I’m doing a blogspot/discussion on it. Any suggestions?

Wonderful word of cease a leo-lil' cease

Slept on by who? Mainstream listeners or hip hop fans?

Organized Konfusion

A few really great albums that don’t get much recognition:

1. Boogie Down Productions: Edutainment (1990). You know how The Source has retroactively given 5 mics to several albums, such as The Chronic, Reasonable Doubt, Ready to Die, etc.? Well, Edutainment is the only album to ever be unceremoniously stripped of 5-mic status — it was awarded 5 mics upon its release, but was not even included among The Source’s 1998 list of the Top 100 albums of all time. But it is really, really dope.
2. NWA: Efil4zzagin (1991). This album isn’t overlooked as much as it is underrated. Without Ice Cube, the 1991 version of NWA is leaner and meaner, and the chemistry Dr. Dre and MC Ren showed together on Straight Outta Compton is on full display. What’s more, this album is only a year before The Chronic, and you get to hear Dre’s production developing into that classic sound — but it still has a rougher edge. For a long time, I considered this to be the greatest album of all time. I still think it was the greatest album ever released as of 1991.
3. Organized Konfusion (1991). The self-titled debut is way ahead of its time. No one else was flexing this style of lyricism in 1991. Well, almost no one.
4. Freestyle Fellowship: To Whom It May Concern (1991). The west-coast version of OK, this is an incredibly innovative album for the time it was released.
5. Public Enemy: Apocalypse 91 — The Enemy Strikes Black (1991). A lot of peopel consider this to be the album where “PE fell off.” In my opinion, this is a worthy successor to their first three LPs, with classic tracks like “Can’t Truss It” (my personal favorite PE song and #2 song of all time) and “By the Time I Get to Arizona.”
6. KMD: Mr. Hood (1991). MF DOOM’s debut.
7. Boogie Down Productions: Sex and Violence (1992). The final BDP album, this is another great one from KRS. Why this and Edutainment are so heavily slept on is beyond me.
8. MC Ren: Kizz My Black Azz EP (1992). Picks up where Efil4zzagin left off. Extremely vulgar and offensive… and fun!
9. Compton’s Most Wanted: Music to Driveby (1992). Vivid depictions of life in Compton and amazing, sample-based beats. The production was really ahead of its time. It sounds a lot like the “underground sound” of the late 90’s.
10. MC Eiht: We Come Strapped (1994). My pick for the greatest gangsta rap album not involving at least one member of NWA. DJ Slip’s production on this album is basically the polar opposite of what he did on Music To Driveby, with g-funk synths replacing the samples from ‘92, but it is just as dope or even doper. MC Eiht’s lyrics paint pictures. This is seriously overlooked LP.
11. Pete Rock & CL Smooth: The Main Ingredient (1994). Again, not so much overlooked as underrated. It is every bit as good as their full-length debt; better, probably.
12. E.C. Illa: Live From the Ill EP (1994). E.C.’s best release. Just really dope beats and rhymes.
13. Grand Puba: 2000 (1995). A really fun album that came out the same day as Michael Jackson’s HIStory. That’s probably one reason it is overlooked.
14. Jeru the Damaja: Wrath of the Math (1996). Possibly Primo’s best production ever, along with the more-recognized Livin' Proof by Group Home.
15. Kid Rock: Early Morning Stoned Pimp (1996). No kidding. This is a really dope and fun RAP album.
16. Common: One Day It’ll All Make Sense (1997). Not as heralded as the album immediately before or after it in his discography, this was the best album of 1997 and a legitimate classic, imo.
17. O.C.: Jewelz (1997). Amazing album; every song — pound-for-pound, better than Word… Life, but definitely not recognized as such.
18. Danja Mowf: Word of Mouf (1997). Definitely one of the best, most creative albums that almost no one has heard of.
19. Eminem: The Slim Shady EP (1998). Eminem’s best work; the only project worthy of his talent, imo. The greatest EP ever.
20. Aceyalone: A Book of Human Language (1998). One of the greatest concept albums of all time. Beats by Mubles provide a cohesive backdrop for Acey’s stream-of-consciousness rhymes. Unrecognized 5-mic classic.

skee lo- i wish….anyone?

The Boogiemonsters — Riders of the Storm: The Underwater Album (1994)

The B.U.M.S. — Lyfe ‘N’ Tyme (1995)

The Nonce — World Ultimate (1995)

Hyenas In The Desert ‎– Die Laughing (1996)

Lewis Parker — Masquerades & Silhouettes (1998)

All Natural ‎– No Additives, No Preservatives (1998)

thanks for the albums. i should have the thing done by like this saturday. i have a lot of albums to listen to. each album will be shown in chronological order, and will contain around a paragraph of text of info, style, etc.

