Walking With a Panther
Artist: LL Cool J
Community Score: 8.92

Released at a time when hip-hop's anxieties about crossover success were at a fever pitch, Walking With a Panther found LL Cool J trying to reinvent his sound while building on the commercial breakthrough of Bigger and Deffer. Even though the album succeeded on both counts, it did so in a way that didn't sit well with hip-hop purists, who began... Read More

Live From the Styleetron
Artist: Raw Fusion

When Money-B came out with his side project Raw Fusion, it was clear that the Digital Underground member wasn't trying to duplicate Underground's sound. Parts of Live from Styleetron are as quirky and eccentric as Underground, but while Underground was heavily influenced by the 1970s funk grooves of George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic,... Read More

A Prince Among Thieves
Artist: Prince Paul
Community Score: 8.32

The concept album has been something of a rare beast in hip-hop. There have been plenty of rap albums with a cinematic feel, but very few actually tie things together with a coherent narrative throughout. Leave it to Prince Paul, long one of hip-hop's most imaginative producers, to assemble the first successful rap opera in A Prince Among... Read More

The World Is Ours
Artist: Amyth

The overall theme of The World Is Ours, Amyth's debut album, is lust.

The four singers, a gruff-voiced version of Boys II Men, are primarily concerned with "sexing" somebody in most of the slow-jam songs, in a variety of ways, both physical and social. In "Tell Me How Ya Like It," they are soliciting comment on "the way I grab it... Read More

Terror Squad
Artist: Terror Squad
Community Score: 8.12

Terror Squad spends much of their eponymous debut trading in gangsta clichés -- it only seems like there's been a hundred songs called "Pass the Glock" -- but beneath those rehashed themes lay some clever rhymes and music. Fat Joe and Big Punisher lead the group, which contains such promising rappers as Prospect and Cuban Link. The two... Read More

Greatest Hits
Artist: Lighter Shade of Brown

Lighter Shade of Brown released an album every other year in the '90s, so for fans trying to catch up with the innovative Latin duo, Thump's Greatest Hits is a godsend. It wisely focuses on their raw debut Brown & Proud and the follow-up Hip Hop Locos, but also gives weight to later material. As could be expected, there are many highlights but... Read More

The Master - CLEAN
Artist: Rakim

When you've been named the best rapper ever in countless readers' and critics' polls, it must be easy to get a bit complacent. And as a veteran who's been on the mic since 1985 (yes, there are several rappers who weren't even on the earth back then), it also must be easy to make a few concessions to all the rappers and delivery styles that have... Read More