I'd like to read a thoroughly researched and well substantiated biography of 2Pac. While I'm pretty damn familiar with Biggie's story, (not the Hollywood story, as much as I did like Notorious, but the relatively ugly realities of Biggie's treatment of his wife and his partners; his general seediness as a human being, etc.) I feel like I would be really into an account of the period in 2pac's life to which you're referring.

I'm sure you can point me in the right direction on this, yes? I've thought about buying this FBI case notes on Tupac Shakur that's available in iBooks, but while I want realism, I'd also like it story-form. Or at the very least a consistent chronological account.

Whatever you do dont read the crap book by Michael Eric Dyson.. its a.fantastic premise for an acadmic analysis of tupac BUT while I usually enjoy Brotha Dyson's crucial work, in this instance his total ignorance of a HUGE part of tupac's biography causes him to reach and project so much so as to be totally inaccurate. Even worse,tyson's song selection is so limited so as to be ineffective. Just watch the two films it pretty much covers it all

I was pretty disappointed w/ Dyson's editing of Born To Hold Mics: Reading Nas' Illmatic.

also I remember liking Thug Angel but it's been so long since I've seen it. Will have to re-watch. But Resurrection is brilliant. Something I can rewatch over and over. And do.

Notorious was entertaining. But yeah. Biggie needs a real documentary, not some fun theater fluff.

been really loving the beverly kills ep recently. early icp is the shit.

Not you too derek..

Snoop's tenth proper studio album is an interesting one. It feels like he was really trying to make a comeback in the sense that he wanted to be respected (and perhaps get airplay) on the same level of aging rappers like Jay-Z. And as such, this album is actually really straight forward, with virtually none of the weird experiments that Snoop had dabbled with on many of his previous albums. It's also relatively short - which is a good thing when it comes to Snoop, as he's so often prone to filling up as much of an 80 minute disc has he can regardless of song quality. Here we've got just 11 songs. The record opens with "I Wanna Rock," a track that samples Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock's classic "It Takes Two." "I Wanna Rock" got Snoop a ton of radio time, and rightly so as it's a damn fine song. Much of the rest of the album is a lot more average though. There is certainly a consistency to the style of the tracks, which is always nice to hear focus on a Snoop album. But at the same time the Dogg really seemed to be rapping his ass off throughout most of the album, and unfortunately a lot of the beats just don't really come off as anything too standout. Although I've got to admit that the Romantics interpolation on "Secrets" is an odd and interesting choice of samples by producer Battlecat. That urge to prove himself relevant seems to show with some of the guests brought in here. The Lil Jon track is better than you'd guess, but also sounds pretty subdued by the Crunk Rocker's standards. Strangely that was maybe a missed opportunity. Similarly the Soulja Boy duet fares better than expected, but it's hard to really say that their voices mesh well together. Ultimately there's not a track here that I'd really call bad though. Which is of course a complement. There's just not enough here that I'd consider great to really be excited about. It's a good album, but one that I'd suggest only after you've digested enough of the better Snoop albums and start fiending for some fresh tracks.

The is a very underrated aspect of Snoop.. that almost all his records are like 70-90 plus minutes

Is that a good thing? I've always found hip hop in general to be too afraid of editing, just in case that one cut track could have/would have been the radio smash. Especially with albums that choose to pump in as many skits as possible.

Anyway, I've never heard this Sniop album but now I kinda want to.

I also saw something of Snoop's the other day online: a compilation of buried treasures released just after Death Row went totally under. It's called "the Lost Death Row Sessions vol.1" or something. I don't know...

It's under the name "Snoop Doggy Dogg" but it's clearly some kind of opportunistic parent label release put out by the company that bought up the rights to the DR archives.

I'm really interested in hearing it. If only for mobelty's sake.

Well, not me, I assure you.

that album got really good reviews. It seems like it was pretty untouched. Not all remixes and shit like Dead Man Walking or Pac's Nu Mix Classix albums. That Death Row Sessions actually has legit Doggystyle outtakes and Dre produced songs.

sev, I'm reading Questlove's autobiography right now - Mo Meta Blues. It's really good. On sale for $9 on the Google Play Store... though I think you're an Apple dood huh? Anyway so worth reading.

YES! I've always loved Snoop's records, and for them to be long enough to put on for an entire evening session is brilliant! We used to just kick it all night and go through all kinds of other records, but those Snoop records would last the duration..

When there is a good record, why stop it?

my thing is I'm always a fan of short and solid records. I like a really good 40 min record honestly. I mean Midnight Mauraders is 50 mins. Just so perfect. I don't need a full hour. I need just this solid burst of genius.

