The massive second album by PE – and the one where where the hit their full creative stride, and their politics and philosphy hit at full force – moving Public Enemy from an imposing threat to both the hip hop and pop music status quo to a straight up cultural phenomenon! There's little we can add to canon of critical regard this unimpeachable classic – just know that it's as essential as any hip hop album of the era. Includes "Bring The Noise", "Don't Believe The Hype", "Prophets Of Rage" and "Rebel Without A Pause", "Cold Lampin With Flavor", "Terminator X To The Edge Of Panic", "Louder Than A Bomb", "Caught, Can We Get A Witness", "She Watch Channel Zero", "Night Of The Living Baseheads", "Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos", "Prophets For Right To Fight" and more. CD

De La Soul take on the world of hip hop with a record that's very much at the top of their game – leaner in production than before, but at a level that also brings a bit more bite to their rhymes – a good thing too, as the group take on some of their contemporaries as they assess the state of hip hop in the shadow of the 21st Century! The shift from previous records is almost like that taken by Tribe Called Quest on Low End Theory – focusing their music, while still throwing in some of their trademark skits – and maybe even making the group sound more serious, yet never in some of the "too hard" styles that they rail against on the set. The set has two key moments for the up-and-coming generation – great cut "The Bizness", with a guest appearance by Common, and "Big Brother Beat" with help from Mos Def – next to other tracks that include "Supa Emcees", "Itzsoweezee", and "Betta Listen". CD

All hits and almost no misses – starting with "Oooh", easily the best single of the '00, featuring some nice quotes from classic hip hop tracks ranging from the Funky 4 + 1 to Mos Def, and some of Redman's best verses in a while. De La Soul basically started the whole skits-between-songs concept, or at least they perfected it, and (unlike too many other artists) here they get it right again – even the three hilarious "Ghostweed" skits featuring cameo appearances from Pharoahe Monch, Q-Tip, and Black Thought hold up to repeated listenings. Also includes "My Writes", "Thru Ya City", "All Good?", 'Words FromThe Chief Rocker" and the "Art Of Getting Jumped" – 17 tracks in all. CD

The massive third album from Run DMC – a set that was done at a time when the duo were totally at the top of their game – and broke out big to a much wider audience than the usual hip hop crowd! Part of the album's strength is its guitar-heavy sound on some of the grooves – produced by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons with a classic early Def Jam vibe, in the same manner that helped the Beastie Boys get their records in the hands of folks who'd never buy hip hop otherwise! And that sound comes to culmination on the album's hit collaboration with Aerosmith on a remake of "Walk This Way". But apart from that rocker, most of the rest of the set also shows an increased complexity in both the lyricism of the pair, and the way Jam Master Jay serves up their beats – which makes for a stone classic all the way through, on tracks that include "Peter Piper", "It's Tricky", "My Adidas", "Proud To Be Black", "You Be Illin'", and "Walk This Way". Bonus tracks on this expanded edition include "My Adidas (acapella)", "Walk This Way (demo)", "Lord Of Lyrics (demo)", "Raising Hell Radio Tour Spot" and "Live At The Apollo Raw Vocal Commercial". CD

Hard to believe this is the fifth project together between Curren$y and Harry Fraud – and definitely a standalone project, despite what you might guess from the title! The album was originally supposed to be a deluxe take on Outrunners, but the duo are so quickly collaborative, they ended up creating a whole new work in the process – often with the kind of cool crispness of the previous record, but with fresh material throughout – and guest appearances from Snoop Dogg, Trippie Redd, Styles P, and Larry Lune. Titles include "White Ashes", "Work Too Hard", "Vintage Haze", "180 Days", "Quicksand", "Kitt", "New On Mute", and "The Crow's Nest". CD

Elzhi serves up plenty of great lyrical work here, but our favorite aspect of the record may be the work of Oh No – who definitely takes the title seriously, and uses plenty of vibes throughout! This may well be the best vibes-driven hip hop project we've ever heard – as each track has some very strong use of the warmly chromatic instrument, but in ways that shift up nicely – used in a strong Madlib-styled way, but balanced with some sharper cuts around the edges. The set includes features by Blu, Dank, and Guilty Simpson – and titles include "Doc No Check Up", "Trick Dice", "Possessed", "Fireballs", "Smoke", "Last Nerve", and "Twilight Zone". CD