1993: Best Rap Albums

Wu-Tang Clan is like the best of everything. When you combine the flows of Das EFX, the anger of Onyx, the lyrical wizardry of KRS-One, the energy of Lords of the Underground, the innovative productions of Tribe Called Quest and the versatile rapping styles of Freestyle Fellowship you still don't have enough to describe the Wu-Tang Clan. It's more than that. A very ambitious project from the mastermind RZA, an album like this should have been a failure. No one had ever tried to make an album with 9 rappers, there were no rules on how to do it. The Wu-Tang Clan laid down the rules. This isn't just 9 ordinary rappers combined together, every single member has his own unique style and is very easy to tell apart one from the other. The first obvious star of the group was the Method Man, his flow and technique as always been one of the standouts of the group. Another instant star was the Ol' Dirty Bastard, easily the craziest rapper to ever grab a mic (R.I.P.). On all of his verses he really shines, he's just plain wild. The Cold Chillin failure "The Genius" is reinvented as the GZA, he's got powerful words and is wordplay is incredible. Inspectah Deck acts as the sniper, he just comes in and rips verses to shreds. On a technical level he's the most skilled MC of the group. Raekwon and Ghostface bring the street drug dealers aspect, Raekwon's just got a unique way of putting sentences together while Ghostface has got some creative slang and also very unique style. We don't hear much from the Masta Killa but his verse on "Chessboxin" ranks in the best of the album. He's like an inferior GZA but pretty good. U-God is usually the least favorite member of everyone, his minor appearances on here are allrigth. But the most important member of them is the RZA. While an excellent MC with his furious style, what makes him the best is his production work. The beats are totally insane, he took the rough and rugged sound of New York and made that shit 10 times more evil. The drums are perfect and some of the hardest ever made, just listening to "Bring Da Ruckus" will rip your head off. The choices of samples is incredible, RZA flips some things crazily. The castanet? on "Bring Da Ruckus" and "Wu Tang-Clan Ain't Nutin Ta Fuck With" is flipped into a hard ass clap, it still puzzles me how he thougth of that. That bump bump sound on "Can It All Be So Simple" is the freshest thing ever, how'd you come up with that? One of the most important things tho, is the piano loops on songs like "Clan In Da Front", "7th Chamber" and "C.R.E.A.M.". The dark drum/piano sound was born and we would hear it alot on future grimey albums from New York. RZA redefined hip hop and changed it in many ways, production-wise this is probably the most important album of the east coast from the 90's. The MC's deserve mad props too, as this was the end of the Das EFX era. Being hard was still a necissity but now you also had to rap as good as the rappers in 1988. Just look at the lyrical albums that this spawned in 1994: Nas' Illmatic, Biggie's Ready to Die, Jeru's Sun Rises In The East, Common's Ressurection, OC's Word Life just to name a few. All these rappers were listening to this and they know they had to step their game up if they wanted to compete with the Wu-Tang Clan. In someway, 36 Chambers killed the innocence in hip hop. It was never going back to the way it was before, hip hop was just getting rougher and rougher.

Rating: 5
Highlights: Da Mystery of Chessboxin, CREAM, Method Man, Protect Ya Neck

