Illustrator: Alex Davis

For many people, the very mention of a concept album will have them rolling their eyes. Visions of a generation of Dad’s and their teen sons who have fetishized albums like The Dark Side of the Moon ad nauseam dance in the head. It is understandably tempting to write off the concept album as nothing more than a vehicle to chauffeur the egos of the Abbey Road greats. Often thought of as the polar opposite to rock, hip hop music has historically been ingested on a song-by-song basis. But the hip hop concept album is alive and well. It has been lurking in the annals of the genre’s short history, only making the briefest of appearances in the mainstream and seldom getting its due.

To read the full feature I wrote for Snap Magazine, click here.

Here are some tracks from the albums I talk about in the story.

Deltron 3030 – Madness (zshare)

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Handsome Boy Modeling School – If It Wasn’t For You (zshare)

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Prince Paul – More Than U Know [Feat. De La Soul] (zshare)

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