>Tash--Rap Life
>Lushlife-Cassette City
>Method Man-421 the day after
>J-Zone-Pimps don't pay taxes
>Too short-Cocktails
>7l and Esoteric-egoclapper
>Jake One-White Van Music
>Pete Philly and Perquisite--MindState
>
>
>
>***Side note, i play albums like these often times WAAYYY more
>than i do 5 mic albums...They always seem to be the albums
>that define a period in time, get crazy burn, played out, and
>then i come back to them to remind me of the time i bumped the
>shit out of em...Weird

I respectfully disagree with you on Pimps Don't Pay taxes. The production was bananas and the two cats featured heavily besides J-Zone, Al-Shid and Huggy Bear, complemented each other PERFECTLY. They're styles and delivery were as different as two could possibly be but I haven't encountered too many albums like PDPT that lyrically have as many 'oh shit did you hear what the fuck he just said' moments, maybe Enigma. "No Consequences" is one of my top ten beats all time, easy.

Though not as technically proficient as Shid and Hug, J-Zone's no slouch lyrically, he says a lot of funny shit. Production wise, you can tell the man learned something about sampling from his association with Pete Rock. To me, it was a cohesive, well thought out project that I still listen to today. It's a shame those three never worked together again to that degree. 'No Consequences' is in one of mine and nearly other head I know's top five.

One man's mediocrity is another man's genius, I guess. A lot of people think Stakes is High is mediocre and that's unequivocally my favorite album.