The Native Tongues Family was far from a family at all in 93', while four flagship members released albums (De La, Tribe, Latifah, J Beez) they weren't really in communication with each-other. Only De La and Tribe were speaking at this point I think. But somehow this year, even if they were disparate, ended up being like a final party of excellence for the estranged family, reminding us all why they were legends in their own time. This is what it is to be in the golden age. Flawless masterpieces like this that seemed effortless. After helping establish a new identity for east coast alt rap in 91, where does Tribe go next? You would think they would go the way of Ice Cube or Digital Underground, having no more new ground to cover with their brand of jazz rap. But somehow someway they emerged from the studio with another masterpiece! And they do so without really covering any new ground! It's an almost superhuman feat, but it all seems so easy when you listen to this. The only thing really new about this LP over the past is they incorporate a fair amount of Fender Rhodes into the sample mix, but otherwise not much changes at all. What they do instead of trailblaze is set out to make a quintessential jazz rap experience, cutting right to the chase and giving people exactly what they wanted. And of course part of it has to with how incredibly executed everything is. Almost every track has amazing production, the beats are chill but badass at the same time, with booming beats for the car speakers. The emceeing is at the high water mark for Tribe as well, Phife and Q-Tip trade off rhymes here like two sides of the same coin, finally one as a team. Because of this they beat out their chemistry of even The Low End Theory. No way around it, this is just fucking bursting at the seems with incredibly enjoyable music, picking just four highlights here was so so hard. This is up there with The Pharcyde's debut as one of the most incredibly enjoyable rap albums of all time. It's what really broke me into rap, and it can do the same for anyone you know, immense appeal on all fronts. One of the great initiation albums. And one of the glorious last hurrahs from Bohemian New York City.

Rating: 5
Highlights: Award Tour, Midnight, We Can Get Down, Electric Relaxation

Dr. Dre could have coasted on The Chronic for at least three years if he had wanted. It's influence would still be cascading all over the west coast, it's sales still exploding all over the nation. He would only have to get back to action when Tupac started to get huge if he wanted to maintain the crown. But Dre was in the zone and wisely knew he could bottle some more lightning while there, so he produced up another bangin' G Funk masterpiece for the solo debut of his proud discovery, Snoop Doggy Dogg. It's a match made in heaven that results in a piece that almost equals The Chronic itself. Snoop was already on a bunch of Chronic tracks so it's not hard to see why this works so well if you already listened to that. G Funk is all about hedonistic gluttony, and Snoop has the perfect voice for this, as well as the perfect vibe. Too $hort had pioneered the west coast hedonistic vibe and held the torch for it up until Dre tapped into it to create the G Funk formula. Short Dog, Snoop Dogg, hmm coincedence? Ya think sherlock? Of course not, Snoop was a loyal follower of Short and his stylings. I mean hell, if you ask me, Snoop is leaps and bounds better then Short ever was (at least here). Snoop can make that smoked out hedonist voice work the mic like a wrestler if need be. He's a far more interesting emcee and displays more range then the ever-limited Short did over whole decades. I'm not one to give invention points over execution, so originator or no, Snoop earns the "Dogg" title for himself. Dre's production is a little more refined here, not sounding quite so raw as before (not that the Chronic was very raw), but sonically this is extremely polished, ff you could see it, it would be shining in the sunlight. I almost think Dre exhausted his G Funk taste with this as he got pretty damn quiet over the course of his remaining stay at Death Row. He produced a few great singles but otherwise not much. If it hadn't already made it with The Chronic, then Doggystyle absolutely put Death Row into the throne of the west coast, and by extension the whole rap world, strong as hell and ready for anything. East Coast rap would probably have been buried entirely if it didn't suddenly figure out it's own antithesis for G Funk...

Rating: 4.5
Highlights: Gin & Juice, The Shiznit, Murder Was the Case, Whats My Name?

After four albums holding onto the group name in memory of Scott La Rock, Kris finally made the choice to go under his own title for a true solo career. Maybe it had something to do with a need to try and give his career a kick to get it's ass back into the public eye. Maybe he felt it had been long enough since Scott's death. Whatever the case he ensures this "first" solo album is one of his most memorable. In a lot of ways it kind of follows in the footsteps of his "back to hardcore" approach he had going on with the last BDP album. The hardcore sonics here are the most intense he would ever get, the production really fits the title, booming and bapping like few others can boast. But unlike the last BDP album this one pulls it together and rips KRS out of his feel of late 80's anachronism and straight into the then present. It sounds very 93 and ironically ends up being one of 93's best! This of course has something to do with the producers he recruited. Premo delivers excellent beats here (imagine that) and is responsible for the majority, but the show is stolen by Showbiz with "Sound of Da Police". KRS himself though makes all the beats proud with one of his most muscular and abrasive performances, leaving the mic smoldering after every track. As always he spends a lot of the time being political, but by now he also gains a new topic. At this point he was a veteran and acknowledged master of the genre, so he talks from this position for the first time. This is one of the greatest career resurgences in rap, a veteran schooling most of the young fools, and in the golden age at that. There's a reason KRS is a legend, and six straight albums of at least good quality at best classic classic classic? Who else was doing that in 93'?

