Black Moon - Enta Da Stage
Released in '93 mere weeks before that other entrance, Enter the Wu Tang, Black Moon's debut is the sleeper in the race for most influential hip hop record of the 90s. While it still maintained the boom bap that was typical of the early nineties underground, these songs were noticeably harder, more focused on the dark side. Along with introducing a number of major players in the New York underground, the record helped elevate the profile (at least respect-wise) of a New York that had mostly taken a back seat to Cali for the previous few years. Of course, Wu Tang, Nas, and eventually Biggie (who combined the style found here with pop hooks to enormous success) can lay claim to most of the real success in that department. For purists, though, this is as essential as those artists' debut records, and not to be overlooked in any hip hop chronology.