[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!

BLACK SHEEP Ft. Red Alert, Chi-Ali & Sadat X - "Peace Phife"

It's about time we get a proper tribute to the legend known as Phife Dawg that passed over to the other side on March 22 due to his long struggle with diabetes. One thing's for sure his conrtribution to Hip Hop will always be remembered as something special. Over a soul laced production by Jim B. fellow Natives Tongues member Dres rounds up DJ Red Alert, Chi-Ali and Sadat X - all original friends and collegoues of The Five Footer - and they all do a commendable job in putting a worthy song on wax in celeberation of the life and times of this great artist and man. Please support by purchasing the song from Dres Bandcamp as all proceeds will go straight to Phife's family.

[Stream] BENEFICENCE - "Basement Chemistry"

Beneficence is a rapper from New Jersey who has been putting in work for a long time, gaining the respect of many of the hottest rappers and producers throughout the East Coast due to his skilled rhyming and down to earth persona. Though he put out his first 12"s in 1994 and 1998, respectively, it wasn't until he hooked up with Ill Adrenaline Records in 2010 that I and many with me really came across his work. On his debut album "Sidewalk Science" for the label he worked extensively with Diamond D on the production while Roc Marciano, Truth Enola, Rob-O, The Legion, Diamond D, Lord Tariq, Prince Po and Frank-N-Dank shared microphone duties. His follow up, "Concrete Soul" was released a year later in 2012 and was even more packed with big names that had a lot of underground fanatics drooling. I'm talking beats and rhymes from Buckwild, K-DEF, InI, Lord Tariq, DJ Doo Wop, Gensu Dean, Confidence, Roc Marciano, B1, Herb McGruff, Da Beatminerz, AG, El Da Sensei, Nature, Masta Ace and many more. A true '90s hip-hop extravaganza if I ever heard one and funny thing is that it all worked in bringing back that sound we all love and cherish.

 

Now Beneficence and Ill Adrenaline is back for round three, and as they say if the formula ain't broke, don't fix it. "Basement Chemistry" is a little lighter on the guest features but still manages to pull some impressive rhymes and beats from Inspectah Deck, DJ Spinna, Da Beatminerz, AG, Masta Ace, MC Eiht, El Da Sensei, L'Orange, Chubb Rock, MindsOne, Confidence, Black Sheep + The Legion and more. The latter two appears on the single and accompanying video for "Make It Hot (Jingle Jangle v.2)", the sequel of Dres and Legion's classic 1993 single. You can peep the video above and stream the entire album below. The LP is available on CD, cassette and vinyl and can be purchased from UGHH now.

BLACK SHEEP - "Propogation"

Wow, I totally missed out on this, but this is F'n great right here. I've been a big fan of Dres and Mista Lawgne since they first burst onto the scene with their immaculate '91 debut album "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing", and though Lawgne has left the group, Dres is deifnitely one of the more slept on rhymeslingers the american hip-hop scene has to offer. Not all of Black Sheep's output has exactly been mindblowing, but there's plenty of hot material in that catalouge of theirs. Last year (or was it the year before) Dres album with Jairobi as evitaN went totally over heads heads, but now it seems that Dres The Black Sheep has signed a deal with Tommy Boy as they just have premiered a new single from the talented wordsmith called "Propagation". Pay attention to the lyrics on this one; as the press release says "this is not meant to get you moving, but to get you thinking". It will be interesting to see where this turns up!

DJ PREMIER / AG - "Bars In the Booth #4"

As I've said before DITC is meaning business in 2014; not any crew have come close to releasing as many quality projects this year, not even close. AG recently dropped his slamming EP collabo with DeeJay Koss ("Natural High") and now he's the latest to be featured in DJ Premier's equally slamming "Bars in the Booth" series which so far has featured impressive verses by Papoose, Dres of Black Sheep, Jakk Frost, laid down live in the studio over original and exclusive Preemo breaks. When the series is completed we'll definitely need a compilation of these gems - my favorites so far are Dres and now AG, but they are all dope. Big up to Robbie and UNKUT.

DJ Premier x DRES - "Bars in the Booth" [Session #2]

DJ Premier got a lot of things going right now, one of them being his recently started Bars in the Booth series. The concept is that he invites various legendary emcees of all genres to HeadCQuarterz Studios, put on a Preemo beat and have them being filmed while they spazz out in the booth. First out was Papoose who went in over one of the instros from the "Beats Collected Dust" series that was also used by Bumpy Knuckles for "Fake" (click here if you missed that one). Now that was dope, but for Session 2 it's getting even sicker as Dres from Black Sheep (an emcee I always felt was criminally underrated emcee) really gets a chance to prove how extremely powerful he truly is with the wordplay. Shit what can I say, this is just... DAMN!

[VIDEO] evitaN + Sadat X - "Three Kings"

Black Sheep's Dres, Tribe's Jarobi and Brand Nu's Sadat X connects on this heavy hitter from evitaN's forthcoming debut album. "3 Kings" is produced by frequent Sadat X collaborator Will Tell, and the video is directed by Emil Moller with photography by Adam McDaid. For more evitaN check out last week's post of the album sampler.

evitaN- "Four Track Sampler EP"

Native Tounges has officially beem reinstated, with Dres of Black Sheep and Jarobi of Tribe carrying the torch that was first first sparked by people like by Pos and Q-Tip. The Sheep's 1991 debut album, "A Wolf in Sheep's Clohing", is a pretty damn superb masterpiece, with amazing tracks such as "The Choice is Yours", "Similak Child", "La Menage", "For Doz that Slept", "Flavor of the Month", and many more. Mista Lawnge's production work on that album, combined with Dres's smooth voice, clever punchlines and well thought out concepts, made it to one of those true overlooked gems.

Then we get Jarobi, the mysterious fourth member of A Tribe Called Quest, who more or less left the group around the recording of the classic "Low End Theory", and since then things have been rather quiet from him, save for the occassional live show. Until recently that is...

It all started when Dres contacted Jaoribi to record an EP for his own Bum Rush imprint; with one track featuring the Black Sheep emcee. They both agreed that the resulting track was quite fantastic, and plans to make it into a full-length album quickly became what they wanted to do. Back in February, they premiered the terrific Occupy Wall Street anthem, "P.T.I.". This was soon followed by three equally dope cuts, which according to the duo is more of street singles than actual singles from the forthcoming album, which is to be titled "Speed Of Life". But all four tracks sounds very GOOD, and has me anticipating the album for sure. Check out recent HipHopDX interview and wach out for "Speed Of Life" on June 26.

01. "P.T.A. (Occupy Wall Street")
02."Who is This (A More Reflectve Cat)
03. "Give´it to Me"
04. "The 3 Kings" (Ft. Sadat X)

evitaN - "STREET SINGLES"