yes a definite MASTERPIECE!!! absolutely LOVE this album. everything about its it great!!!

Ghostface Killah- Ironman
GZA- Liquid Swords
Raekwon- Only Built 4 Cuban Linx

I kinda need Mm Food, though.

Ugh. Back when that album came out I had a downstairs neighbor who used to blast it day and night. It was like it was the only music he owned. I've avoided it for years and I'm still not sure I could ever give the thing a fair listen because of that.

S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M. by onebelo is killer album.
it's definately in my top ten.

Sorry Luke but I have to agree with Janszoon on this one. I think this album was one of those crossover albums that melded an RnB asthetic onto a Hip Hop beat and unleashed a whole heap of trash on the world.

It is not solely responsible but this album definitely ushered in a new way of marketing Hip Hop methinks.

No but they contributed ;)

Thats unfair isn't it?

Look at how the fugees were marketed, and compare them to artists now. Do you really see much of a connection between Akon, R-kelly, T-Pain with the fugees?

Are you going to blame the pioneers of punk as being responsible for blink-182 and avril lavigne?

You make it seem like every album that blends RnB is crap, which is incredibly far from reality.

I hated that fugees album.

It was like the world first hip hop album for dinner parties.

What does that even mean?

I see a connection between all those artists and The Fugees TBH. I said they are partly to blame but not all. Ordinary folks all of a sudden thought they knew Hip Hop when they heard this album and the marketing guys found a gap in the market.

It happened in the mid to late 80's with Rock music (Bon Jovi, Europe etc) and again in the mid 90's with bands like Green Day. They pushed these genres to the forefront which in turn bred similar bands. Why did heavier guitar music explode early 2000?

Marketing music is big business and The Fugees album (whether it was good or not) ushered in a new era of Urban music.

What I mean is that album was hugely popular with people who don't really have much interest in hip hop or music at all. Hence the allusion of people playing it in the background of dinner parties to show how hip they are.

Portishead's Dummy album suffered the same fate.

I disagree. The same ****ty RnB artists of this day just followed the ****ty ones before them, just they saw the opportunity (thanks in large part to locals jimmy jam and terry lewis) to make more money using a hip hop influence.

Boyz 2 men, Dru Hill etc lead to May j Blige and R.Kelly lead to T-Pain etc.

I admit the latest batch of the RnB 'singers' is crap, i just don't like lauren hill getting the blame :(

Well not in the US. :laughing:

Oh yeah definitely, i blame Killing Me Softly, but i enjoy it a lot nonetheless. A lot of the album tracks deserve more credit. Laid-back yes, but the hooks are there.

And it's far too good to be dinner party music :(

I just heard Killing Me Softly the other day too, weird. ONE TIME.

Let's see, masterpiece for non spam issues... I haven't heard the album yet, but if the tracks on dude's Myspace are on his new CD, then 607's new CD should be a ****in smash.

thats difficult to say, the 'r'n'b aesthetic on a hip hop beat' was big way before the fugees; the genres had been fusing since New Jack Swing (Janet Jackson's third album is a corker).
Thusly:


besides i'd sooner listen to something with some soul over this bait 'underground' stuff perpetuated by beardy white guys in hunting caps. But then again you'd probably find the Fugees in any self-respecting student/backpacker hip-hop collection. i mean they're not that great really are they? i'm still undecided on 'the miseducation of lauryn hill' though. Incidentally this is available in all CD megastores in the URBAN section (if it's got black people/lack of guitars/digital production it's urban, fyi)

You have no idea how much this ticks me off.
I haven't heard that Lauryn Hill album, i remember i youtubed some stuff and wasn't overly impressed.

yeah man i swear her voice dropped or something?... it's got this reputation as one of the landmark hip-hop/rnb albums of recent times but i just haven't made the effort yet. And if I'm honest I don't own any Fugees albums, just being a judgmental **** as usual :p: ready or not, here ah come... gonna fiiiind you... yeah.

Thank you!!!!!!!!!
 

Thanks for lsting all these albums, my playlist has been overplayed for the last few weeks, nice to get some new stuff in there

All good stuff

B.i.g. Juicy

Reasonable Doubt hasn't gotten enough love.

Cant really think of an album that is completely perfect, but Dr Dre's The Chronic and Ice Cube's The Predator are pretty close to that.

Interesting, you'd take "Predator" as his perfect album before "Death Certificate?"

I would too. Well, I don't know if I'd call it "perfect" per se, but I definitely prefer it over Death Certificate.

Death Certificate all the way, but The Predator and Lethal Injection are on the same level.

Like I said I cant really think of it as completely perfect, but definitely close to perfect. And I dont really prefer it over Death Certificate to be honest, I think Ice Cube's first 3 albums are actually on the same or nearly the same level. From Lethal Injection onwards he took a pretty bad musical direction I think.

I never heard Death Certificate, but I have heard Amerikkka... and The Predator and I'd have to take the latter. It's tense, it's got some of his best songs, and it represents the West Coast well with great political intent.

On every level? Beats, lyrics, rhyme scheme, delivery?

Not saying Preadator aint good, cause it is, but Death Certificate has some of Cube's most lyrically potent tracks.

It's been a while since I've listen to Death Certificate but from what I remember I think The Predator is superior musically. It has this hard, bleak edge to a lot of the tracks that I absolutely love—which I don't think is as prominent on Death Certificate—and his rapping matches that hardness in a way that that doesn't really exist on his other albums (or at least the ones I've heard). As far as lyrics go, I'm not sure. I don't remember the lyrics to Death Certificate really standing out to me. The Predator, on the other hand, discusses the 1992 L.A. riots and the cultural climate surrounding them in such a vivid way that it always brings me right back to that tense, pivotal time, and still feels immediate to me even two decades later. As far as rhyme schemes go, I have no idea and it's not something I particularly care about, I'm just interested in whatever sounds best.

I agree with most of what has been said here. I also love much of the tracks present on The Predator, particularly the first 5 tracks, but in general the album has a groundbreaking production considering the circumstances, and Ice Cube's general vocal performance is pretty good as well. I also like the Gangsta-orientated feeling to the album. This feeling isnt very present on Death Certificate.

http://cdnl.complex.com/mp/620/400/8...rds_391899.jpg

http://static.okayplayer.com/wp-cont...cover_6003.jpg

http://www.egotripland.com/wp-conten...both-sides.jpg

^You'd take "Black on Both Sides" over "BlackStar"?

I would.

A pretty good Roots album, but I'd take Things Fall Apart.

My personal list of masterpieces would include...

Things Fall Apart
Dr. Octagonecologyst
Funcrusher Plus
Check Your Head
Madvillainy
Fear of a Black Planet
Absence

Yes, there are just so many classics on Both Sides its crazy. I really dig Black Starr but Mos Def's initial effort is flawless in my opinion. The album really shows his diversity too.

Undun really flows so well from start to finish, each song goes perfectly together. Also, musically I'd say its their best.

Yeah it's a good Roots album.

Things Fall Apart
Illadelph Halflife
Game Theory
Undun
The rest

In that order.

What, no mention of QUALITY CONTROL by Jurrassic 5?

To a great extent it rejuvenated a stale genre.

One of my fav albums of the year 2000.

Check Your Head over Paul's Boutique?!

Phrenology >

Get rich or die tryin' - 50 cent.