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)

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)

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)