Sunz of Man — The First Testament [bootleg]

The rise and fall of this group have both been so rapid that few have noticed. These guys, some not even 20-year-old at the time of initial formation, emerge from the underground raised by Rakeem "Ruler Zig-Zag-Zig Allah" Diggs best known as The RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, who listens to some of their songs even before these guys are able to release anything and decides that Da Last Future will be an integral part of the Wu world. These guys are the first act of what will be the Wu-Tang Killa Beez and more importantly, they change their name to Sunz of Man.

Shabazz the Disciple, already a peripheral member of the lineup, comes out shortly after 7th Ambassador, and in their place 60 Second Assassin makes his way. The group is therefore formed by Hell Razah, Killah Priest, Prodigal Sunn, 60 Second Assassin and the internal producer Supreme. Sunz of Man signed to Wu-Tang Records in 1995, first group to do so, released several singles ("Soldiers of Darkness", "Five Arch Angels", "No Love Without Hate", "Bloody Choices"), but their planned album with the Clan's label is shelved sine die, after RZA has fallen out with Killah Priest.

MC Lyte — Ain't No Other

Fourth album for MC Lyte, comes two years after the criticized "Act Like You Know", a pop-oriented album that made its way through the hardcore crowd: the public didn't appreciate the veteran rapper's attempt and demanded a return to the origins, which arrived here.

E-40 — Mr. Flamboyant EP

First solo effort realized by Earl "E-40" Stevens, Bay Area pillar. The music is credited to E-40 Click Production with co-producing handled by his brother Dannell "D-Shot" Stevens, Stevens' cousin Brandt "B-Legit" Jones (part of E-40's rap group The Click), Al Eaton, and Bobby Ford. The rapper surprises everyone from the title track with a crisp smooth delivery, a worked breath control and a rapid rapping technique that few other ones have at the moment. The rhythm is simple, regular drum machine skinny, deep piano and male sample looped tight in the background. The other pieces are honest and made up of essential funky samples (James Brown, George Clinton, Bob James) realized by the production of The Click, but not at the level of the opening one. 7/10.

Pooh-Man (MC Pooh) — Funky As I Wanna Be

MC Pooh returns with his sophomore, under the name of Pooh-Man with whom he will face the rest of his musical career. The debut of this '71 class rapper from the Bay Area was another thing, but really another thing, I recommend it again in place of this listen of over an hour.

Ice City — Welcome to the Hood

Like every single player in this game, Freeway also tried to pull his group out of the ghetto and bring it to commercial success in the rap game. Has he succeeded? No, obviously not. The protagonists of "Ice City" – the name refers to their neighborhood in Philadelphia – still remain unknown. There's Freeway, of course, first from the left on the cover and very recognizable for the thick raw beard, but the others? Face Money, Bars, Hydro. Released under Sure Shot, here Free dominates the album and obscures the others, helped by some good hooks (Shena Grier) and some successful productions (several attempts to copycat Alchemist and Preemo beat). As guests, Joe Budden, Oschino and Peedi Crakk are forgettable. "Lock It Down" is what should be the album's banger, party cut with a heavy foolish boom bap, crooked delivery, not good. "Grindin' Stuff" is one of the lowest points here, a weak boom bap assisted by group's turned off delivery. Chad Hamilton pulls out a pretty good beat in "Philly Niggas", in another context could have been worth something. "They Ain't Ride"'n stands out. 4/10.

Brotha Lynch Hung — Fundamentals of Ripgut Cannibalizum: The Vault EP

Difficult to understand, but this effort is exhausting, exhausting to be not even twenty-two minutes long. At this point, let yourself be fooled by that trio of six-eight-five-minute tracks, it's lethal. Just reading the tracklist should immediately discourage you from starting this, useless, listening, however the other three tracks are one-minute skits.

U.G.K. — Banned EP

Just over three months after the release of the previous EP, the Under Ground Kingz are back and on August 1st they release their second effort, again for the Bigtyme Recordz.

