Ol' Dirty Bastard - N***a Please [Split Yellow/Black/White]

Ol' Dirty Bastard's second and final studio album arrived in September 1999, in the middle of the most publicly chaotic stretch of his life, and it is somehow the funniest and most focused record he made. Whatever else was happening, the man could still get in a booth and be completely, unmistakably himself.

The Neptunes produced "Got Your Money," which is the reason most people own this record — Kelis on the hook, a bassline that will not quit, and Dirty delivering the least apologetic performance of his career. But the album is deeper than the single. "Recognize" opens with Chris Rock doing an extended bit. "I Can't Wait" and "Rollin' Wit You" are RZA productions with the grime left in. "Good Morning Heartache" closes it on something close to tenderness, which nobody saw coming.

He died five years later, and no rapper since has managed the particular thing he did — half comedian, half soul singer, entirely committed to whichever note he landed on. The Wu-Tang catalog has no shortage of great records; this is the one that sounds like nobody else could have made it.

Reissued as a double LP on split yellow, black and white vinyl by Elektra and Get On Down.