Artist: Blakroc

It works, 2010-07-18
When I first heard that blues rockers The Black Keys were making an album with a load of rap stars (and they are stars, we're talking rappers like Q-Tip, Mos Def, RZA, Raekwon and ODB) I wasn't sure if the collaboration would work. Yet work it most certainly does, because of the high calibre vocal contributions and equally the fact that Dan and Patrick are fantastic musicians, able to put down some dirty grooves. The first track, 'Coochie', with the late ODB and Ludacris, is the best on the album, and reminds me of New Kingdom (great but totally forgotten 90s rappers). 'On The Vista' with Mos Def and 'Dollaz And Sense' with Pharoahe Munch are other standout tracks. It's not all rap meets blues, though, as Nicole Wray makes some more soulful contributions, and 'Ain't Nothing Like You' is a track that would fit most comfortably onto a conventional Black Keys LP if Dan was singing it and not Mos Def. 'Blakroc' doesn't overstay its welcome - it's less than 40 minutes' long - and there isn't a weak link on it. In various ways, it all works.

Artist: Cypress Hill

If 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 rhythms, metallic percussion, nasal taunts, and gruff warnings that's the aural equivalent of today's nerve-rattling cop flicks and mob movies. --Geoffrey Himes
Not just a hip hop classic!!!!, 2007-04-12
It was the early 90s and music was the best its been since the 60s.I was a long haired grunger listening to musical gods such as Pear Jam,Nirvana,Rage Against The Machine and...........well you catch my drift.
Then everyone was talking about this great new sound that was ok for grungers to like!it was Cypress Hill and their awesome new album Black Sunday.
This album appealed to everyone from rap fans to hip hop fans to grunge fans,I remember the first time i heard Insane in the Brain,It was in my local metal club in Leicester and there is no stranger sight than seeing aload of metal fans with one hand in the air bouncing up and down to a hip hop track,but what a track.
What im saying is no matter what your musical preferance buy this classic album and believe the hype its one of the best albums i have ever bought and still gets kicked out of my car stereo more than once a week.
A timeless classic

Artist: Fugees

3 INDIVIDUALS AT THEIR PEAK. CLASSIC!!!, 2009-04-17
Without a doubt, the best album ever made in this reviewers humble opinion.

albums were i am comfortable letting the entire album play straight through from start to end come round very rarely, if at all!! but this is a classic, from the opening intro the the final fu-gee-la version!!

beats and vocals are on point through-out, laureyn hill's voice is sublime and lyrically, very few can compare to this offering from the Fugees!

this was a rare occasion where three people came together at the peak of their powers, and produced a classic album that will be listened to for years to come. i for one will still be nodding my geriatric head to family business, mask and laureyn's amazing Killing Me Softly!

a MUST have for any serious music fan

Artist: Jay-Z

Great Album., 2010-06-08
All that needs to be said is that it's one of the greatest albums from one of the world's greatest artists. Satisfaction guaranteed!

Artist: Reindeer Section

a wee gem, 2008-06-12
If you dont own this album, you need to order a copy quick sharp. It has quickly become a firm favourite with me, an album you can play over and over without tiring of and one I wish I had gotten ages ago. If you're sick of hearing Patrols' Chasing Cars and their other very mainstream tunes but still want to listen to Gary Lightbodys' distinctive,beautiful voice then this one is definitely for you.Dead on.

Artist: Wu-Tang Clan

This debut revolutionized hip-hop (and launched half a dozen solo careers), as much for The RZA's raw barrage of off-kilter, off-key loops and sound effects as for its elliptically violent lyrics. Martial arts--at least as they appear in kung fu movies--are the Wu-Tang Clan's favorite metaphor, but they're also the organizing principle of the group, a crowd of eight rappers, each with his own way-out-there "fighting style." They created their own little self-contained culture, with its own symbols and shifting identities, and let listeners figure it out for themselves. Unless you're willing to immerse yourself in its world, it can be baffling and a little dry, but its aggression and originality are undeniable. --Douglas Wolk
The great hope of the East Coast., 2010-02-15
By 1993, West Coast G-funk and gangsta rap was dominating the hip-hop airwaves.

