Almost 4 LONG AZZ HOURS scanning and upping this magazine! You know what that means, right?
Anyway, I was going to write a long, boring essay about Hell On Earth and provide a slight comparison between it and The Infamous when I remembered that Travis had already tackled this topic at WYDU. So give him due credit for his write up and let me know which album you think is the best between those two. Even though The Infamous is still just ahead of it in my mind, I’ve been playing Hell On Earth for a few weeks now and the consistency is astounding. Havoc learned quite a bit from Q-Tip. It’s one of my all time favorite ‘night time listening’ albums along with Black Moon’s Enta Da Stage. I still have one lingering question regarding this album. Why were they dissing Def Squad (specifically Keith Murray)? I'm sure they didn't have beef with Redman but why were they going at Keith like that?
Record Report:
Westside Connection – Bow Down (4.5 mics) – Whut??? I don’t care how much you love Wack 10, no way is this 4.5 mics!
Mobb Deep – Hell On Earth (4.5 mics)
Mo Thugs – Mo Thugs Family Scriptures (4 mics)
Ghostface Killah – Iron Man (4 mics)
E-40 – The Hall of Game (4 mics)
Da Brat – Anutha Tantrum (3.5 mics)
Almighty RSO – Doomsday: Forever RSO (3.5 mics) – Benzino strikes again!
Jeru the Damaja – Wrath of the Math (3 mics)
Silkk – The Shocker (2.5 mics)
Richie Rich – Seasoned Veteran (3.5 mics)
PMD – Business is Business (2.5 mics)
Lil Kim – Queen Bee (3.5 mics)
Keith Murray – Enigma (3.5 mics)
B-Legit – The
House of Pain – Truth Crushed to Earth Shall Rise Again (3 mics)
Tela – Piece of Mind (3.5 mics)
Source December 1996 issue and fat tape
Thanks you man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHey Vincent, thanks for your time and effort you put into scanning this issue. 4 hours is alot of time to put into this, so keep up the good work. I think alot of people here take ya for granted but I want to let you know I appreciate everything you've done so far. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeletefinally i got the 96 collection! thanks again for your hardwork vincent! im ready for 97!
ReplyDeletemad props what happened to this Snoop that we all loved
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the work Vincent. I think people sleep on the Tha Doggfather album. After Doggystyle, it seems all his albums became too long. But Tha Doggfather album is dope to me because he improved as an MC w/o Dre beats and had nice concepts on it.
ReplyDeleteman im havin problems unziping the cover i keep typin in the site but it still doesnt work can anyone tell me the password that worked for u
ReplyDelete@throwback - Have you checked the right side of the page?
ReplyDeleteyo Vincent, the reason why Keith Murray & Prodigy had a long beef is because Prodigy sent a shot at Def Squad on the Infamous LP.
ReplyDeleteremember that skit when Mobb Deep was addressing a few things on the beginning of the LP (im not sure which track), but Prodigy said " and all yall that be kickin that space shit that dont be makin no sense, that shit is wack" or somethin to that nature.
so then like a few months later Keith murray saw prodigy at a party and touched him up real quick then split. Then when Hell On Earth dropped they did that track "Extortion" which disses K. murray. i know Methond man didnt, but his verse was da hardest!
i first read about this beef in a issue of Vibe magazine back in late '95. i 1st heard that Extortion track on a episode of New York Undercover. Me and boys was going crazy trying to find that track after we heard it! pure classic!
I remember madd people was dissapointed about that Snoop LP, i remember like it was yesterday when it came out. All my friends said it was whack!! i skimmed through it when it 1st came out when a friend of mine let me listen to it.
ReplyDeletei was not impressed, i never heard it again after that! 10th grade baby!
i gotto go in one more time vincent:
ReplyDeleteWestside Connection- u right this time Vincent this LP is not 4.5. it a borderline 5! this LP was well put together with some really dope tracks!! they impressed me with this one. even though this was during the east v. west timeframe, this was a real banger that stood out for the west.
Mobb Deep- now anybody with common sense know this is not 4.5! this is 5 mics easy with no hesitation! if u have to skip a track on here, u are crazy!! Havoc mastered those horror beats on this one. it draws u in!!
Ghostface- 4 mics?? are u kiddin me? this is a 4.5 or a 5! it depends on u and what u wanna go with. This LP is a straight classic!! Camay was my shit!! i still bang that shit!!
