Chino XL "Here To Save You All" (30th Anniversary)

New Jersey rapper Chino XL has had an underground following for years but now he's threatening to break through big time. Earlier this year, there was his "Kreep," an ingenious and haunting hip-hop groove based on "Creep" from English alt-rock band Radiohead. With his debut album for Rick Rubin's American label, Chino has delivered a knockout, a hurricane of ribald, rowdy rhymes and pummeling yet jazzy grooves. Chino XL is a throwback to an earlier generation of rappers who combined braggadocio with brains; their rhymes weren't just littered with profanities but often were genuinely clever. Some of Chino's lines should cause bursts of laughter among the pop-culture literate. In "Partner to Swing," he raps, "I catch more heat than a Hasidic Jew/ You catch two thumbs down like a Matty Rich movie review/ Your individuality's missing like Adam Walsh/ Your image is faker than the hair on Diana Ross." But Chino better watch his back; some of those he tackles aren't likely to be amused. Quincy Jones was so irked by Chino that he refused to allow any of his music to be sampled. Chino takes on everyone and everything: Naomi Campbell, D'Angelo, O.J. Simpson, teen pregnancy, Earth Day and even his own record label. Be warned: Some of the language and imagery are raw. The only question is what Chino XL can possibly do for an encore. As Chino says, he's so def, he needs closed captions. - Knight Rider News / Southern Illinoisan (Nov. 14, 1996). 

Rest In Peace, Chino XL.

Big Pun "Yeeeah Baby!" (The Source, 2000)

Imagine the puzzle faced by a larger cat--slightly heavier than the average entertainer--tryin' to make a name in hip-hop. If you're one of the Fat Boys, you make light of your size, using your music as a way to run one long-ass joke about your weight. If you're Biggie or Fat Joe, you come with the raw, ice grillin' any and everybody who might even think about crackin' a "fat" joke. But what do you do when you're not only one of the sickest MCs in the history of the sport, you also happen to be a genuinely funny mu'fucka? Before he left to join our fallen heroes, Big Pun gave us the answer in the form of the latest, and sadly, his final album, Yeeeah Baby! As the re-up to 1998's Capital Punishment, the portly Puerto Rock's last haymaker at the world offers an even more in-depth peep inside the heart and soul of a man in constant struggle with himself. But don't get it fucked up. Like on... Punishment, you won't hear Big Pun feelin' sorry for himself on this album. Instead, you'll get a backstage pass to the all-out jam that was Pun's personality: street-wise, intellectually sharp, sex-crazed--and funny as all hell. The album's intro, straight outta late-night shock TV, features Lord Sear (R.I.P., of Stretch & Bobbito fame) playing a Dr. Frankenstein-type who's puttin' the finishing touches on his latest creation: The Punisher, the ultimate MC genetically engineered from equal parts Kane, G Rap and, believe it or not, Eddie Murphy. From there, Yeeeah Baby! unfolds like a road-map, guiding travelers in finding more and more ways to laugh at the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of life. "It's So Hard," the Donnell Jones duet y'all have been hearin' blowin' up your radios, contains just the right mix of yin and yang that made Pun, like B.I.G. before him, so popular. And when Pun proclaims that after losing a hundred pounds, he's "ready to live," you'll fight back a tear while crackin' a smile, knowing that he lived his tragically short life to the fullest. Cont'd below...

For those of y'all dirty-fingernail types, who've been hittin' the rewind button since "Dream Shatterer," check "Leather Face," which has been makin' the mixtape and club rounds since late January, along with "Off With His Head," featuring Prospect, "We Don't Care," with Cuban and "The Wrong Ones," on which TS newcomer Sunkiss helps Pun blow some steam. And just in case all the "Latino explosion," backlash made you think he would tone down his ethnic pride, the salsa-stained "100%," featuring Tony Sunshine, will have you paradin' up Fifth Avenue with damn near every proud Puerto Rican in the New York metro area come summa'time. From straight gangsta cuts like "You Was Wrong," with fellow BX battlecat Drag-On, and "Watch Those" to hilarious stabs like "My Dick," "Laughing At You" and "N!gga Shit," Big Punisher's last hurrah testifies his penchant for the punch line. Not so much the "clincher," as in "joke," but rather the witty, "one up on that ass" remarks from someone who has had his share of life--and gone back for the free refills. Ultimately, Yeeeah Baby! will be judged more for the unfortunate circumstances surrounding its release than for its collection of true-to-form hip-hop moments. Heads, however, will realize--or recognize, if they aren't already die-hard fans--that Big Pun was a master of his craft. And as for those pop-hungry neophytes who never would've thought to pick up on his music before his death, I'd bet all the unmarked bills in your favorite radio station's stash-box that Pun is lookin' at y'all right now--laughin' his muthafuckin' ass off. - The Source, 2000. Rest In Peace to Christopher "Big Pun" Rios.

