Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury
Artist: The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
Community Score: 8.33

The Disposable Heroes tackled every last big issue possible with one of 1992's most underrated efforts. Dr Dre and G-funk became all the rage by the end of the year and beyond, but for those looking for at least a little more from hip-hop than that soon-to-be-clichéd style, Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury did the business. The group's origins... Read More

Greatest Hits
Artist: TKA
Community Score: 9.00

In the 1980s and early '90s, TKA was the top male group in the genre termed "freestyle" and "Latin hip-hop." The latter is a definite misnomer, for this type of music isn't hip-hop per se, but rather dance music with hip-hop and Latin elements. Boasting such club smashes as "One Way Love," "Tears May Fall," "Scars of Love" and "Come Get My... Read More

F.U. Don't Take It Personal
Artist: Fu-Schnickens
Community Score: 9.00

Even before they made it to the record bins, three-man New York crew Fu-Schnickens created quite a buzz in the hip-hop community with the oddity of their group name. Once they dropped their debut album, F.U. Don't Take It Personal, their music turned out to be every bit as curious and intriguing. The music is inundated with kung fu movie... Read More

A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Artist: Black Sheep
Community Score: 7.40

Playfully satirical, witty, and incredibly imaginative, A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing introduced one of the freshest talents in early-'90s rap, a self-produced duo who caught the tail end of the Native Tongues family. Though Dres and Mista Lawnge didn't match the brilliant wordplay of A Tribe Called Quest or De La Soul, their topics were... Read More

The Low End Theory
Artist: A Tribe Called Quest
Community Score: 8.42

While most of the players in the jazz-rap movement never quite escaped the pasted-on qualities of their vintage samples, with The Low End Theory, A Tribe Called Quest created one of the closest and most brilliant fusions of jazz atmosphere and hip-hop attitude ever recorded. The rapping by Q-Tip and Phife Dawg could be the smoothest of any rap... Read More

Together Forever: Greatest Hits 1983-1991
Artist: Run-D.M.C.
Community Score: 7.00

For the most part, all of Run-D.M.C.'s most important singles and biggest hits are included on Together Forever: Greatest Hits 1983-1991. That alone makes the compilation a necessary purchase. However, that doesn't mean it's a perfectly assembled collection. Instead of presenting the singles in chronological order, the sequencing skips back and... Read More

Prec.I.S.E.-Ly Done
Artist: Prec.I.S.E. MC

When a CD comes out on Luke Records and lists Luther Campbell as its executive producer, one tends to expect South Florida-style bass music. But despite the fact that Campbell signed the PreC.I.S.E. M.C. to his Luke label and serves as executive producer on her debut album, PreC.I.S.E.-ly Done, there isn't a trace of bass music to be found on... Read More

Brown & Proud
Artist: Lighter Shade of Brown
Community Score: 10.00

Latino rappers have ranged from pop-oriented (Gerardo) to hardcore (Cypress Hill, Tha Mexikinz). Debuting with Brown and Proud, Lighter Shade of Brown made it clear that they fell into the latter category. The title says it all -- the L.A. group wears its Mexican-American heritage like a badge of honor on this promising CD, and in doing so, is... Read More

Sex Packets
Artist: Digital Underground
Community Score: 7.80

Sex Packets is a vibrant, wildly funny record that transcends any attempt to dismiss it as mere novelty. Novelty records are throwaways -- cheap gags that are funny once, but never pay off with repeat plays, something that Sex Packets certainly does. Sex Packets is layered like any good story. Corny jokes, gross-out tales, flights of fancy, and... Read More

I Wish My Brother George Was Here
Artist: Del The Funky Homosapien
Community Score: 7.61

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien may be the cousin of gangsta rap icon Ice Cube, who was the executive producer on this debut, but it would be hard to imagine two more dissimilar artists. Yet, just as Ice Cube helped popularize and legitimize West Coast gangsta rap with NWA, Del helped lay the foundation for what would become California's thriving... Read More

Ain't No Shame in My Game
Artist: Candyman

When a rapper does well in the R&B or pop markets, hip-hop's hardcore tends to view the artist with suspicion, however strong his or her rapping skills might be. That was exactly what happened to Candyman when "Knockin' Boots" (a catchy single that sampled Betty Wright's "Tonight Is the Night") enjoyed considerable crossover action. Some... Read More

2nd II None
Artist: 2nd II None
Community Score: 8.00

Tha D and K.K. once confessed publicly that they were not capable of freestyling in the grand tradition of rap, so it would be quite reasonable if 2nd II None were not the most groundbreaking album in terms of its concepts and rhymes. And it is, in fact, lacking to some extent in those departments. On this debut album, the duo tended toward... Read More