Happy Born Day Illmatic

Photo retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Illmatic-Nas/dp/B0000029GA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398023750&sr=8-1&keywords=illmatic

"I woke up early on my born day, I'm 20, it's a blessing..."

20 years ago today, Nas released his debut album, Illmatic.  Among hip-hop fans, especially fans of New York hip-hop, the album was considered an instant classic.  The Source magazine gave Illmatic its coveted 5 mic rating (check out The Source’s review at this link http://bit.ly/1jjGjLe).  Today, Illmatic is in my top 10 favorite albums of all-time and depending on my mood, it sits at the top sometimes.  At the time though, I have to be honest, I didn’t understand the hype around the album.  Back in ’94, I didn’t have access to mixtapes and the Internet didn’t exist for me, so what I heard from Nas had been limited to his verse on MC Serch’s Back to the Grill and the first two singles from Illmatic, Halftime (which first appeared on the Zebrahead soundtrack) and It Ain’t Hard To Tell.  When I first heard the album, the beats seemed dark and dense and I wasn’t so quick to deem it an instant classic.  Life’s a Bitch was probably my favorite track from the album, but it took awhile for the rest of the album to grow on me.  I didn’t fully begin to appreciate Illmatic until my sophomore year of college in ’96.  I don’t know what changed, but I listened to it one day and it just clicked.  I finally realized why Illmatic received its high praise.  The album clocks in under 45 minutes and is only 10 tracks long, but 9 if you remove the intro.  It featured production from some of the best producers of all-time including Primo, Large Professor and Pete Rock.  The lyrics were top notch and have stood the test of time and the album was perfectly sequenced.  I’m getting older and all of my favorite albums are reaching these milestone anniversaries.  It actually makes me feel old as hell, but seeing albums like Illmatic get celebrated with re-releases and hip-hop sites giving in-depth stories about these albums lends credence to the fact that these albums are timeless classics.  There’s been plenty of websites covering the 20^th anniversary of Illmatic, so I’ve included some links before for you to check.  So in closing, happy 20^th birthday to Illmatic and thanks to Nas for blessing us with the album.

Large Professor Reminiscing on Illmatic

Billboard's Track By Track Review of Illmatic

Miss Info On Her Review of Illmatic 20 Years Ago for the Source

Cop Illmatic XX from Amazon

Soundtrack Bangers

Back in the day, movie soundtracks were as popular if not more popular than the movies they were created for.  In the 90s, some soundtracks such as Menace II Society and Above the Rim were considered hip-hop classics while others such as Who’s the Man? and Deep Cover introduced us to emcees whom would later become legendary.  These days, soundtracks aren’t as popular, but if you came up in the 90s, soundtrack releases were anticipating as much as any albums.  In honor of these soundtracks, I’ve decided to give you 26 bangers that appeared on soundtracks.  There’s no particular order and I’m sure I missed some so let me know.

1.     MC Eiht – Streiht Up Menace (Menace II Society)

2.     Nas – One On One (Street Fighter)

The Street Fighter soundtrack had 3 or 4 gems on it and this one from Nas was probably the best one.

3.     Outkast – Phobia (Higher Learning)

4.     2Pac – Pain (Above the Rim)

My favorite Pac song of all-time.  This song was only available on the cassette version.

5.     Method Man & Redman – How High (The Show)

6.     Ice Cube – How To Survive In South Central (Boyz N the Hood)

7.     Tha Dogg Pound – Big Pimpin’ (Above the Rim)

My boy Brian put me on the clean version of Above the Rim soundtrack and the clean version of this song was just as dope as the dirty version.

8.     Outkast – Benz Or Beamer (New Jersey Drive)

9.     Tha Dogg Pound – Just Doggin (Sunset Park)

This song was playing in the background from a scene in Above the Rim which came out before Sunset Park, but for some reason it wasn’t on the Above the Rim soundtrack.

10. A Tribe Called Quest – Hot Sex (Boomerang)

11. Common – High Expectations (Soul in the Hole)

Soul in the Hole seems to be a forgotten soundtrack.  It had a lot of dope tracks on it.

12. Naughty By Nature – Uptown Anthem (Juice)

13. Digital Underground – Same Song (Nothing But Trouble)

Introduced us to Pac

14.  The Notorious B.I.G. – Party & Bullshit (Who’s the Man?)

15. Eminem – Lose Yourself (8 Mile)

16. DJ Quik – Dollaz + Sense (Murder Was the Case)

17. Master P, Young Bleed & C-Loc – How Ya Do Dat (I’m Bout It)

18. Jay-Z – This Life Forever (Black Gangster)

19. Dr. Dre & Snoop Doggy Dogg – Deep Cover (Deep Cover)

20. Eric B. & Rakim – Juice (Know the Ledge) (Juice)

21. Warren G – Regulate (Above the Rim)

22. 2Pac – Definition of a Thug N**** (Poetic Justice)

I forgot about this track until a couple of years ago when I came across the Poetic Justice soundtrack for some reason.

23. Mobb Deep – Back At You (Sunset Park)

24. Mic Geronimo, DMX, Cormega, Ja Rule & Fatal – Usual Suspects (How to Be a Player)

A young DMX and Ja Rule.  Mic Geronimo before he messed up and got with Puff.  For some reason I really like this track.

