Boogie Down Productions - By All Means Necessary

After Scott La Rock's death, KRS-One (a.k.a. Kris Parker) carried on the BDP name with this mammoth album and its uneasy balance between violence and nonviolence, jazz beats and hard-core hip-hop, the pride of boasting and the pride of the teacher he was trying to become. It leads off with KRS's declaration of "My Philosophy"--as philosophy, it was a little inconsistent, but at least it was something, and "Stop the Violence" cuts deep both as philosophy and as a superheavy reggae groove. Kris is funny, too--"Jimmy" introduced a deathless euphemism to the language--but he's mostly concerned here with demonstrating his supremacy ("I'm Still #1"), memorializing his partner, and charting his own growth from a maverick to a leader. --Douglas Wolk