best 1994 rap album besides Illmatic and Ready To Die

Gravediggaz or Redman. At the time, probably Gravediggaz but I'm more likely to listen to Darkside these days.

seeing the Big Poppa video signalled the first time I felt disconnected from where hip hop was going. absolutely hated it. I know no one here agrees with me. it is what it is. like a lot of people in the Bay Area I spent the 90s totally ignoring the mainstream-pop-rap stuff that came out of NY.

xp

i heard Darkside for the first time recently and was like 'oh shit, this is what i was wishing Muddy Waters sounded like'

i would like to think that a board that overrates Stankonia as much as ILM does would give the debut its props but i kinda doubt it
--some dude

Southernherbalisticlurkermusik

I voted Reachin' in this because I never heard Blowout Comb beyond the first track, but I am playing that first track now and wishing I'd voted the other way.

― we call him black Nev coz he's black & his names Neville (HI DERE), Friday, March 12, 2010 10:19 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

okay I just checked, it was track 1 of Blowout Comb that I adored

xp: timely repost

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfzuNeVCpwg

seeing the Big Poppa video signalled the first time I felt disconnected from where hip hop was going. absolutely hated it. I know no one here agrees with me. it is what it is. like a lot of people in the Bay Area I spent the 90s totally ignoring the mainstream-pop-rap stuff that came out of NY.

xp
--the alternate vision continues his vision quest! (Shakey Mo Collier)

No, I totally did this too! Then like four years later I realized I was being a fucking idiot

Super Tight!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUkmmQmlMlg

scarface the diary

^^^ yeah would ride for that too. Hand of the Dead Body!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkltsgNZCyg

The Diary was weirdly disappointing for me to hear, like i'd always heard that it was THE Scarface album but i don't really enjoy it as much as The World Is Yours or at least a couple of the later LPs

THIS IS CRAZY HARD

wonder if deej or somebody can explain how the hell 2 rappers from the same city dropped albums called "resurrection" like a week apart (and in both cases only their second album!)

― some dude, Monday, July 16, 2012 1:01 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i find this almost as O_o as two albums having "comb" in the title

the most 1994 title ever: Funky Resurrection Comb

Huh I just had this high school memory come back about how there was this girl in my school who was considered something of a hip-hop talent, and I was vaguely friendly with her in the way that a high schooler can be with someone who is popular and well-liked and not a jerk. Anyway she was all into biggie at the time and I really didn't *get* biggie yet at all. But I was listening to Blowout Comb all the time, and I gave her my walkman to listen to it once, and she said it was "cute." I was kind of bummed but in retrospect yeah of course biggie is way better than blowout comb what the fuck are you even talking about shakey?!

lol

After looking at this list, it's striking just how regionally divided hip-hop was in '94. Tical aside, I think rankings will generally fluctuate wildly based on one's location in 1994. At least for that subjective part of your evaluation based on nostalgia. I mean, how many New York/Boston folks were listening to the Odd Squad, UGK, or even Outkast at the time?

NYC and Boston radio certainly wasn't giving these artists any burn. You had to be a pretty die-hard Source reader and/or have a fairly large music budget to gamble on some of these quite excellent regional releases. Most of these were not Tower/HMV listening booth material either. I realize that now we've all heard these records, but I feel like these polls are not just an objective evaluation of the best albums in a given year, but also which albums have that essential "1994-ness", or whatever the year which comes from listening to the albums in the context of their respective release year.

That said, I am not a super-frequent poster, so what do I know?

My picks:
Outkast - Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
Method Man - Tical
Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep
Artifacts - Between a Rock & A Hard Place
The Coup - Genocide & Juice
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - Creepin On Ah Come Up EP
Jeru the Damaja - The Sun Rises In The East
MC Eiht - We Come Strapped

goddamn

what a year

I'm only 19 years old but music was definitely better back then, not like the crap they play on the radio now

shrugs

my top ten in no order

Big Mike - Somethin' Serious
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - Creepin On Ah Come Up EP
Gang Starr - Hard To Earn
O.C. - Word...Life
Organized Konfusion - Stress: The Extinction Agenda
Outkast - Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
Redman - Dare Iz A Darkside
Scarface - The Diary
Spice 1 - AmeriKKKa's Nightmare
UGK - Super Tight

my #1 is a very tough choice between gang starr & scarface

also really wanted to put the beatnuts & common in there but what can you do

might switch big mike out for common idk

im kind of an o.c. stan, i feel like there's no reason that it should be ahead of a few of the records i left off but i think its a great lp & underrated

Gravediggaz, Method Man and Organized Konfusion basically impossible to choose.

