Eldridge Hill Jr. is the brother of Chris "AK" and Derrick "Kingpin Skinny Pimp" Hill, all Memphis rappers. The boy made his debut with his own cassette in 1994 made by Gimisum Productions, using Big Hill as a moniker.
Personally, I go into crisis when there are no credits for the tracks, and here they practically don't exist: there seems to be a lot of different MCs on each track, sometimes three or four if not more, and I don't think, as good as he's proven to be, Big Hill can play them all. It's not even clear whether this release is official or unofficial, it's probably a cassette officially released in 1996 as a mixtape-compilation. Thanks to the credits in the official release, we know the performers of each track, but not the producers.
The tape opens with a male soul-funk sample, then comes the intro and quick delivery of several rappers on a minimal boom bap, with dark samples and rapid snare drums pattern: in addition to Big Hill, Lil Yo ( in 2000 he changed his moniker to Yo Gotti), Big Debo, MC Wicked, Z-Dog, Lil Gin and Tha Joker. It's a robust start that paves the way for the second track, which features tense and dark strings, a frantic snare drum, obscure samples and a fast flowing delivery of ten different rappers, on one of the best posse tracks in Memphis at this time: there are Big Debo, Lil Debo, Killamac, Lil Yo, Big Hill, Lil Gin, Z-Dog, Tha Joker and Mista Playa Dre. The third choice is a posse with fewer elements (Big Debo, Lil Debo and Z-Dog), perhaps the first cut without Big Hill: quick snare drums pattern, gloomy samples, good tight and smooth rapping of the guys. The producer maintains a solid snare drums pattern in the following track as well, another posse featuring Lil Debo, Lil Red, Big Hill, Big Debo, Lil Nut and Z-Dog, supported by poor rhythm and brilliantly dark samples.
"North Memphis Nigga" boasts dark and dystopian, scary, fantastic melodic samples: light boom bap, perfect snare drum coupled with hard downtempo drum machine, fast delivery smooth dope by Mista Playa Dre and Big Hill. A skit takes the listener to the last section of the tape, greeted by "I Shot a Man": sublime samples, there's also a somber piano probably, dark strings in the background, snare drums pattern with hard midtempo drum, Rasta-T performs in the only solo cut of the cassette with a slow smoothness dope ragga flow, on a wonderfully sad and gloomy rhythm. It's one of the most appreciable ragga fillers among the hip-hop releases of the period. Another solid choice follows, minimal boom bap, hard midtempo drum, snare drum in the background, dark samples, good flowing slow rapping of 211 and Big Hill. The last track features rappers Tha Joker and TAZ on a fast beat with cheerful samples and snare drums pattern, good performance by the guys.
Track names change between '94 and '96 cassette: "No Hesitation" becomes "Player Haters", "Gimisum Redrum" changes to "Down to Ride", "The Robbery" to "Get So Buck'", "Thinkin of a Drive By" in "My 9", "North Memphis Nigga" loses the last word, the skit is eliminated, "I Shot a Man" becomes "Me Shot a White Man", "211's & 187's" becomes "Face the Real" and the title of the last song earns a "Now" in front. Composed of 8 cuts (+ 1 skit) and 26-28 minutes of listening, the Big Hill cassette stands out as one of the best releases from the Memphis scene in the nineties. Free of weak moments, boasting several memorable tracks and a solid performance by some of the best artists in town, it's a surprisingly great album.
Rating: 8.5/10.
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