On October 6, 1998, three very different rap albums hit shelves on the same Tuesday: Cypress Hill’s IV, Kurupt’s double album Kuruption! and Bizzy Bone’s solo debut Heaven’z Movie. One release day gave you West Coast smoke, a Death Row alum going independent and a Bone Thug stepping out alone. That’s 1998 in a nutshell.
Cypress Hill: IV
Released on Ruffhouse/Columbia, IV was produced entirely by DJ Muggs and led by the single “Dr. Greenthumb,” with “Tequila Sunrise” and “Audio X” following. MC Eiht and Barron Ricks made guest appearances, and the cover put skeletons in the classic see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil pose. Reviews were split. Rolling Stone called it the group’s hardest-hitting LP since their 1991 debut, while AllMusic panned it. The fans settled it anyway: IV went gold in the U.S. Gamers might remember it too, since three of its tracks landed in the 1999 PC game Kingpin: Life of Crime.
Kurupt: Kuruption!
After leaving Death Row, Kurupt launched his own label, Antra Records, and came out swinging with Kuruption!. The concept was bold for the era: one disc labeled “West Coast” and one labeled “East Coast,” only a couple of years after the coastal beef cost the culture so much. Guests included Daz Dillinger, Noreaga, Tray Deee and Dr. Dre. The album debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 with about 82,000 copies sold in its first week and reached No. 4 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart. Lead single: “We Can Freak It.”
Bizzy Bone: Heaven’z Movie
The biggest commercial winner of the day was Heaven’z Movie. Bizzy’s first solo album opened at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with about 130,000 copies sold, hit No. 2 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart and went gold within a month. It was a personal, confessional record compared with his work in Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, though sample clearance problems forced four tracks, including “Roll Call,” to be cut short.
The Legacy
Tuesday release days used to hit like this: you walked into the store and had to choose. Twenty-eight years later, this one still shows how wide rap had gotten by ’98, from Muggs’ dusty, smoked-out beats to Kurupt’s bicoastal statement to Bizzy’s rapid-fire harmonies. Three different lanes, and all three found an audience.
Which one were you copping first? And if you missed our last Archive drop, revisit Common Sense’s Resurrection at 32.
Sources: Wikipedia: IV | Wikipedia: Kuruption! | Wikipedia: Heaven’z Movie
