Hip Hop — LPs  

Biggie's masterpiece – remastered! There's very little we could possibly say about this east coast landmark that isn't already etched in stone in the annals of hip hop history. Biggie's a master storyteller, whether he's spinning tales of violent street nihilism, his skills beneath the sheets, or blistering sadness and regret. This thing sounds as great in the new millenium as it did at the end of the previous one. All the classics: "Things Done Changed", "Gimme The Loot", "Machine Gun Funk", "Ready To Die", "Warning", "Ready To Die", "Juicy", "Big Poppa", "Respect", "Friend Of Mine", and the Premier-produced "Unbelievable". This remasted re-release of the album includes two bonus tracks – the legendary, oft-bitten track "Who Shot Ya" and "Just Playing (Dreams)".

Biggie's second LP, and while the production on some of the tracks features a fair bit of Puff Daddy's gloss, they'll still get your head nodding along to Biggie's incomparable flow. It was definitely hard to follow up Ready To Die, but the best cuts here manage to live up to the promise of his debut album. 24 tracks, including "Hypnotize", "Kick In the Door", "Mo Money Mo Problems", "Miss U", "Ten Crack Commandments", 'What's Beef?" and "Nasty Boy".

2LP promo only set – featuring instrumental and acapella versions of some of Mary J's biggest cuts! Titles include "Sweet Thing (hip hop mix)", "You Remind Me", "Reminisce (bad boy remix)", "I'm Going Down (acapella)", "Love No Limit", "Real Love", "You Don't Have To Worry", and "Be Happy".

Production by Bobby Konders, Salaam Remi and Philip Burrell. 11 tracks in all, counting the intro, including "Ghetto Red Hot" by Supercat, "Boom Wa Dis" by Burro Banton, "Dem A Fight" by Red Foxx, "Mattress Jockey" by Shaggy, "Bop Scuchie" by Reverend Baddo, "Gun Pon Cock" by Nardo Ranks, "Yardie" by Buju Banton, "No Move" by Louie Rankin and "You A Bad Boy" by Jr. Demus.

Not quite the Wild Style soundtrack, but still not a bad one, and with a good assortment of popular hip hop cuts. Features tracks like Beastie Boys "She's On It", LL Cool J "I Can't Live Without My Radio", Kurtis Blow "If I Ruled The World" (with the chorus Lauryn Hill sings on the new Nas single), Fat Boys "All You Can Eat", Krush Groove All-Stars (Run-DMC, Fat Boys, Kurtis Blow, Sheila E) "Krush Groovin'", Chaka Khan "Krush Groove" and 4 more!

Nice compilation put together at the end fo the 80s with tracks for the preceding few years on Def Jam, with a number of now hard to find cuts. 13 tracks in all: LL Cool J "Rock The Bells", "Jack The Ripper" & "I'm Bad", Original Concept "Can You Feel It?", Beastie Boys "Rhymin' & Stealin" & "Fight For You Right (To Party)", Russell Rush & Jazzy Jay "Cold Chillin In The Spot", Public Enemy "Son Of Public Enemy (Flavor Whop version)" & "Rebel Without A Pause", Poppa Ron Love "I'm A Girl Watcher", Davy D "Have You Seen Davy?" and Slick Rick "The Ruler's Back".