Hostile Reconnaissance: Recent Episodes
Hostile Reconnaissance
It's bigger than hip hop... Bringing together a love of 80s, 90s and 00s hip-hop and generally talking rubbish, Hostile Reconnaissance bring you a monthly podcast aiming to answer (none of) the biggest questions in hip-hop and rap culture, as seen from the UK.
A continuation of our series looking at the last great hip-hop album, we go in-depth with Lupe Fiasco's fifth studio album, Tetsuo & Youth. It's pretty clear is a concept album, and may not be on many people's lists, but as Sunny explains, there's a lot more to this album than it might seem.
Join us on this episode to find out more.
Includes message from our sponsors, Zencastr. Use our special link to save 30% off your first month of any Zencastr paid plan.
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Here's the second of another two part podcast episode. This double episode is about tracks that brought us back, or made us fall in love with hip-hop again, when our passion had waned somewhat. Loads of great and unknown tracks mentioned, featuring artists such as Nas, Riz MC, and the UMCs.
We recorded this episode in November 2022 and only just getting round to publishing it now. There's like another 5 or 6 recorded ready to go. We've got day jobs, families and other hobbies (like listening to music) to fit in. Why do we keep talking for so long? Fuck.
In a weird twist of fate, we also stumbled upon another podcast, 'Bars, Rhymes and Life' who just so happen to steal our format: two guys, one sweary Asian, one white guy called Elliott, talking about hip-hop. Except these bastards are far more polished than us, and release to a proper schedule. At least our title isn't tautological. Hah, so we have that over them. Seriously, check 'em out, they're really good. The bastards.
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Here's the first in another two part podcast episode. This time about tracks that brought us back, or made us fall in love with hip-hop again, when our passion had waned somewhat. Loads of great and unknown tracks mentioned, featuring artists such as Madlib, Nas, Joey Bad4$$, Danger Mouse, and some funky 70s tracks.
We recorded this episode in November 2022 and only just getting round to publishing it now. There's like another 5 or 6 recorded ready to go. We've got day jobs, families and other hobbies (like listening to music) to fit in. Why do we keep talking for so long? Fuck.
In a weird twist of fate, we also stumbled upon another podcast, 'Bars, Rhymes and Life' who just so happen to steal our format: two guys, one sweary Asian, one white guy called Elliott, talking about hip-hop. Except these bastards are far more polished than us, and release to a proper schedule. At least our title isn't tautological. Hah, so we have that over them. Seriously, check 'em out, they're really good. The bastards.
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Here is the concluding part of our numbers episode, where we counted down from a lot to a bit less. This one is from 100 downwards.
In this episode, we countdown interesting numbers and associated hip-hop tracks. From Jay-Z's 99 Problems to 1nce Again by Tribe,we use any excuse to dredge up anything vaguely numerically-related. Sunny is definitely better with words than numbers; his counting got a little out of whack!
Marcus' audio seems really weird in this episode, so apologies. We are having him replaced with generative AI as we speak, so life should be much better soon.
As always, we have an associated Spotify playlist. Look out for the next episode where we look at tracks that brought back our love of hip-hop.
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After an epic three-parter looking at the 26 letters of the alphabet, we thought we would make it easier for ourselves by giving some constraints. Just all the numbers...
In this episode, we countdown interesting numbers and associated hip-hop tracks. From Tribe's 8 Million Stories to Ghostface's Daytona 500 we use any excuse to dredge up anything vaguely numerically-related.
Marcus' audio seems really weird in this episode, so apologies. We are having him replaced with generative AI as we speak, so life should be much better soon.
As always, we have an associated Spotify playlist, and don't forget to come back for part deux where we count down from 100.
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Thank f### for that. We finally finished this mega episode. I'm not even going to go through the remaining couple of hours when we kept rolling.
On this episode, we trade letters of the alphabet for some little known, or forgotten, gems. Tracks from Vinnie Paz, Naughty by Nature, Xzibit and more.
Check out the previous two episodes in this mini series and don't forget the accompanying Spotify playlist.
