Top 90 Albums of the 90's: 60-51

#60 The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory - 2Pac (1996)

Released just a couple months after his death, Killuminati is considered 2Pac's last studio album.  The story behind the title is that 2Pac occasionally went by the alias "Makaveli", after Italian political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli.  Machiavelli supposedly at some point in his life faked his own death for seven days in some sort of convoluted revenge plot.  The implication of Pac's label giving the album such a title, and having the cover image be an illustration of 2Pac on a cross (another resurrection reference) was that 2Pac wasn't actually dead, and would be returning at some point.  To this day, there are those out there who believe that 2Pac will come back some day and save hip-hop, or something.

So the cover art and title are really stupid and unabashedly exploitative, what about the music?  It's some of Pac's best.  He goes back to his roots somewhate here, defaulting back to the type of content that made him famous. G-Funk style beats and aggressive delivery of strongly worded lyrics.

#59 Doe or Die - AZ (1995)

AZ had been the only guest Illmatic, an album that has gone on to be considered by most to be the best hip-hop album ever recorded.  His outstanding verse on "Life's a Bitch" put the spotlight squarely on him to release an album of his own.  Expectations were too high, unfortunately, and Doe or Die was considered somewhat of a disappointment by those expecting a second Illmatic.  It's an outstanding album in it's own right, though.  AZ isn't quite the MC that Nas is, but he's got the chops to hold his own against anybody in the world.  AZ wasn't the main problem with Doe or Die, lackluster production keeps it from making the leap to all-time classic.

#58 We Can't Be Stopped - Geto Boys (1991)

This album is probably known for it's cover art than it's actual musical content.  It notably features band member Bushwick Bill sitting on a hospital gurney after suffering a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the face, which cost him his right eye.

As far as subject matter goes, it sticks pretty tight to the standard Geto Boys fare; gangsta shit, and hood life.  It's what Geto Boys do best though, and they arguably did it it better than anybody in the early 90's.

#57 Death Certificate - Ice Cube (1991)

Often times when an artist debuts with a classic album, they find themselves saddled with unrealistic expectations for the followup to that album.  Listeners expect an artist to be able to create something even better once they've established themselves and have more resources at their disposal.  Most wind up being considered disappointments.  Nas, Snoop Dogg, and Raekwon all wound up being victims of their debut's success.

Ice Cube was in a similar boat in 1991.  AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted had been considered a smashing success, and listeners were eager for a followup.  Cube absolutely delivered.  Death Certificate features better rhymes, a more impactful delivery, and funkier beats.  You'll notice AmeriKKKa's most wanted landed a few spots higher on the list, though.  The content of Death Certificate really weighs it down.  The vitriol becomes exhausting to listen to. Whether it's directed at NWA, or Koreans, or just the condition of the urban poor, this album is just anger end to end.

Also, it's pretty weak that he waited until after his first release had been successful to make a real beef track towards NWA.
 
#56 Moment of Truth - Gang Starr (1998)

It's an unfortunate rarity it hip-hop for artists to maintain a high level for as long as Gang Starr did.  Moment of Truth was their fifth album in just under ten years, and it still manages to sound fresh and new.  Preemo seemingly expanded his sample source pool drastically in the years between Hard to Earn and Moment of Truth. Guru is also on top of his game here, having updated his delivery a bit.

#55 A Prince Among Thieves - Prince Paul (1999)

Concept albums have been a thing in hip-hop for a long time, but few albums before, or since A Prince Among Thieves have dedicated themselves to telling a clear, coherent narrative.  It's more like musical theater than it is a concept album.   The plot largely happens via a series of skits, with the actual songs serving more as interludes to introduce new characters or set the stage for the next part of the story.

Prince Paul's production does an excellent job establishing the atmosphere of every scene, and a myriad of guest MCs are cast to play individual roles in the story.  Kool Keith, in particular, plays a very convincing crazy arms dealer in "Crazy Lou's Hideout" and "Weapon World".  The main weakness of this album is that the two lead characters, Tariq and True, are played by two relative unknowns, and they often times are shown up by the guest appearances.

#54 Innercity Griots - Freestyle Fellowship (1993)

Aceyalone, we meet again.  Freestyle Fellowship, was a group consisting of Acey, fellow Haiku D'Etat member, Myka 9 and two gentleman who, unfortunately, have largely been lost to history in Self Jupiter and P.E.A.C.E.  Production wise, it's undoubtedly the best album Acey has ever been on. It's got an energy about it that later releases just lacked.  The energetic, even frantic verses that Freestyle Fellowship drop here really showcase the versatility that they had even this early in their careers.  The fact that this release came so early on in their careers is what ultimately holds this album back somewhat, though.  Acey and Myka 9 are both rappers who trended upwards in their abilities over time. So while the beats are actually pretty decent for a change, the rapping itself isn't quite on the level of All Balls Don't Bounce or Haiku D'Etat.