@Haru — Great picks. I almost included No Additives, No Preservatives on my list. I never heard a few of those joints. I’ve been sleeping on Boogie Monsters all these years, even though my alternative-rock-loving cousin was a big fan of them. And I remember that name Hyenas in the Desert, but I never peeped the album. Thanks for the recommendations.

@DamnShame — That Latifah album is 66% some of the dopest shit ever, and 33% junk. Latifah is a good singer now, but man oh man, the songs she sings on that album are pretty harsh. The first several tracks, though, are just some of the dopest, classic mid-90’s type of ish ever put to analog tape. The production is killer; Latifah is spittin' harder than probably any female before or since. I wish the album could have been more complete, though. If it could have maintained its highest quality level throughout the whole disc, I think it might have been a legit classic.

I agree, but the thread said “slept on” and the reasons you cited are why it’s slept on. It’s a fantastic EP hiding inside an average LP.

Sometimes material is slept on for the logical reason. The Slim Shady EP didn’t receive large quantity issues from a label did it?

No, but it was big on the then-new Internet, though. Like think of how hyped up people are about Kendrick Lamar now, or were a year ago, and times that by about a thousand. Among underground heads with Internet access, Slim Shady EP was definitely not slept on at the time. But he quickly became such a huge star, the EP was quickly overshadowed and kind of forgotten about.

no

@DamnShame — No doubt. I wasn’t disagreeing with your selection, just lamenting that the album wasn’t better. It had potential to be a true classic.

This is a terminally slept-on compilation from the 90’s — with classic non-album cuts by Bumpy Knuckles/Freddie Foxx, Naughty By Nature, Zhane, Queen Latifah etc..Essentially dope 90’s music

Great pick, Grendel. I’m gonna be searching for that one.

Yeah check it out Efemjay. My favorite cuts are BDP’s D-Nice doing Uuh, and the hilariously wrong On The Bone Again by Brooklyn Assault Team

Casual — Fear Itself (1994)
My favourite Hiero album. The single “I Didn’t Mean To” was popular but the album disappeared without a trace. It didn’t help that the vinyl was kind of hard to find and the label didn’t really get behind it.

Show & AG — Goodfellas (1995)
Very different from the first album. More minimal, less jazzy and less playful. The darker vibe seemed to wrong foot a lot of people. Plus the album versions of several tracks were different to the promo versions that had been leaked on the radio.

You could also add the second albums by Leaders of the New School and Organized Konfusion, the Son Of Bazerk album, and maybe the first Camp Lo album (although that might just be edging into popular).

I feel like Black on Both Sides (Mos Def) doesn’t get as much recognition as it should.

Standout Tracks:
1. Brooklyn
2. Mathematics
3. Speed Law
4. Hip Hop
5. Fear Not of Man
6. Love

Illmatic

This is actually really slept on;

It had some of the biggest hip-hop hits of the late 90’s, and really helped bring hip-hop into another light. It took away from the whole “gangsta” style that was very prevalent in the late 90’s. It made rap fun again. It proved that you don’t have to rap about guns and drugs to make good music. A lot of people discredit it simply for the fact that Will went from rapping to acting (and with how awesome of an actor he is, can you blame him?).

Not to mention Will had some dope fucking flows in this album.

They hit on it with AZ’s Doe or Die. You gotta get used to his presentation but hes pretty fucking dope

O.C — Jewels
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7dHzjxH2VI

OC and AZ are amongst the most slept on/underrated rappers of all time.

I’d add Pharoahe Monch to that list.

The Twinz — Conversation
Lil' ½ Dead — The Dead Has Arisen
Sylk-E. Fyne — Raw Sylk
187 Fac — Fac Not Fiction
Funk Mobb — It Ain’t 4 Play

@LucidLemson
YEAH YOU KNOW BOUT THAT I WAS GONNA POST THAT

How about this???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm5JA0s_aY4

Mmm, there’s quite a lot. I’d recommend Rooftop Soundcheck by Justice System, Grass Roots by A.T.B.A.N. Klann, and The LP by Large Professor for some starters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaPpn7hWNiE&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL01CCF0B8E3E906FE

Don’t front, so many classic songs on this —

I Went For Mine
Best Kept Secret
Sally Got a One Track Mind

One more…

House of Pain: Same As It Ever Was — way, way better than their debut.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdiFH6BcSUE

Diamond D’s first album was definitely not slept on. It was fecking huge! And all of the singles were massive too.

For everybody who didn’t see the thread