O.C.’s debut album, Word Life, was released on this day in 1994. It’s a good one.

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Picking up on yesterday’s Beat of the Day thread where Bluenatic and Chyll Will listed their 20 favorite Hip Hop albums, I figured I’d pick 20 more, careful not to repeat any of their selections. They already took many of my favorites records: from Slick Rick and EPMD–damn you Will for making it a tie!–Tribe, Pharcyde, Nas, Common Sense.

So, with all due respect to killer records by Biz, P.E., Ice T, Dr. Dre, Uncle L, Snoop, 3rd Base, Leaders of the New, Black Sheep, Ultramag, Jay Z, MC Lyte, Ice Cube, Artifacts, Quasimoto, Nice and Smooth, Kurious, and J-Live, here’s my 20:

“Any Any Means Necessary” BDP

“Straight Out the Jungle” The Jungle Brothers

“Unfinished Business” EPMD

“The Sun Rises in the East” Jeru the Damaja

“Three Feet High and Rising” De La Soul

“Funky Technition” Lord Finesse

“Stunts, Blunts and Hip Hop” Diamond D

“Daily Operation” Gang Starr

“Life of a Kid in the Ghetto” Ed O.G. and the Bulldogs

“Breaking Atoms” Main Source

“Muddy Waters” Redman

“The Beatnuts” Beatnuts

“It’s a Big Daddy Thing” Big Daddy Kane

“Straight Outta Compton” N.W.A.

“21 and Over” Tha Alkaholiks

“Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers)” Wu Tang

“People’s Instinctive Travels and Paths of Rhythm” A Tribe Called Quest

“The Infamous” Mobb Deep

“Enter Da Stage” Black Moon

“Runaway Slave” Showbiz and AG

“Word Life” O.C.