9th Wonder — Zion

One of the first instrumental studio albums of 9th Wonder, hip-hop producer from Winston-Salem, North Carolina: the disk is the first of the long series "Zion".

Showbiz & AG — Runaway Slave

Shortly after the release of the extended play "Soul Clap" (1991) and several hit singles, Showbiz founded the group Diggin' in the Crates aka DITC and as the duo with Andre the Giant signs with Payday / London Records, and re-released the EP with the title "Party Groove / Soul Clap" in 1992. In the same year, Showbiz & AG publishes their first studio album.

Mac Mall — Illegal Business?

Debut album by the young rapper from Vallejo Jamal Rocker aka Mac Mall, one month after turning eighteen. The production is done almost entirely by Khayree, who leaves a beat each to Mac Dre, Ferg and Brotha Luv.

The Pharcyde — Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde

The Pharcyde group was born in 1990, formed by high school friends Tré "Slimkid3" Hardson, Emandu "Imani" Wilcox and Romye "Bootie Brown" Robinson.

Westside Gunn — FLYGOD

In 2000, Shawn Carter releases "Dynasty", an album released with his Roc La Familia. First in the pop chart and immediate double platinum, it's the fourth consecutive album to go platinum and the third to chart first in the Billboard 200. People and insiders begins to wonder where all this success comes from and rediscovers "Reasonable Doubt", elevating it to the classic status.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth — Mecca and the Soul Brother

Debut album for Mount Vernon hip-hop duo Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, after releasing one of the best EPs of the season the year before. Eighty-minute document in which Pete Rock proves to be one of the best hip-hop producers ever, creating an entrancing soundscape, made up of soulful melodic samples and layered musical samples such as fluid bass, organs, cymbals, trumpets and cornets, and tough and robust drum machines.

Digable Planets — Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)

Debut studio album for hip-hop group Digable Planets, consisting of rappers Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler, of Seattle, Craig "Doodlebug" Irving, of Philadelphia, and Mary Ann "Ladybug Mecca" Vieira, of Silver Springs, Maryland. The story about how these three met always changes depending on the sources, I'll just report the fact that they actually met and got a deal with Pendulum Records.

Noreaga — N.O.R.E.

Debut studio album by Victor "Noreaga" Santiago, rapper from Queens and member of the Capone-N-Noreaga duo. When Capone ends up in prison, the other finds himself having to pursue a career in the music industry alone. Production is handled by Trackmasters, LES, EZ Elpee, SPK, Marley Marl, Kurt Gowdy, DJ Clue?, Duro, Nashiem Myrick, Jay "Waxx" Garfield and Dame Grease. Guests are Nature, Big Pun, Cam'ron, Styles P, Jadakiss, Carl Thomas, Maze, Musolini, Kid Capri, Kool G Rap, Chico DeBarge, Tammy Lucas, Busta Rhymes, Spliff Star and Nas.

Logic — Bobby Tarantino [mixtape]

Tape braggadocio made during his world tour of "The Incredible True Story", released exclusively to stay relevant in the music industry and give his basic niche something to eat while waiting for his next album. Many fans and casual listeners, years after its release, consider this first chapter of the "Bobby Tarantino" series to be his best project, probably completely ignoring the existence of any of the "Young Sinatra" mixtapes, therefore, as a fan of Logic or simply curious, it's a listening that must be done sooner or later. There's no information on the production, which appears credited to 6ix and Logic, while Pusha T is the only guest on the project.

Curren$y & Statik Selektah — Gran Turismo

The collaborative album by Currensy and Statik Selektah celebrates the famous video game series "Gran Turismo", one of the most popular ever. The New Orleans MC doesn't disappoint with his usual lyricism and pulls out bars with a relaxed style on pleasant soul-flavored midtempo jazzy boom baps extracted from the Boston producer: Currensy is blessed with one of the best productions of recent years by Statik Selektah, which was steadily declining after some musically-flat albums. Among the guests, Jadakiss & Sheek Louch (one line in the intro, uncredited) give a LOX tone to "Clear (Part 2)", Jim Jones is close to his best moments in the fourth choice, and Wiz Khalifa is also good in "Nothing New". The others are discreet, while the hooks sung by Haile Supreme don't feel so necessary. The record maintains a composition similar to that of a good EP, with 10 tracks, 28 minutes and a good replay value, recommended for fans of both artists, 7.5/10.

DJ Quik — Quik is the Name

Debut album for David "DJ Quik" Blake, which in 1991 also produced the debut of Hi-C and the debut of 2nd II None: it was to be a mixtape sold in the streets, in the ghettos, originally, however, after listening to it, a Profile manager convinces the artist to sign a contract with its label, giving him a substantial budget that allows DJ Quik to refine the sound of his project and, to give a trivial example, add those scratches dope on the hooks.

