June 21, 2020

Happy 50th Birthday, Pete Rock! (Playlist)


In the early '90s, most relevant hip hop artists had to use Pete Rock beats. Strapped with his notorious horn loops, Soul Brother No. 1 served up flavorful tracks to everyone from Nas to House of Pain to his partner in rhyme, C.L. Smooth. Pete Rock played a large role in the fusing of jazz and funk music into hip hop, and is easily one of the most influential producers to consistently represent for the underground - for proof, just look at all the classic albums that boast Pete Rock's original production! As Pete Rock is celebrating his 50th Birthday today, it's only right we dig into his classic production for a quick playlist with some of my personal favorites. It would take days to do this properly and unfortunately there are a handful of joints absent from his catalog on Spotify, so I must put an asterisk next to this one, but enjoy it nonetheless! The playlist includes tracks with C.L. Smooth, Smif-N-Wessun, Nas, RUN-DMC, Jamal, Public Enemy, Big L, Rakim, Das EFX, Ghostface Killah, Torae, Non Phixion, Common, House Of Pain, AZ, One Be Lo, Edo. G, Slum Village, Inspectah Deck, INI, Styles P, Jay-Z & Kanye West, and more. Happy Born Day! Click play below...