Honourable Mentions - Diggin' In The Crates Crew, The Pharcyde, Method Man and Redman
Despite not making the list, there are certain groups who still deserve to be mentioned for what they brought to the hip hop world. California's The Pharcyde had two back-to-back hits with Runnin' and Drop from their Labcabincalifornia album, which meshed the chilled out west coast sound with backpack rapping lyricism from New York which made them so different from everyone else coming out of that state during the 90s. If rappers with great punchlines and fantastic wordplay were your thing, then Method Man and Redman were the group you listened to. The east coast heavy hitters combined spectacularly over a plethora of tracks and were an instant favourite with fans, especially with the single Da Rockwilder. Casual hip hop fans may not know who the Diggin' in the Crates Crew are but their legacy in the rap game cannot be denied. The group featured a mixture of top end producers, like Lord Finesse, Buckwild and Diamond D, and rappers like the legendary Big L and the very underrated Fat Joe.
