O.C. - Word...Life (1994)

Born Omar Credle in Brooklyn- never for one second has the man stopped reppin' his hood- running with another Out Sounds' favorite Diamond D's Diggin' in the Crates crew, O.C. strikes a balance between his depression and desire to move into the light, presenting us with a dark and introspective record that isn't cringeworthy like a lot of today's rappers. O.C. was very critical of gangsta rap, preferring to talk instead about relationships, his faith and racism. This album is a perfect snippet of the mid-90s inner city zeitgeist. 

Featuring production from an all-star cast like Lord Finesse, Buckwild and Organized Konfusion, the beats and samples are very sophisticated, dare I say abstract, while lending a jazzier quality to the sound that by 1994 a lot of producers in hip-hop were starting to move away from.

O.C. - Word...Life (1994; Wild Pitch Records)

Boogie Down Productions - By All Means Necessary (1988)

"People still takin' rappin' for a joke
A passing hope or a phase with a rope
Sometimes I choke and try to believe
When I get challenged by a million MCs
I try to tell them, "We're all in this together!"
My album was raw because no one would ever
Think like I think and do what I do
I stole the show, and then I leave without a clue
What do you think makes up a KRS?
Concisive teaching, or very clear speaking?"

- KRS-One, I'm Still #1 

Boogie Down Productions - By All Means Necessary (1988; Jive Records)

Main Source - Breaking Atoms (1991)

First off, these beats- considering this album is almost 20 years old, these beats still sound as incredible to my thirty-something ears as they did to my teen ears. And then there's the rhyming, that archetypal early-90s rap flow done to perfection; and oh, let's not forget the samples- James Brown, Donald Byrd, Ike & Tina, Sister Nancy, Bob James, Lou Donaldson, Kool & The Gang, Miles Davis, MFSB, The Meters and Funkadelic (among many others; it's like walking into the Soul section of a record store and just grabbing all the best shit).

One of the first "international" hip-hop releases; two Toronto natives (K-Cut & Sir Scratch) hooked up with Queens-based Large Professor to give you the Main Source. Listen for the first verse ever from a very young and very hungry Nasir Jones- later known as Nas, as well as some of the most socially conscious and relevant lyricism on any hip-hop release, now or then.

Another insanely overlooked album from the Golden Age of Hip-Hop...

Main Source - Breaking Atoms (1991; Wild Pitch Records)

Diamond D - Stunts, Blunts & Hip Hop (1992)

Another classic hip-hop record that never got it's due; Diamond D and his Psychotic Neurotics' Stunts, Blunts & Hip Hop is a testament to keeping it real. The whole D.I.T.C. (Diggin' In The Crates) Crew were the hardest working DJs and producers in the game in the early 90's, one listen to any of the charter member's albums and you'll know that what you're listening to is pure aural boom bap gold. D was one of the last of a dying breed of beat-maker/rapper; it's a shame more MCs aren't as adept in production as rhyming these days.

Featuring guest verses from Sadat X and Lord Jamar (of Brand Nubian), A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip, Big L, Fat Joe and Showbiz and production from Large Professor, Jazzy Jay and DJ Mark the 45 King; it's a posse album if there ever was one. I always felt that this was one of the last great albums from the old school of hip-hop; it came out at the tail end of the golden age, right before Wu-Tang Clan released their game-changer Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in '93.

Sit back, relax, spark up a blizzy, fuck what u heard- Stunts, Blunts & Hip Hop is the shit, kid.

Diamond D - Stunts, Blunts & Hip Hop (1992; Mercury Records)

Ultramagnetic MC's - Critical Beatdown (1988)

Kool Keith is the shit.

So is DJ Moe Love and fellow Ultramagnetic MC's Ced Gee (who actually did most of the producing here) and TR Love (who appears on the album's cover, but strangely contributed nothing to this record). This album was one of my favorites as a kid, it never really fell out of favor with me- another cassette I think I straight up melted from over-listening. I can remember hearing other hip-hop albums that came after this and being all, "Yo, they totally stole this beat from the UMC's!" before the word "sampling" snaked its way into out collective lexicon. But these beats were relatively new; I was like 12 when this record came out and what did I know (everything I learned about hip-hop back then was from Fab Five Freddy).

The more reading I've done about this record (and Ced Gee's production), the more I realize that it's one of the most important in the history of hip-hop and sampling in general. Gee did most of the work on Boogie Down Production's Criminal Minded, so taken along with this record there's two huge landmarks in the genre; sampling a bunch of James Brown and old soul, funk and jazz records gave poetic license and the impetus to help kick-start the careers of literally hundreds of DJs and producers.

This is the 2004 re-mastered re-issue, complete with remixes, b-sides and bonus tracks... 

Ultramagnetic MC's - Critical Beatdown (1988; Next Plateau Records)

Brand Nubian - In God We Trust (1993)

If you like the first Brand Nubian record, you'll probably hate this one. That one had party raps and fun jams, this one is serious; full of Nation of Islam imagery, Five-Percent ideology, Black empowerment and knowledge dropping left and right. If 1990's One For All was Grand Puba's coming out party (it had those "bitches and blunts" songs but was still politically charged and socially conscious), then consider this record Sadat X exerting his emerging influence over the group (Elijah Muhammad voice-overs, abrasive and anti-Semitic at times; anti-homosexual, anti-pork, anti-white, etc). Puba was more or less forced out of Brand Nubian before the recording of this album, so Lord Jamar would see more work on the mic, plus- he agreed with Sadat.

