10 Rap Albums That Rock Fans Need To Check Out
6. Endtroducing - DJ Shadow
To anyone who didn't know any better, the idea of an instrumental hip hop album almost sounds silly. I mean, why the hell would you want to hear the kind of beats you were used to without having a compelling MC behind it to anchor everything to the ground? Something might be missing, but every so often you get something like Endtroducing where everything starts to make sense.
Being one of the first major tapes to become huge in the late '90s hip hop scene, it almost feels weird tying this specifically to one genre, given how much it borrows from everything from electronica to the more caustic sides of industrial in some places. For as much as this kind of thing feels scattered from track to track, you can hear its influences across the rock world, with Radiohead even admitting to using this album as the template for the backing track of Airbag off of Ok Computer.
Even up until the present day, you can still find records like these in the rock world, going more for the mood they create rather than the concrete songs that flow from track to track. Rock may be known for its intensity from one artist to the next, but these are the kind of vibes that can find a home on nearly any music fan's playlist.