Buried Gems 4

G

Gang Starr - Daily Operation (1992)
This was their break through album in my opinion, the one that defined Dj Premier as a ground breaking producer, and where Guru further advanced his skills and utilized his monotone to full effect.

Gang Starr - Hard To Earn (1994)
The best album in their catalog to me, no doubt.

Gang Starr - Moment Of Truth (1998)
This is their most accessible album to casual hip hop fans to date, start with this one, if you like it, the other two are definitely for you.

GORE-TEX - The Art Of Dying (2004)
Easily the most talented member of Non Phixion, if you like any of the work that group put out then you'll like this.

Grav - Down To Earth (1996)
An undiscovered gem, get this by any means.

Group Home - Livin' Proof (1995)
Show cases Premo's best production work of all time on Suspended In Time, Livin' Proof and Up Against The Wall (Getaway Car Mix), AT least get the instrumentals, you're not missing much in terms of Lil Dap and Melachi's rhyming skills.

October 2009: The Bullshit

Kam Moye AKA Supastition released an album (Chain Letters) good enough for me to check out his latest release, and fuck me what a waste of time this was. It's as if Kam Moye is trying to make us forget about his far more talented and beat-smart alter-ego so he slows his delivery down, throws his lyrical game right down to the bottom step and decided to pick universally shitty beats that aren't hood enough to appeal to any mainstream audience but are too bouncy to be classed as underground, it's like Lil Jon and 9th Wonder decided to create a production-only collab album and decided to throw on Lupe Fiasco on a good day.

Jern Eye is more of the same, the lead single for his up-coming debut album and a number of decent previews led me to believe I was in for a treat, and at least with Jern there wasn't enough to put my expectations very high, so I went in neutral, and effectively came out ready for war. Two good songs wouldn't be acceptable on a four track EP, so imagine my discontent to find this was the case when they're in amongst fourteen other songs full length.

Burn Who's To Say and Vision and be done with this.

I really have no idea why I fucking put myself through ANOTHER Curtis Jackson album, especially since I actually bought every other album he made, but this isn't the case here, oh no, Before I Self Destruct is neck snapping music, literally. I wanted to hang myself half way through, so needless to say I wanted to test the effects of trying to shave my eyes by the time it'd finished. I actually listened to the Dj Premier produced Strong Enough and the first single Okay You're Right and they didn't completely waste the three minutes apiece, so perhaps there WAS hope for Fiddy, he certainly sounded as if he was TRYING, well that was simply for show, I'm sure having Primo in the studio was enough for this to get leaked (which it did) so 50 made an effort, that effort is non existent on the rest of the album.

I hated this album for the very same reasons as the Slaughterhouse album. Shit beats and very little effort on Royce's part, it's like the man just stopped giving a fuck. I can't say I'm surprised, though, Ryan Montgomery hasn't released anything worthwhile since Death Is Certain and this is coming from someone who considers himself a FAN. Dj Premier in the Executive Producer's chair disappoints as much as he did on The Blaqprint and aside from Nottz I can't say I'm even familiar with the other producers to receive credit for this album. I wasted an hour on this, you shouldn't.

October 2009: The "Real"ness

Numerous shitty and a few good projects came out this month, so let's get right into it.

This album hardly contains street tracks, club bangers or stoner tunes, but what it DOES display is a capable artist with some taste in beats. This isn't for the casual listener, but for "real" heads it's worth the listen. There's nothing particularly bad on here and the good stuff will get at least 3-4 repeats before I decide to give that KRS-Buck album another shot.

Listen to Seperation, Time, Secrets, Perspective and Love then make your decision, or burn it and if you enjoy it buy it, if not, send it to the recycle bin.

I was more interested in this due to the inclusion of Tame than Del, I mean yeah, the Hieroglyphics Crew made some decent records but Tame's track record with the collabs and as a member of Artifacts speaks for itself (Leak Bros. Waterworld is my Tetris soundtrack), not to mention the cover art is the TITS. I'm glad to see I was only SLIGHTLY disappointed. The production is as good as you're going to get as far as Indie hip hop goes and aside from the artists feeling the need to spend the first minute of half the tracks chattering before they started rapping I'm fairly satisfied with the finished project, not that I should be, Del and Tame made a point to tell critics like myself to fuck right off, thanks guys.

