From Jan. 1995 to Dec. 1999, who do you think had the best sophomore album as a solo artist in the New York scene?

DMX - Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, Busta Rhymes - When Disaster Strikes... and Fat Joe - Jealous One's Envy would be my runners up for the poll.

A lot of good/great sophomore albums came out in 2000 as well, or missed the cut dropping in 1994, so it feels a little limiting.

Poll question: Best solo sophomore outing from NYC in the mid-late 90s?

Poll result (32 votes) GZA - Liquid Swords (11 votes) Vote Jay-Z - In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1 votes) Vote Nas - It Was Written (6 votes) Vote The Notorious B.I.G. - Life After Death (5 votes) Vote AZ - Pieces of a Man (1 votes) Vote O.C. - Jewelz (8 votes) Vote

I know it’s his second album but his circumstance is a little different and LS imo is a Top 10 if not 5 album of all-time.

IWW is the hands down runner-up to that out of your options.

OC needs to be in this poll.

I was on the fence about including GZA because the criteria is arbitrary

Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com

Underrated album

Certainly not Central Islip.

I wanted to say "Dare Iz a Darkside," but remembered Redman is from Jersey.

We didn't know the difference in the 90s.

De La, Wu-Tang, Rakim, Tribe...*shrug*.
It was East Coast hip hop.

40 Dayz and 40 Nightz is one of my favorite albums

As a certified West Coast Head this would probably be my pick. An almost perfect album with such a unique feel, and Xzibit's one of a kind personality really shines through on it. A classic in my book.

But IMO you can't really go wrong with OC or Nas either.

Agreed!

If I look back at albums I listened to the most…

40 Dayz and 40 Nightz and Jewelz would definitely be towards the top of that list.

Still incredibly dope tho.

I forgot about the NYC part.

...and no GZA really shouldn't be on there but it technically IS his sophomore LP (Obviously LS is classic)

With OC and Nas next closest.
__
I don't like the beat anymore because its just a loop. ALC didn't FLIP IT ENOUGH!

Flip it enough? Flip these. Flip off. Go flip some f*cking burgers.(c)Kno

Allied State of the National Electric Beat Treaty Organization (NEBTO)

>From Jan. 1995 to Dec. 1999, who do you think had the best
>sophomore album as a solo artist in the New York scene?
>
>DMX - Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, Busta Rhymes -
>When Disaster Strikes... and Fat Joe - Jealous One's Envy
>would be my runners up for the poll.
>
>A lot of good/great sophomore albums came out in 2000 as well,
>or missed the cut dropping in 1994, so it feels a little
>limiting.
>
>

It's GZA. Its the same dude and its his 2nd album. He got with a sick ass clique and went all out after whatever that first joint was. More power to him. Lots of good albums on that list too.

The reason people are saying it doesn’t belong is because it wasn’t his highly-anticipated follow-up album like the others were for those artists.

Pieces Of A Man is a dope album that catches unfair hate.

There are some absolute classics on that album.

It’s only right.

I’m looking forward to it for the Pete Rock song alone.

Honestly, Pieces of a Man and In My Lifetime Vol 1 could be all-time personal classics for me if they cut out the weak joints and trimmed the fat.

>I’m looking forward to it for the Pete Rock song alone.
>
>Honestly, Pieces of a Man and In My Lifetime Vol 1 could be
>all-time personal classics for me if they cut out the weak
>joints and trimmed the fat.

I am right there with you! Really like both albums. Products of the times, in terms of the weak joints. If they were making those albums in today’s era, those corny songs would never make the cut lol.

I would say GZA's album is good as well but it hasn't/doesn't got much replay from me over the decades, other than OC's "Jewelz" & Busta's second album all the other albums I don't think I've listened to in a long time.

A few other albums from a solo artist not mentioned above that had a good sophomore album are: Jeru The Damaja "Wrath Of The Math", Erick Sermon "Double Or Nothing", Grand Puba "2000", and Godfather Don "Diabolique".

>I would say GZA's album is good as well but it hasn't/doesn't
>got much replay from me over the decades, other than OC's
>"Jewelz" & Busta's second album all the other albums I don't
>think I've listened to in a long time.
>
>A few other albums from a solo artist not mentioned above that
>had a good sophomore album are: Jeru The Damaja "Wrath Of The
>Math", Erick Sermon "Double Or Nothing", Grand Puba "2000",
>and Godfather Don "Diabolique".
>
>

Double or Nothing and 2000 are my shit!! I wouldn’t think of E and Puba for “soph. albums” because of their group work though. Same reason I didn’t really think about GZA even though he was in the poll and it was an incredible album.

I love that fucking album

Even though I don’t think it’s as good as his debut, it still has very high replay value and contains some Premier gems. Wish Jeru would’ve stuck with Preemo, damn.

2000 has aged well too, at the time I didn’t love it because to me none of the songs stuck out. But hearing it now it’s just really solid.

It had bangers (title track, We Can Take It Outside, etc) and the undeniable classid PUt Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See. But it's uneven, like many of Busta's full length players. Still...


40 Dayz is a fantastic choice. Xzibit is one of my favorites, and I'm on East coast time

I wonder if this post is asking what is the best 2nd album from an artist that came out in the mid 90's or what was the best progression from debut to their second album.

If it's the first, I have to go with It Was Written, if it's the latter I'd go with Jewelz.

Also, where does ATLiens rank in this? It's by a duo so there is a key difference between that album and the ones listed in the poll.

If spread to hip hop in general, ATLiens would be a strong contender

>From Jan. 1995 to Dec. 1999, who do you think had the best
>sophomore album as a solo artist in the New York scene?
>
>DMX - Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, Busta Rhymes -
>When Disaster Strikes... and Fat Joe - Jealous One's Envy
>would be my runners up for the poll.
>
>A lot of good/great sophomore albums came out in 2000 as well,
>or missed the cut dropping in 1994, so it feels a little
>limiting.
>
>

I vote O.C.

When it got back on streaming platforms. What a gem. Monch is a beast. I love his voice too. Hearing him rap makes me happy.

I wouldn't count it either, but I recently ran it back and I like it even more today.

What is the difference between a solo rapper like OC with one producer who produces his whole debut album and a one rapper group like Gangstarr where Guru holds down the rhymes and Primo does all the production?

(This is off topic chronologically because, even if Gangstarr were allowed in this discussion, the second Gangstarr record would be in the wrong time frame for this question, and I apologize for the post jack, but the phrasing of the question made me think of this)

Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com

No one producer produced OCs entire debut or sophomore album

Lol