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We carry on with another episode from the A-Z recording. We recorded over 5 hours in total (it was a long night), so here is part 2, taking you from H to Q.
Be prepared for some hidden gems, some unmentioned classics and some slept on tracks and artists. Recorded as an end of year special for 2021; this episode turned into a monster.
You can peruse all the tracks we mention via this episode's Spotify playlist, or contact us via Twitter (if it is still here) or Instagram (both @hostilerecon).
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Be prepared for some hidden gems, some unmentioned classics and some slept on tracks and artists. Recorded as an end of year special for 2021; this episode turned into a monster. Sunny and Marcus were talking for over 5 hours, but rather than put you through it in its entirety, this is the first part. Borrowing from Blackalicious, this is A to G!
Check out the Spotify playlist, or contact us via Twitter (if it is still here) or Instagram (both @hostilerecon).
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Questlove, drummer for The Roots, director, author and all-round music genius, said that he thought 1993-4 was the greatest period of creativity for Hip Hop. Strong words seeing as almost all of his musical career comes after that time. It is widely regarded that 1988 is the greatest year in Hip Hop.
Sunny and Marcus couldn't agree. So, what did we do? We had an album shoot-off (less violent than it sounds), to hopefully end the arguments and crown one year as the greatest of all time (so far?!?).
In order for it to be a fair fight, we welcomed back Andy as referee and judge. Andy is 100% fair as she hates us both equally. The only downside is she hasn't actually heard half the albums proposed.
So, from Big Daddy Kane to Nas, Public Enemy to Wu-Tang Clan, and KRS-One to, erm, KRS-One, enjoy this smorgasboard of some of the greatest albums ever released, picked from the two greatest eras in Hip Hop.
As always, you can listen to the tracks on Spotify. If you want to join the conversation, hit us up on Twitter (@hostilerecon) or Instagram (@hostilerecon)
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In this episode, Sunny sets Marcus a challenge: Listen to some carefully selected Bhangra tracks, analyse and evaluate them, and then give feedback without upsetting about 190 million people.
Bhangra originates from a folk dances of the same name from the Punjab region in South Asia, traversing the modern-day Indian and Pakistani borders. The Punjab is famous for its agriculture, but has been the location of political, cultural and religious disagreements over the years (understatement definitely intended). However, the music that grew out of the area is widely recognised world-wide, centred around the sounds of Dhor drums and Tanpura.
With the growth of the diaspora in the UK and USA from the 1970s, the incorporation of elements of hip-hop and popular western music has created what is normally described as the catch-all for Punjabi music: Bhangra.
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In this episode, Sunny sets Marcus a challenge: Listen to some carefully selected Bhangra tracks, analyse and evaluate them, and then give feedback without upsetting about 190 million people.
Bhangra originates from a folk dances of the same name from the Punjab region in South Asia, traversing the modern-day Indian and Pakistani borders. The Punjab is famous for its agriculture, but has been the location of political, cultural and religious disagreements over the years (understatement definitely intended). However, the music that grew out of the area is widely recognised world-wide, centred around the sounds of Dhor drums and Tanpura.
With the growth of the diaspora in the UK and USA from the 1970s, the incorporation of elements of hip-hop and popular western music has created what is normally described as the catch-all for Punjabi music: Bhangra.
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We all love hip-hop, why else would you be listening to this podcast, but there are times when you hear something and go full Black Rob "like, Woah!"
This episode is about all those moments when you've been shaken to your core by something so new or so amazing. Those moments change your life and make you see things differently. From albums, tracks, or even just a beat drop, these are the moments that stick with you forever. Sunny and Marcus pick some of their favourite wow moments and explain why it had the impact it did.
The Spotify playlist for this episode is something special, and we can't wait to see what you add to the Collaborative playlist (or listen to it).
Hit us up on Twitter or Instagram if you want to join the conversation.
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Nope, this isn't episode looking at the sporting prowess of athletes turned hip hop stars, this is a weird thought experiment where we try to match the personalities, styles and technical abilities into our imagined hip hop football (soccer) and cricket (like baseball but with more cream teas) XI.
