Hip Hop — All Formats  

Title track from the "Likwidation" LP. Leans toward the funk side of the 'Liks sound, with some freestyle-type back and forth verses, and, of course, more rhymes about their signature topic.

Underground hip hop from a focused duo – ascendant Detroit producer Apollo Brown and east coast underground heavyweight rhymer OC – a straight up effort that more than lives up to its potential! The beats are straight forward, classic styled boom bap and OC is in full command on the mic. No guest rhymers here – strong, consistent, rewarding stuff! Includes "Trophies", "The Pursuit", "Prove Me Wrong", "Nautica", "Anotha One", "Disclaimer", "We The People", "Signs", "First 48", "Angels Sing", "Just Walk", "The Formula", "Options", "Caught Up", "Fantastic" and more. 16 trophies in all.

15 tracks in all, including "Feel It In The Air", "One Shot Deal", "Gotta Have It", "Don't Stop", "Oh Daddy", "Change", "Bread & Butter", "Flatline", "Tales Of A Hustler Pt 2", "Look At Me Now", "It's On" and 'Wanted (On The Run)".

Brick City vet and Artifacts affiliate Beneficience delivers a sharp set of hip hop in Concrete Soul for Ill Adrenaline – featuring an impressive roster of guests – but to Bene's credit, he's never overshadowed here! Guests include Lord Tariq, Masta Ace, Chubb Rock, Roc Marciano, El Da Sensei, D-Flow, Billy Danze, AG and more. Includes "YWE" with Lord Tariq, "Reality Vs Fiction" feat Masta Ace, "Cold Train" with Grap Luva & Rob-O, "Concrete Soul" feat Troo Kula of Brainwash 2000, "Masterful Method" with Chubb Rock, "Art Of War" with Billy Danze of MOP, "All Real" feat AG, "Metal Cuff Links" feat Nature,, "Somethin' Yall Can Roll Wit", "Under Constructuon, "Hood Cartel" with Roc Marciano and more.

Now a classic, and pretty tough to get a hold of on vinyl. Beats by Buckwild, Showbiz and Lord Finesse, rhymes by Harlem's finest. Big L didn't leave behind much recorded work, but if this LP has to stand as his legacy, it's a mighty fine statement. Alongside some of the latter day QB hip hop, probably the pinnacle of streetlife lyrics from the east coast. 12 tracks in all: "Put It On", "MVP", "No Endz, No Skinz", "8 Iz Enuff", "All Black", "Danger Zone", "Street Struck", "Da Graveyard", "Lifestylez Ov Da Poor And Dangerous", "I Don't Understand It, "Fed Up Wit The Bullsh#t", and "Let 'Em Have It L".

Rhymes and production from Detroit's Black Milk! The best cuts have solid, unpredictable and funky beats – rollicking, anthem style backdrops from the rhymes of Black Milk and guests such as Phat Kat, Guilty Simpson, Ty & Kory and others. Titles include "Popular Demand", "Sound The Alarm" feat Guilty Simpson, "Insane", "Lookatusnow" feat Phat Kat, "U" feat Ty & Kory, "Shut It Down", "So Gone", "Play The Keys", "Three+Sum", "Luvin' It", "One Song" and more.

Revolution-minded hip hop from the Black Opera collective – with production by J-Bizness, 14KT, Astronote and Nick Speed. Titles include "The Black Opera" with Melody Betts, "Manute Boll", "Dark Comedy" with scratches by Rhettmatic, "Monstors And Robots", "ThrILL" feat Fyza, "Fantom", "The Magician" with Vaughn G & Jade Latham and more.

An ambition Black Opera – Libretto from Black Opera and producer Astronote – featuring guests Melody Betts, Mayer Hawthorne, Boog Brown,Lalibella, Rasheeda Ali and 14KT. Includes "End Of The Beginning", "Grand Endtrance", "Rich Blood", "Kings Ramsom", "Queen Of Hearts" with Mayer Hawthorne, "Peace And War" with flute by Rasheeda Ali and trumpet by 14KT, "Thorns", "Red Bills", "Shadows" with Boog Brown, "Black Lair" with Melody Betts and more.

A solid duo instrumentals project from Georgia Anne Muldow and DJ Romes – working together as Blackhouse – and delivering one of the best records yet on the prolific Mello Music Group label! Georgia's a restless creative spirit, and true to form, the beats and production she delivers for Blackhouse are quite inspired. In some ways, it's a bit of a departure from her unique twist on dusty funk and soul beats that we've come to expect – and the crisp cuts of Lootpack DJ/producer Romes have a lot to do with that! Overall, the record is a trippy mix of leftfield hip hop and fonkie/spacey soul beatcraft – and a largely instrumental one – albeit with some hypnotically looped bits of vocals from Georgia and others. Titles include "Fonkie Journey", "Blackhouse", "Soundoff", "Somali", "Rap Hit", "G.R.O.O.V.E. Me", "Lectrivunkin", "Shana's Beat" and more.

