great questions...
1. My favorite hip hop memory... mmmm so many....freestyling at a club in Marseilles France in 1992 New Years Eve. I was killing it. and the french citizens loved it.

2. Way back in '79 when a friend of my mother's gave me a copy of "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar HIll Gang... 16 minutes of pure funk! I played that record over and over. i was mesmerized. I never sung Merengue after that.

Sent by Brother Omi | 9:35 PM ET | 06-14-2007

My favorite hip hop memory is going to some club in NYCity and seeing Busta Rhymes open for The Fugees.

I was one of the first mainstream journos to interview The Fugees. I remember taking the trio to Ollie's noodles near Columbia U., and then going back to Lauryn's dorm room.

Her roommate huddled under the covers and she showed me how her stereo had only one working speaker. Which made it... mono.

Anyhow, at this show, at this basement club--I think it was a Vibe event during the Clinkscales era--The Fugees ROCKED it. I was not so impressed w/ Busta. I thought "he won't make it in this biz."

I was wrong.

Which just goes to show...

Anyhow...

As for albums... not to dodge the question but for rap greats I think in singles.

I have a fondness for concept albums, though, and I totally adore the Handome Boy Modeling School's 1999 album "So...How's Your Girl?" (And NO, that audio on the site is not from "So... How's Your Girl" but a much less trippy subsequent album.)

The Handsome Boy Modeling School are Prince Paul (who put out a pretty fab concept album called "Psychoanalysis: What Is It?") and Dan the Automator. "So...How's Your Girl?" riffs off of an episode of Chris Elliott's short-lived comedy series "Get a Life".

In each of their spare time, the Handsome boys are busy. Prince Paul handled De La's "3 Feet High and Rising" and Dan has worked with Kool Keith and Gorillaz.

If I can get a second concept album in here, and this is cheating, and I admit it, I love the Hydroponic Sound System's "Routine Insanity."

We dropped a bit-a track on the outro of our recent piece on sampling.

Just so you know.

Sent by farai | 11:46 PM ET | 06-14-2007

Growing up, I was always deep into R&B and Soul--channeling the tastes of my parents. But my first hip hop memory would have to be LL Cool J's first album. That was my first hip hop cassette tape and I knew the entire album from beginning to end. That also marked the beginning of a long-time crush and love of LL which eventually faded as time passed by.

Throughout the years, I grew to love hip hop in its many colors, shapes and sizes. The late 80's, early 90's have to be my favorite era. I will never forget my first hip hop concert with Kool Moe Dee, Heavy D and the Boyz and MC Hammer.. or going to see Busta Rhymes and Nas weeks before leaving for college. These are memorable moments that mark several stages of my life.. with my love of Hip Hop taking me along the way. Unfortunately I don't think I could bring myself to watching any of today's artists live.. just not the same energy or purpose. But I hold my memories of yesterday close to me.. and wait for VH-1 Hip Hop Honors to run their series of old school videos so that I can remember.. when.

Sent by sjb said it | 11:56 AM ET | 06-15-2007

1) What is your favorite hip hop memory?

---- Watching Beat Street in the theatre the first time! I think I was around 12! I mean Breakin had already been out but Beat Street was the shit! It was more real. At that time I was already into hip hop andleaving little tags everywhere, but Beat Street took me over the edge lol!

2) What is your first memory of hip hop?

---- First memory? Wow... I actually cant remember hip hop not being in my life! I can remember seeing the Freesh Fest waaaay back with the Fat Boys, Whodini, Kurtis Blow, and Run DMC! It had to be like 84 or 85, I dont even remember! But I know I was young, wearing my Shell Toes, and

3) If you were driving cross country and could only bring one hip hop album with you, which album would you bring and why?

---- Can I bring the Def Jam Box Set? 4CDs of hip hop! LL, EPMD, Redman, Beasties, Public Enemy, Slick Rick,
Method Man, you get the picture!

Sent by DJ Hi-Tone | 12:50 PM ET | 06-15-2007

My first memory was hearing Run DMC for the first time when I was in junior high school. But it probably wasn't until a friend of mine did a class project in which he analyzed the lyrics of a couple of Public Enemy songs that I suddenly got really interested.

Favorite memory? Seeing PE in a small club in Orlando a few years later; getting clocked in the face - literally - by Flav's clock as he leaned over the crowed in the front row, where I was standing.

Album I'd bring with me: PE's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back." What can I say, I'm consistent. :-)

Sent by andy carvin | 2:50 PM ET | 06-15-2007

1) What is your favorite hip hop memory?

Whoa...that's a tough one...too many to choose from....that would have to be seeing the Def Jam Tour of 1987 (I believe) at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta...LL Cool J, Public Enemy, and the Force MD's. However, seeing the "Me, Myself & I" (Dela Soul) video did something to me as well. They were the first 'different' Hip Hoop group that I took notice of. It was as bold a statement of individuality that I'd seen in Hip Hop at that time.

2) What is your first memory of hip hop?

