I discovered a couple in an old notebook. I discussed them with my brother and then slightly redrafted them to make them more consistent with my current tastes. They are roughly in the order or descending preference.
My top ten hip hop albums
- Madvillain: Madvillainy (2004)
- Freestyle Fellowship: To Whom It May Concern (1991)
- Dalek: Negro Necro Nekros (1998)
- J Dilla: Donuts (2006)
- Cannibal Ox: The Cold Vein (2001)
- One Be Lo: S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M. (2005)
- A Tribe Called Quest: The Low End Theory (1991)
- Black Star: Black Star (1998)
- Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
- Ghostface Killah: Fishscale (2006)
I find it interesting that half of my selections come from the 2000s, yet only one comes from the 1980s. There is plenty of hip hop from the 1980s that is quite aesthetically accomplished, but for some reason I tend to prefer more recent hip hop albums—though not just because they can be more experimental (One Be Lo and Ghostface Killah, while both forward thinking in their way, are also firmly rooted in traditional expression). I think, in certain circumstances, I could defend even the choices that might seem a bit odd (Fishscale instead of 36 Chambers? Any album here instead of Illmatic?).
Top ten short stories of the 20th century
- Isaac Bashevis Singer: “The Slaughterer”
- Flannery O'Connor: “The River”
- Jorge Luis Borges: “The Library of Babel”
- Raymond Carver: “What's in Alaska?”
- James Joyce: “The Dead”
- Ernest Hemingway: “A Clean, Well Lighted Place”
- F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Winter Dreams”
- Katherine Anne Porter: “Flowering Judas”
- Samuel Beckett: “Company”
- Franz Kafka: “A Hunger Artist”
If I remember correctly, I originally did this list in response to a dare. I considered including one of Chekhov's last short stories (he wrote about five or so in the early years of the 1900s before passing, and as a short story writer he smokes pretty much everybody), but I decided against it, since Chekhov really represents the 1800s.
