Mac Dre - Ronald Dregan: Dreganomics (2004)

1. Feelin' Myself

2. Fa My Niggaz

3. Jump It

4. Witme??

5. Me Damac

6. Dreganomics

7. Since '84

8. That's Wusup

9. On the Run

10. Get Stupid (Remix)

11. 2 Night

12. Don't Snitch

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Earl's Grit (2002)

Fun fact: this is Alfie the bald (he's not really bald, he has down rather than fur, and he's also supposed to be really intelligent but he looks silly and sleeps all day) cat's favourite E-40 album! 

I had that all ready to post back in October when I uploaded Grit & Grind, and back then I wasn't lying about it being Alfie's favourite. I feel the need to acknowledge that since October Alfie the bald (down, hypo-allergenic actually) cat has moved onto the double disc The Element of Surprise to get his (daily, can you believe, E-40 definitely attracts fanatics) fill of E-40. He claims The Element of Surprise is better than Grit & Grind because it has 6 more songs on it. Weird. These days I'm all about the horror-gangsta Revenue Retrievin': Graveyard Shift or My Ghetto Report Card (which is Rep Yo City over and over, thanks Lil Jon), but it's interesting that Grit & Grind was at one stage a favourite of both of ours despite the fact that we look for different things in E-40. Though neither of us are purists (they stick to Federal I think, or know the words to every Block Brochure song off by heart), I can recommend Grit & Grind (if my non-purist word means anything) as a moment in E-40's Fall-ish career (rap's own "always different... always the same") where everything made sense.

dwld
strm

Creepin on ah Come Up

Bone Thugs have always appealed to me ever since I was a kid because their soundworld is one in which realism and the paranormal coexist, musically signified by hard nocturnal g-funk meets ghostly half-sung rapping. Creepin on ah Come Up is essential because it's fun to think of this as the start of everything:

Dear Mr. Ouija, I want to know my future. Mo murda, mo murda.

And it has Thuggish Ruggish Bone and Foe tha Love of $ on it. Catchy and creepy.

mega / cd

TRVE GAME (1995)

Responsible gangsta Mad CJ Mac says he's been up and down and up again financially over the years, and so his gangsta boasts are retrospective rather than say hungry. On True Game hunger is reserved for the literal kind, again dealt with retrospectively when personal, and again responsibly/wisely when it's general (universals being the tool of the 'conscious,' autobiographical generalities being that of the caring g storyteller, and that oxymoron being symptomatic of Mac's or Pac's brand of thug). Because I'm simple and like smoothness and emo things, I like it best when he reflects that maybe he's losing his mind a la Nightmares (though at the end of that we still don't think the Thorntons could ever feel a thing) or label mate Geto Boys' Mind Playing Tricks on Me. Consequence, after all, lends a kind of credibility or weight to the otherwise hypothetical or fantastical situations surrounding.

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ROMP (1996)

Life affirming incarceration shady alien mob shit, some of Mac Dre's friends can do that Bay Area thing where they taste the words they spit before weaving them around the (Da Unda Dogg's) summer sun weirdo funk. The ones who can't manage it at least get that double track mixed down treatment which turns the human voice into an instrument you can more or less ignore the lyrical content and/or skill of, like an extra bit of percussion while you wait for the hook or someone better to pick it up.

A

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in a major way (1995)

It’s a throwback, but I grew up in the East Bay in Northern California. That was pretty much my first exposure to Bay area rap and I've just been in love with it ever since. I've always had love for the Bay and all that. I think that’s what started me on the tip of looking into other stuff like Mac Dre. Even Tupac is on that album. Even though E-40 is kind of mainstream, he’s always kept it underground, too. I just have fun memories of that tape with me and Kyle driving home from working at the movie theater in the middle of the night just letting that album slap in his tape deck.
-Blake Anderson

Bigger beats (it sounds like), all fat and bubbly, E-40 gets excited by that audible increase in budget (in a major way), his focus reflected in the lack of bullshit found here, as well as his delightfully oddball flow- stop, start, bend a word to make it sound funny, make one up, double-time, sing, etc- and insane intros: Woke up in the A.M., toasted out of my cranium / Gotta take a shit, took a dump in the Mediterranean... Classic record

A+

stream / try

(1989)

Before Dr. Dre found Snoop Dogg, he had the D.O.C. I was going to school in Brooklyn, and the only time you could see rap videos was on a weekend show with Ralph McDaniels called Video Music Box. D.O.C.'s video for "It's Funky Enough" premiered, and D.O.C. had an L.A. Kings hat on. When I came to school on Monday, half the kids in Brooklyn had L.A. Kings hats on. It was official. The whole album was great, especially the last cut, "The Grand Finale," with The D.O.C. and N.W.A.
-Chris Rock

