Dom Kennedy's 25 Favorite Albums

Dom Kennedy is a major part of the L.A.'s new rap movement, and he wears his influences on his sleeve. His most recent release, The Yellow Album, is essentially a soundtrack to the feel-good vibes of California. There are elements of 2Pac’s storytelling, Dogg Pound's carefree raps, and the cohesive style perfected by artists like DJ Quik.

It’s because Dom has paid careful attention to each of them, picking bits and pieces of their music to study, that he's been able to succeed. His balancing act of West Coast nostalgia and today’s rap landscape is the formula that has kept him winning.

While fans wait for a follow-up to his last project, the 28-year-old is staying busy. Dom is finishing up the Yellow Album World Tour. When rolled through NYC, we chopped it up with the “My Type of Party” rapper about his favorite albums.

He chose a heavy set of '90s albums that he remembers playing as a child, ones that inspired the The Yellow Album, and some choice R&B classics. Read on for the stories behind each.

As told to Eric Diep (@E_Diep)

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Label: Island

Dom Kennedy: "If my dad put me up on anybody, it was Bob Marley. The Exodus album. I buy that all the time when I don’t have it or I need it. Every so often, you are gonna find a way to re-love Bob Marley. That’s definitely one of my favorite albums of all time. The Exodus album."

Label: Epic

Dom Kennedy: "Thriller is probably a good album, but I like Off The Wall. I like the songwriting more. I think Off The Wall is going to be how the Yellow Album will be for me. It’s not going to be my biggest thing for sure, but it shows like the start of something. I feel like that’s what it shows with Michael Jackson. Quincy Jones. All that shit. It was the start of what they was about to do. How big they was about to get.

"You could see in the quickness and the innocence of the album cover with the socks. And the smile and the woo-woo. He wasn’t the leather jacket with all the zippers. Crazy. The world didn’t make him crazy yet. It had real dope shit and I like the spirit of the songs. “Rock With You” and shit like that. The spirit of those records will make you feel good about your own life. Like, 'I’m alive.' You was alive when you heard some shit like that with other people. It’s tight."

Label: Elektra

Dom Kennedy: "Anita Baker, Rapture album. That’s one of my favorite artists, too. I keep that Anita Baker album. Yeah, I love Anita Baker, just the style of it. It's just some ghetto classical music. [Laughs.] That’s all it reminds me of a little bit.

"Man, you know what, when I was a kid, I probably wasn’t paying attention to it too much like Luther Vandross and Anita Baker. Things like that. Because you know, you are a kid. You getting sold rap and you like rap and all of this shit. But I just love it now more so before the time. You know, seeing how long it’s lasted.

"I remember my mom’s reactions to the singing songs. We would just be in the car. That’s moreso the memories. When I hear the song, I am thinking about being a kid and it made me feel good. And that’s what music should do. You listen to it, but if it don’t make you feel nothing, it don’t really matter. That’s what those songs and artists like that they teach you. There’s a reason why all those songs sound just as good today because of the things they are talking about. The passion. The lyrics. The delivery."

Label: Tommy Boy

Dom Kennedy: "I used to play that when I was kid. I don’t know how I had it on tape, but I remember my dad had it I think. I used to love that tape. Probably maybe for just a couple of songs. I just loved it. It was different. It was dope. I loved that Digital Underground tape.

"Their videos. That was when videos was real important because they used to come on TV. My cousin used to have this VHS. We used to watch it and it had a lot of iconic videos. At the time, they were just regular videos. But now, they are like classics. Back then, we watched them because it was all on MTV. We used to watch it on the weekends nonstop. They used to have that "Doowutchyalike," all that shit. When they were in the water. It just looked fun. Their music matched their personality and their lifestyles. Again, it wasn’t for everything. But if you were trying to have fun, it was accurate by my point of view. They really made music for how they live. And that’s how it supposed to be. They made songs to have a good time."

Label: Def Jam, Columbia, CBS Records

Dom Kennedy: "I didn’t really get into that many LL albums. It’s not like one LL album you can say that made me an L fan because he has so many songs. He’s one of those people. He’s got like 10 albums, so it’s kind of like you could just pick two-three songs off of everything and make your own LL CD. But, I know that song was just a big song for me. You know, growing up, “Around the Way Girl.”

"It was funny because I never knew that it had a artwork for a single until I started studying thinking about Yellow Album shit. One day, I came across it and I was like it was real tight to me. So I was like, you know, I fucked with it. I am just going to use this and just go forward. I am going to have this as my inspiration."

Dom Kennedy: "I don’t think there’s nobody better. Just in terms of like believing in something. He was a young dude. He was a real young dude. Visionary to stand on his own like he did. To do N.W.A. and still sell because you knew what he had. You know, that’s what people wanted at the end of the day. The real storyteller.

