Tag Archives: 1995

50 Years of Hip Hop Album Review: The Infamous, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx

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2023 was the 50th anniversary of hip hop, and in honor of this anniversary, in 2024 the idea bloomed in my that I should review the top 50 albums of that 50 years. As I crunched together a list from various sources, 50 proved to be too restrictive- many of the classics were getting squeezed out. So, to make a little more room, I opted for 100 albums, two for each of hip hop’s 50 years. Due to some medical situations, I took a several months long hiatus from blogging that year, so I didn’t finish the series. It’s now 2026 and still proceeding fitfully, but I won’t stop if you don’t!

For its formative years, hip hop was a live entertainment form, with the first recorded singles not emerging until 1979, and the first albums in 1980. So my review covers 1980-2023, with 50 posts of two albums each. The only ground rule I made for myself (besides looking for 2×50, aka 100, albums that were widely well-regarded) was that I had to have at least one from each year. As you’ll see by and by, some years get multiple albums, but since we have 100 spots for 43 years, it tends to all work out.

And with that, let’s embark on our next installment!

Mobb Deep, The Infamous (1995)– I’d definitely heard the name of this Queens duo before, but wasn’t at all familiar with the album name. Which apparently is a significant hole in my hip hop education, because it earned critical acclaim at the time, and is still widely regarded today as one of the cornerstones of the nineties East Coast hip hop scene along with Enter the Wu-Tang, Illmatic, and Ready to Die. I can certainly hear the things it’s regarded for- dark spare production, gritty beats, and a stripped-down no-nonsense flow and lyrical narration. Having read up on the production, I can also really appreciate how it came together- they knew the guidance they were getting from producers wasn’t right for the album, so they ended up producing it themselves (with some innovative sound engineering support for friend/supporter A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip). It’s powerful musically and lyrically, I can hear where it fits into the East Coast sound of the time, but somehow it’s not entirely up my alley. However, even if it doesn’t immediately end up on my personal “best of the best” list, the acclaim isn’t undeserved!

Raekwon, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1995)- I think one of the problems The Infamous may have run into is that, as of this very review, we are halfway through the list! So, anything I’m listening to now is being compared to 50 or so of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. That being said, Raekwon is making it through the crowd! Maybe it’s because of the hot streak RZA and his basement studio were on at the time- this was being recorded at the same time as GZA’s Liquid Swords from our previous review posting, and shortly after RZA had put out another two Wu-Tang Clan member solo albums. Maybe it’s the synergy Raekwon and Ghostface Killah have here (it’s not far from being a collaboration between them). Maybe it’s the mix of inspirations- Isaac Hayes’s gritty street tales from the 70s, Five Percenter beliefs, John Woo and Sergio Leone gangster films. Maybe I’m just a sucker for the greater Wu-Tangverse. Whatever it is, this album, which was very influential on subsequent productions and remains well-regarded today, charmed the socks off of me!

If you’re curious about the sources I used to compile my list, you can check them out here:

And if you want to catch up on the previous installments, here they are…

  1. Sugarhill Gang- Sugarhill Gang (1980)/Kurtis Blow- Kurtis Blow (1980)
  2. Sugarhill Gang- 8th Wonder (1981)/Grandmaster Flash- The Message (1982)
  3. Wild Style Original Soundtrack (1983)/Fat Boys- Fat Boys (1984)
  4. Kurtis Blow- Ego Trip (1984)/Run-D.M.C.- Run-D.M.C. (1984)
  5. Whodini- Escape (1985)/The Treacherous Three- The Treacherous Three (1985)
  6. Run-D.M.C.- King of Rock (1985)/LL Cool J- Radio (1985)
  7. Beastie Boys- Licensed to Ill (1986)/Run-D.M.C.- Raising Hell (1986)
  8. Boogie Down Productions- Criminal Minded (1987)/Eric B. & Rakim- Paid in Full (1987)
  9. LL Cool J- Bigger and Deffer (1987)/Big Daddy Kane- Long Live the Kane (1988)
  10. Boogie Down Productions- By All Means Necessary (1988)/EPMD- Strictly Business (1988)
  11. Eric B. & Rakim- Follow the Leader (1988)/Jungle Brothers- Straight Out the Jungle (1988)
  12. N.W.A- Straight Outta Compton (1988)/Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back (1988)
  13. Slick Rick- The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1988)/Ultramagnetic MCs- Critical Beatdown (1988)
  14. Beastie Boys- Paul’s Boutique (1989)/Big Daddy Kane- It’s a Big Daddy Thing (1989)
  15. De La Soul- 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)/EPMD- Unfinished Business (1989)
  16. Geto Boys- Grip It! On That Other Level (1989)/Kool G Rap & DJ Polo- Road To The Riches (1989)
  17. The D.O.C.- No One Can Do It Better (1989)/Ice Cube- AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted (1990)
  18. A Tribe Called Quest- The Low End Theory (1991)/Ice Cube- Death Certificate (1991)
  19. Dr. Dre- The Chronic (1992)/Pete Rock and CL Smooth- Mecca and the Soul Brother (1992)
  20. The Pharcyde- Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde (1992)/A Tribe Called Quest- Midnight Marauders (1993)
  21. Snoop Doggy Dogg- Doggystyle (1993)/Wu-Tang Clan- Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
  22. Nas- Illmatic (1994)/Scarface- The Diary (1994)
  23. The Notorious B.I.G.- Ready to Die (1994)/2Pac- Me Against the World (1995)
  24. Bone Thugs-n-Narmony–E. Eternal 1999 (1995)/GZA-Liquid Swords (1995)

