... 12-inch, Vinyl record

A 90s hip hop masterpiece from Diamond D – and like some of the rest of the best of the decade, a set that was slightly slept-on at the time, but which has gone to have massive impact over the decades – still sounding completely fresh in comparison to bigger hits of the time! Diamond D comes from the same DITC underground as Showbiz & AG, Big L, and Lord Finesse – and like those others, when he got his time in the spotlight, he really took off – with beats that had an influence on so much more to come – and a very collaborative spirit that opens the door for contributions from Fat Joe, Mark The 45 King, Brand Nubian, Lakim Shabazz, and some of his old partners in DITC. Titles include the classic "Best Kept Secret" – with its fantastic Kool & The Gang sample – plus "Sally Got A One Track Mind", "I'm Outta Here," "Check One Two", "Freestyle", "Stunts Blunts & Hip Hop", "Pass Dat S**t", "What You Seek", "Confused", "A Day In The Life", "Step To Me", and "Shut The *!*! Up". LP, Vinyl record album

Music from Main Source, Poor Righteous Teachers, Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth, YZ, Master Ace, Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, D-Nice, The D.O.C., Special Ed, and more. CD

A sharp NYC underground effort from the end of the 90s – originally slated to come out through Tommy Boy – and oddly shelved, given that excellent quality, a situation rectified 10 years later! With skills honed in the freestyle and mixtape scene, A-Butta, L-Swift and Mr. Voodoo bring it with finesse and energy on these tracks. Titles include "2 Tons", "Bust Mine", "Supreme Domination", "Survive", "Second Hand Smoke", "Tell Me Something Good", "Tri-Boro", "Paper Chase", "Survive" and more. 20 tracks in all. LP, Vinyl record album

Just when you thought Prince Paul and Cat Power would never make a record together PRESTO – it's the new Handsome Boy album! HBMS takes a bit more of a chillout tack with this long overdue second opus – with lots of laidback beats and samples, and a surprising amount of live instrumentation! The gleeful, sarcastic comedy of the stellar first album remains intact, with some genuinely amusing skits (including one with Jay Z appearing under the pseudonym Hines Buchanan), and the deep range of guest vocalists isn't as surprising as how strong their work is in the best tunes. It would have been pretty easy for Prince Paul and Automator to find a bunch of interesting names to flesh out their big pop culture frappe, but something else altogether to make trippy hip hop tracks featuring Cat Power and the Hieroglyphics make sense on the same record. A pretty solid set from the most adventurous pseudo duo in the game! Guests include Del The Funky Homosapien, De La Soul, RZA, Lord Finesse, AG, Rahzel, Jazzy Jay, Qbert, Mike Patton, Casual, Hieroglyphics, Grand Wizard Theodore, El-P, John Oates, Pharrell, Kid Koala, and George W. Bush (just kidding). Tracks include "If It Wasn't For You" with De La, "Are You Down With It" with Mike Patton, "The World's Gone Mad" with Del and others, "It's Like That" with Casual, "I've Been Thinking" with Cat Power, "Rock And Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This) Pt 2" featuring Lord Finesse, Qbert and others,"First. . .And Then" featuring Dres from Black Sheep, "A Day In The Life" featuring RZA, AZ and others and more, plus intro/outro by Father Guido Sarducci. LP, Vinyl record album

A couple of solo tracks from AG, both featuring added vocals from the Ghetto Dwellas (who appeared on the Show & AG ep from around the same time). The better track here is the b-side, "Mudslide", produced by Lord Finesse. With a little harder sound than we'd normally expect from Finesse or AG, but there's still some nice verses that work with the dark strings in the background. 12-inch, Vinyl record

With Fat Joe, Lord Finesse, Big L, and AG on "All Love", Lord Finesse and Roy Ayers on "Soul Plan", Lord Finesse with Marquee on "Underworld Operations", and Show & AG on "You Know Now". 12-inch, Vinyl record

Produced by Lord Finesse and Kut Masta Kurt. 12-inch, Vinyl record