It took far too long for Cappadonna's Pillage LP to drop – finally hitting the streets in the late 90s – and it serves as one of the best Wu related efforts of the last couple years of the decade! The hazy, ominous and pulp cinema Wu sound is trotted out with continued relevance and strong rhymes from Cappa – with the title track, "Slang Editorial", "Run", "Blood On Blood War", "Supa Ninjaz", "Dart Throwing", "Young Hearts", MCF, "South Of The Border", "Everything Is Everything", "Black Boy" and more. 16 tracks in all, with a majority of the production handled by RZA with his Wu Elements.

Cook Classics cooks up one of the best sets so far in the Now Again Music Library Series – part hip hop instrumentals, part Sound Library funk – built from samples culled from the Now Again catalog! Cook Classics Vs Now Again works as both a prime example of the Cook Classics as a producer – layering live drums, programmed beats and and more instrumention into the rich, diverse Now Again samples. It's also an excellent sampler of the the far-reaching sounds to be found on Now Again releases – from organ funk to psych folk and well beyond! 23 tracks that run just over an hour long all together. Titles include "Rock Vs Rambo", "27 Jump Street", "Vanilla Love", "Dude Complex", "Wish You Were With Me", "Laveta Terrace", "Lovely Ladies", "I Am Complicated", "Dig The Streets", "1972", "Ayo My Man 2" and many more.

Hard to find vinyl pressing of their second LP, from 1993. Das Efx drop the bliggety-liggety rhyme style here, but keep up the syllabic tempo with tongue tripping rhymes over the head nodding Solid Scheme beats. You've heard us an just about anyone else with an opinion about hip hop history go on and on about the golden years of the early 90s, and this great album stands as further proof that the period will hold it's own in the pages of history. With the tracks "Baknaffek", "Wontu", "Check It Out", "Undaground Rappa", "Gimme Dat Micraphone", "It'z Lik Dat", "Host Wit Da Most", "Rappaz", and "Freakit".

Here you get the radio edit and instrumental versions of three tracks: DMX "Stop Being Greedy", Onyx "React", Def Squad "Full Cooperation"

MC Breed's crew steps out on their own, with production by Breed, Warren G and DJ Slip, and guest spots by MC Eiht and Bushwick Bill lets you know this LP's got a very street level approach. Includes "Caps Get Peeled", "Things In Tha Hood", "Digga Bigga Ditch", 'Roll With The Clan", "Hands On My Nine", "You Can Get The D!ck", "Pass The Hooter" and more.

The Digables certainly weren't the first or most innovative hip hop group to rely upon cooled out jazz for the backbone of their sound. In fact without Tribe Called Quest's second album, Digable Planets probably wouldn't even have existed, at least not in anything close to the same form. What they did do though was pave the trail blazed by Tribe and De La with pure gold – and Blowout Comb is a fine ride! Loads of tripped out arrangements on live instruments (a huge step after the largely sampled debut), layer upon layer of groovy vocals in addition to the easy rhymes of Butterfly, Ladybug and Doodlebug, and even an appearance by Jeru. One of the catchiest jazz-rap fusion record of the 90s, not that there's anything wrong with that! Tracks include "The May 4th Movement Starring Doodlebug", "Black Ego", "Dog It", "Jettin", "Borough Check", "Highing Fly", "Dial 7", "The Art Of Easing", "KB's Alley", "Graffiti", "Blowing Down", "9th Wonder", and "For Corners".

It's nice to hear a new MC these days that rhymes largely on beat and can create thought provoking rhymes that go beyond the sort of lowest common denominator topics of ass and money you hear not just on the radio and in the club, but even on supposedly undeerground records. Chicago's own Diverse rhymes over simple, tight beats, with a mellow jazzy feel, and gets remixed by fellow traveller J Rawls of the Lone Catalysts on the flip.

The lyrically focused set in the 2 Stepping Stones compilations from DJ Krush – part remix album, part retrospective – featuring Company Flow, Black Thought & Malik B of the Roots, Mos Def, Aesop Rock, Zap Mama and others! Lyricism kind of finds Krush in his most hip hop reverent game, naturally – but he runs the gamut of possibilities within the genre. Krush never battles the MCs for track supremacy as many of the superstar producers of the day do. He's laying proper groundwork for the mic styles, yet still laying down his experimental funk signature – and the wide variety of vocalists gives him ample opportunity to show his unrivaled breadth! Tracks include "Only The Strong Survive (Bon mix)" feat CL Smooth, "Vision Of Art (Vib mix)" feat Company Flow, "Zen Approach (Cradle mix)" feat Black Thought, "Kill Switch (Beep mix)" feat Aesop Rock, "Song For John Walker (Sticky mix)" feat Anticon, "Danger Of Love (Gray-Sky mix)" feat Zap Mama, "Shinjiro (Harsh mix)" feat Mos Def and more.

