My old drinking buddy Phillip Mlynar penned Lyricist Lounge: An Oral History this week, which reminded me of just how disappointing the actual album dedicated to that place was. As a record buyer during that period, I fondly recall that period in the mid to late 90’s when MF Doom, Juggaknots, Jigmastas and Scaramanga were releasing some cutting-edge music. But I also remember that, as it’s always been, 85% of the singles released during the ‘indy rap renaissance’ were either generic, corny Backpack Rap or weirdo Company Flow type nonsense. When the Lyricist Lounge, Volume 1 album in 1998, there was a fair amount of hype behind it and in what would turn out to be one of my more regrettable purchasing decisions I decided to shell-out for the 4 LP edition only having heard the breezily enjoyable ‘Body Rock’ single with Mos Def, Tash and Q-Tip.
What an absolute shit-sandwich that album turned out to be. In a what can only be described as an example of shrewd marketing, the track listing pulled the old bait-and-switch routine by wasting De La Soul and Kool Keith on skits and by including a recording of heavy-hitters Black Thought, Common and Pharoahe Monch from the radio instead of paying them to record an actual song. The majority of the actual full-length songs sound like all the rejected demos that wasn’t good enough for Rawkus to put out as twelve inches in their own right, while established talents are squandered such as the pairing of O.C. and Ras Kass over a Shawn J. Period beat that was clearly made after he’d decided that sampling was a sin against god and played everything on a tinny Fisher-Price keyboard.
Underground favorites Natural Elements deliver the decent ‘Mayday,’ while both Prime and Problemz contribute solid solo tracks. Elsewhere, KRS-One does an unlistenable song with the guy from Rage Against The Machine, El-P and pals reheat the previously released ‘Weight’ (aka a waste of a good Breeze Brewin’ verse) and Punch and Words take punchline rapping to such ridiculously nerdy extremes that it sounds like a parody of itself. Interludes such as the ‘Bathroom Cipher’ provide adequate fan-service, since hanging out in public toilets with other dudes and taking turns to ‘spit’ at each other was apparently all the rage in those days. Nullus.
In the interest of fairness, I listened to this album again to see if perhaps I’d been wrong all those years ago when I put this album up on ebay a month after copping it. Turns out I was right on the money, as I struggled to sit through flaccid tunes from the likes of Cipher Complete (who were never to be heard from again), pretentious spoken word poetry and the agony of hearing Talib Kweli jam a hundred syllables into one bar with no respect for the beat. Turns out that the ten-minute segment from The Stretch Armstrong Show is the highlight of the entire album, serving as a stark reminder of just how far below the standard of these three MC’s the rest of the cast on this project were by comparison. I’m sure that the Lyricist Lounge was an exciting place to be in it’s prime, but Volume 1 fails to capture any of that lightening in a bottle and only inspires me to listen to some classic Stretch and Bobbito sessions instead.
Famous Last Words is still great.
@grass: Yeah that was a good one.
I’m not trying to inult their fans but the Company Flow LP was confusing to me. I know it was different, etc etc but I could only appreciate maybe 2 tracks on it. It received huge acclaim at the time. I do like experimental music but I couldn’t get into the LP at all. I know they’re still practically worshipped to this day in some quarters.
Thanks for saying all that needs to be said about this record. Bought it on Tuesday and tried my best to find apologist favorite songs on it until Friday when I don’t think I ever listened to it again.
Always liked that A.L. Skillz joint ‘Lyrics’ off that album.. but yea over-all it was pretty wack.
lmao @ ” the agony of hearing Talib Kweli jam a hundred syllables into one bar with no respect for the beat” yep, that sound like Kweli alright
Damn, shitted on one of my favorites lol. That and the first Sound Bombing are classics to me. Maybe it was cause I listened religiously to stretch n bob every Thursday without fail.
funcrusher plus is good. I copped it when it came out. It was refreshing to hear someone go a different direction with a nasty lo-fi hip hop sound.
Agreed. Plus in retrospect Rawkus put out way too much wack garbage (Black Star, Reflection Eternal, The High & Mighty) instead of putting out an B-1 album
Def a wack album – Soundbombing 1 and 2 are far superior. The beat on “Lyrics” by A.L., “Body Rock”, the Stretch/Bob Common/Black Thought/Pharoahe freestyle and yes, the KRS-One/De La Rocha (save Last emperor’s verse)”CIA” still bang though.
@booze blackstar wack?….thats a ill album…the reflection eternal had a few hoints on it…but yeah a B 1 album should have dropped…
What about the Bahamadia and Rah-Digga be ok joint
@doughjoe – I played the hell out of Lune TNS for a while and never played the CD again. Probably my loss. Ironman got three mics in The Source a few years before and then every journalist went bananas for Company Flow. It’s beyond me. Apples and Oranges, though.
http://www.discogs.com/label/149013-Ech%C5%8D-Unltd
classic
fuck Rawkus
“But I also remember that, as it’s always been, 85% of the singles released during the ‘indy rap renaissance’ were either generic, corny Backpack Rap or weirdo Company Flowtype nonsense.”
