If Dr Dre’s The Chronic captured the catharsis that followed the L.A. Rebellion of April 1992, then Ice Cube’s Death Certificate was the definitive document of the tensions leading up the explosive anger people felt towards the Rodney King verdict. A concept album split between “Death” and “Life” sides, Death Certificate finds Cube as compelling when he’s barking truth to power on songs like “A Bird in the Hand” and “Us,” as he is musing on gangbanging (“Steady Mobbin’” and “Color Blind”) or warning people about STDs (“Look Who’s Burning”). Plus, anyone who thought that his former N.W.A. partners might have held the upper hand had to disabuse themselves of that notion once “No Vaseline,” possibly the greatest diss song in hip-hop history, popped up as the album’s surprise bonus track at the end.

– Oliver Wang