100 Favorite Albums of the 1990s: Part 6 of 10 (1996)

Welcome to Part 6 of my “100 Favorite Albums of the 1990’s” list! This part covers the summer of '96 through the fall of '96, leading into my senior year of high school.

Urb, Muzik, and Mixmag now joined The Source and Rap Pages on my regular reading list and I attended some of my first stadium and amphitheater festivals that summer. HFStival, at DC's RFK Stadium, showcased bands like Foo Fighters, Cracker, Afghan Whigs, and Garbage, while Smokin' Grooves, at Bristow, VA's Nissan Pavilion, featured A Tribe Called Quest, Cypress Hill, Fugees, and Busta Rhymes.

That fall I also stumbled on a new late-night video series on MTV called Amp, similar in spirit to 120 Minutes but instead of alternative rock it focused on electronic music and instead of human VJs hosting there was simply onscreen text and abstract CGI interstitials, giving the show the eerie impression of an intergalactic transmission.

In subsequent years MTV’s Amp generated two compilation albums, issued by major label subsidiary Astralwerks, featuring artists like Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Fluke, Crystal Method, and Fatboy Slim. The era of "electronica" was underway.

⁃ Will G.

Part 7 (1996-1997) coming soon.

Lost Boyz:  Legal Drug Money  (6/4/96)

Legal Drug Money, the debut album from Queens, NY, rap crew Lost Boyz had all the hallmarks of a quality boom-bap album: stout beats and streetwise rhymes, but there was a unique tonal diversity and lyrical maturity to it. Having honed his mic skills as a battle-MC, Mr. Cheeks takes vocal lead throughout, with a raspy-voiced Freaky Tah on backup, navigating between bouncy party joints and sobering hood narratives. Hit single "Renee" is a highlight - a tragic tale of love found and lost when the narrator's new girlfriend, a promising young law student, is cut down by random gun violence.

 

Beck:  Odelay  (6/18/96)

Along with the Beastie Boys' Ill Communication, Beck's breakout Mellow Gold was a crucial album for me in the summer of '94 - nudging me out of a rock rut toward the limitless potential of sample-based music. However, there was no telling whether this diminutive weirdo from LA would come back with anything as impactful. Well, lightning struck twice with Odelay - another wildly infectious sonic concoction, this time with the Dust Brothers at the studio controls, marking that duo's long-awaited return since producing the Beastie Boys' sampladelic masterpiece from '89, Paul's Boutique.

Heltah Skeltah:  Nocturnal (6/18/96)

The 90's spawned multitudes of rap supergroups and despite Wu-Tang Clan dominating, Brooklyn, NY's Bootcamp Clik were among my favorites. BCC were comprised of Black Moon, Smif-N-Wessun, OGC, and Heltah Skeltah, and though Black Moon's debut Enta Da Stage and Smif-N-Wessun's debut Dah Shinin' were comparatively superior, Heltah Skeltah's debut deserved its props. With rugged flows from Sean Price and Rockness Monsta and dusky production from Da Beatminerz among others, the aptly titled Nocturnal was a crucial entry in the Clik's catalogue.

De La Soul:  Stakes Is High  (7/2/96)

On their landmark debut, Three Feet High and Rising from '89, De La Soul pioneered a playful, brainy rap style that celebrated the craft while denouncing the scene's growing commercialism. Their fourth album, the self-produced Stakes Is High, was the Long Island rap trio's first without Prince Paul at the studio controls, trading in a chaotic, zany musical aesthetic for something more immediate. Though less sonically inventive, this one let the group's rhymes shine and, as a bonus, introduced the world to Mos Def, an MC who would help carry the torch for conscious hip-hop into the next millennium.

Nas:  It Was Written  (7/2/96)

With unparalleled flow and the era's finest beat makers - DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and Q-Tip - on production, Nas' debut album from '94, Illmatic, is arguably hip-hop's greatest album. Topping that critical success was almost impossible, so the Queens, NY rap phenom took a more commercial approach with his follow-up. It Was Written leaned hard on then-trendy mafioso raps and radio-friendly production from the Trackmasters. Dr. Dre, Lauryn Hill, and Foxy Brown dropped in with features but so did Mobb Deep, with Havoc producing two tracks, lest the album start sounding a bit too polished.