Sunny and Marcus go through their criteria and thoughts to come up with their own XI, and eventually agree on a combined team for both sports. We know the Venn diagram for people who like hip hop, football and cricket is largely a bunch of independent circles, but we enjoyed it.
Who will be our crazy left back? Who will be the star striker? Who will open the batting? Find out in this episode.
Remember we have Instagram and twitter if you want to tell us we are wrong, and we've got Spotify playlists (ours and collaborative) for you to enjoy.
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In this episode, we take a closer look at one of the most underrated and important albums in hip-hop, dead prez's 2000 debut 'Let's Get Free'. Although the lead single, Hip Hop, is well known - even making it into a VW advert - but the rest of the album is embarrassingly slept-on.
Sunny and Marcus pick through the tracks and explore some of the themes within what is initially a straight-forward album, and discover layers of complexity and depth.
Let's Get Free is dead prez's debut album, released in 2000 by Loud Records. It is unapologetically militant, socialist and pan-Africanist in nature. It is also a complicated, sometimes contradictory album. Although it could be argued that sometimes the music lets it down, and M1 and stic.man are not the best MCs (note: they're still damn good), this album is one of the most important releases in music. Of all genres.
Don't agree, or want to join the conversation, then let us know on twitter or Instagram (@hostilerecon). And check out the album in full on Spotify.
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Following on from episode 14, where we looked at Small Town Rap, we started to dig deeper into some of the reasons why there was such a paucity of rappers from outside the metropolises of the US. Sunny managed to mention all his favourite philosophers (including himself).
This is a long one, but hopefully an enjoyable one.
Hit us up on twitter or instagram, and remember to check out the Spotify playlist from this episode, or contribute to the collaborative Spotify playlist.
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When we think of hip-hop and rap, it is often inextricably linked to place. Most often, these places are the densely populated urban areas in America; after all, hip-hop was born in those places, and they contain all the ingredients needed to create the environment for hip-hop to report on.
In this episode, we look to those small towns, the ‘other’ places were hip-hop has grown and flourished. We are still limiting ourselves to USA, but we look at a number of artists from smaller towns and analyse their music and their impact.
As usual, instagram and twitter are there to continue the conversation. Listen to the music from the episode or add tracks from your favourite ‘small town’ rapper to our collaborative playlist.
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They fell off, they came back harder. This episode looks at artists whose careers took a turn and celebrates their triumphant return to form/status/notoriety.
In this episode, we try to look beyond the typical examples of Nas, Common and Dr Dre, and focus on some less obvious examples. We hope you enjoy it.
If you want to join in the conversation, remember that we have twitter and Instagram, we’d love to hear your feedback and comments.
As always, we have our Spotify playlists too, one of the tracks in the episode (if you prefer the music without our voices over the top) and one where you can add your own comeback hits!
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Remember when you heard that one track, and immediately rushed out to get the album? (Or set about saving your pennies in order to buy it). Well this isn’t an episode about that track. No, this is about the hidden gold on those albums.
First of all, you listen to the big track on repeat until you know every word, you feel every drum beat, and absorb each sample. Then you start exploring the rest of the album, and after a few listens, other tracks catch your attention. As you listen more, you are drawn in, until you realise that it soon becomes your favourite track on the album.
In this episode, Sunny and Marcus explore some of those ‘second hand love’ tracks – of varying quality. Sunny’s tastes were of a slightly higher quality, maybe.
Want to reach out to us and join the conversation? Hit us up on Twitter or Instagram, listen to our playlist or add your own tracks to the collaborative Spotify longlist.
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In this episode we follow on to a conversation on twitter, where someone claimed Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince was the ultimate summer hip hop track. Others (Dart Adams, et al.) said Fight the Power by Public Enemy was the epitome of Summer.
We take a step back, and make some suggestions for the most apt track for each of the four seasons (in temperate climates – apologies for our lack of flexibility on this issue).
So what is it that makes a track ‘summer-y’, and what on Earth is an ‘autumn’ track? We don’t have answers, but we have some suggestions.
Let us know your thoughts on twitter or Instagram. As always, check out our playlists, and add your own suggestions.