I can only recommend you pick this up when it drops.

I'm surprising myself with this. Tech N9ne has always reminded me of a SLIGHTLY less skilled Busta Rhymes; his beat choices have always been a bit suspect but catchy nonetheless and he's always made the effort to prove his lyricism, even if most of the guest spot slots are filled with bull shit. K.O.D. at 23 tracks is, as you could only expect, is filled with filler, but there's enough good stuff on here that you'll learn to live with it.

Enough people will buy this so what you do won't make a difference, I recommend you burn it and if you like what you hear and feel Tech deserves the cash, give it a purchase, you won't have a hard time finding it.

My Soul To Keep is a prime example that you CAN release a good hip hop album in 2009. Of course there's shitty tracks on here, and like 99% of rappers the man should just opt to skip hooks altogether, but unlike 90% of Indie rappers the man picked production that compliments his deep introspective lyrics, as a result he crafted a top album that has enough bangers on here that this has cemented itself a good few months in my iPod.

If you don't trust me enough to buy this then listen to Move Back, What's Wrong With That, Bucket List and Follow The Leader and see what you think.

Buried Gems 3

C
Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein (2001)
Any enthusiast of independent hip hop has this album, but for those that don't here's a reminder.

ALSO check out
EL-P Presents: The Cannibal Oxtrumentals (2002)
D
The D&D Project (1995)


While I think we can all agree, both versions of the D&D Allstars-Dj Premier-produced track titled 1,2 Pass It is better than everything else on here combined, this is actually worthy of a burn at least.

D.I.T.C. (Diggin' In The Crates Crew) - D.I.T.C./Worldwide
The strength of Ebonics (Primo mix) alone is worthy of a burn, but the inclusion of a song in which Fat fucking Joe upstages Big L and 7-8 decent tracks bumps this up to a purchase.

The D.O.C. - No One Can Do It Better (1989)
One of the best offerings from the West Coast of all time, had he not gotten his vocal cords fucked I have no doubt that The D.O.C. would have been a great aid to Dr Dre in dismantling hip hop.

Das EFX - Hold It Down (1992)
This is where the -iggedy style began, a fine offering from a fine group.

Das EFX - Straight Up Sewaside (1993)
An effective expansion on their debut, and just as worthy of a purchase.

Das EFX - Hold It Down (1995)
This is like your favorite rapper's favorite album, it wasn't recieved well by actual critiques of music but hip hop heavy weights have cited this as the gold standard of East Coast hip hop. Drayzie and Skoob opted to drop the -iggedy style and got some name brand production behind the boards, and effectively crafted one of MY top 5 albums of all time.

Dilated Peoples - The Platform (2000)
I can't in good conscience recommend a purchase of this, but what I CAN do is recommend a burn and if you like it I suggest you purchase it, as it's FAR more rewarding than that shitty Layover EP Evidence did.

Diamond D - Stunts, Blunts and Hip Hop (1992)
You absolutely HAVE to listen to this, I guarantee you if you enjoy early 90s East Coast in any way, shape or form you'll love this.

Diamond D - Hatred, Passions and Infidelity (1997)
The production on here isn't as ahead of it's time as on his debut, but Diamond's lyrical game takes a massive step up and I'd rather listen to this on repeat for the rest of eternity than hear DJ Khaled negate the use of the word 'Are' one more time.

Buried Gems 2

B
Blahzay Blahzay - Blah, Blah, Blah (1996)
Despite a pretty successful single this album failed to move many units, and is now out of print, which is a fucking shame since there's A LOT of good shit on here. If you happen to find this in a shop and your taste in hip hop doesn't suck, spend the three pounds on it.

Blak Forest - You Are Now Entering The Blak Forest (1997)
The beats on here are that magical combination of West Coast bass and East Coast melody and there's some highly capable artists on here, so if you find a used copy of this: get it bought, or burn it like I did.

The Brotherhood - Elementalz (1996)
This is the polar opposite of what you'd expect from a London based hip hop group, mainly because this was created when the East Coast was in it's prime and the grime movement hadn't caught on to 13 year old white girls yet.