#53 AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted - Ice Cube (1990)

After a messy breakup with NWA, the pressure was on for Ice Cube to deliver a quality solo album.  AmeriKKKa's most wanted shows that his grievances (namely, that he wasn't being paid enough considering how much of the work load he was bearing) with NWA were completely warranted.  While NWA floundered and eventually broke up without their lead vocalist, Cube's career would blossom into one of the West Coast's best.  One of my favorite aspects of AmeriKKKa's Most is the contrast in production style from Cube's NWA work.  The Bomb Swuad's beats really do a great job showcasing Cube's lyrical talents, which were a step or two above anybody else on the West Coast at the time.

#52 Capital Punishment - Big Pun (1998)

Big Pun really stands out from the crowd of late 90's MCs because of his rapid fire, high rhyme density flow.  The fact that he weighed in at almost 700 pounds made his already insane breath control all the more impressive.  Putting very lyrically dense bars over beats that were essentially club bangers ended up being a winning formula for Pun, and Capital Punishment got him a reputation of one of hip-hop's great young artists.  Unfortunately he was dead of a heart attack within a year of it's release, and a really great followup album never happened.  Despite his exceptionally short career, at least Pun can put on his resume that he's one of the few people who have straight up outperformed Black Thought on a track. ("Super Lyrical")

#51 One Day It'll All Make Sense - Common (1997)

If Common didn't have such a strong discography, this album would get more credit nowadays than it it does.  As it is, it often get's overlooked in favor of his other classic releases.  More so than any of Common's other albums, One Day It'll All Make Sense will have a lasting impact on the listener.  Com's fears and concerns about the responsibilities of becoming a father are palpable.  The production is a bit lacking compared to most of Com's other releases, though.

Nas - Life is Good (2012)

Nas is the best example I can think of of how having a great debut album can both make and ruin a career.  Nas’ debut, Illmatic, is not only his crowning achievement, but arguably the greatest hip-hop album ever recorded.  That’s something to put on a résumé; there aren’t many who can claim such an achievement.  However, having such a highly regarded album in his discography has, unfortunately, meant that many of his subsequent albums have been widely considered disappointments at the time of release, regardless of quality.  His second album, It Was Written, for example, received very mixed reviews, but is commonly regarded as a classic now. His 2001 album, Stillmatic, was similarly maligned by critics during its time, but has since been embraced as a classic.  More recently, Nas seems to have escaped from Illmatic’s shadow, somewhat.  Whether it be due to Nas’ greater consistency on the mic, or a growing population of listeners looking to hear and rain praises upon any and all things “non-commercial,” Nas’ more recent efforts have been largely well received.  That includes Grammy nominations for both Hip-Hop is Dead and Untitled.  I wasn’t surprised to see Life is Good be released to similar accolades.  That being said, Life is Good is better than anything Nas has released since God’s Son in 2002.

Any Nas album is going to begin and end with the vocals.  Nas is almost universally considered to be a top 5 MC of all time.  One Nas’ biggest struggles, however has been finding topics that he really seems to care enough about to write passionate verses.  He has historically been his best when facing some sort of adversity in his life or career.  Illmatic was his debut, It Was Written had him facing the prospect of following up such a widely acclaimed album as Illmatic, Stillmatic was motivated by his feud with Jay-Z and God’s Son was motivated by the death of his mother.  Since God’s Son, Nas has been dabbling in politically motivated tracks, mafioso type stuff and, of course, a fair amount (like an entire album’s worth) of tracks about the good ole days of hip-hop.  Frankly, most of it sounded kind of half-hearted.  As I said above, Life is Good is Nas’ best release since God’s Son, so what is motivating Nas this time, around?  A few things, it turns out.  The most prominent one is his extremely messy, not to mention extremely public divorce from singer, Kelis (of “Milkshake” fame).  He pays homage to this on the album cover, which features Nas sitting with a dress that is unmistakably similar to Kelis’ wedding dress.  One of the standout tracks of the album, “Daughters” has Nas musing about the responsibilities of fatherhood and how his celebrity status has effected his ability to be a father.  It comes in the wake of another public incident in Nas’ life, in which his 17 year old daughter posted a picture on Twitter of  her condom-filled jewelry box that she keeps on her nightstand.  For those of you who aren’t interested in hearing about Nas’ lady troubles, rest assured, there is plenty more here to keep you interested.  This is still Nas, so of course he can’t resist staying completely away from talking about the past.  He appropriately dedicates “Loco-Motive,” a track that sounds like it was ripped straight out of 1996, to his “trapped in the 90′s niggas.”

