best 1992 rap album besides The Chronic

weird year

voted Pharcyde

g rap

yeah that album or Gang Starr is my vote

I hade so many of these albums back then. I didn't think I was that into it but working at a record store I bought way more than I would have elsewise.

These days, it's probably Pharcyde.

yeah I had to think a sec the G Rap. it's more consistent than the Predator, but the Predator's high points are better than TLALD's high points

Very positive memories of Brand Nubian, EPMD, Kool G Rap, and FuSchick but it's probably a toss up between Predator and Bizarre Ride. I'm guessing Pharcyde runaway with this, so will go for Icecube.

Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – Live And Let Die

^^so classic

Daily Operation & BRII may be the *best* on the list but I think I have to be honest to myself and vote Diamond D. I feel like I need to listen to more of this list, I've only heard like half of it.

kind of a weak rebuilding year imo

Mecca and the Soul Brother maybe. the pharcyde alb is rull good also.

rap singles in 92 were strong. i dont think it was a weak year at all.

Discovered the Showbiz & AG and Diamond D albums last year via the hip hop albums poll - both solid rather than inspirational but hugely enjoyable nonetheless. Would also consider Pharcyde, Pete Rock, Eric B & Rakim, Paris, Disposables, Kool G, Ice Cube and Gang Starr. The Predator has the most nostalgia appeal but I'm not sure it's the strongest here.

is Kizz My Black Azz any good?

way 2 fonky vs the g rap

Between G Rap, Gang Starr, Redman, Pharcyde, Willie D...tougher year than I thought. Think it'll be Gang Starr though.

Kizz My Black Azz as I remember it is worth it for a pretty nasty storytelling cut called "Behind the Scenes," haven't heard the rest in a loooong time xpost

The singles from a lot of these were amazing, even if the album as a whole was spotty (Da Lench Mob and Das EFX, for example).

remember this being on-sale the first day I started my record store job. never got around to hearing it

http://d.yimg.com/ec/image/v1/release/147198;encoding=jpg;size=300;fallback=defaultImage

I love a lot of these, but:

Compton’s Most Wanted – Music To Driveby
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – Live And Let Die
Spice 1 - Spice 1
DJ Quik – Way 2 Fonky
Gang Starr - Daily Operation

any of those four, hard to decide. Thats my least favorite Quik but I still love it.

xp, album is very fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY-N8OARa1w

the Paris album was in a stack of old rap CDs i bought from Ethan a few years ago and it's pretty good, def in my top 5

AllRovi – Bitch Betta Have My Money

Luchinski pourin' from the sky, let's get rich (what) (Spottie_Ottie_Dope)

Lol what

kind of a weak rebuilding year imo

― fanute da croupier (D-40), Monday, October 29, 2012 12:37 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

man i wish we could have "rebuilding" years like this now

That Paris album holds upkinda nice.

1992 was a weird year in general, even if you look at rock and other genres, a lot of the big hits were off gamechangers that dropped in '91, and most of the albums that were actually released in '92 were not as significant as what those artists did immediately before or after those albums

I'll have to go with The Predator. It felt urgent then and it feels urgent now.

bizarre ride is the only one of these that really resonates with me. i like predator, funky man, compton's most wanted, but can leave those albums in a pinch. bizarre ride is a really nice group at their undisputed peak. i don't think we can say that any of these other albums were peak albums (although i am a big predator fan, more so than amerikkka's most wanted).

putting my vote in for Diamond D

although realizing it was a part of the ILX rap albums poll abortion makes me wanna vote for Poison Clan

the Pete & CL, the Diamond D, and maybe the Redman and the Gang Starr are all peak albums

i don't really get The Pharcyde, all the squeaky wacky voices work when it's something like "Ya Mama" but "Passin' Me By" is basically The Love Song of Steven Q. Urkel

exactly

Some of us aren't as hard as Whiney G Weingarten and some dude

I love that dense, tough, clenched funk production you get on the Ice Cube, Paris and Da Lench Mob albums - very '92. It's like Ice Cube's scowl translated into music.

you should hear the G Rap, basically the same style/production team

Oh yeah, I forgot that one. I only heard it for the first time this year and it feels utterly essential. Wasn't it the first East Coast album with that sound and outlook?

well I think it's the only east coast album produced by DJ Pooh if that's what you mean

Oh wait, no, I've totally mixed it up with Wanted: Dead or Alive. Ignore me, I have a pounding headache and I'm getting things wrong.