Finally, if you’d like a playlist for the entire list, you can find that here. Listen to it sequentially for the historical development of the genre, or play on shuffle for maximum historical scramble!

50 Years of Hip Hop Album Review: E. 1999 Eternal, Liquid Swords

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2023 was the 50th anniversary of hip hop, and in honor of this anniversary, in 2024 the idea bloomed in my that I should review the top 50 albums of that 50 years. As I crunched together a list from various sources, 50 proved to be too restrictive- many of the classics were getting squeezed out. So, to make a little more room, I opted for 100 albums, two for each of hip hop’s 50 years. Due to some medical situations, I took a several months long hiatus from blogging that year, so I didn’t finish the series. It’s now 2026 and still proceeding fitfully, but I won’t stop if you don’t!

For its formative years, hip hop was a live entertainment form, with the first recorded singles not emerging until 1979, and the first albums in 1980. So my review covers 1980-2023, with 50 posts of two albums each. The only ground rule I made for myself (besides looking for 2×50, aka 100, albums that were widely well-regarded) was that I had to have at least one from each year. As you’ll see by and by, some years get multiple albums, but since we have 100 spots for 43 years, it tends to all work out.

And with that, let’s embark on our next installment!

Bone Thugs-n-Narmony, E. Eternal 1999 (1995)– Bone-Thugs-n-Harmony, formed in Cleveland in 1991, are maybe the first Midwestern hip hop entry on our list. I wasn’t familiar with them beyond “The Crossroads” (more on that below), but the name turns out to tell you a lot- they have a kind of perfect fusion of 90s gangster rap and 90s boy band harmonies, courtesy of the rapid flow “chopper” style of rapping. And although they’re Midwestern, their flavor of gangster rap is heavily redolent of West Coast hip hop, for good reason- they went on a months-long cross country quest to audition with Eazy-E (ironically finally catching up with him in Cleveland after months of searching L.A.) that resulted in their eventual signing with Ruthless Records, and work with Eazy-E and L.A. producer DJ U-Neek. This is their second album with Ruthless, and was their major breakthrough, eventually selling 4 million copies. Post-release they re-worked a song on the album, “The Crossroads” to serve as a tribute to Eazy-E, who had died shortly before the album came out, and their memorial to those who have passed was the first rap single to reach #2 nationwide. My impression after a good two listens is that, between the unique vocal style, the exquisite song production by DJ U-Neek, and the variety of ways they bring depth to the standard gangster rap themes, this album truly deserves its place in the list.

GZA, Liquid Swords (1995)- It’s a great thing to have a plan, and aiming high certainly gets you better results on average than not aiming anywhere. But the way some plans come together is a mystery of synergy, timing, and magic that’s beyond the everyday. Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA’s vision had always been that the group would serve as a launching pad for the individual members as well, with the group’s success expanding in all directions. Having already made an album for the ages with 1993’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), RZA headed back to his basement studio and wasted no time putting out successful albums for Method Man and Ol’ Dirty Bastard. He followed that up by simultaneously working on Raekwon’s album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… (which we’ll get to shortly in this series) and this album for co-founding member GZA/The Genius. GZA was considered Wu-Tang’s spiritual core and its most skilled lyricist, and that is in view here with his dense storytelling that looks for the reasons beneath (and above) the street scenes it represents. (For extra story-telling credit, GZA even directed the four videos for the album.) Match that with RZA’s darkly textured production and gritty beats, and the spell this album weaves is still powerful thirty years later.