25. Public Enemy – Fight the Power (Do the Right Thing)

26. Main Source – Fakin the Funk (White Men Can’t Jump)

Regrets

 Most of us have some sort of regret in life.  We either did or didn’t do something that every now and then comes back to haunt us.  Personally, I have a few regrets that center on hip-hop.  Albums that I shouldn’t have bought or a concert I missed for some unnecessary reason.  Some of these regrets are embarrassing and others are ones that I believe any person could have made.  So, I’ve decided that every now and then, I’m going to share some of these regrets with you.  Please don’t judge me…

Midnights Marauders for Mokenstef 

 

A Tribe Called Quest had released Midnight Marauders in November of 1993 and the album was considered a classic by most fans.  I was a Tribe fan.  I enjoyed their previous album, the Low End Theory, but back then, I didn’t have the appreciation for Tribe that most of my friends had.  Midnight Marauders had joints like Award Tour and Electric Relaxation, but I had never fully got into the album.  The main attraction of the album for me at the time was the dope album cover that featured a who’s who of hip-hop stars at the time.  I don’t believe I bought the tape when it was first released, but I bought the CD some time during my senior year in high school in ’95.

Check out this article about the making of the album cover.

Now, I’m not sure who I completed this transaction with, but I’m pretty sure it was my boy Shun because there’s not many people I would have traded music with.  There was this R&B group that had come out in ’95 named Mokenstef and their first single was called He’s Mine.  At the time, I thought it was dope.  Almost twenty years later, not so much.  Anyway, Shun had their CD and we were talking one day and I must’ve mentioned how I wasn’t really into the Midnight Marauders album.  So, Shun suggests a trade.  Midnight Marauders for Mokenstef.  Like I said, please don’t judge me and forgive me for my ignorance, but I really liked He’s Mine at the time.  I thought the song was dope.  I would like to say that it took some arm twisting and pleading by Shun for me to agree to the trade, but it didn’t. 

In retrospect, this trade was as lopsided as the Lakers trading Vlade Divac to the Hornets for Kobe Bryant in ‘96.  A Tribe Called Quest is considered one of the greatest rap groups of all-time while, if you weren’t a fan of R&B music in ’95, you probably have no idea who I’m talking about when I say Mokenstef.  As time passed, I would grow to regret my decision and wouldn’t bring it up in fear of damaging my reputation as a connoisseur of fine hip-hop.  Last year, I did finally buy the Midnight Marauders album again and after giving it a thorough listen, I cried in shame at my mistake.  I can never go back and erase my mistake, but in an effort to redeem myself, a couple of years ago, for my acknowledged nieces and nephews, I started buying them classic hip-hop albums for Christmas and Midnight Marauders will most likely be the choice for 2014.  In closing, I tell this tale not for you to ridicule me as some of you will, but to be a cautionary tale of what can happen when making haste decisions.  So, please, I implore all of you, if anybody ever approaches you about making a music trade (although with downloading, who actually trades CDs anymore?), remember this story and choose wisely before making the trade.

My Intro To Let U Know

Welcome everyone.  This is my first official blog.  I think every now and then, I would attempt to start a blog a few years ago, but never stuck with it.  However, this time it is a class requirement and I’m hoping it’ll turn into something that I’ll stick with even after the class ends. 

I was told to blog about something that I’m passionate about and the first thing that came to mind was hip-hop.  I remember in the movie Brown Sugar, Sidney’s first question to interviewees was “When did you fall in love with hip-hop?”  My answer would’ve been 1990 when I was 13.  Before then, I was just in “like” mode with hip-hop.  I remember my older brother playing LL, Beastie Boys and Kool Moe Dee, but I remember the first hip-hop tape I bought was Digital Underground’s Sex Packets and after that I became obsessed with hip-hop.

As I’ve gotten older though, my passion for hip-hop has remained, but it’s had its fair share of ups and downs.  When I was younger, I swore I would always be into hip-hop and would stay on top of the new artists.  I turned 37 recently though and I feel like I’ve turned into some of the older people I used to criticize.  The ones that always cry about the good ole days of music.  Sort of like Steve Harvey’s crybaby rant in the Original Kings of Comedy when he talked about why he couldn’t get into hip-hop because they didn’t talk about anything. 

I cussed Steve Harvey out for that rant and now I’m the one sitting around criticizing today’s hip-hop artists, but I swear the music today isn’t as good as when I came of age in the 90s.  I had Wu-Tang, Biggie, Pac, Tribe Called Quest, Redman and the list goes on.  Now my nieces and nephews are stuck with Wacka Flocka, Gucci Mane and Lil Wayne.  Don’t get me wrong though, there are some dope artists out there now like Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, so hip-hop’s not entirely dead like some people would believe.

Don’t worry though, not all of my blogs are going to be about trashing the current state of hip-hop.  Part of my purpose for this blog is take you back to the 90s era of hip-hop as I reminisce on what it meant to me, but I also want to give some shine to some of the artists that I think are carrying on the tradition that I fell in love with.  I know we won’t agree on everything, but I hope this blog entertains you and please feel free to contact me with any comments, criticisms, suggestions, etc.

One last thing, for those that don’t know, the title of the blog was inspired by Common’s song from 1994 titled I Used To Love H.E.R.  With H.E.R. standing for “Hip-hop in its Essence and Real”.  Peep the video.