World's Famous Supreme Team — Rappin'

Malcolm McLaren samples some extracts of Newark, New Jersey hip-hop radio show duo The World's Famous Supreme Team, composed by Larry "Sedivine the Mastermind" Price aka Divine and Ronald "Just Allah the Superstar" Larkins Jr. aka JazzyJust aka Justice (Divine addresses him by this moniker also in the hit "Hey DJ"), for his 1982 hip-hop song "Buffalo Gals" and bring the group in his 1983 album "Duck Rock". They are credited as the first in hip-hop to incorporate Five Percent teachings and slang into their music.

Comptons Most Wanted — Music to Driveby

In 1992, MC Eiht released the third work of his group in three years, and it's the masterpiece of Compton's Most Wanted. The MC bases his lyricism on gangsta themes including violence, murder, robbery, drugs, there's a lot of braggadocio and misogynist traits, as well as some socio-conscious bars and some tracer in the direction of his rivals (Tim Dog and DJ Quik): the lyrics are shallow, but are offset by a great personality on the mic by the rapper, who manages to inlay interesting and detailed storytelling with raw and vivid lyrics. MC Eiht performs his words with an excellent smoothness flow and practically flawless, fantastic style, but it's the production that's the real extra weapon of this LP, projecting it among the best efforts of the year and among the best ever in gangsta rap: DJ Slip, MC Eiht, Master Ric Roc, [The Mighty] DJ Mike T and [DJ] Unknown choose excellent samples from soul and funk albums of the seventies, but also from Kraftwerk and major hardcore rap acts, giving them more value with the scratches of Mike T and creating a dark, harsh, modern and bright soundscape.

Raz Fresco & Daringer — Polo Sporty Since a Shorty EP

Raz Fresco, rapper from Toronto, Ontario, spits over a set of beats credited to the historic beatmaker of the Griselda family Daringer, from Buffalo, New York.

Method Man & Redman — Blackout!

At the peak of their popularity, Def Jam signed rappers Clifford "Method Man" Smith & Reginald "Redman" Noble release their first collaborative studio album. It's Method Man's third LP, Redman's sixth. Mainly produced by Erick Sermon, it features rhythms from RZA, Mathematics, Reggie Noble, Rockwilder, DJ Scratch and Gov Mattic. Guests are Ghostface of the Wu-Tang Clan, the Wu-affiliated Street and Blue Raspberry, and the "external" guests LL Cool J, Ja Rule, Mally G and Young Zee.

The Serial Killaz — Tha Portrait of a Serial Killa EP

In 1989, the two half-brothers Paul "DJ Paul" Beauregard & Ricky "Lord Infamous" Dunigan form the group The Serial Killaz, however it takes three years before they publish their first magnificent, still unknown and obscure effort, "Portrait of a Serial Killa", EP consisting of three tracks with the production of DJ Paul and the rapping of Lord Infamous. They record their tapes between schools and shops in their neighborhood. These three tracks are horrorcore and gangsta straight from Memphis, Tennessee. It opens up an excellent tense, dark, lo-fi rhythm with sparse and tight drum machine, good syncopated slow and disturbing delivery of the MC. Lord Infamous brings out a similar flow for the second cut, always thin and dark, excellent rhythm by DJ Paul. Closes "Crazy Ass Nigga", simple skeletal rhythm, with dark and dystopian piano / organ keys, tight and poor drum machine, slow delivery of Lord Infamous.

Rating: 7/10.

Beastie Boys — Paul's Boutique

After the debut, the group moved away from Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin's Def Jam, probably due to artistic differences, and moved to Los Angeles in early 1988, signing with Capitol and EMI.

Beanie Sigel & Freeway — The Roc Boys

Released by Siccness, like the last one by Sigel. After the previous efforts, it seems that Beanie Sigel & Freeway have exhausted their ideas and have settled into the soft muffled hammock of clichés. Most of the production is offered by State Property, which however is not a producer and the group does not produce this record. Then, what is this? It's not understandable. Batkave catches some good beats, Main Event West (who?) provides the best here ("Under Attack"), the rest of the production are often bad and the lyrics are watered-down. One of the few things of note on this almost illegitimate record is "Average Cat", Beans' solo dissing against is former friend Jay-Z, over the same beat of "The Blueprint 3"'s "What We Talkin’ About" with a sample by Prodigy straight from "Front Lines (Hell on Earth)". Sigel closes this album angrily in "Flatline" but can't save it from the garbage. The product somehow manages to make it to the charts, driven by the success of the dissing that gets airplay specially in Philadelphia, entering the top sixty places among rap records. The disc is weak, cheap, poor, all very random and cheap, with several low points, the two ex State Property guys are at their worst on a bad production and are never helped by guests such as Young Chris (five appearances), State Property, Wale and Jakk Frost. Don't listen, 3/10.