I have a sore head, C-E will probably come tomorrow.

Buried Gems 1

This is generally why I wanted to make this blog, to spread the word of lesser known artists and albums, as a large portion of good hip hop isn't particularly well known, my blog won't change this, but it DOES provide me with an excuse to talk shit, which is all that matters.

A
Akinyele - Vagina Diner (1993)
A full album of Large Professor production and COMPLETELY RANDOM shit from one funny motherfucker? This is a must hear.

Akrobatik - The EP (2002)
The epitome of underground hip hop; raw boom bap production, skillful lyricism and a few shitty songs. You could do a lot worse.

Arsonists - As The World Burns (1999)
A six man crew who knew before they even wrote their verses that commercial success would allude them, so they opted to create an underground masterpiece, gritty boom bap and unpolished delivery with more lyrical ability between the six of them than half the South combined.

Artifacts - Between A Rock And A Hard Place (1994)
New York Mid 90s at it's finest. Well, it's not exactly Illmatic or The Infamous but you won't regret at least burning this.

I'll probably go through each letter of the alphabet and point you in the direction of some good obscure shit over the next month or so, meaning that I'll reach Z when hell freezes over and then subsequently melts into a small red puddle.

Bring That Beat Back #2

As far as broken promises go, it could be worse. I could have not done a follow up to the first write up at all, so there.

Ahh, now this is a good one. Kool G Rap is widely considered as one of the greatest hip hop artists of all time and is considered a "legend" which is something even my skeptical arse has to agree with. Chef Raekwon is seen as the man who got the ball rolling for mafioso rap, and I'd have to agree to some extent; Only Built 4 Cuban Linx did start up the mafioso trend, but Kool G Rap was the first man to actually do it, even if he wasn't well recognized for it at the time and was probably the only man who can match Rakim on the lyrical tip, back then anyway.

The legendary duo of Kool G Rap & Dj Polo started off with the widely acclaimed Road To The Riches, hooking up as both were a part of Marley Marl's Juice Crew, hence leading to them receiving a full album of Marley's masterful production with pinpoint perfect scratching from Dj Polo (not to be confused with Marco Polo, by the way).

The album kicks off with one of the highlights, "Road To The Riches", a song players of GTA San Andreas will be familiar with if they listen to Playback FM on the regular. This leads into "It's A Demo" which happens to share the same sample as another song San Andreas players will have heard on Playback FM, Eric B and Rakim's "I Know You Got Soul", which is unfortunate as comparisons must be drawn, and the latter wins, although "It's A Demo" is no slouch.

The real shit on here is undoubtedly "Road To The Riches", "It's A Demo", "Truly Yours", "She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not", "Poison" and "Butcher Shop" while you should avoid "Cars" at all costs. Some of this album sounds really dated but there's no denying the talent, lyrically in 88-89 Kool G Rap slices up the big names of 08-09, Marley Marl's timeless production is the stark opposite from the trash blasted in our ears from the likes of Swizz Beats and Dj Khaled, and Dj Polo proves his worth with his skillful cutting, displayed most prominently on "Cold Cuts".

Go out and pick this beauty up. You don't even have to listen to it, it'll beef your CD collection up and you'll be supporting artists who truly deserve the recognition.

I know this was hardly worth the wait but I'll be putting some more stuff up tomorrow, at the moment I'm a bit too tired and busy for a huge write up.

September 2009: The Bullshit

First of all:

SORRY I took so fucking long with this, I meant to have this done and published, what? Three weeks ago? Shit.

Anywaay, bloggers all over the place were essentially shitting themselves over a number of leaked and released projects this (September) month, and as a result I've been tricked into wasting my computer's memory in 60-80 MB chunks on worthless albums that have been hyped up to be something special. So first of all - probably one of the most celebrated underground albums of September 2009...

Literally every blog I frequently view has been promoting this album in some way shape or form (well, except 1), and I cannot for the life of me understand why.

I've never really given much of a fuck about Ali, and for good reason: He's not very good. He basically reminds me of a less able Immortal Technique which isn't a very good thing at ALL. As none of you know, I find "Immie Tech" (as someone I know has chosen to dub him) to be one of the most boring and most over-rated "underground" hip hop artists ever.

