I have extremely eclectic tastes so I will keep this to just one genre for this post. I don't like very much "rap" at all but I love pure "hip hop" music without the vocals, especially when it is allowed to submerge into other cultures around the world.
DJ Krush is a monument of hip hop ecstasy just doing regular music but when he mixes elements of his own culture into it, the sound is just amazing!
[video=youtube;OrZhdzGaPxo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrZhdzGaPxo[/video]
[video=youtube;gr4-nKPjgDM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr4-nKPjgDM[/video]
I'm a fan of Lovage as well:
[video=youtube;cKiXYveusc0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKiXYveusc0[/video]
[video=youtube;3HR0DIx2k20]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HR0DIx2k20[/video]
Prefuse 73:
[video=youtube;f_ru1QdiAY8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_ru1QdiAY8[/video]
Strange Fruit makes some great instrumentals:
[video=youtube;tZLtCmBQBvM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZLtCmBQBvM[/video]
If I listen to any hip hop with rap in it, it has to have a message and some very good composition behind it:
[video=youtube;XheKU5yN2rs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XheKU5yN2rs[/video]
Listen to the lyrics very carefully in this Mos Def song:
[video=youtube;m5vw4ajnWGA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5vw4ajnWGA[/video]
And then who am I listening to right this second?:
Brock Berrigan, absolutely amazing:
[video=youtube;kr2ptZ0lL1E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr2ptZ0lL1E[/video]
He put out three albums this year and this is from his latest one:
[video=youtube;K8O4pvWUZN4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8O4pvWUZN4[/video]
All three are released with a liberal license, something I can appreciate mucho mucho, they can be had here:
http://brockberrigan.bandcamp.com/