Various Artists:  Platinum Breakz  (7/8/96)

Metalheadz, the label co-founded by Goldie in '94, set the standard for "21st century urban breakbeat music" - a fitting tagline from their first label compilation, Platinum Breakz. Unlike the other key drum & bass label compilation of '96, Logical Progression, this one exemplified the dark, experimental flipside of the genre, pushing the boundaries of breakbeat science and grafting hip-hop, jazz, dub, and techno influences to fractured polyrhythms. Platinum Breakz offered a gritty soundtrack to an as yet distant future and stands firmly as one of the greatest anthologies of drum & bass music, ever.

(Audio unavailable via Spotify)

A Tribe Called Quest:  Beats, Ryhmes and Life  (7/30/96)

Queens, NY rap foursome A Tribe Called Quest changed the game during the prior six years with a trio of classic self-produced albums. Along with their Native Tongues brethren, Jungle Brothers and De La Soul, ATCQ created the template for alternative hip-hop by blending conscious lyricism and jazz samples with infectious boom-bap rhythms. So, the group's fourth album, Beats, Rhymes and Life, now including Consequence on the mic and J Dilla contributing beats, didn't sound like a creative leap forward rather a reaffirmation of their lofty status and influence.

Jamiroquai:  Traveling Without Moving  (9/9/96)

I initially fell for English acid jazz/funk band Jamiroquai via my older brother's music collection, which included their first couple albums from years prior, so when I saw an advance import copy of their third album, Traveling Without Moving, at the record shop I picked it up immediately. Spanning funk, soul, jazz, disco, samba, reggae, and more, the album hit all the right buttons. Along with Gilles Peterson, the eclectic London-based DJ who first signed the band and coined the genre term "acid jazz", Jamiroquai served as a blueprint for the musical aesthetic I would employ as a club DJ years later.

DJ Shadow:  Endtroducing  (9/16/96)

DJ Shadow’s landmark debut album Endtroducing, issued by UK label Mo'Wax, was almost entirely composed of samples lifted from old vinyl records and despite other innovative producers like Prince Paul, Dust Brothers, and Coldcut covering similar territory before, this album sounded like none other. It was haunting, unnerving, and spellbinding - a true representation of "trip-hop", by then a widely used genre term coined by music journalist Andy Pemberton years earlier specifically to describe the lysergic instrumental beats heard on DJ Shadow’s first handful of singles.

Ghostface Killah:  Ironman  (10/29/96)

The Wu-Tang Clan had dropped four landmark solo artist albums by ‘95. Ghostface Killah, with Raekwon and Cappadona joining, was up next in ‘96 with Ironman. Would it measure up? With its vintage soul samples and cascading raps, yes, but cracks were forming. RZA's studio had flooded, destroying equipment and countless beats, forcing him to pivot - chintzy digital drums and synths started creeping into the Wu's sound. It was frustratingly evident here, but the album's strong conceptual impetus and unusually vulnerable lyricism proved to be another winner.

100 Favorite Albums of the 1990s: Part 1 of 10 (1990 - 1992)
100 Favorite Albums of the 1990s: Part 2 of 10 (1992 - 1993)
100 Favorite Albums of the 1990s: Part 3 of 10 (1993 - 1994)
100 Favorite Albums of the 1990s: Part 4 of 10 (1994 - 1995)
100 Favorite Albums of the 1990s: Part 5 of 10 (1995 - 1996)

Coming Soon - 100 Favorite Albums of the 1990s: Part 7 of 10 (1996 - 1997)
Coming Soon - 100 Favorite Albums of the 1990s: Part 8 of 10 (1997)
Coming Soon - 100 Favorite Albums of the 1990s: Part 9 of 10 (1997 - 1998)
Coming Soon - 100 Favorite Albums of the 1990s: Part 10 of 10 (1998 - 1999)