I was lagging on responding to this but thank you, I haven't heard Digable Planets in 15 years and I basically totally forgot about them until you posted it and then BAM an entire portion of my brain came back into focus and I totally remembered loving them.. They were probably the most "west coast" sounding of Brooklyn groups EVER... I just love that groove, that bass, those bad ass piano fills.. PERFECT record yo. This was the sound that gave birth to one of my favorite records, Fugees the Score.. I got to order this on Amazon mp3 TONIGHT



For rap I like looooooong records so I can either bump the continuously in my whip or we can put them on for extended kick back sessions into the evening..

notable lengthy records includes

Tribe Called Quest The Love Movement
Slick Rick Art of Story Tellin
E-40 The Element of Surprise
Bone Thugz N Harmony Art of War
Tupac All Eyez On Me
Snoop Dogg The Da Game Is To Be Sold Not To Be Told
The Game Doctor's Advocate

all these are at least 80 minutes though Bone, E-40, and Tupac are double disc

and the most lengthy and significant of them all

Killah Priest The Psychic World of Walter Reed

glad I could be of service! And really, this is exactly why I share these little reviews instead of keeping them to myself. On top of the potential for interesting conversation about records, it's awesome to discover/re-discover something you love.


nah, Masta Ace Incorporated is the most west coast Brooklyn group :D


Agree 100%. I made that same connection in my mind when I was re-listening to this. I feel like Blowout Comb was more of a blueprint for The Score than Blunted On Reality was.



see, this is one I feel like drags a bit once you get into the bonus tracks. Though I guess if those had been on a 2nd disc instead then it would feel like a pretty good length album to me.


This one was really 80 mins? I don't remember it being so long. Maybe cuz it's f'ing awesome and time flies when yr having fun haha.

+1

EARL is only 24 mins and it's perfect.

EARL is a great example. That record ends and I'm like "click... start over"

I love long albums and I love short ones. I shouldn't generalize.

I mean, I think my top 2 hip hop albums ever are MBDTF & Wu-Tang Forever.

But skits get old fast. I wish they'd die & that only the best would remain. What a way to steal focus from the music. Igh!

Yes, 99% of skits are skipppable garbage.

doesn't include any of the skits on the early Wu albums.

part of the reason I didn't say 100%.

All of OUtkasts albums are like double or triple vinyl, or even quadruple vinyl.

The skits on NWA, Snoop, and Kurrupt records are that 1% of good shit

the Bishop Nehru x MF DOOM collab project leaked and honestly, it's pretty bad. it's more like a Bishop Nehru solo project featuring DOOM on a couple of tracks. Nehru isn't an interesting rapper, and he tries to sing at some parts and just ends up sounds terrible.

The Roots - Game Theory - 2006 - Def Jam
Bookended between two tracks based on the works of J. Dilla who had just passed away unexpectedly, Game Theory is a brutally downer record. Look at that cover art - a hanging man upon ugly darkness. There is no partying on this album. It is a starkly bleek album. Heck, even Malik B's return after a severe drug problem seems somewhat stymied by the fact that he's relegated to "featuring" status rather than considered part of the band again. Sure The Roots have touched on serious matters in the past. But surely this is one of grieving. Which is to say that elements such as sadness and anger rise to the top. Throughout the years Questlove has praised the work of Public Enemy, but never have The Roots projected the sounds of PE quite like here. The instrumental tracks are a layered mess of noise. Black Thought's vocals are urgent, never playful. And perhaps even more telling are the drums. It's almost crazy to say that the drums sound livid - but there they are in almost every track bleeding into the red. In a sense this is the first real "concept album" by The Roots. In the same way that Dark Side Of The Moon is a concept album. This is a band that is disgusted by the world they live and know no other way of expressing it but to make an album. But beautifully, this means that the more proggy interests of the musicians comes out. Imagine a track like "In The Music" with no vocals, and it wouldn't even sound like it belonged on a hip hop LP. Or take "Atonement," which rides a reconstruction of Radiohead's "You And Whose Army?". This is an incredibly cathartic listen. And to a degree, it lets the listener of the hook with a couple of tracks smack dab in the middle - "Take It There" and "Baby" - which ease up a bit on the tone. But in a sense they really only serve as the eye of a hurricane. This is far from a feelgood record. But completely a commendable work of art.

Asap Moob album delayed til january now...

Nah I'd say their skits get tiresome pretty damn quickly. Who started that whole skits thing on albums?

80s rap started skits.. like I said NWA and Snoop skits were always funny and well timed, I agreee the wu skits are boring

I told y'all. Bishop N. is just a fucking joke. Why Doom is even bothering to "collab" with him is beyond me completely. The kid is so focused on all he's done by age 16, but he hasn't done SHIT! He's spectacularly unimpressive, I swear.

MF Doom, however, is one of the best (well, one of my personal favorite) emcees of all time. So don't get me wrong. I am not dissing Tha Metal.