 

Here's the Loud Records commercial for the release of Yeeeah Baby!

Bahamadia "Kollage" (CMJ New Music Report, April 1996)

Philadelphia's Bahamadia isn't trying to go punch-for-punch with most of her male contemporaries. Her lyrics aren't the type to knock you out in one breath; instead they keep you off balance with a peppering of texture-rich rhymes that add up to a positively potent result. At a time when some MCs (Ol' Dirty Bastard and Busta Rhymes, for instance) seem ready for their own comic strip, Bahamadia remains in the shadows, honing her skills as if she's preparing for an MC battle to the death. Before we can say that she was discovered by Gang Starr's Guru in 1993, you'll notice her thick, earthy monotone flow, creeping up on you like a lyrical nerve gas that bears similar qualities to Guru's, as she remains resolute, confident and strong throughout her artistic debut, Kollage. With sparse, beat-drenched production courtesy of DJ Premier, Da Beatminerz and others, tracks like the infectious "Word Play" swoop you up in a sea of bass, while other cuts, like "Innovation," leave behind a jazzy residue as Bahamadia teaches her peers how to leave an impression without going into hysterics. "I Confess" is spiced by the use of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On," making it the most accessible radio cut, but we favor her square-off with fellow Philly natives the Roots on the live "Da Jawn," inspired by Funky Four Plus One's "It's The Joint." - Glen Sansone (CMJ New Music Report, April 1996). Revisit this gem of an album below and you can still catch her live on tour.

A copy of the album review in CMJ New Music Report is below...

2Pac "Me Against The World" (The Associated Press, 1995)

"It ain't easy being me -- will I see the penitentiary, or will I stay free?" wonders Tupac Shakur, who calls himself 2Pac on his latest album, "Me Against the World." That question was answered last winter when Shakur was sentenced to a New York prison on a sex-abuse charge after a string of legal battles across the nation. But even behind bars, Shakur still remains a step ahead of the rap pack with "Me Against the World," a stellar mix of thought-provoking rhymes backed up by smooth base sounds and slick beats. In Shakur's mind, most of his problems are the cause of a troubled ghetto childhood and jealous people out to get him. His fury and anger are peppered throughout the disc, most prominently on "F The World," a fierce and foul rebuke of his many critics. But this album is more than a troubled man's outburst against the world; just when you think he is about to explode, Shakur switches gears and drops his guard to reveal a softer side. On the disc's most poignant track, "Dear Mama," a solemn Shakur gives thanks to his mother for supporting him through all the rough times. And "Old School" represents the album's rare lighthearted moment, as he gives props to all the old school rappers in a tune that will make any true-blue fan of the genre want to break out that old Run DMC or Slick Rick tape. "Me Against the World" is rife with contradictions; on "Young N!ggaz," he chastises young black males who see the thug life as their only way out of poverty; yet on other songs, he empathizes with drug selling and gang banging, a life he so often has embraced. But that doesn't take away from this disc's power, it just highlights the complexity of urban street life, and how hard it is to present difficult issues in black and white terms. - The Associated Press, 1995. My favorite song on the album: "So Many Tears." What's yours?

Arguably the best 2Pac album - yes or no?

Gang Starr "Step In The Arena" (CMJ New Music Report, 1991)