Some of us aren't as hard as Whiney G Weingarten and some dude

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, October 29, 2012 4:41 PM (48 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's not about it not being gangsta and you know it, c'mon man

i think it's fair to say it was an east coast gangster album that embraced a synthesis of east coast lyricism with a more west coast style production a full two years before BIG did the same w/ready to die

dunno if I can cosign that comparison

I don't know what it's about! I get the sense that some people want their rap to be a certain way, have very well-defined boundaries for it, and when someone steps outside those boundaries they cringe.

AYO RED, GET OFF THAT PUNK SMOOVE SHIT

not really. i'm generally pro-wacky voices in rap! you should be able to criticize an aspect of a record without other people extrapolating that into an assumption that you hate that quality in all records or have some kind of unbending criteria. (xpost)

nah, you shouldn't, says who

cool, good luck expressing opinions about rap that can only be interpreted as a rigidly consistent aesthetic worldview

aw c'mon i was just joshin. you can't say "eh don't like it...but it's not about x and you know it", and then when I try to guess what it could be get mad about me boxing you in. you're not dogmatic, you appreciate wacky voices, got it.

yeah it's no big deal. just thought "Some of us aren't as hard as Whiney G Weingarten and some dude" was a pointless, reductive response to the guys who dared to not be totally in love w/ the Phracyde.

I like Labcabincalifornia better than Bizarre Ride.

for years i would get The Goats mixed up with Aer0smith and when i first came to ilx found it amusing that people made such a fuss about a guy from a '90s alternative hip hop group posting here

lol

ha haaa

hahahahahaha that

i didn't hear the Goats until a couple years ago, they sounded like hip-hop people who comment on AV Club articles would like...sorta dire

well this is the end of the era right - '92 is the year of the Gilbert O'Sullivan lawsuit, and production styles shift over to a less sample-based aesthetic - which Dre was out ahead of, right? or not? heads can correct me but that's my understanding, there's a big shift underway in '92 toward basically making the stuff from scratch instead of building from parts

― Inconceivable (to the entire world) (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, October 30, 2012 6:13 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the law was definitely impacting the music at that point but a pretty huge amount of popular rap was sample-driven up until maybe 1998

― Victory Goon (some dude), Tuesday, October 30, 2012 6:25 AM Bookmark Flag

Yeah, but 88-92 rap had 12 samples in a song whereas 93-98 rap had one or two and maybe a sneaky uncleared one.

Comedy vote for disposable heroes of hiphoprisy (which i actually owned/loved when I was 15)

rev otm - samples still there but for pomo poseurs like myself who got ALOT out of prince paul/hank shocklee sample density this era felt like a definite downturn, there's a reason ppl overreacted to dj shadow. voted pharcyde but immediately wished i'd voted predator instead, a dip from amerikkka and death certificate but that record was huge and had that weird bigger pop impact, feels like the year hip-hop finally truly broke thru completely on radio, maybe some combo of soundscan and 2L2Q flopping.

Predator juuuust ahead of Bizarre Ride, which I expect to be the final result too

true fact: Arrested Development played for free at the reopening of a pub five minutes from my house tonight

(I didn't go)

oh i seriously doubt Cube will get more votes than Pharcyde here

idg why ppl hate on pharcyde good group imo

i don't think anyone said they're not good for what they are, i just like a bunch of these records more

I like Pharcyde better than Predator because there's way to compare it to a much better previous album. Also because it has no "Gangsta Fairytale 2" on it.

oh what, you've never heard Bizarre Ride I The Pharcyde?

I used to have three fourths of these on tape. I heard Das EFX and Redman on baskspin radio the other day and was surprised how nice they sounded through my trucks speakers. Showbiz & A.G's best album didn't come till 97 or 98 with Full Scale. For awhile it seemed like everyone in school was singing Pocket Full Of Stones.

cool school!

Redman, Gang Starr, Das EFX, DJ Quik, Pharcyde ... I have gone for Whut? Thee Album, fuck me what a vintage year and '93 was even better. Not really dug much of Redman post Dare Iz A Darkside, loved bits of Muddy Waters though. I thought The Pharcyde's follow up to Bizarre Ride was very disappointing as well.

I grew up an hour from Port Arthur and an hour and a half from Houston, UGK were huge and the Houston scene. There was a radio station call The Box out of Houston that played local artists before they were known outside of the area. I used to have tapes I recorded from the Box late shows.

lol Bizarre Ride I

I like Pharcyde better than Predator because there's way to compare it to a much better previous album.

