Hip Hop/Rap Fanatics Unite!

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in case some of you missed it, the new Kendrick Lamar dropped digitally today a full week (surprise!) before the physical release. Oh... and it's incredible.

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Insane Clown Posse
The Great Milenko
1997, Island Records
ICP's major label debut caused some big waves when the Disney-owned Hollywood Records recalled it and put it out of print almost immediately after hitting store shelves. Of course no press is bad press, and uproar resulted in major publicity and a major label bidding war that found the clowns on Island records and saw The Great Milenko re-released quickly with bonus tracks. Although the album tends to be better remembered for the hype surrounding its release rather than the music, that is actually a shame. The Great Milenko is actually a hell of a lot of fun. It feels evident that group was very self-aware about this being the first record to really be getting to the ears of such a wide audience, and as such their goal was entertainment. ICP plays up the clown stuff big time here. From the intro's dark carnival music, to the use of acting out the part of various characters to show how silly they may be, there's actually a lot to chuckle at here. In fact much of the material is kept rather light-hearted. Like when Shaggy spits a line about "eat[ing] Monopoly and shit[ting] out Connect Four" on "What Is A Juggalo?" that is so nonsensical that the song screeches to a brief halt as Violent J tries to make sense of it. There's also the over-the-top dating game parody "The Neden Game" that mixes up trash talk, violence, dick-jokes, and the kitchen sink but avoids shock-for-shock's sake thanks to its reliance on self-deprecation and ultimately just being an excuse for a round of Dirty Dozens between the two clowns. There's also some pretty decently creepy slow beats here that play up the horror aspects that the crew is known for. It's certainly not a stretch to say that Mike E. Clark's production on this record is easily one of its better attributes. While ICP has long been the group that it's cool to hate, The Great Milenko remains a shlocky good time. Think of it as Halloween drinking music.

[stickem]

Thats the first icp cd i bought, and only lol. Have you heard icp and 3 6 mafia's cd, the killjoy club? Who would've known....

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Have you heard icp and 3 6 mafia's cd, the killjoy club? Who would've known....

nah not yet. TSTR told me it wasn't that great so I haven't been in a rush.

[stickem]

Have you heard icp and 3 6 mafia's cd, the killjoy club? Who would've known....

nah not yet. TSTR told me it wasn't that great so I haven't been in a rush.

yeah i just browsed a few songs myself. just because that combo sounded kinda odd. nothing special.

[TSTR]

Yeah, Killjoy Club is mainly just a neat curiosity. Some good, some eh, you know.

[stickem]

Yeah kinda like their chris benoit remix wifh cube and scarface. I actually like that one though. Cube fucking killed that song.

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remember recently when I said that the new Ghostface was the best album that's come out so far this year? It's been dethroned. The new Kendrick. OMG. The fact that the outro "skit" gave me goosebumps... I mean, that's not even talking about the music. Just unreal.

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2Pac
Greatest Hits
1998, Amaru
It's not really any great secret that I'm not a big fan of greatest hits type compilations. I tend to find them an okay entry into an artist's work (at best) or a cash-grab that pales in comparison to the artist's full discography (at worst). Somehow, 2Pac's Greatest Hits falls somewhere in the middle, but leans towards the former. The most important thing to point out about 2Pac was that he was an enigma. He championed his own contradictions. The same guy who wrote "Brenda's Got A Baby" and "Changes" also wrote "How Do U Want It?" and "Hit Em Up"... how does that work? But that's the thing - it did work. Whether Pac was spitting about social injustice and pleading with the youth to avoid the perils of drug dealing and gangbanging or shit-talking his foes and embracing the seedier side of life - he always sounded genuine. And that is on full display here. Over 25 tracks stretched over two discs, you hear nothing but honesty. And in some ways contradiction is honest. To pretend that man is a simple creature that can easily choose between the Yin and the Yang is naive. This was a man who understood that he was born with original sin, and wanted to do well, but was okay with fucking up and embracing the mistakes he'd made as part of his journey. It's fascinating stuff. Perhaps that's why it's so important that this collection not be presented chronologically. Yet early upbeat tracks with Digital Underground can rub elbows with later Death Row material and somehow still feel coherent. Like any such collection you'll wonder where some of your favorites are ("If My Homie Calls" and "Pour Out A Little Liquor" anyone?) and scratch your head at some inclusions (four unreleased songs are considered 'greatest hits'?). But nothing here is filler. I will always insist that you choose to listen to any of Pac's original albums recorded during his life over this (and this includes Thug Life Volume 1 and The 7 Day Theory). But there's certainly plenty of reasons to own this one as well - "Changes" and "God Bless The Dead" being two of the highest.

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Jay-Z
American Gangster
2007, Roc-A-Fella
While Jay's 'return from retirement' album Kingdom Come turned out to be a rather paint-by-numbers affair, American Gangster finds him fully recharged. Supposedly inspired by the film of the same name - which gives Hov the license to use characters from the movie and his own story interchangeably - it actually feels almost like a sequel to his debut Reasonable Doubt recorded a decade later. Both albums feel like studies on the American Dream, but the hustler discussing these subjects are writing from rather different points in their lives, and different levels of success. While the themes feel similar, it's hard to imagine the Jay-Z of Reasonable Doubt rapping "I used to give a fuck/but now I give a fuck less/what do I think of success?/it sucks, too much stress." It's not that Jay sounds tired or uninspired here though. He's just got a lot more experience under his belt than the 1996 version of himself. He also seems to be reinvigorated by the same love of wordplay that he was on his debut, be it the ridiculous cussing on the chorus of "Ignorant Sh*t" or the fascinating addiction-as-lover metaphor that runs through the entirety of "I Know." The production throughout is handled half by Diddy and his team - which I admit sounds shocking if you're hearing the music. This is a very cohesive record that draws from soulful jazz-funk. It's so organic that it's often hard to discern the samples from the live instruments. Trebly guitars and bright horns fill the tapestry here. The other half is handled by regular Jay-Z collaborators like Just Blaze, The Neptunes and No ID. The guests are few but welcome - Lil Wayne, Beanie Sigel and Nas all fill their roles perfectly. While it's fair to say that Jay-Z's discography is full of excellent records, I can only say that this one is very close to the top.