LP Thoughts: DMX- Its Dark And Hell's Hot (1998)

Man....where do i begin with this one?!! Well 1st off i want to say that if u would have told me back in '98 that DMX would fall off i would have laughed at u or thought u was crazy! A rapper this talented I thought wouldnt even come close to that. But i guess we all know good things dont last forever sometimes. But moments like this one, u dont think about the bad times, only the good. And this LP brings about alot of good times. Lets go.....

Back in '97 was the 1st time i heard of a rapper called DMX. When i heard Mase's 1st LP for the time, up came track #3 "Take Whats Yours". To me til this day that is one of the best tracks Mase ever did but i digress....As im reading the back of tracklisting i see a appearance on the track by somebody called DMX. Im thinkin who in the hell is that? So as im listening to it i can tell his voice is very raw & hard. Plus he was only on the hook on the record so i dont have alot to go on to form a opinion. Basically for me, he became a after thought and i didnt expect much from him. Then about a couple months later I copped LL's Phenomenon LP (dope album to me, i dont care what yall say), and thats when i heard him again on the "4321" track. Now i get a chance to actually hear this man rhyme! And boy he didnt dissapoint, he completely ripped that joint! We all know thats a classic record and X made sure people knew who he was! Now another question for me arose, what the hell this man look like? How does his style look? Is he that grimy? That question would b answered soon enough.

A couple weeks after the LL album came out, my family went to go visit my grandma's house to visit and chill. Me and my brother went to the back guest room to look at TV. As we was flicking thru the channels it crossed my mind that yo! Rap city is on, lets check that out. So i turn it to BET and i was able to catch it. I dont remember who on the show but they was talking to somebody then they went back to showin vids. When they did the vid for "4321" came on. I was like oh snap, they made a video for this joint!! I was very happy & amped for this cause this was my 1st time seeing it! So im watching and i see Meth's part then Redman's part then.....X's part came on! I was like now i know what this nigga look like! And he looked hard and those pit bulls he had wit him was no joke (and that would soon b a common theme of his)! I was like his style is tight and he sounds dope, i hope i hear from him again soon. Little did i know the next time i would heard from him will b a game changer for the whole entire hip-hop world!

Fast forward to early '98, i came home from school and straight to my room to catch Rap City (it was a daily ritual people!). So im sittin there watching it and once again I forgot who the guest was but they finished talkin to him and they went back to the vids. All of a sudden next vid was filmed in black & white, you can hear a sound of a heartbeat goin in the beginning, then certain clips start comin up like a welcome to Yonkers sign-X standing next to a little kid-a Tunnel Flyer saying DMX performing tonite. Then next the screen blacks out and all u hear is "Lets take it back to the streets mother beeeeeeeeep!! BAM! the beat kicks in and the vid starts! For next 4 minutes and 3 seconds im locked in watchin this vid! I never heard a record like that with that much energy in it!! It changed my life, i didnt think hip-hop music can b that hard!! Plus the vid was filmed at the Tunnel. Up to that point i only read about the Tunnel, i never knew what it looked like or anything so it was good to see that! After that vid, everybody's fav phrase was "Get At Me Dog" or "Where my Dogs at?" Niggas was doin dog noises and the whole nine, barking and everything! DMX brought that out of niggas, he represented for all the hard rocks. It was a connection there that he tapped to that up to that point only Pac did & Ja Rule attempted to do (hate to bring that up but its true). Remember this was only his 1st single and people was foaming at the mouth waiting for that LP to come out! He was featured on countless tracks after that and his buzz was at a all time high! It got only higher when vids for "Ruff Ryders Anthem " & "Stop Being Greedy" came out. When word got out that his album would b coming out in May '98, i circled that on my calendar and was ready for it!

