Love Always (MCA, 1997) by K-Ci & JoJo

This album is pretty much a one-hit project.  However, the song that was a hit is totally worth the cost of an entire album.  "All My Life" has a jazz pop melody that is absolutely amazing.  It is also a song that I have many fond memories of slow dancing to when I was in France while I was in Fifth Grade.  In my opinion, it's one of the greatest pop songs of the 90s and will continue to hold up for a long time to come.

Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em (MCA, 1990) by Eric B. & Rakim

Lyrically, of course, Rakim delivers.  And as far as the beats, Eric B. brings the goods.  However, i don't feel that this album is quite as good as the previous two albums from the duo.  It doesn't show much growth from the earlier work.  The title track, "In the Ghetto," and "Mahogany" are all classics, but the bragging about mic skills throughout most of the LP have been heard before.  In Rakim's case, it's pretty much true.  Yet, it does seemingly limit the album's potential.  Fortunately, it was all made up for on Eric B. and Rakim's next and final release, Don't Sweat the Technique.

Don't Sweat the Technique (MCA, 1992) by Eric B. & Rakim

"Dangerous rhymes (are) performed like surgery/Cuts so deep you'll be bleeding burgundy/My intellect wrecks and disconnects your cerebral cortex,your cerebellum is next/Your conscience becomes sub-conscious,soon your response is nonsense/The last words are blurred...mumbled then slurred/Then your verbs are no longer heard/You get your lung fried so good you're tongue-tied,he couldn't swing or hang so he hung 'till he died/Reincarnate him...and kill him again...again and again...again and again…/I leave him in the mausoleum so you can see him/I got a dead-MC'ing museum/When I create 'em, I cremate 'em and complicate 'em/You can't save 'em...there's no ultamatum/Mic's lay around full of ashes, with the victim's name in slashes/Got a long list and I'm a get every one of ya/Beware of The Punisher!"

-Rakim, "The Punisher"