A lot of people seem to be sleeping on this group. Some high-brow lyric fiends might consider the U.N. to be just more of the same old gun-toting, hoodlum-style rap (which is never a bad thing anyway), but don’t get put off by boring cuts like "Russian Hat Wear" (aka the "Money" remix). Sure, Dino…
Large Professor Vs. WWF
For anybody who bothered to pick up the Main Source Breaks The Atom 2LP reissue (gotta love a loud pressing of "Snake Eyes"), the inclusion of an unreleased cut (from the aborted sessions for their never-completed album The Science) was an exciting prospect. However, "Hellavision (Large Professor Vocal)" is not exactly what I was hoping…
Marxman Cinema Review
As a life-long M.O.P fanatic, the prospect of two CD’s/four LP’s worth of new and unreleased Mash Out material had me chaffing at the bit. When they connect with Premier, Billy Danze and Lil’ Fame transform into Brownsville’s aggravated answer to Run-DMC, and without him they still attain EPMD status. Their records pump adrenaline into…
Nas, OC and Jeru – Three The Hard Way
In 1997, I wrote a small piece analyzing how these three had progressed. Seven years later, I thought I’d look at how things have changed since then, and do a quick update ………………………………………………………………………………………… “Time’s Up”, “Half Time” and “Come Clean”. These three tracks defined street-level hip hop in the first half of the 90’s. They…
The search for Godfather Don
During those oh-so-mediocre days of the “indy revival” in the late 90’s, one of the few artists to actually put out records that still hold up today was Godfather Don. Although he was no stranger to the rap game, as he had dropped a great album on Select back in 1991 (“Hazardous”) which nobody heard,…
A Tribute to Hydra Entertainment
While Rawkus Records has to be the most overrated label of the 90’s, Hydra Entertainment is easily the most overlooked. Dismissed by many critics as a purveyor of “mediocre thug crap” while they championed snooze-worthy Talib Kweli records, Hydra has been the delivering a stream of classic street material that rarely disappoints. And for those…
Why Nas didn’t live up to the hype
In my post about Akinyele’s classic debut album, I mentioned that “unlike Nas, Akinyele lived up to the hype”. While such a comment might seem to be a textbook example of attention-seeking behaviour, it’s a point that I’m more than happy to qualify.
A little too exquisite for y’all snake-ass lizards
Did anyone notice in that dope NORE interview that’s been doing the rounds lately (actually it’s old and was done by Life Sucks Die magazine) that amongst his promotion of anti-social behaviour and his own unique brand of straight-up Ignorance, he cited Akinyele’s Vagina Diner as his all-time favourite rap album? That comment alone was…
Call Me The New Sire
Just saw a mention of the PHANJAM album over at Cocaine Blunts & Hip Hop Tapes, which also featured a link to the Krown Rulers site….I can’t believe those kids are still making records. At least I’ve finally found somewhere that stocks the “Paperchase” CD. Now all I need is the tape! The thing that…
Blame Clue
First things first….the term “mixtape” needs to to be updated. There is neither “mixing” nor “tape” involved in the glut of promotional CD’s flooding the internet, chain stores and bootleg card tables around the globe. Yes, it’s an obvious and much-laboured point but one that nevertheless needs to be addressed. XXL review “bootlegs”, but these…
The Start of Your Ending
Nice interview at Tha Formula with Ayatollah and Cormega.For some reason there’s no mention of Ayatollah’s outstanding work on the last Screwball album, which is strange since “When The Sun Goes Down” is amazing. That reminds me….Godfather Don, where you at?