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It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Public Enemy
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In Stock
Def Jam
May 2, 1995
Audio CD
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| List Price: | $9.98 | | Our Price: | $7.97 | | You Save: | $2.01 (20%) |
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Amazon.com essential recording
It Takes a Nation of Millions was the sign that hip-hop had exploded like a grenade. A rap record as abrasive, hardcore, and eloquent as a JFK speech, the 1988 disc is one classic track after another: tense, multilayered, harmonically wild music. Chuck D. declaims like a master preacher ...
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2.
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Paid in Full
Eric B. & Rakim
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This item has been discontinued by the manufacturer.
Fourth & Bway / Pgd
October 26, 1996
Audio CD
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Amazon.com
This debut album, basically a collection of early singles (...
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3.
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Raising Hell
Run D.M.C.
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This item has been discontinued by the manufacturer.
Arista Europe
June 1, 1999
Audio CD
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Run-DMC's 1986 rap masterpiece, Raising Hell, storms out of the musical gate. One of the albums that defined the transition from the old school to the new school, with its heavy rhyme sequences layered on top of drum-machine beats, and an assortment of pulse-quickening record ...
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4.
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Straight Outta Compton
N.W.A.
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This item has been discontinued by the manufacturer.
Priority Records
October 25, 1990
Audio CD
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Amazon.com essential recording
A lone voice sneers You are about to witness the strength of street knowledge, and with that warning the greatest-ever gangsta album begins. Then these Niggas with Attitude--wicked rhymes by Ice Cube, Easy E, and MC Ren; soulful production courtesy Dr. Dre; beats provided by DJ Yella--come barreling into ...
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5.
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De La Soul Is Dead
De La Soul
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In Stock
Rhino / Ada
May 13, 1991
Audio CD
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Amazon.com essential recording
De La Soul burned out on their own hype fast, and their dark, strange second album is a counter-blast to their image and hip-hop culture: perverse, dissatisfied, sometimes brilliant, sometimes out of control. Occasionally it seems mean-spirited--the singl...
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6.
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Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Wu-Tang Clan
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RCA
November 9, 1993
Audio CD
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| List Price: | $13.98 | | Our Price: | $8.97 | | You Save: | $5.01 (36%) |
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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--ar...
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7.
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By All Means Necessary
Boogie Down Productions
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In Stock
Jive
October 25, 1990
Audio CD
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After Scott La Rock's death, KRS-One (a.k.a. Kris Parker) carried on the BDP name with this mammoth album and its uneasy balance between violence and nonviolence, jazz beats and hard-core hip-hop, the pride of boasting and the pride of the teacher he was t...
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8.
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The Chronic
Dr. Dre
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This item has been discontinued by the manufacturer.
Priority Records
December 15, 1992
Audio CD
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Amazon.com essential recording
1989's Straight Outta Compton, by Dre's previous outfit N.W.A., may have shined the public spotlight on the genre, but The Chronic legitimized it. That is not to say that Snoop Doggy Dogg (The Chronic marks his debut) and Dre's raps are for everyone; the subject matter is the sex, ...
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9.
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Illmatic
Nas
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In Stock
Sony
April 19, 1994
Audio CD
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| List Price: | $11.98 | | Our Price: | $10.99 | | You Save: | $0.99 (8%) |
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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. ...
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10.
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The Low End Theory
A Tribe Called Quest
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In Stock
Jive
September 24, 1991
Audio CD
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| List Price: | $13.98 | | Our Price: | $12.99 | | You Save: | $0.99 (7%) |
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Amazon.com essential recording
De La Soul are remembered as the premier Native Tongues posse, those rappers who got low-key, self-consciously thoughtful, and jazzy in the face of gangsta's hardcore threats. But A Tribe Called Quest may have been even stronger, especially on their excell...
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11.
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To Whom It May Concern...
Freestyle Fellowship
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This item has been discontinued by the manufacturer.
Beats & Rhymes
December 28, 1999
Audio CD
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One of the best underground classics you've probably never heard, Freestyle Fellowship's little-known, long-out-of-print first album was brilliantly conceived and executed. As much as we abuse the concept of "ahead of its time," the Fellowship's 1991 debut...
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12.
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Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill
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In Stock
Sony
August 13, 1991
Audio CD
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| List Price: | $11.98 | | Our Price: | $10.99 | | You Save: | $0.99 (8%) |
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Led by the deep-toned Sen Dog and the deliciously adenoidal whine of B-Real and backed by DJ Muggs's beats--as thick as the smoke they inhaled--Cypress Hill spun dope-fueled tales of revenge, revolution, recreational drug use, gangbanging, and cultural pri...
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13.
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Ready to Die
Notorious B.I.G.
