Tom Hanks in Castaway

I’m sure you’ve played this game before; but suppose you were stranded on a deserted island with a solar powered iPod. I’m sure you’re thinking “Bet, 160 gigs of music I’ll be set until I’m rescued!” The only catch is that for the solar power to work you can only have ten albums. Not really logical, but neither is being on stranded on an island, so play along. What ten would you pick?

Around 2001, the mom & pop I used to go to proposed a similar scenario and put it up on their accompanying website for people to put their list up. Being the obnoxious (& lazy) person I am my list was this:

1. Illmatic
2. Reasonable Doubt
3. It Was Written
4. In My Lifetime Vol. 1
5. I Am
6. Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life
7. Nastradamus
8. Vol. 3: The Life & Times of Shawn Carter
9. The Blueprint
10. Ready to Die

Of course I was being halfway funny. But, to a degree, I could live with those albums. The owners sent me an email to see if I was serious and after explaining my reasoning to them they put it up.

At that point in time, those ten albums were in constant rotation for me because my roommate & I would blaze, and look for subliminals thrown between Jay & Nas. So that could’ve easily been my list.

But time and lists change. So while impossible to be completely satisfied, this would be my list today:

1. Moonflower – Carlos Santana: His songs and guitar riffs are amazing. You can close your eyes and go somewhere, which is perfect on an island. Being a double disc is a bonus.

2. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – Lauryn Hill: Lauryn put her soul into this and I don’t care how much (or how little) she was involved in the creative process. It’s the perfect blend of Rap & R&B.

3. Illmatic – Nas: It’s Illmatic. But it’s also the best album by my favorite artist.

4. American Gangster – Jay-Z: Take the subject matter of Reasonable Doubt and the beats from The Blueprint and you get this album. “Say Hello” might as well be my theme song and it’s the only way Lil’ Wayne is coming along.

5. Ready to Die – The Notorious B.I.G.: Who’s the best? Biggie, Jay, or Nas? I’ll have plenty of time to decide. Maybe not the best choice with songs like “Suicidal Thoughts” & “Ready to Die,” but oh well. I need to finish memorizing the lyrics anyway.

6. Aquemini – Outkast: Probably the last time these two were on the same page during the recording process. Banger after banger, but Spottieottiedogalicious steals the show.

7. Sam’s Town – The Killers: Blame Guitar Hero, but it reminded me how much I like “When We Were Young.” This album has that ‘80′s vibe to it and I need a little dose of that .

8. Black Byrd – Donald Byrd: For “Flight Time” alone. Between WVKO using to kick off their nightly jazz block & my dad playing this album, I’ll always love that song. Plus what I said about Santana goes for Byrd with a trumpet.

9. Black on Both Sides – Mos Def: “Umi Says” & “Climb” can go on repeat for hours at a time. Just like Lauryn, it allows me to get some variety without giving up a whole rap album.

10. Internal Affairs – Pharoahe Monch: His wordplay is ridiculous. His voice is engaging and entertaining. To me this is a perfect album.

It would be different if I thought about it more or depending on my mood on a given day. So much with music is about where I’m at a certain time, that outside of a few albums I’m prone to lean more toward what I’m listening to at the time.

But that’s me. What would your list be?

Pick ten albums & throw them in the comments. You can rack your brain if you want, but I spent about five minutes. As you can see with my #1, double albums will count as one for this. Other than that, get to picking.

I won’t judge if you won’t…

Stray Shots

Cd_III-Get_Tough_VLS-1983

Cd_III-Success_VLS-1984

Cd_III-Summer_Jam_Bw_And_You_Know_That_VLS-1985

Common_Sense-Resurrection-(Full_VLS)-1995

House_of_Pain-Fed_Up-CDS-1996

House_Of_Pain-Heart_Full_Of_Sorrow_Bw_Fed_Up-Promo-VLS-1996

House_Of_Pain-Jump_Around_Bw_House_Of_Pain_Anthem-CDM-1992

House_of_Pain-Jump_Around-CDM-UK-1992

House_of_Pain-Legend_Bw_Word_is_Bond-CDM-1994

House_of_Pain-Legend_It_Aint_A_Crime-CDM-UK2-1994

Lil_Wayne-Bring_It_Back_(FULL_VLS)-2004

Lil_Wayne-Earthquake-(Promo-CDS)-2005

Lil_Wayne-I_Wont_Budge-Promo-Int-2005

Lil_Wayne-In_The_Carter-CDS-2004

Lil_Zay_Ft_J-Shin-M.I.A-CDS-2003

Little_Brother-Aint_Nobody_Like_Me-VLS-2005

Living_Legends-Down_For_Nothin-(VLS)-2005

LL_Cool_J_Feat_Timbaland-Head_Sprung-(Promo_CDS)-2004

LL_Cool_J_Feat_Xavier_Aeon-Hush-Remix-(PROMO_CDS)-2004

LL_Cool_J-Apple_Cobbler_Feat._Messiahbolical_(Remix)-Promo_CDS-2004

Stray Shots