My first Hip Hop memory is one of my older cousins constantly reciting "The Message" verbatim when I was around 6 years old. He seemed to love, and embody that song. He always seemed to be somewhere else when the words cameout of his mouth. Of course, I was much older when I realized the relevance of this song. As random violence and crack cocaine rolled into my small Georgia town, it took on a new meaning.

3) If you were driving cross country and could only bring one hip hop album with you, which album would you bring and why?

A Tribe Called Quest's "The Low End Theory"..without a doubt.

As I matured, Hip Hop matured...or so I thought. ATCQ represented so much of where I was and wanted to be mentally and creatively. A saxaphonist, I loved the use of Jazz. And the honesty, brevity, and introspection was all that I really wanted out of great Hip Hop.

Of course, OutKast's
"Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik" runs a close second.It came out during the second quarter of my freshman undergrad experience....Classic. I considered it the first real Hip Hop album to come out of the South. MC Shy D notwithstanding.

Then again, on second thought, I can't choose. I love way too many albums to pick just one.

pea??e dr??k
***************************************

Sent by dr??k (pronounced dreek) | 3:47 PM ET | 06-15-2007

My earliest hip hop memory is learning a pop-lock and ticking routine with my older brother to RAPPER'S DELIGHT. I was all of 7 years old and he played the puppet master working me up and down the dance floor. I learned how to lean, do the scarecrow (arms out to the side with the elbows bent and forearms swinging) and then we moonwalked with me lolling my head around and popping my knees. LOL. I think we made $20 in quarters doing that on the street corner..... :-)~

Sent by AD | 9:54 PM ET | 06-15-2007

I'm Old Scholl. But as I type this letter I.m listening to "Eric B. & Rakim, The Millenium Collection CD. I don't listen to mutch Hip Hop, but I would pick/Public Enemy, Heavy D, Kool Moe D and any artist whom has a strong message n their raps!

Sent by Brian | 2:09 AM ET | 06-16-2007

I AM SO TIRED OF HIP HOP ... I GREW UP ON IT...IM FROM NYC AND 42 YEARS OLD... PLEASE CAN YOU DO A MONTH OF ANALYSIS ON JAZZ? (A TRUE GIFT TO AMERICA FROM BLACK PEOPLE) ... AS NAS SAYS "HIP HOP IS DEAD" THE TRASH THAT IS ON THE RADIO IS NOTHING LIKE THE "P-E" ... TRIBE CALLED QUEST... JUNGLE BROS. MUSIC THAT I LOVED.
BUT REALLY THE MONTH LONG SERIES IS WAY TOO MUCH. HIP HOP WILL NEVER BE ON THE SAME LEVEL OF JAZZ. YOU CAN HAVE ALL OF THE HIP-HOP WRITERS ... SO CALLED JOURNALISTS YOU WANT... IT WILL NEVER STAND UP TO THE MUSIC OF MILES DAVIS CANNON BALL ADDERLY... JOHN COLTRAN... THELONIS MONK ... ELLA FITZGERALD ... DUKE ELLINGTON ...NEED I GO ON?

Sent by ERNEST CHAMPELL (SHAM-PELL) | 2:11 AM ET | 06-18-2007

1) What is your favorite hip hop memory? Hmmm . . . Spraining my ankle at a Kris Kross concert while I was "Jump, Jumping."

2) What is your first memory of hip hop? Hearing Blondie's Rapture (sorry I went to a mostly white elementary school)

3) If you were driving cross country and could only bring one hip hop album with you, which album would you bring and why? Mos Def's The New Black Danger. Just because I like it and can listen over and over and over.

Sent by James | 5:55 PM ET | 06-19-2007

1) What is your favorite hip hop memory?

When I was 12 my cousin was a DJ. He had all the old breakbeat records. When he wasn't home I'd put on each record and not only listen to (and scratch) the breaks but listen to the songs in whole. Today I'm a lot more interested in the records that were sampled for today's hip hop hits. I can see why the producers used these old records.

2) What is your first memory of hip hop?

I go way back with hip hop. As far back as the fifth grade when I would hear kids singing this particular line "super sperm". I always wondered what it was all about. Later I'd find out it was a record called "Super Sperm" by Captain Sky, one of the earliest classic breakbeats.

3) If you were driving cross country and could only bring one hip hop album with you, which album would you bring and why?

After some consideration and thought It could only be "The Low End Theory" by A Tribe Called Quest. That is a CD you can listen to from end to end and never stop nodding your head.

Sent by Leon Rogers | 9:16 PM ET | 06-25-2007

1990, in the sticks of bowling green ohio, where mtv didn't get to yet, i found some off-name video channel, and BOOM! i was an outkast fan. 'all the playas came from far and wide...'. i got beat up a few times, but i knew good music when i heard it. otherwise, favorite memories include: falling madly in love with chuck d, and learning all of the lyrics to 'ladies first' and 'buffalo stance'.

Sent by theantibride | 1:40 AM ET | 06-29-2007