Gang Starr Step In The Arena (Chrysalis, 645 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10022) -- It's been quite a turnaround this year for the Brooklyn-based duo known as Gang Starr. After a falling-out with their old label, Wild Pitch, the duo took their show on the road, made appearances on "Back To Back Rhyming" from Lord Finesse's LP and soon thereafter caught the attention of Spike Lee. That resulted in a collaboration with jazz saxophonist Brandford Marsalis on "Jazz Thing" from the Mo' Better Blues soundtrack and an eventual deal with Chrysalis. Their second LP, Step In The Arena, borrows the more stylistically sophisticated, classier samples of jazz, funk/soul and straight-up streetwise hip-hop. DJ Premier's extensive musical knowledge helps him to create sparse beats that rousingly mesh with distinctive samples, loops and scratches to create sharply enticing bass-lines which range from early Motown funk on "What You Want This Time?" to hypnotizing jazzy textures. Overall, his DJ work is the perfect backdrop of G.U.R.U.'s lyrics that promote the group's positive philosophy in "Street Ministry," "Say Your Prayers," "As I Read My S-A" and "Precisely The Right Rhymes." Gang Starr reminds us just how creative and boundless rap can be. Also experience: "Step In The Arena," "Form Of Intellect," "Execution Of A Chump," "Beyond Comprehension" and "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow." - CMJ New Music Report (January 11, 1991). Images: Hip Hop Connection.

Smif-N-Wessun "Dah Shinin'" (You Better Wrekonize!, 1995)

Brooklyn: Population 2,231,000. The New York City borough is a veritable capital of hip hop culture, with high profile residents including Digable Planets, MC Lyte, Jeru the Damaja, the Notorious B.I.G., Gang Starr, The Fugees and Black Moon. The latest b-boys to stomp out of this rap mecca and make a move on the rap scene in their unlaced Timberlands are rappers Tek and Steele, better known as Smif-N-Wessun. Their biggest hit, "Bucktown," is a pseudonym for the music hotbed. "The environment of Brooklyn has always been to take what you need to succeed," says Steele. Like the Wu-Tang Clan of Black Moon, Smif-N-Wessun's style is strictly hardcore. Typical of West Coast rap, the cuts on Dah Shinin' (Nervous), their first album, are heavy on lyrics and light on R&B backbeats. Dah Shinin' debuted at number one on the rap chart in its first week of release. The hit "Bucktown" jacked the rap charts for a solid month. Keeping it real is a philosophy Tek and Steele picked up from their mentors in Black Moon. The duo get to perform as guest MCs on Black Moon's Enta Da Stage and open for Black Moon and Das EFX on their nationwide tour. Their opportunity to "shine" in that tour precipitated the album's title, Dah Shinin'. Summing up their style, Steele says, "We're just conversatin', speakin', talkin', puttin' facts into a rhyme so that they sound good to the ear.  

Bucktown, the breakout single by Smif n Wessun of Brooklyn, NY, is one of those songs that rips into radio by sheer force of popular demand, bucking expectations and giving new meaning to the term "pop music." But "Bucktown" is no novelty, and its proud descriptions of Brooklyn as "home of the original gun clappers" sure isn't pop in the usual sense. The track has an underproduced skeletal appeal; the terse, muscular rhymes by 21-year-old rappers Tek and Steele are as compelling as they are simple and grim. "Bucktown" took off so briskly, selling 75,000 copies in just three weeks, that the duo was a long way from having a full-length album completed to cash in on the single's obvious appeal. "The inspiration for the song was straight-up Brooklyn, USA," says Steele. "Bucktown is everywhere. We've been to places like Missouri, and we can tell you it's the same shit goin' on as we see in Brooklyn." As far as explaining the song's runaway success, Steele says, "I think if the idea could be bottled, then everybody would be making hit jams and selling 75,000 in one week. We're just representing ourselves, and people pick up on it. That's why we say, 'All heads recognize real heads on the rise.' This is classic New York City hip-hop! Continue to revisit Dah Shinin' below...

Additional Reviews: The Source, OneNut, Vibe, Rap Pages. Art by Danial Kelly.

Don't Be a Menace to South Central... (Vibe Magazine, Jan. 9, 1996)