"That’s what he knew. He knew that sitting among five niggas. He knew that Eazy-E was a drug dealer, but that don’t really count when you gotta get on the mic. He knew Dr. Dre was mixing and shit and that and other niggas. But he was looking at these other niggas like, 'Nigga, I’m the nigga talking. I’m the one writing all shit. And saying all this shit.' You know what I am saying? His voice had all the power.

"That’s why he wasn’t afraid to just be like, 'Fuck that. I could make my own shit. I just gotta find some beats.' That’s why it worked for him because he knew the one in front of the microphone controlled the crowd. Shit, everybody else, is just everybody else. In terms of that, Cube one of the best for sure to ever do it."

Label: Uptown/MCA

Dom Kennedy: "If I was in a R&B group, that was what I would do. If I didn’t rap, I would definitely be in Jodeci or have my own Jodeci group for sure. It’s just fly music. Fly music. That’s what the world be listening to. A lot of times people would be hearing my shit and I be having rap shit. But then I have intermissions and things like that. That’s where I get a lot of that from. It’s a lost art to have music that girls love and you can play and dudes will feel it. It’s just a lost art."

Label: Death Row/Interscope/Atlantic

Dom Kennedy: "Doggystyle was like a movie. All of them singles. Being from L.A. Man, I remember the first time hearing somebody say, 'One, two, three and to the four.' Before I heard the song. I was like, 'Damn what the fuck?' He was just kid at the park. He was just like really rapping that shit. I was like, 'Man.'

"Then I see the video and it just blew up. Even people’s mommas were talking about Snoop Doggy Dogg. [Laughs.] It was that big. He was saying exactly what people was doing how people were feeling over beats that niggas were riding to. Niggas could really ride too. People was like, 'Finally, somebody did it right.' Talking about the shit that we was talking about and doing the things that we were doing. It was perfect."

Label: Jive, BMG

Dom Kennedy: "One of my older cousins used to put me on. He used to love A Tribe Called Quest when I was a kid. That’s kind of how I got put on to them. I recently started studying that again more and more. Just for the vibe of it. That’s what A Tribe Called Quest was good at.

"I had a couple of cousins. That’s a different cousin. He was a little older than me, but he put me on the Tribe. He was a heavy Tribe [fan], De La Soul. You know that East Coast. Brand Nubian."

Label: Jive Records

Dom Kennedy: "Get In Where You Fit In. That’s probably the best one if I had to pick one in the end. Short Dog. Man, I love all of his albums, but Too $hort’s shit is just again. It’s funny because it is like that with every great artist. There’s no compromise. You feel me? It is what it is. You fucking with it or you not.

You either listening to what he’s saying and you are enjoying it or you not. There ain’t like in between. Nowadays, everybody want to have something for everybody. You gotta do the this. But it’s like, fuck that. Too $hort, that shit ain’t about that. It’s just straight game. All the time. Fly California. Oakland beats and just Oakland raps. You either fuck with it or you don’t. Sorry. If it’s not for you, then it’s not for you. That’s what I love about it."

Label: Bad Boy

Dom Kennedy: "Ready to Die is probably the album that I bought the most honestly in my life. I bought that album at least five times. But Ready to Die, just because at the time, I didn’t know he was listening to Doggystyle and stuff like that. It is kind of like a New York version of a Doggystyle type of album. As a fan of music—first and foremost—you just love to hear that. I just love to put on a tape and be able to hear everything that’s going on in Brooklyn.

"Everything that’s really poppin’. Who you kicking with? Where you hanging out with? What are y’all driving? What kind of clothes y’all wearing? What’s the cologne? What are y’all drinking? You know what I am saying? I know people don’t think about it in detail like that but that’s really how I listen to it. If I don’t really hear none of that, then it don’t really mean shit to me. You just talking. It was probably a lot of shit that you don’t even really do because it’s all in the details.

"You bought a car? Everybody got a car. What kind of car is it? Where the chicks is at? That’s what Junior Mafia did the best of. Every Lil Kim song, she told you how much the shit cost and where she got it from down there. [Laughs.] You could see that shit. You could damn near put the whole outfit together. Biggie outfit, every song, you could see what he looking like. Who was chilling with him. If Lil Cease was there and what they were drinking. That’s the type of shit I like. I keep it real. That’s why I love that album."

Label: Profile Records

Dom Kennedy: "Just like the continuity of it I would say. The sound of it is real cohesive. It’s kind of like unapologetic and it's well-balanced. It’s well-balanced in terms of it's a Compton [album]—that shit was in his early 20s when he made that. It’s a young Compton kid. The album has a lot of details to it. It’s straight hard shit and it’s like musical and stuff which is one of my favorite things about DJ Quik. He really plays instruments, but that one he didn’t go as hard because he was younger so it wasn’t rhythms. It was more open. More like street but it still had the perfect elements to it.