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Currently unavailable
Audio CD
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Amazon.com essential recording
During the Reagan era of all-for-me economics, MCs like Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap painted pictures of silky rap gangsterism, inspired by movies like The Mack and Superfly. Out of the post-Reagan rubble came Notorious B.I.G.'s debut, the Hustler reality-trip Ready to Die (also the LP debut ...
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14.
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Paul's Boutique
Beastie Boys
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In Stock
Capitol
July 19, 1989
Audio CD
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| List Price: | $11.98 | | Our Price: | $7.97 | | You Save: | $4.01 (33%) |
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After the out-of-nowhere success of Licensed to Ill, the Beasties had to prove they were more than one-album wonders, and they hit it out of the park with this follow-up. The Boys' lyrics are a hysterical deluge of cultural allusion (Ponce De Leon, Sadaharu Oh, and Love Connection's Chuck ...
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15.
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Step in the Arena
Gang Starr
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In Stock
Virgin Records Us
January 15, 1991
Audio CD
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| List Price: | $11.98 | | Our Price: | $7.97 | | You Save: | $4.01 (33%) |
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Amazon.com essentials
Gang Starr's second album is quintessential hip-hop and is easily one of the greatest rap albums of all time. In contrast to their 1989 debut, ...
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16.
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Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
Pharcyde
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This item has been discontinued by the manufacturer.
Delicious Vinyl
April 28, 1998
Audio CD
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Amazon.com
Like De La Soul's Three Feet High & Rising, the Pharcyde's 1992 debut came at a time when hip-hop was headed in one direction, but the group was going somewhere else entirely. A crew of spunky b-boys armed with a self-deprecating sense of humor, the Pharcyde made an album ...
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17.
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Strictly Business
EPMD
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Priority Records
July 1, 1991
Audio CD
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| List Price: | $15.98 | | Our Price: | $10.97 | | You Save: | $5.01 (31%) |
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Imagine a time in history when artists didn't have to clear any samples in their music. EPMD's 1988 debut, ...
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18.
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Black on Both Sides
Def, Mos
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This item has been discontinued by the manufacturer.
Priority Records
October 12, 1999
Audio CD
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Amazon.com
Black on Both Sides is a manifestation of compelling, honest hip-hop. The genre's underground torchbearer, the mighty Mos Def (half of Black Star), injects intellect, humor, and knowledge into all of his rhymes. Overall, the album has an understated quality, but pure enjoyment comes with discovering the clever lyrical ...
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19.
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Lyte as a Rock
MC Lyte
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East/West Records
October 25, 1990
Audio CD
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Amazon.com
MC Lyte is woman. Hear her roar. On her 1988 debut, ...
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20.
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The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
Slick Rick
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In Stock
Def Jam
May 2, 1995
Audio CD
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| List Price: | $9.98 | | Our Price: | $7.97 | | You Save: | $2.01 (20%) |
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After he gained legendary status rapping on Doug E. Fresh's "La Di Da Di," it was only a matter of time before the world would clutch British-born Ricky Walters to its heart. Rick had already fancied himself a rabid storyteller (and a mighty good one) on F...
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21.
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One for All
Brand Nubian
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In Stock
Elektra / Wea
December 8, 1990
Audio CD
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| List Price: | $9.98 | | Our Price: | $8.98 | | You Save: | $1.00 (10%) |
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Alongside acts such as Public Enemy and X-Clan, the Brand Nubian quartet (DJ Alamo and MCs Grand Puba, SadatX, and Lord Jamar) helped introduce a whole new generation to Five-Percenter philosophies and conscious pride. Their 1990 debut was filled with the smooth production and syrupy flows that made ...
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22.
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AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
Cube, Ice
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This item has been discontinued by the manufacturer.
Priority Records
May 16, 1990
Audio CD
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Amazon.com
Cube took a lot of the heat for N.W.A's more excessive moments, maybe because he was the best rapper in the group, and his solo debut reacts by pushing the envelope even further. To the strains of a carpet-bombing Bomb Squad soundtrack, he adopts a way-ove...
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23.
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Illadelph Halflife
Roots, The
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In Stock
Geffen Records
September 24, 1996
Audio CD
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| List Price: | $13.98 | | Our Price: | $9.97 | | You Save: | $4.01 (29%) |
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Amazon.com
Philly never gets its props, but the City of Brotherly Love has pioneered its fair share of hip-hop innovations. Schooly D was the first gangsta rapper; DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince perfected rap comedy, and the Roots became the first rap act to put ...
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24.
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Critical Beatdown
Ultramagnetic MC's
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Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks
Roadrunner UK
July 23, 1996
Audio CD
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Amazon.com
Part B-Boys and part Bad Boys, the Ultramagnetic MC's took a series of mind-blowing singles, including "Ease Back" and "Funky," wrapped them around at least as many new tracks, and released ...
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25.
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Mama Said Knock You Out
L.L. Cool J
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