CD version of Fashawn's tight Champagne & Styrofoam Cups project – which finds the Cali rhymer working over beats by Exile, Jake One, Evidence and others. Includes "Hola Santiago" and "Heard It All Before" produced by Exile, "Coogi" feat Mr Mfn Exquire and "I Love With A Lie" and "Medicine Man" with Wiz Khalifa produced by DJ Dahi, "Stardumb" produced by Evidence, "Worldwide" feat TL Cross and production by Phonix, "Color Blind" produced by Hecktik, "Heaven" producted by ATG, "Grizzly City Boy 2" feat Dinero Sucio and produced by Cheffy P, "Just A Man" produced by Jake One and more.

Cali mic veteran Planet Asia – paired up producer Gensu Dean! A tight, purposefully trend-skirting collaborative effort from a duo concerned with making high quality music that'll stand the test of time. Tracks include "Thoroughest", "Bar Mitzvah", "Chochise", "Faces O The Dollar", "Chuck Berry" feat Shawn Pen, "Listen", "Reflections", "Thyself" with David Banner & Tragedy Khadafi, "Do What I Want" with Larina & Washey Choir and more.

We couldn't fit all the mixes in the title above, so for "1-800 Suicide" the mixes are: "New vocal version", "New vocal acapella", "Flip Squad mix", 'Gangsta mix", "Poisonous mix", "Poisonous mix inst", "Guillotine mix" and the "Dig Deep mix" and for "Mommy What's A Gravedigga?" the mixes are: "RZA mix clean", "Rza mix inst", "Uptight Cratedigga mix" and "Uptight Cratedigga inst".

How many different personalities does Dan the Automator have? Way better than we'd expected, but we were only expecting a sort of joke one-off project. We should have known better, given that Prince Paul's themed projects (like Prince Among Thieves) have been pretty dope. Guest spots by just about everyone: Money Mark, DJ Shadow, Del, J-Live, etc. etc. Tracks include "Metaphysical", "Waterworld", "Truth", "Projects", "Sunshine", "Runway Song" "Rock N Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This)" and more.

The dizzyingly creative rhymer Homeboy Sandman's first full length for Stones Throw – an MC who makes no bones about his against the grain stylistic approach – and it's one of the rare hip hop albums of the past couple of years to benefit from sprawling list of producer credits! Homeboy Sandman's indefatigable vocal presence is his selling point, and he's served well by a diverse backdrop of beats – and he thrives in all them! Beats by Jonwayne, Oddisee, J57, Reality, RNTC, Oh No, 6th Sense and others. Includes "Rain", "Watchu' Want From Me?", "Sputnik", "Illuminati", "For The Kids", "Cedar & Sedgwick", "Mine All Mine", "Not Really", "Th Ancient","First Of A Living Breed", "Let's Get 'Em" and more.

"Insanity" has a nicely trippy groove – a bit of a head-nodder, but with vocals that bristle out from the back and keep things moving upward – especially when Jimetta Rose opens up! "In The Place To Be" is funkier, with some cool spacey breaking drums – and some cuts from DJ Ren!

Paid In Full, indeed. Eric B & Rakim's seminal album still pays off in so many ways, and it was such a vital link between the party rockin' style of the old school and the terse, hard-hitting beats and rhymes of what was then the new school, we can't even come up with the words for the praise it's due! If you don't respect this album, you don't know a damn thing. Includes the immortal "I Ain't No Joke", "Eric B Is In The Cut", "I Know You Got Soul", "Move The Crowd", "Paid in Full", "Chinese Arithmetic", and "Eric B. Is President" plus 2 bonus tracks: "As The Rhyme Goes On (radio)" and "Paid In Full (mini madness – Coldcut rmx)".

A Sugar Hill party in one sweet little package – 2CDs worth of music that features some of the biggest hits from the Grandmaster Flash generation, plus a few surprising bits from later years too! The package features a whopping 23 tracks in all – one disc that mostly hovers around the early Sugar Hill years, and another that takes off a bit in different directions. Cuts include "Freedom", "New York New York", "Scorpio", "The Message", "It's Nasty", and "Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel" by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five; "Internationally Known", "We Don't Work For Free", and "Beat Street" by Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five; "Showdown" by Furious Five Meets Sugarhill Gang, "Flash To The Beat" by Grandmaster Flash, "Message II" by Melle Mel & Duke Bootee, "White Lines" by Grandmaster & Melle Mel, "World War III" by Melle Mel, "Step Off" by The Furious Five, "Sign Of The Times" and "Vice" by Grandmaster Flash.