Westside Gunn — Hitler Wears Hermes [mixtape]

Until someone found out "Flyest Nigga in Charge, Vol. 1", and I think it was between late 2019 and early 2020, this was the first record produced by the new emerging East Coast rapper in the game. This first effort is a punch to everyone's mouth, it's a SWAT entrance in the hardcore rap game: you break the door and kick every f*cking ass you find there. Starting from the title, which isn't for everyone: "Hitler Wears Hermes".

O.C. — Smoke and Mirrors

OC relies on the West Coast Hieroglyphics label to drop his second album in 2005. It starts with jazzy ("Intro") and soulful ("You Made Me"), dark ("Martyr") and alternative ("My Way") rhythms, certainly looking for four completely different beats in the first four, more or less average, tracks don't help the album coherence.

Skyzoo & Pete Rock — Retropolitan

Collaborative album between Brooklyn rapper Skyzoo and Mount Vernon producer Pete Rock. Consisting of a dozen songs and three quarters of an hour of listening, the project is a modern album firmly rooted in tradition, offering a retrospective look at the metropolis, hence the title.

Freeway & Jake One — The Stimulus Package

Among the most popular Freeway albums and among the most critically undervalued of the decade. After signing with Lil Wayne's Cash Money, Freeway switches to Rhymesayers to release this product in collaboration with Jake One. Pretty amazing boom bap jazzy-soul production by Jake One, lyrics around gangsta/braggadocio themes, solid, coherent LP.

Grand Daddy I.U. — Smooth Assassin

I save, partially, the shiny cover where Ayub "Grand Daddy I.U." Bey stands out in black with a questionable scarf-hat combination, illuminated by street lamps in the NY night. Bey was born in Queens and was raised in Hempstead, Long Island, New York. His older brother Kay Cee encouraged him to begin performing. In the late eighties, Bey records a demo tape and gave it to Biz Markie, that signed him to Cold Chillin' Records in 1989. The next year, Grand Daddy I.U. debuts with his first studio album.

Conway and Imported Goodz — Untitled Drums EP

EP by Conway entirely produced by the team of production Imported Goodz. Trip smoothly with a single song of about ten minutes, instead it's composed of at least six different parts: a short jazzy intro by Broken Rhythm, then the beatmaker Mike Lima provides a tight and rhythmic jazzy production, excellent delivery by Conway, who improves in the next track, amazing jazzy beat with soulful sample looped in the background, creation of FN-2188. On a second, great, Broken Rhythm boom bap jazzy, with a tight looped soulful sample, Westside Gunn kills the cut, well Conway. Two other short and excellent clips follow (for completeness, the first is produced by Wayne Gordon, the second by FN-2188), loaded with amazing jazzy rhythms and raw Conway bars.

Cappadonna — Hook Off

A year after his double LP, Cappadonna returns to release something and releases his eighth album, the first with his new label GFL Entertainment, heir to Cappadonna Records. As announced by the rapper, the album lacks hooks: it's not something you've never seen in hip-hop, but in 2014 it's pretty curious. Needless, too, you're on a Cappadonna album, the lyrics will still leave a lot to be desired even if they're generic thug-n-bragga. Production is mainly provided by J-Clyde, however rhythms also arrive from Vocab, Cruise, G-Dot Beats, Big Un and DJ Intrigue. Amar Divine is the absolute protagonist of this sort of mixtape, present in 11 tracks, ahead of Don Shae (5) and Wonda Women (3).

Ol' Dirty Bastard — Nigga Please

Four and a half years after his controversial debut and a year after the Grammy episode, Russell Jones releases his second and final studio album. The production is made by many guys including RZA, Neptunes and Irv Gotti with three beats each, Buddha Monk with two beats, Mr. Fingaz, DL, Flavahood Productions and True Master with one beat. Guests are Brooklyn Zu members 12 O'Clock and Shorty Shit Stain, Wu-affiliate La the Darkman, Kelis, Lil' Mo and Chris Rock.

Freeway — Philadelphia Freeway 2

Following his mentor Jay-Z's departure from Def Jam, Freeway also exited Def Jam in 2009 and left Roc-A-Fella, label with which the release of this album was scheduled, the rapper's third and sequel to his debut. The Philadelphia-based MC quickly records the project and releases it on independent label Real Talk Entertainment, finding himself economizing with no supporting guests — just Sheek Louch of The LOX — and without top producers, having to call on Real Talk's in-house team of Cozmo, Hollis and Vince V. to make the tape, with the few remaining beats being credited vaguely to "Real Talk Ent.".

