A tremendous third album from MC Solaar – an artist with such a sense of flow, you might not even realize that he's speaking in French! The album's longer than before, but has a wonderfully unified feel – lots of Boom Bass/La Funk Mob production – at a level that not only revels in the new turns the French funk scene was taking, but which also brings in a bit more soul than before – a quality that really helped Solaar become something of a global star with this record, and not just a novelty hip hop act rhyming in French! The whole thing's rock-solid – and titles include "Gangster Moderne", "Tournicoti", "Zoom", "Daydreamin", "Wonderbra", "Dakota", "La 5eme Saison", "Galaktika", "Les Songes", and "Les Temps Changent". CD

Maybe the crowning moment on record of the mighty McSolaar – certainly the first French MC to conquer the global world of hip hop, and also maybe one of the first non-American artists to show that other languages could work equally well with the music! The production here is every bit as great as Solaar's lyrics – handled by Jimmy Jay and La Funk Mob, the latter of whom you might know from albums of their own – definitely pioneering European talents in taking the best US modes of the early 90s, and mixing them with a fresher array of beats and samples! Titles include "Obsolete", "Dix De Mes Disciples", "La Fin Justifie Les Moyens", "Sequelles", "Prose Combat", "Nouveau Western", "Superstarr", and "Temps Mort". LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Breakin 2 is maybe an even better soundtrack than the first entry in the series – and not just because it gave the world the term "electric boogaloo"! The team of Ollie & Jerry seem almost fully in charge here – and in addition to creating some great tracks of their own, they also produce some other beat box gems that are equally great – nestled here alongside some well-chosen street soul groovers too! Titles include "Electric Boogaloo" and "When I C U" by Ollie & Jerry – plus "Stylin Profilin" and "Radiotron" by Firefox, "Din Daa Daa" by George Kranz, "Gotta Have The Money" by Steve Donn, "Believe In The Beat" by Carol Lynn Townes, "I Don't Want To Come Down" by Mark Scott, "See It Out" by Midway, and "Oye Mamacita" by Rags & Riches. CD