X-Clan – To The East, Blackwards

One of the best albums of the golden era—a soup of tight, funky samples drawn from the best sources combined with just ridiculously hard-hitting and deft flow from main rapper Brother J, who seems indefatigable with the sheer, forceful onslaught of his verbal expression here. Professor X, of course, chimes in with the always-expected X-Clan verbal stamp of approval, song after song, Sissssyyyyy. This is definitely one of those albums that couldn't happen now; it uses far too many samples from too many well-known sources and the group could never afford to create this sonic stew in the mid-2010s. Of course, we've lost two of the four from this crew over the years, as well, sadly. If you didn't catch this back in the day or are a newcomer to golden era hip hop, this one's a jewel. Afrocentric, critical, positive, and very, very funky. Get on board X-Clan's booming pink Caddy and soak it in LOUD.