Gang Starr "Daily Operation" (May 5, 1992)

Guru, aka Keith Elam, was one of those rare artists who wants to find a kinship with the photographer before working with him. He had a lot of ideas about certain visual elements that would define Gang Starr as a group. He was very political and knew a lot about history and leaders of the civil rights movement. For the album, Guru wanted to include some of this political thought into the imagery to convey rappers being simultaneously 'paid' and taking a role of leadership--he wanted to make a statement. We shot at a historic brownstone on the corner of 79th and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. I shot with my Hasselbad medium-format camera, which was perfect for an album cover because of the shape of the prints it produced. I brought the Malcom X image to the shoot as Guru told me that he wanted that in the shot, staying true to the brotherhood. The cover also featured the book Message to the Blackman in America by Elijah Muhammad, which belonged to DJ Premier. He just happened to bring it to the shoot, and we decided to put it in. We took some alternate shots with the Gang Starr logo replacing the Malcolm image. I love that contact sheet and am sad to say that the version with the original Malcolm X sequence is lost. In addition to the Malcolm X print and the Message to the Blackman in America book, we also had a briefcase with money spilling out in the foreground as well as a globe and the wolf's head. There was also a Remington Rand typewriter, a closed turntable case, and Guru and Premier were both wearing bomber jackets. I suppose there's a lot of symbolism on this cover. Then we took some shots with their crew Lil' Dap, Jeru The Damaja, Phat Gary, Gordon, Big Shug, and others to end the day. Getting a shot of everyone was really important to them. - Matt Gunther (via Contact High, 2018).

Below is the excerpt from Contact High + Daily Operation's press kit from '92...

Roc Marciano "Marcberg" (May 4, 2010)

“Marcberg,” the eerie and captivating debut full-length album from the Long Island rapper Roc Marciano, has 15 tracks but only one idea: the preservation of a style long abandoned. Calling Roc Marciano a classicist doesn’t quite do him justice, though. This is an artisanal album, no rhyme or drum out of place. In addition to rapping with morgue-cold delivery — “Turn the tube to Channel 2/And there was you/Your parents just can’t handle the news” — he also produced the album in its entirety, favoring abraded samples and mild, persistent static that gives “Marcberg” a decidedly claustrophobic air. Even in 1995, the year his sound most closely evokes, this album would have been anomalous, almost flamboyantly, tauntingly spare. But the density comes in the rhymes, which are sinister and clever. Roc Marciano even takes an effective stab at a trite conceit on “Jungle Fever,” anthropomorphizing drugs as a woman: “Had to hide you from my mother ’cause you didn’t have color.” That’s what passes for humor on this otherwise entrancingly dark record. More typical is the chilling “Thugs Prayer,” which reads as one long sigh: "Perhaps let a couple off / Skin bubble off / Hustling soft up in the loft / Ain’t no love lost / Just thug lords and drug wars." - Jon Caramanica (New York Times). I was servicing Eternia's At Last album at Fat Beats at the time and Jon asked me for a copy of Marcberg... above was his initial review. Revisit Roc Marci's true school classic below...

Below are additional scans from the 2LP copy of the album...

Wu-Tang Clan "Protect Ya Neck" (May 3, 1993)

"I wanna hear that Wu-Tang joint." "Wu-Tang again?" "Ah yeah, again and again!" The Wu... They were deeply confusing, even to those of us on the lookout for the latest in grimy, pop-unfriendly rap. Throw on a Wu-Tang song at a party-- well, except for "Method Man"-- and people would beg you to play something "fun." The RZA's beats didn't sound "budget," like he was just another underground loop-maker biding his time until he could sneak into a 48-track studio. His earliest songs, offering a new and freaky definition of "murky," sounded like a very conscious choice. This was the work of a man trying to drain his music of joy, to reduce hip-hop menace to its most concentrated dose. Plus there was the speed and density of the Clan's rhymes, the voices overlapping dizzily until you figured out who was who. Hip-hop had always been slang-dense as a way to keep out the squares, but nine dudes spinning line after knotty line of cult-like lingo? It was impossible to pick up even a fraction of the Wu's self-invented story without wearing down your Walkman's rewind button. No wonder it took a few self-conscious crossover stabs by the group's most camera-ready members before they truly entered the mainstream. All of that was part of the draw: "Non-Shaolinites, can you hang with us?" They could: Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) eventually went platinum; Wu-Tang Forever did even better. Even today's grittiest radio rap sounds like a late-90s Bad Boy single when thrown up against something as stark as "Protect Ya Neck". But despite its (deserved) rep as a "let's see you top this!" line in the sand, the track still provides plenty of rap's traditional, visceral thrills: the rowdy virtuosity of the rhymes, the what-did-he-just-say? wordplay, the star-in-the-making charisma of certain Clan members, and one of the few kick-you-in-the-ass beats in the early Wu catalog. -- Jess Harvell. The 'internets' say it was released by Loud Records on this day in '93. More.