Not all Wu skits are boring. Not all are bad. Some are integrated into songs and used as story telling devices (look at our mutual friend the Secret World of Walter Reed for evidence of this); and the skits on GFK's 12 Reasons to Die are powerful parts of the album... Not even sure they're skits. Just extended sections of non-musical voice acting, sound effects and narratives.

Liquid Swords has some excellent "skits," esp. if you include the Shogun Assassin sample.

But yeah- there are some doozies. There are moments, even on my precious OB4CL, when it feels like they're trying to break the world record for saying, "Word is bond!" Even when it seems utterly inappropriate, or like a complete non-sequitur.

I like NWA's skits. Snoop's, sometimes. Know who really delivers when it comes to skits? Motherf**kin' OUTKAST. Even if it's just Southern Belles discussing the limited virility of their recent sexual partners, OutKast tends to make distinctly non-fillet skits, and I appreciate that very much.

Psychic World of Walter Reed doesn't have "skits" but it does have what we might call "intros/outros" which close sections of the album and introduce others.. I like Outkast skits but they sometimes are tooooooooooo loooooooooooooooooooooooooong..

The Game has some cool skits too.. I think Ghostface should completely abandon them, he doesn't quite seem to understand what he is supposed to be doing. Kurrupt and Daz always had THE MOST FUN skits EVER in rap music. NWA skits were sometimes funny, often their most serious or overt political statements. I'm glad that Tupac never bothered with skits, even though just about every deathrow artist dabbled. Mack 10 and his "Mickey D's Lick" has one of the all-time funniest intro skits..



Also the Mr. Wang's skit on Fugees is fucking PRICELESS

Lil' Troy - Sittin' Fat Down South - 1999 - Universal Records
Lil' Troy is certainly best known for his lone hit single, "Wanna Be A Baller," found here. While listening to the full album it occurred to me that there are so many guests that I'm not even sure which voice belongs to Troy. Upon inspecting the liner notes, I'm baffled. It appears that Troy doesn't even appear on "Wanna Be A Baller." And if the liner notes are to be believed, all songs were produced by someone named Grim and not Lil' Troy. So I'm not really sure how this is his song. Oddly enough, it would appear that he doesn't even show up on his own album until the fifth song. And he only seems to appear on five of the album's fourteen tracks. Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm confused. Mystery aside, it's a pretty good record. There's a definite Texas sound throughout. The Geto Boys are definitely invoked in style, and as it happens both Scarface and Willie D. make guest appearances. The beats are mostly built from the ground up, even when interpolating other songs (I swear "Wanna Be A Baller" was a nod to the intro of Prince's "Raspberry Beret") and feature a nice range of instrumentation with heavy use of electric piano and bluesy guitars. It's not a super cohesive album though, and sometimes the change in tone can be jarring. For instance when you get to "Still A Bitch," which is completely sung instead of rapped. Or when Scarface shows up on "Another Head Put To Rest" that sounds like it could have been recorded ten years earlier based on the beat and the flow that he rides. Or when the Roger Troutman sample comes in on "Where's The Love," which is completely vocodered and seemingly out of place. But then again, I'm not complaining as "Where's The Love" is one of the more interesting tracks here. And in fact the weird mish-mash creates a pretty interesting mess. While "Wanna Be A Baller" remains the one-hit that made Troy a wonder, this album as a whole is something that probably could not be replicated. It's not great, but it does somehow work.

intros/outros to songs are one thing. But skits (IE: Full tracks that are not songs) def wear on me.

Interesting question though... can we try to find the first skit (as I've defined above) on a hip hop album?

wiki says


can we cite something earlier?

Surely before 89.. while its not formally a skit it sure feels,like,one, the intro on Fuck Da Police from str8 outta compton which came out 88

right right but what I'm aiming for is not just part of a song, but an actual full track that is just not a song?

Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty - 1998 - Capitol
Released after a lengthy hiatus, the fifth Beastie Boys album is a bit of a reinvention. Whereas the previous records - Check Your Head, Ill Communication and the Aglio E Olio EP felt a lot more like the work of the Beasties as a band, Hello Nasty highlights the Beasties as MC's. And there's a very good reason for this - Mixmaster Mike. With Mike behind the wheels of steel, this album has a very old school (see: "Three MC's and One DJ") feel to it. If you were a fan of those other records, it may feel a jarring shift, but at the same time it's also a bit of a shift back to the feeling of Licensed To Ill and Paul's Boutique except brought up to the sound of the late 90's. And it's damn good. Although it feels a bit front-loaded as well. The opening stretch of "Super Disco Breakin'," "The Move," and "Remote Control" is just fucking ridiculous. And then things shift a bit with the pretty out-there "Song For The Man." But this won't be the first shift in tone throughout the record. Indeed over the course of 22 tracks you're going to hear all kinds of styles. And in that sense, it plays out like some crazy mixtape of the Beasties' favorite songs, where no genre is off limits. And truth be told that's fun as hell, but also slightly frustrating as sometimes the sequencing doesn't feel optimal. Sticking some of the more experimental or meandering tracks between "Intergalactic" or "The Grasshopper Unit" may have been a bit more beneficial than throwing some of the less-than-three-minute experimental excursions together in bundle. But at the end of the record, it all seems to make some kind of weird sense in the blendered world that the Beasties always created. Sure closing the record with what basically feels like three outro tracks is kind of baffling, but ultimately nothing here sounds like a throwaway either. Even the slightly failed experiments are worth experiencing. Maybe it's not the best Beastie Boys album, but they're one of those rare bands where even at their worst they're still worth listening to. And even if I personally adored the sound they had been exploring on Check Your Head and Ill Communication, the fact that they are so willing to switch gears from album to album is a reminder of why I love them.

