These three recent releases can all be seen as various reactions to the Puffy-Pop-big$$$ axis that has taken over rap in the past couple of years. It’s not unique for rappers to dis the mainstream, and Jeru probably introduced the best metaphor for puff-bashing – but the way that each of these artists tell the world that Badboy is bullshit is as telling as the music itself…     

The subject of Lauryn Hill’s track "Lost Ones" has been widely reported in the media as being fellow fugee Wyclef Jean. Maybe it is, but the overriding theme of the track, as well as "Superstar" is that music needs invention, not imitation.       Before hearing her new record, you might ask   "Isn't this the same woman who rode Roberta Flack's cheesy song to glory?" And it is, but songs like "Superstar," which exemplify Lauryn’s idea of "what an artist should be" as she deftly weaves a nearly unrecognizable sample of the Doors "light my fire" with her own original singing, as well as live bass, drums, and percusssion, are the new Lauryn. She’s telling the puffed up $$$ hungry rappers of the world that sampling may be the life-blood of rap, but vampires like Ma$e and even her own Fugees collaborators are sucking the power out of sampled music.      

Lauryn sing/raps "music is supposed to inspire," which is more of a boast than anything else she drops on the album. Unlike the idle threats of her foes, she backs it up with a superbly rich album.      

Black Eyed Peas are obsessed with dissing puffy and his crew. But they spend so much time on it, they forget the reason that Puffy has sold so many records—phat production with beats that hit you hard,  which is what this album lacks completely. There are signs of promise here in the rapping style and some of the writing (think Tribe) , but this is basically a flat album with less to offer than the hype it disses in nearly every track.      

Goodie Mob doesn't need to dis Puff Daddy/Bad Boy/etc in words' the music speaks for itself. This is Southern hip-hop from the spirit world. With live guitar, low, slow, beats with occasional drum n bass-like snares and cymbals, and a multitude of unique and distinct rapping styles, this album has too much going for it to bother with dissing anyone else. Besides, the Mob is concerned with the necessity and heartbreak of new experience "Sky High," the state of women and Black women in particular, "Beautiful Skin," and the state of the Black man in White America, 1998. These are the self-proclaimed "leaders of the spirit world," and instead of boasting about tecs and sacs, we find out that "poetry is deep in the team." Puffy's ghost is vanquished and forgotten within seconds of putting this album on the player and turning it up loud. --DJ Snax

USOUNDS | 1998