AZ — Doe or Die

"Visualizin' the realism of life in actuality

Fuck who's the baddest, a person's status depends on salary

And my mentality is money-orientated

I'm destined to live the dream for all my peeps who never made it"

When you think about AZ, that’s the first thing that comes to mind. It’s the North Star of his career, the one and only reference. We always come back to that. It's everywhere in his discography, inevitably there's also in his first album: we find it three times, in "Gimme Yours" (reformulated lyrics), "Sugar Hill" (reformulated lyrics), and in the title track, where the first two bars are declaimed.

In 1994, Nas revolutionized the game releasing "Illmatic". It isn’t a big commercial success, initially, and it was all bootlegged in the previous months. Except for a song, which comes immediately after that masterpiece that’s "NY State of Mind". In that song, you can hear someone who starts talking with Nas, then he starts rattling off rhymes with a disarming ease, an impressive smoothness and he doesn't stop on an ethereal beat by L.E.S.. The AZ verse turns out to be double-edged: allows him to have some success even though he has never made a LP/EP yet or looked for a contract with a label, but he will always place it in the Nas’ shadow. AZ goes on tour with Nas Escobar and causes a label war which is won by EMI. "Sugar Hill" comes out as lead single, the full album has to be released. In this period, gangsta rap also arrived on the East Coast, which made it cinematographic by applying some Tony Montana mood mixed with some of the Gotti style, turning it into «mafioso rap». Kool G Rap has been ahead of his time, besides he's out with his first solo album ("4, 5, 6"), in the same year Mobb Deep releasing "Shook Ones Pt II", while Rae ask you «what do you believe in, heaven or hell?». AZ imposes the same dominant theme on his first album: beyond this point it’s difficult not to see similarities with "Illmatic". The record isn’t purely mob rap, thanks to the variety of themes that Anthony Cruz decides to propose to us.

1. "Intro" (ft. Nas, uncredited)

The rapper immediately imposes the atmosphere of the entire record in the intro: "Frank Nitti" are the first two words of the project, referring to Al Capone's deputy in the Chicago Outfit organization for over a decade between the thirties and forties. The intro is realized with Nas, uncredited.

2. "Uncut Raw"

AZ pulls out few bars in the intro, before one of his signature songs, "Uncut Raw". Over an obscure production of Loose, boom bap with tight drum, honest samples and icy bell sounds, the MC delivers bars with great hardcore and cold style and almost hook-free.

3. "Gimme Your's" (ft. Nas)

The third choice is one of the best songs of the period. It sounds like a direct sequel to Nas' "The World Is Yours" from the year before, the structure is similar, the music sounds similar. There's the same producer behind the keyboards, Pete Rock, pulling out another sensational piano scale, this time from Minnie Riperton's "Here We Go". The drum is perfect, graceful light bassline, beautifully sung hook by Nas, two mafio-lush verses by Cruz, in one of the most elegant tracks of the hip-hop season.

4. "Ho Happy Jackie"

It follows a piece on gold-digger girls. A masterpiece. The rapper walks away effortlessly and with a frightening rapping ease, that's awesome. Buckwild's work should not be forgotten: DITC producer creates a brilliant musical painting, using an extraordinary loop from the sample of "Little Children" by Kool & the Gang. The drum is fresh and crisp, lively, there's a fabulous bass line, and his typical xmas bells, can't be missing, they are beautiful, his trademark. AZ is fluctuating on this beat, he's at his best, this is one of many documents that prove he's one of the best ever.

5. "Rather Unique"

This is the closest thing to his solo signature song in his prime. Pete Rock finds a few magical piano keys to make an immortal loop. Lively crisp drum, good bass line, velvety delivery, three smooth verses among which there's the Source Quotable of the Month. Scratched rhythm rightly left to breathe a minute at the end, deservedly.

6. "I Feel for You"

I personally don't like the rhythm of "I Feel for You" and I find it unsuitable for the rest of the mood of the record and inconsistent with the rest of the album. Amar Pep cuts out a whiny loop which, unlike everything else, is difficult to listen to, the rapper does the song as it should be done, two hardcore verses without a hook, unfortunately the rhythm plays against him. The track would have ended up under two minutes and somehow it might still be acceptable, however, for some reason, this whimsical production breathes for over a minute like the previous choice, this time with a questionable result.

7. "Sugar Hill" (ft. Miss Jones)

Track number seven is the album's lead single and the biggest commercial hit in AZ's career, who sees this song as his "sell-out" to the industry: it's third among the rap songs and becomes a summer hit, probably unexpectedly, because then the rapper fails to keep the hype of the single to release the entire CD soon, which arrives only four months later, when his name has already cooled down. Inspired by Notorious BIG's hit "Juicy", the rapper extracts this sugary-flavored commercial track, where Miss Jones sings the hook and he delivers three mafia lifestyle stanzas on a fine production by L.E.S.

