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Never quite a superstar, Redman was nonetheless one of the most off-the-wall, beloved, and enduring rappers of the '90s and 2000s. Born Reginald Noble in Newark, NJ, he made his initial impact on EPMD's 1990 album Business as Usual and stepped out as a solo artist with 1992's Whut? Thee Album, one of the year's best debuts, rap or otherwise. He blended reggae and funk influences with topical commentary and displayed a terse though fluid vocal style that was sometimes satirical, sometimes silly, and always tough -- an approach that rarely wavered throughout the remainder of his career. Each of Redman's successive releases during the '90s, including Dare Iz a Darkside (1994), Muddy Waters (1996), and Doc's da Name (1999), went gold in the U.S. He was also established as a member of the EPMD-led Def Squad (initially known as the Hit Squad), which put together El Niño (another gold-seller) in 1998. Blackout!, issued a year later, solidified a longtime partnership with Wu-Tang Clan's Method...