 

Consolidated — Play More Music

Third studio album for Adam Sherburne, Mark Pistel and Philip Steir, a trio that has decided to call themselves Consolidated. Over seventy minutes of noise, 26 tracks, 14 real ones, 12 skits. 12 useless skits. Half albums are skits and what could easily be one of the best hip-hop projects of the period ends up by the wayside, rightfully so. You can't put so many useless skits after every single track and go unpunished. It's a great album, theoretically, excellent production combining rock, industrial and hip-hop, and first-rate lyricism, with a choice of heavy socio-conscious and political lyrics.

Styles P — Penultimate: A Calm Wolf is Still a Wolf

Styles P will retire from rap in late 2023, after releasing his latest solo album. This is the penultimate in the artist's intentions, "A Calm Wolf is Still a Wolf". The disc, personal, has no guests except Brady Watt on the hook of "Death Before Dishonor" and Bucky in a couple of songs. Production is built by Black Saun, Brady Watt, Vinny Idol, Prophe.t AKA Noah Styles, Ty Feif, B O K E, Dayzel the Machine, Perb and Bucky. Unless his final album is an unexpected masterpiece, Styles will go on to end his solo career without any classic disks, like the other LOX members thus far, which is a shame given the great talent of the Yonkers emcee. Yes, this effort is not. Styles doesn't want to risk getting anything wrong at this point and he stays in his lane, street rap, materialism and braggadocio on a boom bap which is affected by the trap current. Overall, the record is an accessible and okay project with no weak tracks and might be of interest to Styles fans. "Death Before Dishonor" is the brightest moment. 6/10.

Tommy Nova — Chosen One Pt. 2 [mixtape]

Tape by Thomas "Tommy Nova" Peterson, Jr., rapper from the Bronx. A third is self-produced, the remaining rhythms are performed by Eargasm Productions, A-1, Beat Chefs, Selasi, Tonebeatz, Mo, Juga-Naut and Blue Rocks. The guests are Mean Doe Green, Cali Carma BigRec, Selasi Flint, Juga-Naut, Panic, but the name you might most easily recognize is that of the Wu-Tang Clan rapper Raekwon.

Brotha Lynch Hung — The Turnmanator EP

Strangely mistreated, musically it's not as bad as it seems from the outside, but lyrically what can you expect from Brotha Lynch Hung? He continues to do his thing and say his thing, he remains faithful to the horrorcore without much hesitation.

Brotha Lynch Hung — Season of da Siccness

Debut studio album by Kevin "Brotha Lynch Hung" Mann, rapper from Sacramento, California. The album is dedicated to Q-Ball, cousin of the author who's killed around the recording period of the project and to whom the interpreter dedicates a track on the disc, "Liquor Sicc". Hip-hop passionate from an early age, Mann began rapping in his teens, at a time when he ties up with street gangs, joining the Crips and getting shot in an attempt to break up a fight between Crips and Bloods. In '94 he records the album and the following year he publishes it. Production is done by Brotha Lynch Hung, guests are his half-brother Sicx, Zigg Zagg, Mr. Doctor, Zoe, Hyst, Ron Foster and Babe Reg.

Gunslinguz — We All We Gott

Unique LP by Gunslinguz, a New York duo composed of Bigg Cy and Bigg Trigg aka Trigga. The project is an evolution of Coney Island Gankstas, their group formed with Dr. Quick Fingers and precedes the following steps The Massive (Trigga, Naisher and Pearl; only one nowhere to be found single released with Protect Ya Neck Records, "Keep It Movin") and MMO (Trigga, Naisher aka Naisha, Pearl Handles, Itchy Fingas Sha and Bam-Bam). In some ways, this duo is affiliated with the Wu-Tang, meaning is part of the Killa Beez universe. The disc consists of fifteen tracks, four skits, almost all over four minutes for a total of over an hour of material. It's an average disk, the rhythms of DJ Ready Red and E-Money return an East Coast sound in the norm for the time, with hard drum and a tight boom bap. The Michael Jackson sample in "Lady in My Life" is interesting. Even more interesting is the fact that "One Mississippi" is a posse with friends of the duo, some of whom will be part of MMO later, and with Big Ruck aka Ruck aka Sean Price. Ultimately, it's a discreet and non-essential record. 6/10.