It's hard to adequately describe how much of an unbelievable pleasure it is to listen to "No One Can Do it Better," an album that not only exceeds the expectations anyone had for D.O.C. at the time but which goes down as an unqualified classic in the history of hip-hop
-RapReviews

A+

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Down & Dirty (cd not cassette sorry!) (1994)

E-40 + B-Legit = heaps of fun!

mega / amazon

Hollow Tip - Takin' No Shortz (1996)

Hollow Tip's voice reminds me of Danny Brown's, but he's gangsta so he'll stick to stories about murder and robberies, and do so directly: laying out a rhyme pattern and sticking to it, and certainly not fucking with any oddball alt intonations- what I mean is he's monotone as they come stylistically, vocally, lyrically. More evidence that the more ghetto the cover, the more ghetto the contents. Produced by N8 The Gr8, beats sound like a dude jamming on his old keyboard while Tip's voice is isolated at the top of the mix. Minimal like Too $hort but without the budget- like some mid-90s gangsta shit performed and recorded out of one of the dudes' garages. I'm not gonna recommend it, but I like this kinda thing so here it is

B-

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Kurupt - Tha Streetz Iz a Mutha (1999)

I got a list here's the order of my list that it's in: it goes, Reggie, Jay-Z, Tupac and Biggie, Andre from OutKast, Jada, Kurupt, Nas and then me
-Eminem, 'Till I Collapse

Neither post nor pre 2001 but the same day, that record being one that music storytellers say changed everything after it- 90s gangsta nostalgia replaced with something dark and immediate. How about this one? Not so visionary (what is?), not that familiar hangover which 2001 cured either. Simply, it's fresh. Whether it was Kurupt's taste and foresight or what he saw happening in the studio with Dre, it doesn't matter 'cause it's that. As a rapper, Kurupt's clear, lively, and commanding. Probably wouldn't put him ahead of Em or Nas, but that's just me. Only fault I can find is the length- 18 tracks! Like any album this long though, it becomes less daunting every listen, leading the listener to only like it more as time goes by

A-

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B.G. Knocc Out & Dresta - Real Brothas (1995)

It's so satisfying finding records like Real Brothas among the endless amount of lesser-appreciated west-coast releases out there. Good enough to be widely regarded as classics of their time, place, and genre, yet for some reason they're not

The world first heard B.G. Knocc Out and Dresta on Eazy-E's Dre/Snoop diss Real Muthaphukkin 'G's, and they don't let go of any of the DPG hate on their first and only album. Everywhere else though it's hood-tales made realistic by the brothers' bios, and sincere as Dresta boldly links Real Brothas to Scarface's masterpiece on Everyday All Day: "My diary's sincere, and I'm down with the Geto Boys." Both him and B.G. Knocc Out are good enough on the mic to keep their narratives and reminiscences engaging through Real Brothas' 15 tracks. Helping with that is the production which is all layered, summery, accessible g-funk. I'd give their lyrics and emceeing a 4/5 and the production a straight 5/5, I think

A-

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Mac Dre & Mac Mall - Da U.S. Open (2005)

I can't get enough of Mac Dre's oddball shit and when it all gets too much, Mac Mall straight kills it on songs like Cuddies Say Yee. The beats are fairly unmoving: minimal and sometimes catchy or dark, for every They Ask For It, there's a Giggin'. For no clear reason, I think of Da U.S. Open as an absurd take on records like Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss which were already getting rid of the 90s gangsta nostalgia for the sake of something self-contained, laid-back, and satisfied. Maybe it's because of the cover (YOU GUYS DON'T PLAY TENNIS!) which is some joke I can't understand, or the fact that around 2005 I was getting into rap again thanks to the surrealist west coast that was San Andreas. I dunno. It'll never make sense. But neither will this album. For every normal bit, it all just manages to seem more appealingly eccentric.

B

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The Coup - Steal This Album (1998)

"Steal This Album" was released in 1998, and easily stands the test of time. Boots Riley is, song for song, one of the very best emcees in rap history, and there are moments on this record that will not be topped. The words and concepts contained on this record are truly revolutionary, and will have you thinking long after the last track fades. Even on a base level of entertainment, Boots crafts visceral and witty rhymes throughout, and musically it is a deeply funky record that is frozen in time. Even if you haven't been there, Boots will make you understand how he feels, and that is the ultimate test of an artist in my mind. Get this album, however you can.
-RapReviews

I WANNA PISS ON YA GRAVE
MAKE ME FEEL ALRIGHT
YAA YAA YAA

A

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Tha Alkaholiks - Coast II Coast (1995)

