When I first posted the free album stream of the new Slum Village album I was a little stand-offish against it. Their last album "Evolution" was really weak to me and din't pack the SV sound at all, "Villa Manifesto" was good but it seemed to lack something and I've heard several singles "produced" by Jay Dee that I wouldn't imagine he wouldn't want to have released during his lifetime. Then there's the constant changing of the line-up of the group. So needless to say then, I want into SV's new album with a lot of precautions. That's really the best way to enter any album, because then you can only be pleasantly suprised. And that is exactly what I became with Slum Village's new "Yeeeah". In my opinion this is the most Slum Village sounding album the group has released in year, which is something of an oxymoron considering that they have embraced several styles during their long careers and member changes. But what I mean it is the closest they have come to the style that made me fall in love with their music from the jump, the "Fantastic Vol. 1" and "Fantastic Vol. 2" series. Sonically it's filled with that filtered basslines, smacking Dilla type drums, and sampled guitar and Rhodes samples. This is what I want to hear from Slum Village, and not suprisingly the album uses no less than 10 Jay Dee instrumentals that at least I never heard before. And the mistake many albums that uses posthumous lost-and-found beats for their albums, these have been co-produced by Young RJ in several cases making sure that they sound as complete songs presentable in 2015 - which is a great way to keep Dilla's musical legacy alive. I'm really fed up with the practice beats some artists, who never even worked with Yancey in his lifetime, get a hold of and boosts about having a Dilla beat on their album. But these aren't just any ol' Dilla beats either, they actually are in the same vein as the "Fantastic" stuff for the most part, really bringing back memories of when SV was the kings of Detroit.
And just like "Fantastic Vol. II", the current members of Slum Village, which still includes their leader T3 who does a great job rhyming throughout, the members aims several joints at the girls over smooth instrumentals. A true stadout is the Young RJ produced "Push it Along", that uses a familiar breakbeat coupled with an infecitious piano melody and a brilliant bassline while Phife Dawg makes a welcome guest apperance. Then you got the triumphant "Windows", filled with strings and smacking drums giving it a cinematic feeling that's perfect for the songs themes of how we all see small parts of other persons life through "windows" just like on a screen. This is one of the beats Jay Dee begun and Young RJ completed, and this is when it works best. The same can be said about their collaboration on "Right Back at You" which features the legendary De La Soul which got that classic posse cut feeling with nothing but excellent verses from everyone involved over an infectious piano sample, hardcore drums courtesy of Dilla and slick cuts. Same goes for the Black Milk produced "We On The Go" which features Frank Nitty and a verse from Black Milk himself going head to head with the SV trio over an addictive banger with a lot of shit happening in the beat that together forms a unified whole. The only real misstep on a really good album is the halfbaked Jay Dee left-over beat that for some reason was released as a single and is even the title track. It got a disco influence and a horrible singing hook and doesn't even sound finished. Why Young RJ didn't go into this one and shape it up is beyond me because it just don't work, but I guess some people like it so whatever.
Lyrically the album doesn't say much, but SV really never did speak on very important topics, they got cool voices and just like on the "Fantastic" albums this one got a laid back feel with a lot of joints aimed at the ladies (like the beautiful "Too Much") when they are not making Detroit anthems ("Where We Come From") or going full throttle with the posse cuts. After roughly forty minutes, the album closes on track 12 with the excellent Jay Dee production "What We Have" featuring Illa J (I actually thought he was a member by now, but guess not) and Kam Corvet. A fantastic way to close the album, an experimental Jay Dee beat taking some notes from his love for jazz with Rhodes, percussion, trumpet and female vocals floating in and out over the heavy filtered bass line while T3 sends out his love to a woman he sees a future with but his homies don't see what's the big deal with. Something I guess many of us can relate to. As the album fades out, there's no question that you have listened to a new Slum Village album, unlike some of their more recent releases. And for once I'm actually glad they used leftover Dilla beats because they found a way to really make it work without sounding forced. When Baatin and Dilla died I counted out SV, but then when I realized what a dope emcee eLzhi is I noticed that they could still make some dope shit but since he left the group I have had zero interest in a new SV album. I'm glad they proved me wrong because they still got it! Motown stand up!