"I listened to it as a kid a lot and I loved the packaging. Packaging and everything is real big to me. On Westside With Love II, I used kind of like the format [of Safe + Sound.] My actual CD is a silhouette and that was because I used to look at his all the time. The red one. It was like a profile of his head. It was a profile, silhouette. Red and black. I just used to always look at it. So I always wanted to do something like that.

"To have a perfect album, your artwork gotta be tight too. The music. Everything. It gotta stand out. You should be able to see it from down the street and know exactly what it is. You know, anywhere. I feel like that was one of those ones. His look at the time matched the music. It was perfect."

Label: Death Row/Interscope

Dom Kennedy: "It’s a nonstop party. Not like party like 2 Live Crew, but just like life. Life. Smoke. Make some money. Chill with your homies. Whatever. House party. You could live your life. You could live your real Thursday life, Friday life with that album. That’s what is important. Music just sound good in the background. You don’t have to paying attention. You could just play it and have it on the tour bus and just talking. It just sounds good living your life with it."

Label: Death Row, Interscope

Dom Kennedy: "That All Eyez On Me was big just because it’s the biggest selling West Coast album of all time. I remember the impact of it when it dropped. I remember being in Leimert and the older guys I looked up to and they were rappers. I remember—the day that album came out—it was a real meeting like this. Going into the homie room. Everybody smoking. People just sitting in there listening to the CD. It was that important. I remember the album cover being on the floor. The radio right there and everybody is just listening. It was like school or something just to see what it was talking about. And in that moment always stood in my mind. It’s just important.

"This rap shit. When it is done right and when you do what you supposed to do than it’s really important. People really pay attention. And it’s your job to really give them something and to say something. I just feel like Tupac was the best at that. A lot of other things could be debated, but in terms of significance and impact. It’s really a no-brainer. It’s for people who really listen to and whose word who travels the furthest. Tupac is just the guy. So that All Eyes On Me is the staple, the standard for what I’m trying to surpass for a West Coast album."

Label: Undeas, Big Beat

Dom Kennedy: "Just being a big Biggie fan, it was just a no-brainer to like that Kim. Again, from the first time the artwork came up, posters was big back then. When she got the poster with the album cover and just everything. I remember a big thing for me back then with having that one was letting my mom hear it. [Laughs.]

"When you was a kid and your parents hear like, ‘Oh, Lil Kim this or rapper this and that.’ I was just like in the car and I wanted to listen to her. I was like, ‘You want to know why you say what you think? You can judge for yourself.’ She never heard it, she just knows what the media says. I was just like playing. She was just listening to it. She laughed. It was just funny more than anything. I think only stupid people take it to the extra, over-the-top, extreme.

"Most of the time, your parents just really hear what they talking about and really understand it, it shouldn’t be like dope or funny. My dad loved Biggie and Tupac. He don’t like everybody, but people understand good music if it is really tight."

Label: LaFace/Arista

Dom Kennedy: "That ATLiens is probably my favorite one. I bought that on cassette tape.That was a great album. The first eight songs especially I remember just playing them nonstop. I remember I loved how it was so rare. Even nowadays, especially back then, you could just play songs continuously. Back then, having a tape or having a CD, you wanted to just be able to play shit and not go to the last song to hear the song you like. That Outkast I remember I just loved it because it started off so strong. The whole thing is good, but it just started off ... the first 8 songs and loved every one of them. I used to play the shit out of that tape.

"And again, the artwork. I loved the comic book theme that they did. That artwork. It was just real iconic and you could tell that they planned that out. To do it like they did it, you could tell it was all thought out. They had a real plan. You just have to apply that and that’s what works. You could tell when someone puts time and thought into a concept. Into an album. And they get to execute it."

Label: Death Row, Interscope

Dom Kennedy: "It was interesting because that taught me about being able to have different plans. Nobody seen that coming. Most of these motherfuckers out here, everybody really, niggas just you know, they one person. That niggas had albums and things for shit that niggas didn’t even see coming. It was talking about stuff that he knew was going to happen on the album and put it out. Not even that long ago after All Eyez on Me. That taught me you gotta be prepared for anything. That was a big moment in the rap game. Because really after that it kind of has been down hill. [Laughs.] For music period.

"Makaveli taught me that you gotta be prepared. You gotta have a plan. Everything ain’t just all “California Love” videos and shit like that. He knew. He knew what was coming and he had to be ready.

"I used to sell that on cassette tape in school. [Laughs.] You know, get them from Sam Goody, sell them for $8 or whatever niggas had. $6, $7 at school just spreading the word."

Label: Bad Boy Records

Dom Kennedy: "That was a great album. When it came out, I was a big Bad Boy fan. Biggie had died. It was just like, you know, it didn’t really seem that bad. That album was so tight. They didn’t really drop off. They were probably doing just as good with that Ma$e album. I just remember listening to it over and over.

