Warriorz

M.O.P., like Mobb Deep and Onyx, presented a cartoonishly aggressive version of East Coast gangsta rap in the late ’90s and early ’00s, shouting threats, imprecations, and tales of street violence track after track, album after album. Warriorz, the duo’s fourth album, was their breakthrough, thanks to “Ante Up,” an absurdly high-energy shout-along about robbing people. What sets M.O.P. apart is their music, which uses soul samples to greater effect than that of their peers; the sample of the Mad Lads’ “I Forgot To Be Your Lover” on the title track is melted down into a distorted cry from the abyss, while “Ante Up” itself steals the horns from Sam & Dave’s “Soul Sister, Brown Sugar.”