1. Business Never Personal. Probably my favorite EPMD album top to bottom. Hardly a misstep on this one to me, and songs like Chill and It's Going Down are among their best. Tack Brother From Brentwood LI on there and I'd have a clear winner

2. Whut? Thee Album. This surprised the hell out of me, as I was a fan of the other Hit Squad acts moreso than Red when he came out. Even taking longevity out of the equation (which he beats Das and Solo in spades) E Double and Reggie produced a monster. Muddy Waters may be his best (though Dare Iz A Darkside has plenty of supporters) but Whut is how a debut should be done.

3. Dead Serious. The ONLY reason I have this album at 3 is because of Dum Dums and Loosies. Take those 2 songs off and you have a 5 star classic. That's before you get to all the remixes (and damn near every song was remixed too. Pete's remix of Jussamen is my second favorite remix of his of all time, just behind Shut 'Em Down). Drop those 2 songs, add the remix/video version of They Want Exf, and add,say, Hard Like A Criminal, and Redman and Das switch places for me.

4. Time's Up. Truth is, K-Solo was/is my favorite Hit Squad member (hell, I had the same turtleneck/sweater combo he has on his first album, though it was a titla coincidence). The problem with this album was he remade Tell The World My Name, damn near track for track. Spelling joint (this time original and remix by Pete Rock)? Check. Jail joint? Check. Story joint to close out the A Side? Check. Girl done me dirty over a pop-ish sample to start the B Side? Check. None of the songs were bad. But none were much better (or much different) than the first album, right down to the sequencing. I played the shit out of both albums. But put against the rest of the Hit Squad output at the time, he has to come last. Hurts for me to even type that