Ten Formative Records
1991. Growing up in Chapelle-lez-Herlaimont, a small town in Belgium defined by repetition and time to fill. Skateboarding and hip hop were not hobbies or interests. They were my whole world.
All my allowance went into records. I listened to them on my Walkman or loud in my bedroom, walls covered in posters that mapped my obsessions. The first album I ever bought was Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy. Not because I understood the message. I did not speak English. But because I saw them on Yo! MTV Raps and became obsessed with how it sounded, how it felt, and how they looked, especially Flavor Flav.
That same instinct led me to 3 Feet High and Rising by De La Soul, but for different reasons. It sounded more playful. The samples they were using, the clothes they were wearing, I liked their haircuts, the colorful cover design, and the overall sense of fun. The lyrics did not mean much to me back then. Sound, visuals, and attitude carried everything. I do remember wondering why some French words were dropped into the mix from time to time.
The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest followed. I did not know anything about jazz at the time, but it did not matter; the bass groove pulled me in anyway. The sound was warmer, and Q-Tip’s voice felt unfamiliar in a different way. I did not need to understand it. Rhythm and tone were enough.
Around the same moment, French rap entered my life through Suprême NTM, and the album Authentik stood apart immediately, especially track 13, C’est clair, and the way the album opened with Test des micros, followed by the title track Authentik. I understood the language, but that was not what mattered most. It was the aggressive sound and the delivery of the words.
A move to another city, La Louvière, expanded my musical world. Until then, rock was “old people” music to me. But I started hanging out with kids who were into it, and I became curious.
Most importantly, Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana came out, along with their album Nevermind. That changed everything. Ten by Pearl Jam followed naturally. Blood Sugar Sex Magik by Red Hot Chili Peppers was also released that same year, which turned fascination into fixation, a meeting point between rap and rock.
Those records opened the door. Rage Against the Machine blew it off its hinges. Their self-titled debut album hit me like nothing I had ever heard before, Zack de la Rocha rapping and screaming, Tom Morello pulling crazy sounds out of his guitar. Raw energy at its highest concentration.
To this day, I consider this record the most powerful album ever made, across any band or genre. Voice, sound, tension, impact, everything.
Check Your Head by the Beastie Boys really gained its most significant weight later in life for me. I did not listen to it heavily back then, but I was immediately drawn to their attitude. The album cover, designed by Eric Haze, and the way the Beastie Boys name is written on it, remain my favorite.
Over the years, I became a huge Beastie Boys fan, and Check Your Head is my favorite album of theirs, probably in my top five albums of all time. Their music videos and overall visual language, across their entire career, are coolness 101.
Dirty by Sonic Youth pulled me in for visual reasons. The cover felt different from anything else, and they also had a video in rotation featuring Jason Lee skating, which sealed the deal for me.
These albums were released between 1989 and 1992, close enough to feel like part of the same moment.
Album culture may no longer dominate, but I remain attached to the format as a single statement from the artist, which I like to approach as a full experience from start to finish.