Brotha Lynch Hung — 24 Deep EP

Kevin Danell Mann debuts with this half-hour EP, nine tunes, intro, outro, one skit and one short track. Brotha Lynch Hung here shows a good flow and several dark and violent lyrics, as usual, but his typical horrorcore central theme is chopped up and randomly scattered throughout the record, replaced by typical topics of the gangsta, which was still popular at the time on the West Coast. The MC focuses mainly on various gangsterism over a production based on funky, simple and dark, obviously cheap: the samples are honest, there are jazzy and g-funk vibes, while the drum is minimal, thin and slow. The rapper does well his work in this prelude to his studio album, the EP is released by local label Black Market Records, manages to access the Billboard chart of hip hop albums and carves out a niche of fans, however it's ignored by critics. Interesting effort, even if there aren't many high points but the title track.

Rating: 7/10.

Daringer x Westside Gunn — Raw Is Flygod

A fourteen-minute single that compresses five tracks by Westside Gunn produced by Daringer into what is sort of an EP. Gunn's daughter Westside Pootie, whose voice opens and closes the project, is sometimes credited as co-author.

Mac Dre — California Livin' EP

The sober cover should give you clues as to what this dope EP will treat. The effort is composed by five tracks produced by Khayree, mixed by Chris Boggs and divided in Romp Side and Crest Side. The tape is released with Khayree's label Strictly Business Records.

UMC's — Fruits of Nature

Haas G and Kool Kim debut with an album from Staten Island, under the name of UMC's. Their profile is very different compared to his hip-hop mates who are in the '91 class with it: it doesn't present swearing or obscenity, it's not aggressive, it's not hardcore, it's not dirty, it's not bad or misogynist, it's positive, clean, intelligent, fresh, offers lyrics that are a little fun, a little serious, always with a positive mood, delivering bars with a relaxed, not extraordinary or exceptional rapping style, the style of this duo is simple, they adapt to the rhythms, their delivery without energy is functional to the excellent beats. The production is in fact the driving part of the disk, with cool relaxed jazzy-funky rhythms, excellent jazz samples, which form a coherent, solid and fun album, rap jazz with positive vibes. As well as the next, this widely undervalued album goes unnoticed, unjustly unnoticed, and after 1994 leads these two boys to take different directions, while remaining in hip-hop: at the end of the two thousand years, Kool Kim changes his name and returns to the scene as NYOil, with a darker character, while Haas G decides to build a career as a producer and puts his beats at the service of Wu Tang's solo albums.

Rating: 7/10.

Who Am I? — Addictive Hip Hop Muzick

Jerry Long was born in the Bronx, but grew up in California following the musical footsteps of his parents and unable to avoid street life. He began his career in the mid-eighties as a singer and later signed with Eazy-E's Ruthless Records in late 1989.

Omillio Sparks — The Pay Back

Born Kenneth Johnson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Omillio Sparks began his rapping career as a member of local group State Property, run by Jay-Z's label Roc-A-Fella, with which the group signs a contract. As part of the group, Sparks is part of some films of the same name such as "State Property" (2002) and "State Property 2" (2005), collaborating on the soundtrack of the films and later also on the albums of the group. Sparks takes part as a guest on several albums, managing to release his debut album only in 2006 with "The Pay Back".

MC Lyte — Act Like You Know

MC Lyte released his third album in 1991, coming from two very strong records released in the late eighties.

dc Talk — Free at Last

dc Talk comes to their studio album number three. It's supposed to be christian hip-hop but it isn't. If it existed, it would be christian hip house.

