I'm Waiting for the Man
Recorded in Hollywood with Cale on piano, the rhythm pushing like a subway train under Reed's flat delivery.
Recorded in Hollywood with Cale on piano, the rhythm pushing like a subway train under Reed's flat delivery.

Organized Noize's horns, a million-dollar F. Gary Gray video, and the first number one record to confront AIDS.

The Neptunes built it from tongue clicks and almost nothing else, and it gave Snoop his first number one.
Doug Wimbish replayed Liquid Liquid's Cavern bassline, Melle Mel wrote the warning, and Flash's name went on the label anyway.

The soundtrack took three days at RCA Chicago; Johnny Pate arranged, Henry Gibson's rototoms set the strut.
A Jackson 5 chop, an arena chant, and Jay-Z's first solo top ten, courtesy of a young Kanye West.
Ski looped Lonnie Liston Smith under a Nas vocal, and Jay-Z made money sound like a weary confession.

Master Henry Gibson's percussion over Lucky Scott's bass, Mayfield indicting the drug trade where the film saw only glamour.
DJ Toomp turned a Roberta Flack interpolation into a synth fanfare, and T.I. won a Grammy for the performance.

Three generations of moonshine, Vietnam and the drug trade, named an official Tennessee state song in 2023.

Produced by the Runners in 2005, it drew bids from Bad Boy and Murder Inc. before Def Jam won.

A hustler's goodbye scored by the New York Philharmonic, Sonny Kompanek conducting, with Bob Dylan cameoing in the video.

Hoyt Axton's mother held the publishing back over its language; Easy Rider then made Steppenwolf's version unavoidable.

P-Nasty and Mike Will Made It's beat, verses from Pharrell and Pusha T, the hardest thing on Honest.

A Duralcha loop, Hudson Mohawke and Kanye West on the boards, and Pusha weighing his dealing past against rap money.

Ice Cube, Mack 10 and WC trading verses, from a debut album that reached number two and went platinum.