Heads would be in heaven if they could raid the private archives of their favorite artists, as many of them record material as much as every single day, sometimes recording over 100 songs for one album. Outkast was rumored to have recorded over 75 tracks for Aquemini, only picking the best material for the final cut, while Dr. Dre has once stated that over 80 tracks were recorded during the 2001 sessions, not to mention the completed albums from King Tee, Hittman, and now Rakim, that rest quietly in his vaults. Thankfully, artists like Nas have wised up and released a collection of material such as The Lost Tapes, cleverly keeping his name out there even when he didn’t have a new album ready, while Afeni Shakur has compiled what’s left of 2Pac’s unreleased tracks and blessed us with the yearly double album. And then of course there’s the 50 Cent hood CD’s, made purposely for the streets’ mass consumption, avoiding the “strategic release schedule” (read: year long intervals) of a record label entirely. 

     As perhaps the master of the east-coast gangster beat, Alchemist is latest to crack open the vaults with The Cutting Room Floor, an album that opens up with his man asking him “is all this shit on the floor garbage?” Which Alchemist affirms, only to shortly thereafter be convinced to go throughout and uncover some lost gems. When it kicks off with M.O.P. and Kool G Rap’s “Street Team (Remix)” (putting previously released mixes by Hi-Tek and DJ Mighty Mi to shame), it seems like Al could do wrong. And for the most part, he doesn’t, as tracks like Freeway’s “Still In Effect” or Mobb Deep’s “Backwards” will leave you scratching your heads as to why the fuck these tracks weren’t included on their respective albums. You can’t go wrong on either Prodigy of Mobb Deep’s “P Broke The Switch” or Dilated Peoples’ “Thieves”, both stellar Al compositions, while Lil Dap’s “Deep Meditation” bangs heavy with classic Alchemist bravdo, proving Dap can survive without DJ Premier. Al also pulls out a few Mobb Deep joints authored by Havoc on the boards, such as “First To Drop A Beat The Boldest”, which brings back that classic Mobb sound not heard since the Hell On Earth days.

     It’s not completely flawless however, as Al includes some tracks which perhaps would have been better if left on the cutting room floor. Nashawn’s poor throwback “In Jail” is a lazy beat jacking, while “Thug Shit” featuring Kool G. Rap and Capone-N-Noreaga  disappoints despite its heavy bill. Meanwhile, Inspectah Deck catches a few yawns with “Stay Bent”, while Noyd has seen better days than those found on “That’s My Style”. 

    However, while fans will pick which tracks they like best, and which ones they don’t, we should all openly thank Alchemist for cooking up some shit for us during the off season, at least working as an appetizer for future releases on his label ALC Records. Meanwhile, hopefully it won’t take something as tragic (or as long) as death to get other artists like Dr. Dre, Eminem, RZA, Hieroglyphics, Gang Starr, and others to dip into the vaults. The drooling fan can only dream.