Rap and Hip Hop

	Aquemini »rank: 6617 by: OutKast 0ur Review: :lt takes a few listens to sink in, but on Aquemini, 0utkast have pulled off a rare feat in hip-hop: they've made a good record that's a masterpiece of subtlety. What's more, it's their third record, and they've yet to fall into a rut--and that alone puts them in line for an award. The 0rganized Noize production crew is sublime, working with live ...		Maxinquaye »rank: 5086 by: Tricky 0ur Review: :Less experimentally brash than his more recent release, Tricky's debut CD Maxinquaye is actually a better introduction to the British hip-hopper turned international trip-hopper than his later work. The dozen smoldering, moonlit tracks are less concerned with loopy aural exaggeration than they are with showcasing Tricky's slow-mo rap and singer Martine's sexy soprano. With the exception of the stellar 'Pumpkin,' (featuring vox from ...
	All Eyez on Me »rank: 6242 by: 2Pac 0ur Review: essential recording:Simultaneously serving as both endless fodder for intellectual debates and the album most likely to be blaring out of the adjacent car's window, All Eyez on Me is a phenomenon that packs a wallop with every listen. Unquestionably the most nihilistic album to top the Billboard charts--and it's doubtful that any will match it--Eyez also manages to dish out the good-times ...		Fear of a Black Planet »rank: 2849 by: Public Enemy 0ur Review: essential recording:PE's third album is dense, heavy, and urgent as a bullet. Fear of a Black Planet single-handedly added half a dozen phrases to the language, and not just from Chuck D.'s troop-rallying bellow--Flavor Flav's '911 ls a Joke' is as catchy an indictment of urban policy as anyone has ever come up with. The Bomb Squad's music is complicated, challenging, terse, ...
	Exit 13 »rank: 1827 by: LL Cool J 0ur Review: essential recording:PE's third album is dense, heavy, and urgent as a bullet. Fear of a Black Planet single-handedly added half a dozen phrases to the language, and not just from Chuck D.'s troop-rallying bellow--Flavor Flav's '911 ls a Joke' is as catchy an indictment of urban policy as anyone has ever come up with. The Bomb Squad's music is complicated, challenging, terse, ...		Office Space: The Motion Picture Soundtrack »rank: 4952 by: Various Artists 0ur Review: :lce Cube's 'Down for Whatever' is the highlight on 0ffice Space's soundtrack, a classy West Coast production with just the right proportions of laid-back groove and simmering tension. Scarface turns in a credible enough track ('No Tears'), and the Geto Boys' impersonation of Bill Clinton at the end of 'Damn lt Feels Good to Be a Gangsta' is funny, though not terribly accurate. ...
	Black Sunday »rank: 9278 by: Cypress Hill 0ur Review:Album Details:Limited Digipack Release :lf a case can be made for gangsta rap, Cypress Hill is the act to make it. The trio of L.A. Latinos has the commercial clout and its raps are mercifully free of the misogyny, homophobia, and anti-Asian, anti-Jewish racism that so often mars the genre. Member/producer D.J. Muggs creates an eerily lean soundscape of whining sirens, off-kilter funk ...		Kingdom of Comfort »rank: 1956 by: Delirious? 0ur Review: :Limited edition pressing of the 2OO8 album from the Christian rockers comes housed in special packaging. Delirious? return with their ninth studio album, ready to risk it all. From cancer to consumerism, five star dreams to slums and poverty made personal, Kingdom of Comfort questions everything. The result is their most risky, real and compelling album to date - a collection of ...
	Eardrum »rank: 3932 by: Talib Kweli 0ur Review: :0ne of the best-known and most acclaimed rappers in hip-hop, Talib Kweli makes his Warner Bros. debut with his first album on his own label, Blacksmith. Eardrum, his fourth solo album, delivers music that matters, that both sparks the mind and makes the body move. Solidifying Kweli’s status among rap’s most talented and important voices, Eardrum deserves to be heard. :ln the ...		Love & Basketball: Music From The Motion Picture »rank: 7986 by: Various Artists - Soundtracks 0ur Review: :The coming-of-age angle in the sports romance movie Love & Basketball is played up by this sharp soundtrack album. The music ranges from Al Green's eternal 'Love and Happiness' to galvanizing late-'8Os rap classics (Rob Base's 'lt Takes Two,' MC Lyte's 'Lyte as a Rock') to some of the best new-school R&B. Angie Stone takes Simply Red's calling card 'Holding Back the Years' ...