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“Hello everybody. Recording Live from somewhere…”
After a discussion about the Fugees’ The Score as a classic album, we started to consider what other albums released afterwards could be deemed as classics. So this is the first in a mini-series we are calling ‘the last great hip hop album’.
When Mos Def and Talib Kweli first appeared on some early Rawkus releases, you could see the talent both held, but ‘Fortified Live’ and the freestyle on Soundbombing didn’t compare with what was to come 29 September, 1998, when their eponymous first (and to this date, only – c’mon Madlib) album dropped. Starting with a weirdly chilled out intro, with the sample: “We feel that we have a responsibility… to shine a light… into the darkness”, we already knew that this was the antithesis to the Bad Boy pop-rap or the Gangsta aesthetic. By the time the thesis was laid out in ‘Astronomy (8th Light)’, we were prepared for what came next…
Looooooooord… Lord have mercy
We then witnessed an aural, pan-African tour de force. Seamlessly blending a complex message, delivered accessibly through some of the most intricate and precise delivery you could hear. Backed up by production from Ge-ology, Shaun J. Period, Da Beatminerz, 88-Keys, J. Rawls, and Hi-Tek (who delivers six of the 13 tracks, including most of the big ones), this is an education, a call to action, and a celebration of blackness.
Is Mos Def and Talib Kweli are… the last classic hip-hop album? We’d love to hear your views, so hit us up on at @HostileRecon via Twitter or Instagram, or via the comments section.
As usual, here are our playlist, and your playlist.
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Dear Lord, I know I don’t pray, and I don’t really believe, but I’m invoking Pascal’s Wager and asking you to get rid of crappy skits and pointless introductions to hip hop albums, and give us something awesome straight off the bat. Amen.
For far too long, artists don’t seem to have a clue about how to start their albums (a few notable artists aside who build albums like castles), so this is an episode dedicated to those who hit hard from track 1. Be it a bona fide classic (like Straight Outta Compton – NWA), to an album that begins creating the mood (like Be – Common, and to be fair, NWA did create a mood right there…).
As usual, hit us up in the comments below, via Twitter (@HostileRecon) or Insta (@HostileRecon).
Don’t want to hear our conversations? Then enjoy (most of) the tracks we discuss on our Spotify shortlist. And if you want to add your suggestions, then check out our collaborative longlist.
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So what does it mean to be underrated in hip-hop? Is it a lack of commercial success, widespread notoriety, or a lack of respect from your peers? In this episode we discuss some of the artists who we feel failed to get the recognition their talents probably deserved.
From individuals as part of a collective, e.g. Posdnous from De La Soul or Treach from Naughty by Nature, who are somewhat hidden by the brilliance of their groups, to solo artists who never quite made it – whatever ‘making it’ is.
Basically, we just wanted to talk about some of our favourite artists who never get close to making it onto various ‘greatest ever’ lists.
Want to continue the conversation, we’re @hostilerecon on twitter and Instagram.
And check out our playlists – disagree with our list, then add to the collaborative list.
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Who is the best MC? Who has the best bars? Best tracks? As fans of hip-hop, these are often the questions we ask each other. And everyone has an opinion. In this episode, we consider the most consistent – a subtly different question altogether.
Throughout artists’ careers there defining moments (see Common’s Resurrection) and huge drop-offs (see Common’s Universal Mind Control). Over long careers and multiple releases, we often see a fluctuation in quality, whether this is because of loss of hunger, not landing a reinvention of the artist’s style, or something else. As fans, we are invested in our favourite artists delivering the music we love.
Sunny and Marcus walk through some of our thoughts about who is the most consistent artist in hip-hop, and I’m afraid we’ve got the answer. Apologies to everyone else who wants to debate this subject, it’s already been decided.
If you disagree (but why would you), you can join in the discussion on twitter or instagram.
As always, we’ve pulled together some playlists too. One of our choices, and another where you can add your favourite tracks.
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We’ve all been there, listening along to a track, when BOOM, on comes a guest artist and blows the track away. In this episode, Sunny and Marcus look at ten great guest verses (although we aren’t great at counting) and pass comment.
