The 90s was a seminal decade for hip hop and 1997 has a strong claim to be the best year of the lot.
A little Detroit rapper called Eminem dropped his debut EP, Slim Shady EP. Jay-Z built on his first album with its follow-up In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, and Wu-Tang Clan dropped excellent records. Even Coolio and Will Smith got in the mix.
And that’s all without even mentioning two of the greatest: 1997 saw the release of the second posthumous 2Pac album, R U Still Down?, and The Notorious B.I.G.’s final studio album, Life After Death, which came out just before the legendary rapper’s untimely death.
That’s why when DJ R-Tistic made a mix of the best hip hop songs from 1997 turning 25 this year, he was spoiled for choice. He dropped the 2+ minute mix on Twitter yesterday and people are loving it. It’s been retweeted almost 7,000 times and liked almost 25,ooo times in just a couple of days.
“Thanks for reminding me that I’m old lol,” comically wrote one fan. “Damn bro so many hits! To this day 90’s had the best music,” insisted another. “This proves that 1997 might have been the best year ever for classic songs being released,” someone else agreed.
The full 97 for 97 mix – 97 classics songs to celebrate 1997 – is also available over on Mixcloud. The list of featured artists is huge: hits by Puff Daddy & The Family, Benny Medina, The Notorious B.I.G., Dan Evans, Deric “d-dot” Angelettie, Herb Powers, James Lassiter, Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Clan and more are all included.
Listen to the mix below and try not to feel too old or nostalgic. Did DJ R-Tistic miss out any of your favourite songs from that year?
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Check out DJ R-Tistic’s mix:
