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Top Quality
Magnum Opus
Release Date: 1993 11 14
Running Time: 39:46
Label: Hit Squad

For a short span of time during the early '90s, the offshoots of EPMD stylistically held the entire New York City rap scene on lockdown. While Erick Sermon's Def Squad scored early and often with Redman leading the charge, PMD's Hit Squad was left hoping to follow up the success of Das EFX with the release of Magnum Opus by Top Quality. Despite its obscurity and lackluster reception, the album reveals an uncanny panorama of East Coast hip-hop circa 1993. Complete with references to Philly blunts and "buddha," formatted at times in pig Latin and abrasively delivered by a roughneck emcee, the clichés on Magnum Opus are abundant. But Top Quality actually proves why such confrontational music became so overwhelmingly popular in the first place. With a lyrical versatility seldom expressed within a single rap album, Top Quality pulls out all of the stops in order to outwit his beats. Indeed, the title track has become somewhat famous as an exercise in creative sampling. Other highlights include the story of the "Graveyard Shift," along with a few moments of compelling production provided by Charlie Marotta. Robert Gabriel, All Music Guide

Tracks:

	Title	Composer	Time
1	Messages From Uptown	Robinson	3:15
2	Someone So Fly	Robinson	2:51
3	Caught up in the Flizny	Robinson	3:25
4	Magnum Opus	Henderson, Robinson	3:42
5	Check the Credentials	Robinson	3:50
6	What	Robinson	4:44
7	You Gotta Check It	Robinson	3:54
8	Something New	Robinson	2:44
9	I Can't Hear You	Robinson	3:23
10	Graveyard Shift	Robinson	3:48
11	U Know My Name	Hooper, Robinson	4:10