Few groups throughout hip-hop's rather brief history has been as fascinating as The Gravediggaz to me. I am mainly talking about the original incarnation here (though I indeed like their two second releases quite a lot but it's just not the same without the original mebers and their impeccable chemistry and common drive during that first album! The Prince Paul led quartet that saw the super producer oversee and direct three criminally underrated lyricists as they mixed what would become known as horrorcore with knowledge of self in an absolute brilliant way. Being that I'm 28 years old, I fell in love with hip-hop in the mid-'90s and one of the first LP:s I truly fell in love with and memorized every word to at around 13 years old was the GD debut "Niggamortis". Of course the album was known as "6 Feet Deep" in the US but as Frukwan says "it was always 'Niggamortis' to us" (Coleman, 2014). I recently read Brian Coleman's excellent book "Check The Technique Volume II" which has an extensive chapter on the album with Frukwan and Paul breaking down the science behind its making and even a track-by-track breakdown. That and my man Pattch82's excellent interview with The Undertaker for HipHopSite about the album's making is all any Gravedigga head will need to read to fully grasp the genius and hard work that went into that classic of an LP and chuckle at all the crazy ancedotes. If you haven't bought that book and it's predecessor and is a true hip-hop fan, I STRONGLY recommend you to do so - both volumes are among the best books I've ever read on hip-hop - related to this thread, it also contains a deep chapter on Stetsasonic's "In Full Gear" where Frukwan, Prince Paul, Daddy-O and DBC break down that album in great detail.
* Did you for instance know that the beat for "6 Feet Deep" (the song) was created almost by accident? While waiting for engineer Scotty Harding to come by the studio, the quartet headed over to the music room of the studio and started playig around with the instruments; Frukwan on guitar, RZA on keyboards, Paul on drums (maybe Poetic on bass then?). Every once in a while they would come up with a little groove by accident, but the whole thing were being recorded. And RZA as crazy as he was back in those days, took home the tape, chooped up some parts he thought had potential, added a beat and brought it back to the guys, the next day. This was also the last song recorded for the album, and Scotty Harding was pissed when recording it, thinking it sounded like a Tom Waits song.
* Did you know that not only Sunz Of Man affiliates Shabazz, Dreddy Kruger and Killah Priest made their debut on "Niggamortis", but also Hell Razah? He's one of the guys asking one of the seven questions of "360 Questions to Ask a Gravedigga?".
* Did you know that Prince Paul produced "Diary Of A Madman", and not RNS and RZA as the credits would have you believe? RZA presented Paul with a cassette of that Johnny Mathis loops that his man RNS had done. Paul loved it and even though RNS wanted credit for them to use it he refused to reveal the sample source, forcing Paul to add a beat to the shitty cassette loop. Then he of course tied it all together, Prince Paul style, with the cinematic court scenario. So RNS got credit because of him finding the loop, RZA got credit for presenting the tape and making the connection and Prince Paul got co-production credit for producing the record. That's just how it goes sometimes.
* "Niggamortis" went through several tracklist changes, many of them last minute, as can be realized not only by looking at some of the earlier promo cassettes but also by listening to the "Rest in Peace (Outro)". On this banging outro RZArector agressively takes the mic for a speech that incorporates a lot of the tracks on the album. This however also includes "Freak The Sorceress", "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" and "Pass The Shovel". In the end it was RZA who vetoed against including "Freak...", against Paul's wishes as RZA didn't want to go as disrespectful towards the females while Paul couldn't care less. Luckily, he found a way to put it out anyways as a B-side.
