About this series: I’m making honest and unflinching looks at what rap albums I still listen to and still love, for every year since the genre began.  Not the most “important” albums.  Not the albums that it’s “cool” to like.  The actual albums that I still love, after all these years…

After what may have been the greatest year for hip hop, 1991, 1992 finds a bunch of solid albums but only a few truly great ones.  Finding 10 for this list wasn’t as easy as I’d expected it would be.

Also, just to head off any negative comments (in case anyone actually reads this blog anymore), I know that several of the honorable mentions are albums that most people would say are GOATs that belong on the main best-of-the-year list.  I recognize that they are great records–they’re just not my favorites.

Not rap’s best year, but still an interesting one!

10. Play With Toys by Basehead.  An early example of stoner rap, this lo-fi masterpiece would probably get lost in the sea of experimental rap today–but at the time, there was nothing like it.  Best cuts: Brand New Day, Evening News.

9. Mecca and the Soul Brother by Pete Rock and CL Smooth.  With the exception of the gone-too-soon anthem “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.), which got a little airplay, Mecca came and went with barely a blip.  Yet even today, most heads will tell you it’s one of the best albums of the decade.  It’s kind of the antithesis of the #1 album on this list: Understated, with an emphasis on lyrical skill, and a complete lack of commercial appeal.

8. Music to Driveby by Compton’s Most Wanted. Most enduring cuts: Hood Took Me Under, N2Deep (featuring Scarface).

7. Daily Operation by Gang Starr.  Another winning album from the duo of DJ Premier and Guru.  Best cuts: Take it Personal, BYS.

6. Hiphoprisy is the Greatest Luxury by Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy.  Michael Franti is a “lite reggae rock” artist now (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but before that he pioneered experimental rap/punk/industrial with Beatnigs and then in this solo project.  Key tracks: California Uber Alles (Dead Kennedy’s cover), Famous and Dandy (Like Amos and Andy), and the title track.

5. Homebrew by Nenah Cherry.  I consider Ms. Cherry to be hip hop.  If you don’t, then feel free to sub in another album to this list from the honorable mentions below.  Or make your own list.  This is mine.  Best cuts: Trout (featuring Michael Stipe), Buddy X, Move With Me.

4. The Predator by Ice Cube.  After his last, politically charged album, Cube shows no signs of slowing down.  He signs a team of excellent producers including Sir Jinx, DJ Pooh and DJ Muggs and creates one of the most commercially accepted anti-establishment albums of this era.  Best songs: It Was a Good Day, Wicked, Check Yo Self (featuring Das EFX).

3. 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of… by Arrested Development.  The southern collective Arrested Development had the balls sample Prince on their jazz-influenced, native-tongue adjacent debut.  They didn’t do much notable after this record for a very last time, but over the past several years, the band has returned to full strength.  This album is properly recognized as one of the best hip hop records of all time.  Key tracks: The monster hit Tennessee, as well as Mr. Wendal, People Everyday, and Give a Man a Fish.

2. Check Your Head by The Beastie Boys.  Just about every Beastie’s album is different from the one before it, and awesome.  While last time (Paul’s Boutique) the put together an intricate and interrelated long-player with no songs specifically designed to be singles, Check Your Head goes the opposite direction.  It’s ALL singles.  It also mixes rap with the band’s punk roots, to great effect, but also has their first forays into instrumental tracks–with real instruments.  Favorite songs: Finger Lickin’ Good, Lighten Up, Gratitude, Pass the Mic, In 3’s, and So Watcha Want?

1. The Chronic by Dr. Dre.  It’s hard to imagine a more influential and important album for this year (or any year in the ’90s) than this one.  Dre’s album reshaped all of music–not just rap–and led to a glut of copycats and soundalikes that, frankly, had a hugely negative impact on the genre.  With The Chronic, hip hop officially became pop music, and supplanted all other types of music in terms of how much money an artist could create for the major labels…And this impact lasted a very long time.

I’m going to say something negative now, but it shouldn’t be misunderstood as meaning I don’t like this album.  I made it #1, after all, and this list is intended to reflect my personal taste and not what I think I’m “supposed to like” based on sales or critics.  I still listen to songs off this record on a regular basis.  OK.  So, the negative thing: Dr. Dre is not a great lyricist.  I don’t think there’s a single Dre song where he doesn’t tell some other rapper to s**k his d**k.  Literally.  Every song has him using that specific “insult.”  It’s homophobic, sure, but more than that–it’s boring.  It lacks range.  He’s got a solid (if unchanging) flow, but his lyrics just aren’t that great.   He needs a muse.  And of course he had an all-star for this record: Snoop.

The Chronic succeeds because of the brilliance of his production.

See also: The soundtrack to the film Deep Cover, which came out before The Chronic and introduced the world to Snoop Doggy Dogg.

Other notable 1992 releases:

• Heavy Rhyme Experience Vol. 1 by Brand New Heavies
• Whut? thee Album by Redman
• Don’t Sweat the Technique by Eric B and Rakim
• Business Never Personal by EPMD
• Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde by Pharcyde
• Robbin’ the Hood by Sublime

Worst rap album of the year…

Carnival of Carnage by Insane Clown Posse.  It may not have been the worst in terms of being the most tortuous to listen to (Gerardo had an album out this year, after all), but I just hate everything about ICP.

About this series: I’m making honest and unflinching looks at what rap albums I still listen to and still love, for every year since the genre began.  Not the most “important” albums.  Not the albums that it’s “cool” to like.  …