1995- the nihilistic gangsta fun of The Chronic was 3 years gone and the west was fascinated by the moralizing 2Pac who'd just gone to prison making his Me Against the World even more hyped, so nobody really gave a shit about Coast II Coast's Pharcyde-style eccentric party rap, especially 'cause when Pac's album dropped a month later it'd be celebrated as an instant classic. I'm all for sincerity in music and count Pac as my favourite rapper, BUT WHERE DID THE FUN GO?! The daisy age adopted by intelligent clown emcees The Pharcyde and passed on to similarly talented/funny west coasters Tha Alkaholiks couldn't really make a big impact on anything other than daisy age minded alt rappers, 'cause for whatever reason people needed life-affirming poetic martyrs, and this is reflected in not only sales but cultural impact. SO WHERE'D THE DAISY AGERS GO? You can find hip hop hippies everywhere apparently, as evidenced on Coast II Coast. As well as Lootpack and Xzibit features, you get a Q-Tip one too. For all the dope E-Swift production, you get two Diamond D tracks. It could never make an impact out of the underground in its time, but seeing as we're posting it 17 years later, that doesn't really matter. They're funny, they're smart, they're great emcees taking just as much influence from the east as the west, and on Coast II Coast, their beats are crazy too

A

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The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde (1992)

1. 4 Better or 4 Worse (Interlude) 0:44

2. Oh Shit 4:22

3. It's Jiggaboo Time (Skit) 1:26

4. 4 Better or 4 Worse 5:05

5. I'm That Type of Nigga 5:15

6. If I Were President (Skit) 1:01

7. Soul Flower (Remix) 4:23

8. On the DL 4:28

9. Pack the Pipe (Interlude) 0:21

10. Officer 4:00

11. Ya Mama 4:21

12. Passing Me By 5:03

13. Otha Fish 5:22

14. Quinton's on the Way (Skit) 2:10

15. Pack the Pipe 5:04

16. Return of the B-Boy 3:39

All-inclusive west-coast rap by insanely good rappers who take foolish to mean funny, clever, and sometimes even socially aware without all the hangups of being socially conscious. But they always have a point, whether it's not being able to cum 'cause there's something off about the girl on your dick, relationships gone wrong, masturbation, or observations on racial profiling. Perhaps an extension of the daisy age of De La Soul but with more engaging rapping (to my ear) and more 90s sounding production, not kaleidoscopic like past daisy agers, not minimal and aggressive like gangsta contemporaries, but layered, funky, and jazzy in a way to suit the laid-back secret virtuosity of the satirical clown emcees

A+

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Too $hort - Short Dog's in the House (1990)

How's THIS for veteran- 1990's Short Dog's in the House was Too $hort's 6th album (!) and although I like his sound a lot, it's as simplistic, minimal, and funky as I'm willing to go with rap and I'm guessing a lot of people are the same way- album number five (Life Is...Too Short) is the start of the critical appreciation of Too $hort and that's having looked past the negative ones of which there are plenty

Issues with Short Dog include his misogyny (he practically invented it in rap) and his minimal aesthetic. If you can't do the minimalism that's fair enough, but just know that from Life Is...To Short on, Short and his producers performed the funk riffs they loved so much rather than just sampling them. So it's minimal but that just means you should be dancing to the bare essential FUNKness of it and listening close to Short's rhythmic MCing which is intentionally simple. But what's he rhythmically rapping about over bare essential funk? He's a pimp rapper so it's usually gold and hoes. That's not necessarily always the case on occasions such as The Ghetto- the song which brought me and probably heaps of others to Short Dog's in the House. When people called him out for being a misogynist he'd claim he was going for a persona or character, which is what a lot of rappers claim and actually mean (like family man/architecture connoisseur Cube or youth football coach Snoop), and a few conscious songs on Short Dog's in the House not only prove that the persona is either a fantastic way to attract controversy and sell records, escapist ghetto phantasm, or boldly satirize such a phantasm and the social ills which continually lead to its creation, but make Short Dog's in the House easier to listen to because of the variety. It's not much and it's still a long listen, but that's cool, I like it

Also, The Ghetto. C'mon

B+

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Twinz - Conversation (1995)

1. Conversation #1 0:34

2. Round & Round 3:41

3. Good Times 3:44

4. 4 Eyes 2 Heads 3:27

5. Jump ta This 2:53

6. Eastside LB (feat. Warren G) 3:39

7. Sorry I Kept You (feat. Warren G) 3:15

8. Conversation #2 0:12

9. Journey Wit Me 3:19

10. Hollywood (feat. Jah-Skillz & Neb Love) 3:31

11. 1st Round Draft Pick (feat. Warren G) 3:48

12. Conversation #3 0:15

13. Don't Get It Twisted 3:58

14. Pass It On (feat. Foesum & Warren G)

1995 west coast album entirely produced by Warren G- what do you think it's gonna sound like? Smooth g-funk, right? Yeah, I even tagged it pop rap!

