[Album] SADAT X - "Agua"

When the world first heard The Brand Nubians 1990 debut album "One For All", notorious for being praised with the much hyped five mics rating in The Source, few would think that Derreck X would be the artist out of that trio to have the highest profile and largest catalouge in a few years. In fact "One For All" treated Lord Jamar and Derreck X as Grand Puba's back up band, and didn't even appear on half of the album. But sometimes the tables turn, through hard work and dedication Sadat X (as he soon after changed his name to) crafted a unique style with an unmistakable voice with lyrics that often dealt with personal feelings and surviving in a world where friends and lovers often turn out to be willing to stab you in the back when you least expect it. The only problem was that he might have started to put quantity over quality a little too much in the last ten years or so.

It's been a long time since I've been really excited about an X album, though I did like his "Love, Hell or Right" album from 2013. Now the New York artist is back with "Agua" sporting a pretty damn impressive cast list of guest producers and emcee partners. How about Pete Rock, Diamond D, Da Beatminerz, Nick Wiz, DJ Scratch, Easy Mo Bee, Fokis, Dub Sonata and Will Tell? What about Lord Jamar, Dres, Edo G, A-F-R-O, Rahzel, Cella Dwellas' UG, Milano, Shabaam Sahdeeq, RA The Rugged Man, and Wordsmith? That's a lot of features and producers and as I haven't had the time to listen yet I'm not sure how cohessive the X-Man has managed to make it sound but one thing's for sure, there's bound to be several real bangers on here to cherish. Probably more than any Sadat X albums in ten years or so. Released on Tommy Boy, the album is available for purchase in both physical and digital form now, and can also be streamed and purchased (both digital and on CD) in full via X's official Bandcamp. One thing though, the last I heard from Sadat X was that he's working on a full-length album entirely produced by Diamond D, and as usual we get one track to show for it. Well, I for one hope it's still coming. But what the hell, with Pete Rock, Da Beatminerz and Nick Wiz I sure as hell can complain. I also wasn't a fan of Will Tell on some earlier X albums, but the single/video "Murder Soundtrack" (above) with AFRO and Rahzel has convinced me has stepped his game up big time. You can also cop the physical from UGHH where you can also see the credits for each track. TURN IT UP!

[Comp] LORD JAMAR - "ON THE DEVIL'S COUCH"

I remember first hearing Brand Nubian's sophomore album "In God We Trust" and being blown away by the beats and rhymes - matter of fact this was my first introduction to Brand Nubian. Sure as a white guy, it took some critical thinking to truly get past some of the more outrageous things said, but once I understood that it's not all a matter of black and white (though it of course plays a big part), I started understand the incredible chemistry, production and lyrical onslaught that these two guys possessed. At the time the group only consisted of Lord Jamar and Sadat X with DJ Sincere, as Alamo and Grand Puba had fled after the group's other members felt they were underepresented on their classic debut "One For All" - which they definitely were; while Puba was on 14 out of 16 songs, the other two members where on about half of that. "One For All" was like a Grand Puba album guest starring two of his protogés on a bunch of tracks - ultimately, Jamar and Derric X (as we called then) received one solo track each, but out of the 16 songs on the CD edition, no less than 7 of them were Grand Puba solo joints in all but name. 

While the entire group all were heavily indoctrined in 5% ideology Puba had always been the fun-loving, laid back super slick rhymer, Derric X was the introspective MC who touched upon the perils of his and people in his personal lives, while Lord Jamar was the most political outspoken (and remains so to this day). So when Grand Puba went, many people thought the group would just fizzle out. Hell no, was the response of the remaining memebers, creating an album almost as a revenge to show that they could do it with or without the veteran Masters Of Ceremony almuni. The first hting they needed were a good producer, as Grand Puba had produced nearly all of the debut, with a few notable exceptions - three tracks was laced by Dante Ross' production team the SD50's and Dante was still with them as managerss by the time of "In God We Trust") and the song "Ragtime" was produced by Skeff Anselm, a regular alumni at Jazzy J's infamous studio where countless Hip Hop classics were created back in those day. Oh and Dave Hall produced that horrible New Jack Swing track "Try To Do Me". Speaking on the creation of the album with Unkut.com, Jamar told a no-names-given story of how it was decided that one of the producers who had worked briefly on the first record. In Jamar's word this producer kind of looked down on these two young artists, and demanded an incredible high price for each beat which would totally fuck up the budget. The producer wasn't called out by name, but it's pretty easy to figure out that it was Skeff Anslem considering that Dante Ross and SD50's was sitll involved in the making of the later albums (although in a background capacity). 

