10 Last-Minute Christmas Gift Ideas For The Hip Hop/Music Lover
We’re all procrastinators (well, at least us cool people). Now that it is the antepenultimate day before Christmas, you might have just realized that “Oh, shit. I gotta get something for my [insert neglected family member’s familial status here]. All I really know is that they like hip hop/rap music. What am I gonna do with only two days left until Christmas?” Rap Genius has you covered with the following last-minute pick-ups that’ll make you a hero. Think of us as the Ernest to your Christmas.
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest
Michael Rapaport’s awesome documentary on one of the most iconic hip hop groups: A Tribe Called Quest. I remember watching this thing two times in a row when I first got it. What’s beautiful about this documentary is that there is so much inherent drama and personal backstory that Michael Rapaport really only has to point the camera and let the artists speak their sides of the story. Any hip hop fan would love to own this. Since its last-minute you can cop the DVD or Blu-Ray at Best Buy, but if they happen to be out don’t forget about Barnes and Noble. You can always gift it to them via iTunes, as well.
Headphones
Look, I know that some of you out there are going to complain about me suggesting Beats by Dre headphones. I know that audiophiles are going to chastise me for not suggesting some Sennheiser cans or something, but people these days put more emphasis on branding/logos than high fidelity and the easiest way for them to flex that is with some Beats By Dre. Best Buy also has the above limited colors, ideal for if you have an athlete in the family. Nothing like being able to rock headphones that match your warm-up suit.
Spotify Subscription
Though they have a free service, it has an hours of listening cap per week. However, shell out the $5/month for Premium or the $10/month for Unlimited. Basically, the difference is that the Unlimited subscription allows you to stream Spotify on your mobile device (iPhone/Android) and you have the ability to make playlists available offline (for when you don’t have service/Wi-Fi). Spotify gives you access to millions of songs instantly without having to pay per song like iTunes. It gets the latest releases that iTunes gets so they can pull up the newest albums with no problem. Plus, it has a social network component where you can send songs to people you are connected with. Only downside is that you can’t download the music. :(
Guitar Center Gift Card
If you have a budding musician, get them a hefty gift card from Guitar Center. That way they can go in and use it towards that MPC or Rode microphone they’ve been eyeing. Plus, GC has a bunch of other stuff… like actual instruments… cables, live sound and DJ equipment. It’s like Kay Bee Toys for adolescents.
Books
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Books are great gifts. Stimulate their mind and hip hop knowledge with one of these books below:
- Decoded — Jay-Z
- How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC — Paul Edwards
- The Wu-Tang Manual — The RZA
- One Day It’ll All Make Sense — Common
- My Infamous Life — Prodigy
- Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption-from South Central to Hollywood — Ice-T
- Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind, and Naked (Audio Book) — Malice (of the Clipse) Actually narrated by Malice, himself.
- Hip Hop America — Nelson George
- The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy — Steve Stoute
- Def Jam Recordings: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label
Domain Name & Hosting
Every artist should have their own website. If you have an aspiring producer, singer or rapper in the family, buy them a domain and hosting for a year (or more if you are feeling generous). Even if they don’t know how to build or create a website (hopefully it’ll teach them because is a great skill to have) they can at least forward their bandcamp or SoundClick page to the domain name to make it more official looking. Branding is key!
Just Host has a current promotion for $3.95 per month (ends up being less than $50 when all is said and done). I’ve used them for years and have been genuinely pleased. There’s also GoDaddy and a myriad other sites.
External Hard Drive
Session files, music, videos, photos. It’s going to fill up their computer’s hard drive real quick. If they don’t already have one, scoop them an external hard drive. Not only is it a great way to back stuff up (though you could get them some online back-up to further protect their stuff) but it’s a nice and easy way for them to take their media with them. As far as size goes… the more space the better. I’d suggest this FreeAgent 1 TB external hard drive for two reasons:
- It is relatively cheap (just over $100).
- It doesn’t have any external power supply to worry about. Just a Micro USB cable.
If you are a member of Costco, Sam’s or BJ’s, they usually have these on sale. I got a 1 TB HD for $80 last year!
SONOS Play:3
If you aren’t familiar with SONOS then I suggest you remedy that. Without a doubt, SONOS is the benchmark for wireless whole home audio. I used to sell these when I designed and installed home theaters and whole-home automation systems. This particular model, the Play:3 is a self-contained wireless speaker, which can be controlled by your Android/iPhone/iTouch/iPad or computer. You can play music from your iTunes library, Pandora, Spotify, Rhapsody, Audible, Last.FM, iheartradio, and many more services without the need for a computer. You can actually get as many speakers as you want and put them in every room in the house (they can play the same thing or all different music) or you can just take the speaker with you to whichever room you are going to be in.
One SONOS component does have to be hard-wired. If this speaker isn’t going to be near a router/switch to hard-wire, buy a ZoneBridge for $50 and then you can put the Play:3 wherever you want in the house (just plug it up to a power outlet).
The Play:3 features an ethernet switch and an auxiliary input on the back of it for plugging up any local MP3 device. It’s a little expensive ($300) but they just started offering these at Target so you can actually walk into a store and get one instead of having to order it from SONOS or a dealer in your area.
USB Turntable
This is a great gift for a young beat-maker to help out with sampling or for an older person with a vinyl collection and no way to enjoy it. There are a variety of these on the market, but the best ones I have used/seen have been the originators of the product: ION Audio. They have USB turntables that convert to MP3, go direct to an iPod/Mp3 Player, CD and even a portable unit.
Classic CD’s, Tapes or Vinyls
http://instagr.am/p/aOenf/ Mayer Hawthorne’s Vintage Tape Collection
If you are a hip hop lover yourself, nothing would be better than to school a younger family member with the music you grew up on or help them start a vintage collection of their own. Snatch up an assortment of classic CD’s, tapes, vinyls, etc. and introduce them to an era they might not have known too much about. And even if they have already illegally downloaded Illmatic or Ready to Die, how cool would it be to give them a CD or vinyl complete with liner notes? Foster a deeper appreciation for albums that they already may enjoy. Head over to the used music store that every town has and neglects to get started!