If you’re curious about the sources I used to compile my list, you can check them out here:

And if you want to catch up on the previous installments, here they are…

  1. Sugarhill Gang- Sugarhill Gang (1980)/Kurtis Blow- Kurtis Blow (1980)
  2. Sugarhill Gang- 8th Wonder (1981)/Grandmaster Flash- The Message (1982)
  3. Wild Style Original Soundtrack (1983)/Fat Boys- Fat Boys (1984)
  4. Kurtis Blow- Ego Trip (1984)/Run-D.M.C.- Run-D.M.C. (1984)
  5. Whodini- Escape (1985)/The Treacherous Three- The Treacherous Three (1985)
  6. Run-D.M.C.- King of Rock (1985)/LL Cool J- Radio (1985)
  7. Beastie Boys- Licensed to Ill (1986)/Run-D.M.C.- Raising Hell (1986)
  8. Boogie Down Productions- Criminal Minded (1987)/Eric B. & Rakim- Paid in Full (1987)
  9. LL Cool J- Bigger and Deffer (1987)/Big Daddy Kane- Long Live the Kane (1988)
  10. Boogie Down Productions- By All Means Necessary (1988)/EPMD- Strictly Business (1988)
  11. Eric B. & Rakim- Follow the Leader (1988)/Jungle Brothers- Straight Out the Jungle (1988)
  12. N.W.A- Straight Outta Compton (1988)/Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back (1988)
  13. Slick Rick- The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1988)/Ultramagnetic MCs- Critical Beatdown (1988)
  14. Beastie Boys- Paul’s Boutique (1989)/Big Daddy Kane- It’s a Big Daddy Thing (1989)
  15. De La Soul- 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)/EPMD- Unfinished Business (1989)
  16. Geto Boys- Grip It! On That Other Level (1989)/Kool G Rap & DJ Polo- Road To The Riches (1989)
  17. The D.O.C.- No One Can Do It Better (1989)/Ice Cube- AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted (1990)
  18. A Tribe Called Quest- The Low End Theory (1991)/Ice Cube- Death Certificate (1991)
  19. Dr. Dre- The Chronic (1992)/Pete Rock and CL Smooth- Mecca and the Soul Brother (1992)
  20. The Pharcyde- Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde (1992)/A Tribe Called Quest- Midnight Marauders (1993)
  21. Snoop Doggy Dogg- Doggystyle (1993)/Wu-Tang Clan- Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
  22. Nas- Illmatic (1994)/Scarface- The Diary (1994)
  23. The Notorious B.I.G.- Ready to Die (1994)/2Pac- Me Against the World (1995)

Finally, if you’d like a playlist for the entire list, you can find that here. Listen to it sequentially for the historical development of the genre, or play on shuffle for maximum historical scramble!

50 Years of Hip Hop Album Review: Ready to Die, Me Against the World

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2023 was the 50th anniversary of hip hop, and in honor of this anniversary, in 2024 the idea bloomed in my that I should review the top 50 albums of that 50 years. As I crunched together a list from various sources, 50 proved to be too restrictive- many of the classics were getting squeezed out. So, to make a little more room, I opted for 100 albums, two for each of hip hop’s 50 years. Due to some medical situations, I took a several months long hiatus from blogging that year, so I didn’t finish the series. It’s now 2026 and still proceeding fitfully, but I won’t stop if you don’t!

For its formative years, hip hop was a live entertainment form, with the first recorded singles not emerging until 1979, and the first albums in 1980. So my review covers 1980-2023, with 50 posts of two albums each. The only ground rule I made for myself (besides looking for 2×50, aka 100, albums that were widely well-regarded) was that I had to have at least one from each year. As you’ll see by and by, some years get multiple albums, but since we have 100 spots for 43 years, it tends to all work out.

And with that, let’s embark on our next installment!