Instead Lord Jamar picked up a dusty SP1200, and a long with the record collection between the trio and their families, asked Dante Ross and some of the engineers to show him the ropes (although it's clear that he took a keen interest in the process already on the first album). The result was a much less polished album, one with all the roughness and grittiness of someone relatively new to production, but you couldn't deny the talent as Lord Jamar clearly had an ear for hot samples and the result was a much darker and more militant album than the first one. "In God We Trust" is a straight-up militant hardcore album, from the accoustic bass heavy boom bap opening of "Allah U Akbar" to the Diamond D produced Rocky sampling all-time classic "Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down" (i'm personally a huge fan of the album version while many dismiss it in favor of the single remix): and this was reflected in both the lyrics and production. Whereas "One For All" had plenty of 5% idelology it was balanced out with some fun tracks and some less-serious party anthems, whereas "In God We Trust" was Sadat X and Lord Jamar getting straight up in your face with their beliefs over earth shattering beats. It was an unexpected success amongst true heads for sure.

In 1994 the trio (with DJ Science) released the critically (severely) misunderstood "Everything is Everything" which to my ears is even better - a dividing album that is in some circles cited as the worst Brand Nubian album of all time, and in some circles as the absolute illest. To me it's closer to the latter; save for a song by Buckwild, Lord Jamar again handles all the beat making and it's now evident that he really got a grip of how to really produce sick records. The material and mixing is slicker, and there's a brilliant strangeness in the sample choices from unexpected sources such as The Average White Band, Simply Red and The Fuzz along with more typical sample stapes of the time like Lou Donaldson, George Benson and Luther Ingram.Not to mention the Simply Red sampling/covered single "Holdin' On", which has caught some hate but which I always loved. The group reuinted with Puba and released "The Foundation" in 1998 (a very good album but not as coherrent as the predecessors, despite having D.I.T.C. and DJ Premier on board), and later a forgettable LP called "Fire in the Hole". Oh and don't forget to check out his one and only solo album, "The 5% Album", featuring guest and production from Preservation, Bronze Nazareth and several Wu-Tang Clan alumni.

I've been wanting to make a compilation of Lord Jamar material and the main reason is that these youngings don't know how dope this guy really. They know him from fucking DJ Vlad's BS gossip interviews that NEVER focuses on music (doens't matter who he's talking to) - it's like the TMZ of Hip Hop - and guess what Vlad is on record saying stuff that Nas only has one good album, not any songs that could rival "New York State Of Mind", and that the best hip-hop single in the last 10 years or so happens to be "Lollipop" by Lil' Wayne. So for the sake of Hip Hop, a compilation like this is much needed to give Lord Jamar his proper credit.  The album focus mostly on Jamar's excellent prodction work throughout the late '90s for acts like Shabazz The Disciple, dead prez, Red Foxx and UGK, intersperesed with some fine guest apperances. The compilation is bookended by two of my favorite Jamar focused joints on "Everything...", something I rarely do but these two tracks are just too good and as I know a lot of people are hesitant to give this even a chance I think it works well in the context. "Return Of The Dread" is a perfect opener as it's a Jamar solo tracks and discusses beats that's pancake fat - how could you go wrong with  that. The final song, "Claimin' I'm A Criminal" is not only one of the Nu's best songs but one of the more heartfelt hip-hop joints of all time... So withour further due, download, press play, and enjoy "The Devil & His Couch" and turn that militant shit way up brothers and trusted readers.

01. Brand Nubian - "Return Of The Dread"
02. Daddy Dogg Ft. Dead Prez - "Bluesanova" [Dead Prez Remix]
03. Artifacts Ft. Lord Finesse & Lord Jamar - "Collaborations Of Mics"
04. Shabazz The Disciple - "Prelude to Pestilence" (Interlude)
05. Shabazz The Disciple - "Street Parables" (Ft. Lord Jamar)
06. Dead Prez - "Propaganda"
07. Kool G Rap Ft. Lord Jamar & Talib Kweli - "Oz Thme 2000"
08. Sadat X Ft. Brand Nubian - "The Lump Lump" [Nubian Mix]
09. Shabazz The Disciple - "The Link..." (Interlude)
10. Shabazz The Disciple - "Organized Rhyme Pt. II"
11. Red Foxx - "What The Girls Want" [Raggamuffin Hip Hop Mix]
11. UGK Ft. Keith Murray & Lord Jamar - "Live Wires Connect"
13. Brand Nubian - "Lick Dem Muthafuckas" [OG Mix]
14. Dead Prez - "The Pistol"
15. Lord Jamar - "The Sun"
16. Brand Nubian - "Claimin' Im A Criminal"

All tracks produced by Lord Jamar except:
03 prod. by Lord Finesse, 07 prod. by Domingo, 08 prod. by Buckwild

LORD JAMAR - "ON THE DEVIL'S COUCH"

CORMEGA Ft. INSPECTAH DECK / ROCK MARCIANO / SADAT X / LORD JAMAR - "Industry - Deluxe Remix"

Cormega and Large Professor once again rounds up some of the greatest emcees of all time for a remix of "Industry". They actually revealed the line-up for this remix around the time for the release of "Mega Philosophy" in an interview with XXL (very good read), so I've been eagerly awaiting this banger and it does not dissapoint. If you still haven't grabbed 'Mega's latest it's not too late to support the movement - grab @ iTunes, UGHH or HHV. Also the vinyl edition is being repressed and will be available for purchase again on October 17.

