A sickness of the bubonic mediocre strain has descended on the houses of Hip-Hop and TSS. In the case of Hip-Hop, artists are chronically regurgitating albums slightly better than listenable, and in the case of TSS… well… TC is forcibly bleeding the lot of them of their 3 Cig just desserts.

A plague on both our houses.

To brighten team morale, the TSS crew opened a discussion of albums worthy of the perfect 5 Cig rating. We tried to stay away from the conventional Illmatics and Aqueminis of the world, and dug into our visor CD-holders to pull out OUR top picks (Read: Personal favorites). These are the albums that deserve all the superlatives we could muster, all the accolades we could award and all the “yadamnrights” we could hurl in defense of their excellence.

Ladies and Germs…

Crew Love: The 5 Cig Edition

Chris “Preach” Smith

D’Angelo – Voodoo (2000)

Few artists can follow up a great debut album with an even stronger sequel. D’Angelo succeeds with this album, running the gamut from sensual love ballads (“Untitled/How Does It Feel”) to head-nodding Hip-Hop infused songs of reflection (“Devil’s Pie”), to wistful odes to the Motherland (“Africa”) all with an ease of a master showman. From the Zora Neale Hurston inspired album covers to D’s impeccable smoky voice, Voodoo is an album that lives up to its name literally and figuratively.

Contraâ„¢

Soprano – Puisqu’il faut Vivre (2008)

Language barriers aside, Puisqu’il faut Vivre is everything to expect from a Hip-Hop album today. Instead of succumbing to the trends set by Booba and other 50 Cent-like, anger-management-needing rappers dominating the scene, Soprano stayed true to his definition of what an artist should be, resulting in a heartfelt, intellectually stimulating, insightful, exciting and enjoyable chef-d’oeuvre. He exhibits unparalleled cadence, especially on the profound intro to “Tant Que Dieu (Remix)” and outstanding thematic consistency in every single track, earning each and every cig that this album gets, and setting the bar extremely high for his sophomore effort. I doff my hat to you Mr. Soprano, and congratulations on the birth of the little one.

Darius Sinclairâ„¢

John Legend – Get Lifted (2004)

Telling the truth never worked for me in relationships. But considering the awesomeness in writing and real-life storytelling on Get Lifted, I can keep on lying because this is telling it all. An excellent raconteur, John Legend (and co.) put together a comprehensive fuse of rhythmic soul and quiet storm sounds with love lyrics that would make Marvin two-step in his grave. Impeccable production and a variety of sounds make for an impressive debut, and a timeless display of rhythm and blues at its best. Read the rest of this entry »

“…And Take Notes.”

Depending on who you ask, there have been between roughly forty to sixty Five Cig (5 Mics is done with, yaheard?) albums released in hip-hop’s history. If we take 1984′s Run DMC as the first, then we’ve averaged about two a year to date. However, recent times have seen a worse drought than Chicago’s weed scene. The Blueprint, released seven years ago, was the last album to receive a perfect rating from all media sources. While various magazines and websites have anointed an album or two since, we’re a long way from the mid 90′s. Which leaves one to wonder – what the hell happened? Read the rest of this entry »