Sorry I'm going off on a tangent which is irritating because when I do that I'd like to go off on something I like (such as myself) as opposed to something which irritates me like whenever a song from one of the Revolutionary Albums pops up on shuffle.

Us is his fourth full length album and it features more of the same. An average lyricist touching on common topics over dull beats that are just BEGGING for an adrenaline shot.

I checked this out as soon as it leaked and found myself counting the seconds before each song ended, upon a second listen I began trying to count the milliseconds.

After hearing a poor lead single (the Havoc produced "Robot") and Lawrence "KRS-One" Parker fuck up an album containing 100% Marley Marl production I went into this with rock bottom expectations, and yet I STILL managed to be disappointed.

Over the years KRS-One has gone from being one of the top lyricists, story tellers and educators in hip hop, a pioneer, a legend in his own right, to nothing more than a shadow of his former self, trying to force himself into relevance when we all know it's not going to happen. The pairing of Buckshot (from Black Moon) and KRS-One was hardly Cheech and Chong but I had hopes, as both, when at their best, have proven they're highly capable, and with production and guest spots from the underground's finest perhaps there WAS a chance this wouldn't suck.

How wrong I was. This album, back to front, is just BORING. The production TRIES to appeal to the mainstream audience but the fact is, they're not interested, thus making most of these beats a complete waste of an hour of play time. However the fault lies mainly with KRS and to a lesser extent Buckshot. You see, as of late, Krishna has moved away from talking of things of actual importance, and has instead taken to discussing his achievements in every album he's made. For example, on the aforementioned collaboration with Marley Marl (Hip Hop Lives) KRS essentially runs down a check list of accomplishments and events he's achieved and attended, instead of providing actual reasons as to why Hip Hop is alive.

He does the same here, and drags Buckshot along kicking and screaming. Survival Skills was simply another chance for The Blastmaster (an idiotic moniker but in the video for "A Friend" the way it's written across the piano Kris is playing is pretty classy) to boast about how he's been rapping for 35 years and you haven't, and the fact is he should have stopped at 25.

Sorry for delay, I'll get some other shit on the go soon.

September 2009: The "Real"ness

Okay, pretty much every blog does this shit, but it IS sort of needed, as I DO want to spread the word of otherwise little heard of albums and artists. Although I'm hardly going to go out of my way to avoid a mainstream/successful release if I believe it's worth looking into.
You should have seen this one coming, as half the shit I reviewed in the beginning of this blog is Wu-Related, but whatever. Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 had been in the works for 3 years, as Rae obviously knows how shit his second and third offerings Immobilarity and The Lex Diamond Story are and obviously wanted to eliminate any memory of them, hence why this is titled as a direct sequel to the undisputed classic Cuban Linx, it may also help that this is the first album since Part 1 that features RZA and other Wu-Element involvement with aid from other name brand producers, something that, excluding the Pete Rock produced Sneakers from Immobilarity, is something that's been handicapping The Chef ever since. In theory the idea of a sequel to my second favorite rap album of all time is a wonderful idea, and with the magnitude of producers and guest spots revealed a month prior to the release record sales and favorable reviews were guaranteed.

Cuban Linx 2 features production from Dr Dre, Pete Rock, J-Dilla, Marley Marl (!!), The Alchemist, and most importantly Robert "RZA" Digital, as well as guest spots from Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Method Man, GZA/Genius, Masta Killa, Busta Rhymes, Slick Rick, Jadakiss and Styles P (from The L.O.X.). You can imagine the big grin on my face as I read that line up. So imagine my disappointment when the album DID drop and I found a few things:

• Marley Marl only produces a track that's 50 seconds long (Pyrex Vision - which is admittedly a really fucking cool title), and while the subdued beat intertwines perfectly with the Chef's eloquent verse detailing the process of cooking Heroin, it's still a major let down.
• Pete Rock's contribution (Sonny's Missing) is recycled from the NY's Finest Compilation as is apparently J-Dilla/Jay Dee's 10 Bricks, although I'm not as avid a follower of Dilla's work as I am Pete so I can't be arsed to confirm that, which detracts hugely from my enjoyment of the otherwise brilliant tale Rae weaves.
  
