I have always been a Queensbridge fiend and whilst getting some of my dodgy bootlegs up here my man, Domski asked me a about a Tragedy track called Thugs Paradise. I had totally forgotten this track and after a bit of digging I found my copy of it and threw it on. The track Thug Paradise was originally the B side to True Confessions which featured Iman Thug and was released on Tragedy's 25 to Life Entertainment label back in 1997. There are no production credits for either of the songs on the 12" but if anyone knows who was behind the boards on these two tracks let me know. Thug Paradise came towards the beginning of the end of the whole Thug era. It uses the Rhythm Heritage Theme from S.W.A.T. sample that has been used by loads of people before and after; 3rd Bass, LL Cool J, K-Solo, Lauryn Hill and UTFO to name a few. But it was just something about this track and the time it came out. I picked this one up from Deal Real Records in the summer of 1997 and I remember tak...
What do you get when take Hip Hops best producer, a sick lyricist and a classic David Axelrod song ? You get Royce Da 59's new banger "Shake this". As you all know Royce is a dope Detroit lyricist who proved his skills in the same clubs that birthed Eminem in the mid to late 1990s. He dropped has number of dope 12"s, a few albums and mixtapes since then. However his best work has always been with Premier behind the boards and this track shows this again. Premier always gives Royce dope beats that allow him to show off his mic skills to their full extent and this track is no different. Its an up beat track that has Premier returning to his David Axelrod collection. The Axelrod track he samples is from his 1968 Capitol release "Songs of Innocence" album and is called "Holy Thursday". Premier has samples Axelrod numerous times in the past as have DJ Shadow, UNKLE, Pete Rock, Dre and many more. David Axelrod is a very talented Jazz, Funk and So...
I remember buying this record in Deal Real Record in London's West End, just off Oxford Street. They played the track for me and I immediately had to buy it. It was so refreshing and new, the beat was reminiscent of Tribe and the lyrics reminded me of De La Soul in that they were light hearted and humorous. This was my first introduction to Mos Def and I was very impressed. I went on to follow Mos's career closely and just months after buying this 12" I saw him do a live in store with Kweli at Deal Real and he was dope but more importantly a regular nice guy. A year or so later I saw him perform with Kweli and Co Flow at Subterania and his freestyle skills were very impressive. Mos was at the time so innovative and charismatic whilst not taking the whole indie backpack scene to serious, I have to say that I don't feel the direction he's taken of late is'nt my kinda thing but this is about 1997 not 2010. The A-Side is produced by Sean J Period and uses the...
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Cool V?
Mister Cee?
TJ Swan?