Slaughtahouse is one of the most underrated albums of the 90's, but then again, Ace is one of the most underrated MC's of all-time.

I just moved to the Bay a year ago, and I can't hate Burning Man enough. It's especially insufferable now that it's also being taken over by rich corporate techie types, so the whole faux-rebelious attitude is even more steeped in hypocrisy and delusion.

Also, "I Am I Be" proves that Posdnuos is point blank one of the greatest MC's of all-time.

Those first four De La albums are all incredible. Buhloone and Stakes Is High are no joke.

Nah, The Score is great through and through IMO. If anything, Wyclef's first solo album has too much filler.

Not to mention this later-day Latifah joint where she rips Foxy Brown a new one: http://www.youtube.com/watc…

Ignoring Queen Latifah's first album All Hail The Queen is REALLY stupid. It's a CLASSIC. Trust me. 45 King on most of the beats? De La and Prince Paul joining Latifah on a track? KRS-ONE guest spot? "Ladies First"? Don't be foolish and judge Latifah's early albums just because of what she's done as of recent.

It's also not entirely Franti's fault that overzealous critics with no grounding in hip-hop overrated him (same happened with Arrested Development), but it's just that there are soooo many more interesting hip-hop albums out there than what DHOH and Spearhead did. Not to mention there was LOTS of socially-concious…

I just think musically Franti has gotten soooooo pedestrian and lightweight, which is even more annoying when you still read reviews (see AllMusic: http://www.allmusic.com/alb… where they treat him as if he's saving hip-hop from all the scary, evil "gangsters." There's so much more compelling and interesting hip-hop…

Yeah, that album holds up better than the first IMO, even though the singles on the first are all winners.

Second album SUCKS, but the first one is GREAT: http://www.youtube.com/watc…

Maybe I'm wrong here, but I've always noticed an unforgivably lack of mention of any of the DITC crew in the AV Club's hip-hop write-ups. Showbiz & AG's Runaway Slave, Diamond D's Stunts Blunts & Hip-Hop, Lord Finesse's Funky Technician, O.C.'s Word…Life….all classic!

Dude hasn't aged a day, it seems.

Spearhead got pretty awful as they went on. DHOH don't really hold up all that well for me. I'll take The Goats' Tricks Of The Shade any day over anything Franti has done.

I know Rabin sweated that record hard, which as much as I rolled my eyes at a fair chunk of Rabin's writings about hip-hop, I was glad somebody appreciated that very underrated album (remove the R&B slow jam, and you have a to-the-point gem of an album).

I agree with you on Wild Cowboys, but not so much on what I've heard from Everything Is Everything. "Step Into Da Cipher" is absolutely KILLER, but there seem to be waaaaay too many clunkers ("Hold On"? Yikes.)

And as much as people want to reflect that the 90's were an era of utopian peace and positivity, there was still a shit-ton of homophobia rampant in our society at large. I mean, remember how just the prospect of a gay main character on a popular sitcom was massively controversial?

I think even a lot of the white rock critics who were making a big deal about "positive rap" like Arrested Development and DP were even scared shitless by One For All when it came out in 1990.

I mean, yeah, Brand Nubian were definitely problematic in a lot of ways (I always cringe during the uncensored "Punks Jump Up"), but a lot of great art is problematic and not so easily parsed into morally-sound paradigms, as it were.

We can all get inspired by the blunts too.