the chapter
- 16“Never Stop Loving Me”Questlove’s pickCurtis MayfieldI first heard this in London, where I stole it from our tour manager Nou back in the early ’90s.from the chapter
- 17Something to Believe InCurtis MayfieldCurtis’s falsetto, maybe, or the forthright romantic lyric, or the fact that it was on an already-out-of-the-way Curtis album, Something to Believe In , in 1980, and was the last song—even the people who made it to the album didn’t make it to “Never Stop Loving Me.”from the chapter
- 18“Do You Know”Questlove’s pickMadilbI knew this only because of the original Con Funk Shun track.from the chapter
- 19“Open Your Eyes”Questlove’s pickPlatinum Pied PipersThis live album has many classic moments.from the chapter
- 20“Riding High”Faze-O“Riding High”/“Open Your Eyes” 12-inch, 2003 [Ubiquity]from the chapter
- 21“I Just Called to Say I Love You”Stevie WonderThis is Dilla’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” a song I only appreciate some 20 years after the fact.) But for some reason Dwele singing “How could you be so blind” rings more strongly than any of the other versions.from the chapter
- 22“Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything)”Donny HathawaySome people love—love—“Everything Is Everything.” There’s white-music cred in his cover of “Jealous Guy.” But this is musical and beautiful, his best vocal.from the chapter
- 23“Keep Him Like He Is”Questlove’s pickSyreetaI have come to make the (huge) assumption that when Syreeta and Stevie collaborated, she wrote the lyrics and he the music.from the chapter
- 24“Blame It on the Sun”SyreetaI have come to make the (huge) assumption that when Syreeta and Stevie collaborated, she wrote the lyrics and he the music.from the chapter
- 25“Baby That’s Backatcha”Questlove’s pickSmokey RobinsonThat to me is probably Smokey’s best fast song of the ’70s, and it’s perfectly located on the original album.from the chapter
- 26“Quiet Storm”Smokey RobinsonIt’s somehow not strong enough to open the album—especially not when “Quiet Storm” is your opener—but it can hold up the rest of side one.from the chapter
- 27“Shed”Questlove’s pickMacy GrayI am frustrated by this song, because I worked on most of this record, and this is the only song I didn’t work on.from the chapter
- 28“High Up on the Hook”Questlove’s pickAlice RussellA nearly perfect longish soul song (six minutes) from the English singer.from the chapter
- 29“Genevieve”Questlove’s pickCymandeI stole this from a mixtape, too, from my Roots bandmate Hub way back in the beginning.from the chapter
- 30“In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed”Questlove’s pickThe Allman BrothersI always put this closer to the end (of a mixtape, not this list, though it’s also at the end of this list, which is a kind of mixtape-in-print).from the chapter