41. Company Flow - Funcrusher Plus

Company Flow's labyrinthine lyrical content is so rich, listening closely and at high volume is a necessity.

Polysyllabic words are thrown out at high speeds, referencing everything from obscure sci-fi literature to outsider politics to popular music's lack of integrity. El-P and Bigg Jus stand firmly as opposition to the superficial, playing contrarian to the sacred cows of radio rap by packing every verse with as much abstruse substance as possible. Hell, even when they say nothing, "it's a beautiful use of negative space."

Musically, El-P's multi-layered, low-tech soundscapes are just as mysterious, evoking dense, static-laden field recordings. Eerie, distant piano, horn and sitar are juxtaposed by glitchy and skittish digital blips, disconcerting film clips and water-logged echo. A tone of paranoia cloaks every track like a veil, making for an unsettling, but unified sonic experience.

The culmination of lyrical and musical ingenuity is also the most personal. "Last Good Sleep" is El-P's harrowing portrait of domestic hell, depicting a frightened child whose adulthood is haunted by an abusive stepfather. Film noir horn, jarring tonal loops and ominous "'til the day I die" choral snippets speak volumes about the haunting terror that is the human memory.

The lasting impact of a violent household may seem like serious subject matter for self-financed musicians, but Funcrusher Plus is no tempest in a teacup. This is a full-fledged masterpiece, responsible for expanding hip-hop's umbrella to allow high-concept, introspective and esoteric work.

45. Ultramagnetic MCs - Critical Beatdown

As described in Paul Edwards' How to Rap, rapping, in its simplest terms, is a blend of content, flow and delivery. Basically, a musician would construct a rhyming poem detailing their emotions, which would then be conveyed through their vocal cadences.

Ultramagnetic MCs, led by chief lyricist, Kool Keith and part-time rapper/full-time producer, Ced-Gee, intentionally disrupted their content, flow and delivery, much like free jazz disrupted chord changes and tempo. What came from this break with conformity was both danceable and droll, a fully unique creation born from the deconstructed elements of hip-hop.

Kool Keith's odd delivery is like an off-kilter game of word association. As he barrels through verses at breakneck speed, he defames opposing MCs like a vivisectionist, chopping heads and dissecting bodies. He fashions himself a mad scientist, and he might be right, since his syncopated delivery and schlocky lyrical content may have given life to the gory absurdity of horrorcore and the abstract spaciness that would shape rappers like Del the Funky Homosapien and El-P.

Keith's partner-in-crime, Ced-Gee, produces the record with a similarly skewed vision. As chaotic as the Bomb Squad, Gee layers each track with tinnitus-inducing vocal squeals, hyper-kinetic samples and skittish record scratching. His take on funk has more in common with the "chopped and screwed" mixtape movement than Sly Stone, since an organ blip or random synth beat can explode out of nowhere and repeat endlessly, giving the LP an almost nervous energy.

It's this verve and sense of adventure that have made Critical Beatdown so timeless. Kool Keith and Ced-Gee purposely tried to subvert hip-hop cliché and reconstruct its language and sound. What they actualized was made of hip-hop's puzzle pieces, but alien in its construct and presentation.