While Sadat X's protest jams can seem bloated and offensive, they serve as an important indicator to what was going on in the African-American community in the early-1990's. The Nation of Gods and Earths (also known as the Five Percenters) were an offshoot of the Nation of Islam, and seen as extreme and radical in its teachings (hence the anti- stance above on many issues). Many young black men sought refuge here from the negative things around them in the ghetto; and Brand Nubian considered themselves adherents to the teachings. Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Trenton's Poor Righteous Teachers and most notably the Wu-Tang Clan would also feature Five Percenter ideas in their music.

While I don't agree with some of the things that are said on this record, the views of Brand Nubian are taken as a history lesson (I consider myself both a fan of and an academic music appreciator) of what it was like in their part of the world almost 20 years ago. Controversy aside, the positive things on this album outweigh the negative, plus the music is so damn funky.

Brand Nubian - In God We Trust (1993; Elektra Records)

Organized Konfusion - Stress: The Extinction Agenda (1994)

Organized Konfusion was a hip-hop duo from Queens consisting of Prince Po and Pharoahe Monch; they were outspoken and politically-charged as well as socially conscious which is probably the reason they never got their due. The beats are tight, Po & Monch's flow is top ranking, there's only one skit and the only two guests are A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip and fellow New Yorker O.C. This album is the very personification of East Coast Hip-Hop; it's got all the proper elements- obscure jazz & soul samples, hardcore street knowledge and that proper boom bap.

Today's rappers need to take this one to heart; this is how it should be done...

Organized Konfusion - Stress: The Extinction Agenda (1994; Hollywood BASIC)
-link opens to YouTube-

Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep (1994)

What happens when you take rapper Too Poetic, Stetsasonic's Prince Paul & Frukwan and the Wu-Tang's RZA and put them all in a studio with some Freddy Krueger and Jason movies?

This album...

I'mma send a personal shout-out to Weady D for this one; I can remember driving around his old whip smoking blunts and noddin' our heads to this one, way back in the days of '95. I think Scotty Del and Haji Casale know what's up, too. This album is for all you cats (suicide, it's a suicide, widda bop-bop...)

Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep (1994; Gee Street Records)

Gang Starr - Step In The Arena (1990)

Rest In Peace, Guru. 

You were truly one of a kind...

Gang Starr - Step In The Arena (1990; Chrysalis Records)

Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth - Funky Technician (1990)

The copy I used to have of this was a $5 bootleg cassette I bought in the tunnels underneath City Hall in Philly when I was a freshman in high school, circa early '91. We used to cut school and go down and skate Love Park all day, maybe go to South Street, whatever. Hopefully someone would have a boombox, but mostly I would listen to my shitty General Electric walkman (bought with my dad's employee discount). Yeah, this was well before iPods. I used to rock tapes, kid.

Lord Finesse was the leader of the Diggin' In The Crates crew, these guys had records upon records in their repertoire- the samples on which they built their tracks are from thousands of old soul, funk, R&B and jazz records from the '60s and '70s. Back in the day before ProTools, they used to use those Akai MPC samplers. This is a classic from that era, and also one of my faves. Also heralded for its beats, samples and production, this album features Showbiz, Diamond D and DJ Premier. A lot of James Brown is sampled on here, so you know it's got to be funky.

Pump this shit...

Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth - Funky Technician (1990; Wild Pitch Records)

KMD - Black Bastards (2001)

You may know KMD through two separate avenues; us old heads know them as the guys who rapped on 3rd Bass' The Gas Face way back in '89 and for also collaborating with Brand Nubian. You new schoolers know them as MF Doom's original group. Either way; KMD never got their due, and this album sat on the shelf for seven years before it was released.

Seven years pass by before this album sees the light of day. After the death of Subroc, causing the end of KMD, his emcee partner (and brother) Zev Love X would go through bouts of severe depression, homelessness and drug abuse before re-emerging and re-inventing himself as MF Doom. And everybody knows who Doom is, and if you don't know you better ask somebody who does, knucklehead.

So here's a forgotten gem of hip-hop goodness...

KMD - Black Bastards (2001; Sub Verse Music)

Masta Ace - Disposable Arts (2001)

Masta Ace's flow is one of the best in the game; he's easily forgotten because he doesn't rap about Nikes and gold and gats and all that bullshit- he's real. As real as real can get. Here's what some writer had to say about this record:

Instant classic; a modern-day hip-hopera, a ghetto concept album if you will. How this album isn’t mentioned in the same breath as Madvillainy and Stankonia I’ll never know- but Ace made a stunna here; it follows the story of a man released from jail and his return to Brooklyn. After realizing how tough it is on the streets, he decides to go back to school, but not any school- he enrolls in The Institute Of Disposable Arts; a hip-hop academy of sorts. It’s based on the shadiness of the music industry, the whackness of “thug life”, all that rap-poseurism shit and how to transcend it to stay true to yourself and just make good music; what’s in your heart and how to tap into that. Deep and introspective without being preachy, the beats and samples are some of the best collected on one record- choosing to work with virtual unknowns (producers from the New York underground) as well as some emcees also not known above ground. And since it’s a concept album, the skits are not only integral for the story but actually funny. Ace’s wordplay and lyrical prowess are a sight to behold, every other line induces an “oh shit, did he just say that?”, it’s like watching a rap battle and everyone’s getting slayed. You may recognize his flow, it’s the one Eminem stole (don’t worry; Em’s given Masta Ace mad props and the favor’s returned here- witnessed by the opening lines from Don’t Understand: “I don’t do white music, I don’t do black music / I make rap music, for Hip-Hop kids…”) This is a triumphant return to form- Masta Ace had more or less dropped out of music for almost five years at the end of the century. I’m glad he made it back to drop this gem. 

- from The Musicologists

Masta Ace - Disposable Arts (2001; JCOR Entertainment)