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Exclusive: For Thanksgiving, we asked emcees about albums they are thankful for. Pharoahe Monch, Jean Grae, Bambu, Krizz Kaliko, Obie Trice, Nitty Scott, Fashawn and Masta Ace join a list of artists who responded by thanking the likes of Dr. Dre, Slick Rick, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z & The Fugees.

There is a lot to be thankful for in music. Musicians know this as much as fans because, though we often forget, musicians are fans first. Recently, we reached out to several artists to discuss albums they are thankful for, albums that inspired their work. They had intriguing and diverse responses ranging from Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt to Radiohead's Kid A and from Dr. Dre's The Chronic to Stevie Wonder's Hotter than July. 

Perhaps one of the brightest spots to mention are ones where the artists looked back upon their lives, reliving vivid memories based on the albums being discussed. For instance, Bambu talked about how he learned about his city as a kid through Ice Cube's lyrics. Later, while Nitty Scott discussed her favorite albums, she took us back to her life as a seventh grade student. Obie Trice also explained how an album allowed his perspectives on other races to change. It's clear that these albums mean a lot to these artists. They've inspired them and helped guide them along the way. Here, they are sharing the inspiration by giving thanks on Thanksgiving day.

Pharoahe Monch Thanks De La Soul, Eugene McDaniels and Public Enemy

Pharoahe Monch: I'm thankful for De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising because it introduced me to concept albums and having fun, outlandish samples and "Peg," [by] Steely Dan. I'm also thankful for Eugene McDaniels' Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse because it opened my eyes to political social songwriting. The emotion he puts into his singing, I try to emulate all the time, especially on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Also, see "The Parisite (For Buffy)" for the best Thanksgiving song ever. Also, I'm thankful for Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back for its aggression and power, hair-raising voice inflection and inspirational songwriting. It inspires me to this day.

Jean Grae Thanks Radiohead, Stevie Wonder & The Clash  

Jean Grae: I'm thankful for Radiohead's Kid A, mainly because it's Radiohead's album, Kid A. I feel like further explanation is absolutely unnecessary. I'm thankful for Stevie Wonder's Hotter Than July for being the genius soundtrack to my life at varying ages, meaning different things as I learned more, found subtlely...Blah, blah, musical genius props, blah blah. Thanks, HTJ.  I'm also thankful for The Clash's London Calling because...Oh, seriously, none of these should be explained. Most of all, I'm thankful that you did not specify that I list Hip Hop albums. Bong. Bong. 

Bambu Thanks Ice Cube, Outkast & dead prez

Bambu: Ice Cube's Death Certificate. At a time in my youth when I didn't know how to process how I felt about things, this album really spoke to me. Being very, very young in the early '90s, this album helped me figure shit out in the big, bad city of Los Angeles. Cube predicted the L.A. rebellion/uprising with this one! Also, Outkast's Aquemini. Do I really need to go any further with this one? [Laughing] Aquemini made Hip Hop heads appreciate musicality in a completely different way with this one. Finally, dead prez's Let's Get Free. I was floored the first time I heard this album. I couldn't believe the content was that heavy and was sonically that amazing! Really great album that I couldn't see the world without. 

Krizz Kaliko Thanks A Tribe Called Quest, Outkast & Notorious B.I.G.

Krizz Kaliko: The Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready To Die because he made it easy for fat boys to be players again, that had not been done since Heavy D. And he was a enormous lyrical influence on my Rap style. "We'll always love Big Poppa." Rest In Peace to Heavy D, too.

[Another one is] A Tribe Called Quest's Midnight Marauders. I played that everyday for an entire year. I don't think I could live without that album, for real. It jams all the way through. 

Also, Outkast's Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. They showed me you could think different and still win. They were super musical in Hip Hop. And so are me and Tech N9ne. I think that's why they compare the two of us to Outkast sometimes, not afraid to think outside the box. Now, we are the box!

Obie Trice Thanks Redman, Eminem & The Notorious B.I.G.

