Smoothe The Hustler "Broken Language" (1995)

"Here comes that Brooklyn aesthetic again - slang talk, crook walk and glock cock attitude. Smoothe Da Hustler, a product of the mean streets of Brownsville, Brooklyn, is poised to big-up the borough lovely with his debut release ... "Broken Language" is the real jewel here. Smoothe pairs up with his brother Trigga to deliver one of the most jaw dropping performances by a duo in some time. The two engage in vintage hip-hop, switching back and forth in an endless series of self-aggrandizing descriptions. As the sinister, sting-adorned track pulses in the background, Trigga and Smoothe strive to metaphorically outdo each other. Trigga: "Your death threater, sender, head spinner, rap beginner, light dimmer, three-knock out count winner / Your gun reacher, bustin' shot teacher, your funeral service church preacher / Your black hearse coffin' seeker." Smoothe: "Camera, the beer guzzler, the slug to your mug tussler, the drug juggler, the crazy thug hustler / The lexus wanter, the chain, ring and bracelet flaunter." Undoubtedly - as summed up quite succinctly by Smoothe - the "hottest n!gga out this winta." - The Source, 11/95. Prod. by DR Period, check it out below...

Poor Righteous Teachers "New World Order" (The Source, 11/96)

"There's a new set of rules we shall all have to abide by / the non-lyrical shall be terminated," goes the outro line of "Gods, Earth and 85ers." Hollywood might call it Revenge Of The Intelligent. But Poor Righteous Teachers call it the New World Order. Not just a reference to some master plan for world domination, this LP's title also aims for a shift in hip-hop's balance of power, away from the false prophets of gangsta nihilism, back to the knowledge rap that ruled when PRT first stepped on the scene in '90. The centerpiece of this album are the dozens of tightly constructed dope lyrics concocted by MC Wise Intelligent. There are almost too many to quote ... Wise unleashes lyric after lyric attacking ignorance and negativity in both hip-hop, and the overall Black Community." Cont'd...

"Fellow PRT members Father Shaheed and Culture Freedom also offer significant contributions from behind the boards. Culture brings some reggae flavor to the tight verbals kicked on "Some Tachers, Some Refugees," featuring The Fugees ... But no amount of funkiness could overshadow the outstanding performance of Wise. On New World Order, he's harnessed all his lyrical strength to issue a call to arms. Just like De La and Jeru have done this year, he's let it be known that he's fed up. This teacher's lesson: "Hip-hop has become a species in danger / since rappers turned gangsta." - The Source, 11/96 - Audio for "Dreadful Day" above, and full review in The Source available below.

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien "No Need For Alarm" (Rap Pages, 11/93)

"Del tha Funke Homosapien burst into the world of Hip-Hop a full two years ago with his dope-if-often puzzling debut I Wish My Brotha George Was Here. As a cousin of Cube and a member of the Street Knowledge posse, he was given a suitably P-Funky birth. In '93, he returns with his sophomore effort No Need For Alarm. Both Cube and Pooh are long gone from the production credits, and they have taken George and the funk with them. What is left behind on ... Alarm is experimental, difficult and original - this is an album for the hardcore b-boys. Del has the ability to choose odd, quirky beats and has developed a real skill for fast drum matching abstract lyrics. The often-preachy tone of his debut album has been replaced by "a new way to say what is clever," to quote the opening track, "You're in Shambles." In the last year, nongangster Hip-Hop has blossomed in the Bay Area. Both FM20 and the Hieroglyphics (Souls of Mischief, Hobo Junction and Casual) have captured many eyes and ears with their brands of West Coast b-boyism. Del has been very instrumental in this. Many hope that this album will confirm Del's spot at the top of the heap..."

"No Need For Alarm bristles with tight bass lines, jangling pianos, stiff snares and even an occasional cello - you will not have heard any of these beats before. Lyrically, Del has moved into styling, and conceptually he covers the territory of MC concerns in ways that are often new and humorous. "Check It Out" tells of a bad review he received from a dull, too-critical bitch writer. "Wrong Place" tells of the perils of living in close proximity to continual gun-play. For my money the fattest track on here is the posse cut "No More Worries" - a straight Bay Area open-mike session. Del gets mad dap for originality and for sticking to the difficult path of expanding the music. This album is definitely worth the duckets - the more I listen, the more I like." - Rap Pages, November 1993.