Shawn and Marlon Wayans's new spoof, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, parodies the recent deluge of in-da-'hood flicks, while the film's soundtrack has a loose "Can't we all just get along?" - type theme. A compilation of songs from some of R&B's and hip-hop's most popular artists, Don't Be a Menace packs a loaded 17 tracks. Talented artists like R. Kelly and the Wu-Tang Clan reveal few surprises, but what they do - being a sex man, going lyrically buckwild - they do practically to perfection. The opening track is the Wu's hectic "Winter Warz," wherein the Shao Lin champs spout ghetto madness over RZA's hazy, nonmelodic production. By the end of the soundtrack, though, their contribution is balanced by the Island Inspirational All-Stars' lite gospel track, "Don't Give Up." Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s Little Kim indirectly puts Jodeci's wailing pleas for sex ("Give It Up") in check with her sharp, cool-as-a-cucumber delivery on "Time to Shine." And R. Kelly proves he's the perfect renaissance man with his production of the Isley Brothers' mellifluous "Let's Stay Together," as well as his seductive "Tempo Slow." It's when artists are placed together, though, that the soundtrack becomes disappointing. Things just get awkward. Keith Murray and Lord Jamar accompany Texas's UGK in "Live Wires Connect," and the East Coasters overwhelm a weak, pseudo-G funk track. And when Luke joins Doug E. Fresh for "Freak It Out," a New York-style party chant, Mr. Campbell takes too long to warm up. The soundtrack for Don't Be a Menace probably won't help many menaces to society get along with folks any better. But the collection is filled with bouncing production, new-fashioned love songs, and even some old-school flavor--maybe it will at least get the boyz and girlz in the 'hood to dance. - Vibe Magazine, March 1996. The single version for "Renee" by Lost Boyz (not featured on Legal Drug Money) and Mona Lisa's "Can't Be Wasting My Time" - in addition to the classic verse from Cappadonna on "Winter Warz" - made this totally worth coppin' back in 1996. Revisit the Don't Be a Menace OST below...

The original album Vibe review and additional promo items are below...

2Pac "Me Against The World" (30th Anniversary • 3/14/95)

Tupac Shakur is one gutsy brother. Or maybe two. The front-page Shakur is a punk, a convicted sexual felon and a fool, a hard case on a collision course with authority, a hot-head who checks himself out of the hospital hours after being shot five times and gives a stretcher-borne finger to the media. The record-making 2Pac who inhabits the recording studio, however, is a sensitive, wise and loving commentator, a straight-up observer of life and death whose measured, melodic flow gives his pained lyrics searing eloquence. In one of the many ironies that attends Shakur's existence, while the man is on his way to prison, his album is headed to the charts. Shot through the heart with grim reality and fatalism, set atop smooth, seductive atmospheres of gently rolling funk and soul, "Me Against the World" is the hip-hop album to beat in 1995. There's nothing unusual about reformed tough guys offering don't-follow-my-mistakes advice, but 2Pac cedes none of his gangsta hardness in telling young listeners not to join him in the thug life. "You could be an accountant, not a dope dealer... you could be a lawyer," he suggests, and he sounds serious. Such contradictions have always accompanied the tumult of 2Pac's combined life and art, but never before has the dichotomy been drawn in such sharp relief. The rapper-actor's fourth album begins with news dispatches about his November brushes with justice and violence, but 2Pac's obsession is evidently death, not spinning his public image. "If I Die 2 Nite," "Me Against the World" and "Death Around the Corner" ambivalently present death as everything from a fact of life to a desirable end. "I'm having visions of leaving in a hearse," he raps in "So Many Tears." "I'm suicidal / So don't stand near me / My every move is a calculated step / To bring me closer to an early death." Listen to the album, cont'd below...

Rather than an album of attempts at vindication, "Temptation" is the only song here that actually addresses the issues surrounding his sexual abuse conviction. Explaining the context of his love life, 2Pac comes off as patient and beleaguered, careful not to impose himself on a woman in the way the jury believed he did. Furthering the surprisingly positive message amid the prevailing gloom, "Dear Mama" is a tragic, tender expression of gratitude and forgiveness -- for Tupac, and for his troubled mother, Afeni Shakur. "Even as a crack fiend, mama, you always was the black queen / Mama, I finally understand for a woman it ain't easy trying to raise a man / You always was committed / A poor single mother on welfare / Tell me how you did it / There's no way I can pay you back / But the plan is to show you that I understand / You are appreciated." Likewise, 2Pac's ebullient tribute to "Old School" rap comes to terms with the past in a way that makes the future seem like an afterthought. If there's any way to separate the musician's reality from its creative translation, "Me Against the World" is one of the saddest and most affecting expositions on young black America ever offered for public display. Tupac Shakur makes the line between art and life impossible to discern, but both have the potential to leave an indelible impression. - Newsday (3/95)

Gang Starr "Hard To Earn" (Rap Pages, 12/94)

