"He's not invisible is he?"
A near-perfect combination of heartfelt drama between two close friends and comedy. Ray is hilarious in this, which is more impressive as this was mostly improvised. There was very little he said or did that didn't make me laugh. An example of a simple premise being implemented really well.
I don't feel this is the type of album to really blow you away, it's just really really solid. Havoc and Prodigy both ride these dark gritty east coast beats flawlessly, and while I could understand finding this boring, mainly due to the comparable beats, there is enough to enjoy. The weakest part of this is the middle of the album where there is nothing extraordinary for a few tracks, but we all know track 15 is worth waiting for. I can imagine people who owned the cassette of this wearing the tape out rewinding to the beginning of 'Shook Ones'.
Best Tracks: Survival of the Fittest, Right Back at You, Drink Away the Pain, Shook Ones Pt. II
After hearing this album you will be asking yourself why Stezo has put out so little music. The beats produced by Stezo himself are easily some of my favourite pre '90s hip hop beats and there ain't nothing wrong with Stezo on the mic either. Not everything is brilliant but the best are great with a certain funkiness to the songs and that feature nice sampling. This also features an instrumental type of song that we saw on many '80s albums like 'Chinese Arithmetic' from 'Paid in Full' for example that I rarely was interested in. However in this case 'Jimmy's Gettin' Funky' is to my liking. Check it out along with Stezo's 'Bop Ya Headz / Shining Star' also for some more quality funky Stezo.
Best Tracks: Bring the Horns, Talking Sense, It's My Turn, To the Max, Jimmy's Gettin' Funky, Going For Mine.
Hardly a song on this is close to being average. An extremely consistent, high-quality project. It features some cliched topics that are prominent in underground hip hop like criticising mainstream rap which Prolyphic does on 'On the Side' where he begins with "I was never a huge fan of Pac or Biggie". However, there are enough engaging topics here with sound songwriting present. The beats by Reanimator are great and are more than just 16/8 bar loops with extra elements added to some songs as they progress. I feel like if Prolyphic had a more unique/powerful voice I could score this even higher.
Beats: ★★★★
Bars: ★★★★
Hooks: ★★★★
Best Tracks: Artist Goes Pop, Way That I See It, Ugly Truth, On the Side, Sleeping Dogs Lie
I got this album when it came out, having no idea who this artist was. With a name like Professor P, I think I was thinking of large Professor or something and it made me get this. With that though, it took me a while to listen. I'm glad to say I was impressed.
Professor P is a Swedish rapper but you can't really tell from his voice, so that shouldn't turn people off who don't like rappers outside the US, and musically what you get is an album with some jazzy beats and many of them take you back to the golden era of boom-bap '90s hip hop. Vocally I like him also. He reminds me a fair bit of Prolyphic from 'The Ugly Truth' album, and while he doesn't have an amazing flow, he sounds hungry over the beats which make the disc an enjoyable listen. Check it out.