Colors

Warner Bros

When Ice-T boasted about being “nightmare walking, psychopath talking/King of my jungle just a gangster stalking” on the title song, it was the mainstream’s first real exposure to the burgeoning genre known as gangsta rap. The soundtrack subsequently provided a perfect overview of the late-'80s scene, mixing throwback tracks from MC Shan and Roxane Shante with hard-hitters from Big Daddy Kane and Kool G. Rap. But the album didn’t just compile past and present, its musical centerpiece -- Coldcut’s pioneering “seven minutes of madness” revamp of Eric B and Rakim’s “Paid in Full,” arguably the greatest remix ever -- pointed the way to music’s future.