"We know who we are/But do you know who you are?" This is the final line off the new Gang Starr album's opening, "ALONGWAYTOGO," a track where Guru turns the tables on those naysayers and shit-kickers who felt and feared that his Jazzmatazz journey would lead to the demise of the duo known as Gang Starr. Well, there's no need to fear (you can trust me), Donald Byrd's tumpet-blowing and N'Dea Davenport's harmonizing have been put on creative hold, with DJ Premier's precise, innovative jazz samples back in effect. The only difference between Hard To Earn and the previous ones is that here Guru not only flips his pinpoint monotone style, but also steps up as a producer, creating three tracks: "Code of the Streets," "F.A.L.A." and "Suckas Need Bodyguards." "Code" is the best of the three, "Just To Get A Rep"-flavored with its crazy fat bass line. Vocally, Guru takes the time to drop a little science: "They might say that we're a menace to society/But at the same time I say, why is it me?/Am I the target for destruction?/What about the system and total corruption?" Later, on "Tonz o' Gunz," Guru continues his inner-city-life sermonizing by discussing the biggest problem facing youth today--the influx of automatic weapons into our communities. He laments on how some brothers need to feel steel in order to be a man. Of course, what would a Gang Starr album be without representation from their foundation of dope MCs. "Speak Ya Clout" is the mandatory posse cut, featuring Lil' Dap and everyone's favorite new rhymer, Jeru The Damaja. These ill kids run the mic in the reverse order of Daily Operation's "I'm the Man," with Preemo cutting up pieces of that same song for their individual introductions. Also, don't sleep on newcomer Nutcracker, a 16-year-old from the Bronx who rips a minute-and-a-half freestyle that's sure to get you open. Guru and Premier know that Gang Starr's vital role in the Hip-Hop world has been hard to earn, and they continue to stay true to their own sound. - Rap Pages (June, 1994). Listen below...

This is still a fan-favorite, but it's not their BEST album! Debate me. Art by QFetti.

Little Brother "The Listening" (Deluxe Edition, 2003)

You don't know your future if you don't know your past. North Carolina trio Little Brother puts its own twist on this oft heard truth. The group's first album brims with reverence for hip hop pioneers, especially on "So Fabulous," into which they weave smile-inducing tributes to artists as divergent as Kool G Rap and Digable Planets. But these cats aren't just back-in-the-day revivalists--they add their own distinctive spin. Structured like a daily radio broadcast, The Listening unfolds into one of the most addictive debut platters in recent memory. Down-to-earth MCs Phonte and Big Pooh have great chemistry and thematic breadth: They craft emotional verses to an infant son and an incarcerated brother on "Away From Me," but also offer comic relief, as when Phonte recalls quoting Trick Daddy at a pretentious poetry reading ("The Yo-Yo"). Balancing their wordplay, producer 9th Wonder meticulously builds soul-drenched grooves like the bouncy swing of "Shorty on the Lookout." Having learned their lessons well from hip hop innovators, Little Brother stakes claim to a promising future. They've definitely been listening. - Vibe Magazine (April, 2003). I noticed they released a Deluxe Edition which includes all the bonus tracks in one place and the original album's instrumentals. Listen to that deluxe edition of The Listening now on it's original release date.

Props to Phonte, Rapper Big Pooh and 9th Wonder.

Lord Finesse "The Awakening" (Hip-Hop Connection, 1996)

Lord Finesse's classic 'The Funky Technician' helped establish the now-famed DITC clique, introducing Show & AG and featuring productions by DJ Premier and Diamond D. The 'Return Of The Funky Man' set continued in a similar vein, but had little success. Three years later, and now on his fourth label, Finesse returns with 'The Awakening'. Although much was recorded during his period at Bandoola Records, it still sounds fresh in '96. The recent 'Hip 2 The Game' single was a good indicator -- Fineese's well constructed lyrics over self-produced beats, which while more mellow than previously, are hard enough to satisfy. 'No Gimmicks' (featuring KRS-One), the omitted B-Side, doesn't appear here either, but its replacement, 'Brainstorm' -- again featuring KRS but also OC -- isn't likely to disappoint. Elsewhere AG successfully collaborates with Finesse on the posse cut "Speak Ya Peace'; while other efforts like 'Food For Thought' and 'Flip Da Script' are admirably solid. Although technically an EP, 'The Awakening' is another consistent effort by Finesse, and unlike some full-length efforts, contains no filler material. - HHC, 96. Finesse is still one of the best out of D.I.T.C!

The full review and an OG sticker from The Awakening are below...

