Casey Veggies' 25 Favorite Albums

The West Coast rapper shares stories about the projects that impacted him the most.

November 2, 2012

Not Available Lead — Image via Complex Original

In case you haven't noticed, Cali is active. This year has been a glorious one for the West Coast, highlighted by the recent release Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d. city. But the artist formerly known as K. Dot isn't the only one making major moves. While vets like Game and Snoop Lion have stayed relevant, relative newcomers like TDE's Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q have also released excellent projects this year, Dom Kennedy dropped an anthem with the smash "My Type of Party," and Earl Sweatshirt is back, dissing Complex on his new single.

Not to be overlooked, 19-year-old rapper Casey Veggies is also on the rise. After dropping his mixtape Customized Greatly Vol. 3 earlier this year, he just released his track "Life$tyle" off his upcoming project slated for next year. Before that happens, we got down with the Odd Future-affiliated rapper to talk about his favorite albums.

Rather than go the cliché route and name nothing but obvious classics, Casey kept it funky and talked about the projects that not only shaped his career but his life. So click on, read up, and remember to eat your vegetables.

As told to Insanul Ahmed (@Incilin)

Nas, Illmatic (1994)

Label: Columbia
Casey Veggies: “I [got into] Illmatic when I was 14, 15. I didn’t get onto to it till late, but when I did, that’s probably the only thing I listened to for six months to a year. I was a way younger cat that knew what I should’ve got to. And what’s good for me, as an artist, to listen to. After I got heavy on Illmatic, I put out Sleeping In Class. That’s when I really tried to sharpen my skills and get better—tried to do something special. I dropped that album and people really liked it.”

Notorious B.I.G., Ready To Die (1994)

Label: Bad Boy
Casey Veggies: “That was classic music all around. You go back and listen—there are no flaws. It was the perfect album. Some of those songs are perfect. As an artist, you’d want ‘Machine Gun Funk,’ ‘Me And My Bitch,’ or ‘Juicy.’ Every artist wants those to be their songs. There’s not a lot of rappers that can make that ideal song. There were a lot of ideal songs on that album.”

Mobb Deep, The Infamous (1995)

Label: Loud, RCA, BMG
Casey Veggies: “That whole album, they had a mentality and they stuck with it. A lot of rappers don’t do that. They don’t find that theme and just go hard with it. With this album, they found that theme and stuck with it. It’s hardcore, we gully, we coming at ya’ll, we harder than ya’ll. That’s what they wanted to do and they did it in a smart way. I gotta fuck with that.”

Dr. Dre, 2001 (1999)

Label: Interscope, Aftermath
Casey Veggies: “One of the most classic albums ever. I’m sure there’s way more albums [from the ‘90s] that I need from there. If I remember, then that means it played a role for me through life. If I’m listening to it going to school or listening to it after school—I just remember them. Certain ones played that type of role. With Outkast, I should’ve had those types of albums, but then again those are the cliché top albums.”

Floetry, Floetic (2002)

Label: Dreamworks
Casey Veggies: “The whole vibe of that album is life music. It’s smooth vibe music—that poetry. You can’t go wrong. It sounds like flowers. [Laughs.]”

50 Cent, Get Rich Or Die Tryin' (2003)

Label: Interscope, Aftermath, Shady
Casey Veggies: “Man, just hits. 50 was in his mode. It’s rare to hear an artist in a mode like that. Hits all the way through. Hits after hits.”

Kanye West, The College Dropout (2004)

Label: Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam
Casey Veggies: “At the time, it was pushing the bar. It pushed the culture. Nobody was doing that. That album pushed hip-hop backpack culture to the T. I was 11 [when it came out], so it was when I first started rapping, that’s why it played a big role for me. It was the hottest shit when I first opened my mind all the way to hip-hop. Like Nas and that classic shit, I wasn’t around for none of that. But College Dropout is classic to me. I lived it."

Kanye West, Late Registration (2005)

Label: Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam
Casey Veggies: “Just the way he advanced his sound. The sound was so advanced—the orchestras. It was the same Kanye over rich instrumentation. I just loved that. The sound was way bigger and more unique. It was fly.”

Lupe Fiasco, Food & Liquor (2006)

Label: Atlantic
Casey Veggies: “One of the greatest first albums from a hip-hop artist. Songs like ‘I Gotcha,’ were hit songs that weren’t reaching at all. Not to say that they were super hits, but to the young kids and the culture—those were hit records. He didn’t reach at all. He pushed the bar, and shed light on a lot of the youngin’s, black kids, and black thinkers. He showed the world we got smart people on our side that really try to think and enlighten.”

Jay-Z, American Gangster (2007)

Label: Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam
Casey Veggies: “Just the way the vibe hit the movie. The album matched the movie. It was genius, and ‘Party Life’ is just one of my favorite songs ever.”

Lupe Fiaso, The Cool (2007)

Label: Atlantic
Casey Veggies: "Lupe did it again. From Food & Liquor, he came back and did what he was supposed to do, and that’s what made that album great to me. It was his second album and he did his thing again. It was better lowkey. Not that it was better than Food & Liquor, but it was right there with it. Sometimes you think he definitely made an album that was better than his first. A lot of artists don’t do that."

