It’s a dangerous game: expounding upon the virtues of the late ’80s/early ’90s “golden era” of hip-hop to whippersnappers raised on a steady diet of 50 Cent and Ludacris. Complain too much and you end up sounding like an embittered old fogy. But for those of us who came of age to the sounds of Pete Rock, De La Soul and Black Moon, tuning in Power 106 these days is a bleak experience. Commercial hip-hop of yesteryear was experimental, exuberant and innovative. Producers crafted banging beats out of old jazz and soul samples, not cheesy synthesizer caterwauls. Hip-hop also used to be a decidedly eclectic affair — the Daisy Age rubbed elbows with thug life, and no one batted an eye (remember Q-Tip producing Mobb Deep?). Nowadays, clearing samples is too expensive for anyone but maybe Kanye, and rappers are content to churn out the same old moneymaking party anthems. No wonder hip-hop... More >>>