In the past two years, Miami MC Rick Ross has been dissed by 50 Cent, mocked as a phony gangsta when photos surfaced of his tenure as a corrections officer, and slapped with a $10 million lawsuit by his namesake, reformed drug kingpin Freeway Ricky Ross. He's also made the best records of his career. Here Ross surrounds himself with big-name guests (Kanye West, T.I.) and pours out smart rhymes over sleek, synth-heavy beats. The old Ross was mired in drug-rap clichés; today, he sounds easeful, letting his basso profundo do the heavy lifting in the Jay-Z collabo "Free Mason," and gloating with wit and goofiness, of which he once seemed incapable.

“Too Close”

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'"