Customer Reviews

Best of Cold Chillin

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For those that don't know, the "G" in G Rap is for "genius". With a signature lisp and all, G Rap represented the "second coming" of lyrical giants that would emerge in the mid '80's. Along side Rakim and Big Daddy Kane, G Rap (an obvious student of Kool Moe Dee) would innovate a whole new high-tech, ghetto vernacular, that remains 2nd to none! G Rap is one of the illest lyricists, story tellers and gangsta' rappers, all roled up in one! Just listen to his early classics like "IT'S A DEMO", "'CAUSE I"M FLY" and who can forget the incredible verse on "THE SYMPHONY", Where he actually out shines BDK? Arguably, one of the best lyrics on wax! Kool G Rap & DJ Polo, in their early days, put out nothing less than classic Hip-Hop! No true Hip-Hop collection will be complete with out this CD!

Kool G Rap-- His lisp is still crisp-- Possessing one of the most distinctive voices in hip-hop, he blazed a trail for several rappers to follow, despite being relatively unknown by mainstream standards. He's kind of like Iggy Pop of the hip hop world-- he never sold a tremendous amount of records, but he maintains a cult following that won't quit, while scores of newcomers point to him as an influence.

The 2 disc collection starts off in the mid-1980's, back when the Marley Marl-led "Juice Crew" was among the early hip-hop posses to achieve prominence, being signed to Prism Records, which eventually would become Cold Chillin'. Shortly afterwards, label head Ty Williams secured a distribution deal with Warner Bros.

"I'm Fly" and "It's a Demo" are sparse early tracks which makes listeners focus even more on Kool G's lyrics. At this time, he was somewhere between LL Cool J and Rakim, spouting whimsical braggadocio with occasional inflections of sober battle-ready aggression. His technique would be fine-tuned on his first album, "Road to the Riches", featuring the title cut, "Dope Car" (sampling Gary Numan), "Poison", and "Men at Work". Marley's 808-driven funk production is at it's best here.

On his second lp, "Wanted Dead or Alive", Kool G's thematic flow started becoming more gangster-driven; by 1990, NWA had opened the floodgates for gangster rap tales, and "Riches" didn't exactly burn up the charts; maybe Kool G felt he had nothing to lose. "Streets of New York" was a brief radio hit, with a saxophone riff that was ahead of its time. Other standout cuts were "Erace Racism" and "Talk Like Sex". Most of the production on this album was handled by Large Professor, Eric B, and Kool G. himself..

"Live and Let Die" would be delayed by several months in 1992 because of the "Cop Killer" scandal. Cold Chillin' would lose their distribution deal with Warner Bros. in the aftermath. The album was relased independently. Produced mostly by Ice Cube affiliate Sir Jinx, the album was G-funk fueled, with even more relentless gangster-tales spit by Kool G, who recorded most of the album in Los Angeles, and he was in town during the riots...
"Ill Street Blues", the lead single, was actually handled by the Trackmasters, who would go on to make major pop hits for LL Cool J, Will Smith, and more. ... Kool G went on to record "4,5,6" for Epic/Sony, but his sales still stalled at the 200,000 range, despite a boost from TrackMasters on a few cuts. That would be his first and last album for Sony; the next lp, "Roots of Evil" would be released independently on his own Ill Street Records; shortly afterwards, influential indie rap label RAWKUS approached him for a new record deal, and "The Giancana Story" was rumored to be his best work yet-- reportedly, it included a duet with REM's Michael Stipe (!?).. But the label has had bizarre internal problems for the past couple of years, despite recently getting major distribution through MCA/Universal, and the album kept being delayed-- at this writing, it is said to have been shelved permanently, and Kool G. has been released from the label...

kool g rap is one of the illest mcs and polo is good with beats so its a great combination. the songs are old but they are very good. it is a definite choice of cd to buy