Apr 30, 2017

Probably the easiest way to start branching out is to listen to stuff that rap borrowed and evolved from (at least that's how I started) -- like, The Chronic is basically Dre rapping over Parliament's Mothership Connection. Listen to Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, any George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic album. If you want some contemporary soul that sounds more like classic soul listen to Charles Bradley.

You're a big Kanye fan right? Look at whosampled and look up who he samples in his songs.

Also most people I know who like rap tend to like Mac DeMarco. Start with Salad Days, then go through his discog chronologically (make note that Rock n Roll Nightclub is kinda different than the rest of his still, but it's gr8).

Flume's first album is a pretty easy in to electronic music from hip-hop. There's a bonus disc of rappers rapping over his instrumentals but it's mostly not that great. Awesome concept, poor execution.

Also: Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, Miguel, etc