Rating: 4
Highlights: Outta Here, Slap Them Up, Sound of Da Police, P Is Still Free

This is the first album from The Boot Camp Clik, one of the central crews to the mid-90's Ny scene, also including Smiff n Wessun, Heltah Skeltah, and OGC. Black Moon is nominally a group of three, Evil Dee is one half of the ever awesome Beatminerz production team, and then there's the emcees 5ft and Buckshot.. The production on this is phenomenal, it does use the usual combination of hard drums, jazz horns and phat basslines but the sound achieved is very different from your typical 93 album. Some tracks sound like straight up jazz rap you might as well hear Tribe over (Who Got Da Props), but then there's creeping stuff like Black Smiff n Wessun that is straight noir rap. It could be a much better album maybe, but it's unquestionably dope, and fascinating in it's missing link quality.

Rating: 4
Highlights: Who Got Da Props?, Black Smiff n Wessun, I Got Cha Opin, How Many MCs

Pac's never stopping star continues to ascend, and here he started really hitting paydirt and recognition. This album made him a contender. But it's anything but a slick streamline product geared to make him a star, in fact it's pretty messy. Mainly because he's already busting at the seams with his two persona. They both want out and it gets kinda crazy. But Tupac was never one for consistent views and angles so it only really adds to his appeal in a bizarre way? I guess so. This is though, without a doubt his hardest album. The first two thirds hit like brass knuckles with their big crushing beats and hardcore delivery. All Eyez on Me may be his gangsta album, and 7 Day Theory and Against the World have the heavy mood. But this ones got them all beat on brain bashing hardcore attitude. It also holds claim to some of his most memorable singles, both Keep Ya Head Up and I Get Around are here, along with Holla if You Hear Me. I'm shocked no G Funk found it's way on here, and impressed really, Pac could have gone that way but evidently wouldn't have any of it. This may not be the showstopper he was hoping for, but it was enough to put him into the running for the next king of the west coast. A contest he would handedly win with his next album.

Rating: 4
Highlights: Holla If You Hear Me, Last Wordz, I Get Around, Papaz Song

The title is no lie, as far as debut albums go this is a strong one that will make sure any listener gets these guys imprinted in their heads, and thinking about when the next release will be.This album and act is a another in the ranks of the first wave of real southern rap, taking the cues from the Geto Boys and UGK and helping to set up a new region in the game. Lyrically these guys are about pimping and being some major gangsters. The subject matter has obvioulsy been beated to death,But the delivery and music is very very UGKish, it's slow and lazy, not rushing out it's declarations of murder. The best thing is hands down some of the very interesting production. Done by some guy called Tony Draper it has a unique sound to it that I can't really describe. (namely on the second half). This is yet another essential pick up for southern rap fans. And by this point I guess the south was on the cusp of starting it's own participation in the Golden Age, a thing they would achieve beyond question the next year.

Rating: 4
Highlights: The First Episode, Comin' Out Hard, Mr. Big, Pimps in the House

