1994: Best Rap Albums

There's nothing I could say here that hasn't been said before, including saying there's nothing I can say that hasn't been said. But I don't care, I'll talk anyway. So this is it, the big one, the alpha to the omega, the almighty, the merciful one, the big cheese, the peak of a genre. This legendary album is almost universally considered the best rap album period. A perfect embodiment of all you listen for when you throw on a rap song or LP. Perfect. It's what makes it so amazing. Perfect production. Perfect lyrics. Perfect emceeing. Perfect running-time. Perfect cover art. The only single flaw I can think of is that track eight is below the same standard shown on the rest, but that is literally all. Every single other song is an all time classic, and no wonder, Nas has one of the best line-ups of producers on hand, and Pete Rock and DJ Premier give their absolute all here. Even Q-Tip not known for his producing puts out a masterpiece here with "One Love". Pick any song and it's a classic in it's own right. "NY State of Mind" is the Noir rap anthem and one of Premo's fienst moments. "The World Is Yours" is a grand jazz blast of optimism from Pete. "Memory Lane" and "Represent" two more Premo bangers. "Halftime" Nas's Large Professor produced breakout single. The sobering duet between Nas and AZ on "Life's a Bitch". Even the intro is dope. What they don't tell you about the world of art is that it's more often what you don't have then what you do that makes a masterpiece. The carefulness shown on every inch of this, it's simplicity, this is what makes it so amazing. And it's filled with lessons still unlearned by modern day fools. Do I think it's the greatest rap album of all time? Well, if it weren't for that second Jungle Brothers album then yes, yes I would say so.

Rating: 5
Highlights: NY State of Mind, The World Is Yours, Memory Lane, One Love

If the rap world gave a damn about the opinion of the overall music world this would maybe be an even bigger legend then Illmatic is. And due to his 97' murder it's also accumulated that ever ridiculous death-hype Tupac and J Dilla have fallen victim to. So it's easy for the uninitiated to approach with weariness or overly large expectations. But first let me get something off my chest, Biggie is overrated as hell, yes I'm from the East, but I really do believe that. But that's not because of this album, no sir, that story is another day, because for this release we're in golden territory. Biggie is absolutely up there on the emcee totem pole, his energy here is fucking amazing he's all over these tracks like someone half his size. It's one of the best deliery performances in the history of rap bar none. And lyrically, well the man can really make words work we'll say. He tells multiple great stories across here, expertly using many of Slick Rick's best story techniques. The production is mostly the work of Easy Mo Bee and he outdoes himself here with the almost cinematic greatness, Puffy emerges for the first time, producing the lighter moments, which are mostly just a side note to the hardcore tracks. With one exception there's Juicy, which is actually Puffy's remix of an original Pete Rock job. The reputation this album falsely has is that it singlehandedly saved NY rap, but by no means is this true. It's among many peers. I'd like to say this is what we could have expected from Biggie had he not died, but sadly that has evidence against it. But for the time where he first stepped on the rap stage, it's true, Biggie was one of the masters.

Rating: 5
Highlights: Things Done Changed, Machine Gun Funk, Warning, Juicy

And so it began. When the East Coast/West Coast rivalry was reaching it's fever point the South began it's emergence as a force to be reckoned with. UGK had already broken the south off into it's own direction, but little could have prepared folks for the tour de force of Outkast's arrival on the rap stage. Even while sounding pretty similar to the southern G Funk heard already by this point, there's just something so amazingly high quality and creative about it's use here, and so unique. Above all the pure skills of the emcees is undeniable, Andre 3000 especially is amazing right out of the gate. The production is the first time Organized Noize made waves, and the first time they sounded southern. But it immediately catapaults them into being one of the top production forces in the rap world, a title they would only improve on as the 90's went on. Here they've crafted a wonderful thick and inevntive pallet of Funk that puts most of the western G-Funk to shame with how original it comes off. This album put the Dungeon Family on the map and put another huge crack in the glass ceiling that the south had between it and the level of recognition of the west and east. Everyone including me goes on and on about how 1994 was the year of New York, and it was, but it was also the year of The South. Albums like this, Super Tight, The Diary....oh man. And for the South it was more important. It made them...exist almost an an entity. Corrupted now or no, the very idea of top notch southern rap is almost more salivating then the other three regions.

