10 Perfect Rap Rock Albums With No Bad Songs
It's not all red caps and cargo pants...
Now, I bet you're thinking this is going to be a list comprised of nu metal bands... Well, you'd be wrong. Certain bands from that school had their virtues, but the world of rap rock extends far beyond red cap wearing white men pretending to be from the hood...
The fusing of guitar led rock, with elements of hip hop goes back to the early '80s. It slowly simmered around in the underground until the mid '90s, when it received a modicum of attention.
The brutal social commentary of rap artists, married perfectly with the aggressive delivery of punk and heavy rock. Sadly, as the movement developed, the social commentary was thrown out in exchange for self-indulgent and self-glorifying sentiments. The 2000s saw a surge in the mainstream for the genre, with a plethora of metal bands building on the work of Faith No More and Rage Against The Machine. But, rap rock didn't die when people got tired of nu-metal.
In a time when genre lines are becoming ever more blurred, young artists are finding innovative ways to marry hip hop and rap with guitar music. From classics, to modern day game changers, these rap rock albums are the cutting edge of musical fusion.
10. Follow The Leader - Korn (1998)
By all accounts, the recording process of this album was soaked in more hedonism than Sodom and Gomorrah. All day, every day, people were drinking, smoking, snorting and f**king. Jonathan Davis recorded the vocals to the opening number, It's On, while band members were indulging their carnal desires behind him. You can almost hear the debauchery in the sleazy guitar lines and down and dirty bass melodies. Even the opening lyric "save some for me" hints at the sordid behaviour that went down. It' no surprise this album sounds so filthy.
Freak On A Leash, showed the band's affinity for '90s hip hop, leaning into rhythms your more like to find on a gangsta rap album. We also got Davis exhibiting some of his signature scat singing. The grinding motion of the hip hop laced melody on, All In The Family, featured one of Fred Durst's more enjoyable performances during this era. Gangsta rap icon, Ice Cube, also contributed to the album, appearing on, Children of the Korn. But, a key component to the distinctive sound on this album was Reginald 'Fieldy' Arvizu's bass playing. He utilised a loose and bouncy, slap bass technique, that gave the group's sound a distinctive groove.
For all the criticism thrown at nu metal, this was a damn fun album.