Conversation is kinda like Perfection but even more laid-back and nostalgic. I honestly can't find a flaw anywhere- although neither emcee is stand-out fantastic on the mic, they do what they need to do on Warren G's chill beats. As a review I just read points out, there's a crazy amount of sung hooks here which just adds to that feel-good vibe (I wanna fuckin' sing. Cuz I'm happy- Em)

You know what to expect but that's not a bad thing

B+

Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle (1993)

An album so good that it's arguably the only thing keeping people interested in Snoop even though it was released 19 years ago- although I'd argue that his persona appeals beyond his g-funk and that COME ON, PAID THA COST TO BE DA BOSS WAS SOME EXCELLENT LAID BACK 000S WEST COAST SHIT

Some might say it betters The Chronic in terms of GODLY production, and I like it more even though it's less experimental, others argue that the nihilistic lyrical content was culturally important citing who am I, what's my name? as a great example of African American existential anxiety where the answer is a dog, subservient but in the position to be subversive as an all-inclusive partier where radicals (Cube) held onto an elitist you're all wrong position, alienating him from those he thought he was liberating, others (it's an old album) look at the guy behind the persona (as you have to do with rappers) and cite the nasty, nihilistic g-funk as dealing more with personal anxiety, frustration, and depression than anything gangsta oriented, making Doggystyle the Nevermind of rap (or something)- and others like it because Snoop graces the mic with Slick Rick's storytelling and laid-back fluidity but updates the shit out of it (it's the 90s after all) and it's the first and last time he'd ever be greeted with such perfect beats. Detractors note the ignorant nihilism and abhorrent sexism as negatives, but combining a few of the arguments listed earlier we can support it if we need to but I don't really feel the need. It's too good.

A+

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Above the Law - Uncle Sam's Curse (1994)

1. Return of the Real Shit 5:42

2. Set Free 4:49

3. Kalifornia 4:35

4. Concreat Jungle 4:26

5. Rain Be for Rain Bo 4:34

6. Everything Will Be Alright 4:54

7. Black Superman 4:27

8. The 'G' In Me 4:52

9. Uncle Sam's Curse 4:47

10. One Time Two Meny 4:49

11. Who Ryde 5:30

12. Gangsta Madness 6:46

Looking for more of Cold187um's production after I loved his beats on Kokane's Funk Upon A Rhyme I found Above the Law (he's a member), and Uncle Sam's Curse (which I actually like more than their 1990 classic Livin' Like Hustlers)

It's got the funky, disorienting beats and vocals I wanted (partly courtesy of Kokane turning up on 6 of the 12 tracks) which keep convincing me that Cold187um deserves more praise than he gets, but also, and here's where people get all pissed off at ATL, the white devil sentiment that has so many turning from Ice Cube in disgust. I'll leave that one with you though 'cause I'm too busy enjoying ATL (and Cube)

A-

Compton's Most Wanted - Music to Driveby (1992)

1. Intro 0:20

2. Hit the Floor 1:49

3. Hood Took Me Under 3:39

4. Jack Mode 3:17

5. Compton 4 Life 3:17

6. 8 Iz Enough 2:48

7. Duck Sick II 3:44

8. Dead Men Tell No Lies 3:40

9. N 2 Deep (feat. Scarface) 3:51

10. Who's Fucking Who? 1:47

11. This Is a Gang 3:37

12. Hoodrat 3:55

13. Niggaz Strugglin 3:32

14. I Gots Ta Get Over 3:37

15. U's a Bitch 3:42

16. Another Victim 3:51

17. Def Wish II 3:31

18. Music to Driveby 3:30

G-funk classic with excellent pre-Chronic production and as expected from a group lead by MC Eiht, nihilistic Compton gangsta storytelling delivered simply but effectively and with heaps of charisma. The degree to which the listener will enjoy the album will probably depend on how much they like MC Eiht- those who just like the album often find his lyrics and rapping pale in comparison to contemporaries like Ice Cube, Scarface, or Nas, but still acknowledge how good the beats are. Some will probably think this shit's too ignorant, and some like the guy quite a lot so think the amazing selection of beats just push Music to Driveby into 'classic' material. I think it's real good and I'm not sure why you'd compare MC Eiht to Cube, Scarface, or Nas when he's going for something so different

A

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