Rumors are swirling around the GOP that Mitt Romney might seek the Presidency once again during the 2016 election, granted he can secure the Republican nomination. It's rare to see failed candidates attempt to run again—we haven't had a second-run candidate win since Richard Nixon in 1968—but that doesn't mean he can't do better this time around. To highlight this potential we at Music Times have selected six performers from Romney's favorite genre, hip-hop (kidding, of course), who released their best album during their second try. Performers with less than three albums were excluded.
By All Means Necessary by Boogie Down Productions (1988)
By All Means Necessary proved a crucial turning point in the career and direction of emcee KRS-One, who both performed and produced the record solo under the alias Boogie Down Productions as a tribute to his recently deceased collaborator Scott La Rock. The pair grabbed attention for their debut Criminal Minded during 1987, an album cited as seminal in the East Coast gangsta rap scene, but KRS changed his tune when La Rock was killed in a shooting later that year. The second album from the rapper is now cited as one of the original politically conscious hip-hop albums, as KRS amplified both his calls against the powers holding the 'hood down and against his neighbors for propagating violence in the community.
Paul's Boutique by The Beastie Boys (1989)
Looks like we're already drawing controversy from all of the Beastie Boy (and Rick Rubin) fans who correctly point out that 1986's Licensed to Ill packs all of the hits. Fair enough. But where Ill had singles, Boutique had influence on the rest of hip-hop. The trio had hired Los Angeles duo the Dust Brothers, noted for their masterful and dense sample-based beats, to lay the ground layer for this album and the shockwave was huge. Chuck D has since stated that everyone in the game was blown away by the mass of sampling and it cleared paths for everyone from Danger Mouse to Kanye West (and every sampling-based lawsuit in between).
The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest (1991)
"Jazz-rap" is one of many conceptual genre terms dreamt up to describe music that doesn't fit quite as cleanly onto a shelf as you might like. A Tribe Called Quest may have been the original act to inspire the term and to date it's still one of few to uphold it. The Low End Theory may have included Downbeat Hall-of-Famer Ron Carter on bass but it wasn't necessarily a high-minded concept rising above the common listener. Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Phife Dawg may have connected the two genres via shared rhythms and improvisations, but tracks such as "Rap Promoter" and "The Infamous Date Rape" rang true with all listeners.
Death Certificate by Ice Cube (1991)
If anyone knows how to one up himself after a controversial debut, it's Ice Cube. The emcee first rose to prominence on N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton, pushed the envelope even more with his solo debut AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and then inconceivably brought it even more hardcore on Death Certificate, which featured the corpse of Uncle Sam on the cover. Many a performer had already used anti-American, homophobic and potentially racist language on their albums but few handled the rest of their words so well as to justify it. Look, we're not agreeing with anything Ice Cube's saying here but it's tough to deny how coldblooded Ice Cube is at his best.
Hell Hath No Fury by Clipse (2006)
Clipse, the duo formed by Thornton brothers No Malice and Pusha T, had plenty of time to make sure Hell Hath No Fury sounded great. The pair, providers of some of the smartest hustle lyrics you'll hear since the turn of the century, had to sue Jive Records to get off their record deal and head over to Re-Up. The lingering frustration from having this one in the chamber comes out on the tape. That new inspiration brings out the best (and meanest) from the duo who take it out on the world across the album's dozen tracks. Combine that with more production from fellow Virginia Beach natives The Neptunes and it still appeals to the mainstream.
I'll Sleep When You're Dead by El-P (2007)
There may come a time when we look at Run The Jewels' 2014 release as that duo's best (and second) album. Until then we can look at the rest of the catalogue from member El-P, who has released multiple LPs with alternative hip-hop icons Company Flow and three of his own solo albums prior to teaming up with Killer Mike. The emcee/producer's second release I'll Sleep When You're Dead takes all of the madhouse ADHD beats from his work with Flow and his solo debut Fantastic Damage and refines it with narratives that take his cynical, dystopian themes and make them less spastic. Some of these tracks invite the term "prog-hop."
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