Whether or not you know all of that background info or not (and tons of more information like that), "Niggamortis" has stood the test of the time as a true hip-hop classic. Prince Paul has said many times that it his personal favorite of the records he has done and I'm inclined to agree, it really showed he can do those dark, grimey, hardcore beats with the best of them and you can truly hear how he and RZA really inspired eachother during its making. The hunger in RZA's voice and agressive content is probably his best performance ever and he's on every damn track on this album - between his many styles, my favorites are his early RZArecta shit and the introspective shit he spat on "Wu-Tang Forever", and in fact the second GD project. Frukwan never really got the chance to shine as bright on the Stetsasonic albums but here he just murders everything, and his calmer voice is used as a perfect balance between RZA's and Poetic's wild styles. Which brings us to Poetic, who according to Prince Paul was like the lyrical frontman of the group. He had previously only had gotten to release one 12" on Tommy Boy (and a shelved album called "Droppin' Signal" that is another dope lost gem that remained in the vaults for way too long), though Paul tells about this unbelivable demo that he did with his brother Brainstorm and producer Mr. Sime as Brothers Grymm that made him want to sign him to Dew Doo Man before it folded. Speaking of Mr. Sime, a lot of people have wondered who that guy that produced the classic "Here Come The Gravediggaz" which is pretty much his only production credit on an official release. Paul wanted all the members to be involved on the production side as well - RZA of course did "Graveyard Chamber" and together with the rest of the group created the americna title track; Frukwan produced "Blood Brothers", which was a cut from his demo, though I'm not quite sure how the original record sounded as Paul says that he had to replay a lot of it, mix it down and so on so I guess he should at least have a co-producer credit on it; and as for Poetic's production, since he wasn't really a producer back then (unlike later when he made some absolutely amazing beats on the latter GD projects), he wanted to include a song by Poetic's producer Mr. Sime instead (and according to himself, he was pretty hands off on this one).
Poetic had a style that was unmatched, like ODB there were no father to his style and when The Gravediggaz formed the stars were definitely aligned because few groups can boost about such an incredible chemistry both amongst the emcees and with their producer. And RZArector absolutely murdered everything on this album - Paul tells how he constantly put these two emcees against each other to get the best performances from both, as in telling Poetic "Damn, RZA KILLED you on that, you better do it again", and telling RZA the same but the other way around! And it deifninitely worked! Although the original quartet only did one album, luckily enough they did release a bunch of B-sides, remixes with new vocals, demos and soundtrack joints which makes for a perfect compilation for anyone who want more of that six feet deep hip hop ish. I know I do.. So without further a due, check it out, it's the Graveyard Chamber. I only included songs or remixes done between 1992 and 1995 produced or remixed by one of the original members. Most of them are Prince Paul productions but there's a few slamming RZA cuts on here as well. The exception is the bonus tracks I added that I bet has been forgotten about a lot of people, I know I hadn't heard them for YEARS before putting this together. These are bonus tracks however as I really wanted to focus on Prince Paul's work (and RZA's to a lesser extent) making this a sort of unofficial sister album to "Niggamortis" - included are the Portishead remix of "Nowhere to Run", the excellent Underdog remixes of "Bang Your Head" and "Mommy, What's A Gravedigga?". Last but not least, there's also Big Kap's Flip Squad remix of "1-800 Suicide", not a favorite of mine but maybe many of y'all like it so why not include it? These are all official joints, lifted from the many 12" packs Gee Street released in its promotions, as well as a few other demo joints that Prince Paul let loose on "Hip Hop Gold Dust" and his Soundcloud. There will never be a group like Gravediggaz again so enjoy this slamming complation because I know I am! And if you're mentally dead, these guys got the shovels to dig you out so TURN UP THE VOLUME my friends and let Frukwan, Poetic, RZA and Prince Paul take you on a journey to the darkside; 70 minutes of classic, somewhat rare hip-hop at it's finest! ENJOY this dark shit my friends!!
01. "Intro"
[This into comes from the original Gravediggaz demo tape that Paul shopped around to labels for almost one year without any label wanting to sign them - imagine that. Def Jam passed, Geffen passed, and so on. The only one interested was Eazy E's Ruthless Records, Paul even went down there to meet Eazy and Heller but when he saw the contact he was like "Thanks, but no thanks". The demo included this, "The House That Hatred Built", "Ashes to Ashes", "2 Cups Of Blood", "Pass The Shovel", "Freak The Sorceress" and "1-800 Suicide". Now that's a demo!]
