PRODIGY - "THE REAL H.N.I.C. Mixtape (Vol. 1)" [2000]

I and The Lost Tapes was missing in action when the devastating news of Prodigy's passing hit us all like an atom bomb. He was a guy that did so much for Hip Hop, always spoke his mind, but always with the respect he estimated his opponent to be deserving of and being a smart man he understood that there was so much more to life than petty hood beef that never gets anywhere constuctive for anyone. In the end it wasn't a violent confrontation by some disgruntled low-life thinking he owed them something (often despite helping them, giving handouts and power up to a point). But are we not all men, P wasn't put here to hold your hand through your careers, the fact that he gave you a helping hand at all speaks volumes of his character. Y'all kow who I'm talking about, but fuck them, this isn't about them, 

Together with his rhyme and production patner in Havoc they created 3 classics or at least damn near classis for Loud Recods before P's health and writer's block got the better of him for a while, all while the Hip Hip landscape was shaping up differently around them. But those three albums right tere, "The Infamous....", "Helll On Earth" and "Murda Muzik" will go down in history as some of the best music the '90s had to offer both musically and lyrically. At this time they were clearly on a roll, and despite the unreleased "Murda Muzik: The Movie" being pretty damn unwatchable they did record an unreleased soundtrack for the album - granted some of the songs found other outlets later, some of them being on this very mixtape although some are only snippets to get you hyped for the actual album with WHOO KID quipping "COMING ON INFAMOUS RECORDS THAT MURDA MUZIK: THE SOUNDTRACK". Well I'm am going to bring as complete Murda Muzik Soundtrack album that is humanly possible so stay tuned for that.

But one man doesn't make Mobb Deep, but one man sure as hell made "H.N.I.C." which is in fact a better album than later Mobb Deep albums like "Infamy", "Blood Money" and "Amerika's Nightmare" (I did dig the last joint they put out as a team though). Just titling his solo "Head Nigga in Charge" was bold as hell, but his rhymes, songs, bars and personal statements and struggles on there sure as hell backed it up. You got "You Can Never Feel My Pain" (perhap the realest shit 'P' ever wrote), you got "Keep It Thoro", you had "Three", you had "Veteran's Memorial", the "Trials and Tribulations", the obligatory Mobb Deep cuts. Yes, this was everything a Mobb Deep head was wanting to hear at the time but from Prodigy's side of the spectrum and over the years it has only grown in status.

But this is not only a little mini-review of "H.N.I.C." but also a thank you to Albert Johnson for helping to shape Hip Hop as a whole and as such my own adolenscene. This is also about the official DJ Whoo Kid mixtape "H.N.I.C. Mixtape Part One" that dopped in 2000. To my knolwedge there was never a second part ever made but this mx is dope enough to rewind at least a couple of times. I've noticed that there's been floaing around a lot of fake mixtapes with this title on YouTube, basically Prodigy compilation of YT users favorite tracks. But this is the real deal. As DJ Whoo Kid shouts out "This is the best of P" several times, the tape had a few objectives to lay out. Showcase Prodigy as one of the best emcees out there and one who could do it on the solo tip, but also to promote Infamous Records with the upcoming Bars-n-Hooks (why do you think Bars N Hooks get the 5 minute opener),and the "Murda Musik: The Soundtrack" and film. There's some really sick exclusives here so press play and enjoy.

Matter of fact I was going to upload and do the Mp3 thing, but thanks to DJ Whoo Kid himself he has uploaded it to his AudioMack account. Last but not least: Rest in power Albert Johnson a.k.a. Prodigy, you were one of the truly greats and we won't let you be forgotten! 

[Video] BIG TWINS - "It's A Stick Up"

One of the grimiest voices in hip hop goes all out with his new triple threat of a video, "It's A Stick Up" / "I Don't Give A Shit" / "Ben Franklin", all hard, solid tracks. Produced by Knxwledge, Animoss, and Chuck Strangers, respectively. All songs can be found on Twins latest project, the digital 21-tracks album "Thrive 2", available from iTunes now.