Ghostface Killah "Ironman" (Vibe Magazine, 1996)

Following his Shao Lin brethren, the once mysterious clan member Ghostface Killah (a.k.a. Tony Starks) finally opens his own chamber with Ironman. Like his raw-vocaled counterpart Chef Raekwon, Ghostface bangs out sarcastic, street-camouflaged wildness. And leaves it up to the twisted mind of the RZA to cook up beats that take you back to the chills you got when listening to Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Over the title track's threatening bass line, jingly beat, and 1930s gangster-style trumpet, Ghostface, Raekwon, and Cappadonna f#ck up your head with rhymes like "One gallon of wildon' Park Hill profilin' / I'll cut your face a buck fifty sure / Why you smilin'?" On "Two Sixty" -- which sounds like part two of Raekwon's "Spot Rusherz" -- Rae and Ghost trade ideas for a robbery scheme. Don't think, though, that Ironman is just 60 minutes of beef. Starks kept everyone in mind with songs like "Camay" (a Teddy Pendergrass-sampling joint for the ladies) and "Box In Hand," which takes it back to the park jams with the hook: "If you're walking down the street with your box in your hand / And you're playing the music of the Wu-Tang Clan...." In "All That I Got Is You," featuring a low-key Mary J. Blige, Ghostface gives his mom a salute that damn near breaks you down in tears. Snoop hit hard with the Dramatics; fittingly, Ghostface and Raekwon answer back with Philly soul legends the Delfonics on "Wu-Delfonics." "After the smoke is clear," they croon, "Delfonics and Wu-Tang still here." The Wu, of course, maintain raw rhyme tradition with Raekwon's rap, "My sun moves like a token truck / Speak in codes / Throw a fiend in a sleeper / Got beef with the globe." Considering the success of the five previous Wu-Tang projects, it might seem hard for the sixth to still make noise, but Ghostface screams. Ironman is proof of his matured lyrics and delivery and the Wu's strong family stand. If Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... had you open, prepare for another gaping wound. - Vibe (12/96). Revisit Ghost's classic debut...

Vibe Magazine full review and more below...

MC Ren "Kizz My Black Azz EP" (June 30, 1992)

Before there was a group called N.W.A. there were individually, angry, young Black males; roaming through darkened alley ways, surviving the roughest of street tests and emerging, once again as survivors. All of them had a story to tell; all of them wanted to be heard; all of them searched for an answer. But the true base of power for any group has been the individual strength and character of its members. And now, since they've stepped the fuck off! another MC emerges for the fall out -- "The Black N!gga that they call Ren." At a time when we were starving from a lock of hosts to boast about the west coast, Ren was rehearsing for his debut. "I had a rep at Roosevelt Jr. High, me and DJ Train (of JJ Fad)." M.C. Ren went on to high school with his reputation in tow. By the time he graduated, Eazy-E, from around the corner, was knocking on his door. Back in 1987, "Eazy was trying to get me and Train to sign on Ruthless for a solo deal, but Ice Cube had left to go to school. Eazy had me write some material for the N.W.A. album, so me and Train's solo project had to be put on hold." Now, Ren is ready to rock the mic on his own. He's out to show and prove what he is made of, 'cauz "Real N!ggaz Don't Die." Listen to Kizz My Black Azz, cont'd below...

Kizz My Black Azz, the debut EP on Ruthless/Priority, is the first sign of life since N.W.A.'s EFIL4ZAGGIN. This six track EP was produced by Bobcat, a member of the Boogie Men Production team, which ironically produces some of Ice Cube's songs. "The Final Frontier" is the first single to hit the streets. "The Final Frontier" expresses Ren's lyrical intent to handle all MC's that think gangsta rap is just a category. "Rap is getting away from where it started," explains M.C. Ren. "Everybody is trying to be like Hammer and have a band playing behind their raps." The hook on this will have even the most passive of listeners thinking of Ren, whenever real rap is the subject, "Who iz it? - The Black N!gga that they call Ren." The intro kicks in with the 'back in the day' piano riff from "The Bridge Is Over," and is woven throughout the entire cut with a nice sax handling the breaks, while Ren flows like melted I-C-E. "Right Up My Alley" begins as a neighborhood eviction of the local smokers (crack addicts) from the alley in which Ren reigns supreme and turns into the news story of the week. Our reporter Ren spins the rhymes and weaves the tell tell story of the day to day events in the alley; "90% of the black males from the streets got a spot in their neighborhood where all the dirt goes down -- gambling, drinking, dope-selling -- you know." - Press Kit (Priority Records, 1992). Also, check out the write-up in The Source (August, 1992) below...

