Darren Ratner

'Radio' is considered by many to be Cool James' finest work, but within the confines of 1987's 'Bigger and Deffer,' his second LP, is where our childhood memories abound. Even amongst accusations that the rapper sold out his cocksure style for a softer pop trail (the absence of 'Radio' producer Rick Rubin didn't help, either), tracks like 'I'm Bad' and 'I Need Love' are full of B-boy delights and

"Our rap comes from the streets," exclaimed Havoc, one half of Queens-bred hardcore rap duo Mobb Deep, in a 1995 TV interview. "It's about reality -- straight up." You couldn't help but believe him, either. Two years earlier, on April 13, he and his longtime sidekick, Prodigy, released 'Juvenile Hell' -- a debut LP of bat-toting, nerve-shaking tracks that all but drowned their

Legendary shock jock and King of All Media Howard Stern may be the crass, uninhibited inventor of such memorable bits as Lesbian Dating Game, but he's also one of the greatest interviewers around. From N.W.A.'s Eazy-E to Jay-Z to Game, Stern has managed to turn out some of the best interviews in the history of hip-hop by exposing the often unseen underbellies of our favorite stars.

In comparison to other interviews, Stern's chat with the famed Brooklyn rapper in 2010 seemed pretty tame. But it was hard to turn a deaf ear when Jay-Z began dishing on his discovery of Rihanna and conversations with Obama (see the 35:45-mark) -- things he had never truly discussed in detail until that point...

He came by to promote his novel, 'Power & Beauty,' but Atlanta-bred T.I. found himself in the hotseat when he visited the Stern show in 2011. Talk quickly turned from his rap career to his 2010 incarceration stemming from drug possession charges. An...

"Chocolate sauce!" Stern exclaimed when Brooklyn-born diva Lil' Kim walked into his studio in 2000. You already knew where the interview was going, and it didn't take long for Stern to get there as he was quick to point out the rapper's small wardrobe malfunction -- which perhaps wasn't a malfunction at all -- at the very beginning...

How is it that a supposed big shot like 50 Cent -- who admitted to Stern that he's well hung and worth about $400 million -- can just cry on command? Up until this 1999 appearance, it was only reported that the rap star and business man could pull off such a feat...

Most artists don't appear on the Stern show until after they've become a success, probably so they can avoid a line of questioning that could easily make or break them. Detroit rap sensation Eminem feared not, however, and braved the King's storm in 1999, by answering questions about ecstasy use, failing the 9th grade three times and just being a white guy who, according to Stern, talks like he's

The late N.W.A. member died in 1995, from complications with AIDS, but this 1992 interview -- Stern's first real brush with hip-hop celebrity -- is said by many to be a premonition. Stern questions the rapper about his active sex life, the riskiness of it all and Eazy-E then claims to have never used condoms or never worried about AIDS...

West Coast rapper Game -- who showed up on Stern to promote his new album, 'Jesus Piece,' as well as his new reality show, 'Marrying the Game' -- made headlines in December 2012, when he revealed that he counseled R&B superstar Chris Brown after his physical altercation with on-off girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. "I...