On 2007's Eardrum, alt-rap hero Talib Kweli teamed with big-name producers (will.i.am) and fancy guest stars (Justin Timberlake), hiking his backpack all the way up to Number Two on the album charts. But Kweli's flirtation with the mainstream is over. Gutter Rainbows is unabashed conscious-rap classicism, with a luscious, string-swamped soul sound and rhymes that tout the MC's left-of-center cred. ("This ain't fashion-rap/I'm bringing the passion back.") Kweli's rhyming is skillful but can be dull; he's at his best when he tells stories: the U.S. Army veteran's travails in "Tater Tot," and the life-on-the-road narrative "Mr. International," in which Kweli, like the good conscious MC that he is, boasts not about riches or rims, but his PDA. "Don't be mad," he raps, "'cause I'm writing this rhyme on my iPad."

Listen to "Mr. International":

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“Tonight's the Night”

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."