August 13th, 2009
Let’s get it out of the way: Prodigy never recovered from The Takeover. Ever since Jay put him up on that summer jam screen, P’s once agile flow has slowed down into Snoop Dogg territory. Worse yet, after Mobb Deep’s embarrassing G-Unit album, it seemed that the once feared duo was totally lost in the wilderness, unaware of what made them dope in the first place. Thankfully, Alchemist had the remedy: 14 soul beats, an album’s worth of paranoia and violence and absolutely no label interference. The result? Return of the Mac, Prodigy’s best record since Murda Music. Using his now gravelly voice to his advantage, Prodigy reinvents himself as a hardened veteran gangster, recovering the menace of his teenage years but cloaking it in a veil of bitterness and experience. Meanwhille ALC delivers the performance of a lifetime, a sampledelic blacksploitation ode to New York’s golden era. Gangster Music done right.–Sach O
Download:
MP3: Prodigy-”Stuck on You”
MP3: Prodigy-”Return of the Mac”
Posted in The Next Spot, Sach O | 2 Comments »
August 12th, 2009
Hip-hop history is littered with middling records made by teenagers. For every Shyheim, there’s a Kriss Kross, a Bow Wow and a Lil Romeo. Even good adolescent rappers like Illegal and Da Youngstas rarely got much further than a few strong early singles. Needless to say, a pair of dirt-poor 16-year olds from hip-hop backwater Baton Rough, Louisiana, weren’t supposed to release one of the most impressive debuts of the decade. Then again, most teenagers don’t have Pimp C presiding over their investiture either–which in this case, involved informing the world of their festish for “fucking with [my] diamonds on.”
Boosie had risen through the ranks of C-Loc’s Concentration Camp in the late 90s, and dropped a little heard solo album, Da Youngest of Da Camp in 2000, but Ghetto Stories operates as an official debut of sorts. What’s most striking about is how hardened and war-torn Webbie and Boosie sound. Boosie’s amyl nitrate bark is brutal and cold-blooded. Webbie is at his most savage. Consider it a country-rap analogue to The Infamous–perhaps not on that rarefied level, but matching it round for round with a fury that you can’t fake.
On the aptly titled, “Keep it Gutta,” Boosie wishes, “2Pac could hear the shit that I be spitting to you, I bet 2Pac would have Lil Boosie on an album of two.” Judging from this, there’s little doubt they would’ve traded war stories. –Jeff Weiss
Download:
MP3: Lil Boosie & Webbie-”Had a Dream”
MP3: Lil Boosie & Webbie ft. Pimp C-”Play Hard”
Posted in The Next Spot, Top 50 Rap Albums of the '00s | 2 Comments »
August 12th, 2009
Tha Liks’ didn’t look to Jimi Hendrix for sonic suggestions, but for chemical inspiration. Not the acid in the headband Hendrix, but the so drunk-he-choked-on-his own-vomit Jimi–except J-Ro, Tash, and E-Swift held their liquor far better. Had they gone the other route, gobbled acid, and sampled psychedelic guitar solos, they would’ve inevitably been critics darlings–or at least scored the Edan/MF Doom vote. Instead, the X.O. Experience, refined a simple but effective brew of party raps dedicated to their ability to drink gallons of X.O. Cognac and procure the finest smoke the city of Angels had to offer. Even a Mormon would be hard-pressed to hear this and not want to crack open a 40.
Rappers like Tha Liks often get outflanked in favor of artists that are either more abstract or more concrete. And granted, searching for introspection on their records is like staring into an empty bottle. But few groups ever sounded like they were having more fun. Busta Rhymes, Xzibit, Kurupt, and King Tee stumble into the studio. E-Swift worked the boards, except on the album’s lead singles, “Best U Can” and “Run Wild,” featuring the Neptunes and Rockwilder in their prime. There are few Saturday night party records better than the X.O. Experience. If you don’t enjoy it, you probably just need to follow their advice and smoke something…drink something.–Jeff Weiss
Download:
MP3: Tha Liks-”Run Wild”
MP3: Tha Liks-”Best U Can”
Posted in The Next Spot, Top 50 Rap Albums of the '00s | 1 Comment »
