Nine "Nine Livez" x Erick Sermon "No Pressure" x Alkaholiks "Coast II Coast" x Rottin Razkals "Rottin To Da Core" x Chi-Ali "The Fabulous Chi-Ali"

Anyone doubt that Nine's "Nine Livez" is one of the most slept-on albums from the 90s? Speak up if you do. "Any Emcee," "The Cypha," Whatcha Want," "Ova Confident," "Redrum," I can go on. The whole album isn't dope, but there are enough joints on here, from an artist that hadn't really released anything that would make you anticipate an album of this quality, to make this one helluva release. He followed this up w/ "Cloud 9," which didn't get as much rotation, but "Lyin King" & others were definitely bangers. Amazon prices: $89 for "Nine Livez" & $151 for "Cloud 9."

I've heard all the industry talk about how Erick Sermon doesn't do major #s and blah blah blah. Say what you want, Erick Sermon's first solo album, "No Pressure," had some dope ass production and solid lyrics. "Hittin Switches," "Stay Real," "Hostile" (w/ Keith Murray) and plenty others made this a solid album & I still play it every now and again. How quickly ppl forget how influential he was & how important a group EPMD was in the whole hip-hop movement. Hip-hop has never been about sales, at least not in the underground - stay real!

Rottin Razaks "Rottin To Da Core" was a nice release with the help of Naughty By Nature. They came out the box with multiple 12" releases, "Oh Yeah," "Hey Alright," "A-Yo," and then they had sleepers like "Life Of A Bastard," (w/ Treach) and "Batter Up," which was a selection for The Source's Fat Tape back in like '95, I'd say. Coming up from the same streets as Naughty, their album came out on Illtown Records & while they never really popped off, the 90s were a time where this kind of music could get love AND spins, so it did what it did & it's a nice out of print release.

The Alkaholiks' "Coast II Coast" is probably the album most of you are gonna be scratching your head about. Why didn't I pick "21 & Over," right? Well, in all honesty, I've grown to like this release a lot & everyone picks "21 & Over." It opens with "WLIX," which is more or less a 6-minute "freestyle" over a dope ass beat. by Madlib. Followed up with tracks like "Daamn!," "Hit & Run" (w/ Xzibit), and my joint, "Next Level," with production from Diamond D and you can't be mad at E-Swift's production throughout the album neither.

This is Chi-Ali's only release, "The Fabulous Chi-Ali," which done @ 14 years old, is quite incredible. The album's bangers include: "Let The Horns Blow" (w/ Dres of Black Sheep, Phife of A Tribe Called Quest & more), "Funky Lemonade," "Age Ain't Nuttin But A Number," "Roadrunner," & more. He had a great future ahead of him as the youngest member of the Native Tongues, but a 14 year sentence for murder will kind of take you out the game. I was definitely amongst the masses that thought he was Dres' younger bro, but they've dispelled that rumor ... whoops lol.