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.

“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.