The following is a Designated Cheerleader piece by @sciallacooper for the Best Album of 1991 tournament. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you follow the link to vote in the tournament. Thanks!

The death of Organized Konfusion (formerly Simply 2 Positive MCs)'s mentor and producer Paul C in 1989 might have left a less talented pair of rappers fairly directionless for the next few years, but this tragic event would only push Prince Poetry and Pharoahe Monch to their limits for their first full-length release, their newfound motto, as Monch recently put it in an interview: "Fuck the 16-bar verse."

So, two years later, the group released their debut album, Organized Konfusion. What has perhaps become the album's most famous track, "Releasing Hypnotical Gases," represents the highly technical lyricism that would become synonymous with the group's name, whilst the high-concept, politically conscious narrative of Monch and Po rapping from the perspective of a flesh-burning virus employed in chemical warfare would set the stage for many of their most acclaimed songs released afterwards ("Stray Bullet," "Hate"). This track also highlights some of the record's stellar production, with apocalyptic, bubbling beats complimenting Monch's dense wordplay and disturbing imagery.

Prince Po would likely have been the headliner of any other hip-hop group at the time, but Pharoahe Monch's abilities have remained truly unparalleled. Monch has found much mainstream success since the breakup of Organized Konfusion, but he's certainly separated himself and his style from the oft-maligned 'lyrical miracle' rappers, as, more often than not, no matter how absurd his Coltrane-infused rhyme schemes and flows can be, every syllable seems to be in the exact right place - take, for example, his much-lauded verses on the seventh track, "Prisoners of War," in which Monch explains the socio-political power of his raps, and hip-hop in general:

"Poetical medical medicine for the cerebellum

I divert 'em and flirt 'em, insert 'em then I repel 'em"

"Like a villain I came in the darkness to spark the literature for sure

When I rhyme for the prisoners of war"

The two MCs would hit bigger and better three years later with their masterwork Stress: The Extinction Agenda, but the insanely advanced stylings of their self-titled record (again, released in 1991!) mean that its significance and influence on the underground hip-hop scene and, eventually, hip-hop at large, cannot be overstated.

– @sciallacooper