Ultramagnetic MC's

The Bronx-based Ultramagnetic MC's -- MC Kool Keith, MC/producer Ced Gee, and DJs Moe Love and T. R. Love -- debuted with 1988's Critical Beatdown, which blasts off with frenetic scratching on "Watch Me Now" and inflamed tea-kettle whistles on "Ease Back," and keeps the energy level off the meters. Funky James Brown samples and raw boom-bap beats fly at a fast and furious pace, while Ced Gee's commanding bellow and Kool Keith's urgent blurts take turns snapping necks. Keith steals the show, maintaining a razor-sharp delivery even when spitting odd insults such as "Your head is triangle/Like a mango/Something I snack on" or rhyming over a "Louie Louie"–esque party riff on "Traveling at the Speed of Thought." The result was a bona fide classic of hip-hop's "golden age" of the late '80s and early '90s, an album that was mostly ignored at the time but whose reputation has grown exponentially in the years since.

Five years later, Ultramagnetic released the almost-as compelling The Four Horsemen. "This ain't no Flintstone or no Bedrock type shit," Kool Keith assures on "Checkin' My Style," and he follows through with seeds of the unhinged lyricism that would later mark his solo efforts. The beats pack the same unstoppable energy that Critical Beatdown delivered, but producers Ced Gee and Godfather Don also add chaotic layers and abstract tangents into the mix. The jazzy vibe of "See the Man on the Street" bristles into an abrasive underlying buzz, and "Raise It Up" is fueled by a rowdy group chant. The album's highlight, though, is "Saga of Dandy, the Devil & Day," an earnest, slow-rolling tribute to the unsung talents of baseball's Negro Leagues.

B-Side Companion, a collection of remixes, live cuts, and radio promo versions, is essential only for Ultramagnetic fanatics; many of the remixes aren't substantially different from their originals, and the collection never really gels. (KEMBREW MCLEOD)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide