Hip Hop and Breakz

A No I.D. produced mellow joint featuring Common and some new dude called Cocaine 80s.  The joint is dope with a mellow Hammond organ sounding sample from the Chicago producer.  Common drops a nice narrative verse covering the wedding of a close friend passing social commentary as he goes.  Common has become adept that a rhymes like this and this is a perfect example of the type of mature lyrics that differentiate him from today's "hot stars".

Three years since the passing of GURU (Keith Elam).  Rest in Peace to him. Alongside Premier they made up the most consistant Hip Hop group ever and the best Hip Hop dou to ever release music.

Twelve Reasons to Die is the tenth studio album from founding Wu Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah. It is a concept album based on a comic book of the same name, it is based around Ghostface Killah's alter ego, Tony Starks as he reads the comic and writes songs to it.  The story is set in 1960s Italy, in which Starks fights against a crime organization, falls in love with the kingpin’s daughter, and seeks revenge when he is murdered. The album is entirely produced and composed by Adrian Younge, and executive produced by the RZA. The album was released on April 16, 2013 by the RZA's Soul Temple record label. It is a relatively short album made up of 12 tracks and coming in at just under forty minutes. Ghostface has been my favourite Wu member since he dropped his first solo album prior to that he was really just another background voice on the multitude of Wu albums. With Ironman I really started to take notice of Ghost but Supreme Clientelle I became a major Ghostface fan an...

This is the fourth studio album by Non Phixion member Ill Bill and is the follow up to the 2008 Hour of Reprisal.  Ill Bill has always been a hardcore underground emcee with impecable taste in producers and this album does not vary from that route.  In fact the album’s production credits could read as a who’s who Hardcore Hip-Hop’s best producers; DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Large Professor, El-P, Psycho Les of the Beatnuts and DJ Muggs from Cypress Hill.  The list of guests is pretty impressive too; Lil Fame of M.O.P., Jedi Mind Tricks, O.C., Cormega, Shabazz the Disciple and A-Trak. A small point though before I progress on with the review if you are easily offended by bad language, conspiracy theory’s and or hardcore Hip-hop beats then this album is not for you. The album kicks off with the Ill Bill produced intro, “What does it all mean?”.  This is very a typical Hip-Hop intro with vocal samples from government info records, old radio shows an...

Hip Hop has always been a male led genre and it seems now more than ever.  However that has not always been the way.  Over the years numerous talented female emcees have reserved places in our memories; of course Roxanne Shante, on the more commercial side Salt N Pepa, Latifah, Monie Love, Jean Grae and maybe even Yo Yo for those Left Coast fans but one name that cannot go without a mention is of course MC Lyte.  MC Lyte (Lana Michelle Moorer) burst onto the Hip-Hop scene at the tender age of eighteen in 1988 with the classic album “Lyte as a Rock”. This album featured the instant classic, “Paper Thin” and was mostly produced by her brothers Audio Two.  Although it also features an early prince Paul production credit on “Mc Lyte Likes Swingin’” Lyte followed up her debut almost a year to the day with “Eyes on This” which like her first album was released on First Priority Music and distributed by Atlantic Records.  Also like her first album this ...

When you have a core member of the Wu Tang Clan, Inspectah Deck joining forces with underground Hip-Hop stars 7L & Esoteric you know that you will be left with an album that will appeal to true underground heads.  But does Czarface live up to the expectations of the underground fan-base ?  For those that are unaware Czarface is the collaborative studio album from Inspectah Deck, 7L & Esoteric which features many serious Hip-Hop generals; Ghostface Killah, Oh No, Roc Marciano, Mr. Muthafuckin’ Exquire, Action Bronson, Cappadonna and Vinnie Paz.  The album is released on indie label Brick Records and is produced by 7L, Spada4 and DJ Premier.  It comes in at just over 46 minutes, is 14 tracks long and is available on vinyl (for true heads), CD and Download. The album starts off with a sinister sounding intro featuring interesting vocal samples and Deck telling us what plan is for this album.  This slips straight into the heavy “...