i forgot the stuff pmd produced for the hit squad. seriously the hit squad are quite underrated when it comes to 'best crews in hip hop'. i wouldnt call stuff like ruff rugged and raw underground classics though, good as they were. been listening to a bit of epmd lately and much as i liked some of erick sermons solo stuff, and some of pmds solo singles too, they were never nearly as good apart as together, cliche as that is to say about disbanded groups. erick had the better run of course (some of his production was really great in the 90s, i love parts of that insomnia album) but even so.
what rick rubin productions are you talking about by the way? i cant think of much he produced in hip hop after the first wave of def jam stuff around 84/85. and brilliant as ll and run dmcs stuff was, it could get kinda samey after a while. just cos he was doing it earlier than a lot of the 'golden age' producers, doesnt mean hes necessarily better.
anyway larry smith deserves a bit of the credit rick always gets too imo - yeah rick was great but larry produced a lot of really important and just plain BRILLIANT records (sucker mcs anyone?) too...