Born To Audiomack: lesser-celebrated faves by Martorialist faves

A caveat: lemme cook even tho youse lot probably know these songs and I've posted most of them in the past. Basically, ya boy wanted to spread love to some songs I absolutely love by some of my favourite rappers which well-meaning middlebrow Rap fans will be oblivious to.

1. Spoonie Gee - Spoonie Gee (1987)
2. Mac Dre - Mac Dre's The Name (1989)
3. Devin The Dude - Yo' Ho (2002)
4. Dru Down - Gangstafied (2002)
5. TREE - The 3rd Floor (2010)
6. Gucci Mane - Ring The Alarm (2013)
7. Max B - Phenomenon (2020)
8. Nef The Pharoah - What Do You Like (2023)



1. One of the handful of tracks Spoonie Gee & Marley Marl recorded together. Some seats-pushed-back Rap for 1987 Audi coupes AND 1987 Skoda hoopes. The first Rap song to use the Ohio Players sample later made famous by Mary J. Blige & Grand Puba's What's The 411?.

2. Of course every Mac Dre maven knows and loves Mac Dre's The Name. But because it's never appeared on any of his albums and never made it to DSPs the song has been overlooked by everyone else. We can't have that because that Vaughan Mason sample is the reason why it's the one Mac Dre song every boomer-bap dinosaur can't front on.

3. A true Kazaa klassic: the Dr. Dre track from the advance version of Devin The Dude's second album which vanished from the retail version. **DJ Kay Slay voice** ONLY DEVIN COULDA DONE SMUT LIKE THIS, YO!!!

4. The best song Dru Down recorded in the 2000s: some Slapp & Roger-core which Suga Free coulda/shoulda guested on.

5. It's a pity most folks TREE fandom begins with Sunday School because his earlier releases are stuffed with gems. Take The 3rd Floor here which is both my personal highlight of TREE's first LP and the birth of his Soul-Trap sound.

6. The last Gucci Mane song I truly loved: one of the final and finest examples of tubby wildman Gucci, taken from a peak Livemixtapes-era Zayyoten compilation. True story: Gucci's Ric Flair "WOOOOO"s on this body every wrestling reference by Action Bronson and all those charmless Griselda nerks.

7. I'd pretty much given up on Max B's new music after his awful Wave Gods and House Money tapes. And then he reconnected with Dame Grease for this song tucked away on his best of Wave Pack album and Biggavelz was back like he left his car keys. Max mania like it's 2009 all over again.

8. A good example of a nostalgia-bait beatjack which I prefer to the song it begets: Nef The Pharoah's blappification of Da Brat & Tyrese's What'Chu Like. Also a good example of how the Kid Cuddy Nef is an old soul in a new Rapper's body.