One of the most hyped hip hop album by rock critics ever – but don't hold that against Stankonia, because these grooves from planet P-Funk by way of the Dirty South were exactly what the world needed in 2000! The millenium blowout party jam feel throughout is surely a nice change of pace from all the doom and gloom out there, but they still manage to spit out enough reality to keep things feeling true – particularly in the playful battle of the sexes showdowns. Dre, Big Boi and Organized Noize continue to innovate, even if they are at the top of the charts – and we can't wait to see where they take it all next! Tracks include "Gasoline Dreams", "So Fresh, So Clean", "Ms. Jackson", "Spaghetti Junction", "I'll Call Before I Come" featuring Gangsta Boo & Eco, "B.O.B.", "Xplosion" featuring B-Real, "We Luv Deez Hoez", "Humble Mumble" featuring Erykah Badu, "Red Velvet", "Gangsta Sh*t", "Toilet Tisha" "Slum Beautiful", and "Stankonia (Stanklove)". LP, Vinyl record album

A special sort of Japanese disc guide – one that focuses on the key recordings in gangsta rap from the 80s onward – served up here in the usual format of these publications! As you might guess, the text is all in Japanese – but the book is filled with hundreds of album covers, along with artist, title, label, and release date all in English – so that even if you can't read the language, you can still understand the contents! There's a huge amount of titles in here that go way past the big hits and the obvious – and the book is laid out geographically, then chronologically – which makes for a great way to group these records together. Images are full color throughout, and there's some nice bonus pages of record covers too – and the book is 192 pages, softcover. And hey, if you use Google translate, you might be able to read some of the Japanese text too! Book

One of the greatest moments ever from Willie Hutch – and one of the greatest blacksploitation soundtracks too! Willie really knocks it out of the park with this one – and sounds funkier and heavier than on all of his other studio albums – with a deep sound that really matches the legendary spirit of the film – which itself was one of the more gritty, down to earth movies of the genre! The film's virtually a handbook for junior grade hoods – one that had surprising pull over the years, especially with the first wave of 90s gangsta hip hop – and the record's filled with classics that have gotten plenty of play over the years because of that influence, but which sound even better here in their original context. Titles include "Brothers Gonna Work It Out", "Vampin", "Mack Man", "I Choose You", "Theme Of The Mack", "Mack's Stroll/The Getaway", and "Slick". LP, Vinyl record album