[comp] ERICK SERMON - "A Platform of Brilliance"

People love and will always hold the early EPMD albums in the higest regards among other classic hip-hop albums, equally because of PMD and E's intricate front-to-back rhyming but also because of the duo's funky sample-heavy beats that solidified Erick Sermon as one of the best producers around (don't be completely fooled though, as PMD had a lot of production input as well - especially on their first album "Strictly Business" as revealed to Brian Coleman in his chapter on the album from his "Check The Technique"). Still The Green Eyed Bandit has proven time and time again that he's a super dope producer with or without EPMD, as he has produced at least two out of three classics for Redman (he was involved in "Dare Iz A Darkside" but the bulk of the beats was handled by Reggie himself). Reading Erick Sermon's name in the credits of a new hip-hop album was a true mark of quality However I do have to admit that past 2004 or something like that hes been more and more generic in his sound, though he ocassionally comes through with some real hardhitting shit that we all love.

For this compilation I decided to focus more on E-Dub's earlier material, past the early EPMD albums and up until about 2000 (and mostly earlier). These tracks to me represent stands as a good compliment together with the classic albums Sermon has produced as the reason why he is still to this day considered a living legend in the game. Erick Sermon has always been very good at killing beats for both R&B and hardcore hip-hop artists, and even the ocassional ragga artist like Super Cat, so I decided to make this compilation pretty diverse within those categories. Featured on the compilation are a couple of Sermon solo cuts, Def Squad, Keith Murray, Shaquille O'Neal, LL Cool J, Redman, K-Solo, D'Angelo, Bahamadia, AZ, Jodeci, and more. As usual the Def Squad tracks on here (Red, E-Dub, Keith Murray) is non album tracks/soundtrack joints and such, basically stuff that you won't find on either of these guys albums. If you're not up on them yet, be sure to check out Redman's entire catalouge, Keith Murray's first albums, large parts of Erick Sermon's catalouge, and of course all the EPMD albums (yeah even the last one is pretty ill if you ask me)... and whatever you do, TURN IT UP!!!

01. Erick Sermon - "Maintain"

02. Bahamadia - "I Confess" [Erick Sermon Remix]

03. AZ - "Gimme Yours" [Erick Sermon Remix]

04. Shaquille O'Neal - "My Style, My Steelo" (Ft. Redman & Erick Sermon)

05. Da 5 Footaz - "Candidates"

06. Heavy D & The Boyz - "Take Your Time"

07. D'Angelo - "Me & Those Dreamin' Eyes" [Remix] (Ft. Def Squad)

08. LL Cool J - "Hey Lover" [Remix] (Ft. 112)

09. Erick Sermon - "Battle" (Ft. Sy Scott)

10. Def Squad - "Breaker Breaker, 1,2"

11. Warren G - "I Shot The Sherrif" [Remix]

12. K-Solo - "Rock Bottom"

13. Doctor Dre & Ed Lover Ft. Keith Murray - "It's Goin' Down"

14. Questionmark Asylum - "Lookaway" [Remix]

15. Powerule - "Rock Ya Knot Quick"

16. Dilated Peoples - "The Platform" [Remix]

ERICK SERMON - "A PLATFORM OF BRILLIANCE"

[Album] D'ANGELO - "The Black Messiah"

The golden grail of modern soul music has just been unleashed on the sleeping population as D'Angelo has finally released his first new album in 14 years. Following up one of the greatest albums of all tiime, 1999's "Voodoo", is no small task but the twelve songs that D has perfected with The Vanguard on "Black Messiah" will very likely be considered a classic some years from now. Fans of the super talented multi-instrumentalist and singer will welcome this as a return to form I have no doubt and listening to the first few songs I can attest to this being some truly great shit. As of now "Black Messiah" is available via digital retailers sand can also be streamed via Spotify (see below). Guest features include fellow Soulquarians ?uestlove and Q-Tip as well as Parliament's Kendra Foster. Support D's return @ iTunes while we wait for physical copies of this funky monster. Christmas came early!

