Same here. Been blasting this for the better part of the past week. And no, it really isn't hip-hop. Even Kendrick's verses sound like something else entirely. It certainly doesn't disappoint.

Score one more for deeply textured electroniac & complex instrumental hip-hop in 2014.

the whole Watch the Throne era was so epic, will never forget.

Otis is still one of my fav singles of the decade, that song just puts me in such a great mood.
"run up on Yeezy the wrong way i might murk ya" - words to live by. ;)

have we talked about Wara From The NBHD yet? Cuz I think Kidnapped is really good.

NR.. you're right about The Pharcyde, nobody on the westcoast in 92 sounded like that and elements of this would come to typify the mid-1990s rap sound in the west especially in the Yay Area with the Hieroglyphics.. I will say this, the comedy aspect of the Pharcyde is not an innovation, indeed, rap in LA originated from the party scene and a lot of mid-80s rap was tongue in cheek comedy.. A contemporary record to Bizarre Ride II which has a similar tone and feel (e.g. socially conscious but from a comedic standpoint not taking itself too seriously) was EFIL4ZAGGIN by NWA..


I'd say a proto-influence of Pharcyde would be groups LA groups like World Class Wreckin Cru (really Pharcyde sounds like an up-tempo more street version) or LA Dream Team

After Pharcyde we had Psycho Realm and Da Luniz but you're right Pharcyde are the pioneers..

Though I'm not sure Bizarre Ride II is their best album.

I actually like Labcabin more than Bizarre Ride.

I mean to link them to Heiro in that review. Good call.

same.

"Never Catch Me" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXD0vv-ds8

such a perfect song.

Rocky is gonna release something new (or make an announcement) in a few hours, here's the official countdown: http://www.flackojodyeseason.com/

fuck midnight, I'll be in bed. :(

Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep - 1994 - Gee Street
What started as a joke would go on to validate an entire sub-genre, whether the Gravediggaz wanted it to or not. Jaded by the record industry ("Tommy's Boy" specifically), Prince Paul decided to get some like-minded misfits together to record a concept album about horror movies and the macabre. And of course he's always had a dark sense of humor - remember his favorite movie is Blood Sucking Freaks. So Frukwon from Paul's Stetsasonic days was recruited along with Poetic and RZA who would actually see success from Enter The Wu-Tang during the recording sessions for 6 Feet Deep. It's highly likely that none involved expected this record to get much attention outside of the underground, which is perhaps why they sound like kids in a candy store. It's a thrilling, fun and violent ride that may even be an antidote to gangsta rap which had been riding around in a 6-4 doing victory laps at the time thanks to Doggystyle and The Chronic before it. The beats here are fantastic with most of the production coming from the visionary Prince Paul with a little help from his friend the RZA. "Defective Trip" samples De La Soul and turns the fun "Plug Tunin'" into a bad trip a la Altered States. "1-800-SUICIDE" is a whole track based around ways to off yourself. "Diary Of A Madman" finds the group trying to one-up each other with grim tales in an effort to plead insanity. At a key moment RZA "chews his fucking arm off" to make an escape. This is visceral stuff, but it's also a lot of fun like many a splatter-film. The production runs the gamut from gloomy minor key melodies and detuned guitars to slow, spacey atmospherics to some kind of weird electro-metal (on "Bang Your Head"), with much of the breaks being taken from the sort of jazz records you'd associate with Paul's previous work. If taken at face value, you might not know what to make of this one. But if you're in on the joke, it's a masterpiece of the macabre.

Gravediggaz 6 Feet Deep was my favorite record during freshman year in high school.. mang, I bumped THE SHIT out of that record.. especially combined with Da Luniz.. that is a spooky play list yo!

lol!! me, suchfriends, and noise must be all the same age. i bought 6 feet deep a year before i got 'really' familair with the Wu. 10th grade...yea. bro shake. 3s a company.

i still listen to it to this day. we all know Prince Paul is the man.

gravediggaz have a song or two on the second record like "The Unexplained" that i love and an unreleased song called Armeggeddon or something or such, thats pretty sick.

30Somethings, us.

Heard dat

here's the new Rocky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v6JUzxWoGw

dope.

can't even front, Rocky's song is better than Kendrick's.

Im opting to not get Game's new record

Cage - Movies For The Blind - 2002 - Eastern Conference
Upon first listen to Cage's Movies For The Blind you might immediately think of Eminem. And that's fitting, as material here dates back to earlier late 90's singles released on Rawkus that would go on to start a beef between Cage and Em during the Slim Shady era. Allegations state that it wasn't long after these singles dropped that Eminem ditched the sound of his Infinite work and invented the Slim Shady persona. Nobody can say for certain if Em really was influenced by Cage, but the similarities are there. But Cage's history makes his work here all the more chilling. Being held at gunpoint by his own father, being committed to a mental institution in his teens where experimental drugs were tested on him... it makes for some gruesome listening. Where as The Slim Shady LP seemed almost fun in its violence, everything here comes off far more demented. "In Stony Lodge" makes "Brain Damage" sound light-hearted by contrast. And "In Stony Lodge" is a great example of what makes this album to amazing. Over an amazing plucked violin sample produced by J-Zone, Cage's wordplay is showcased and tells a brutal story about his stay in said facility. Of course it's hard to know where creative license takes place. Where Wikipedia says Cage was there for just over a year, in the song it's seven. But it doesn't really matter. It's the movie here that does. As the poster indicates, Cage is showing you something that you might be missing in everyday life. He claims that the mental institution was "college for my fucking rap career." This album is great because it's so dark, and so personal, yet keeps you at arms length guessing. Did Cage really survive abortion, a PCP overdose and suicide? Who knows for sure. His whole career has been shrouded in mystery in the sense that no matter how much he divulges it's tough to know who's the actor and who's the character, especially with so many nods to movies. The opening feels like a missing American Psycho chapter, "Agent Orange" quotes A Clockwork Orange. But it really doesn't matter where the script came from. It's an incredible work of nihilistic art.

so dope.

I still feeel like... this should just be on LORD. Haha. If this was thhe 4th LORD single this album would be stellar already.

I'm the motherfuckin' Lord of this fashion shit
Don't I deserve just to brag a bit?
..
My motherfuckin' swag is immaculate
Plus I got enough style just to mack your bitch