That’s basically the “underground hip-hop scene as a whole. Oh I’m waiting for the backpackers to come & attack you for this article haha
I got suckered by this one as well. Soundbombing 1 was great. So this had high expectations. This album probably marks the moment “underground rap” officially became cornball garbage for college students. Overall, Rawkus was a shit label run by culture vultures. At least G Rap syphoned a million bucks from these shitheads.
I bought this years ago listened to it once besides that problemz track and how shitty that O.C., Ras Kass song was I don’t really remeber anything from it.
To be honest…i dont remember any of the songs on it but the q tip song…the dj primier hip hop 101 album was way better…idk..i miss the indy fat beats days…i mean didnt they pretty much rep conservative rap..some of it was corny but a lot of it represents the type of hip hop most of us champion…
I dont care what you people say, the OC/ras kass joint was the shit!
Hey Robbie I love your site and your interviews and like everyone you’re entitled to your opinions (well most people are anyways) but you gotta have the most boring, unimaginative, tunnel vision taste in rap music of all time. Lyricist Lounge album is steaming hot garbage but why that needs to serve as an opportunity to crap on Company Flow is beyond me. There is/was/should always be a place in music for people that want to operate a little to the left of the norm. When that clear green EP came out it was really innovative and exciting and a refreshing alternative to the 9 zillion Mobb Deep wannabes who were starting to clog the racks and Fat Beats and Beat Street.
@Hoody Allen: I consider that a compliment. Closed-minded thinking is exactly what makes the Conservative Rap Coalition the most powerful movement of this generation.
Off topic but the late 90s were crazy. Seen this cover?
hxxp://www.rapzines.com/images/True_LL_Cool_J.jpg
replace the xx’s
Great article! I agree begrudgingly. I do think that A-Butta’s solo song is super solid.
I got damn near every 12′ from anyone in QB whoever picked up a mic and copped every Dream Team tape but the “backpack” era 97 to around 03 got countless classics. Fat Beats was the shit back then..the Co Flow album is insane b, fuck that…
On point Rob, That ‘Body Rock’ cut worked and then not much else on the album, A lot of features but no real heat…
Great reportage as always….
@silent minority — I won’t defend that album as a certified classic or anything, but I did enjoy what came of those spaced-out psych rock/ambient samples.
sadly by the time El-P realized the sound he wanted, he was way off the reservation, to be celebrated by only the pitchforkiest of hipsters and the “i don’t really like rap but I like _____” crowd of white people
That Co. Flow “Funcrusher Plus” GOTTA be one of those top 90’s album imo..this kinda reminds me of the reason Stretch & Bobbito parted ways, i think Bob was more into that Co Flow/Sir Menelik type stuff, while Stretch was more CRC/thuggish-ruggish with the music he wanted to play (pardon me if i’m wrong about that)
I liked the beat for ‘8 Steps To Perfection’ and ‘End To End Burners’ but couldn’t mess with the rapping. As far as Stretch and Bob go, Mr. Armstrong did ‘Judas Theory’ and put out Grimm’s ‘Emotions’ while Mr. Garcia gave us Doom and Juggaknots, so everybody won.
“The One” featuring RZA and The Last Emperor was suppose to be on this release. What could have been…
album was dickpiece
Comparing the likes of Soundbombing to this, I think Robbie nails it when describing LL’s tracks as rejected demos – Soundbombing was basically a mixtape of the headliner 12s.
The Stretch & Bobbito segment was insane but what the fuck happened to The Incredible Force? A supergroup with Black Thought, Com Sense, Absolute and Pharoahe Monch would have been amazing.
“You don’t understand? Obviously it wasn’t made for you then. So fuck you.”
More rap songs need this type of message.
“I liked the beat for ‘8 Steps To Perfection’ and ‘End To End Burners’ but couldn’t mess with the rapping. As far as Stretch and Bob go, Mr. Armstrong did ‘Judas Theory’ and put out Grimm’s ‘Emotions’ while Mr. Garcia gave us Doom and Juggaknots, so everybody won.”
^^^ YEP. The DOLO 12s are some of the finest releases of that era, along with the Jigmastas on Beyond Real.Something went wrong after 1997.
Listened to it once thought it was garbage. Sound bombing 1&2 both good. Company flow – a few good tracks, not the classic though it’s made out to be, prefer killer mike – “rap music” and the production on ” the cold vein”
Although this wasn’t the best album…. Action Guaranteed” ft O.C and Rass and The C.I.A joint where they sampled a fania all-stars record with KRS and Zack de la rocha were fiya. Zack straight up murdered this track!!