Vanilla Ice — To the Extreme

Robert Matthew "Vanilla Ice" Van Winkle was born in Dallas, Texas, and grew up between Dallas and Miami. The boy approaches hip-hop through poetry, then practiced breakdancing, which led to his friends nicknaming the kid "Vanilla", because he was the only one in the group who was not black. The moniker remained despite Van Winkle don't like it, he starts to do battle rapping at parties, conserving his moniker as "MC Vanilla", which eventually changed into the definitive "Vanilla Ice", combining his nickname with the name of one of his breakdance movies, "The Ice".

Terminator X & The Godfathers of Threatt — Super Bad

Three years later, Norman Rogers aka Terminator X of Public Enemy, returns to release a studio album, his second and last: is made together with the Godfathers of Threatt, a collective made up of about ten elements, Whodini, Flatlinerz, Punk Barbarians, Joe Sinistr, Melquan, Prince Collin and DJ Kool Herc, who performs the skits. The production is credited to Terminator X and Carl Ryder, while collaborates, in addition to the aforementioned Godfathers of Threatt, also Chuck D, Ice Cube, Ice-T, MC Lyte, Bonnie 'N' Clyde, Grandmaster Flash, Cold Crush Brothers & the Fantastic Five.

Declaime & Madlib — In the Beginning, Vol. 3

Third chapter of the series of records created by Declaime & Madlib, which go to retrieve old recordings of songs made between 1993 and 1996. In this third chapter, the material is practically finished. The two boys come up with 17 tracks, over half of which are skits and remixes.

PSK-13 — No Ordinary Aggin EP

June Thomas is a gangsta rapper from Houston, Texas, affiliated with the South Park Coalition. In 1993 he debuted with an EP released by Bygtime Records, a local hip-hop label: seven tracks, twenty-five minutes, and uncredited guests such as Point Blank ("Officer Down"), Cleopatra ("No Ordinary Nigga"), K-Rino ("13 Wayz"), .38, Black and K-Rino again in the final posse. Johnny Walker and Curtis Whycoff are the authors of the production: they make up a soundscape quite adequate for the delivery of Thomas, aka PSK-13, making simple, funky beats with dark vibes and good samples, and an elementary drum machine.

Terminator X — Terminator X & the Valley of the Jeep Beets

Around 1990, Norman "Terminator X" Rogers deals with Rush Associated Labels and signs also with P.R.O. Division, a record label created for him as sub-label of Rush. Born on Long Island, New York, best known for his work as DJ for the hip-hop group Public Enemy, in 1990 he releases his first single as soloist ("Wanna Be Dancin'"), in 1991 he debuts with his first LP. The disk is self-produced, mixed by John Bradley, Kirk Yano and Mike Boña, supervised by The Bomb Squad.

Father MC — Father's Day

Timothy Brown aka Timothy "Father MC" Brown at the debut, with a hip R&B (read: new jack swing) album that focuses on girls. Born in Brooklyn, he grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens. In 1990, he releases his debut LP, produced by Mark Cory Rooney, Prince Markie Dee (of Fat Boys), Fresh Gordon and Howie Tee. The backing vocals are provided by Mary J. Blige, K-Ci & JoJo, Mark Cory Rooney, and the only guest credited is Lady Kazan.

The Terrorists — Terror Strikes: Always Bizness, Never Personal

Dope E & Egypt E (South Park Coalition) form the Terrorists, a duo from Houston which is affiliated with the SPC itself. The production provided by Egypt E himself is dark, skinny and raw, it's a good skeletal sound to which the two rappers adapt to knock down violent and gangsta bars with some socio-conscious and political traits. Guests do their homework, among others there's also Bushwick Bill of the Geto Boys, which is limited to spoken lines, not to mention the immense final posse track that gathers the South Park Coalition on a tight rhythm. Overall, it's a raw and dark album, with simplistic rhythms, a poor and skeletal drum machine and a good slow, raw and dusty delivery by the duo. 6/10.

