The review was corrected thanks to RYM user sandandr2.
First Triple Six Mafia tape that anticipates the debut studio album by six months. The group consists of Paul "DJ Paul" Beauregard, Jordan "Juicy J" Houston and Ricky "Lord Infamous" Dunigan, features several guests including subsequent members Koopsta Knicca and Lil Fly, as well as Lil Glock, SOG, Kingpin Skinny Pimp, Project Pat, Gangsta Blac, 211 and K-9.
Intro, then the first cut is opened by a skit from "Carlito's Way" (1993), instead of the usual "Scarface" (1983). Amazing sample from a classic, Diana Ross' "Sparkle", then single looped line and perfect downtempo drum: the decision to keep the sample in the background is magnificent and provides excellent panorama for Lil Glock and SOG's gangsta bars, which create a classic cut. The next track is already present in Juicy J's "Chronicles of the Juice Manne": boom bap downtempo, horn sample and gloomy piano, intro with Skinny Pimp, hook by Project Pat, bars delivered in a flowing and slow style by Juicy J and DJ Paul. It sounds better here, certainly due to the fact that the sound has been cleaned up (in the version I'm listening to on youtube).
"Beatin' Them Hoes Down" has one of the best productions of the edition, impressive, with drum downtempo and fantastic samples, as well as a confident slow dope delivery by DJ Paul and Lord Infamous. "Now I'm High, Really High" boasts an excellent beat, boom bap with downtempo drum machine and wonderful samples, mood darkened by a dirty keyboard and horror-worthy church bells, to support the verses of Lord Infamous, Lil Fly and Koopsta Knicca, after Gangsta Blac's introductory hook. Slow and dope delivery of interpreters. Skit, then there are single lines looped over a downtempo drum with dark samples. The ninth choice has one of the least successful beats of the edition: boom bap, almost annoying samples, drum downtempo, first bars by Gangsta Blac, chorus by Skinny Pimp and solo by Koopsta Knicca, with a slow and smooth style. The next track is a duet between Lil Fly and Gangsta Blac on a downtempo musical carpet, which you may have already heard on Gangsta Blac's solo cassette "Breaking the Law": as in the other version of the song, the rhythm seems lower than that of the other tracks.
Gimisum also offers its contribution with a tune directly from "Tha Other Side of Da Family", perhaps his best from that cassette, "Pimpin' and Robbin'": simple beat, downtempo drum, great samples, slow velvet delivery of Kingpin Skinny Pimp and 211. Track number twelve features a haunting sample on a tight, slow drum for DJ Paul and Juicy J. "Crank Dis Bitch Up" is a long solo choice by Ganksta Blac on a minimal production and a haunting sample of gloomy piano. An outro precedes the last solo joint, by K-9 on a simple boom bap with frenetic snare drum and samples so dark as to be close to satanism. "Squeeze My Nuts" boasts a good boom bap with downtempo drum and squeaky samples to accompany short verses by DJ Paul and Juicy J and various tributes to their previous tracks on the hook, before the final outro.
The cassette boasts original songs and others that will later be included in other releases, all cloaked in poor and dirty sound quality: this helps the tape achieve a dark, minimal, dusty and dystopian atmosphere. The boys don't revolutionize for lyricism and stay in a playground made of violence, crime, drugs and vicious extracts. The project, on the other hand, stands out from all the other releases in the scene because it's much slower: DJ Paul and Juicy J build a soundscape that's overall impressive, mesmerizing and beautiful, flawless, composed mainly of downtempo drums and excellent samples, on which the MCs perform with a slow, confident, smooth, dope rapping style. Having listened to the whole project with clearly crisp, clean and overall good sound quality, I believe it's one of the best tapes of the year and one of the best to come out of Memphis in the 90s. Those who haven't been able to listen to it with good quality, and here there seem to be really many, should rediscover it as soon as possible.
Rating: 8.5/10.
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