Hip Hop — All Formats  

From the 2nd LP, Yin & the Yang. Features Raekwon. B side features Jermaine Dupri & Da Brat.

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.

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.

The debut full length from Pete Rock & CL Smooth – and a bonafide hip hop classic if there ever was one – one of the best ever! Pete Rock's trademark mix of heavy soul, jazz & funk beatcraft pretty much set the bar to a level that's been impossible to top ever sense. On top of being a front-to-back perfect album, Mecca & The Soul Brother has one of the great singles of the era, in "They Reminisce Over You (TROY)". What more can be said, really? An absolute essential! Disc 1 includes the original full length album. Titles include "Return Of The Mecca", "For Pete's Sake", "Ghettos Of The Mind", "Soul Brother #1", "Wig Out", "Anger Of The Nation", "Can't Front On Me", "The Basement" feat Heavy D, Rob-O, Grap & Dida, "If It Ain't Rough, It Ain't Right", "Skinz" feat Grand Puba and more. 16 tracks in all. Disc 2 features a wealth of bonus tracks, including 12" versions, remixes, acapellas, instrumentals and exclusives, including "It's Not A Game (Original 12" Version)", "Lots Of Lovin (Remix)" "They Reminisce Over You (TROY)" (Remix, Vibes Mix, and Instrumental versions), "Straighten It Out (Instrumental Version)". 15 tracks of bonus material. Comes in a heavy duty, beautiful deluxe box with a 20 page book with notes by Brian Coleman, Dante Ross, Pete Rock & CL Smooth and a full sized poster!

The wonderful Hidden Beach groove continues – smooth, but never slick – and a great attempt at bringing instrumental work to a much younger generation! There's a really jazzy sensibility here that's moved far beyond the roots of the series – a style that completely transforms the hip hop tunes used in the set, and turns them into new platforms for sweet electric grooving. We'd honestly expected Hidden Beach to run out of steam by this volume, but number 4 may be the best so far – with titles that include "Rapper's Delight", "Hate It Or Love It", "All Falls Down", "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See", "21 Questions", "Children's Story", "Treat Em Right", and "Hip Hop Hooray". CD features bonus alternate versions of 3 tracks too – "All Falls Down (Spanish Harlem mix)", "Hate It Or Love It (playa mix)", and "Lean Back (save the music mix)".

Nice comp of old school (...okay, what passes for old school these days) cuts: Schoolly D "PSK What Does It Mean?", Ultramag "Ego Trippin", Fearless Four "Rockin It", Treacherous Three "Body Rock", Just Ice "Going Way Back", Steady B "Bring The Beat Back", Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud "Girls I Got 'Em Locked", fat Boys "Stick 'Em", Roxanne Shante & Biz Mark "Def Fresh Crew", Sweet Tee & Jazzy Joyce "It's My Beat", Run DMC "Peter Piper" and Fresh 3 MCs "Fresh".