James

Because Wikipedia is the greatest source of reliable info.

Violent & Funky

I agree!

__________________
http://www.last.fm/user/ohio0808

sometimes I don't thrill you
sometimes I think I'll kill you
just don't let me fuck up will you
'cause when I need a friend it's still you

Janszoon

The great thing about Wikipedia, unlike a lot of sources online, is that it actually has clickable references that you can check out. So I would argue that, yes, it is a pretty good source of reliable info, especially for something like music which is often defined by consensus instead of hard data anyway.

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A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

Dirty

I don't think Golden Age has like a definite set of years. Early to mid 90s was just awesome though.

Only songs I ever even consider skipping on Illmatic for a second are One Time 4 Your Mind and sometimes NY State Of Mind. I don't love that song like I love the others... Also, AZ was the only guy to feature on Illmatic and he straight murders his verse on Life a Bitch

James

It definetly started in 88. What a great year.

Yeah I use it quite a bit. I was just fooling around.

Janszoon

I had my first kiss in 88. You're right, it was a good year!

Seriously though, I'd agree with 88 as a starting point for the golden age. I usually think of it being something like 88-92.

__________________
A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

Janszoon

"Life's a Bitch" is one of the ones I skip. The rapping is good but everything else is so dull that it renders the whole track kind of lifeless for me.

__________________
A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

Phantom Limb

Yeah, I feel you on this. That and Halftime are the two tracks that I can't really get into and tend to skip a lot. Every other track on the album is amazing though, my favorites being "NY State of Mind", "One Time For Your Mind", "Represent" and "It Ain't Hard to Tell". I think it is overrated, but only very slightly. As far as the 90's go, this is just about the best combo of beats and rhyming that I've heard.

Sparky

NY state of mind is one of the best rap songs ever, it seriously blew my mind first time i heard it (was also SUPER gone too though) but still.

Judging the entire album i'd say it's overrated, but it does have some timeless songs on it "lifes a bitch" etc

I'm always surprised AZ didn't get more attention, he matches Nas in terms of lyrics on every track he's featured on.

Thom Yorke

Favourite rapper, favourite album hands down. My favourite beat on the album is It Aint Hard to Tell (brilliant use of sampling), favourite lyrics is Halftime, favourite overall song is Memory Lane or NY.