Jeru the Damaja- now this LP was very well produced by Primo! it isnt a 3, more like a 4. there are many classics on this one. But Jeru almost lost me when he goes at Puffy on this LP with the track "One Day". why in the world would u diss another east coast artist or company at that time during that east v. west thing? i still dont know why this man did that. U notice though he didnt mention BIG's name cause he knew BIG would bring it to him!
Lil Kim- now this LP is one of my all time favs. This aint no 3.5, to me its a 4.5 or a 5! Its that classic! BIG did a nice job puttin this together. there are many classics on this LP. and Lil Kim went in on all them!! i still remember hearing "Big Momma Thang" or "Crush On U" for the first time and going crazy! yall remember the album promo ad for this Lp when Kim was squating down??!! man back in the 10th grade, i remember niggaz literally fighting for that ad out of a Vibe magazine! it was that ill son!
Keith Murray- now this LP was very slept on. 3.5 ??? haha yeah right more like 4.5!! and it could be argued that this LP was better put together than his classic 1st LP!! Erick Sermon did a great job of production this. i remember me and boys anticipating this LP to drop back in '96, it was crazy!!
@ V Lopez
ReplyDeleteYeah got it now thanks bro
man i remember when Snoops 2nd LP came out mad disappointed thats when Snoop really lost his flow and some of his charisma but i guess he wanted to change in some ways cuz of Pacs death, him havin a son and whatnot but imo he fell off too fast
Thanks for posting this issue and I really appreciate you upping the Fat Tape.
ReplyDeletewooooot!! thanks man
ReplyDeleteThanks again for all your hard work, Vincent! Appreciate what you're doing man!
ReplyDeleteThere were some really dope albums that month! But Bow Down is an undisputed 5, it's just a classic one! Hall Of Fame and Seasoned Veteran are the bombs! Hemp Museum is aight, too.. The Bay was on the top these days!
And there's no doubt Hell On Earth should have 5... as well as Ironman..
And the wildest thing to me is that Silkk got lowest mark of the month!
Shocker is a classic No Limit album! Maybe reviewers just couldn't feel that sound or something...
respect one again vincent!!!
ReplyDeleteDamn, 4 hours? That's crazy! It's definitely appreciated though.
ReplyDeleteI've got to go back and listen to Hell On Earth to decide on 4.5 or 5. But for Ironman, it's a easy 5 mics from me, love that album.
Stay up!
Once again..........thanks so much for all your hard work.
ReplyDeletethanks a lot vincent for the time and effort you put into this,its a blessing!!big up and thanks once again
ReplyDeleteMad props for this and the time you put in scanning.
ReplyDeleteKeith Murray and Jeru easy 4 mics and Ghostface can go 4-4.5 so they got that right. I always felt the gave Bow Down 4.5 just to let everyone knoww there's no issues with the West, I thought it was a 4.
4 hours! I most def appreciate your effort!
ReplyDeleteWestside Connection – Now I'm not big on West Coast, but I gotta say that for me this album easily gets 5 mics.
Mobb Deep – 5 mics, no need for explanation.
Ghostface Killah – same as Mobb Deep.
Jeru the Damaja – Not as good as his debut, but it deserves at least 4 mics.
Keith Murray - same as Jeru.
House of Pain - PMD gets 2.5 and these fucks get 3?! 0_0
Thanks for the invite Vincent, and thanks for all the hard work you put in
ReplyDeleteMuch thanks for putting all that time into posting this! Should be a dope read.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's always gonna be The Infamous for me.
this is a great issue and a great month for albums... thanks
ReplyDeleteBow Down - This is a 3.5 or maybe a4 for me, the beats are great and they all seem hungry on the album but the lyrical content is just not there.
Hell On Earth - They got this spot on with 4.5 mics, both musically and lyrically its fantastic. But it lacks the standout moments which The Infamous (5 mics for me) was full of.
Ironman - This is a 4.5 mic album easy. Not a 5 though as i don't put it up there with the likes of only built, liquid swords and supreme clientele. Plus the song Marvel is weak. It's funny they would put Assassination Day on the fat tape even though Ghosface isn't even on it!
Wrath of The Math - They were harsh on this one. Obviously its no The Sun Rises in the East but its worthy of a 3.5/4 mics. It's hardly Premier's finest hour though.
Enigma - This is easily as good as his 4 mic debut therefore 4 mics.
Man i got to say its quite a shock flicking through all the adverts paticulary after reading the virtually advert free hip hop connection