Critical Beatdown cover

Critical Beatdown

Released

If rap has a Thelonious Monk, it’s Kool Keith: find the beat, work with the beat, but then flout the beat and the meter and the boundaries of A/B rhymes so thoroughly it leaves the Ultramags’ peers sounding basic. Ced-Gee killed it on the mic, too, but his contributions to chop-heavy sample-based production — teamed up with the gone-too-soon engineer/beat creator Paul C. (“Give the Drummer Some”) — completed a genre-reinventing epiphany that his rhyme partner envisioned.

Nate Patrin

Recommended by

Suggestions
The Message cover

The Message

Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five
The War Report cover

The War Report

Capone-N-Noreaga
Soul Food cover

Soul Food

Goodie Mob
There's Evil in This Club cover

There's Evil in This Club

Christ Dillinger, Seepy
The Album cover

The Album

Mantronix
Haram cover

Haram

Armand Hammer, The Alchemist
The Cold Vein cover

The Cold Vein

Cannibal Ox