In a refreshing change of pace for Nas, Life is Good  happens to feature actually interesting production, compliments of No I.D. and Salaam Remi.  I might go so far as to say these are the best beats we’ve heard Nas over since Illmatic if it weren’t for the few inexplicable missteps.  ”Reach Out,” while featuring Nas at his best, treads dangerously close to 80′s boy band territory.  ”Summer On Smash” is kind of catchy, but dedicates far too much time to hooks, leaving us with probably a minute worth of verses in an over 4 minute song.  ”You Wouldn’t Understand” sounds like a pop track that got released 20 years too late.  Those missteps are easily overshadowed by a cornucopia of interesting, if not necessarily innovative beats.  ”Accident Murderers” makes better use of the organ than any track I’ve heard since “Pigeon” off of Cannibal Ox’s The Cold Vein.  ”Loco-Motive,” “Cherry Wine,” and “Nasty” all stand out as having better beats than almost anything we’ve heard Nas over lately, as well.

I can’t see Life is Good ever being considered to be in the same echelon as Illmatic, or even Stillmatic and It Was Written, but that’s not to say it isn’t still a very good album, deserving of all the acclaim it has gotten.  It’s definitely an album of the year candidate.  The only real flaw is that it tries too hard at times to pander to mainstream listeners.  Tracks like “Summer On Smash” not only don’t live up to the high standards that I’ve come to hold Nas to, but seem out of place in the album as a whole, somewhat derailing the ambiance that tracks leading up to it establish.  Not to harp on “Summer On Smash” in particular, but it’s presence is all the more baffling due to it not being released as a single.  I could understand if it was just a track made to get radio play, but that’s not the case.  In the long run, people tend to forget about such tracks though, this is going to be remembered as an album borne of heartache and adversity.  It’s unfortunate for Nas that he seems to need that in order to produce good music.  Whether coming out with a good album is worth everything that has happened to him over the last couple years is something only he can decide.  At least he’ll probably get another Grammy nomination.

Best Tracks: No Introduction, Loco-Motive, Accident Murderers, Cherry Wine, Nasty (iTunes bonus track)

Overall: 87/100

Elzhi - ELmatic (2011)

Anybody who knows hip-hop at all knows Illmatic.  The 1994 album by Nas is almost universally hailed as one of, if not the greatest hip-hop album ever made.  What MC, Elzhi, along with fellow Detroiters, Will Sessions, have done with ELmatic is taken the old beats off Illmatic, tweaked them a little bit, to bring them into the modern era and recorded his own vocals over these re-imaginings of the Illmatic beats.  A project like this is inevitably going to draw comparisons to the original, and Elzhi had big shoes to fill here.  Even Nas, himself, has never managed to escape the shadow of Illmatic.


The beats are classic, but the original DJ Premier and Large Professor versions were classics, so I don’t want to give too much credit to Will Sessions.  They were given gold and basically just polished it a little.  Live instruments are always refreshing to hear on hip-hop albums, though and they did make a few tweaks to make the aging Illmatic beats a bit more appealing to modern listeners.  The original samples are all still present, allowing ELmatic to maintain a similar vibe to the original.  The biggest problem I have is that for whatever reason, several of the tracks include extended periods of just the instrumentals playing, including over three straight minutes at the end of “One Love.”  I’ll never understand why artists include these extended instrumental portions, I’ve never met anybody who enjoys them.  I don’t mind when they’re use to segue into the next track, but that can be done in ten seconds; anything over a minute just detracts from the album.

While the beats on Illmatic are classic, the lyrics are legendary.  Elzhi has had a reputation as a great lyricist since his days with Slum Village, but when I first heard about this project, I scoffed at the idea of him being able to successfully recreate the feel and technical skill exhibited in Illmatic.  I assumed that, at best, it was going to be of a similar caliber to Fashawn’s similarly themed Ode to Illmatic mix tape, from last year.  That is to say, merely an above average tape.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Elzhi absolutely owns every track on here, at times rivaling and (I’m about to commit heresy here.) even surpassing Nas’s original rhymes.  Most of the tracks share a similar lyrical theme to their Illmatic equivalent, the notable exception is “It Ain’t Hard to Tell,”  which turns from a very braggadocious track into a narrative about Elzhi’s early life and rise to fame.

Remaking Illmatic was a risky move.  This could have very easily been an absolute disaster for Elzhi, especially if it had been a weaker release than Fashawn’s effort.  The gamble payed off for him, though and we’re treated to a stunning re-imagining of a legendary album, which succeeds in both paying homage to and building upon the original.  Elzhi shows off a level of lyrical ability that we have never seen from him before, making ELmatic arguably the best hip-hop release of 2011.

Best Tracks: Detroit State of Mind, Halftime, Memory Lane, Represent, It Ain’t Hard to Tell

Overall: 91/100