Mo Thugs Family Scriptures
Artist: Mo Thugs Family
Community Score: 8.63
The Flip Squad All-Star DJs
Artist: The Flip Squad All-Star DJs

Employing eight hip-hop DJs (including Funkmaster Flex, DJ Hollywood and Mister Cee) and various East Coast rappers (most notably, Luvbug Starski and the goofy Biz Markie), the Flipsquad All Star DJs are the rap equivalent of a hard bop jam session. Just as jazz saxmen and trumpeters would tend to be especially extroverted at a jam session show... 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

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

The Shadiest One
Artist: WC
Community Score: 5.73

As his first solo release since Westside Connection's hit effort, The Shadiest One was positioned as WC's breakthrough to the major league of rap superstars. The hardcore edge that dominated his earlier releases with the Maad Circle has been tamed somewhat, so he can reach a wider audience. Of course, he still retains his gangsta image, relying... Read More

Vendetta
Artist: Mic Geronimo

With his second album, Vendetta, Mic Geronimo proves that his hard-hitting debut was no fluke. Geronimo may flirt a little too heavily with the crossover -- Puff Daddy's production on "Nothin' Move But the Money" is a little too smooth, and the blatant materialism doesn't suit him well -- but the fact of the matter is, even when he tries his... 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

L' Ecole du Micro D'Argent
Artist: IAM
Community Score: 9.00
Welcome to Our World
Artist: Timbaland & Magoo
Community Score: 8.84

Welcome to Our World is one of the better rap debuts of 1997, establishing Timbaland & Magoo as gifted hip-hop musicians in their own right. The pair had previously written or produced tracks for such stars as Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott and Ginuwine, and the spare, kinetic beats of "Supa Dupa Fly" and "Pony" are a good indication of what's... Read More

Greatest Hits - CLEAN
Artist: 2Pac
Community Score: 7.40

Greatest Hits is a strange release. Sure, Tupac Shakur had more than enough hits to make a terrific compilation, but its appearance in the fall of 1998 felt a bit like another opportunity to milk his catalog, simply because of the plethora of releases, from previously unheard recordings to interview discs and bootlegs. Even with these misgivings... Read More