Eternia "Eternia-ly Yours From The Block" (Daily News, 2010)

"SHE LOOKS like the girl next door but she sounds like she'd knock your teeth out. Quick-tongued hip-hop artist Silk Kaya, who performs as Eternia, has a knack for rhymes and said she found a home in Astoria four years ago after responding to a craiglist ad. Since then she has earned a record deal and recently filmed a series of short music videos titled "Queens Chronicles" in which she offers a glimpse into the neighborhood she fell in love with. "It picked me, I didn't pick it. It was kind of fate," Kaya said. "What it's become to me is a family, a neighborhood, a home, and a place that I don't want to leave." But what makes Kaya so compelling it that she doesn't fit many rapper stereotypes, even though she has shared a stage with the likes of Snoop Dogg and Common."

"Her posse is the middle-aged Italians from her neighborhood whom she calls her family. She packs heat in the form of a Bible and an aqua blue marble notebook that she has filled with verses about deeply personal subjects like domestic violence and abuse. She takes pride in her thrift store wardrobe and jokes that she rifles through the racks in search of her next name-brand bargain every day. "A lot of rappers don't want to be vulnerable. I like being vulnerable," Kaya said. "My music is really life-based, so everything I write about is a diary entry," she added. But Kaya swears she isn't baring her soul for the sake of fortune or fame. "Money is not really the ulterior goal for me. It's just cool to be admired by people I admire," Kaya said. She has already earned that respect of her neighbors, who were awed by her makeshift "Queens Chronicles" performance, which she admits "could have easily gotten shut down." Roberto Merendino, who is featured in the second installment of the three-part series, thinks Kaya is destined for big things. "I think she's going to make it to Hollywood one day," Merendino, 47, said." Cont'd below + the Queens Chronicles, parts 2 and 3...

"Others just hope she doesn't forget her roots if her talents as a rapper catapult her to stardom. "I hope she doesn't forget us when she gets big," said life-long Astoria resident Bill Anastassatos. Next week Kaya departs for a European tour through Italy, France, and Germany that will run through the middle of December. Once she's back in the US, you can bet she'll be back to chatting with her neighbors, sifting through piles of bargain basement clothes and chronicling life in Astoria with her sharp tongue and blue-collar approach to hip hop." - New York Daily News, 2010.

Printed in the New York Daily News on November 23, 2010 (5 yrs ago today). 

Snoop Dogg "Doggystyle" (The Source, February 1994)

"Snoop had a lot to live up to. Without asking him we all crowned him king. "He was going to be the one," we told ourselves. He was going to be the one to lead us out of the hip hop wasteland. We placed a heavy weight upon his narrow shoulders, and not wanting to disrespect us, he accepted it. Quite a lot of pressure for a new artist. Quite a lot of pressure for a rookie album. It's not his fault that the album took so long to come out. And it was us, not him, who demanded that Doggystyle embody and surpass the best elements of Paid In Full, Straight Outta Compton, Nation of Millions, Adventures of Slick Rick, AmeriKKKas Most Wanted, Low End Theory, The Chronic, Three Feet High and Rising, and Raising Hell. Last year we underestimated Dre and he surprised us. This year we were at the plate and looking for the change-up. We knew about Snoop's vast rap potential, we knew what Dre's music would probably sound like and we also knew that it would be harder to impress us this time around." - The Source. I could go on and recount the full article in The Source, which doesn't give this classic album from Snoop the 5-star merit it probably deserved (now and at the time), but what do you think? Did "Doggystyle" live up to the pressure of all the classics that came before it? Where do you rank it? Read the full Source review below, but decide for yourself!

Save a copy of the 4-mic review of Doggystyle in The Source below...