Zu Keeper — New Wu Generation

In 1995, Zu Keeper made his debut in the mainstream rap industry as a member of the New York hip-hop group Brooklyn Zu, in turn a subgroup of the Wu-Tang Clan, featuring on Russell "Ol' Dirty Bastard" Jones' seminal debut album "Return to the 36 Chambers (The Dirty Version)".

Lil Ric — Deep n tha Game

The first album by Richard "Lil Ric" McClinton rapper from Richmond, California, comes out on Master P's No Limit, which was based in the same city at the time, and is distributed by SMG. Lil Ric produces half the album, along with Master P, JT the Bigga Figga and Larry D. Guests are Master P, JT the Bigga Figga, San Quinn, Mr. Brainey, Simply Dre, C-Murder, Silkk the Shocker and Tha Grope 1. The album is supposed to be some kind of hidden raw pearl in the No Limit catalog, however, it suffers from too many bad tracks. Lyrically, it's a typically California gangster record with generic themes, while musically, it resonates West Coast, with an abundance of synths, bass lines, keyboards, mobb sounds, and a cheap drum choice that rarely pays off listening.

Kanye West — Donda

This album is a colossal disaster. Hideously erratic, sprawling and meandering in its false Christianity. It's exhausting from the very first seconds, impossible to complete. The production is too generic, repetitive, bland, the lyrics are among his worst and Kanye West doesn't have a good voice in these two hours. He sounds lazy, flat, lifeless. Most of the tracks sound the same, it's a mix of gospel, trap, rnb, pop rap and garbage tracks, all collected under the experimental hip-hop label. The product is slow and painful, and is carried out exclusively by the guests.

DJ Muggs vs. GZA / The Genius — Grandmasters Remix Album [remixes]

Remix album of "Grandmasters", the collaborative project between Brooklyn rapper of the Wu-Tang Clan Gary "GZA / The Genius" Grice and LA producer of the Cypress Hill Lawrence "DJ Muggs" Muggerud. Muggs is also credited with this effort, however, his beats are set aside and replaced by remixes from different artists, including many little-known or up-and-coming names: Dialekt, DJ Khalil, James Alsanders, LD, King Karnov, DJ Solo, Lewis One, St. Louis and Scoop Deville. Among the guests, there are Raewkon, RZA and Masta Killa of Wu-Tang, Prodigal Sunn of Sunz of Man, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, and Ras Kass, the only novelty among the rappers compared to the original version, which takes the place of The Abbot in "Destruction of a Guard" alongside Lex Diamonds. Ras Kass is a kind of Wu-affiliate being part of The Four Horsemen along with, among others, Killah Priest of Sunz of Man.

Killah Priest — Priesthood

After the success of his debut album "Heavy Mental" (1998) and the flop of his second solo album "View from Masada" (2000), in 2001 Brooklyn rapper Walter Reed released his third solo studio album in four years and the third under three different monikers: after the initial Killah Priest and the subsequent Masada, now the boy, already a member of Sunz of Man and affiliated with Wu-Tang, becomes Priesthood, which also takes the title of his new album.

MC Breed — 20 Below

Sophomore record for Eric Breed, the MC who tried in vain to put Flint, Michigan, on the rap map. Production is decent, supplied entirely by Bernard Terry and Flash Technology, while MC Breed is in charge of the rapping part. He deals with Wrap Records, the tape is distributed by Ichiban Records.

AMG — Bitch Betta Have My Money

Debut for Brooklyn-born, Los Angeles-based rapper Jason "AMG" Lewis, with a silly and funny dirty rap album, but which offers few emotions if you are sober. The guy debuts in DJ Quik's "Quik is the Name" and thanks to him, deals with Select Records, recording his first studio album.

Tung Twista — Runnin' Off at da Mouth

Carl Mitchell is already in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the fastest MC when he released his debut in 1992: under the name of Tung Twista, he's one of the first rappers to come out of Chicago, and stands out from other performers of the period for its quick and effortless delivery style.