02. "The Houe That Hatred Built"
[first GD song ever recorded and the track that started it all. This song was made during the quartets first meeting at Pauls house in L.I. It's not as polished as later cuts, though Prince Paul did a band up job of making it sound real clear when he dropped it to his Soundcloud in 2012]
03. "1-800 Suicide - New Vocal Version]"
[This is just incredible, "1-800 Suicide" is one of the classic hip-hop songs of all time, so to hear that same beat and that KRS-One hook always puts chills up my spine. The difference here is that this song, which was relesaed on the but new excellent verses from all]
04. "Mommy What's A Gravedigga - Cali Mix"
[Prince Paul gets his West Coast sound on with this one. Uses the same vocals as the RZA mix, but puts it over that cassic moog synths and heavy LA bass which brings out a totally different sonical feeling of the song. In fact I believe that RZA's remix is the one that the trio recorded their vocals over as that one was released several months earlier on the "1-800 Suicide" 12" in 1994. Paul's mix idefinitely dope but I'd go with the RZA remix any day of the week]
05. "The Reincarnation Of Freud"
[B-side with Prince Paul showing off his DJ skills, Poetic came up with the name. Damn I miss dope 12" records with all these dope reimixes and B-side]
06. "Pass The Shovel"
[only included on the original European pressings as a bonus track; one of the first tracks GD ever recorded as a group. Paul didn't even want it on the album either way, but Gee Srtreet was adamant about having one more record for the European market so this was the one. As a standalone it has stood the est of the time obviously]
07. "1-800 Suicide - Poisonous Mix"
[classic RZA '95 production, with Blue Raspberry on vocals. Paul even included this on his production album "Hip Hop Gold Dust" as the only song he didn't produce hismself - saying how this is one of his favorite Poetic verses of all time. There's also a "Guillotine Mix" that's exactly the same beside the fact that RZA's verse is replaced by the one on the "New Vocal Version", see above, which made it seem redudant to include it here]
08. "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark"
[rare classic, that was neither on the demo tape and remained unreleased until 2005 on the aforementioned Prince Paul compilation It's definitely an early GD song though, as engineer Scotty Harding speaking on the original demo remembers his favorite song from that early era being the Craiig G featured "Don't Be Afraid..."]
09. "Michael Jackson Skit" [it's Prince Paul so of course we need some brilliant skits, and this one is just fucking HILARIOUS despite it's a bit morbid knowing about what happened to the King Of Pop ow but still... Gravediggaz interrogating Jackson about stealing some Gravediggaz tapes from the studio, haha]
10. "From The Darkside"
[released in 1995 on the "Tales From The Darkside" soundtrack, and sees Paul take a step back from production as the song is a co-production between Poetic and Frukwan who obviously snapped up a lot working with two of the abolute best and most innovative proucers of the '90s. While it's a Undertaken and Grimm joint, RZA was present for the ssion as it does features RZA on adlibs (could be an interview except though, but still... I know he endorsed it, as I 've heard him play it his DJ sets]
11. "Freak The Soceress"
[This cut is a fucking monster, RZA's just going at it real hardcore. As I stated above, Prince Paul really wanted this on the record but strangely enough RZA thought it was to misgrading to women (ain't you the guy that made "Maria", "Dometic Violence", "A Better Tomorrow, etc, just to name a few?). Prince Paul managed to sneak it onto the B-side to "Nowhere to Run" though so it's a win for the fans and for Paul!
12. "Constant Elevation - Alternative, Original Vocal Mix"
[RZA recorded two versions of his verse here, and in 2005 Paul released his favorite version of the song that he fighted to keep on the album, but RZA didn't hear it. Paul felt this verse was mch more street while The Abbot felt it was too close to his Tommy Boy created persona Prince Rakeem. Which one do you prefer?]
13. "Diary Of A Madman - No Courtrom Verision"
[While
I of course abolutelely LOVE what Prince Paul did with the original
album and single version, it's kind of cool to hear the song inerruped. I
wouldn't replace tthe album with it but it's no doubt a very
interesting listening to hear this monster track with no interrutoptions]
14. "Mommy What's A Gravedigga" [RZA Mix]
[Prince Paul and RZA both did a mix of the very short album cut "Mommy What's A Gravedigga?" for the Double Suicide Pack 2x12", using brand new vocals and extending it from like 1:30 to a full blown track. I got to say that RZA took home this one, mainting that hardcore Gravedigga vibe of New York, while Paul went more experimental]
15. "Ashs to Ashes" [Demo]
[Beside the "Intro" and "The House That Hatred Built", "Ahes to Ashes"is the only song from the original 7 track demo that has never appeared anyehwere else. Scotty Harding has revealed that beside making them sound clearer they really didn't do anything to the songs like "2 Cups of Blood" that made it from the demo to the album. And it's fucking sick jam too - only problem is the weak sound quality, but you can't win them all right!]
