Can’t nobody hate on the past two weeks in the land of music. Tonnes of releases, and tonnes of Lp’s so let’s get started… a’ight. First with the LP’s, the long anticipated return of one of the classic hiphop members dropped in the form of “The Truth Hurts” by none other than EDO. G. With production by Spinna, Pete Rock, and Roxberry’s finest, this album is definitely a sureshot. I was also happy to see the release of All Natural’s introductory LP, “Second Nature”. After hearing ’nuff singles by them, it was nice to finally get a full-length. Also reppin’ the Chi, producers extraordinaire The Molemen finally saw the release of their first compilation album, featuring the likes of J.U.I.C.E., Rasco, Aesop Rock, and a long list of others – go cop that. If you caught an import of The Lone Catalysts first LP “Hip Hop”, then consider yourself lucky because too many people are still wishing they had it – but can’t find it. And if you’ve been down with Lone Catalysts since “The Paper Chase”, then you will definitely not be disappointed.
Fresh out of Helltown aka Halifax Canada, I was fortunate to get my hands on a stellar LP by one of Canada’s finest, Classified. If the name doesn’t sound familiar and you think he’s some new cat in the game, don’t sleep. Steady reppin’ for almost nine years, his experience shows on his latest release “Union Dues” available through No Distribution – get that ! And last but certainly not even near least, Rawkus kept their hardcore heads in check by hitting us with DJ Hi-Tek’s “Hi-Teknology” LP. The one half of Reflection definitely doesn’t disappoint, gathering all the typical Hi-Tek favourites such as; Kweli, Common, Mood, Vinja Monica, DCQ,a nd even a surprise slot from Cormega. Easily one of the smoothest albums I’ve ever heard, Rawkus didn’t let em down at all this time.
If you weren’t completely broke after all these, or you were too cheap to buy them in the first place, then look out for these singles in a friendly record store near you….. here we go; Breeze Evahflowing came back hard with “I Love Hip Hop” his best work in a while, Nautilus The Navigator dropped “Twelve w/ The Record Making Manual” with help on the mic from Arcee & Fatski representing Toronto, new joints this week also came from Cannibal Ox, Camp Lo, DL & Tech12, two new singles from Freddie Foxxx ( one of them being with Primo ), Edan, and another solo Arcee joint produced by Jake One – that one’s called “Exquisite w/ Super Educated”.
Now you should be up to date, but don’t forget to go grab all those albums, especially the Classified “Union Dues”………. No matter how much money you spent on vinyl already this week. Don’t worry, the lord will forgive when it comes to vinyl.