Latifah's last album had a sort of safe and inoffensive afro-centric vibe to it, with a nice mix of crossover appeal in it's mix. It was decent but there was something undeniably toothless and dull about it. Part of her initial appeal was how hard she came. Thankfully this album brings it back to that appeal and beyond. She hits hard here, some straight up hardcore rap (light hardcore, like GangStarr), and it works really well. The beats are some of NY 93's best, taking the better sides of the Riggidy sound and toning it down of it's cartooniness, and mixing it with the best dope jazz rap sounds of her buddies in the Native Tongues. It in many ways recalls some of the lighter sounds of the Noir rap to come the next year. Latifah herself hits it up with a great strong performance, ripping these tracks like an animal. There's two classic tracks here as well that are the best of her career. I always thought "Ladies First" was actually a pretty lame song, and a limp rap feminism anthem at that, but UNITY makes up for that by being dope as hell. Even better is the heavy atmospheric thump of "Just Another Day" where she blatantly addresses the streets like she would not have on her previous. An album like this should have been the start of a career resuscitation. But this is basically this is the end of her rap career. She made one more album, which sucked, and took off for a very good film career. Power to her on that, but I wish we still had her making music like this. Rather then those saccharine R&B albums that now fill her up music store slots.

Rating: 4
Highlights: Black Hand Side, Rough..., Just Another Day, UNITY

When Muggs developed his production style and dropped it on the world back in 91' he introduced one of the first real evocative hip-hop production styles, one of the first to really take you away into a musical world all it's own. It was a delicious fun and dope style that people still like today. So is it really any surprise that Muggs made Cypress Hill into something of a vehicle for beatscapes? Not to me anyway. While the debut still had a rhyme focus with still somewhat spare beats, all that gets changed here. The production fills everything here, oozing through every speaker and all over and around the vocals. Much less spare music, much more filled out creepy beats. At this point I just look at B Real and Sen Dog as two more instruments in Mugg's arsenal. The point isn't them, not their lyrics, just their deliveries and how they sink in and out of the beats. B Real in particular is a great instrument, that voice is so damned weird, he's like a latin martian or something, and for such alien weed music he might as well have been born to rap over Muggs production. Could you picture him rapping over anything else? It might be funny to hear, but not dope. Cypress Hill has kind of gone down as a singles act like Naughty By Nature or something, but what really best describes them is a producers act. One dude behind the boards pulling the strings and making the pieces fit. And maybe some rap hipsters, especially the ones with giant boners for mic technique being the most important, see this as betrayal of the genre....well bullshit. Hip Hop Music includes rapping, no one ever said it had to be in center stage.

Rating: 4
Highlights: I Ain't Goin' Out Like That, Insane in the Brain, Lick a Shot, Hits From the Bong

The Riggidy Ruff crews that were crawling all over NY at this point owed a lot to the LONS in terms of their wacky hardness and tag team group method, so Busta and friends should have risen to being in a leadership position. They don't quite reach that level however, instead they fall into line by making a good album, but nothing on their previous or even some of the other ruffians. The production is quintessential NY 93, one foot out of jazz and one foot in the loopy twilights of the mid-90's, but with a strong flavor of wonkiness in the tradition of the Das EFX sound. It's a good example of that sort, and I have only one complaint in that it's kind of all too abrasive to take at once. The main issue that keeps this from greatness is the emcees have sacrificed their flows in order to push their wonky voices. Busta in particular seems like he's going over the top and if you ask me he never recovered. They sound also like they're pulling in different directions, no long much of a team. And well....they weren't. This was their last album for a reason. Busta's rising star tore things apart and they dissolved and Busta resurfaced with his solo career in 96'.

Rating: 3.5
Highlights: Understanding The Inner Mind's Eye, Classic Material, What's Next, Time Will Tell

Kane attempts to swing back to the streets, but too little too late. If I'm cynical this might be looked at as just another form of commercial stabbing, the rap tastes have moved (and never were to be honest) beyond New Jack Swing and toward Riggidy Ruff on the east. So his move toward that might just be for the riches. But I want to think this is an attempt to make up for his crossover moves and give an album to the rap fans. But....it lacks any sort of punch. Kane makes his way through the extremely generic ruff beats and does nothing to make an impact on the listener. It's a very boring album. But I do appreciate his effort, especially in so far as abandoning the rotten road he was on, so I'll give this a "3", but a low low one.

Rating: 3
Highlights: Looks Like a Job For, How U Get a Record Deal, The Beef Is On, Shop Shammin'