Masta Ace "Sittin' on Chrome" (May 2, 1995)

In the five years that passed between his debut, Take a Look Around, and his third full-length, Sittin' on Chrome, Brooklyn rapper Masta Ace's sound changed a lot. Angrier lyrics were already starting to show up on his sophomore release, Slaughtahouse, but it was nothing in comparison to Sittin' on Chrome. Not that the themes are fueled by testosterone and rage here (and not that they were on Slaughtahouse, either, though there was a great deal more vitriol), but the overall feel of the album--which has by now moved past the boom bap old-school beats into fuller, gloomier production that more aptly represents the mid-'90s East Coast sound--is much darker, with slower, heavier songs that ponder life in the ghetto. But the record's not an attack on the system that has caused the poor conditions of inner-city existence; rather, it's more of a collection of sketches that show it in its entirety, both the good and the bad. The whole Masta Ace Incorporated crew (Lord Digga, Leschea, and Paula Perry) is present here and does a good job--along with Ace, of course, whose flow and lyrics combine to show him off at his best--at adding depth and realism to the album's 16 cuts, interludes and all. It's a formula that clearly works well: Sittin' on Chrome boasted the MC's most popular songs, "Born To Roll" (which was also included as a bonus track on Slaughtahouse), "The I.N.C. Ride," and the title track itself, but the other material--"Eastbound," "People in My Hood"--is equally as interesting, and makes the record a very worthwhile addition to a rap collection. - Old School Rap & Hip-Hop, 2008. It took a while for this album to resonate with me because of the production, but once it did, I really began to appreciate the versatility and forward-thinking of Masta Ace. Subsequent albums would prove that point even greater. Revisit it...

Promo jersey for Masta Ace's Sittin' on Chrome album...

DJ Format "Devil's Workshop" (Instrumental Album)

Devil's Workshop is an instrumental album that sees DJ Format going in a slightly different direction to what you might have expected. Continuing the blueprint laid down in DJ Shadow's groundbreaking early work that made it possible for a hip hop producer to create genre-defying new compositions from old records, everything you hear is painstakingly pieced together from 100% samples to give the illusion you're listening to a band assembled by David Axelrod. There's no time for stagnant, repetitive loops that leave you wondering when a rapper is going to appear, instead each song keeps building in mood and intensity by the clever use of layer upon layer of carefully chosen samples. A rich tapestry of musical instruments from keyboards, horns and guitars through to vibes, bamboo flutes & sitars paint an exciting soundscape throughout the album and make it very difficult to pigeon-hole. While it is primarily an instrumental album, Format utilizes a variety of vocal samples from sources as wide ranging as '60s spoken word, '70s religious records, right up to '80s & '90s rap records, all used out of their original context to tell a new story. Devil's Workshop is far from a typical DJ Format record or a typical hip hop record and should be listened to with an open mind...

Mastermind "Tape #1: Buck Em Down" (Mixtape, 1994)

Here is the first in DJ Mastermind's illustrious mixtape series that dates back to 1994. Known throughout Canada (and the states) for his quality mixtapes and his radio show, Mastermind's Street Jams, this first tape was called "Buck Em Down '94," according to Toronto's The Flyer Vault, who was kind enough to share this tape last year. Also props to Chase March, who has a dope independent radio show of his own up in Canada... he's been posting cassette rips of Mastermind's early radio shows. Do check that out! As for Tape #1, it features tracks from Das EFX, Snoop Dogg, Lady of Rage, Nas, Craig Mack, Smif-N-Wessun, The Pharcyde, The Artifacts, Gravediggaz, Shyheim, Dred Scott, House of Pain, Wu-Tang Clan, Nice-N-Smooth, Jeru The Damaja, and lots more. Listen below...

What Had Happened Was "Def Jux Legacy" (Podcast)

Having covered El's production masterpiece in Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein and his breakthrough solo LP Fantastic Damage, the podcast digs deeper to profile the artists and albums that are the tentpoles of El-P's artist-owned record label Def Jux. He tells the story of meeting and working with underground legends like Mr. Lif, Aesop Rock, RJD2 and more. El-P also explores the void left by the passing of friend and brilliant artist Camu Tao (Rest In Peace). Listen to the episode below...

Big Pun "Capital Punishment" (April 28, 1998)

Early in his fledgling career, the joke on hefty Bronx, New York, rapper Big Punisher was his penchant for taking huge breaths between never-ending stanzas of rhymes. But with performances like this past winter's ribald mack anthem "I'm Not a Player," the 400-pound Latin king established himself as a heavyweight of an entirely different nature – a lyrical giant with a Chris Rock-like knack for rapid witticisms. Pun's rhyme deluge continues on his highly entertaining inaugural album, Capital Punishment. He expands his palette with guest turns from Wyclef Jean (on the reggae-tinged "Caribbean Connection"), Black Thought from the Roots (the tongue-twisting "Super Lyrical") and Wu-Tang's Inspectah Deck (with Prodigy from Mobb Deep, on the sublime, RZA-produced "Tres Leches"). The playful "Still Not a Player," the vengeful heartbreak ballad "Punish Me" and the brassy, triumphant "You Came Up" display this extra-large MC's musical and compositional range. "I recollect when I was just a boy eating Chips Ahoy/I wasn't allowed to raise my voice/Now I'm makin' noise," Pun reflects on the album's closer, "Parental Discretion" (featuring Busta Rhymes). Slipping comfortably into the lovable-street-tough niche popularized by the late, great Biggie Smalls, Big Punisher has delivered a debut remarkably devoid of fat. - Chairman Mao (Rolling Stone, 5/6/98).

Pun's Capital Punishment is still a classic, definitely revisit it above...