No year in hip-hop history sticks out quite like 1996: It marked the height of the East Coast–West Coast feud, the debut of several artists who would rule the next few decades, and the last moment before battle lines between “mainstream” and “underground” were fully drawn. The 1996 Rap Yearbook, a recurring series from The Ringer, will explore the landmark releases and moments from a quarter-century ago that redefined how we think of the genre.
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The 1996 Rap Yearbook
This recurring series from The Ringer will explore the landmark releases and moments from a quarter-century ago that redefined how we think about rap
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August 6, 2021
Daisies, Aged: A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and the End of the Native Tongues Era
In 1996, the two most prominent groups from hip-hop’s most prominent conscious collective released tense works that reacted to the evolving genre around them—and signaled the end of the crew as fans knew it
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August 3, 2021
How UGK’s ‘Ridin’ Dirty’ Went From Afterthought to a Crown Jewel of Southern Rap
Exploring Pimp C and Bun B’s magnum opus, a quarter-century after its release
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July 7, 2021
Looking for the Message in Nas’s ‘It Was Written’
Twenty-five years after it was widely panned at the time of its release, the Queensbridge MC’s second album is hailed as a classic. But what did the discourse at the time get right—and what did it miss?
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June 24, 2021
Go Sell It on the Mountain: Jay-Z and the Myth of ‘Reasonable Doubt’
The biggest figure rap has ever seen had to get some things off his chest before he could get to the business of building his legend
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May 7, 2021
Dr. Octagon and the Surgical Perverseness of Kool Keith
Twenty-five years ago, the Ultramagnetic MCs rapper teamed up with Dan the Automator for a stone-cold classic and one of the wildest excursions in hip-hop history
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April 30, 2021
The Eternal Hymn of “Tha Crossroads”
Twenty-five years ago, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony took the real-life tragedy that surrounded them and turned it into something that transcended their genre—and made good on the promise Eazy-E saw in them
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April 19, 2021
The Improbable Empire: Master P’s ‘Ice Cream Man’ and the Birth of a Southern Rap Dynasty
The No Limit CEO’s first major work turns 25
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March 25, 2021
How Busta Rhymes Harnessed the Dungeon Dragon on His Classic Debut
Busta reflects on ‘The Coming’ 25 years after it made deep impact
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February 12, 2021
In ‘The Score,’ the Fugees Made Refugees the Heroes of an Epic Tale
Twenty-five years ago, the Fugees masterfully turned resistance into art—and gave voice to displaced people worldwide
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February 12, 2021
The Triumph and Tragedy of Tupac’s ‘All Eyez on Me’
Twenty-five years ago, Tupac released his biggest album—his debut for Death Row. But even at the apex, death and destruction loomed.