Released 25 years ago this past spring after an independent release a year before, this is the first album by underground hip-hop duo Mars ILL. (I originally had this album's release date on my calendar for 25 years ago today, but I think I got that wrong, and I still want to talk about it today. Now the Internet seems to think it was released by Uprok Records in late May or early June of 2001.) Manchild is the emcee and Dust is the DJ, and on this album, they deliver 70 minutes of fast-moving raps with many layers of music and samples on each track. I've listened to this album hundreds of times and I keep hearing new things I never picked up on earlier listens. Dust's musical beds lean heavily into very old, obscure records, and also occasionally some spoken word recordings. I think I probably heard "Sphere Of Hip Hop, Pt. 2" and "Rap Fans" on some online radio and I immediately had to get this album as they were stuck in my head for months. And there was much more than that here: "Love's Not", "Black Market" and "Try Again" are also really memorable with excellent raps and music. And there's some fun DJ Dust interludes like "We'll Live Underground" and "Send A Man". Sadly, it seems like this masterpiece is not currently on streaming services, maybe due to licensing issues, so you might need to score a used CD to enjoy this release.

Release Year: 2000 / 2001