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Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
:Album Description:Vinyl Classics reissue of the 1993 album comes as a vinyl look-a-like CD that's packaged in a die-cut, see-through Slipcase. BMG. 2005. :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 ...
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Mezzanine
: essential recording:The third full-length release from Massive Attack is a taste of the future of pop music--a future where precisely engineered events can be seamlessly partnered with the subtle complexities of a human voice. Since their first album, Blue Lines, they've been making similar magic happen with any one of several guest vocalists, but nothing like the way it happens on Mezzanine. This time they take the union further, moving it into a darker space in which the individual elements ...
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Shwayze
:Album Description:A melting-pot of laid-back melodies, hip-hop rhythms and acoustic guitars, Shwayze's self-titled debut [Suretone/Geffen Records] pays homage to an all-day-and-into-the-night party lifestyle colored by the rolling tides of his hometown beaches, and the rolling papers that flavor the proceedings. Collaborating with Shwayze, Adler co-wrote all of the songs on the album, producing and providing backing vocals along the way. The first single, 'Buzzin'' splashes Cisco's roots-rock acoustic-guitar and vocal tapestry with Shwayze's cooler-than-a-sea-breeze hip-hop delivery. Says the rapper, 'It's a ...
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The Low End Theory
: 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 excellent second album, the bass-thumping, heavily jazz-sampled The Low End Theory. According to the opening 'Excursions,' rapper Q-Tip's old man says the disc's jazz-rap 'reminded him of bebop,' and Q calls himself 'prominent like Shakespeare.' But if Charlie Parker ...
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The College Dropout
: :This debut from the most sought-after hip-hop producer not named Pharrell delivers the unthinkable: West magically sledgehammers home his opinions on taboo topics over beats that are equally daring. The envelope-ripping beats shouldn't come as a surprise given that he's supplied the soundscapes to monster singles by everyone from Alicia Keys ('You Don't Know My Name') to Talib Kweli ('Get By'). What is freakish is that in West's world, rhymes about strippers, God, college life, and guns can co-exist tidily and ...
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Endtroducing.....
:Album Description:DJ Shadow, a.k.a. Josh Davis, could be credited with bringing newfound introspection to the gloating sounds of hip-hop. Condensed with urban oscillations and scatological beats, Endtroducing shutters with eclectic samples and aural montages that reach beyond the constraints of hip-hop style. Enhancing the mix with fundamentals of rock, soul, funk, ambient, and jazz, the modern fusions fail to go unnoticed, even by the casual listener. While most of the tracks are compiled by layering samples from vinyl treasures found in ...
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The Black Album
:Album Description:DJ Shadow, a.k.a. Josh Davis, could be credited with bringing newfound introspection to the gloating sounds of hip-hop. Condensed with urban oscillations and scatological beats, Endtroducing shutters with eclectic samples and aural montages that reach beyond the constraints of hip-hop style. Enhancing the mix with fundamentals of rock, soul, funk, ambient, and jazz, the modern fusions fail to go unnoticed, even by the casual listener. While most of the tracks are compiled by layering samples from vinyl treasures found in ...
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The Leak
:Album Description:DJ Shadow, a.k.a. Josh Davis, could be credited with bringing newfound introspection to the gloating sounds of hip-hop. Condensed with urban oscillations and scatological beats, Endtroducing shutters with eclectic samples and aural montages that reach beyond the constraints of hip-hop style. Enhancing the mix with fundamentals of rock, soul, funk, ambient, and jazz, the modern fusions fail to go unnoticed, even by the casual listener. While most of the tracks are compiled by layering samples from vinyl treasures found in ...
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Midnight Marauders
: essential recording:This might have been the album Tribe Called Quest wanted to make from the very beginning. It's their most even, consistent album of the original trilogy that also includes People's Instinctive Travels... and The Low End Theory. But in spite of this, or maybe because of it, it's also their most uninteresting. With so many competent tracks, there's no chance for something to stand out above the pack, like 'Scenario' did on Low End Theory or 'Can I Kick ...
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Doggystyle
:Album Description:No longer available in the U.S., 'Doggystyle' is one of the biggest & most influential gangsta rap albums of the '90s. 'Doggystyle', Snoop Doggy Dogg's 1993 debut, was produced by his childhood friend Dr. Dre and entered the Billboard top 200 albums chart essential recording:Produced by the infamous Dr. Dre with assistance from Mr. Suge Knight, Doggy Style was the first solo outing by Calvin Broadus a.k.a. Snoop Doggy Dog. Incorporating a straight gangsta vibe into the deep funk ...
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