Best 1,000 Albums Ever
by Eric Berlin

Chuck D – Autobiography of Mistachuck: #867 of best 1,000 albums ever!

Why is Chuck D’s Autobiography of Mistachuck on my best 1,000 albums ever list?

Incredible underground hip hop with laid back jazz, funk, and r&b influences, fronted by one of the best MCs in hip hop history.

What does Chuck D’s Autobiography of Mistachuck mean to me? What does it make me feel? Why is it exciting or compelling?

I greatly admire Public Enemy, but I have to be in the right mood to take it in because, well, it’s a lot, just as intended: loud, provocative, brash, with polyrhythms for days. So therefore it’s fantastic and refreshing to get a Chuck D solo project in the form of Autobiography of Mistachuck: incredible underground hip hop with laid back jazz, funk, and r&b influences, fronted by one of the best MCs in hip hop history.

It also has an earthy and personal (thus, the “autobiography” in the album title) feel, which is never better evidenced than by the track called, “Free Big Willie.”

“No” plays like a more chill version of a Public Enemy song in a way that hits my hip hop sweet spot. And the repetition of “No” with each line works well, especially given Chuck D’s masterful delivery.

Chuck D’s gliding, booming rap style over the soul backdrop and tinkling piano on “The Pride” is just gorgeous.

Incomparable lyrics too, for example:

What a difference a score and a decade makes
Mistakes and Superbad breaks, wait
I ate the food in the lunch programs
And now I see the young strung out on grams
So I work on a go on and so on and soon communicate
To teach the young straight ’cause I got the pride

I have a vague memory of finding this album on cassette tape somehow, but I particularly recall listening to it quite a bit while walking around New York City during my final days living there in the fall of 1998. It conjures a very particular feeling, very close to that of a wrenching breakup. The breakup in this case was me and New York City. Soon I’d be off to California and the west coast, where my future wife and career lied in wait. But those gorgeous autumn memories of walking around the Upper West Side and SoHo and the East Village remain.

Some stats & info about Chuck D – Autobiography of Mistachuck

  • What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Hip Hop, Rap, East Coast Rap, Hardcore Rap, Jazzy Hip Hop, Underground Hip Hop
  • Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
  • All Music’s rating – 3 out of 5 stars
  • When was Autobiography of Mistachuck released? 1995
  • My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #867 out of 1,000

Chuck D’s Autobiography of Mistachuck on Spotify

What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?

Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.

But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective take on what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.