Lately I've been digging in the crates, listening to a lot of hip-hop from the years 1990 - 1993 - a time when there was a lot of good stuff coming out. It was part of hip-hop's 'golden era' after all - of which some of the releases sound as good today as they did  then, while others sound even better in retrospect.

Case in point is the amazing 1991 self-titled debut from Organized Konfusion on Hollywood Basic. Wow! It is so good!  Which is why it is held dear to so many hip-hop heads today. It is truly a classic.  And people recognized that at the time - critics at least, although the public didn't make it a commercial hit by any means.  Although as the years progress the album gains more and more accolades.

Organized Konfusion was the talented duo of Pharoahe Monch and Prince Po who also produced this classic debut. When they started out Monch was the beatboxer Po the main rapper but with the undeniable superior lyrical talents he possessed he soon moved to center stage mic to shine - as evident throughout this amazing collection. My personal favorite tracks are Open Your Eyes Fudge Pudge, Walk Into The Sun, Releasing Hypnotical Gases, Audience Pleasers, Prisoners of War, Organized Konfusion, and the single Who Stole the Last Piece of Chicken (see video above).

And listening back to the album all the way through several times in a row was so rewarding and enjoyable for several reasons. One is that unlike some other great hip hop groups from that era (Tribe, Gang Starr, etc) Organized Konfusion havent been played to death. Another enjoyable factor of this album is that it just focuses on the talents of the two members. Its not weighed down with a million guests and crew members coming up - like so many albums tend to be.  In fact the only guest here is O.C. (DITC) who makes a cameo on the single "Fudge Pudge."

Three years later Organized Konfusion returned with the follow up album Stress: The Extinction Agenda which was a great album and commercially it even did better than its predecessor but their self-tiled debut is their greatest work.