With so much amazing new music to discover, it's hard to justify spending much time dwelling on nostalgic hits from yesteryear. But when this old freestyle cypher from Arsenio Hall's 1994 chat show popped up on my FB feed last night I was taken aback by how powerful it was. Featuring Das EFX, Wu Tang, Naughty By Nature, Yo Yo, MC Lyte, KRS-1, Gangstarr, Mad Lion, CL Smooth and A Tribe Called Quest, I loved how this eclectic group of golden era heroes and heroines came together to throw down some bars for the outgoing TV host. No big budgets, no swanky set or crap rock backing band, just rugged rhymes broadcast live and direct into unsuspecting living rooms across America. While BET still do some killer cyphers, these days the typical all star rap collabos sound like this, which makes me feel a bit like this. So I decided to dig in the crates and mix together 94 minutes of rap bangers from 1994 for today's Throwback Thursday. Twenty years on, which ones still stand the test of time? Only one way to find out...

TRACKLIST

O.C – "Time’s Up"

Nas – "NY State of Mind"

The Crooklyn Dodgers – "Crooklyn"

Smif n’ Wessun – "Bucktown"

Redman ft. Keith Murray & Erick Sermon – "Cosmic Slop"

Notorious B.I.G – "Warning (feat rare acapella drop)"

Method Man – "What the Blood Clot"

Jeru the Damja – "Jungle Music"

A Tribe Called Quest ft. Busta Rhymes – "Oh My God"

De La Soul – "Ego Trippin’ Part 2"

Beastie Boys – "Get It Together"

Gang Starr – "Comin’ For Datazz"

House of Pain – "I’ma Swing It"

Wreckz n’ Effect – "Rumpshaker"

Outkast – "Player’s Ball"

Da Youngstas – "Put Me On"

Da Brat – "Funkdafied"

Common – "I Used to Love H.E.R"

Ice Cube – "You Know How We Do It (Remix)"

The Lady of Rage – "Afro Puffs"

Snoop Dogg – "21 Jumpstreet"

Warren G – "Regulate"

Scarface – "Hand of the Dead Body"

The Roots – "The Lesson Pt 1"

Lords of the Underground – "Yes Y’all"

Da Bush Babees – "Clear My Throat"

Gravediggaz – "Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide"

Coolio – "It Takes A Thief"

Craig Mack – "Flava in Ya Ear (Remix)"

Buckshot Lefonque – "Breakfast at Denny’s (Uptown Version)"

Group Home - "Supa Dupa Star (1994 Demo version)"

Pete Rock & CL Smooth – "In the House"

Ahmad – "Back in the Day (remix)"

Keith Murray – "The Most Beautifullest Thing in the World (Green Eyed Bandit remix)"

Redman – "Rockafella R.I.P"