been listening to the old Wu-Tang albums more than usual recently, everyone knows their debut 'Enter The Wu-Tang' is one of the most important hip hop albums of all time, but the early solo albums are as good if not better, all continuing the kung-fu theme and featuring numerous Wu-Tang guest appearances but still conveying the individual styles of the respective artists...
Method Man's 'Tical' from '94 is sick, all the beats are dark as ****, RZA's production must be second to none when it comes to hip hop...
Then there's '...Cuban Links' ('95) from Raekwon and Ghostface Killah which has to be the best hip hop album of all time, truely paints a dark picture of drug dealing and violance that really grips you, again RZA's production is unbelieveable, another classic from '95 is GZA's 'Liquid Swords' which is awesome and ODB's album which has some timeless moments...
in '96 Ghostface released 'Ironman' with Raekwon and Cappadonna, again, seminal hip hop that beats almost anything that you'll hear from todays artists including the Wu-Tang themselves...