Rating: 5
Highlights: Myintrotoletuknow, Aint No Thang, Southernplayalisticadillacmusick, Player's Ball

This right here is the biggest reason that the underrated status of the Diggin in the Crates Crew is a fucking shame. Because it's the unsung classic of Noir York in 94'. It's in the same exact vein as Illmatic or Hard to Earn, same sound, same themes, same tone. But where's the love? Rare and reserved to Hip Hop heads, the day VH1 puts this on a rap best of list is the day they don't put a JJ Fad song on a best rap songs one. There's no better reason to dig in those crates for us modern rap fans then albums like this. O.C. is one of the best emcees of 94' as well, ranking right up there next to Biggie and even Nas. His lyrics cut like razors and his delivery is amazing. It's a very human yet in your face bluntness that doesn't mess around, it forces you to pay attention to what he's saying. And you better be. The production is mostly the work of the final DITC in-house producer out of the gates, and the best, Buckwild. He made the "Stress" beat on Organized Konfusion's 94' album (they also contribute some beats here) and makes the very best beats on this. And oh god...Noir rap doesn't get more sobering then the work he puts down here. If you like the sad heavy duty tone of Illmatic tracks like "Memory Lane" get your ass over here. The whole album is almost as much a downer as "Stress: The Extinction Agenda", Born 2 Live in particular with it's tale of loss of innocence is gonna make some moods drop through the floor. But the best track is a simple brag rap, and to me the greatest brag rap track ever, the immeasurably badass "Time's Up". I won't lie, before this album I kind of slowly dicked around with my rap listening, discovering this made me know I needed to dive deep in the crates. Thus the list project you're reading right now. This album made it happened.

Rating: 5
Highlights: Word...Life, Born 2 Live, Time's Up, Ma Dukes

As I said before, 94' was a dark time for alt rap of all stripes, even an act as beloved as Pete Rock and CL Smooth did not come out the other side of the Noir rap era, they went on to break up after this. And Rock never hit the production heights he had before the Noir folks pulled their coup. But, in the midst of the darkness that contributed to their end....they somehow defied the odds and hit their absolute highest heights. Mecca and the Soul Brother gets all the hype, but in my opinion it has nothing on The Main Ingredient. It erases their flaws and comes clean over a full album. CL Smooth has gotten over the issue mostly of his flow being repetitive and comes out superb here, acrobatically smashing over these tracks. Pete Rock meanwhile has shaped his sound down further into an amazing jazzy soul machine, this is a far smoother sound then what he had in 92' but it's a necessary change. The hardness he had before was beaten into a pulp by the 93' riggidy ruff craze and the soul brother number one had to expand. What he makes is the manifesto of east coast alt rap from this point on, the sort of stuff that would be heard later from Mos Def, The Roots, J Dilla and Common in the late 90's/early 00's would be all building off the beautiful soul sound pioneered here. Jazz rap was mostly dying at this point, it was time instead to draw upon the gospel world. While there may no be TROY here there are far more great numbers overall then Mecca and the Soul Brother. It's a beautiful bittersweet swan song for the first era of alternative hip-hop. Near the end comes the beauty of "It's On You", a message to the next generation, and good thing they were listening.

Rating: 4.5
Highlights: Sun Won't Come Out, The Main Ingredient, All The Places, It's On You

Man, it's like 1994 was when rapper's best understood everything. What they needed and what they didn't, and came out with economic and brilliant albums. Even the longer ones seemed well calculated, but mostly it was the joy of just-right lengths. This is pretty much Scarface's own Illmatic. He takes it all and boils it down to the essentials and nothing else, exactly ten tracks minus the three interludes, beautiful. Content wise it's all an attempt at best capturing the basics of his work. What we get is one of the most quintessential simple and sweet examples of gangsta rap, Face has it all laid out here, the violence, the street politics, the regret and so forth. His performance is changed significantly from the past, where he was once more abrasive he's now laid back and even slowed down (no doubt taking cues from fellow Texans UGK) and it does nothing to stop his dopeness, if anything I found him even better this way. He's a great lyricist as always and nothings changed in that department except you can appreciate the rhymes easier with the slow pace. The biggest boost he gets in relation to the past is for the first time straight up amazing beats, they're very UGK influenced and extremely good. I always seem to dislike Rap-Alot beats, but I guess things changed for 94 because damn are these good. In the end what gets me the most is how gigantically better then the album he released a mere year ago this is. This was a glorious time for the south, and so I'm glad it's first king gets in on the action. I always admired Face but this was the first time I felt like all the pieces came together for him. Absolutely satisfactory.

Rating: 4.5
Highlights: No Tears, I Seen A Man Die, Goin' Down, The Diary

A side project by Tupac where he mostly does the rapping but with some other guys (Rated R, Macadoshis, Mopreme, and Big Syke). Even though there's five dudes here, it should as come as no surprise who steals the show with no effort. Pac stands heads and shoulders over the rest in about every way. In a way this album is like an unofficial part of Pac's discography, following sequentially between his second and third normal albums. This is clearly Tupac in a proto-Me Against the World stage, working his way toward his magnum opus. The music is funky but soulful, and there's a real sense of worry in these, and there should be, Pac's infamous New York shooting happened less then two months after it's release. But because it predates those events it unquestionably still has a flavor of the cockiness Pac was flaunting around on "Strictly 4 My Niggaz". I can see alot of people going through a Tupac listening session and skipping over this, I did that originally, but believe me now, this is part of the puzzle if you want to follow the man's life.