(I've said before that) I wasn't down with Death Certificate when I was a kid, the a) homophobia b) racism c) slackness towards women made me take it back to the shop and exchange for something else.

Also because it has no "Gangsta Fairytale 2" on it.

This is a feeble charge to lay against an album that has When Will They Shoot on it, let alone Wicked and Check Yo Self with the OG beat and Good Day (remember how remarkable it was at the time before it became the most-played Cube song ever). Not to mention We Had To Tear This Muthafucka Up and Who Got The Camera and Say Hi and...

Yeah I just listened to the Predator again and it really isn't bad, but Death Certificate just feels like a better album to me. I was like 15 when it came out and it didn't seem any worse than any of the other stuff I was into at the time content-wise and I was dumbly oblivious to a lot of it anyway. That and a lot of other records do make me cringe a bit now.

I just never liked Dirty Mack and Now I Gotta Wet Cha that much, and the sudden and obvious Das EFX and Cypress Hill influences kind of bugged me too. And nothing on it - even Good Day - comes close to Steady Mobbin', Alive on Arrival, or My Summer Vacation.

the remix of Good Day w/the Staples/Mayfield sample may be my favorite Cube song ever but even still Death Certificate just hangs together better, warts and all. the skits/interludes on Predator are annoying, and while his bandwagon-jumping songs aren't bad in and of themselves they are kind of glaring

Yeah I just listened to the Predator again and it really isn't bad, but Death Certificate just feels like a better album to me.

I bought the re-release later and love it to bits, of course (bcz now I hate women, gooks and gays) (and many of the songs were still fully intact in my head from the week I'd had it the first time), but I have no problem at all seeing The Predator as a great album separate from its predecessors (it's no Amerikkka's Most Wanted either)

I was like 15 when it came out and it didn't seem any worse than any of the other stuff I was into at the time content-wise and I was dumbly oblivious to a lot of it anyway. That and a lot of other records do make me cringe a bit now.

as an Australian teenager I had no problem rapping along with "nigga"s in songs, but I'd stfu & rolleye or come up with my own "my ninja" style substitutes for homophobic lyrics.

"The Big Daddy law is anti-bigot / That means no intol-E-R-A-N-C-E..."

I do think Predator has Cube's best singles altho man When Will They Shoot? really should've been the lead-off single

^ true

Alive On Arrival might be one of Cube's five best songs ever, even counting NWA

a single of WWTS would have meant a version existing without the last word or two of the intro crashing the beat >:(

done watched two episodes of M*A*S*H*

xp

only ran one block, but my shirt's soaking wet

^ also a great example of what a great rapper Cube was in his imperial period - halfway through "shirt" he slows down a tiny bit, juuust lagging behind the beat for those next three and a half syllables; this provides a subtle enough emphasis that the listener will subconsciously note it, and make the callback connection on the reveal a few lines later, AND! ALSO! once you know the scenario for future listens, reads as the narrator physically losing step without even being conscious of it himself yet.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

boom bap bump

Predator talk is making me happy I voted for it

Ended up voting for Redman.

"The Big Daddy law is anti-bigot / That means no intol-E-R-A-N-C-E..."

― sug night (sic), Wednesday, October 31, 2012 7:16 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is killing me

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

nice turnout!

results pretty much what I would expect. glad the corny backpacker vote got split lol

that quik album super underrated. i always forget to vote in these things

Yo-Yo – Black Pearl 1

lol who voted for this

love everyone involved but album really doesn't work

I'm in the midst of making a 1992 top 25 list and am just curious about how y'all would rank the following albums:

Music To Driveby vs. Black Mafia Life

Daily Operation vs. Mecca and The Soul Brother

MTD >
DO >

We're including R&B stuff as well, and it's bloody hard. Just the thought of pitting Funky Divas against Black Mafia Life gives me a headache.

Dangerous vs. What's the 411? vs. Love Deluxe vs. Funky Divas vs. It's About Time?

So, on the topic of 'The Chronic,' there's this lyric to "Fuck Wit Dre Day" that I've always found puzzling. When Dre says, "Gots teeth in yo mouth so my dick's gotta fit," isn't he kind of saying that his dick is smaller than... teeth? Does this bother anyone else???

it's "gap teeth" and it's a reference to Luther Campbell and thank you for showing us that there is indeed a demand for Rap Genius's services

MTD >
DO >

― Good job, good multiple efforts (Spottie_Ottie_Dope), Friday, November 16, 2012 11:43 AM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this altho imo the mtd v bml is a much closer contest

We're including R&B stuff as well, and it's bloody hard. Just the thought of pitting Funky Divas against Black Mafia Life gives me a headache.