• Slick Rick (We Will Rob You) only provides a(n) (admittedly menacing) hook, in which he utilizes the power of the English language to replace 'We will rock you' with 'We will rob you', which SHOULD have sounded gimmicky as hell but came off sounding pretty damn dark. The track still rocks though.

Now, as anyone who was interested in the project should know, two singles were released; the RZA-produced New Wu and J-Dilla's beyond the grave masterpiece House of Flying Daggers, which was a GREAT move as these are two of the best tracks on there, especially Flying Daggers; New Wu grew stale. As a result, my expectations of this album flew up. Which is rather unfortunate.

The album picks up where the CD version of Part 1 with Return of The North Star, once again featuring Papa Wu who big ups his man as if Immobilarity and The Lex Diamond Story were works of art. However, once you get that bullshit out the way the speakers are shaken by the aforementioned House of Flying Daggers, to then be followed by Sonny's Missing, which would have sounded soo much better if Pete gave Rae a fresh beat. The energy level drops for Pyrex Vision which leads into Cold Outside, which is effectively ruined by the singing and it takes almost a minute for Corey to start spitting, by which time the listener has lost interest. Black Mozart follows, RZA's average beat is effectively demolished by Raekwon and Inspectah Deck, who turns in one of his best verses in a while. Necro is given a chance at mainstream exposure with Gihad, which he produced, but unfortunately doesn't appear on (Necro's great in small amounts), I suppose it's a good thing as Tony Starks' vivid verse would have blown anything to shit anyway, the first single New Wu sounds a bit dated as I've banged it enough times, but it's not without merit. Penitentiary is next, which proves Rae and Ghost can still work fluently with each other, Baggin' Crack then kills the momentum built by the previous tracks but The Alchemist's contribution: Surgical Gloves which is the song that half the internet will have already heard, gets shit back on track, aided by Broken Safety with it's Kung-Fu samples. Canal Street sounds like a leftover from The Lex Diamond Story but the following song; Ason Jones, a tribute to ODB which is indeed touching, not as much as 8 Diagrams's Life Changes, but touching none the less. Beanie Sigels' verse, combined with Blue Raspberry's rasping ruins Have Mercy but 10 Bricks certainly earned it's e-acclaim and RZA's 3rd contribution; Fat Lady Sings, sounds boring as hell, not aided by the wailing at the start. Dr Dre steps in with the production on Fat Lady Sings, which is a decent enough song alone but it just sounds out of place on a Wu album. We Will Rob You, featuring Slick Rick, a Duracell Ultra-Charged GZA/Genius and an up-tempo Masta Killa comes next, and the beat, provided by GZA's son; Young Justice/Allah is a BANGER, perhaps this was the cause for GZA's inspired verse. Dre's second and final track, About Me, fares better than Catalina but not by much. (Allah) Mathematics then gives us the majestic Mean Streets followed by Kiss The Ring, which celebrates the Wu's Legacy, rounds the album off nicely.

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 wasn't the sequel I as a Wu-stan wanted to hear, but for a New York Rap album released in 2009, this blows that bullshit the South has been pissing out for the last 5 years straight out the water.

Go pick it up, or go download it illegally and have Rae's goons with Joe Budden's blood on their Armani suits show up at your front door.

That was a bit longer than I planned but, whatever, next up we have...


Skyzoo made a name for himself in the underground by releasing a stream of much-talked-about-on-blogs mixtapes to pave the way for his debut album: The Salvation, and Wikipedia mentions that Jin beat him on freestyle Friday a few years ago, which I'm sure managed to get the man a few extra hits on Google. I spent too much time on the last one so I'm just going to shoot into it.

The Salvation is one of those albums that when you frequent other blogs you'll find this plastered all over the place, so of course I had to check this out; if I didn't trust the opinions of my fellow bloggers what would be the point in my doing this?

I don't know much about Skyzoo because when it comes to 99% of underground artists I really don't give enough of a fuck. I've listened to the man's mixtapes and they were good enough for me to give this a download a week before it's release (don't worry after hearing it I decided to go out and purchase it, as is the case with most of my underground albums - I've wasted too much money on bullshit!), and I was pleasantly surprised.