The Diary

I like the beats on Blowout Comb a lot but there really isn't a whole lot going on lyrically.

Jeru is a classic too imo

organized konfusion, outkast, tical, or jeru

gonna throw a vote to o.k. cuz i'm afraid no on else will

creepin on ah come up is great too

this is all great! we used to have it so good

Ah, it's not just me weighing up Jeru then. Love that album. In fact my top four are the same as strongo's.

control the mic like Fidel Castro IMO

Casual - Fear Itself was a good Heiro album....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svGt7XeBwkw

Close call between Scarface and Jeru The Damaja. Gang Starr and Gravediggaz would be up there too.

jt the bigga figga was good too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RZVNOfylBU

Organized Konfusion

Weak spot for jeru, brand nubian, and Scarface, but I've always loved 6ft Deep.

I Didn't Mean To Remix is so hard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5Enh-_ZpHQ

damn paris on the list too

gotta go Hard to Earn

^^

actually no im going w/ tical but hard to earn gets more listens these days

top 10 (not in order) would be .... Hard to Earn, Tical, Beatnuts, Blowout Comb, Brand Nubian, Gravediggaz, Jeru, Organized Konfusion, OC Word...Life, Outkast

would also stan for:

Tical
Don't Fight the Feelin'
The Main Ingredient
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
AmeriKKKa's Nightmare

don't think I've ever heard the Mailman

― the alternate vision continues his vision quest! (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, July 16, 2012 2:08 PM (3 hours ago)

shakey you've heard the coup right?

what a year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TNXoH7EYWY

was disappointed to find out Kam's records were '93 and '95, i love both those

main ingredient deserved a vote or 2

I'm not sure I have any hangups about "corny" hip-hop -- funny to me that that's a big put-down.

Main Ingredient > Mecca & The Soul Brother

corny is pejorative xp

*reps the corn*

Deltron 3030 is terrible

― giallo shots (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, July 25, 2012 3:17 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^Ignore "corny"; focus on this.

corny is pejorative xp

Well, I know that, but what are the implications: it's bad because it's ... square?

corn·y
Trite, banal, or mawkishly sentimental

i tend to use cheesy to denote 'corny but good' and 'corny' to denote 'cheesy but bad'

I love Blowout Comb but didn't realize so many people here rated it, thought it was just like...me and deej and Dan.

xp Cool, thx for the vocabulary tip

ha, well played, deej

me and deej and Dan

what am I, chopped liver?

Just realized my two favorite albums on this list both start with weird, angular horn blasts

xp you're more like a foie gras

not allowed in california

struggling to form some kind of Whiney:suggest-banned/foie gras:California joke

Surprised Super Tight didn't get a vote.

what is whineys fav album

― lag∞n, Wednesday, July 25, 2012 3:56 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

like ever or of 1994 or rap album or on this list or

idk just wondering re the nme v source zing upthread

Gravediggaz

iirc whiney prefers the Grave Ferris mashup album

hoping this is the point of the clusterfuck where we all start making puns

but before it devolves into accusations of custos

Surprised Super Tight didn't get a vote.

― n00bs on my damn chain (Spottie_Ottie_Dope), Wednesday, 25 July 2012 21:55 (Yesterday) Bookmark

i wavered

idk just wondering re the nme v source zing upthread

― lag∞n, Wednesday, July 25, 2012 5:22 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

lol i was referencing the list of Gravediggaz reviews YOU posted upthread

oh hah

I wouldn't take Source reviews as damning, they've been wrong about a lot of things.

oh obv their word doesn't really mean anything and anyway they gave it 3 1/2 stars. i just thought the "white european max tundra fans calling deltron 3030 the truth" line was bullshit coming from someone who picked a UK critical darling like Gravediggaz over Gang Starr/UGK/Scarface/etc.

3 1/2 stars was a good review score back then

lol stars

haha mics sorry

what u do w/half a mic

all i need is one half mic

lol