BONUS TRACKS - Official Remixes by Outsiders
16. "Nowhere to Run to Hide" [Portis Head Mix]
17. "Bang Your Head" [Underdog Remix]
18. "Mommy What's A Graveigga?" [Uptight Cratedigga Remix]
19. "1-80 Suicide" [Big Kap's Flip Squad Mix]
20. "Nowhere to Run" [Portishead Mix 2] In memory of Antoy Ian Berkely - one of the moder underrated, and of the geatest to it. Buy Gravediggaz music @ Amazon and iTunes. GRAVEDIGGAZ - "WHAT'S A GRAVEDIGGA?"
New Jersey's own K-DEF is not only one of the most underrated producers that we hip-hop lovers have, he's also one of the most prolific. Recently he started his Bandcamp, giving fans the opportunity to buy his musc in digital format directly from the man himself as well as stream and preview entire album. Most of the music on the site is records he's done with Redefinition Records, but there's also some exclusive ones. First we heard his new single with Pauly X, "Street Demon", that was damn good and now he unleashes an exclusive instrumental tape on our asses called "Quick Picks". Featuring 10 instrumentals all produced and mixed by 'Def, here's what the producer had to say about the subject - "This is a quick selection of tracks I had laying around. Some interesting instrumentals for the listener". Indeed .... Visit K-Def's Bandcamp for a whole lot of other good shit, like the Signature Seven Series, "Looking For The Perfect Break" 1+2, "One Man Band" and much more.
On various, especially Wu forums, a lot of people have been dissing Ghostface and his recent albums a lot which to me is just fucking crazy. Okay "36 Seasons" was kind of mediocre, but "12 Reasons to Die" and "Sour Soul" was excellent to me. Not every album need to have super intricate rhyme scemes, and the production is so cinematic so you don't really need that much more than Ghost's amazing voice and flow though his lyrics is a bit dumbed down. As you know I put "12 Reasons..." as my #1 record of 2012, which I still stand by and the word that a sequel to this immaculate project is soon to arrive (July 6th if i'm not mistaken) is really something to look forward to. Especially as both singles so far has been absolutely excellent - the latest one is called "Let The Record Spin" and features GFK's long time P.N.C. Raekwon The Chef. So blast this one LOUD on some good speakers or your favorite headphones. In case you missed the first single, I'm posting that one too. Salute!
Two of my favorite emcees gets busy on this boom banger prodived by Marco Polo (production) and DJ Skizz (wheels of steel) to great effect. You know that when 'Mega and Roc collaborate, you're in for a treat and now there's beginning to be so many of them that a Lost Tapes compilation of the two might be ready in the near future. Not sure where this is gonna land but it is labeled as a Cormega single and it's RAW as fuck, so let's hope he's readying a new LP this year!
Drasar Monumental salutes his legendary partner and label mate MF Grimm with a slamming 45 minutes mix featuring classic selection spanning the veteran emcees vast career. Following the excellent "Good Morning Vietnam" trilogy you better know that the combination of Drasar and Grimm is a combination as fucking potent as they come... and this is a free download too, so go ahead and TURN IT UP!! Happy birthday to the one and only Grandmaster Grimm!
Vendetta Vinyl keeps on bringing MAD heat to the table, the latest quality release from the label is the second installment in the "Box Cutter Brothers" series. The brothers is a group formed by Drasar Monumental and Ayatollah and just like its predecessor the LP consists of six instrumentals each by the two beat heads. Heavy chops, ill compositions and sliced up instrumentals are guaranteed! Cop the album ASAP @ VendettaVinylVietnam.com.
In case you haven't heard Volume 1 yet, it is still available from Vendetta Vinyl and Drasar's Bandcamp, where you can also preview it in its entirety.