Here comes May, and I made a b-line straight to my local music store "On-Cue" (store no longer exists) to pick up this LP. Back then if u cop albums the day they came out it would b on sale for like 11.99 or 12.99, then after a while it will b 16.99 or somethin like that. So u had to get the joints the day they dropped it to get the best price (do any of yall remember that?). When i made it back home, I popped that CD in with the quickness and began my musical journey. The LP gets u goin right away with the intro! The beat to the intro is very eerie like u watching a action drama or something like that! And X killed the beat to it so i love it!! And Tyson loved it too cause thats the same joint he played as his intro when he entered the ring during that time! The next track i love is "Hows It Goin Down", I jam this still til this day. I love the beat and everything about it. X lyrics on this joint is straight real with no filler. Plus the vid to this joint is real dope. Hype did a great job on it! Then we move on to "Crime Story", on this X just tells a story that u have listen closely to see what he talkin about. The beat is basic but perfect for what he talkin about. Movin on wit "I Can Feel It", Dame Grease did his thing on this one. He sampled Phil Collins' track very nicely and X went in on this as well. I love the way this track flowed very smoothly! Now we got the closers of closers! I cant think of another LP that closed the way X closed with "Niggas Done Started Something"!! 1st off every nigga killed this track!! I couldnt believe Mase can go that hard!! That was Murder Mase on that 1. The beat to this is crazy! I must have lost my mind when i 1st heard this! I repeated this song so many times that i remembered the lyrics to this very quickly!! Now for a tidbit that i didnt know on this track, did yall know this track orig. came in 1996???!!! I have this on a Clue tape from '96!! When I found out about this a couple years ago it completely blew my mind!! Im thinking this track was a new track that came out in '98 not '96!! Crazy right??? But this this track has to go down on the list as one of the best posse tracks ever!! No question!!

When i think back to '98 when this album came out it brings back memories of hip-hop that I once new. At that time hip-hop was hot and exclusive, everything was just on fire! Back then people was selling mad records, like u was gonna go to the record store and cop that album no matter what! Some of us didnt even make it home to listen to it, we just take it out the plastic and pop it in our rides and jam it right away! I still have my orig. copy of this LP from '98! Yes its scratched up but it still works and im keepin it!! The memories from this LP are countless. Like my senior year our basketball team had a whole pre-game routine wit "Ruff Ryders Anthem" You know what i mean? They all had white t-shirts with the sleeves cut, with the Ruff Ryders logo drawn on it in red on the front  and with the players last name and # drawn on the back. My boy John Brinkley (R.I.P)  had a vision and put it all together! But the energy for all that was DmX, he brought that out of us back then. It was crazy, i miss those times man. They just dont happen like that anymore.

I give this LP the complete 5 star rating!! Hands down!! Whats ur thoughts on this LP?

Chubby Chubb- Goin All Out (1998) (Mixtape)

My experience with Chubby Chubb is that his tapes have alot to offer! Especially his tapes that came out during '93-'96 cause they had plently of rare Jay Z demo tracks before Jay had a deal. But on this one we take it back '98. Very nice tape i have for yall right here, i hope u enjoy it!

Chubby Chubb

Undergroud Hip-Hop Movement: Lord Finesse Interview

Now if yall remember about a year ago, i wrote a piece on one of my fav. all-time artists/ producers Lord Finesse. The work this man put in is pretty much legendary, and his knowledge for the history of the game during the golden era is impeccable! Check out this interview he recently did wit the Underground Hip-Hop Movement, in this he explains many topics hip-hop wise according to him. This interview is a must listen, alot of jewels being dropped here!

For All Masters: DJ S&S Interview

 

What this is, is a history lesson on how tapes was done during the golden era! This DJ has put out some of the most incredible tapes in mixtape history, and also some of the rarest! Just pay attention and take notes! Thanks for the shout-out Nick!!

Man, Did I Really Buy That?

Yes that is the question u ask urself when u buy a LP that u thought was dope but its turn out to be doo-doo. During the golden era, u had to go out and buy the LP's. No such thing as internet or downloading or etc. You only had The Source, Rap Pages, Rap City & Yo! MTV Raps. Those was ur source of info for LP's coming out, then after that the decision was yours.
One of my favorite blogs to check out: Unkut, recently had a topic about this same discussion. And it was greatly well written. But the responses people posted was insane. People is puttin down LP's that to me are classics and they are sayin that its wack!! Like Jay Z's In My Lifetime Vol 1?!!? Are u kiddin me? Nas' Nastradamus & It Was Written? You jokin right??!!! Plus many others. If people out there think that these LP's are wack, i dont know what the hell is goin on!
Now its time to post your opinion, what LP's u bought during the golden era u thought was gonna be dope but end up being wack? Let it be known in the comments box!

Here's five for me that I can remember:

1. Canibus- Can-i-bus: Back in '98 this man had mad hype surrounding him. His rhymes was crazy and fierce, plus he was holdin his own against LL (until LL came back with The Ripper Strikes Back). Now i didnt like him when he was on Wyclef's "Gone til November", i hate that record. But he got me open on LL's "4,3,2,1", then the "2nd Rd TKO" blew him fast! I even bought the single with a dope B-side track on there that i cant remember right now, i think its called "Wildest niggas" or somethin like that. Then he dropped his 2nd single which was "Honor U", i thought it was OK with great topics he was spittin. But i was waitin for that LP to drop, and when it did i was dumbfounded. But i fooled myself cause i failed to realize that he was runnin wit Wyclef. And he dont know nothin about handlin a MC like him and pickin out beats. That was just a sad ending to a upcoming beginning.

