How do you identify and select indie rap albums, then, if it is not based on their labels? On the opposite, albums released independently, but which are just copies of mainstream hip-hop, or others coming from different trends (Dirty South albums for example), won't be mentioned here, even when available on indie labels. If a good album available on a major company shares indie esthetics, we are comfortable with listing it here. Like its rock homonym, indie rap has become a genre in itself, and not only a certain way of releasing records. Isn't there any album released by a major company in this list? In the 00's, Def Jux, Anticon, Rhymesayers, Strange Famous or Fake Four were some of the labels representing this scene.
This trend emerged around 1996, with small record companies like Fondle'em in New-York, with the posterity of the Project Blowed scene in Los Angeles, with collectives like the Hieroglyphics and the Hobo Junction in the Bay Area, and others in many cities across all North America. This is a kind of hip-hop, born in the underground, supported by independent music labels, which positioned itself as the opposite to the playa and bling bling forms of rap dominating the end of the 90's. What is this "indie rap" the list is about? Please notice: it is written in French only, and though it is available in all bookstores in France, finding it abroad may be a challenge. In case you would like to know more about the independent hip-hop movement, about its history, and about its key players, you can feel free to purchase it online. This article is a companion to our book Rap Indépendant, published on May 22, 2014. Here starts our new countdown, extended now to 150 records. A few years after we published it, and to celebrate the release in 2014 of our new book dedicated to the history of indie hip-hop, it was time to deliver an updated version of the selection we published first in 2009, listing 100 key albums related to this movement.
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