Hip hop: Alphabetizing CDs (nuts)
My friend Gavin Bell told me that one way you could tell a wack record store is if they put DJ Jazzy Jeff under "D" and MC Lyte under "M."
My CDs are alphabetized by artist and then in order that the albums came out. Most of the time it's straightforward, but in the hip hop world alphabetization, like many things, gets a little weird.
I'll start with the easy ones...
MC Hammer. Of course, under "H." Particularly since he changed his to "Hammer." We would not want to put them in two places now would we?
Salt-N-Pepa. We don't know Salt's last name (maybe it's "Shaker") so it will have to go under "S." I saw her speak on TV once and they displayed her name below her: "Salt." Cracked me up. She makes less sense without the Pepa. Can you imagine her going solo? "Did you check out the new joint from Salt? Yo, she and Pepa had a nasty break-up. New album's called "Pepa Don't Preach.""
Snoop Doggy Dogg. Should it go under "D" assuming his last name is "Dogg?" No. Ol' Dirty Bastard goes under "O;" you would not refer to his late greatness as "Mr. Bastard." That's just wrong.
Da Brat. Under "D" or "B?" I ended up putting it under "B," since it's truer to hip hop, I feel. Plus "Brat" is more descriptive of her than the "Da." Duh.
Foxy Brown. Not sure about this one. I suppose Brown is her last name, so it should go under "B?"
Tupac Shakur. It's the brother's name, so under "S," right? But his stage name is sometimes just "Tupac" and sometimes he goes by, not Tupac, but "2Pac." Does he go under "T," "S," or "2" (which comes before all letters and before 3 6 Mafia and 50 Cent)?
Bobby Digital. It's an alias for the RZA (pronounced "Rizz-uh"). So it goes under "R" or maybe "D," but probably not "B."
Mr. Pookie and Mr. Lucci. I guess "P?"
Master P. The word "Master" doesn't quite seem as innocuous as "Mr." or "Dr." or "Da." So it goes under "M," after to Masta Ase. "Masta" comes before "Master," dumb bell.
Dr. Dre. Goes under "DR" with no decisions to make. Good lookin' out, Dre!
Eric B. & Rakim. "E" or "B?" Gavin says that using last names is a bad idea in general with hip hop, and I'm starting to think he's right.
Kool G Rap. "K" if you don't consider "Kool" to be an article in this context, "G" if you don't think it's his first name, and "R" if you think "Rap" is his last name.
A Tribe Called Quest. I guess since "A" is an article, it should go under "T," but I think I actually screwed this up in my collection...
Lord Jamar. Also Lord Finesse and Lord Sear. I'm thinking this is like "Master" (and "Masta") and would go under "L." Same goes for any future rapper whose name is "Lawd" something.
Comment with more fun examples if you think of them. I love hip hop. :)
My CDs are alphabetized by artist and then in order that the albums came out. Most of the time it's straightforward, but in the hip hop world alphabetization, like many things, gets a little weird.
I'll start with the easy ones...
MC Hammer. Of course, under "H." Particularly since he changed his to "Hammer." We would not want to put them in two places now would we?
Salt-N-Pepa. We don't know Salt's last name (maybe it's "Shaker") so it will have to go under "S." I saw her speak on TV once and they displayed her name below her: "Salt." Cracked me up. She makes less sense without the Pepa. Can you imagine her going solo? "Did you check out the new joint from Salt? Yo, she and Pepa had a nasty break-up. New album's called "Pepa Don't Preach.""
Snoop Doggy Dogg. Should it go under "D" assuming his last name is "Dogg?" No. Ol' Dirty Bastard goes under "O;" you would not refer to his late greatness as "Mr. Bastard." That's just wrong.
Da Brat. Under "D" or "B?" I ended up putting it under "B," since it's truer to hip hop, I feel. Plus "Brat" is more descriptive of her than the "Da." Duh.
Foxy Brown. Not sure about this one. I suppose Brown is her last name, so it should go under "B?"
Tupac Shakur. It's the brother's name, so under "S," right? But his stage name is sometimes just "Tupac" and sometimes he goes by, not Tupac, but "2Pac." Does he go under "T," "S," or "2" (which comes before all letters and before 3 6 Mafia and 50 Cent)?
Bobby Digital. It's an alias for the RZA (pronounced "Rizz-uh"). So it goes under "R" or maybe "D," but probably not "B."
Mr. Pookie and Mr. Lucci. I guess "P?"
Master P. The word "Master" doesn't quite seem as innocuous as "Mr." or "Dr." or "Da." So it goes under "M," after to Masta Ase. "Masta" comes before "Master," dumb bell.
Dr. Dre. Goes under "DR" with no decisions to make. Good lookin' out, Dre!
Eric B. & Rakim. "E" or "B?" Gavin says that using last names is a bad idea in general with hip hop, and I'm starting to think he's right.
Kool G Rap. "K" if you don't consider "Kool" to be an article in this context, "G" if you don't think it's his first name, and "R" if you think "Rap" is his last name.
A Tribe Called Quest. I guess since "A" is an article, it should go under "T," but I think I actually screwed this up in my collection...
Lord Jamar. Also Lord Finesse and Lord Sear. I'm thinking this is like "Master" (and "Masta") and would go under "L." Same goes for any future rapper whose name is "Lawd" something.
Comment with more fun examples if you think of them. I love hip hop. :)
Comments
MC Paul Barman?
Queen Latifah?
And of course, how could you forget...The Notorious B.I.G?
Unlike Jazz, Soul, Funk, etc, I am pretty sure I will just treat all these artists as “acts”, and go by the first major letter, which may include MC and DJ, wack as that may be.