Black Sheep — A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

The Native Tongues crew is certainly one of the most talented hip-hop collectives of its genre, and over the years between the late 1980s and early 2000s it presented some of the best artists of the scene: De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah, Brand Nubian, Leaders of the New School, The Ummah, The Beatnuts, The Pharcyde, Common, Fu-Schnickes, Mos Def. A monstrous paddock of thoroughbred absolutes. In this case, there are Dres and Mista Lawnge in the part of the nag under the name Black Sheep, a New York duo raised in North Carolina, and randomly affiliated to the legendary collective (Dres is a cousin of Q-Tip: this is the only reason).

Puff Daddy & the Family — No Way Out

Puff Daddy & the Family debut studio album, entirely produced by the Hitmen. Originally, it was to be called "Puff Daddy & the Goodfellas", then "Hell Up in Harlem", finally, Puff chose for the more sober "No Way Out", following the death of his friend Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, which occurred four months earlier. The guests are members of Puff Daddy's group, "the Family", Lil' Kim, Ma$e, Biggie Smalls, The LOX and 112, as well as Faith Evans, Foxy Brown, Kelly Price, Simone Hines, Melissa Feliciano, India, Busta Rhymes, Carl Thomas, Jay-Z, Black Rob, Ginuwine and Twista.

Buckwild — Diggin' in the Crates - Rare Studio Masters: 1993-1997

Complete collection of Buckwild's works among the rare and remixes towards the end of the golden age (1993-1997). Buckwild at his finest: the production is basically raw, dark, jazzy, underground NY, almost always brilliant. There are two versions of "Life's a Bitch" by Nas and Az that are a masterpiece (the first one deserves) as well as those of Big L's "MVP" (both better than original) and many other top level artists including KRS, Busta, Finesse, Brand Nubian, Beastie Boys, Q-Tip, Ill Biskits, Keith, OC, Chubb Rock, Show & AG, Organized Konfusion, Guru, Tha Liks, Black Sheep, Special ED, and Rakim. 39 tracks divided in two CDs, they all deserve a spin, almost half are instant classics.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth — All Souled Out EP

Debut EP by the duo formed by Pete Rock & CL Smooth. They signed to Elektra Records in the early nineties, after participating in the production and remixes of songs of rnb and hip-hop artists between late eighties and nineties. The effort anticipating their debut studio album, "Mecca and the Soul Brother".

A Tribe Called Quest — People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

Kamaal "Q-Tip" Fareed, Malik "Phife Dawg" Taylor, Jarobi White (later he came out after this effort) and Ali Shaheed Muhammad make up the Queens hip-hip group A Tribe Called Quest, part of the Afrocentric collective Native Tongues (together with De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Black Sheep, Queen Latifah and others). The group name is found in 1988 by Jungle Brothers, who attended in the same high school as Muhammad and Fareed.

Statik Selektah — Spell My Name Right (The Album)

Passionate about hip-hop since childhood, after having founded his own label and having released a series of mixtapes, the latest being "Bar Exam" with Royce and Premier, Patrick Baril debuts with his studio album, the last chapter from the "Spell My Name Right" mixtape series. Baril, under the name of Statik Selektah, in previous years has produced tracks for KRS-One, O.C. and The Firm, that is, he made beats for AZ, Nas and Foxy Brown, on separate projects. Unlike any DJ Khaled album, Statik Selektah produces the entire album and collaborates with some of the best hip-hop artists: DJ Premier, The LOX, Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, Joell Ortiz, Kool G Rap, Freeway, Cassidy, Cormega, Royce da 5'9", Doug E. Fresh, Tony Touch, MOP, AZ, Slum Village, Evidence, The Alchemist, AG, Skyzoo, KRS-One, Large Professor and his friends Reks and Termanology.

Naughty by Nature — Naughty by Nature

The New Style, a group composed of Treach at rapping, Vin Rock as hype man and Kaygee in the role of producer, made his debut in 1989 with "Independent Leaders", an album now forgotten and overshadowed by its new debut: leaving the MCA Records, the group signs with Tommy Boy and changes its name to Naughty by Nature, publishing an eponymous "debut" in 1991.

Ghostface Killah — Supreme Clientele

After "Wu-Tang Forever", RZA steps away from the keyboards and leaves production duties to his affiliates, ordering the members of the supergroup to reduce collaborations with each other on solo records to the minimum possible, in order to «not give away Wu-Tang to labels that have only signed one member». This album becomes a great exception, with Bobby Digital returning to have an important role as producer and the Wu-Tang almost complete. In late 1997, Ghostface Killah and The RZA take a trip to Africa, during which the majority of the album is written and Stapleton's MC decides to renounce the materialistic, criminal and violent themes that had characterized his previous works and for which he had won critical praise.

