Many Facez
Artist: Tracey Lee
Community Score: 7.00

"The Theme (It's Party Time)" was a killer first single, complete with a nagging hook and thumping grooves. Tracey Lee's debut album, Many Facez, doesn't quite live up to the high standards of "The Theme," but it's not for lack of trying. Instead of working the same party groove, Lee is all over the place, not only musically but also with his... Read More

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

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

Pieces of a Man
Artist: AZ
Community Score: 6.85
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

Sabotage
Artist: Land of the Heartless
The Pick, the Sickle and the Shovel
Artist: Gravediggaz
Community Score: 6.00

Between the Gravediggaz' first album, Six Feet Deep, and the second, The Pick, The Sickle, The Shovel, RZA became the most influential producer in hip-hop, as his productions for the various Wu-Tang Clan side projects established his distinctive, skeletal style as rap's cutting edge. So, it's a little surprising that The Pick doesn't showcase... Read More

Jewelz
Artist: O.C.
Community Score: 9.00

D.I.T.C. cohort OC returned in 1997 with his second full length LP, titled Jewelz, and that is exactly what it is. Even though his 1995 debut was well-received within the hip-hop community, the same adulation did not correlate to sales success. Instead of succumbing to mainstream pressure, OC kept his music street-based, and the listeners reap... Read More

Collections: Bootlegs & G-Sides
Artist: 11/5
For the People
Artist: Boot Camp Clik
Community Score: 5.33
Muggs Presents the Soul Assassins, Chapter I
Artist: Muggs
Community Score: 5.00

For the debut album of Cypress Hill DJ and House of Pain producer DJ Muggs, an excellent cast of MCs were assembled, including most of the best in hip-hop. It's hard to expect anything but uniform excellence from an album which includes Dr. Dre, Wu-Tang Clan's RZA and GZA/Genius, KRS-One, Mobb Deep, the Fugees' Wyclef Jean, Cypress Hill and MC... Read More

RZA as Bobby Digital in Stereo
Artist: RZA
Community Score: 7.37

RZA's first solo album, the soundtrack to a film involving experimental self-transformation, has many of the same fractured strings and crisp, staccato beats he made trademarks on Wu-Tang Clan recordings. In fact, this could well be a Wu-Tang album, even more so than the legion of other related albums. The only contributors to the project... Read More