With 2009's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II, Raekwon managed to conjure a satisfying sequel to one of rap's most hallowed albums. The pressure's off now, and on Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang, Rae sounds at ease — as loquacious as ever, unfurling martial-arts-movie allusions and street-crime narratives in a weave of internal rhymes. ("Lightin' Phillies/Fly-by Willies/Can't come through unless your vehicle 300 chain, silly.") RZA, the production sensei behind Wu-Tang, is absent, but Scram Jones, Bronze Nazareth and others evoke his claustrophobic soundscapes. It's a classic Raekwon record; it sounds like no one else because it sounds so stubbornly like 1995 — still behind the times, and still ahead of the competition.

Listen to "Butter Knives":

Gallery: Random Notes, Rock's Hottest Photos

“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."