Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah made his solo debut with this 1996 album, and what a debut it was: a #2 smash, a platinum album and one of the greatest creations to come out of the Wu-Tang orbit (this was produced by RZA, too).
Forever sampled and endlessly imitated but never duplicated (how COULD one convincingly copy the accent of this London-born British-Jamaican and that one-of-a-kind delivery of his?), remains one of the cornerstones of rap.
Released under the alias Metal Fingers, Special Herbs succeeds at capturing DOOM's highly influential sound which continually breaks and reinterprets the rules of the game in favor of the super-villain.
The natural chemistry between Brian (Danger Mouse) and Tariq (Black Thought) comes through in the ease with which the artist and listener move through this album.
In celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, the iconic Def Jam Recordings brings us some of its classic repertoire on vinyl in a spectacular “fruit punch” variant – a color emblematic of its longstanding association with Def Jam.
Though it's an album rooted in themes of depression and loneliness, I Got Too Sad For My Friends is far from downcast. Instead, it stays fully present in it's feelings and plunges it's fingers into the earth - even when it can be painful to do so.
The UK punk band The Stranglers formed in Guildford in 1974, and their first LP, IV Rattus Norvegicus was released by United Artists in April 1977, rising to Number 4 in the UK album charts.