Top Five Fridays - June 15, 2006

"Your eyes get itchy in the wee wee hours,
sun's just a red ball risin' over them refinery towers"

Top Five Fridays - June 15, 2006:

Top Five Rap Albums

5) Outkast - Southernplayalisticcadillacmuzik
This is Outkast's only great album. ATLiens is all right, but nothing compared to Southernplayalisticcadillacmuzik. The flow between Andre and Big Boi is so tight that one would think that they were battling. Then Goodie Mob steps in, and it goes up 11 notches. Amazing.

4) Scarface - The Diary
Post-Ghetto Boys Scarface completely eclipses the work he did with the Boys. This album is rap's equivalent to The Dark Side of the Moon; one continuous storyline throughout. Scarface wrestles with his demons, his struggles being a bad man. It's like you really get a glimpse into his diary. Seeing all his greatest fears exposed. The closest anyone else has come to Scarface's breathtaking revelations is 2Pac's Me Against The World. The Diary is better than the latter mainly because of Scarface's control of the message and music. 2Pac sometimes trusted to heavily in his producers.

3) Dr. Dre - The Chronic
The album that brought gangsta, west coast rap to white America. Suddenly Timmy was walking to his private school, talkin' 'bout poppin' glocks, and flippin' switches. It appears to be heavily misogynistic, but if you actually listen to them it's not. They are complaining about women that have done them wrong. On the surface it seems deplorable, but underneath it's not as bad as some made it. Most of the time the 'B' word refers to guys. Punks. Really listen to it again, and see for yourself.

2) Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
"I'm raw, I'm gonna give it to ya, with no trivia. I'm like cocaine straight from Bolivia" U-God - Da Mystery of Chessboxin'
Wu-Tang's first effort was a breakthrough, completely unique and unlike anything else at the time. The production, the flow between all nine members of the Wu were just flawless. Listening to it thirteen years later it still holds up as a masterpiece. That's not something to be said about many rap records.

1) Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle
Flawless. This albums stands up against, and is better than most other albums all the way across the board. Rock, metal, country, jazz, etc. Most cannot hold a candle to Snoop's first album. He stepped to the forefront, let Dre slip back behind the boards instead of rapping along with him. The record benefited greatly from that. Snoop is a natural. Dre seems to have to work at it at times, but Snoop is always on point on Doggystyle. It seems so naturally effortless for him, yet comes through the speakers beautifully.

Until next time:
"Hey Laserlips. Your mama was a snowblower." Number 5; Short Circuit