Language wise, this is the dirtiest entry on this list, but Black Sheep; so named because they deemed themselves the outcasts of the Native Tongues collection of rap bands - including De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and Jungle Brothers - are proud to not fit in any particular, neat category. Fooling the listener, the first track blasts the eardrums with a ridiculous rap about a guy gunning down his family in the morning because his cereal was cold, heightened with the staccato rat-a-tat-tat of a machine gun, only to have the rapper wake up and realize it was all a dream. The next song, "Butt in the Meantime," lays down the real foundation of what to expect on the rest of the album: smooth samples, slick vocals, and clever lyrics; "(I'll) give you more than bits and kibble/Or is it kibbles and bits that become hits?/Now there's a riddle." A surprising amount of humour also features strongly, most notably when Dres is messing with a young lady: "So what's up with your mother?/Does she look as good as you?" The most well-known song here is "The Choice Is Yours," a.k.a. "You can go with this/or you can go with that." That jam had everyone chanting, even if they hated rap. (It has since unfortunately been used for a car commercial). So, dirty or not, this debut was a hip-hop classic; "And you can't beat that with a bat!"
Michael Perone has written for The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore City Paper, The Island Ear (now titled Long Island Press), and The Long Island Voice, a short-lived spinoff of The Village Voice. He currently works as an Editor in Manhattan. And he still thinks Michael Keaton was the best Batman.
