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The Best Songs You Never Heard In 2008 – Part Two

December 24th, 2008

Thousands of One – Slaveship Mentality

My ignorance of all things hip-hop is embarrassing. It was even worse up until a few years ago. My exposure to hip-hop was through (this is even more embarrassing) the Beastie Boys, which I could remotely relate to. The only other exposure I had was to the “gangsta rap” of the 90’s, which I loathed. I dismissed a whole genre of music based on what was popular at the time.

Fortunately for me, MTV exposed me to De La Soul in the late 80’s. A few years back, I had a yearning to “rediscover” music like De La Soul’s. That’s when I found out that they were the pioneers of a movement. The Native Tongues “crew” focused on giving hip-hop it’s concious and social awareness back. Later additions include one of my favorite artists, Mos Def.

Thousand of One is reminiscent of those Native Tongues efforts, bringing a much needed social conciosness to the masses. Some of their songs crossover into the realm of the opinionated, but that’s what music is lacking these days. If more influential artists had an opinion on things that mattered, maybe more people would listen.

Buy there latest album, Soul Force, at cdbaby.

Thousand Of One – Slaveship Mentality

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