Guest spots are often variable in quality, especially where an established artist takes their cheque for their appearance on the track to boost sales. However, some MCs really shine as guests, often beyond what they may achieve on their own work. Whether it is the lack of pressure, or the competition, or just that their solo work may lack the consistency across a project, whereas the guest spots stand out as beacons. It’s often also a chance for great MCs to collaborate with the hope of something truly extraordinary occurring.
We have tried to steer clear of the ‘usual suspects’ you always see in the listicles and of course we had our own set of arbitrary and esoteric rules. Naturally the conversation comes back to some of the greatest MCs of all time, such as Pharaohe Monch, but we also include some of the less well known (at least in the mainstream) such as RA the Rugged Man and Percee P. Common may also get a mention.
As always, if you disagree, let us know via Twitter or Instagram. We’ve also put together a Spotify playlist of the tracks we discuss, and also another where you can add your own suggestions.
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Hip-hop is littered with basslines and melodies that shakes you out of your seat or have you nodding until your head nearly falls off. It also contains some of the most imaginative, intellectual and socially-interrogative lyrics and the ability to fuse words with the rhythm like nothing else.
When all these things work together, it is heaven. When they don’t, well… they make their way into this episode of our podcast.
In this episode, we look at examples of where great beats are wasted by inadequate or inferior rhyming.
Disagree with what we think? Let us know on Twitter or Instagram or in the comments below. On reflection, you’re probably right!
As always, we have got a Spotify playlist of tracks we mention in the episode, and also an open playlist that you can add to if you think of some even better examples.
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On this episode we are joined by a special guest, Andy, who posed us a tough question:
If you met an alien who had never heard music before, and you could pick one song to play for them, what would you choose?
While I have no doubt that Andy didn’t come up with this question on her own, it is an intriguing one. Marcus and Sunny each suggested three different tracks that we shared with Andy beforehand, and all three discussed the relative merits of each before choosing one track to play to an alien.
Hope you enjoy – as always, have a look at our website hostilerecon.com or get in touch via twitter @hostilerecon or Insta @hostilerecon
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It’s fair to say that women rappers haven’t had the opportunities that male rappers have, and given the misogynistic nature of a lot of hip-hop, the female MC is a rarefied beast.
In this episode, we look at some of the most influential and talented women rappers in a vain attempt to rank our top 5. We look at the superstars, like Lauren Hill, and some of the underrated or unnoticed MCs, like Sa-Roc.
What becomes clear is that there are some stand-out performers who could hold their own regardless of gender, and some who occupy a narrow lane but do it really well.
Hope you enjoy – as always, have a look at our website hostilerecon.com or get in touch via twitter @hostilerecon
Enjoy
{Sorry, there’s some weird distortion on the track – I’ve switched from Audacity to Audition to try and fix it, but my talent with either software is limited. Not sure if it is an artefact of the recording (maybe mobile phone interference) or caused by the various filters I randomly selected. Anyway, hopefully it doesn’t spoil your listening pleasure}
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Who doesn’t love a posse cut? If you’re not sure what they are, they’re when a group of MCs come together to trade rhymes, normally over an extended beat. Normally you get the best rhymes and best interplays as the MCs compete for the best verses. Sometimes you get a little skulduggery (great word yet underused in hip-hop).
In this episode, we each discuss our top 5 posse cuts and some of the others that didn’t quite make the list.
If you want to ignore us and just listen to the tracks we selected, then here is a YouTube playlist of our top 10 posse cuts (and here are the tracks if Spotify is your thing) and if you fancy seeing our entire long list of posse cuts on YouTube then have at it – enjoy
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From the release of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in 1993, the Wu-Tang Clan have been one of the most celebrated collectives in Hip-Hop. Their collective and individual work has involved many members from the wider Wu family. In this episode, we attempt to dissect the most important of topics:
Who is the best rapper in the Wu-Tang Clan?
Enjoy our first attempt at podcasting as we discuss our way through the permanent Wu-Tang Clan members and attempt to rank them in order.
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