Cube's last truly great full length, from 1992, when he was leaving the gangsta stuff behind and had grown into an incredibly sharp social commentator and ghetto portrait painter. The rhymes, and even the liner note acknowledgements ("Ice Cube wishes to acknowledge white America's continued commitment to the silence and oppression of black men. . .") are wickedly incisive to this day. This could be his finest hour. Includes the singles "It Was A Good Day", "Check Yo Self" and "Wicked", "Gangsta's Fairytale 2", "Dirty Mack" and "Now I Gotta Wet'cha". Production by DJ Pooh, Muggs, Sir Jinx, and others. CD

A huge moment for LL Cool J – and a set that has him balanced nicely between the sharp rhymes of his roots and the rising stardom of his role in the larger world of R&B as well! Marley Marl produced, and the whole thing's still got a nice edge – even though some of these tunes entered the mainstream and got LL quite a bit of play in areas he'd never reached before. Hits include "Around The Way Girl", "Mama Said Knock You Out", "To Da Break Of Dawn", "Jinglin Baby", and "6 Minutes Of Pleasure – and other cuts include "Milky Cereal", "Eat Em Up L Chill", "Mr Good Bar", "The Boomin System", "Cheesy Rat Blues", and "Farmers Blvd". CD

The second Stet LP, with the group repping BK in fine style. There's a fair share of Prince Paul niceness here, and Daddy-O's beats are no slouch either, in case the matching sweatsuits aren't enough to get you open. In the time of rappers cobbling together LPs with mix and match producers, it's nice to look back on groups like Stets that did it all, rhyming, DJing, beatboxing. . . Includes the classic title track, "Talkin' All That Jazz", "Float On", "Sally", "This Is It Y'all (Go Stetsa II)", "Miami Bass", "Pen & Paper", "Miami Bass" and "Music For The Stetfully Insane". CD

Yo Yo's first LP with "Stompin' To Tha 90's", "You Can't Play With My Yo Yo" (featuring Ice Cube), and "IBWC National Anthem". The production credits say "Produced by Ice Cube and Sir Jinx... with the funky hip hop punch by Delvon, Tha Funkee Homosapien." CD