A.C.D. "Kings Of NY" (12", 1998)

A.C.D. was a hip-hop duo consisting of Ammo & A-Dog from Queensbridge, New York. Their breakthrough track in '95-96 was a joint with Mobb Deep called "Street Life." It got a ton of love on college radio, Stretch & Bobbito ran it for weeks, and I remember both A.C.D. & L.E.S. freestyling and dropping off a demo or two, as well. This "Kings of NY" 12" didn't drop until 1998 on HitList Records. It featured Nature, who was tearing up the mixtape scene and was arguably one of the hottest artists in the underground at the time. Rick Rude produced the record, as well as their second 12" "In The City" and "Mos N#ggaz" in 1998. The duo dropped a few mixtapes in later years, the first of which was "Korna Klaimers," which had a lot of those early records and features to re-familiarize people with their come-up. After that, "American Dream" and "No Witnesses" in 2006 on Black World Entertainment. A-Dog was also one of the 41st side joints from Lakey the Kid. I never asked what A.C.D. stood for, but if you've ever been to court, you might be able to guess? Dig in...

Capone-N-Noreaga "The Reunion" (Vibe, 10/00)

"It's been a long time since we've heard Capone and Noreaga together on one album. After their debut, The War Report, dropped in 1997, Capone's legal problems landed him back on the Rock while Nore made a rap star out of himself with two solo records. The Reunion rekindles the magic that first made people love them. This time, CNN are more polished but no less thugged out. Case in point: "Bang Bang" is a chaotic mix of sampled voices and machine-filtered beats with "We're gonna thug this shit out" as a hook. "Gunz and Cash" and "Brothers" mesh smacking snares, solemn bass lines, and spaghetti western-style strings into a hood's-eye view of the wild streets of CNN's hometown, Queens, N.Y." Check out the visuals to "Y'all Don't Wanna" (Updated) // cont'd below...

"CNN show some thematic versatility on songs like "Phone Time" - a faux phone conversation from jail that muffles Capone's voice like the Firm's "Phone Tap" - and "Full Steezy," his ruffneck ballad. Fans of Capone's monotone style and graphic lyrics will be disappointed by his limited appearances on the album, and CNN's standard thug chants get a bit tiring, but overall the duo gives us the volatility we all expect." - Vibe Magazine (October 2000). You can check the full album review below...

Wu-Tang Clan "The W" (Vibe, January 2001)

"Remember hip-hop? It was the sound of the streets - rough, rugged, raw, and real - in that you could feel it tickling your neckbone and making it snap. Hip Hop was like crack: The more you heard it, the more you wanted it. Such was the attraction of Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), the Wu-Tang grimy 1993 debut. In a climate of gangsta posing, the Wu rose from obscurity to steal the hearts of rap fans with their uncompromising brand of hardcore hip hop - reminiscent of rap from 1986-1998. They unleashed that unpolished sound from the basement, sprayed the Billboard charts with bullets, and became the darlings of the rap world.... On The W, Wu-Tang bring it back to the gutter, where it all began, serving up some good ol' New York hip hop in a way that on the Wu can. The W is a dense, demented, 15-song opus that will draw comparisons to the now classic 36 Chambers. One thing that sets this collection apart from practically every other Wu release since 1997, though, is the RZA, who produced the entire album. Whether it's the overmodulated bass shudder on "Let My N!ggas Live" or the offbeat organ riffing on "Redbull," RZA always introduces something different into the mic, layering his tracks like Duncan Hines. Also, while other producers appropriate whole keyboard demo tracks and call it live music, RZA's chops have greatly improved...."

"The guest list on this album also separates it from more recent Wu fare, Nas ("Let My N!ggas Live"), Redman ("Redbull"), reggae singer Junior Reid ("One Blood"), and legendary soul brother Isaac Hayes ("I Can't Go To Sleep") lend their lyrical support. The latter track is a six-minute reworking of Hayes' classic hit "Walk On By," featuring spoken-word vocal stylings by Ghostface Killah, RZA, and Hayes himself. But, in reality, this album belongs to the Clan, who are hungrier than ever on this effort. Redeeming himself from a disappointing second solo effort, Raekwon sounds like the pro we know on "Hollow Bones" ... This album goes against the grain of everything that's going on in rap right now. But if originality, innovation, and a mastery of the fundamentals of beats and rhymes still mean something to people, then The W stands for "winner." - Vibe, January 2001. Do you agree? Or nah?