Dangerous vs. What's the 411? vs. Love Deluxe vs. Funky Divas vs. It's About Time?

― weak willie (longneck), Saturday, November 17, 2012 2:50 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

love deluxe >>>>>>>>>

So, on the topic of 'The Chronic,' there's this lyric to "Fuck Wit Dre Day" that I've always found puzzling. When Dre says, "Gots teeth in yo mouth so my dick's gotta fit," isn't he kind of saying that his dick is smaller than... teeth? Does this bother anyone else???

― boy_slayer, Saturday, November 17, 2012 5:31 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's "gap teeth" and it's a reference to Luther Campbell and thank you for showing us that there is indeed a demand for Rap Genius's services

― K3v Ink (some dude), Saturday, November 17, 2012 5:56 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

LMAO

that's been answered multiple times on ILX longer than rapgenius has been aorund

Our 1992 countdown has come to an end. 17 people voted for 24 albums each, and 66 different albums received votes. Here are the complete results:

1. Dr. Dre: The Chronic
2. Gang Starr: Daily Operation
3. Ice Cube: The Predator
4. Redman: Whut? Thee Album
5. Underground Kingz: Too Hard To Swallow
6. Pharcyde: Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde
7. Pete Rock & CL Smooth: Mecca And The Soul Brother
8. DJ Quik: Way 2 Fonky
9. Beastie Boys: Check Your Head
10. Diamond and The Psychotic Neurotics: Stunts, Blunts And Hip Hop
11. Above The Law: Black Mafia Life
12. Sade: Love Deluxe
13. Compton's Most Wanted: Music To Driveby
14. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo: Live And Let Die
15. Paris: Sleeping With The Enemy
16. Das EFX: Dead Serious
17. EPMD: Business Never Personal
18. Eric B and Rakim: Don’t Sweat The Technique
19. Prince & The NPG: Prince XV/Love Symbol
20. Lord Finesse: Return Of The Funky Man
21. Penthouse Players Clique: Paid The Cost
22. Showbiz & AG: Runaway Slave
23. Eazy-E: 5150 Home Of The Sick
24. Common Sense: Can I Borrow A Dollar?
25. Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy: Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury
26. Mary J Blige: What's The 411?
27. Boogie Down Productions: Sex & Violence
28. Mac Dre: What's Really Going On?
29. Too Short: Shorty The Pimp
30. Ultramagnetic MCs: Funk Your Head Up
31. Soundtrack: Juice
32. Willie Dee: I'm Goin Out Like A Soldier
33. Da Lench Mob: Guerillas In The Mist
34. R. Kelly & Public Announcement: Born Into The 90s
35. The Goats: Tricks Of The Shade
36. Brand Nubian: In God We Trust
37. Hard Knocks: School Of Hard Knocks
38. Michael Jackson: Dangerous
39. Bone Hard Productions feat Big Mello: Bone Hard Zaggin
40. Shabba Ranks: X-Tra Naked
41. Tweedy Bird Loc: 187 Ride By
42. Spice 1: Spice 1
43. En Vogue: Funky Divas
44. A Tribe Called Quest: Revisited Quest For The Seasoned Traveler
45. Tung Twista: Runnin' Off At Tha Mouth
46. Grand Puba: Reel To Reel
47. TRU: Understanding The Criminal Mind
48. OFTB: Straight Up Watts
49. Roxanne Shante: Bitch Is Back
50. Body Count: Body Count
51. Buju Banton: Mr. Mention
52. Rage Against The Machine: Rage Against The Machine
53. Chubb Rock: Gotta Get Mine Yo!
54. MC Ren: Kizz My Black Azz
55. Too Much Trouble: Bringin' Hell On Earth
56. Yo Yo :Black Pearl
57. Demon Boyz: Original Guidance
58. RBL Posse: A Lesson To Be Learned
59. Point Blank: Prone To Bad Dreams
60. SWV: It's About Time
61. X Clan : Xodus
62. Master P: Mama's Bad Boy
63. Heavy D & The Boyz : Blue Funk
64. Poison Clan: Poisonous Mentality
65. Public Enemy: Greatest Misses
66. Kid Frost: East Side Story