The Score lives in that narrow archipelago between the end of the boom-bap Golden Age and the rise of the Jiggy Era. It’s both the last of the old tradition and the first of the next generation. It helped bring hip-hop to the mainstream without the crass commercialism that mars most attempts. No East Coast hip-hop album had previously combined dulcet melodies with such hard beats, crossing over with experimental pop that catered to the masses. It’s the most safe, seditious record ever made.