Wale, The Mixtape About Nothing (2008)

Label: Allido
Casey Veggies: "[It was] a very unique approach. I was 13 when it dropped. I wasn’t in the rap game but I was watching it. 13 was where I fanned-out the highest. I was on everything, and downloading everything. I dropped my first project at the end of 13 going into 14. Mixtape About Nothing dropped when I was 13. I remember seeing Wale getting on and seeing what he was doing. I was inspired by that. The mixtape was unique. It was next level thinking. I just appreciated it.”

Odd Future, The Odd Future Tape (2008)

Label: N/A
Casey Veggies: “I was a part of that project. It was a big part of my life. Doing that mixtape was an important time. That music is so original to me. As young kids, we came from the [same] perspective as what I said about Mobb Deep. We came from the left to people, and that’s what I like about that project. You’d get high and listen to it and be like, ‘Yo, these kids is really crazy, lowkey.’

Ryan Leslie, Ryan Leslie (2009)

Label: Casablanca, Universal
Casey Veggies: “That album, just the way he talks about love, and the way he expresses himself—no R&B singers are doing it like that. The music and melodies are next-level. It’s a timeless album.”

Drake, So Far Gone (2009)

Label: October's Very Own
Casey Veggies: "That was a great mixtape. It helps you through those times where you feel like you’re alone. It soothes you through life. That’s why I fuck with that music. It’s not like I was going through shit [at the time], but it’s like, I always go through shit. We always have thoughts and confusions, and that project shows there are other people that have thoughts and confusions that can help you get through your thoughts and confusions.”

Kid Cudi, Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009)

Label: G.O.O.D. Music, Universal Motown
Casey Veggies: “Kid Cudi was coming from a sincere place. Kid Cudi is great at doing him. He has this distinctness about his flow and about his approach to words. He expresses his emotions very well on all his albums, but that one in particular was very ill.”

Tyler, The Creator, Bastard (2009)

Label: N/A
Casey Veggies: "Tyler was just all the way left. The music was always dope. That song ‘Blow’ is one of my favorite joints. It was a perfect match of a crazy rapper and the most beautiful melodies, the beats were dope. Great album.

Kendrick Lamar, Kendrick Lamar EP (2009)

Label: Top Dawg Entertainment
Casey Veggies: “His hunger on that project was evident. He felt he was slept-on. With his new ideas and music, he came with an honesty and it was next-level, over-the-top honesty, and over-the-top storytelling. That record was amazing.

Dom Kennedy, From The Westside With Love (2010)

Label: N/A
Casey Veggies: "Just a classic Westside album. You could tell he was trying to staple that Westside feel and tell the world this is worldly music, but it’s just that West Coast vibe. That’s the way he approached it and it’s a great project.

Wiz Khalifa, Kush & Orange Juice (2010)

Label: Rostrum, Taylor Gang
Casey Veggies: "Classic, timeless mixtape. It represented a person like Wiz who wanted to be unique and do his own thing. [Although] it was a free project, it definitely sounded like an album. He took it over-the-top with his calmness and was nonchalant about it. He killed it. Just the whole weed nonchalant swag—he really made it. People latched onto it.”

Trey Songz, Passion, Pain & Pleasure (2010)

Label: Atlantic
Casey Veggies: “My mom is a big Trey Songz fan and she used to bump him all the time. Ready was dope. With this album, he experimented with himself. He challenged himself to do different stuff. ‘Unfortunate’ is a great song. It’s one of my favorites.”

Casey Veggies, Sleeping In Class (2010)

Label: N/A
Casey Veggies:“That project embodies my whole high school. I listen to that and I think hallways, getting in trouble with teachers, girls, and everything that high school has to offer—that’s the album.

“I slept a lot [in class], but when I say sleeping, I was writing raps in class [while the teacher was teaching]. I didn’t give a fuck about the history lesson, I’d rather write a verse right there with the headphones on. After class I asked somebody, ‘What we gotta do?’ That’s Sleeping In Class.”

MellowHype, BlackenedWhite (2011)

Label: Fat Possum
Casey Veggies: "Great album. Hodgy was speaking for a lot of young kids on BlackenedWhite. That’s one thing I like about Hodgy. He speaks for rebellious [kids], kids that feel left out or are mad because they feel they weren’t treated right. That anger a lot of kids have in them—he was spitting for them. He knows how to express himself.

Drake, Take Care (2011)

Label: Young Money, Cash Money, Universal
Casey Veggies: "It was one of those albums that had songs that were so close to the ground but were so big at the same time. It’s crazy to make music where you’re being honest. The songs are down to earth but it’s big songs. It’s another one of those albums that helps you through a lot when it comes to love. It helps people and it’s a great album to latch onto, vibe out to, and to take care to.”

Frank Ocean, Channel Orange (2012)

Label: Def Jam
Casey Veggies: “Just the uniqueness of it, the whole feel in general. Obviously the words, voice, melodies and the emotion—you can hear it in the vocals.”