2. Mase- Double Up: Cmon people, we all know how Mase came and blew up the game. So when i heard in early '99 that his 2nd LP was gonna drop i couldnt wait! I was thinkin that if this LP sounded anything like his 1st one this would be too good to be true. But there was a little hint that happened before the LP dropped that bad things were coming. Mase presents.... Harlem World. Man this LP was striaght trash, i thought that by him teamin up with Jermaine Dupri on this project thing would be OK. Boy was i mistaken. So couple of months after that, Mase's 1st single for Double Up drops, "Get Ready" with Blackstreet. Now i thought that this track was pretty nice. U gotta love the intro to the track, "i doing like im doing it cause im doing for tv!" So now im thinkin OK this LP is gonna be nice....... Wrong again. This time though i was stunned cause i thought Mase cant go out like this. And he did cause he retired right after that. Not a good exit plan.

3. AZ- Pieces Of A Man: AZ was and still is my nigga, but this LP was very dissapointing. But i dont think it was his fault. Certain songs didnt cleared and some songs didnt make the cut. I was hooked on gettin this LP once i heard "Hey AZ" with SWV. At that time that song was my shit!! I loved how he took that Mariah Carey beat and flipped it! So i was open after that, then comes the 2nd single "Whats the Deal" and i was like ah man it cant get no better than this! Plus "Your World Dont Stop" was gettin mad play on mixtapes. So i was hyped for this LP to drop, and when it did that hype went down the drain. I could not believe Hey AZ was not on the LP!! Your World Dont Stop was altered with a different beat! The only 2 standouts was The Essence with Nas and Whats the Deal. Im still pissed Hey AZ wasnt on there man.

4. Missy Elliot- Da Real World: Surprised i went this route huh? Well I was a huge Missy fan back in '97 with her 1st LP. I think that LP is borderline classic with dope Timberland production. So in '99 people was askin can Missy do it again? She was on top at this time in the Music game doing great things. Now i kinda liked her 1st single "She A Bitch", she went left wit it but it was ok. All In My Grill & Hot Boyz was kool but i was wondering yo, is this LP anything like her 1st one? Will she continue to provide great hip-hop tracks plus dope R&B tracks? the answer was definite NO. I couldnt believe she fell off on this LP especially at the time it was released cause Timberland was in the zone makin beats at that time. Very surprising let down.

5. Raekwon- Immobilarity: Now this is a LP i didnt even bother to buy. And i never heard nothin from it or anything. This came out during when i was in US Navy boot camp in late '99. When i got out I went to the NEX to pick up some LP's and i had no idea what was out that time . I remember buying Mos Def's Black On Both Sides just based what he done with BlackStar ( great choice) and i think bought Nas Nastradamus too as well ( another great choice). But then i saw Raekwon's LP and i was stunned cause i didnt know he was droppin a new LP before I went to boot camp. So i gettin ready to scoop that up until it hit me, will this LP be better than Cuban Linx? will it even come close to Cuban Linx? And i knew that it wasnt. So i passed on it. And boy am i glad i did. From all accounts that i heard, i heard that LP is straight trash. Im glad i saved dough on that 1. A Lesson folks, u cant always go on a artists past work, but sometimes u have to.

There u have it people, now let me heard yours! Let it be known then!!!!

Recognize The Real presents The Best Of Large Professor

This cat right here is a producer's producer. He is all about the music and none of that other music business crap. That might of hurt him during his career but he stayed true to himself and let the music speak for him. He was a prodigy at early age taught by the late Paul C, he producin tracks for Eric B & Rakim & Kool G Rap at like 14-16 years old (dont know the actual age but in that range). Blessed the world the classic Main Source 1st LP. Gave us Nas & Akinyele! Did lots of great work wit Tribe & Pete Rock. And was around when niggas was goin record huntin to find those specific breaks along wit Pete Rock, Q-Tip, Beatnuts, Diamond D, Beatminerz & etc. My fascination wit Extra P started around '96 when I first heard "Mad Scientist" on Rap City! That blew my mind still til this day! Now i remember back in like '94-'95 hearing Tribe's Midnight Marauders, and i was jammin to that track "Keep It Rollin" and i was thinkin to my self who's that cat rhymin at the end? Ha Ha, but at the time i didnt know who he was and i didnt even hear Main Source yet. I 1st heard "Looking Out The Front Door" around '97. Please people dont laugh at me, i already told yall before that my hip-hop knowledge wasnt there yet at that time. But that is a record that covers many music genres, its a hip-hop record, its a dance record & its a house record! Back in '91 u could throw that record on and rock any type of crowd! This man is hip-hop to me and he just stays to himself and do him. So my tribute to him is a little Best Of i created in honor of him. Hope yall like it and jam it in ur rides!
"Queens represent, buy the album when i drop it!"