Skyzoo seems to actually care about his output, as a result the man fills the album with introspective thoughts and on point lyricism, as well as a bit of social commentary. The album features production from both unknowns and heavy weights, most notably underground stalwarts 9th Wonder, Illmind and Black Milk as well as the sometimes shitty sometimes decent Just Blaze.

So let's go.

The choir singing at the start of The Opener was entirely unneeded, but when you get the bullshit out of the way we're taken into a melodic piano key introduction, and some decent drums, although you're left waiting for the drums to hit properly, the piano loop throughout the track is a nice touch though, and Skyzoo's lyricism is on point. Just Blaze's beat is far better than I expected and certainly does signify a 'Return Of The Real'. The first 9th Wonder beat on The Beautiful Decay - which was the first (and only) single, is decent enough, but the vocal sample gets pretty fucking monotonous. My Interpretation is faar too busy and Skyzoo is nearly drowned out when the looping mesh of vocal samples and instrumentation reaches it's peak, Popularity's drums are just begging to be taken up a notch and the hook needs deleted ASAP, 9th Wonder beat two gets us back on track on Like A Marathon. The Shooter's Soundtrack from Cyrus The Great (he also produced The Opener) sounds like it was recorded in an abandoned train tunnel at 2 am, which is a good thing. 9th Wonder's beat on Under Pressure is comparatively cheery, albeit in a 'Shit sucks now but it's gonna get better' way, aided by the general theme of the lyrics. Penmanship is a masterpiece, the simplistic drums from Black Milk allow Skyzoo to just do his thing, Dear However is far slower and can't help but sound poor in comparison. For What It's Worth reminds me of a sunset in an inner city ghetto, and is a very pleasant listen, although the hook is just begging to get wiped from my memory. The Neccessarily Evils is filler in it's purest form, Easy To Fly is the only track featuring a guest; Carlitta Durand, but as 9/10 times I can't stand the presence of singing on a rap song that essentially ruins any enjoyment of this song I may have had. Bottom Line is a return to form with Metal Hearts providing support for that claim. Maintain ends the album on the exact same note as Organized Konfusion's song of the same name on Stress: The Extinction Agenda hence forcing a comparison; it can't hold a candle to Prince Po and Pharaohe Monch's, which is a shame as it IS a good song.

Skyzoo is a highly skilled artist who rightfully earned the top notch production work he's given for his debut album, thanks to experience gained on his mixtapes he's already a fully functional artists with no real flaw, other than when the beats fail him. What's more is he handles the whole thing by himself, other than the female vocalist on Easy To Fly.

Give this one a buy, the man CLEARLY put in the effort to provide us with an album 'real' heads can nod their heads to.

Here's a slightly less celebrated album, Sojourn's Sojournalism: The Summer Articles hasn't quite been talked about as much as say Cuban Linx 2 or Blueprint 3 even that fucking Brother Ali album that I'll get to very soon, but that's not to say it's not worth looking into, quite the opposite.

Sojourn is one of the lesser known artists in the underground, in fact, the man even managed to allude me until very recently when I was visiting a hip hop site and noticed a topic with 2 pages discussing the man's latest album and I heard good things, so I went with the usual routine of underground albums from artists I know little about; burned it and gave it a spin.

I was impressed, VERY impressed. So impressed that I actually retraced my steps and purchased the album from the man's site, since good artists deserve the support. Read on if you're not already burned out from the last 2 albums.

It helps that the album cover is the BALLS.