Rating: 4.5
Highlights: Bury Me a G, Pour Out a Little Liquor, How Long Will They Mourn Me?, Str8 Ballin'

Alt/conscious rap fell largely into disarray during the mid 90's. The two dominant styles on the two dominant coasts were both two different shades of hardcore rap, and the jazzy east coasters and funky west coasters in the alt rap biz were just not part of the growing rivalry. Alt rappers entered into a depressing stage between 93' and 98' or so where most of the faces of the first generations faded out, and many careers even still powerful ones broke up and dissolved. So it was in these wilderness years of all times that Common decided to risk his neck by leaving what was a fairly neutral position and going in the dangerous direction of being a conscious jazz-man. Instead of blowing up in his face it paid off in spades, as this was his first album to get real recognition and truly establish his career. The end result being he became one of the major faces of the second alt rap generation. For people who enjoyed his debut alot don't despair, he may have moved into smoother territory but his mischievious playfulness isn't quite gone yet. There's more then enough of that clever kid from his debut still floating around here. But all the same it's clear from these tracks that he's making a deliberate move toward a more conscious soulful style. His emceeing is taken a step up, with less reliance on his wacky past voice usage, and more on the rhymes. Mostly these changes are communicated through the production, which is some great jazz rap, as well as some of the last of it in terms of the classic sound. No I.D. is an underrated producer and proves it here.

Rating: 4
Highlights: Resurrection, Nuthin to Do, Thisisme, 13th Chapter: Poor Man Vs. Rich Man

If you want to hear what good NY rap sounded like in a year it's a good idea to dip GangStarr in it and see what comes up, it will resemble the times and in dope fashion. 89' was afrocentric, 91' was jazzy, 92' was getting harder, and 94' was noir. So did GangStarr go with the flow and essentially sellout to keep up with the cities music? No way, not even close. Rather they were always nearly ahead of the curve. All those first three albums pointed the way slightly to the next generation of NY rap music, and maybe for the first time Hard To Earn is of it's times rather then ahead. GangStarr cut it's teeth as a jazz-rap act but they were always slightly rougher and rawer then the likes of Tribe, and there's bits and pieces of music they made on Daily Operation that sounded like Noir rap (Take It Personal), I'd say this is the opposite of a sellout, it's a right earned by building the Noir scene. Of course they're allowed to make it! It's not really all that noir either, like Nas or O.C. it isn't so much criminal and gangsta as it is just gritty and real in terms of the lyrics. Guru was more optimistic in the past, but here he's no less conscious even if the tone is darker. Nonetheless Guru's performance is undeniably somewhat below his past standard. The real power of the album lies in the fact that Premo was at his peak, no way around it, Premier was damn near invincible in 94'. These aren't even his best 94' beats and they're masterful. "Code of the Streets" is an instant classic, and man, "Mass Appeal" is just one helluva single. The more alt-rap obsessed side of their fandom may be turned off by it, but they need to chill and branch out. Enjoy this superb noir-lite album from NY's most quintessential act.

Rating: 4
Highlights: Code of the Streets, Speak Ya Clout, Mass Appeal, Suckas Need Bodyguards

Jazzy, smoky, and absolutely goddamned superbly made from top to bottom, this is a hidden gem if ever I've seen one. It shouldn't be shocking being that the Beatnuts are a production team first and foremost. Every single beat is just crazy, hard, nasty and totally wicked. Their drums are just so good and the way that they flip their samples is so damn effective, they really excel at making beats and are among the finest producers of all time.
This may be murky, but it's miles from Noir, it inhabits a more 92' era DITC sound if anything. Hard and jazzy and just great. It's very evocative of the year while also pointing the way toward the future styles of the east coast underground with it's low-fi give no shit vibe. Of course they saw fit to rap over it, and while nothing to write home about they're adequate and really make the music more fun than it would probably be on it's own. But it makes me wonder how good this would be if they invited guests over these beats, especially in a year like 94', damn this could have been even more amazing... But first and foremost this is a party album, designed to chill to and enjoy life to. Though the beats are the envy of more serious rap folks, the Beatnuts are only going to do as they see fit here. Simply put, this album just don't give a fuck. It's out to make the most of life and it'll be damned if anyone gets in the way as it wanders around late night Queens in a drunken stupor. It's the perfect way to wind down after the heaviness of Illmatic, Ready to Die, and Word...Life. And is one of those hidden classic that is pure must-listen.

