When people were talking about the Fellowship album that was supposed to be on Celestial, this, more or less, was it. Or at least was the precursor to be could-of-been an incredibly remarkable album for Celestial. Well, Celestial disappeared for a while, the Fellowship fell on hard times and then somehow released Temptations, a ramshackle piecemeal effort that hardly featured more than a few members each together from song to song. Needless to say, fans were hurt, diehards were betrayed and apparently Self Jupiter took notice. Gathering a collection of that shelved material (obtained years back by a dub-trading elite) laid it down and here we have, Shockadoom, the ’98 sessions.

Atop a beautiful array of O.D. beats (as well as a few from Nobody, Sach of The Nonce, and JMD), Shockadoom is raw, emotional and energized. Everyone is on point, in a strange space where the 4 very different styles of Self Jupiter, Aceyalone, P.E.A.C.E., and Mikah 9  seem totally aligned where whether this material would be released commercially seems not to hold any relevance, for art was being born and bred. “My Leg” a poem-like skit-of-sorts in which Aceyalone hits Self Jupiter with his car is odd but powerful, atop Sach ambience, ending abruptly into a PEACE acapella where he contemplates how could he serve someone else if can’t even serve himself in a freestyle, which in turn then does.

It’s hard to think that ’98 was 6 years ago, but it was, and this was recorded then yet undoubtedly transcends any timeframe confinements from the forging “Desperate” to the warming “Once Again”, Shackadoom is it. Release more and more of this material and watch the masses bow down to rap genius. -