After the irritating instrumental introduction we're properly introduced to Sojourn in No Expectations, he apparently produced this track, which is impressive considering the fact that it's actually pretty good, but what's more impressive is how much of a monster the man is on the mic, and his creativity, the track plays as the title says. Get Back isn't quite as good, as the hook on this Oh No production sounds like that track Diverse did with Lyrics Born on One A.M (can't be bothered getting the name for it) where the tempo of the first verse is fast, only this song then contrasts into something rather soft, which I'm not big on. Art Versus Commerce is FAR better, Sojourn discusses the difference in making creative, introspective music and making trashy club bangers and talking about such mundane subjects as 'bitches' and guns, and he does it sounding REALLY fucking good too. Fool's Gold is a masterpiece, the minimalist beat by Choice37 serves as the perfect partner for Sojourn's opinion on bling (my word not his), this is without a doubt my favorite song on the album, his lyrics are fucking inspiring. Human Resources is a simple track with Sojourn rhyming over someone (Big Rec I assume as he's listed as a featured guest but there's no hint of another artist) beat boxing, rhyming fluently over varying tempos. Say Something comes next, in which Sojourn urges artists to include a message in their music, not huge on the beat but it serves it's purpose. Cause & Effect retains the prime lyricism of the previous tracks but is derailed by PNS's instrumental, thankfully it's short. Then we're taken into the first song featuring actual guests; Solutionists, it's a nice change of pace but it's never a good thing to be an underground MC's personal bench warmer, it's clear that Sojourn is far more skilled than his guests. The Craving is essentially Sojourn talking about what he gets the urge to do, from watching the sun set to making music; as he says it "Painting colorful images to hang up in your frame of reference." Civil War is a great expansion to The Craving with a similar instrumental and more intellectual lyricism, the vocal sample on the hook is rather irritating, though. 10,000 is a nice change of pace from the last two tracks, with a far more upbeat track, another plus is that this time Sojourn's boys can hold their own on the mic. Definitely Special sounds like an out-take from A Tribe Called Quest's Beats, Rhymes and Life which is hardly what you want, seeing as that IS the worst album in their catalog after The Love Movement although Sojourn's a bit more skilled than Tip, Phife and Ali Shaheed. Road Less Traveled is a decent enough listen aside from that shitty hook, All Things Considered is chill as fuck and the title track (that would be Sojournalism, for the mentally deficient) ends the track on a positive note, the melodic beat allows Sojourn to bring the album to a close with his lyrical mastery.

As you may have noticed from the above love letter regarding Sojourn's Sojournalism: The Summer Articles, I believe you should buy the fucking thing.

Two things

• I know this isn't the official cover for the album but it looks so much better, although it IS just the proper one trimmed, I still prefer it.
  
• I'm surprising myself by doing this, upon first listen I despised this album, but I sat down and FORCED myself to not start drawing the word 'Fuck' repeatedly in paint after tracks 2-5 and I found myself enjoying it.

Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City is the 8th opus from Mr. Ghostface Killah, and it was intended to be a bit different from his other albums for two reasons.

• It's an "R&B Inspired" album, meaning softer beats and a high number of shitty hooks.
• This essentially means every song, in most un-Ghostish fashion, is a love story, or a story revolving around a woman in some way shape or form.

That out the way I'm ALSO going to adjust this write up (and the template of each review henceforth) accordingly, you see it's boring for both you and I if I just tell you the same thing describing each song:
Tony Starks describes an encounter with a woman/bitch, hated the R&B hook, beat is as far removed from Wu-Tang as possible.

That being said, this album still manages to be enjoyable without any real Wu-Elements involvement, the highlight being Guesthouse - which, for some stupid reason, features Fabolous (who only ever made one song I can condone listening to; Breathe) who actually does alright for himself, playing the role of the man fucking Ghost's wife in his own house - where Pretty Toney's vicious side comes out, the tale woven in this track is fairly similar to Gihad from Cuban Linx 2.

The tracks to avoid are definitely Do Over and Baby: They both feature Raheem "Radio" DeVaughn, which is one of the worst monikers ever, but he also derails any momentum built.

It's impressive that Ghostface Killah managed to make a whole album about one of my least favorite subjects (love songs and bitches) and featuring a lot of involvement from R&B artists and yet managed to keep my attention for the whole thing, mostly, and yet STILL managed to make an album I could just sit back and relax to. It's no Supreme Clientele or Fishscale but fuck it I'd listen to this over Bulletproof Wallets or The Big Doe Rehab so in that sense Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City was a success.

This isn't for everyone, fans of raw boom bap or vivid crime stories from Ghostface Killah and partner in crime Raekwon will be disappointed, but for hip hop fans with an open mind and an a good attention span can probably find something to enjoy here. So fuck it, give it a burn and if you feel that it deserved your money, go out and buy it, it's not the most accessible Ghostface album but most fans of hip hop can at least appreciate his vivid imagery and shit, even the kind of scum (no offense intended) that listen to Lil Wayne or 50 Cent may find something to enjoy in the form of the production, although if you are a fan of Lil Wayne or 50 Cent, the fact that you're reading my blog is pretty fucking questionable.