COMMON / D'ANGELO - "Geto Heaven Part Two"

I first realized that some people might actually have missed out on this fantastic classic when my copy of "Like Water For Chocolate" started to wear out and I tried to download it. On every single download, "Geto Heaven Part Two" was replaced with this horrible club remix featuring Macy Gray, and of course the song that skipped on my CD was "G.H.P.T.". I can't understand how ?uestlove, Common and Derick Dudley could ever think it was a good idea in any way, shape, or form to throw in that remix on such a complete album as "Like Water..."; it totally breaks up the mood and it's not even remotely good on its own. To me, Com's first album after he moved to New York is his best album, and not only that but one of the bsst hip-hop albums ever released; Jay Dee's production on 11 of the albums 16 songs are all fantastic and the remaining tracks by D'Angelo, ?uestlove and James Poyser and the powerful outro by Karriem Riggins is such a wonerfully arranged front-to-back listen. To me, it's a better and more mature album than both "Resurrection" and "Be", though both of them are true masterpieces in my book as well. One of the album's strengths is the flow of the album, and how all the songs tie in to each other with the The Soulquarian's collective handling of the production and Common's renewed sense of awareness in his lyrics; something that had started on "One Day It'll Make Sense" but really came through with his move to New York where he met like-minded people like Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Pharoahe Monch. For the abovestated reasons, it's really mind boggling how the horrible Macy Gray version without any apologies takes a gigantic leap from everything the album represents.

The original version, instead featuring one of the geatest soul artists of the last 20 years in D'Angelo, is something completely different; strong, positively melancholic and passionately beautiful, created through perfect performances by everyone who participated in the sessions. Unlike the album's preceeding tracks, "Geto Heaven Pt. 2" is entirely created with live instrumentation; you got Brother ?uestlove on drums, D'Angelo on accoustic piano, James Poyser on Rhodes, Antonio Hart on flute and Pino Palladino on bass. In other words, The Soulquarian's truly coming together as a unit and working out a hauntingly beautiful, yet peaceful song. It was the perfect opening to the final act of Common's crown acheivement as an artist. Interestingly enough this wasn't even part of the original LP in its initial stages, which is pretty fantastic considering how much in the vein of it it definitely is, but rather recorded for D'Angelo's "Voodoo" album. Of course, those two albums were recorded simultaneously in Electric Ladyland studios with much of The Roots' "Things Fall Apart" and the majority of Erykah Badu's brilliant "Mama's Gun"; making a quartet of albums that are like sister albums to each other and are about equally good; true classics that everybody who loves soul and hip-hop should have in their collections,  The story, as told by ?uestlove, goes that when D'Angelo heard the original beat for "Chicken Grease", that The Soulquarians had just jammed out during a Common session he was more than willing to trade "Geto Heaven" for the initial Common track; and even throw in a wonderful guest vocal chorus to boost. You could almost say that "Like Water..." and "Voodoo" are reflections of each other; the hip-hop side, and the soul side (and Badu's "Mama's Gun" I always considered to be the female counterpart to D'Angelo's male perspective on "Voodoo"), so the pieces naturally just fit as good as they did. The Roots' "Things Fall Apart" definitely fit in in this equation as well, it's a rather new sound for The Roots heavily influenced by D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, and of course Jay Dee who laced the funky as shit joint "Dynamite" and the hilarious B-aside only, "New Year's At Jay Dee's".  

So why am I posting a song from 2000 you might ask; the answer is simple - as I said I came to the realization that many people might not even have heard it since it seemed it was hard to download when I was hunting it down and this deserves to be heard by EVERYONE, much unlike THIS - "GHETO HEAVEN (T.S.O.I,P. REMIX)". That "Like Water..." is spinning on my turntable right now of course plays into the decision to post this now as well, so if you haven't heard the original version. you can check the YouTube video up top, and to download I ripped a quite nice 192 kbps rip of my CD (the one that sometimes skips). Luckily, I'm listening to the Mp3 now and it's not skipping at all, so enoy this straight up FANTASTIC track (produced by GOD according to the credits BTW). If you're gonna buy Common's New York debut with The Soulquarian's make sure to pick up a used copy, preferably on wax; maybe on Discogs to make sure that you get the original version of the LP. With that being said, that wack remix still doesn't alone manage to break an album as dope as "Like Water..."; you still got Jay Dee doing most of the production (which is it s lot more traditional and atmospheric  than his work on the madly overlooked "Electric Circus), and is full of fantastic beats, interludes, guests and of course amazing coallabos by The Roots, Slum Village, MC Lyte, DJ Premier, Bilal, Mista Sinista, Mos Def, Roy Hargrove, Femi Kuti, Cee-Lo, and Razhel.

COMMON Ft. D'ANGELO - "GHETTO HEAVEN PT. II"