Betty Boo — Boomania

Alison "Betty Boo" Clarkson is one of the many forgotten girls in the game. Originally nicknamed Betty Boop, she's part of the group She Rockers and the group goes to New York and work with Public Enemy to produce a song that may sound similar to those of the group led by Chuck D, but the piece does not sound as expected and despite everything, the group encouraged her to pursue a solo career.

French Montana — Coke Boys 6

The sixth mixtape in French Montana's "Coke Boys" series also represents his first project of the year, three seasons after the last chapter and thirteen years after the first. Composed by 20 tracks, the tape is part of DJ Drama's "Gangsta Grillz" series and is one of two tape released, the other is "Coke Boys 6: Money Heist Edition", extended to 29 songs. The guests are Chinx, Max B, Stove God Cooks, Smooky MarGielaa, A$AP Rocky, Vory, Rob49, Ayoub, Jeremih, Benny the Butcher, DThang, EST Gee, Nav, Cheeze, King Combs and Pheelz.

Dream Warriors — And Now the Legacy Begins

Louie "King Lou" Robinson, Frank "Capital Q" Alert, Phillip "Luv" Gayle and Hussain "Spek" Yoosuf make up the Dream Warriors group, one of the first to leave Canada and the Toronto scene after Maestro Fresh Wes.

Cilvaringz — I (The B-Sides) EP

After more than a decade, Cilvaringz releases a product containing four b-sides of his only non-instrumental LP, the acclaimed "I" after which the road for the Tilburg-based rapper-producer was expected to be paved with gold. There are Wu-Elements behind the mic, RZA, Bronze Nazareth and 4th Disciple, along with Beretta 9 and Barracuda. The tracks really do sound like b-sides from a Wu-affiliate album, sometimes that's not a bad thing, but here it seems to be. Beyond the little inspiration of rapping, the production drags the four songs down, making this quarter of an hour non-essential. 4/10.

MC Breed & DFC — MC Breed & DFC

Eric "MC Breed" Breed made his debut in 1991 with a gangsta effort released through the independent label SDEG Records. It's the umpteenth of the season, but it's one of the first documents of midwest rap and of the Michigan scene in particular, from which no one has come out so far.

Consolidated — The Myth of Rock

Consolidated is a band the was formed in 1988 in San Francisco, California. The original line-up consisted of Adam Sherburne, Philip Steir and Mark Pistel. The group combined lyrics about left-wing politics over music that mixes elements of hip-hop, funk, dance, industrial and rock. In 1990 is released this industrial debut LP by Consolidated, group which chooses to deliver in rapping a political effort. Despite an hour of listening and twenty songs (seven skits), there aren't too many strong points here.

Murs & 9th Wonder — Brighter Daze

"The Final Adventure" wasn't really Nick Carter & Patrick Douthit's last thing, the guys are back to work together on album number six in eleven years. On the sixth album, they decide to change their formula, improperly lengthening the skeleton to twelve tracks and bringing it back to forty minutes, an exaggerated time, as well as calling several guests. Rapsody, Problem, Bad Lucc, Reuben Vincent, Propaganda, Choo Jackson, Mac Miller, Vinny Radio and Franchise participate in the tape. 9th Wonder brings generic beats, watered-down soul / rnb, tight hard drums, Murs eagerly raps on different topics. There are no notable songs for the first twenty-five minutes, sometimes the producer finds an almost good rhythm, very often not. Then comes "Walk Like a God", where Rapsody and Propaganda annihilate the lead performer over a competent production, in the best track of the tape. The event is repeated in "No Shots", with Mac Miller stealing the show from the others. Published by Jamla, the project never feels essential, realized by a duo now forgotten by the hip-hop scene. 5/10.

U.G.K. — The Southern Way EP

In 1991, Russell Washington founded Bigtyme Recordz, a Houston label with which he signed his first two artists, local rappers Chad Bulter and Bernard Freeman. Under the respective names of Pimp C and Bun B, this duo from Port Arthur forms U.G.K., an acronym for Under Ground Kingz under which the duo publishes his first effort in April 26, 1992, a seven-track EP.