LORD JAMAR - "The 5% Documentary"

Judging by forum posts and user comments on well visited hip-hop sites, Lord Jamar is today mostly seen by younger listeners as some old, angry commentator on the culture, making videos on non-entities like Macklemore and Iggy Azaela. While I agree that the amount of time and energy Jamar puts into raging about such issues doesn't put him in the best of light, but it hardly overshadows his musical career. He has of course been an important part of hip-hop culture since the late '80s as part of one of the best bands of all time - Brand Nubian. It was however first in 2006 that he debuted as a solo artist with the release of "The 5% Album"; an album that I get the impression a lot of people are still sleeping hard on. Striving to enlighten listeners on the spiritual beliefs and culture of the Nation of Islam, or the 5% Nation, as originally thought by Clarrence X, the project is a concept LP that's filled with heavy jewels and headbanging throwback beats. Fans of Brand Nubian's earlier work will definitely feel this one, and to me it's a lot stronger than their final LP, 2004:s "Fire in the Hole". Lord Jamar has a strong, deep voice with a lot of authority in it, and he delivers his lines with a crystal clarity that commands listeners to really take what he's saying into consideration. That is not to say that it's a perfect album by any stretch as there's some beats that just fall flat, and over close to 70 minutes things can get a bit repetitious on the lyrical side as well.

However when it is good, it's usually great, especially when the production is handled by Preservation or Lord Jamar himself who both provides the album with a majestic feel through deep, dark soul samples and thumping boom bap beats. The guest emcees are all members of the 5% nation, and includes Wu-Tang members such as RZA, Raekwon, Prodigal Sunn, Popa Wu, and both remaining Brand Nubian members Grand Puba and Sadat X. Stand-outs include the hypnotic "Deep Space" with RZA, the deeply soulful ghetto story "The Corner, The Streets" with Puba, the Shaolin soul of "Same Ol' Girl", and the LP closer "Greatest Story Never Told" where Jamar truly gets to shine as a lyrical storyteller. Another interesting joint is "Young Godz", where Jamar passes the torch to the next generation as the sons of GZA, Jamar and Ol' Dirty Bastard gets busy on the mic (a similiar track appeared on Masta Killa's second album); even the production is handled by Young Justice (GZA's son) and it ain't no joke. A nice touch is that the CD edition comes packaged with a 90 page book documenting the history of The NOI and Clarrence X / The Father Allah. If you want to learn about the meaning of the 5% nation while hearing some heavy hip-hop music, definitely check out "The 5% Album" if you're not familiar with it already. Made as a promotional documentary about the making and meaning of the album, Babygrande released "The 5% Documentary" which you can view above split into two parts. You can purchase the 2xLP set, CD and stream the entire album officially here.

Lord Jamar & Superb - "NY Timez"

The second single from Lord Jamar's upcoming "Known Associates" is here! "N.Y. Timez" is another winner from the Brand Nubian MC who here invites former Wu-Tang affilliate Lord Superb to rock over just the type of sick production I'm hoping to hear more like on the LP. The concept of the joint is nothing short of the truth  and it's great to see artists still refusing to step back from hip-hop as a political forum, despite shutting themeselves off from any commercial radio play or major promotional backing. That's strictly reserved for acts who talks about violence, selling hard drugs or promotes plain ignorance. This is of course another thing that plays right in to the fear mongering that the media is guilty of and these two rhyme generals touch upon here. 

LORD JAMAR / LORD SUPERB - "N.Y. TIMEZ"

Lord Jamar - ".45 Caliber"

In 2006 the incredible emcee and producer known to the world as Lord Jamar took a step back from rocking with his producer in Brand Nubian and released his solo debut, "The 5% Album". A very solid release indeed, it clearly proved that Jamar was very capable of holding down a solo career. Six years later, it's now time for his second LP, to be titled "Known Associates" which will drop on the Universal Indie Records and has been in the works for years. Previously confirmed features include Sadat X, Cappadonna, Jay Electronica, Bun B, Xzibit, M1 of dead prez, B-Real, Lil' Dap and Lord Superb. 

Today the first single from "Known Associates" has been unveiled and is called ".45 Caliber". The song is produced by someone who goes by True Culture and gets the thumbs up from me. What y'all think about this song and the forthcoming LP?

LORD JAMAR - ".45 CALIBER"