Snoop Dogg - More Malice - 2010 - Priority
If you can't tell from the title, More Malice is meant to be a companion to Malice In Wonderland. It starts off with a remix of "I Wanna Rock" featuring Jay-Z, which is amazingly boring. I'm not sure how Snoop and Hov could get together and create something so phoned in, but I swear you can hear them decided who should actually rap while the beat just plays aimlessly. The other Malice remix here is of "Pronto" featuring Soulja Boy (who appared on the original) and Bun B, and much like the original, it's surprisingly good. Certainly it aimed for radio play, but it's a solid club track. "Protocol" and "That Tree" (the latter featuring Kid Cudi) sound like tracks that were cut from the original album for being too weird. Both are actually interesting with their unconventional beats, and "You're Gonna Luv Me" is actually a pretty solid slow jam. But for the most part everything here really feels like leftovers. On one hand it's nice that it's condensed to just eight tracks, but on the other one of those eight is actually just "Gangsta Luv," which appeared on the album proper. How the hell do you include an album cut on a companion album? So really this is seven tracks to append the original album. And really they're on par with said album. Which is to say that they're good, but not great. If you're a Snoop fanatic, then you'll want to hear them. But if you're a casual fan, he's got better in his discography for sure. The EP was also bundled with Malice N Wonderland: The Movie on DVD.

Atmosphere - God Loves Ugly - 2002 - Rhymesayers
I'm sure Slug would hate the label, but God Loves Ugly is a masterpiece of "emo hip hop." Look at that cover. Not a flattering shot. Look at the title - self deprecation. Slug is "ugly" according to him. And God loves him. Look at the opening line "Atmosphere / and maybe you don't like us." Look at "Show Me" where he begs for "a pound or a hug," or "Fuck You Lucy" where he professes love for Lucy. This whole album is vulnerable, insecure, hurt. "Beat me down or beat me off." And the whole album is like that - quotable. But maybe the line "nobody sees tears when they're standing in a storm" is the most important. This is a record about bringing real feelings back to hip hop. And maybe this all sounds stupidly dramatic - and maybe it is - but somehow it succeeds. Atmosphere pulls all this off with straight faces. It's actually incredible how solid this exploration is. But part of it is the sincerity. Slug's love of hip hop is clear, so nothing feels shoehorned. Ice Cube is paraphrased on the title track, Mobb Deep on "Onemosphere." And part of that might be wearing a mask. Using lines from strong, confident rap songs to highlight insecurity. "Modern Man's Hustle" finds our storyteller trying to explain to his wife why the heck he's not home. And as hard as Slug tries to sound on the title track - comparing himself to a pimp, a captain on a sinking ship and a stepping razor, he does so over a classical-inspired piano motif while girls call him "so fucking ugly." Later he rhymes over a Radiohead sample - the first that I can think of in a hip hop song (so kudos!). This album is a crazy mess of feelings ranging from depressed, inadequate, cocky, optimistic, and everything in between. It was the aural equivalent of Slug's Live Journal feed (which was still a thing when this album was released) set to an hour of hip hop beats. And as horrible as that sounds on paper, it is fucking stunning on record.

Recently picked up the 2011 “Gold” deluxe reissue of this. Listening to it in all its glory, with a pleasantly non-superfluous bonus disc filled with instrumentals and alt. takes... It just reminded me of how much I love this album. Most people think of both Vaudville and “Venomous” as discography "paddle" on DOOM's part, so whenever the topic comes up and I start firing off impromptu lists, people are stunned to hear that Vaudeville Villain is my #3 Doom record, after MM.. Food?? & Born Like This. I Hate having to defend my choices...

Anyway- the fact that this album received a reissue treatment is pretty wild to me. I mean- It's fucking great, but not even Madvillainy has been given that honor. I'd like to see everything from Monster Island Czars & "Take me to your Leader" to the Doom/Grimm split and Live from Planet X get the deluxe treatment, but I love the Viktor Vaughn shit, even though it's barely even a side project, and sounds exactly like Doom. Lol.