This is the playlist I run to. Forty-four tracks, just over three hours, and most of it is classic hip hop with a bit of drum and bass thrown in.
Most of it sits around 90 BPM, or double-timed off that, which for me is the perfect rhythm for a run or a gym session. Your feet just fall into it. But it's more than the tempo. These records have energy and lyrics with something to say, and they put a smile on my face because they take me straight back to other times in my life.
It opens with Public Enemy, Welcome To The Terrordome. When Fear Of A Black Planet came out, what an album. I'd already bought its predecessor, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, so I was waiting for it.
Every song on here has been big for me at some point. Some are the underground ones. Others were on Yo! MTV Raps back in the day, like Pop Goes The Weasel by 3rd Bass and All For One by Brand Nubian. Brand Nubian are a group I found entirely through Yo! MTV Raps.
Then there's Chubb Rock's Treat 'Em Right, which for me is one of the greatest feel-good hip hop records ever made. MC Serch, Back To The Grill. Some Beastie Boys.
And a slightly obscure one from Jeru The Damaja. On his album Wrath Of The Math it's called Me Or The Papes. The version on this playlist is Me, Not The Paper, the remix with DJ Premier that was a bonus track on the 12-inch. I remember buying it when it came out and thinking, wow, they've flipped this in a completely different direction. I was surprised, and really pleased, when I finally found it on Spotify.
That matters more than you'd think. When I run, my music plays through my Garmin watch, and that means Spotify. As far as I know, I can't just load my own MP3s onto it. So tracking down the more obscure records and getting them on here is half the fun.
Then there's Mucky Weekend by Dub Pistols with Rodney P. Rodney was one of the MCs who first made me realise you could rap in a British accent, back when he was in London Posse. For me, they were the first group to really do it.
That's a bit of the story behind the 44 songs that keep me going on a run or in the gym. Press play, lace up and see how far it takes you.