DJ Skizz Ft. AG, OC, Roc Marciano & Godfather pt.3

Over the last couple of years the immensely talented DJ Skizz has blessed us with some hard hitting mixtapes, handled all cuts on Masta Ace's most recent project, as well as produced album cuts for peeps like Lil' Dap, Big Noyd, Maffew Ragazino, and Brown Bag AllStars. If you're a regular reader of The Lost Tapes, you are well aware of "BQE: The Brooklyn-Queens Experience", Skizz' official debut album which drops via Soulspazm Records on September 17. For his latest single in the promotion of the LP, "Light Years" Skizz rounds up four really sick veteran lyricists representing DITC, The UN, and Infamous Mobb respectively, for a trailblazing posse cut produced by the man himself. You'll find the track below, and right under that I posted the tracklist again - this'll be one hell of an album, that's for sure... You can pre-order digital version @ iTunes, but please let there be physical copies too!

1. "Metal Bars" (Ft. Masta Ace & Nature)

2. "Heavy Metal is Bakk" (Ft. Jakk Frost & Malik B. of the Roots)

3. "Outta Control" (Ft. Willie Stubz)

4. "Let em Know" (Ft. Shabaam Sahdeeq, Rah Digga, & Tragedy Khadafi)
5. "Vio-Lence" (Ft. Lil' Fame & ILL BILL)

6. "Triboro Thoro" (Ft. Hannibal Stax, Big Noyd, & Panchi of NYG'z)

7. "Roast Ya" (Ft. Problemz & Al' Tariq aka Kool Fashion)

8. "Poison" (Ft. Big Twins)

9. "Light Years" (Ft. Roc Marciano, AG, OC, & G.O.D.-Father Pt. III)    

10. "Init2Win" (Ft. Justo)

11. "Rap Opera" (Ft. Illa Ghee)

12. "That Type" (Ft. Steele of Smif-n-Wessun, F.T., & Torae)

13. "Day in the Life" (Ft. Reks, Maffew Ragazino, & Rasheed Chappell)

14. "QB All-Stars" (Ft. Cormega, Big Twins, Craig G, & Nature)

[Video] BIG TWINS x PRODIGAL SUNN - "Block Holiday"

Turns out that Infamous Mobb's Big Twins and Sunz Of Man's Prodigal Sunn have gone together and formed the duo Infamous Sunn. I'm a fan of both these guys so I'm eager to see what they got in store for us, and the first single "Block Holiday" is already promising great things.

[DOCUMENTARY] "Our Drugs War: 'Life & Death of a Drugdealer' in QueensBridge"

One of my main men Big Rob put me on to this great British documentary that ran for a few episodes a few years ago called "Our Drugs War". In this second 46 minutes episode, we get to follow a young aspiring rapper by the name of Black Box, you might have heard on the Infamous Mobb' 2010 mixtape "Year Of The Dragon" where he and Big Twinz collaborated on the song "Ca$h", as well as an interlude homage to his life that was cut way too short on "Homage (R.I.P. Skit)".

It's a shame that Black Box was murdered just as his career could possibly have started to take off, but that's how fucked up this life often is. An interesting aspect is that the British filmmaker started out as the opposite of a drug liberal, but at the end of the documentaries he had totally changed his mind, after seeing the misery these guys have to endure to the fucked up politics; for example how is pure cocaine gonna have a whole lot less governmental punishment than crack cocaine; which is the same fucking drug. The answer is of course, that crack (which is a lot cheaper) is something that mainly blacks use while the expensive cokaine is what's used by rich white guys in suits. Go figure.... Either way, a great documentary that I strongly recommend, so HIT PLAY!

The Mobb Deep Fam - "Keep Gettin' That Paper"

"The Infamous Team" is a five tracks EP that was released digitally to sites like iTunes back in November. I remember checking out the tracklist and thinking it looked like a sick project, but then kinda forgot about it. A few hours ago though, Audible Doctor uploaded his featured remix of the song "Keep Getting That Paper"; a really dope cut featuring Mobb Deep, Infamous Mobb and Big Noyd. These three legendary QB acts are also the featured artists on the remaining three tracks (and original version of this song) so this extended play should definitely be well worth to listen to. Pick up "Infamous Team" @ iTunes now.