January 30, 2017

Black Rob "Freestyles" (EP, 1999)

Black Rob Bad Boy Records Life Story

With 21 tracks, Black Rob's debut album, Life Story, was an ambitious release, but it was also heavy on content, storytelling, and it had its singles that did numbers, too. Production was handled by Buckwild, Yogi (Cru), Charlemagne (Natural Elements) and I’m sure Puff snuck production credits on a few tracks. In and out of jail, Black Rob’s career didn’t have quite the push that was needed when releasing music, but he’s always been a solid MC and there's plenty of music to support that claim. Around 1999, a white label 12” marked ‘Freestyles (Clean)’ was released; it had 4 tracks with Black Rob rapping over ‘Children’s Story,’ ‘Who Got Da Props,’ ‘Looking Out The Front Door,’ and also ‘The Heist.’ Why these tracks are clean and whether or not Puff had him rocking over these original beats (like ‘Thug Story’) for the album, I don't know, but you can listen to the full white label Freestyle 12" below, definitely check it out and there'll certainly be more on Black Rob here soon.