Das EFX - Dead Serious - 1992 - East West
This album ushered a whole new sound when it dropped. It had that whole EPMD-sound for sure, but the whole "-iggity" thing was just so weird and awesome at the time. Plus, the rapid fire lyrics were full of various pop-culture pieces. Very unique and interesting. It definitely holds up today as well. The classics "Mic Checka" and "They Want EFX" are well... classics. But there's a lot of cool deeper cuts like the crazy epic beat on "If Only" or "Klap Ya Handz," which was the track that got them signed and would later be referenced on Tribe's own "Clap Your Hands." It's also interesting how they tried to balance pop and an underground aesthetic. In the same song that "shit" is edited out, the word "fuck" appears twice. It's almost charming in a baffling way. Similarly, even when the beats tried to stay rugged and they were rapping about hanging out in sewers, they also recorded a song about shitting your pants... which is just bizarre. But again unique.