I'll make this a monthly thing, an expansion on this will be out tomorrow, also, if I find that KRS-One/Buckshot collab to be more enjoyable upon a third listen I may add that here, as it wasn't too bad.

Bring That Beat Back

Hopefully I'll be able to make a segment like this at least once a week. One thing that a lot of new-school hip hop fans seem to over look are the classics, the albums that essentially made this genre what it is. Even the most learned underground enthusiast could be completely oblivious to the magic of such brilliance as Paid In Full, Criminal Minded, Straight Outta Compton, It Takes A Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back etc. I, personally, was first pulled towards the early 90s-late 80s Gangsta Rap music, starting - naturally - with the aforementioned Straight Outta Compton and using that as a building block to discovering more West Coast acts such as Compton's Most Wanted, Above The Law and The D.O.C. - which then allowed me to follow the paths of the more proficient members of each group, or affiliates and such, until I found myself exploring an endless labyrinth of music, all the way to NYC with the Boot Camp Clik and Wu-Tang and such. I'm going off on a tangent. The point is a long the way I've found myself moving away from the classics I fell in love with and I'm hoping that this series will allow me to go back and explore, and share, the hip hop I once considered to be above all else.

And so...
Paid In Full is an album that should be in every hip hop fan's collection. To dispute it's classic title is to essentially commit hip hop blasphemy, Rakim's rhymes and delivery were so ahead of their time that when you compare the shit he spits in 87 to the stuff you're hearing in 09, you'll wonder how in fuck's name your favorite rapper from the South got his record deal. The production on this album is fucking timless, Marley Marl provides his booming drums and (at the time) vintage sampling with scratches from Eric B to great effect on My Melody and Eric B Is President (although Eric B claims Marley was just in the studio to nod his head and tell him how dope his shit is but I doubt it). While Rakim may not have been as socially conscious as fellow 87-Classic album maker KRS-One (going under the name of Boogie Down Productions with DJ Scott LaRock and to a MUCH lesser extent D-Nice), but he's without a doubt the more talented lyricist of the two, indeed; the man practically invented the rhyme style that most artists even TODAY use, and while the he may not be as outspoken as KRS-One, and while his solo work was received poorly (although I LIKED The 18th Letter) he's still, in my opinion, the best MC of all time.
Oh come on, if you didn't expect this next then your head is either up your arse or lieing 10 ft from your body. As stated before, Boogie Down Productions (BDP) consists of KRS-One, Dj Scott LaRock and D-Nice, KRS was essentially the main man in the crew, both producing and rapping, while Scott LaRock allegedly produced half of the album, (I say allegedly because Ced Gee of the Ultramagnetic MCs claims HE produced more than both KRS and Scott but I'm not sure if that's true and I don't really have the energy to go and check) while D-Nice clocked in for one song on the debut and then went back to bed. BDP as a group is notable as being the instigators of the first proper rap feud, the legendary Bridge Wars. KRS was the first artist to really embrace his heritage, as he repeatedly irritates me throughout his catalog by deciding to rap using a powerful Jamaican accent. However, I'm supposed to be writing about this album in a positive light so I'll get back to that. Criminal Minded is generally considered as one of the finest offerings to hip hop of all time, and while the album as a whole sounds pretty dated when compared to Paid In Full, there is, once again, no denying the classic status that this album has obtained. Most of this album won't appeal to new heads, which you may think defeats the purpose of this post, but how could I mention any classic album without including this? Fortunately my taste DOESN'T lie exclusively to new shit (quite the opposite) so this album is right up my alley. Most appreciators of this time period will have this album anyway, but I would certainly recommend this to those who haven't.

Please comment and tell me what you thought of this, I wanted to wrap this up nicely as my Eastenders starts in 8 minutes, I'll be posting these every week or so with 2-3 summaries at a time, so PLEASE don't tell me I should have posted this album or that album. I'll most likely get to it.