Totally valid. For me it was largely a case of access. Growing up in a Christian household in rural Wisconsin in the pre-internet age, most of the exposure I got to hip-hop was hysterical media coverage about violence and vulgarity and the inner-city gangs who were going to migrate north from Chicago and take over my…

Or a Devin the Dude show ever.

Now that you mention it, if I was in 8th grade it probably was 1993. The only thing I remember about the rap is that one of the airline spokesmen had a huge growth on his face, so I wrote a verse calling him "the guy with the mole, the man with the plan."

Is there a better early '90s name-check than UNLV basketball?

Man, "Ghetto Sex" and "Poor Little Music Boy" off of Speech's
first solo album are both killer. "Why U Gotta Be Feelin' Like Dat," on the other hand, is one of the worst songs I've ever heard.

I'm on board with that assessment. I love Zingalamaduni through and through even though I'm aware that some of it is just awful ("Africa's Inside Me" in particular). But there's some killer stuff on there that's all but forgotten. "United Front" is a great, dark track, and "Ease My Mind" is maybe the best song they…

I was all about that first Spearhead album when it came out, but that one has aged pretty badly. There are still some good tracks on there, though. "Piece of Peace," "People in tha Middle," "Red Beans and Rice." On the other hand, I can barely make it through "Dream Team" - the one about assembling a basketball team…

Aw man, I don't have the energy to launch into my long-winded defense of Zingalamaduni right now. I'm almost starting to suspect it's not worth doing that every time Arrested Development comes up in conversation. Almost.

Alex in Plunderland

It can be two things.

Eh, coming from the era when every hip-hop album had to feature an eye-rolling slow jam, "Hold On" doesn't bug me so much. But I suspect Everything is Everything is one of those cases where it was the first thing I heard by an artist and thus set a template against which I judged all their other stuff.

I was gonna make a Nice and Smooth joke, but I see Jewel of the Nile didn't drop until '94.

Everything is Everything is one of my all-time favorite hip-hop records, but yeah, as a bleeding-heart white liberal some of it does make me cringe. But I reckon that's part of the point.

I know, and 8-track Walkmans, right?

Yeah, I've heard some of his solo stuff and dug it quite a bit. Ladybug's not bad herself. Her guest spot on Del's 9th Wonder was probably the highlight of a generally unremarkable album.

I still have a VHS recording of what was supposed to be their first appearance on that show. Early on Dave refers to them as "Digable Pants" and then they wind up getting bumped. It's disappointing every time.

Man, of course that was an A+. That sounds fantastic!

It's true. As much as I love this album - and I love this album - Blowout Comb is a full-on masterpiece.

"Hey, beautiful bird," I said, digging her somber mood.
"The fascists are some heavy dudes."

I know you're being fatuous, but Delaney's voice acting on John Moe's Wits outstripped any number of much more famous guests who've been on that show. I like him well enough on Twitter, even though I'm not much for body-function jokes, but that Wits appearance made me appreciate the guy as an all-around comedy talent.