It's Your Own Life
Artist: Neighborhood Clicc

The Neighborhood Clicc's debut album It's Your Own Life is a strong collection of underground, bass-driven gangsta rap. Although the group's music can occasionally seem predictable and pedestrian, at their best -- such as on the hit single "Roll It" -- they're a catchy, funky and nearly irresistible crew. ~ Leo Stanley, All Music Guide Read More

Here Come the Horns
Artist: Delinquent Habits
Angel Dust
Artist: Indo G
Community Score: 7.00

Once Three 6 Mafia gained a measure of respect and popularity, Indo G broke from the ranks and released a solo album, Angel Dust. Musically, as well as lyrically, it's not far removed from his main group. It's a familiar mix of low-riding gangsta rap, party-ready grooves, hardcore rhymes, funky beats and bass -- with the bass being emphasized,... Read More

Make It Reign - CLEAN
Artist: Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz

You could compare the debut release from the rap team of Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz, Make It Reign, to the party rap albums of such hip-pop stars as Mase, Puff Daddy, and the Lox and you wouldn't be missing the mark by much. Make It Reign is an album tightly produced and packed together so that it rolls and flows from one end to the next with... Read More

Make It Reign
Artist: Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz
Community Score: 7.00

You could compare the debut release from the rap team of Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz, Make It Reign, to the party rap albums of such hip-pop stars as Mase, Puff Daddy, and the Lox, and you wouldn't be missing the mark by much. Make It Reign is an album tightly produced and packed together so that it rolls and flows from one end to the next with... Read More

It's Dark and Hell Is Hot
Artist: DMX
Community Score: 8.18

Just as rap music was reaching its toughest, darkest, grimmest period yet, following the assassinations of 2Pac and Biggie in the late '90s, along came DMX and his fellow Ruff Ryders, who embodied the essence of inner-city machismo to a tee, as showcased throughout the tellingly titled It's Dark and Hell Is Hot. Unlike so many other hardcore... Read More

Fearless
Artist: Marvaless

Although Marvaless refuses to abandon her hardline hardcore hip-hop stance, the years have treated her well, if her fourth album Fearless is anything to go by. She's still spinning gangsta tales, with all the violence, sex and dope clichés that entails, but her music is tougher and catchier than before, and her lyrical flow is the best it has... Read More

Lunitik Muzik
Artist: The Luniz

The Luniz' name is pronounced "loonies," and the Oakland rap duo lives up to that name on Lunitik Muzik, one of the most memorable rap releases of 1997. This eccentric effort must be taken for exactly what it is -- wild, nutty, outrageous fun. When Yukmouth and Numskull (whose guests on the CD range from the 2 Live Crew, Too Short and Redman to... Read More

Chapter 2: World Domination
Artist: Three 6 Mafia
Community Score: 7.60

For Chapter 2: World Domination, their first widely distributed album (via Relativity), Three 6 Mafia further refine the hardcore motifs of their underground efforts, toning down the outright horror and playing up their Southern gangsta-isms. Their equation works out to a wonderfully novel album for its time, one that would set the course of... Read More

Ghetto D
Artist: Master P
Community Score: 7.80
No Way Out - CLEAN
Artist: Puff Daddy & the Family
Community Score: 10.00

Before releasing his first solo album, Puff Daddy (aka Sean "Puffy" Combs) was famous as the producer of the Notorious B.I.G., Junior Mafia, Craig Mack, Lil' Kim, and many other rappers. As he was making his solo debut, the Notorious B.I.G. was murdered, and that loss weighs heavily on Puff's mind throughout No Way Out. Even though the album has... Read More

Aquemini
Artist: OutKast
Community Score: 7.61

Even compared to their already excellent and forward-looking catalog, OutKast's sprawling third album Aquemini was a stroke of brilliance. The chilled-out space-funk of ATLiens had already thrown some fans for a loop, and Aquemini made it clear that its predecessor was no detour, but a stepping stone for even greater ambitions. Some of ATLiens'... Read More