Scarface — Mr. Scarface is Back

Brad Jordan began his artistic career as DJ Akshen, recording and deejaying for Lil Troy's Short Stop, local record label in Houston, Texas. Akshen is a backronym for All Krazy Shit Has Ended Now, and pronounced "action". He releases the single "Scarface/Another Head Put to Rest" in 1989, the piece is written by Mr. 3-2 (later included in the group Convicts along with Big Mike, this latter will be part of the Geto Boys for a few years together with Jordan) and produced by Def Jam Blaster and Bruce "Grim" Rhodes. Later, Akshun signs with Rap-A-Lot Records and joins the hip-hop group Geto Boys, replacing a member who left. In this period, he changes his moniker from Akshen to Scarface, in homage to the 1983 movie by the same name. After dropping four albums with the group, in 1991 Scarface debuts as soloist with a studio album.

Ice Cube — AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted

In 1989, The World's Most Dangerous MC Ice Cube left the N.W.A due to pay differences with the group manager, Jerry Heller. The rapper walks into the dark towards his solo debut and ready to deny a crowd that expects his lonely and inexorable fall, while the group without him can go as strong as before.

AZ — Doe or Die

"Visualizin' the realism of life in actuality

Fuck who's the baddest, a person's status depends on salary

And my mentality is money-orientated

I'm destined to live the dream for all my peeps who never made it"

When you think about AZ, that’s the first thing that comes to mind. It’s the North Star of his career, the one and only reference. We always come back to that. It's everywhere in his discography, inevitably there's also in his first album: we find it three times, in "Gimme Yours" (reformulated lyrics), "Sugar Hill" (reformulated lyrics), and in the title track, where the first two bars are declaimed.

X Clan — To the East, Blackwards

Singular debut for the X Clan, a hip-hop group from Brooklyn, New York, composed of MC Jason "Brother J" Hunter, the hype man Professor X, and the producers Claude "Paradise" Gray and Anthony Hardin. The music set is provided by X Clan members.

Brand Nubian — One for All

In 1988, William "Grand Puba" Dixon III, Derek "Sadat X" Murphy, Lorenzo "Lord Jamar" Dechalus and Keith "DJ Alamo" Jones form the Brand Nubian. Grand Puba is looking to new members to form a new group after his previous one Masters of Ceremony broke up, then Sadat X, DJ Alamo and Lord Jamar all joined together with him to for a new hip-hop group. Even though they had neither their own demo nor had they yet decided on a name for the group, while they was at Tommy Boy Records looking for a record deal, they met the executive A&R at Elektra Records Dante Ross, who advises the kids to write a piece and choose a name for the group, Lord Jamar chooses Brand Nubian. In 1989 the group signs with Elektra, releases the debut single ("Brand Nubian") and the first LP in 1990.

Sunz of Man — The Last Shall Be First

This is their first released album, although the first effort is actually "Nothing New Under the Sun", a masterwork planned for 1996 and abandoned by RZA and his Wu-Tang Records, after RZA starts having problems with the group's leader Killah Priest. For this reason, the boys' best tracks, released on Wu-Tang Records between 1995 and 1997, aren't present on the album. The cover is minimal, black background, group name at the top, group logo in the middle, album title at the bottom in brackets, hard to read.

The guests are Wu-Tang Clan members Method Man, Masta Killa, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Raekwon and U-God, as well as Hell Razah's older brother Trebag aka Tray Bag, producer True Master at his debut as a rapper and the group Earth, Wind & Fire. Other guests are uncredited, like the former group member Shabazz the Disciple, Kinetic 9 aka Beretta 9 of Killarmy, Dreddy Kruger of Royal Fam, and affiliate Tekitha. The production is divided almost equally between True Master, 4th Disciple and RZA, the Wu-Elements, to which are added two rhythms by the historic internal producer of the group Supreme, and a beat created by Wyclef Jean of The Fugees.

The group, originally formed together with Shabazz the Disciple and Killah Priest several years earlier, sees in this project the presence of Hell Razah, Prodigal Sunn and 60 Second Assassin, while the other two rappers left the group following differences with RZA. Killah Priest is featured as a member of Sunz of Man and is credited as part of the group, although appearances by him are few.

O.C. — Word...Life

Omar "O.C." Credle is a rapper born and raised in Brooklyn, who made his debut in 1991 in Organized Konfusion's "Fudge Pudge", then met MC Serch who brought him to his debut album, on the track "Back to the Grill" (feat. Nas, among others), and later signs a contract with his Wild Pitch Records. While touring with other artists, he meets Lord Finesse and Buckwild and joins the DITC crew. Buckwild is the main producer of the record, flanked by Organized Konfusion, Lord Finesse, Prestige (of the Hitmen) and DJ Ogee. Prince Po and Pharoahe Monch are the guests of the CD.