The Notorious B.I.G., Ready to Die (1994)– Remember a few posts back when we had Doggystyle paired with Enter the Wu-Tang and it was like an apotheosis of West Coast and East Coast hip hop? Well this edition is a redux of that, only darker, marking where the musical rivalry turned deadly. Or at least it’s hard not to think of it that way. But, listening to this debut album from The Notorious B.I.G. now, I’m most struck by how masterful it is. Musically sophisticated, full of dynamic lyrical wit, equal parts ambition, raunch, fun, and deadly serious. And so damn catchy! Along the way, there’s an honest to goodness album structure that follows the stand-in character for the artist from birth to youthful hustle to success to depression and considering (maybe even committing?) suicide. It’s weird how perfectly together it feels when one learns that it was recorded partially under one label in 1993, shelved when producer Sean “Puffy” Combs was fired from that label, and then taken up anew a year later when Combs was starting Bad Boy records. And even more remarkable when you consider that Biggie was 22 when it came out and Puffy was 24, and they’d started doing work on it two years before that. Some of this no doubt comes from the general level of sophistication the milieu of East Coast hip hop had achieved at the time, and from hip hop’s own 15 years depth of recording history (which the both through samples and references the album makes frequent reference to). But surely the majority of the artistic ambition here comes from comes from Biggie himself. He said in interviews that the “ready to die” wasn’t about seeking death itself (though you have to wonder, with his subsequent end, and the album’s thematic struggle with depression), but rather about putting it all in to the music and going all out in pursuit of the vision. He does that here.

2Pac, Me Against the World (1995)- It seems relevant to mention here that Biggie and Tupac started out as friends. When they first met in 1993, they bonded on mutual creative respect, and visited each other (and even played together) on both coasts whenever one or the other was in town. That was what was going on before a falling out and the artistic rivalries of East and West Coast scenes, the business rivalry of Death Row and Bad Boy, and affiliated gang rivalries made it all take a turn. And this album, in fact, has a lot in common with Biggie’s- it’s informed by respect for hip hop’s history to that point, heavily autobiographical, and full of weighty struggles with issues of life, death, and creative aspiration struggling against the damage from a troubled life. 2Pac in fact intended the album to specifically tackle all of this, feeling in a way it was his last testament before an impending jail sentence. I would say for me personally that it doesn’t seem nearly as coherent as an album or as musically complex and compelling as Ready to Die. When it succeeds, it’s on the strength of 2Pac’s presence and a driving forcefulness more than mix or production. And, like the artist himself, it’s riven by genuinely visionary aspiration versus the violence of where it’s coming from. But the strongest tracks here are as strong as anything anyone in that era was putting out.

If you’re curious about the sources I used to compile my list, you can check them out here:

And if you want to catch up on the previous installments, here they are…

  1. Sugarhill Gang- Sugarhill Gang (1980)/Kurtis Blow- Kurtis Blow (1980)
  2. Sugarhill Gang- 8th Wonder (1981)/Grandmaster Flash- The Message (1982)
  3. Wild Style Original Soundtrack (1983)/Fat Boys- Fat Boys (1984)
  4. Kurtis Blow- Ego Trip (1984)/Run-D.M.C.- Run-D.M.C. (1984)
  5. Whodini- Escape (1985)/The Treacherous Three- The Treacherous Three (1985)
  6. Run-D.M.C.- King of Rock (1985)/LL Cool J- Radio (1985)
  7. Beastie Boys- Licensed to Ill (1986)/Run-D.M.C.- Raising Hell (1986)
  8. Boogie Down Productions- Criminal Minded (1987)/Eric B. & Rakim- Paid in Full (1987)
  9. LL Cool J- Bigger and Deffer (1987)/Big Daddy Kane- Long Live the Kane (1988)
  10. Boogie Down Productions- By All Means Necessary (1988)/EPMD- Strictly Business (1988)
  11. Eric B. & Rakim- Follow the Leader (1988)/Jungle Brothers- Straight Out the Jungle (1988)
  12. N.W.A- Straight Outta Compton (1988)/Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back (1988)
  13. Slick Rick- The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1988)/Ultramagnetic MCs- Critical Beatdown (1988)
  14. Beastie Boys- Paul’s Boutique (1989)/Big Daddy Kane- It’s a Big Daddy Thing (1989)
  15. De La Soul- 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)/EPMD- Unfinished Business (1989)
  16. Geto Boys- Grip It! On That Other Level (1989)/Kool G Rap & DJ Polo- Road To The Riches (1989)
  17. The D.O.C.- No One Can Do It Better (1989)/Ice Cube- AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted (1990)
  18. A Tribe Called Quest- The Low End Theory (1991)/Ice Cube- Death Certificate (1991)
  19. Dr. Dre- The Chronic (1992)/Pete Rock and CL Smooth- Mecca and the Soul Brother (1992)
  20. The Pharcyde- Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde (1992)/A Tribe Called Quest- Midnight Marauders (1993)
  21. Snoop Doggy Dogg- Doggystyle (1993)/Wu-Tang Clan- Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
  22. Nas- Illmatic (1994)/Scarface- The Diary (1994)

Finally, if you’d like a playlist for the entire list, you can find that here. Listen to it sequentially for the historical development of the genre, or play on shuffle for maximum historical scramble!