Dolo Records, Classic
Fondle Em, Classic
On the radio tip I definitely dug the CM Famalam show Bob did over the mostly weak Stretch & Whoo Kid mixtapes and Spit..
Fruitmeat put out some great releases too..
Judas Theory, LA LA, Usual Suspects all classic Strtech productions…
Can’t wait to peep the documentary at Central Park in August
I def remember feeling suckered after buying that album. I def never understood the whole Co Flow sound. I def never understood/understand why people cram for something new so bad that they except space music (weird sound effects, off centered drum programming and robotic/alien sounding rap flows)as some artistic music. Stop, just stop. It’s one thing to have an element of one of those three recipes in your music but all 3?
^^^ lol true
This along with co. flow were the 2 cds that the real hip hoppers would bring up everytime those corny dudes would clown me for listening to “that fake shit”. Type of dudes that would litrrally get angry because the music they liked was more intelligent than yours yet thryve been in college for 3 years and had like 9 credits.
I can remember one particular time giving 2 guys a ride somewhere and had a geto boys tapr playing and they were almost in trears laughing at this “gangsta shit”. Scarface one of the goats getting dismissed as gangsta shit in favor of some i got mad flow rapper was as perplexing to me then as it is now.
Another thing I’d like to add to this is that the backpacker era tracks that worked were from rappers like Grimm, Doom, Missin Linx, and Jigmastas because they still rapped about street shit but they had a different approach to it then rappers like Mobb Deep, Nas, M.O.P., etc.
I thought it was just me!! I sold that shit years ago and don’t miss it a bit. It had some good moments but in the, maybe 6 or 7 years I had that joint, I don’t think I listened to it 5 times. The Soundbombing joints were way better…
Looks like I’m the only one who visits this site that liked this album.. I guess what I liked most about it was that it introduced me to a lot of artists I wasn’t yet very familiar with. Standouts to me were the joints by AL, Prime, Problemz, Abutta & Matrix, Natural Elements, Word A Mouth and in stark contrast to Rob’s opinion, the Cipher Complete joint.. The Mosdef, Q-tip, Tash track was one of my least favorite on the album. Bahamadia/Digga joint was dope.. Lord Have Mercy and DV Alias Khrist was a nice pairing to me.. I expected something different from the O.C./Ras Kass collabo but I didn’t think the song was wack.. and I liked Manifesto quite a bit.. *tightens backpack straps, pushes up glasses by tape in the middle and adjusts pocket protector* to my own (dis)credit tho, I really wasn’t up on a lot of the indie scene until after this record so it exposed me to another realm.
RIP PUMPKINHEAD
Bumpin Park Slope on the decks.
Actually Kweli’s Manifesto was one of the doper cuts on there.. i agree with lex the Rass Oc pairing wasnt what i expected lyrically but it was a fun joint. Cipher complete joint had cool beat but wasnt memorable. the cipher skits were pretty dope actually.
I aint no Talib fan, he lost me 10 years ago but Blackstarr album had some bangers and the first RE album is solid as hell.
Manifesto though is the best thing Kweli ever released. Shit is classic ..Figured the message of that record would resonate with the crowd here..
For my people still breakin graff writtin n rappin
Fortified Live 12′ same thing, classics b..
@357NYC
Did Pumpkinhead pass away? first im hearing this
Yeah, reports are that PH passed in the early AM today. Very sad news, he was a great person if you ever had the opportunity to connect with him. I’m gonna miss running into him. Truly a loss for the NYC scene. Condolences to his family and close friends. He was as genuine as they come.
I don’t know. I just like good hip-hop. I don’t care if it’s Company Flow, Talib Kweli, Geto Boys or MF Doom. If the song is good, I’m gonna bang it.
RIP Pumpkinhead
glad “famous last words” got a mention… that was the standout and the only thing i can remember from that double album of crapp. sounded like it was pulled from a cassette. raw, fun stuff.
the album was kind of an eye-opener and helped to free me from my backpacker elitist mindframe and open up to other music… that shit was straight up wack. kweli is terrible…always happy for a context to vent that fact.
This was at the end of the Fat Beats/Beat Street indie 12″ Movement…Rawkus was trying to milk these acts, album should have never been a 4X LP.
But shitting on the Indelibles MC’s/Co-Flow is ridiculous, if you were in the NYC during that era you would have a different perspective, the music was left field and cutting edge that birthed many styles.
I win this on cd at a jam back in the day. Really wanted to like it but after a couple of listens never went back to it. Glad to see I’m not the only one.
Even the body rock single I thought did not live up to the list of names on its cover nor the cover art.