Sequels often suck, and sequels to game-changing originals rarely sniff the same rarified air, but Life After Death is a masterpiece that improves on the strengths of its predecessor.

“The greatest rapper alive died on March 9th.” Celebrating Biggie on the 25th Anniversary of his death.

The final entry to The Weeknd’s mixtape debut, Trilogy, is as entrancing and eerie as the first offering, setting the stage for his inevitable superstardom.

On Stillmatic, Nas returned to form by merging the styles from his first two albums that put him on the scene and in the discussion of “G.O.A.T.”.

Redman is the funky, nasty party guy who rips bongs and mics, and Muddy Waters is his pure essence.

Rugged beats and dark yet introspective lyrics about living and dying in the Queensbridge Housing Projects.

The Don Killuminati… gives us glimpses of 2Pac, rather "Makaveli", at his best in the wake of his tragic murder.

Ironman is a snapshot of Staten Island as seen from the eyes of Ghostface Killah, and with a soundtrack composed by the Abbot, it becomes the best Blacksploitation hip-hop album to ever be recorded and rest in the upper echelon of Wu-Tang releases.

Enough edge to play while shotgunning beers and ripping bongs at off-campus ragers, it also down-shifts a couple gears into lava lamp chill mode for quiet dorm room kickbacks.

My memories of yesterday.

An album that roars with Pacific Northwest thunder and caused a tectonic shift in the sound of rock music.

Inextricably tied to 9/11, The Blueprint was medicine for my soul during the most horrific of national moments.

The genesis of Esco.

Reasonable Doubt was supposed to be a one-off joint for Jigga. We know how that played out.