Those of us of a certain vintage will remember losing hundreds of hours of our lives to Champ Man (now known as Football Manager). One of the best players was a certain American named Freddy Adu. He was seen as a future superstar, but his real life career never got close to the hype.

In this episode, we are suggesting our hip-hop 'Freddy Adus'. I'm not going to lie, Sunny might be upsetting some people here.

#25 - The Freddy Adu of rap

A continuation of our series looking at the last great hip-hop album, we take an in-depth look at Lupe Fiasco's fifth studio album. It's pretty clear is a concept album, and may not be on many people's lists, but as Sunny explains, there's a lot more to this album than it might seem.

Join us on this episode in to find out more.

Includes message from our sponsors, Zencastr. Use my special link [https://zen.ai/qiDPNanD9fnM1xtY3kxCh0HOaBByiGWqMgiV2Qf1HNU] to save 30% off your first month of any Zencastr paid plan.

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#24 - Tetsuo & Youth

Here's the second of another two part podcast episode. This double episode is about tracks that brought us back, or made us fall in love with hip-hop again, when our passion had waned somewhat. Loads of great and unknown tracks mentioned, featuring artists such as Nas, Riz MC, and the UMCs.



We recorded this episode in November 2022 and only just getting round to publishing it now. There's like another 5 or 6 recorded ready to go. We've got day jobs, families and other hobbies (like listening to music) to fit in. Why do we keep talking for so long? Fuck.



In a weird twist of fate, we also stumbled upon another podcast, 'Bars, Rhymes and Life [https://open.spotify.com/show/4dYty1gMiaM97hsNmE6g9O?si=258eabac37204249]' who just so happen to steal our format: two guys, one sweary Asian, one white guy called Elliott, talking about hip-hop. Except these bastards are far more polished than us, and release to a proper schedule. At least our title isn't tautological. Hah, so we have that over them. Seriously, check 'em out, they're really good. The bastards.

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#23b - Bringing it back (part 2)

Here's the first in another two part podcast episode. This time about tracks that brought us back, or made us fall in love with hip-hop again, when our passion had waned somewhat. Loads of great and unknown tracks mentioned, featuring artists such as Madlib, Nas, Joey Bad4$$, Danger Mouse, and some funky 70s tracks.



We recorded this episode in November 2022 and only just getting round to publishing it now. There's like another 5 or 6 recorded ready to go. We've got day jobs, families and other hobbies (like listening to music) to fit in. Why do we keep talking for so long? Fuck.



In a weird twist of fate, we also stumbled upon another podcast, 'Bars, Rhymes and Life [https://open.spotify.com/show/4dYty1gMiaM97hsNmE6g9O?si=258eabac37204249]' who just so happen to steal our format: two guys, one sweary Asian, one white guy called Elliott, talking about hip-hop. Except these bastards are far more polished than us, and release to a proper schedule. At least our title isn't tautological. Hah, so we have that over them. Seriously, check 'em out, they're really good. The bastards.

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#23a - Bringing it back (part 1)

Here is the concluding part of our numbers episode, where we counted down from a lot to a bit less. This one is from 100 downwards.

In this episode, we countdown interesting numbers and associated hip-hop tracks. From Jay-Z's 99 Problems to 1nce Again by Tribe, we use any excuse to dredge up anything vaguely numerically-related. Sunny is definitely better with words than numbers; his counting got a little out of whack!

Marcus' audio seems really weird in this episode, so apologies. We are having him replaced with generative AI as we speak, so life should be much better soon.

As always, we have an associated Spotify playlist [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/261Vf2BzfuEzRQUfbaPM3u?si=d185f96a06c348e4]. Look out for the next episode where we look at tracks that brought back our love of hip-hop.



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#22b - Numbers (Part 2 - <100)

After an epic three-parter looking at the 26 letters of the alphabet, we thought we would make it easier for ourselves by giving some constraints. Just all the numbers...

In this episode, we countdown interesting numbers and associated hip-hop tracks. From Tribe's 8 Million Stories to Ghostface's Daytona 500 we use any excuse to dredge up anything vaguely numerically-related.

Marcus' audio seems really weird in this episode, so apologies. We are having him replaced with generative AI as we speak, so life should be much better soon.

As always, we have an associated Spotify playlist [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/261Vf2BzfuEzRQUfbaPM3u?si=d185f96a06c348e4], and don't forget to come back for part deux where we count down from 100.

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#22a - Numbers (down to 100)

Thank f### for that. We finally finished this mega episode. I'm not even going to go through the remaining couple of hours when we kept rolling. On this episode, we trade letters of the alphabet for some little known, or forgotten, gems. Tracks from Vinnie Paz, Naughty by Nature, Xzibit and more. Check out the previous two episodes in this mini series and don't forget the accompanying Spotify playlist.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hostilerecon/message

#21c - A-Z (part 3: R-onwards)

We carry on with another episode from the A-Z recording. We recorded over 5 hours in total (it was a long night), so here is part 2, taking you from H to Q. 

Be prepared for some hidden gems, some unmentioned classics and some slept on tracks and artists. Recorded as an end of year special for 2021; this episode turned into a monster.

You can peruse all the tracks we mention via this episode's Spotify playlist [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4LwMbpNNvtNQbgZp6hHvW7?si=b13dc1e5038e4caa], or contact us via Twitter [https://twitter.com/hostilerecon] (if it is still here) or Instagram [https://instagram.com/hostilerecon] (both @hostilerecon).

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#21b - A-Z of hip hop (part 2: H to Q)

Be prepared for some hidden gems, some unmentioned classics and some slept on tracks and artists. Recorded as an end of year special for 2021; this episode turned into a monster. Sunny and Marcus were talking for over 5 hours, but rather than put you through it in its entirety, this is the first part. Borrowing from Blackalicious, this is A to G!

Check out the Spotify playlist, or contact us via Twitter [https://twitter.com/hostilerecon] (if it is still here) or Instagram [https://instagram.com/hostilerecon] (both @hostilerecon).

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#21 - A-Z of hip hop (part 1 - A-G)

Questlove, drummer for The Roots, director, author and all-round music genius, said that he thought 1993-4 was the greatest period of creativity for Hip Hop. Strong words seeing as almost all of his musical career comes after that time. It is widely regarded that 1988 is the greatest year in Hip Hop. 

Sunny and Marcus couldn't agree. So, what did we do? We had an album shoot-off (less violent than it sounds), to hopefully end the arguments and crown one year as the greatest of all time (so far?!?).

In order for it to be a fair fight, we welcomed back Andy as referee and judge. Andy is 100% fair as she hates us both equally. The only downside is she hasn't actually heard half the albums proposed.

So, from Big Daddy Kane to Nas, Public Enemy to Wu-Tang Clan, and KRS-One to, erm, KRS-One, enjoy this smorgasboard of some of the greatest albums ever released, picked from the two greatest eras in Hip Hop.

As always, you can listen to the tracks on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/690Rido7jucYPtDSEvXnKZ?si=d0b543d934724e34]. If you want to join the conversation, hit us up on Twitter (@hostilerecon [https://twitter.com/hostilerecon]) or Instagram (@hostilerecon [https://instagram.com/hostilerecon])

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#20 - Greatest year in hip hop (1988 vs 1993/4)

It's bigger than hip hop... Bringing together a love of 80s, 90s and 00s hip-hop and generally talking rubbish, Hostile Reconnaissance bring you a monthly podcast aiming to answer (none of) the biggest questions in hip-hop and rap culture, as seen from the UK.