Dr. Dre, having paved the way with his group NWA and his solo classic The Chronic, owned the hip-hop world along with Suge Knight and his Death Row records. Tupac Shakur was already making waves. The East Coast as yet had little to no notable rappers to its name; but here, on this low-budget posse record, the seeds of the East/West rivalry were sown as they wrenched the focus away from Compton.

To this day, no rap album sounds like Enter The Wu-Tang, and no rap group sounds like they do. Nine of them, all MCs, headed by the RZA, each with their own styles, colliding into an astonishing, snarling beast of a record.

With a tiny budget to work with, RZA crafts sawn-off, raw beats that punish the listener. None of the rough edges are smoothed off, leaving pounding jams that lack the richness that G-funk boasted. What replaced it was bizarre kung-fu film references.

The album, unified by its sparse sound, allows the nine Wu-Tang MCs room to stretch, and each of them has their own style, from Ghostface Killah's high-pitched yelp to Method Man's stoned ramble, all the way through to the utter insanity of ODB.

Ghostface opens the record on the clattering 'Bring Tha Ruckus,' a clear statement of intent; his rhymes about a 'head rush' and being 'tougher than an elephant tusk' already establishing how bizarre and unique the group's rhymes were. 'Shame On The N****' pushes ODB to the front as his marble-mouthed style seems both threatening and endearing. Meanwhile, 'C.R.E.A.M.' was so influential that its title became a rap slang word in and of itself.

From here, virtually every member of the crew - particularly The GZA, Raekwon and ODB - would craft era-defining solo albums of their own, but it all started here and arguably, this was the most unified album the group produced both conceptually and as far as quality.

Artist: Mos Def

I'm Ecstatic about this Album, 2010-06-29
Mos Def is a poet of his time, this album covers everything from sex. love to the social economic and political viewpoints. The beats are on point and his voice and his lyrics are sublime. I sooo recommend this to you all.

Artist: Nas

Nasir Jones made this debut album at the age of 20, already armed with the calm perceptiveness and been-there-done-that attitude of a much older ghetto vet, though sometimes his inner callow youth shows itself. Illmatic is a look back at a life spent in the culture of the projects, acknowledging joy as much as pain and taking note of violence as a fact of his environment rather than a focus of his life. It's enlivened by Nas's kicky, deep-threaded multiple rhymes--you can tell he grew up listening to Mr. Magic's rap show and internalising the secrets of everybody's flow--and by tracks from a bunch of all-stars, including the Large Professor, DJ Premier, and, most memorably, Q-Tip ("One Love"). --Douglas Wolk
The greatest album of all time, 2010-07-01
Illmatic in my opinion is the greatest album of all time and just shows how good Nas was back in 1994.

The album consists of 10 classic songs, which include my favourite..

Halftime, NY State of mind, One Love, Represent, Who's world is this and more etc

The beat's represents everything that was great with 90's rap and the lyrics delivered by Nas proves to me why i think he's the best rapper of all time

This album is definitely ahead of his time and it is one of the few albums i could listen to over and over again.

Artist: Streets

It must be 5 star, 2007-05-24
Hes done it again, mike skinner is a pure and utter legend.
This album may not appeal to you on the first listen but soon enough you wont be able to press stop.
mike skinner is a lyrical genius without a doubt and this album throws the life of the average lad in your face through addidctive rhymes and catchy beats.
i got the album the 1st day it came out years ago and its never been taked out of the stereo.
after his debut album (original pirate material) this is another addition to a true british street hero. *****

Artist: Dwele

A gem of an album - real music!, 2010-07-17
At a time when so called RnB is so disappointing this sound is a breath of fresh air. i know its not RnB - id term this sound RnB Neo Soul if there is such a term. Dwele has always been consistent over they years, plays a lot of instruments himself and produces.This album is no different from his previous -quality wise - prob my fave. And a welcome collaboration with Raheem Devaughn. He is a real talent who understands REAL music. Go buy this album thats all i will say an!!