Obie Trice: With The Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready to Die, I was inspired by the real nigga feel it made me want to be as a young man. I think this album touched every young guy in the ghetto, tapped in our brains because we had the same emotions and thoughts and situations that B.I.G. spoke on throughout out the record. This album is special to me because it was a turning point in my age bracket from a young adolescent to a young man! With Redman's Whut? Thee Album, I was inspired by his witty raps and raunchy but charismatic behavior and flow. This album is special to me because it was different, it was mischievous, it was freedom, it was gangster, it was hoody, but stylish and awkward. Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP [is another album I'm thankful for]. This record inspired me by the way Em tampered with words and patterns and imagery. I was just blown away that this was capable for a human to create like this in this psycho way and make it dope and believable. It's special to me because this was the first time in my life I was able to  actually connect with White people and understand we all, as human beings, have issues. Don't get me wrong. I had an idea of that, but through Em and his music and Hip Hop as the vehicle, it really made it stick in my brain that Whites and Blacks are not different at all.

Nitty Scott, MC Thanks Missy Elliott, Kanye West & Lupe Fiasco

Nitty Scott, MC: Missy Elliott's Under Construction dropped when I was in seventh grade and I definitely made it that year’s soundtrack. This album had girly perspective, but it was so creative and original that we forgot a “chick” was rhyming; the content wasn’t about being some sex kitten, and we really hadn’t seen that since The Miseducation [of Lauryn Hill]. Missy’s style on the cover was so b-girl’ed out, around-the-way fly, all of that, and I loved it. I could relate to that woman in sneakers and doorknockers sitting next to a boombox. She totally embodied the spirit of Hip Hop and inspired the homegirl demeanor I rock with today. “Gossip Folks” and “Funky Fresh Dressed” were my shit.

Kanye West's Graduation. Progressive. Personal. Genre-bending. One thing I truly remember about Graduation isn’t just the music itself, but the experience of the album being released. I was in high school, and there was this crazy energy and buzz amongst all the music heads, anxious for the school day to end so we could run out and purchase our physical copies. I wasn’t all about the mp3 life yet, so heading to Target to get mine seems really nostalgic now. 'Ye introduced to me to this artsy, conceptual, more musical side of Rap that stuck with me forever. He was painfully honest, and I loved the emotional experience of the album, from cringing to clapping to crying. As one of those projects that I can let ride from beginning to end, I remember thinking, “How is possible that every. single. record is amazing?” It just was.

Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor is special to me because it made me more accepting of myself. I saw myself in Lupe, a wiz kid that seemed to have an intellectual approach to everything. “Hurt Me Soul” and “Daydream” were my favorites, but he really got me with “I Gotcha.” When he says, “You want the flava ma? Hey, I gotcha. Either they pimps or they macks or they mobsters,” I was just like, “Word!” For me, he deaded the idea that all rappers, or men in general, have to adopt that gangster, playboy persona that is often projected. He made it cool to be smart, to be responsible and think outside of the box. Plus, an image of Lupe floating in space, surrounded by a Banksy postcard, Nintendo DS, sketchbook, the Qur’an and a robot is pretty freaking random and dope.

A$AP Ferg Thanks Jay-Z, The Notorious B.I.G. & N.E.R.D. 

A$AP Ferg: All of these albums were underdogs doing their art and what they believed was hot and they all did well with out any compromising which was inspirational. I related to Biggie around the time I was listening to Ready to Die because I felt where he was coming from, going through trials and tribulations of a young man's life growing up in the hood, in his mom's crib, depressed with no real way to make a living. I feel the title of Ready to Die meant he was ready to get it, [meaning] money and if he was gonna die while getting it then so be it, and I felt  that way.

With Reasonable Doubt, I liked Jay-Z's character because he showed that you can be a new artist and shine as if you've been getting it in the game. In all actuality it's who Jay-Z really was which was intriguing to know he took his hustling ways and became a flourishing star that everyone knows today.

N.E.R.D [made] the album that changed my life because it showed me it was alright to be Black and different. Pharrell [William], Chad and Shay was like the dopest motherfuckers I've ever seen. They dressed like skateboarders, made Rock/Rap music, had the baddest women and hung out with all the Rap stars. The music was new and fresh and they put a whole culture on the forefront that wasn't being noticed with the fashion, Hip Hop and Rock. It was the perfect blend of things and that whole era just felt good. 

All these albums are completely different but all have one thing in common and that is originality. None of these artists were scared to be themselves, which is the purest art. If Andy Warhol copied Picasso, he wouldn't have went down as one of the greats. I respect originality.