DIIV just released their terrific fourth album Frog in Boiling Water (read our review) which pulls influence from all manner of early-’90s alt-rock and lands right as the current shoegaze revival is still ascending. They’re also set to spend the summer playing some of their biggest headline shows to date. But bands cannot exist on ‘90s shoegaze and grunge alone. When we asked the band to make a list for us with a genre or theme of their choosing, we were not expecting “DIIV’s Boom Bap Essentials.”

“I grew up in the tri-state area in the ’90s, so boom bap was the soundtrack of my childhood,” DIIV guitarist Andrew Bailey tells us. “It’s like an antidepressant for me, and the lyrical content contributed a lot to my understanding of reality.” Bailey knows his stuff and his list features some of the era’s heavy hitters, plus a few more obscure acts, and one from today.

Listen to a playlist with all 10 songs and read Bailey’s commentary, below.

DIIV’s Boom Bap Essentials

Jeru the Damaja – “You Can’t Stop the Prophet”
Some of the best story raps involve personification, (i.e. Nas – ‘I Gave You Power’), but this track from Jeru’s debut is at the top of that category for me. He describes his experience as a young Five Percenter in Brooklyn encountering the personification of ignorance, and a few other human emotions are characters as well.

E.C. Illa – “On Ill”
If your rhymes are on point, you don’t need more than three bass notes looping and simple kick/snare pattern. Producing hip-hop beats is like writing haiku, you only have a tiny piece of canvas to work with, and the producer is tasked with creating a five second song that still sounds good after three minutes of repeating. Combine that with Illa’s wit and flow, and a music video for this song featuring breakdancing and graffiti writing, and you’ve got a solid dose of real hip hop.

Blahzay Blahzay – “Good Cop / Bad Cop”
This is another great story track, describing the unfortunate events of a bad cop killing a good cop. Whenever some defends police brutality with the ‘bad apple’ argument, I think of this track, and remind them how that adage continues, “one bad apple turns the whole barrel rotten”.

Dead Prez – “Walk Like a Warrior”
Known for their outspoken support of violent revolution, Dead Prez became the goto for artists looking to voice a similar opinion. In this track, Krayzie from Bone Thugs joined Dead Prez to advocate for self-defense violence against police. With Erykah Badu providing haunting backing vocals throughout the track, this one always gets amped despite its laid back vibe.

Hardwe’re – “Fill in the Blanks”
These guys from Newark got some recognition for their debut EP, but that’s all we were left with after their deal with Roc-A-Fella fell through. This track showcases their wit, setting up rhyme schemes but letting the listener finish the bar in their mind.

Your Old Droog – “Nutty Bars”
When YOD’s debut EP came out, with no press photos or videos, rumors spread online that it was actually a secret Nas project, due to not just the similarity in their vocal timbre and flow, but also their clever wordplay. I went to YOD’s first performance at The Studio at Webster Hall, and the majority of people there expected Nas to walk out on stage. So when a large Ukrainian man took the stage instead, some people immediately left disappointed. The rest of us stuck around for it, and it was clear from his set that he’d become a mainstay in the underground scene. This track was the one for me off that first EP, and, I have to admit, I also believed it was Nas.

Grand Puba – “360 (What Goes Around)”
When Brand Nubian split, Puba’s debut got the most love off the back of this single. A natural comedian with an expert ability of catching the flow of a beat, Puba used party tracks like this to crack the door open for the political tracks later on the album, like ‘Soul Controller’ and ‘Proper Education’.

Black Moon – “How Many MC’s…”
Black Moon’s debut album Enta Da Stage served as the blueprint for the ‘90s boom bap era, setting a high bar for the hundreds of MC’s who would contribute to the genre. Even the record label contract shaped the future of hip-hop; the group never received a penny in royalties from the album, inspiring artists like RZA of Wu Tang to create a business model for young rappers who actually wanted to be compensated for their art.

Queen Latifah – “Just Another Day…”
Most people forget the aggressive persona that marked Latifah’s early career, but on this track, she gave a premonition of the down-to-earth community leader that she would come to embrace as an actor and talk show host. This is my go to track for walking the neighborhood when the sun’s up.

Jean Grae – “Take Me”
From her ‘Bootleg of a Bootleg EP’, Grae offers a very relatable request to god to just end it now, while describing her struggles with depression, addiction, and health. I can’t listen to this track without getting goosebumps. “I know it’s written suicide is giving hell and devils privilege, only wicked heathens commit it, sin of ages, well fuck it, bring it…” *shivers*