O.C. — Starchild

Omar Credle takes four years to recover from the commercial and especially critical defeat of his previous album ("Bot Appetit") and returns to publish what is his fourth LP. Since his debut on the circuit, the young man has evolved, even calling on guests from beyond his apartment building on his second album, though keeping things strictly NYC.

Conway x Prodigy — Hell Still on Earth EP

The soul of Mobb Deep is still alive in Griselda hearts.

This short but intense EP of just under ten minutes was perceived as Prodigy's hand-over to one of the new talents on the East Coast. Daringer produces both songs offering dark and dystopian boom bap rhythms, paying homage to Havoc, Conway the Machine exchanges verses with a Don P still in shape, basically they're two of "his" classic beats, he's completely at ease with them, he cannot be wrong, even delivering slowly and with less verve than twenty years ago. Conway stands up to him and firmly takes the historic and very heavy East Coast hardcore hip hop legacy to bring it to Griselda home.

U-God — Golden Arms Redemption

Debut album by Brooklyn rapper Lamont "U-God" Hawkins, eighth official member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Production is handled by RZA, True Master, Inspectah Deck, Wu-affiliate John the Baptist, Homicide, Bink, Hak da Navigator and Omonte "O" Ward. Guests are Wu-Tang members Inspectah Deck, Method Man and Raekwon, and affiliates Hell Razah of Sunz of Man and Leatha Face.

Warcloud — Nightmares that Surface from Shallow Sleep

In 1998, Anthony "Holocaust" Brown debuts in the first official soloist studio album of The RZA, spitting the opening verse in a track with Bobby Digital himself, Ms. Roxy, Doc Doom (rapper of the hip-hop group Black Knights, affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan and which Holocaust is the leader) and Ghostface Killah. Holocaust kills the track and The Abbot was so captivated by his performance that he named the track after him in his honor. In the same album of RZA, Holocaust obtains another guest spot in "Terrorist", a posse track between rappers of Black Knights and rappers of Killarmy, other rap group affiliated with Wu-Tang. Unfortunately, Holocaust messes up his verse, the final one of the song, which is cut from the official version of the album and which RZA manages to recover, completing the track and including it as a bonus track for the Japanese edition. The guy is flanked by Dom Pachino, Doc Doom and Killa Sin.

O.C. — Bon Appetit

Few rappers in history have managed to go from underground to crossover records, maintaining their credibility and reaching the much-coveted commercial fame. OC tries the crossover way in his third album, released four years after the last effort.

Edo. G featuring Pete Rock — My Own Worst Enemy

Collaborative album between Boston rapper Edo G and Mount Vernon producer Pete Rock, released by Fat Beats. Production is mainly performed by the latter, which provides seven rhythms, while Diamond D (of DITC), DJ Supreme One and DJ Revolution make one beat each. The Boston MC Jaysaun, who's a member of Special Teamz along with the author, is the main guest of the edition with four appearances, Diamond D, Masta Ace and Krumb Snatcha each participate with one spot.

Freeway — Free at Last

After the great success of his debut album, which was received positively by critics and finished in the top five records in the Billboard 200 and in third place in the rap chart, selling hundreds of thousands of physical copies, Jay-Z retires and the label starts to crumple on itself. Also, Beanie Sigel ends up in prison and relations between him and the State Property group begin to fracture. In the following years, Sigel and Freeway continue to collaborate, while Peedi Crack and Oschino leave the group. Around this time, Freeway converts to the Muslim faith. The Philadelphia rapper then creates his own group, Ice City, and publishes a record that is however ignored by the insiders, and then he takes a hiatus. On his return, after a trip to Mecca, he chooses to release his second studio album four years after his debut. Guests are Marsha Ambrosius, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Scarface, Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss and Rick Ross. Production is split between Bink, Carvin & Ivan, Ron Fair, Jake One, Don Cannon, Needlz, DJ Noodles, Dangerous LLC, Chad "Wes" Hamilton, Cool & Dre, J.R. Rotem, Double-O and Dame Grease.

Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde — Champagne of Rap

In 1980 Andre "Dr. Jeckyll" Harrell and Alonzo "Mr. Hyde" Brown were part of the hip-hop group Harlem World Crew, with whom they recorded some songs. In 1981 Brown signed with Profile Records and recorded "Young Ladies" under the name Lonnie Love and in the same year he collaborated with Harrell creating "Genius Rap", a song that uses a sample of Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love", produced by Joe Tucci, and which gets a good response from the audience and which allows Profile Records to get back on its feet financially, thus managing to avoid bankruptcy for 2000 dollars.

Raekwon — The Babygrande Recordings

In 2007, Raekwon of the Wu-Tang Clan signed his Ice Water Records. Babygrande isn't interested in the group and has no intention of promoting the album "Raekwon Presents Icewater: Polluted Water" at all, far from the charts and viewed from a distance by the critics: the highlight is Raekwon himself.