RZA "Digital Bullet" (August 28, 2001)

Digital Bullet is RZA's second album under his latest alias, as Bobby Digital. It's no shock that he brought Bobby back; the first Digital outing, Bobby Digital in Stereo, was a high mark in the Wu Tang Clan producer's prolific career. What is a bit surprising is the sound of this effort, which frequently stretches all the way back to the mystical murk of the Clan's first album, Enter the Wu-Tang. The muffled beats and disorienting, late-night soundscapes of that hip-hop classic have been imitated countless times since its 1993 release, but nobody does 'em like the RZA, and uneasy tracks like "Must Be Bobby" and "Domestic Violence Pt. 2" seem to bring him full circle -- as does the presence of several Clan members, including the jailed ODB. Even the nods to the mainstream -- "Glocko Pop" and the swaying single "La Rhumba" -- seem, like RZA's best work, to have arrived from a slightly different dimension. Meanwhile, there is a storyline to this installment of the Digital story, but as on In Stereo, listeners have to use some imagination to fill it out; RZA's rhymes are often as evocative and opaque as the kung-fu flicks he loves. But as always, he creates tracks that are more about atmosphere than message -- and when he's on his game, as he is here, it's hard to argue with that approach. - AllMusic. As RZA himself put it, “My birth name is Bobby Diggs. So at the time, creatively, I felt like I was in a digital frame…As Bobby Digital, I could use a character to describe some of the earlier days of my own life. Partying, bullshitting, going crazy, chasing women, taking drugs. It was a mixture of fiction and reality together to make a character I thought would be entertaining.” Audiences reacted by driving the release up to number 24 on the Top 200 and a Top 10 position on the R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. Now, revisit the RZA's Digital Bullet from 2001 below...

Admittedly, I didn't get into his solo albums at the time, but they grew on me.

Lauryn Hill "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" (August 25th, 1998)

The chocolate-skinned twenty-three-year-old working single mom named Lauryn Hill – blessed with a beauty that attracts the fellas without turning away the sistas – is that rare artist who can be righteous and not self-righteous, who thinks a lot of herself without ego tripping. That's partly because she's so very honest – "Every time I try to be," she says in the title song," what someone has thought of me/So caught up, I wasn't able to achieve" – and partly because within her self-love message you can hear her implicitly saying "Love yo'self." Her confidence – "You can't match this rapper-slash-actress/More powerful than two Cleopatras.... MCs ain't ready to take it to the Serengeti/My rhymes is heavy like the mind of Sister Betty," from "Everything Is Everything" – makes you feel confident. She sounds like an artist you could, should, look up to, like Chuck D back in his heyday. She sounds like that before you even realize what she's rhyming about, because the very timbre of her voice – that deep, oven-roasted sound when rhyming, the sweet, melancholy-tinged midrange she owns when singing, the way she always comes confidently from deep within her chest – it communicates a self-respect and self-love. The sound of a woman who takes herself seriously. A sound that recalls, for me, the sharp, strong voice of Joni Mitchell. Joni seems a musical North Star for Lauryn, with her biting honesty, her musical innovativeness that's never exposed in an ornate or showy way, her confidence to keep it simple. Both speak universal truths from a definitely female perch. Revisit Ms. Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill/album review cont'd below...

Lauryn's epic, adoring tribute to her young son, "To Zion," is one of the album's high points. While the legendary Carlos Santana plays a sweet acoustic Spanish guitar behind her, Lauryn speaks of weighing whether or not to have her baby: "Woe this crazy circumstance/I knew his life deserved a chance/But everybody told me to be smart/'Look at your career,' they said/'Lauryn, baby, use your head'/But instead I chose to use my heart." She goes on throughout the record vacillating between hip-hop-based shoulder shakers like "Everything Is Everything," dramatic ballads like "Nothing Even Matters," with hip-hop-soul king D'Angelo, and smooth and infectious joints with the warmth of old Stevie Wonder, like the hidden track "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" and the title song. It's an album – like few hip-hop albums, like most hip-hop-soul classics – that you could play at a family reunion, or any sort of multigenerational party, and get everyone bouncing and singing along without anyone ever having to cringe. Lauryn is the sort of young woman whom the old women smile at lovingly, their eyes saying, "With people like you around, this generation, and your music, might just be all right, after all." Maybe it wasn't a deal with the devil. Maybe it was with an angel. - Rolling Stone.