Hip Hop — All Formats  

Another strong set by the Beastie Boys – who would obviously rather put out a very good album every five or six years, than a sub par album every year or two! Arguably, the Beasties broke all the of the ground that they ever will prior to 2004, but that doesn't mean that they're done making solid records. If To The 5 Boroughs is any indication, there's still quite a bit of life left in the Boys as they approach 40. Prior to each infrequent LP, we're worried that the post Paul's Boutique world of difficult, expensive sample clearance will kill the layers of pop pastiche sound bites that made P's B such a brilliant statement, and with this one we're once again very pleasantly surprised at what they're able to pull off. The soul and funk samples are still piled on in abundance (albeit with a more electro studio built backdrop), as are the block rockin' party rhymes, even if the tone's serious in spots. There are no attempts at funky jazz or punk rock this time – this may be the Beasties' most classifiable hip hop album. Add it to that ever growing list of good-to-great albums by aging artists who were coaxed back into the game in part by their feelings about post 9/11 politics. Tracks include the great throwback single "Ch-Check It Out", "Right Right Now Now", "3 The Hard Way", "It Takes Time To Build", "Rhyme The Rhyme Well", "Hey F**k You", "Triple Trouble", "Oh Word?", "That's It That's All", "All Lifestyles", "Shazam!", "An Open Letter To NYC" and more.

In 1994 when everyone seemed to be turning hardcore, Common Sense wasn't having it. Introspective tales of growing up and living on the South Side that fit perfectly with No I.D.'s mellow production and spiced up with two guest appearances by Y-Not aka Twilight Tone. Classic LP, solid all the way through. Being in Chicago, people always ask us for this one, but the original is impossible to find, even here. Now back in print with original cover art. With "I Used To Love H.E.R.". "Book Of Life", "Chapter 13 (Rich Man vs. Poor Man)", "Nuthin' To Do", "In My Own World (Check The Method)", "Maintaining", "Communism", "Watermelon" and seven more.

Sweet beats from Damu – and a cut that's heavy on a moogy sample from Jean-Jacques Perry – one you'll recognize from a famous track, but used much differently here – in a really moody way!

Sweet beats from Damu – and a cut that's heavy on a moogy sample from Jean-Jacques Perry – one you'll recognize from a famous track, but used much differently here – in a really moody way!

Finally a strong full-length from Nu-Mark – the myriad strengths of which were amply hinted up via the epic 10" series that led up to it – and an album that packs plenty of diverse, timeless beatcraft and stellar guests on the mic! Nu-Mark's got a sharp, crisp edge with his beats – one that really seems to set a new sort of fire without ever being too overly-aware of its own style – often with these soulful undercurrents that help his music reach way past the usual, too! Vocals and rhymes are by a great batch of A-list talents – including Aloe Blacc, Charles Bradley, Bumpy Knuckles, Ernie Hines, Large Professor, J-Live, and Tiron – and one cut even features some sweet funky touches from Quantic. Titles include "Oya Indebure", "Tropicalifornia", "Tough Break", "Feel The Way About It", "Vengeance Is Mine", "Dumpin Em All", "Our Generation (re-edit)", "When You Sleep", "Never Be Wrong", "Times Is Rough", and "Tonight".

Finally a strong full-length from Nu-Mark – the myriad strengths of which were amply hinted up via the epic 10" series that led up to it – and an album that packs plenty of diverse, timeless beatcraft and stellar guests on the mic! Nu-Mark's got a sharp, crisp edge with his beats – one that really seems to set a new sort of fire without ever being too overly-aware of its own style – often with these soulful undercurrents that help his music reach way past the usual, too! Vocals and rhymes are by a great batch of A-list talents – including Aloe Blacc, Charles Bradley, Bumpy Knuckles, Ernie Hines, Large Professor, J-Live, and Tiron – and one cut even features some sweet funky touches from Quantic. This deluxe CD edition features the album Disc 1. Disc 2 is a CD-ROM – featuring the instrumentals and acapella versions of most tracks, plus some bonus beats – with 32t tracks in all! tour and in-studio photos, the cover images from the Broken Sunlight 10-inch series and more! Disc 3 is a DVD – featuring the mini-film/video Nu-Conduit with live and behind the scenes footage. Amazing! Titles include "Oya Indebure", "Tropicalifornia", "Tough Break", "Feel The Way About It", "Vengeance Is Mine", "Dumpin Em All", "Our Generation (re-edit)", "When You Sleep", "Never Be Wrong", "Times Is Rough", and "Tonight".

A pretty strong set of some of the more essential DJ Shadow – and one that smartly digs past the more obvious selections to include some great single edits, deeper mid- and later-era Shadow gems, one of the stronger Shadow-era UNKLE cuts and other leftfield choices! That said, there's some straight up essential DJ Shadow classics here, too – and it's well paced, to boot. If you don't already own most of Shadow's catalogue, you probably need this! Includes "Midnight In A Perfect World", "High Noon", "I've Been Trying", "This Time (I'm Gonna Try It My Way", "You Can't Go Home Again (Radio Edit)", "Scale It Back (Radio Edit)" feat Little Dragon, "Listen" feat Terry Reid, "Stem (Single Edit)", "Six Days", "Won't You Be", "Lonely Soul (7" Version)" with Richard Ashcroft, "Blood On The Motorway", "You Made It" with Chris James and "Redeemed".

The cover alone was enough to draw us in – a nice tribute to one of the best Dave Grusin albums of the 70s – and the spacey grooves are more than enough to keep us coming back again and again! Beats are plenty crispy, and mixed with these sweetly flowing keys – and the vocals shift from track to track, really illuminating the grooves in a different way – and bringing a nicely deep spirit to the set! "Know Thy Self" features John Robinson and Miles Bonny, "Tonight" has great vocals from Zaki Ibrahim, "Born Again" bristles with contributions from Nicholas Ryan Grant and Fresh Daily, and "Eyes Of Dreams" is a sweet trippy instrumental – with great acid keys, taking it slow!

The "showdown...all the way live between the Sugarhill gang and the Furious Five". A nice early Furious Five cut that someone has sampled recently. And while were not the biggest Sugarhill Gang fans, they do alright on this cut with the Furious Five, who we suspect actually wrote the Sugarhill Gang's rhymes on this one.

5th volume in this set of production tools, featuring drums solo-ed up, all the way through, with tight rhythms for you to work with. This one's called the "Hard Rock" set, so ithe beats are pretty stripped down, but suprisingly the production doesn't make the drums pop like you might expect. Still there's some good tones and fills, and even a couple of funky tracks. Like the other volumes, this set has a spoken intro at the very beginning. 11 beats in all, including "Fast Punk Rock", "New Wave Shuffle", "High Energy British Rock", "Double Time Push Rock", "Louisiana Funk", "Southern Punch" and "Syncopated Hard Rock".