CHECK THE TECHNIQUE: Must-Have for True Hip-Hop Fans

For those true hip-hop heads out there, hip-hop journalist Brian Coleman just released a must-have book that should sit alongside your CD/record collection.

CHECK THE TECHNIQUE: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies is more than 450 pages of one-on-one discussions with some of your favorite MCs and hip-hop groups about the inspirations, influences, equipment, samples, beats, beefs and surprises behind 36 of the most well-known and iconic albums. CHECK THE TECHNIQUE is an updated and expanded version of Coleman's original book called RAKIM TOLD ME and includes an introduction from the Roots' Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson.

The book is stuffed with little-known facts and behind-the-scene info like: Why did Eric B. & Rakim named their debut album Paid in Full? In Rakim's words, "When we got the deal with 4th & Bway, we got the check and it said PAID IN FULL on it, so we was lookin' at it and Eric said, 'Yo, that's what we gonna name the album.' I wasn't sure about it at first, but that idea definitely worked. It was a statement."Some of the albums covered in the book are:

Black Moon Enta da Stage
Boogie Down Productions Criminal Minded
Common Resurrection
De La Soul 3 Feet High and Rising
Fugees The Score
MC Lyte Lyte as a Rock
Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Run-D.M.C. Raising Hell
Slick Rick The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory
Wu-Tang Clan Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

Sorry you won't find any Lil Junebug albums in this book collection. CHECK THE TECHNIQUE prides itself on transporting you back to "hip-hop's golden age with the greatest artists of the '80s and '90s."

Since we're talking about classic material, what are some of your favorite hip-hop albums from the 80's and '90s?