Rating: 4.5
Highlights: Props Over Here, Superbad, Fried Chicken, Hit Me With That

Kind of like De La Soul, Digable Planets, an arty alt rap act, met with major success on their debut. And like De La Soul they found themselves not altogether comfortable with the attention and pigeonholing that came along with it. And like De La Soul they reacted against this hype on their sophomore release by pulling against it. But this isn't a "De La Soul Is Dead" at all, they haven't changed any of the ingredients of their first album, rather instead they've changed the execution. The beats on "Reachin" were more overt and had a clear hooky aspect to them. Those have been abandoned for a far subtler and low-key listen that aims to create less a basic jazz rap listen then it does a groove. The production sounds very similar in it's flavor, except this time some live jazz is incorporated with the samples and it adds a much more organic edge to the proceedings. The emcees have refined themselves slightly into melting into the music, not that any of them were overt before, but here more then before they really inhabit the beats. Though the bohemian NY era was essentially dead in 94' it did see a number of very strong jazz rap albums emerge from the murk and keep the spirit alive. What I don't get is why Digable Planets broke up after this release. It didn't sell anywhere near as well as their debut, and the mid-90's weren't friendly to alt rap, but all the same... they proved with this just how much potential they had. And so more music from them would have been nice to hear.

Rating: 4
Highlights: Black Ego, Borough Check, Graffiti, Blowing Down

After dropping the undeniable classic "36 Chambers" with his wu-tang clan, the RZA hooked up with Prince Paul to drop an horrorcore project along with Frukwan (formely from Stetsasonic) and Poetic.The creative combination of RZA and Prince Paul was definitely going to be clever and macabre. And it is.While horrorcore had mostly stuck with a more obscure Detroit scene, this is a pretty high profile east coast release of it, and gets all the right polish and first class treatment you'd want from the stuff. The result is one of the straight up funnest rap album of the Noir period,All the rappers are insane maniacs that strictly about gore and killing, the centerpiece of the album (1-800-Suicide) is a song that suggests different ways of killing yourself.
All of the lyrics are just wild and crazy, this stuff is just pure entertainment and shouldn't be taken too seriously. The production is handled by Prince Paul mostly and it's very dark and gloomy, quite different from the stuff he did with De La Soul. Noir rap always had the right kind of production for some amazing horrorcore but never the lyrics or performances. This album shows just how ideal the two would have been for eachother.

Rating: 4

Man, there's something about the golden age that can be really depressing. Where are they now? How many careers that could have been amazing, shoulda been at that, but something just happens to some people. Method Man to me is one of the great wastes. But before that let's talk about RZA's five year plan. The idea for the Wu Tang was for at first, a group album, then solo albums with RZA/group oversight, then another group album, then members would gain more freedom after that to do what they wilst. Between "Enter the Wu Tang Clan" and "Wu Tang Forever" in 97', five Wu member solo albums were released, each taking various positions in rap legend. Each of them (except maybe the last) is something of a very unqiue take on Noir rap through the member whose album it is. First up? Method Man. The album is entirely produced by RZA (with a few co-producers) and is geared toward Meth's style of stoned murky rapping. It's a complete sonic treat from top to bottom, the beats are extremely good and interesting. Meth himself is pretty damn on point, he's capable of one of rap's best delivery styles when he really pushes himself. His performance on his self-titled track was amazing, he changed it up every second. Here he isn't quite on that level, but he's still on all cylinders. This is easily the most accessible of the initial Wu solo albums even if it's far from the best, which explains why it (and Meth) reached the most mainstream appeal of the Wu.

Rating: 4
Highlights: Tical, Bring the Pain, Meth Vs. Chef, Release Yo Delf

I was fully prepared to dislike this given it's reputation as comically pathetic next to The Score, and the way things started out I was pretty much not down. But it actually kind of grew on me as it went on, I started to adapt to their early sound, I ended up enjoying the couple of singles here, and some pretty big strengths started showing through. But there's no getting around that this is very different then The Score, that has a refined low key air to it, this is almost the complete opposite. It's made up largely of rambunctious ragga flavored hardcore rap, but their talents that I loved on The Score are still evident. Much of the production is very inventive and way more organic then any of the riggidy ruff it vaguely resembles, take "Vocab" for instance, which is mostly rapping over Wyclef strumming on a acoustic guitar. And while Wyclef is a little too caught up being loud to focus on rhyming...well Lauryn is absolutely amazing on this. It's not even funny how dope she is here, I especially love the raspy whisper delivery she does on "How Hard It Is?". It just goes to show how much of a gigantic wasted talent she is. It's far from perfect, and is too long for it's own good, but I really do recommend this to weary Score fans.

Rating: 3.5
Highlights: Vocab, Boof Baf, Some Seek Stardom, Nappy Heads (remix)