1. The Love Movement A Tribe Called Quest
This album has such a defined sound. It’s so highly polished and well produced that it makes you wonder how they could stop when they did (it was their last album). It really demonstrates who they were and what they were capable of. A great send-off for a legendary group.

2.  The Future Is Now Non Phixion
I was a couple of years late getting into these dudes. For a bunch of white guys from New York who have serious skills, they’re highly respected among the hip-hop community. They crank out the sickest tracks with world-class production and are lyrically out of this world, being able to inject the most powerful images directly into your imagination. As an MC, I listen to tracks like Cult Leader and can’t help but think ‘why didn’t I think of that?’ It presses the hip-hop button HARD!

3. Places and Spaces Donald Byrd
I heard a number of the songs from this album independently of each other and one day I realised that they were all from the same guy – and, more amazingly, from the same album. I was totally blown away. This album was hugely influential on so many genres from 70s funk to soul and rare groove. An inspirational album that’s the source of so much material we hear today.

4. Foxy Brown (Soundtrack) Willie Hutch
The blaxsploitation sound perfectly captured in a single album. The soundtrack to not only a classic film but also a unique period in history. It’s bursting with so much funk and soul that when I listen to it I feel I’ve been transported back in time to 1974.

5. Unlimited Barry White
He had so many great songs that I have to go for a compilation of his work. I grew up with his music and have a real affinity with his sound. The rhythm section has so much groove – I feel there is a cosmic link between this sound and that of liquid drum and bass. It’s a push-pull effect you can’t help but move to.

And the album I couldn't live without...

Fishscale Ghostface Killah
He manages to tell the most captivating stories, like Shakey Dog, with such tempo and cadence that it doesn’t even have to rhyme. His verbal expression joins the dots in your mind… the content of his songs bring to life the urban world he describes with such realism. To top it off, it’s got production from masters like Pete Rock, MF Doom and Lewis Parker. Such an original piece of work.

Catch MC Conrad with LTJ Bukem at Hyde on February 24. Event info