Large Pro

LP Thoughts: Camron- Sports, Drugs & Entertainment (2000)

This is a tough one. Not because of the album but of the person who made it. I was once a huge fan of this cat right out the gate when he came out back in '97. I was feelin his whole rap style and the partnership he had wit Mase. I once considered him one of rap's elite. But as I look at him now, im just disappointed at some of the moves he made and friends he double crossed. So i as write this piece im a talk wit a peace of mind to remember this dude how he once was not present date.

For a brief period there Cam went into hiding. After droppin his 1st LP back in late '97- early '98, he took a leave of absense no where to be found. But in '99 he popped up with a dope single "Let me Know" which was a track that got u crunk and hyped instantly. I bought that single the day it dropped and video was nice as well. Then i didnt hear him again until early 2000 on a DJ Clue freestyle. Then i read a article about him in XXL in early 2000, it was about what he was up to and what happened to him. That article also stated that he was goin thru some medical problems and label problems. It was also during this time when he turned to Dame to be his manager. So i was kinda happy to see my nig back in the game ready to drop some new stuff and it made things better when i started to see promo posters on him saying his new album comin out in mid 2000.

I think i was watchin Rap City and they was showin some videos that was bubblin at that time, then out of the blue a new vid came on. The beat was crazy with some dope guitar stabs and kinda uptempo to get ur head bobbin. Then was i was lookin hard to see who is this, and i was surprised, it was Camron!!?? "What Means The World 2 U" was a monster hit!  It took me a while to digest it, then i realized that this man got a heat rock on his hands wit this one. I was living in Philly at the time and this track was blaring everywhere. I saw footage recently of Funk Flex debuting this song in the Tunnel back in '00 wit Cam sittin right there behind him and the response was crazy for it. Back in '98 Cam had them crazy wit "Horse & Carriage" now 2 years later had them with this one. It was some great times i tell ya, me and my nigs was all jammin this joint. It was no doubt in our minds that when this LP drops we are all coppin this joint!

So in September of 2000 i was right there at the local music spot coppin this LP with no hesitation. I just hoping that this LP was ok and can at least equal his 1st one. Boy was I right about this one, it was more than OK and it did top his 1st LP in my opinion. I mean this LP was hittin right out the gate with track #2 "Thats Me"! I can go on record and say that this track is probably one of Cam's best songs he ever done that gets overlooked. The beat on this song is bananas, the carefully orchestrated "killa, killa, you are, you are" in the beginning of the song get my hyped every time i hear it! I love this track, simply love it! Then we go to another heat rock wit #11 "Losin Weight" wit Prodigy! This track is hard as well with the dope piano loop and the lyrics on this track is crazy, this was still Prodigy when he was Prodigy if u know what i mean. Dope, dope track. On to track #12 with "Sports, Drugs & Entertainment"! Who knew Ron G did this joint?! And u gotta give him props for finding the perfect hook for this record by Biggie, "In the hood its a short stop, u either slang crack rocks or u got a wicked jumpshot". Real dope and creative. Now another blazin heat rock is #17 "Where Im From"! Ah man, this another one of my personal favs with a sinister piono loop and straight gutter hard lyrics. Dutch & Spade (from Major Figgas fame) wrecked this joint and Cam finished it off very nicely. Then they bring it back to '99 wit #18 "Let Me Know". This one of them tracks that get u bouncing right away and the sample of Monday Night Football was crazy! Last but not least #19 "My Hood" was a nice track that Dame Grease produced. The vid for this track was kinda out there and kinda funny but i love the hook he had for this one. All and all this LP was very nicely done. It bring back memories every time I think about this one.

I can go on all day on how i feel about Cam nowadays but for now im not gonna take away his great effort he put into this LP. It is one of my personal gems wit heat rocks sprinkled all over this one. To me ill give this album a 4.6 out of 5. I just love this album and thats how i see it. Now u tell me, whats ur LP Thoughts on this LP?