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Oliver Wang
1 January, 1997 12:00 am

Afu Ra’s larger clan, first name-checked by Jeru The Damaja back in the day, finally turn up on record. I don’t have enough details to pinpoint everybody but “Doin’ It” starts with Afu on the verses – nothing new that you haven’t heard from him but it’s pretty good by his own standards. JahDan backs him up [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

The Masta Ace comeback tour continues with one of his better 12″s. While the “Ghetto Like…” concept has already been flipped by everyone from Kardinal Offishall (“U R Ghetto When”) and Jay-Z (“So Ghetto”), Ace does a decent job with some clever lines: “I’m ghetto like them chicks that hate Kobe’s white finance/who want to try to [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

After making a splash on the Lucy Pearl album, as well as Guru’s new Street Soul, Bilal could be the proverbial next big thing in R&B crooners. Certainly, he’s got good production behind him as the ubiquitous Raphael Sahdeeq drips honeyed soul on the slow groovin’ track. Bilal shares a faint resemblance to the falsetto tone [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

Gang Starr’s Step In the Arena is widely credited as one of the first albums to really pioneer a jazz/hip-hop fusion but people got it slightly wrong.  Sure, DJ Premier sampled jazz songs to make some of the tracks for Arena but his innovation was taking the jazzy and making it funky. In comparison to the [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

I love Quasi’s sh*t but I don’t always think of his songs as being “singles” in the conventional sense. His sh*t is his mind-bending vocal and aural alchemy – purely for the bugged but I don’t know if I’d be hot to trot to slide this into the mix. Perhaps predicting that kind of reservation, [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

Damn, Master Fuol might have a cool little fall anthem on his hands with “It’s On”. All the right components are there – R&B croonings on the chorus (weak vocalist but you can forgive her since she’s not too prominent), easy hook to remember (“it’s on!”), a slick, post-Pete Rock track by 1Eye and Fuol’s rappin’ about the [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

Not that talent necessarily has to run in families but the more production I hear from Madlib’s younger brother, Oh No, the more I’m convinced the Jackson clan has some scary genetics running through it. The musical mind behind Kali Wild and Epitome slaps down a nice blend of tracks for the Infamous MC. “Attitudes” is light [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

After having seen his fellow Canadians rock it to the top (Choclair, Saukrates, Kardinal Offishall), Marvel finally returns to drop a 12″ for the T-Dot. “Throw This Ball” has a questionable hook – sh*t is just a little corny – but I can’t front on the slow-tempo, lumbering beat by Saukrates. And Marvel comes in with [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

The lyrics on “Above Da Law” are pretty NY-standard issue (nothing you ain’t heard on every other Guesswhyld release if you knawmean). I was feeling the vibe of it – Tommy Tee’s brass heavy, cinematic track hits with ’nuff force and the various MCs. Agallah, Ruck Of Heltah Skeltah, Labba, and Starang Wondah of O.G.C. sound fairly [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

Back in the early ’90s, if you browsed the CD shelves of people who weren’t rap fans but were at least open to it, you were likely to find one or more of the following: Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions, Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and Digable Planets Reachin’. While it’s hard to [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

As much as I’ve tried to like Cormega (and honestly, it hasn’t been too much of an effort), I still think he’s yet another Mobb Deep  knock-off who’s trying to come illmatic but jams up in the chamber. “Take Mine” has a vaguely likable, stripped-down minimalist beat but what can you do with verses like, [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

While I haven’t been the biggest fan of Boot Camp Click material of late, Ruck and Rock bring back some of the bombastic, banging flavor that the BCC used to be known for. “The Crab Inn” bounces along with PF Cuttin’s old school inspired track as the R&R flex a two-man rhyme weave with a humorous story [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

Back in the early ’90s, if you browsed the CD shelves of people who weren’t rap fans but were at least open to it, you were likely to find one or more of the following: Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions, Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and Digable Planets Reachin’. While it’s hard to [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

Showbiz and AG’s Runaway Slave is perhaps the best album I have that I’ve never really loved.  I know that sounds utterly contradictory and well, it is. For whatever reason, I just can’t get into it though I’m hard pressed to suggest what’s wrong. Is it the beats? Are you kidding?  Showbiz is killing it with [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

Encore’s “It’s Time (Ode To Breaking Atoms)” is the alpha and omega of this 12″ and the other artists sharing space might as well have recorded 3.5 minutes of static. I mean, does anyone really remember what the B-side of “The Choice Is Yours (Revisted)” was? Did anyone really care for the remix to “One [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

As much as I may want to dis on this 12″, there’s something entertaining about the drug ode “Purple Pills” that keep my player hating in check. I still don’t think D12 has much skills to write home about – take out Eminem and they disappear like lights in a fog but the song’s a hilarious mix [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

Maybe it’s just because we’re all getting older (ok, at least some of us are) but Edan’s retro-88 hip-hop style manages to be both invigorating and comforting because of its familiarity. A more forward-minded critic might deride him for just recycling Marley Marl and Ced Gee’s beat science and failing to innovate but I disagree. You [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

Decent beats throughout, but I wasn’t floored by this 3-song single. Mr. Brady’s gruff voice is affecting to a certain degree, but the way he puts words together ain’t all that clever. These days, so many MC’s are out there with competing flows, you either have to come crazy simple and accessible (see Biz Markie) [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

“Hardware” is the first single off of Black Thought’s upcoming solo project. Emerging out of a murky cellar of sounds provided by DJ Krush, The Roots front man rockets the vibe up through the roof. Mostly, his flow just hammers with the track, but he’s actually playing with one too many punchlines and it’s not [cont.]

1 January, 1997 12:00 am

While I like Prozack and Marc Stretch – two nice, sincere guys – they’re not exactly lyrical geniuses and you know what? Cool with me. This Bay Area pair keep knocking out entertaining hip-hop that knows how to have fun without taking themselves too seriously (PUTS’ problem) or being a tad too silly (Ugly Ducking’s [cont.]

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