Raekwon

Crucial Wu-Tang excellence, Rae's solo debut sparked an avalanche of Mafioso-themed knock-offs and a drastic increase in rappers using alter-egos. Ghostface is prominently featured as well, paving the way for his own solo classic, Ironman. RZA's beats are sick, and the Chef's criminalistic quotables are fantastic. Features "Ice Cream" and "Wu Gambinos."

A lushly impenetrable jungle of sonic allusions transforms the nightmare of the crack era into a dream of cream skimmed and warmed for the bathtub--a dream with its own internal logic, moral weight, and commitment to beauty. It's an illusion, as any project denizen caught in the crossfire knows. But materially and metaphorically, Wu-Tang's power to create this illusion provides a way out of the hell underneath--especially, but not exclusively, for them (Grade - A-)