If the RZA had not come up with his new theories on the postmodern than this would be unquestionably the best hip hop album of all time. Don't get me wrong - it may be the best ever. But it also might not be. Feel me?I have cried listening to "Respiration" and "Thieves in the Night." If there has ever been a greater expression of the urban experience, well... I must have missed it. And I haven't missed much in hip hop. Trust me, if you don't own this album, you are missing out on something special. This is not just one of the greatest albums to emerge from hip hop's (semi) underground. This isn't just one of the greatest albums in hip hop history. This is one of the greatest albums to be produced - by any artist in any genre - in the past thirty years. This is, to our culture, what Foucault was to the original wave of postmodern thinking... in other words, the expression of our selves in this evolving musical landscape would not be complete without this group or these words or the ideas that are expressed.If all you see it crime in the city when you listen to hip hop, you need to breath this in and let your narrative grow to help explain this existence that we are all participating in.
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