10. JuggaknotsClear Blue Skies EP

I went to college with this kid who was a rapper and was the first person I really knew who kept an up to date hip hop record collection. He was from the city and got records on the regular. I was over there, in his room, and he just started playing this record, which was only available on vinyl at the time. I had never heard an MC rap like Breeze Brewin; his ability to just have such a great voice, such a nasty style, so much style. And underneath all of that, he was always really capable of telling a good story. And that’s what drew me in on the first joint I ever heard of his work, which was ‘Clear Blue Skies’, the single, which is also the name of the EP.

The song is a back and forth, basically a story told in the form of an argument between a white father and his son, about him dating a Black girl. I’d never heard anything like it, you know? On top of that, to be a Black dude but he chose this perspective to tell the story. It’s one of those things where I never heard anyone rap like that. And there was definitely no one with his combination of abilities. That was always a high watermark for me.