Ea$y Money is an emcee hell bent on bringing back that boom bap sound without sounding dated and from the stuff I've heard from him he is doing a damn good job at it. As part of Termanology's St. Da Squad collective, Ea$y has dropped the ocassional mixtape as well as appearing on records by Reks, Term, Action Bronson, Big Shug, Statik Selektah, Serial Killers (Xzibit, B-Real & Demrick), Slaine, and more. His official retail full-length debut album is now here and features the sound of hip-hop a lot of people might have been missing if they haven't been knowing were to look (and if that's the case bookmark The Lost Tapes y'all). With production from DJ Premier, Statik Selektah, Buckwild, 9th Wonder, J. Cardim and more and cameos from the likes of Lil' Fame, Termanology, Jared Evans, Wais P, Joey Bada$$, Action Bronson, to name a few. This shit goes hard so be sure to press play. The album is OUT NOW on Showoff Records. Stream below and if you like what you hear, head over to iTunes and show your support!
The legendary Large Professor is back again with his sixth solo album (counting the Main Sorce debut), and it sure does not dissapoint as he is one of the few artists that are not afraid to stick to the script, only minimaly change up his sound but never leaving the Golden Age Boom Bap influences behind. Large Pro's last project was fully producing Cormega's excellent "Mega Philosophy", a very short and consice album that didn't leave room for any filler on its 33 minutes play time, and it's clear this is something Large has adapted for "Re:Living". At only eleven songs and a running time of 31 minutes, it is by far his shortest album yet, but at the same time it is also one of his most focused to date.
Kicking off with the title track, it's clear that this is the Large Pro we have been missing and there's no dobut that he's one of the best producers around. Smacking drum programming, a haunting, almost melancholic acoustic piano melody, a recurring chant, a deeply burried horn sample and beautiful cuts all invites Extra-P to drop several quotables that together might very well take you back to the mid '90s. This is how the fuck you open up an album - sucker MC's take note. The following cut is more laid back (but don't think for a second that the drums isn't as hard hitting as ever), and this is one of those joints you need to hang heavily on the lyrics as Large Pro takes it back to his youth, fine storytelling rap for sure and the melodic beat sure does the joint justice. "Opulence" is the next joint, and was one of the singles released prior to the album, and is another laid back joint with hard hitting drums but will catch you in a reflective mood due to Large Pro's lyrics and the addictive piano melody. Once again the drive of this beat coupled with the lyrics will just suck you into the world of this music. Timeless!
There's really no point in going through every song and breaking them down as it is clear that this is a true body of work, and as I pointed out I think this is an inspiration he caught working with Cormega on his latest album. But let me say this, there sure as hell ain't a weak song on this joint, there might be a stand out or two, but this is one of those LP:s that are so rare today where you really give it a front-to-back listen every ocne in a while. Just like he did on his previous LP, "Professor @ Large", I think it's real refreshing that he incorporates two slightly shorter instrumentals on the album ("Earn", "NDN") especially when they work so well in the context.
Through the samples used there's no question that William P. Mitchell (as his real name is) is paying homage to those black musicians who became before him. Through samples, lyrics, and guests we are taken from jazz music, to blues and funk, to hip-hop and into the retro future. It's not a bragadocious album either where Large boasts about he's the only emcee worth talking about (whcih can become very tiresome) - sure almost any good hip-hop album should have at least one joint like that, but here Extra-P even has a beautiful tribute to his long-time friend and musical partner Nas on "In The Scrolls" which also features Wiz from The Bravehearts. Another song of this caliber is the inclusion of "Industry Remix #2", where Large Pro take a step back to let some of the illest legends of all time take the forefront - I'm talking Inspectah Deck, Lord Jamar, Cormega and Roc Marciano who does an excellent job over a dark, brooding instrumental thatmakes the original "Industry" sound almost happy go-lucky. This was originally released as a free download as a bonus track for "Mega Philosophy", but were only uploaded in 128 kbps. Here in CDQ this song sounds so more potent, and is actually a highlight on the entire project.
If I wanted to clutter this review I would write a paragraph or two about every single one of the eleven songs, because there's not a wack song on here so I'ma leave it at that, but be sure to don't sleep on this. I've only heard it a couple of times, but I love how focused it is, how incredible the production and vocals are, and save for "Breaking Atoms" and "The LP" I might go as far as say that this is Large Professor's finest work yet. His work ethic and friendship with Cormega seems to have done him a lot of good! Purchase the album, which is out now, on LP or CD @ UGHH! Don't sleep!
