Buy Now
One in a Million
(more) »rank: 18245by: Aaliyah
:Album Description:One In A Million was Aaliyah's second album that saw her sound develop with a new maturity, partly through her collaborations with producers like Timbaland. Includes the singles 'One In A Million', 'If Your Girl Only Knew', 'Got To Give It Up' and '4 Page Letter'. Long out-of-print in the US. Features the same 17 tracks that graced the original pressing. Snapper. 2006. :She has already jammed with Gladys Knight in Las Vegas, eloped with influential R&B mogul R. Kelly, and scored two platinum albums--and she's just barely graduated from high school. No, she is not your average teenager, nor is she ...
Buy Now
Heat
(more) »rank: 13785by: Michael Lington
: :What do Michael Lington, Fleetwood Mac, Santana and The Grateful Dead have in common? The answer is mega-Platinum producer, Keith Olsen. Keith has produced three tracks for the new Michael Lington release, Heat on NuGroove Records. Keith has produced over 120 albums and more than one in four are Gold, Platinum, or multi-Platinum sellers. Sales of these smash hits exceed110 million units at retail, equaling more than a billion dollars in revenue! Danish born saxophonist Michael Lington has demonstrated his contemporary saxophone chops with a steady stream of chart-toppers since his debut album in 1997. Soon after relocating to the US, Lington ...
Buy Now
Acid Reflex
(more) »rank: 42478by: Paris
:Album Description:2008 release, a election-year album from one of the most politically potent and respected artists in Hip Hop history. Paris is also known for his production including projects from Public Enemy, George Clinton, Eryka Badu, dead prez, KRS One, Tha Dogg Pound and many others. Acid Reflex features guest appearances from P.E. and George Clinton. 15 tracks.
Buy Now
3 Years 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of--
(more) »rank: 9513by: Arrested Development
: :With their feel-good humanism, uniquely rural perspective, and melodic blend of funk and rap, Arrested Development seemed like the next big thing in 1992. The group hailed from Atlanta, which was not then a capital of hip-hop and R&B, and this, their debut recording, won the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll. Speech, the primary lyricist, wrote and delivered eloquent attacks on gangsta rap's mindless nihilism: the band's first hit, 'Tennessee,' spoke of reclaiming Southern black traditions from the racism that sullied their memory, while their second, 'People Everyday,' deftly updated the Sly Stone classic. Although Speech's rapping style was not distinctive, ...
Buy Now
Quality
(more) »rank: 22299by: Talib Kweli
: :After collaborations with Mos Def (1998's Black Star) and Hi-Tek (2000's Reflection Eternal), underground journeyman Talib Kweli finally emerges fully solo with Quality. As an MC, Kweli is still as incisive as ever--his distinctive, darting flow stabs its way across every song and, as one of hip-hop's better thinkers, he covers a wide range of moods and ideas. As a verbal ass-whupper, Kweli unloads on songs like 'Rush,' 'Shock Body,' and 'Guerrilla Monsoon Rap' (featuring the Roots' Black Thought and Pharoahe Monch), but he takes things much further than just the lyricist's lounge. 'Get By,' produced beautifully by Kayne West, is the conscious ...
Buy Now
Hello Nasty
(more) »rank: 7154by: Beastie Boys
: 's Best of 1998:It's been a dozen years since the Beastie Boys broke, and on Hello Nasty, they show that--though they've grown up, matured, and just gotten older--they're still in touch with the inner brat that always made them so much fun. Turns out that the brat's turned into an ace record collector with choice taste in collaborators, too. --Randy Silver Amazon.com essential recording:On their previous album, Ill Communication, the Beastie Boys expanded their parameters yet again, melding cutting-edge hip-hop with slinky jazz, butt-wiggling funk, weepy classical, and combustive punk rock. Four years down the line, the group's music isn't nearly as organic. ...
Buy Now
The Red Light District
(more) »rank: 11594by: Ludacris
: :Think what you want about Ludacris, but no one can deny that he is hip-hop's king of choruses. Luda's hooks are big, brassy, and loud; they're tailor-made for club crowds and radio programmers. Some songs, like 'Get Back,' practically sound like one long hook, every line a potential anthem. At times, it's easy to forget that Ludacris knows how to rhyme too. His taffy-pull verbal style isn't as lyrically intricate as Nas's (who appears on 'Virgo') and can't match Trick Daddy's thuggish bravado ('Hopeless'), but few other rappers exude his level of charisma. On 'Number One Spot,' Luda acts like he's strong-arming his ...
Buy Now
Beats, Rhymes and Life
(more) »rank: 37190by: A Tribe Called Quest
: essential recording:Tribe's fourth album, Beats, Rhymes, and Life, should be the awkward one, the album on which the group, growing up, falters a little as it figures out what it's going to do next. It isn't. Marked by a number of changes, both internally (this is the album on which the Ummah production crew takes over, and it also marks Q-Tip's new religious faith) and externally (by 1996 Quest's jazzy approach to hip-hop had fallen out of popular favor), Beats finds Tribe taking it as it comes and handling all of the challenges with flair. It's a slower, steadier album than either ...
Buy Now
As Cruel as School Children
(more) »rank: 6229by: Gym Class Heroes
:Album Description:This upstate NY 4-piece hip-hop band fuse crisp guitar rhythms, deep melodic bass lines, head cracking beats, and conscious lyrics to create a sound truly their own. Their debut full-length, 'The Papercut Chronicles', has sold over 32,000 copies, converting anyone within ear shot into fans. This, their follow-up, is surely going to launch the band to the next level. :The Roots aren't the only hip-hop group to build their sound around live instrumentation. Yet this Upstate New York quartet doesn't sound much like Philly's finest. Further, As Cruel as School Children is more radio-ready than previous efforts, especially 'Cupid's Chokehold,' which appropriates ...
Buy Now
Now That's What I Call Music! 5
(more) »rank: 28554by: Various Artists
: :The U.S. version of the Now That's What I Call Music series is often pegged as strictly kid stuff. There's no denying that many or most of the singles collected on volume 5 are beloved teen and preteen faves; even with a title cleanup, though, Mystikal's James Brown tribute 'Shake It Fast' provides plenty of grownup kicks. As do Destiny's Child, Mya, and Kandi, whose delicious pop-R&B tracks trump the over-30 rock of Everclear's 'Wonderful' and Bon Jovi's 'It's My Life' for sheer radio wisdom. At the same time, the CD's reliance on cuts stamped from a small handful of templates suggests that ...
