Magnum Opus

For a short span of time during the early ’90s, the offshoots of EPMD stylistically held the entire New York City rap scene on lockdown. While Erick Sermon’s Def Squad scored early and often with Redman leading the charge, PMD’s Hit Squad was left hoping to follow up the success of Das EFX with the release of Magnum Opus by Top Quality. Despite its obscurity and lackluster reception, the album reveals an uncanny panorama of East Coast hip-hop circa 1993. Complete with references to Philly blunts and “buddha,” formatted at times in pig Latin and abrasively delivered by a roughneck emcee, the clichés on Magnum Opus are abundant. But Top Quality actually proves why such confrontational music became so overwhelmingly popular in the first place. With a lyrical versatility seldom expressed within a single rap album, Top Quality pulls out all of the stops in order to outwit his beats. Indeed, the title track has become somewhat famous as an exercise in creative sampling. Other highlights include the story of the “Graveyard Shift,” along with a few moments of compelling production provided by Charlie Marotta.