"The type of music I like to make and the person that I was, being the kid I was back then. It was just about all the shit I was about. Money, hoes, and clothes. It wasn’t really too much else. [Laughs.] 7th to 10th grade that was important. It was like perfect music for me."

Label: The Goldmind, Elektra

Dom Kennedy: "The music. The creativity. That was when she was coming up. All that Timbaland shit. They had a little bit of Jodeci swing in there. Missy and Timbaland were a match in terms of creativity. The style [is] like nobody else’s. It allows you to see things and do things different than everybody else does. Still be able to make it cool and tight. So that’s what I loved about that. That’s my favorite one from Missy."

Label: Ruff Ryders, Def Jam

Dom Kennedy: "Big. Big. Big. Everything. Singles. Videos. I remember seeing him on tour when Jay-Z was so big. Showing his belts and shit. And had the mock turtlenecks. It was like the alternative, you know what I am saying? [Laughs.] The nigga with the Timbs and the boxers showing with no shirt on. Barking like a dog. It was perfect. You needed that because hip-hop should always have a balance. It should never get too one-sided to where it’s too soft. You know what I am saying?

"That’s what the beauty of it of them going on tour and doing that shit because everybody in there loved them both equally, but just for what they represented. Some people might understand DMX a little more and the have not story. The ballers, of course, will rock with Jay-Z but you still fucked with everything for the saying because you understood exactly who they was. You felt the music and you never contested that. So that’s what was dope about that time, For sure, that album was huge. It's Dark and Hell is Hot."

Label: Aftermath, Interscope

Dom Kennedy: "The Chronic 2001, we was just playing that last night. Monumental. In terms of when it came out. It delivered. And it still delivers today, which is big. It still sounds great today. I remember when that came out people was like, you know, obviously fucking big deal about it. The second Chronic after so long. And it had all these people on it. The single was “Still D.R.E.” and everything was going right and for that shit to come out how it did. To be as dope as it was. That’s crazy. That’s probably why the third one isn’t out yet.

"The second one was definitely better than the first one. It was just everything about it was on point so it was just yeah. To come out after that? Man, it’s tough. That’s Michael Jackson shit." [Laughs.]

Label: Rawkus/UMVD

Dom Kennedy: "I love that album. Reflection Eternal was a great album for me. I used to listen to that a lot. I remember putting my dad up on it by listening to it so much. And he actually started loving it. That’s just one of those albums that’s like again in the same way T.I. could stand for what he stood for. They did the same thing over just great music. Great fucking music with a great message. It was all well put together."

Label: Grand Hustle, Atlantic

Dom Kennedy: "I like T.I. man. Even before that, I remember my cousin. One of my best cousins, he went to school in Georgia a while ago. Now, he came back with the first T.I. album. He was playing it one night in the car. We was leaving the club in L.A. I had never heard of T.I. It just came out and it definitely haven’t reached L.A. yet. I was just like, 'This nigga is dope.' There was one song in particular on the I’m Serious album. It was a real heartfelt song. I was like, 'This nigga is tight.' Ever since then, I was watching him.

"I think that Trap Muzik album was really like what set it off. His persona. That’s what let Atlanta live for so long. Being how they was. It’s off of T.I. It let everybody, even today, come in and do their thing. Kind of like how Eazy-E and Ice T kind of did for L.A. back when they did it.

"T.I. was the first one to be like, 'Fuck that. We ain’t changing nothing. This is how we look in the streets. This is how we coming on TV. This is how we talk. This is how we talk on the album.' That just what wins."

Label: J

Dom Kennedy: "My mom, she [was] big on Luther Vandross. Anita Baker. That’s where I get that stuff from. I can’t really say what album in particular because I don’t really remember. There’s just so many songs. Definitely Luther Vandross. I don’t know, even the greatest hits. I remember when I was older, the live at Radio City. It’s called Live at Radio City. Luther Vandross. That’s where he does all the songs I know, but he does them live. It’s amazing."

Label: Direct Connect

Dom Kennedy: "That’s a classic. That was big in the streets. I think it came out in ‘09. Christmas time. It was just big. That was when L.A. was turning back over. It was that pivotal time and he was the first people to really kick it off.

"I remember when that mixtape came out. Literally, I was still living in Leimert in South Central, nigga that’s all cars played. Every morning I was by the window and people was driving by playing the song off of it. Like true life. People came out with albums. We all done come out with shit, but having the love of the inner city like that album. Straight up. Including my shit, everything. Everybody shit. That one had everybody’s attention and the love of the streets. So it was what it was. That was one of my favorites. In terms if you put all the new people, that’s like a street classic for sure. That Vol. 2."