Chubby Chub- Shits Blazin (1997) (Mixtape)

U requested it we rewind!! When i 1st got this tape, i had no idea who Chubby Chub was. I thought he was just another local NYC DJ. But upon further review, i found out that he was the DJ for the group Original Flavor. Plus around that time he was cool wit a young Jay Z and had mad demos & unreleased tracks of him as well. U can find those on his earlier tapes from '94-'95. On this one its strictly '97 flavor and filled wit lots of goodies! Props to Todd1 for this one years ago!

Chubby Chub

LP Thoughts: Common Sense- Resurrection (1994)

Its amazing that Common now has 20 years in the game! Thats incredible for MC's today to last this long. He's in that class now wit Hova, Esco, Busta & Snoop thats still doin it 20 years and over. But i have to admit that i got a late start on following this talented MC. Hey, its better late than never right?

Common's 1st LP came out in '92 and i had no clue at that time. Heck, i was following Kris Kross to the death so what did Common meant to me as a young kid? Now his 2nd LP came out in '94 and i had no clue either cause i just started following hip-hop that year. Nas came out in April '94 and during that time is when i saw " It Aint Hard To Tell" on Rap City! It was that video & song that changed my life on hip-hop and deciding to follow it. So i was a rook, a noob, a freshman, a ....... well u get it. I was just starting to get into it and this Common LP dropped in October '94. And it totally passed me by cause i had no clue it dropped when it came out. Also i just started watching Rap City regularly at that time as well. So pretty much of all of late '94 i missed out on this dude and knew nothing about him. Fast forward to mid '95 shall we.......

Ok, now im deep in hip-hop. I was fully dedicated around this time watching Rap City 2wice a day ( that right people, it used to come on at 4pm & 7-8pm every night during the week at that time!) and watchin Yo! MTV Raps every Friday & Saturday. So one Wednesday i came home from school i automatically turned on the TV to watch Rap City. And yall know on Wednesdays back then on Rap City they played older joints, it was called Old School Wednesday. So as im watchin, a joint came on with a very ill mello beat that had me hooked. The subject matter he was talkin about was crazy on point. I was like man, who is this cat i have to get this song! And it was then that i 1st heard "I Used To Love H.E.R"! I was in hip-hop heaven at that time! I couldnt believe that I missed out on that joint only a year ago, but i was late. I then set out a journey to get this record, it took me awhile but i finally did it. I was in pure heaven only to be put in higher than that when i heard and saw the 2nd video "Resurrection"! Thats when i knew this dude was the truth! Then i realized that his beats fit my style, they were very slow and mello but jazzy! Now i would love to say that I went ahead and got the LP right away then, but i did not. As I reiterate again, back then i didnt buy LPs i only bought singles and recorded songs on tapes. So i didnt get this LP until years later!

The year is 1999 and i just wrapped up my military boot camp session for the US Navy. I went to the NEX ( a military form of wal-mart but better), to get some albums that i missed out on for the time i was in boot camp. When i got there it was my lucky day cause they was a havin a huge sale on CDs and i racked up that day. It was that day when i bought the album with huge anticipation to see what this LP is all about. And upon listenin to it i had mixed reviews honestly. U got ur sure shots wit "I Used To Love HER" & "Resurrection" but neither than that there isnt really that much to choose from. The only other joint on there i know i liked for sure was "This is me", i love the jazz sample on that one. I can definitely see why this LP vaulted him up in there in the ranks cause those 2 classic timeless records stand the test of time, but the rest of the LP is ok. Me personally i love his next LP One Day It Will All Make Sense more but thats another story for another day. But man, everytime i hear "I Used To Love H.E.R" it brings me back to that time when i 1st heard the record and how i fell in love wit it. And the response he got from the record was crazy! BiG loved the record and he even wanted to a joint wit him. Nas loved it and now they might do a joint LP together. He was even in Fat Joe's vid for "Success", a vid that everybody and they mama was in. So Common felt the love right away, and also unfortunately felt some hate from the one Ice Cube. But we know how that one turned out, love ya Cube!

So all and all i give this LP a 4. Let ur feelings be heard people, what ur thoughts on this LP?

LP Thoughts: CRU- Da Dirty 30 (1997)

1997 was a year full goodies known & unknown. And this group was a unknown to many even me. But a couple of years ago as my Stretch & Bobbito collection grew, i realized that these cats a had a joint that was gettin play on their show around '95-'96. It was called "Rhythm Blunt Cru Comin Atcha Door" (i think thats the name of it), and it was a dope underground joint. But who knew that they would be known beyond that with a serious following behind them.

I 1st heard of this group back in '97 when the single "Just Another Case" came out and i saw the vid for it on Rap City. The beat caught me right away! I was hooked immediately! Those guitar licks were very infectious! I remember i was tryin hard to get that song and at that time the only way to get even a snippet of it was on the intro of Foxy Brown 1st LP Ill Na Na. That intro featured a lot upcoming acts on Violator and a snippet of that record is on it. Thats all i had at that time, cause no mixtapes was making their way down to El Paso! I bought the single to this track immediately once it was available and i rocked it to death! Plus i was happy that on the single it had the version wit Slick Rick on it! Now if u notice the vid, these cats a had a huge following behind them! In the vid u had Dj Enuff, Funkmaster Flex & Fatman Scoop in it! Thats damn near the whole Hot 97 staff co-signing u! And u know in the mid 90s Hot 97 was breakin alot of records that people never heard before and had another one wit this. Plus if u look closely my man Black Rob was in the spot wit the CRU t-shirt wrapped around his head, and people at that time didnt know who Black Rob was at that time. I dont think Puff's LP dropped yet so people wouldnt even have recognized him in the vid.

Now i didnt even listen to this LP until years later after it came out cause like i said before, back then i wasnt buying albums only singles. And when i heard it was very pleased with the LP, its a shame u didnt hear anything else from them since but they left they mark wit what they had. U got to love the joint "Live At The Tunnel" feat. the Lox. That beat is crazy hot and its about the legendary NYC club itself. This track was a club banger and a mixtape banger as well. Then u got my other 2 favorites " Pronto" & "Bubblin". These 2 joints here are stone cold real classic hip-hop right here, i can jam them all day!

To me Def Jam had a gem wit this group, its shame that didnt do more wit them considering the following they had. I give this LP a 3.5 to almost a 4 but not quite. Very solid production and 30 tracks isnt bad either. Dont sleep on '97 yall, many many great hip-hop joints came out that year im tellin u dont sleep!

So whats yall LP Thoughts on this?