Handsome Boy Modeling School - So...How's Your Girl? (1999)

http://www.mediafire.com/?w0ggfvz0hbb

"Corner poets get smacked and hit, savagely bit
I go get and then you out of it, permission to quit"

Handsome Boy Modeling School is a collaboration between master producers Prince Paul (of De La Soul and Gravediggaz fame) and Dan The Automator. HBMS is based on the episode "The Prettiest Week of My Life" of the show "Get A Life". They aim to belittle common american values of vanity and consumerism. The eccentric beats (you'll hear everything from asian flutes to toy pianos to classical music and harmonica sirens) highlight the excellent guest vocalists who include Del, El-P, a couple of the Brand Nubians and even Biz Markie. It's hard to imagine that an album so all over the place could be cohesive, but it works well. Additionally, this is one of few hip-hop records that actually have skits that are worth listening to.

Favourite tracks: Rock n' Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This), The Truth, The Projects

If you like this, check out anything by any of the artists listed in here. They're all cream.

Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein (2001)

http://www.mediafire.com/?ahb71ng2mdm

"Flows be bangin in the paint, throwin elbows/ my first fight was me against five boroughs"

I might be making a mistake by posting this so soon, because this might be my favorite record of all time, and i don't think I can top it. Def Jux vets Vast Aire and Vordul Mega compose the Harlem duo Cannibal Ox. Vast Aire is one of the smartest rappers in the game:

"And if there's crack in a basement, crack heads stand adjacent
Anger displacement, two step arrangements
You were a still born baby
Mother didn't want you, but you were still born"

and it's not even fair to other rappers to combine this with with the extra-terrestrial nuclear-ghetto production of the legendary El-P.

I mean, christ, even the broken-hearted sad love song comes off as an intelligent and hard and not mushy or sad. As far as I'm concerned, this is the pinnacle of hip-hop. Nuff said.

Favorite tracks: All of them
If you like this check out Company Flow - Funcrusher Plus

Brand Nubian - One For All (1990)

http://www.mediafire.com/?ryg0mj1tyre

"What I provide will collide with devilish ways of thinking
Erasing false facts that started, with abe lincoln"

Brand Nubian, a trio composed of Grand Puba, Sadat X, and Lord Jamar, was one of the first groups along with Rakim and the Wu-tang Clan to charge their lyrics with the teachings of the Nation of Gods and Earths, an Islamic offshoot that preached that through the power of the Blackman (Gods) and Blackwomen (Earths), the youth can overcome strife caused by the ruling class by becoming rulers themselves. Like most other Five-Percenter rap cliques, they didn't focus entirely on their controversial beliefs, as evident in the track "Who Can Get Busy Like This Man": "See I'm the type of brother and I like to have fun/
She said sixty-nine, I said sixty-eight and I owe you one". Like other Golden Age rap records, One For All relies heavily on James Brown and P-Funk samples. It's a ton of fun but unfortunately gets bogged down from time to time by its members religious convictions. Despite this, it remains a very worthy listen. Enjoy

Favorite Tracks: Who Can Get Busy Like This Man, Brand Nubian, Drop The Bomb.

If you like this check out Diamond & The Psychotic Neurotics - Stunts, Blunts, & Hip-Hop, as well as K.M.D. - Mr. Hood

Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst (1996)

www.mediafire.com/?9cprd6gwt3j

"Listen to your heartbeat, delete beep beep BEEP
Your insurance is high, but my price is cheap"

Dr. Octagon, an alias for Kool Keith (which is an alias for Keith Matthew Thornton, one of the founders of the Ultramagnetic MCs), "is an extraterrestrial time traveling gynecologist and surgeon from the planet Jupiter", but don't let the wackiness of that distract you. Octagon's lyrics are disjointed and filled with some of the most perverted shit you've ever heard (i.e. "Gettin rectums, doin jobs like I'm Dr. Giggles/Servin em well, I stop their anals up with pickles"). The theme is entirely original, his flow is ridiculous, and the sci-fi beats are still fresh thirteen years later, thanks to producer Dan the Automator who kicked his pro career off on this record.

Favorite tracks: 3000, Earth People, Blue Flowers
If you like this, check out Dr. Dooom - First Come, First Served (it's another Kool Keith album that's less perverted but just as weird and more violent)