Ever present in hip hop lyrics are tales of street dealings, mostly in drugs, sometimes in women, and sometimes pure violence. In fact tales of drugs have gone as far back as the famous “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. As rap grew, so did the stories, providing more and more detail and giving more and more insight to the world of street dreams and realities. While many songs touched on various aspects of this underworld, there were two complete albums that play through like movies, life stories, biographies, entire pictures of the drug world. Each album played the role separately, one giving the rawest description, the cook up of sorts, the drugs on the table, ready to go, and the day-to-day bullshit that goes on to move that product. The other showcased the high life, the riches, the nice clothes and cars, the upside of the hustle, the kingpin’s manual for poppin’ bottles. One album looked at it from the kitchen, the other looked at it from the club. One from the work, one from the payoff. Together these albums make for the perfect combination of the drug life, both extremes with which one involved sees. With both artists on the verge of releasing new albums, both going back to old formulas of sorts, it seems fitting to take a look at the albums that defined and influenced one of the biggest aspects of hip hop, the drug dealer. The first to do it was Raekwon the Chef from legendary group Wu-Tang Clan with Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… in 1995. One year later up and coming Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z gave us Reasonable Doubt. There are many other albums that contributed to the Mafioso movement in rap, Nas’ It Was Written, Mobb Deep’s The Infamous and AZ’s Doe or Die, but the genre was rooted in and flawlessly done with Rae and Jay’s masterpieces.
