Seventh Heaven: Leo Miyagee

Back in 1977, NASA sent a probe into deep space laden with earthly goods. One such object was a golden record, containing some of the best music created by human beings: J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chuck Berry. All in the hope that, should life exist beyond our spacial borders, anyone that came into contact with the probe would be prepared for homo-sapien culture.  But what if we got to choose which albums went into space? 

Seventh Heaven is a feature in which musicians and influencers pick their seven favourite albums and send them out into the heavens in the hope of spreading peace and good vibes throughout the galaxy. 

Writing for this edition of Seventh Heaven is rapper Leo Miyagee

1. Hi-Tek - Hiteknology 3

This is my Personal equivalent to ‘Dr. Dre’s - The Chronic’. Hi-Tek has been, and it seems like, always will be my biggest influence sonically within the realms of hip hop. To me, his production ranks right up there with J Dilla and 9th Wonder as the greatest of all time. That’s largely due to the fact that my favourite song of all time, from any genre: ‘Time’ which features vocals from Talib Kwali was released on this album... it’s probably also to do with the countless memories and passages of life this song has soundtracked over the last 10 years.

2. Lupe Fiasco - Food and liquor 1

This album kickstarted started one of the greatest lyricists of all time’s rise to prominence. It was also my hip hop starter kit as I transitioned from grime in terms of what was heavy in my rotation when I was about 14. It’s timeless to me and it’s one of the greatest debut hip hop projects of all time; Lupe’s style was so fresh and new and conscious, it changed my outlook about how people who look like me were supposed to think - he made it cool to be smart! I recommend you listen to ‘Sunshine’ and unless you’ve been living under a rock, ‘Superstar’ from this classic.

3. Tupac - Me against the World

Rest in piece King Shakur. No introduction needed, his music saved my life and this album.... 'Dear Mama', 'Temptations', 'So Many Tears', 'Young Niggaz', 'Me against the World'. It's impactful, life changing, sound-of-a-generation rap. With some of his all time classics throughout, Tupac was in his bag with this one. On top of everything he stood for, one of my favourite overall musicians of all time, even if I think he only scraped his full potential. THUG LIFE!

4. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly

I was gonna make this list all Kendrick albums starting from Overly Dedicated up untill The Black Panther album... but it seemed like overkill el oh el. Yet here I STAN, yes you read that right, STAN, trynna find superlatives for one of the greatest overall musicians in history. The greatest overall hip hop artist of all time and the most well rounded if we’re talking about the five elements of hip hop. Similar to Tupac, the life he’s lived allows him to fall into all four category’s of MC’ing (one of the five elements of hip hop btw): battle rapper, entertainer, gangsta rapper, conscious Rapper. All the politics and race talk on this really struck a chord with me having been born into a family that physically fought apartheid. TPAB is to hip hop albums what The Godfather or Shawshank is to cinema. My favourite track and line on this was ‘Momma Said’ where he rapped ‘you ain’t gotta lie to kick it’, real coming of age vibes and memories from this album for me.

5. Anthony Hamilton - Coming from where I’m From

This brings me right back to my childhood at about 9/10 years old, and one of my favourite movies which was Coach Carter. This is where I first heard the title track of Anthony’s album. As soon as I heard the song, it struck a chord with me, it felt like this was a piece music I was born to hear and that was before I even digested the rest of the album and its actual lyrics and content. This album, much like the movie I found it in, reflected and still reflects inner city life for someone like me and how it doesn’t really matter where you are, there’s always a way out... sentiments I didn’t even comprehend till I was a little bit older because at the age I was when I first heard Anthony, I just knew I liked the sound of the song and the music on the album. A lot of vulnerability, honesty, soul, gospel and golden age R'n'B vibrations that would shape my own style of music later on. 

6. Ghetts - Ghetto gospel, The New Testament

At first, I was gonna put the first Ghetto Gospel at #6 untill my cousin showed me the second and most recent volume of Ghetto Gospel. This is really elite stuff, really heavy, really intense, really gritty London music. Ghetts is a UK urban music legend, still stranded between the underground and the commercial. It’s a mystery to me how he’s not completely crossed over yet with this release. The production value and progress is crazy considering I was listening to Ghetts’ music dating as far back as 2006, the progress is crazy to me. Obviously biased cause I literally grew up on Ghetts, but he’s the only real competition for Santan Dave as London’s top dog in my eyes. I recommend the track ‘Caution’. 

7. Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Ms. Lauryn Hill

A masterpiece and game changing for me cause I was very young and it not only made me aware of but taught to appreciate and respect female urban artists. This kind of naivety is typical to hip hop sadly. So timeless and there’s so many jewels being dropped through out. Sorta felt like I was seeing some of my own struggles but through a female perspective which in turn taught me a bit more about opposite. So thank you Lauryn Hill for all the knowledge, vibrations and all the game you put me on to with this gem.