8. "Mo Money, Mo Murder (Homicide)" (ft. Nas)

My favorite production on this album and one of my all-time favorites. It's created by a genius. An underestimated genius. Darryl "D/R Period" Pittman. When I wrote that this LP is being produced by some of the best beatsmiths in New York City (you will read it in the paragraphs below), I have put four names including DJ Ski, who's from North Carolina, but not D/R Period, assuming this rhythm was made by any of those better known names. Now I'm going to add it. This guy is credited with two of the best rhythms on the record, both of which are featured on this track.

The track opens with a sublime, beautiful, accelerated sample from The O'Jays' "Cry Together". Skit from the movie "Mobsters" (1991), then D/R Period adds a thick and deep bass line in the background and a powerful midtempo drum, creating a purely mafia soundscape, street, dirty, dusty, timeless. Nas starts a long back n forth with AZ, both with a calm, slow and elegant flow, silky, fantastic, even the hook is well done in its simplicity. It's the rap mafia at his finest, it's one of the best songs of the season and one of the best back n forth ever. After five minutes a short hidden track arrives, "Born Alone, Die Alone": the beat is credited again to D/R Period: the producer takes a piano loop from a Lonnie Liston Smith song to support eight heavy bars from the rapper performed with an icy flow, with iconic intro and outro.

9. "Doe or Die"

The title track is produced by NO Joe who creates a beautiful sublime glossy beat, placing a vibrant and energetic bass, a crunchy drum and fresh funky mobb samples that return West Coast vibes. The talented Brooklyn emcee pays homage to Melle Mel's "The Message" for the hook and pulls a couple of lines from his famous sixteen on Nasir Jones' first disk at the end of the song. A pearl and one of the smoothest tracks on the record, four minutes fly by without you even noticing.

10. "We Can't Win" (ft. Amar Pep & Barsham, the latter uncredited)

This track has a heavier and more important bass than the rest of the record, the drum is honest, there are a couple of piano keys, and a decent rap from Amar Pep, Barsham and AZ.

11. "You World Don't Stop"

It boasts a nice rhythm of Ski Beatz and Spunk Bigga, tight hard dry drum, good bass line, melodic chorus in the background: is an ideal rug for the rapper who delivers three stanzas about the evils of the prison system from a prisoner's point of view.

12. "Sugar Hill (Remix)" (ft. Miss Jones)

Finally, the last piece of the album is the remix of "Sugar Hill", produced again by LES. The remix doesn't sound better than the original song, isn't that necessary.

Final Thoughts

Throughout the album, AZ depicts stories about the mafia lifestyle and organized crime through a fascinating and detailed cinematic narrative, describing these images with fantasy and inspiration, and with an elegant and lively rapping style. The MC helps popularize the mafia rap devised by Kool G Rap. Some of the themes are proposed for the cover, where AZ is portrayed as a victim at a funeral surrounded by flowers and with a coffin full of dollars. Lirically, he deals organized crime stories with excellent rapping technique, a loose and fast flow and tight metric patterns similar to those put down a year earlier by Nasir Jones, dropping intricate and amusing lyrics that raise the song even when the production or the hook don’t work. In production, he calls some of the best NYC beatmakers, including Pete Rock, Buckwild, Ski Beatz, D/R Period and L.E.S., but the weak point of the album is right there in the music chosen: especially Amar Pep flopped both productions on "I Feel for You" and "We Can’t Win". DR Period deserves an honorable mention for bringing out a great “GoodFellas beat” for "Mo Money, Mo Murder (Homicide)".

Among the most anticipated albums between underground heads in 1995, at the release it’s appreciated by critics and by crowd (first in the rap chart), even if it's soon forgotten by fans, disappointing from the point of view of cohesion and product quality, a little lower than expected. It gets credit for being among the forerunners of the mafia rap genre and for being one of the maximum representations in the history of this gangsta sub-genre (in the tetralogy with "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...", "It Was Written" & "Reasonable Doubt") and represents the exploit of what will forever remain the only rapper present as a guest on Nas' debut album, remained forever linked to that legendary verse in "Life's a Bitch". By conclusion, "Doe or Die" is experiencing a second life thanks to the positive retrospective reviews, and to the fact that AZ is rightly considered one of the least considered and least appreciated by mainstream media and public. It’s really hard to define this LP as such a classic, 'cause there are too many flaws on this record. Nevertheless, it's a great effort, surely the best of the rapper and one of the best of 1995.

Highlights: "Uncut Raw", "Gimme Your's", "Ho Happy Jackie", "Rather Unique", "Sugar Hill", "Mo Money, Mo Murder (Homicide)", "Doe or Die".

Rating: 8.7/10.