GZA – Liquid Swords
When this album came out, I didn't stop listening to it for an entire year. So much music comes out now that to try and hear all of it is hard, there are few constants. But with this, Liquid Swords was just one of those CDs that never, ever, came out of my car. The way it opened was mind-blowing and its style of storytelling was unique: every single line is like a painting, every single line is a fucking picture. It had this constant stream of mad storytelling that was quite unique to the genre. When somebody comes along with something so different and special like that, a moment that hooks you from the start, it blows your mind. It was a time when I thought I'd heard everything and when it came along it was just killer. Moments in music like this are what I look for, what I seek out – these are the moments that make it all so special.