I remember those ads in the back of Metal Edge magazine. LOL "Get 10 albums for 10 cents" or something like that. I lived in Japan at the time though and they wouldn't ship overseas.I did the buy 15 cd's for 15 cents then buy one a year for the next million years or that's what it felt like. I had a pile of cd's.
You ought to watch the defiant ones on HBO. Never been a rap person and it mainly focuses on Dr.dre. But I enjoyed watching it, it focused on the music and the record labels of that time
I never got into rap other than the Beastie Boys first album. I think everybody had that one. I also bought the first Bodycount album because of all the "Cop Killer" controversy, but that wasn't a rap album. It was just a mediocre metal band with Ice T trying his best to sing (and failing miserably).