Customer Reviews

Innercity Griots

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

all the hype you'll read here, about how great 'innercity griots' is, and the surprisingly tight live instrumentation (still a rarity in hip hop when 'griots' was released...sorry, stetsasonic), are all well deserved. trust me.

you need two hands to count all the MCs on this album. even daddy-o of stet makes an appearance. you can be forgiven if it takes a while to distinguish who's who. you probably won't care who's saying what. you'll just know it's unparalleled by any artist eating off the billboard 100 then or today!

i scarcely remember a video from 'griots', bullies of the block i think. it played bet for about one day and the mainstream never heard from them again. at least not in the east.

f.f. displays lyrical range that is staggering. from 'bullies on the block' (battle rap) to the spoken word self-help motivational for black men 'tolerate', the group shows emotion almost unheard of in the harder-than-you b-boy mindstate so popular through the 90s and up until aught-1.

there is the obligatory ode to smoking urb, 'mary', which has become such a staple of rap albums that it is now passe'. but f.f's free-floating, dreamy sonics do the topic as much good as dre's 'chronic' of the same time. another link to dre and cali is in 'six-tray', about...yeap, a fine antique car to cruise in. and my favorite on the album (although there is very little filler, play it straight through) is 'heavyweights', where acey, mikah 9, P.E.A.C.E., and selfjupiter take turns destroying the listeners with style after original style. mikah 9 especially will wreck anyone who tries to recite along with him.

this album is incredible! dig this gem up if you really love hip hop's foundation: this has inventive beats out the yang, and educated lyrics so clever you'll have to dissect them over many listenings.

i've had mixed results giving copies of this CD as gifts to self-proclaimed 'hip hop fans'. but, to paraphrase angelo of fishbone, do you really love hip hop? lots of people say they do. but...do you REALLY love it? 'innercity griots' separates the true love from the pretenders.

WARNING: those of you infatuated with rappers who repeatedly channel mafia/mob motifs, or the tupac/thug life legacy, will NOT like this.

Freestyle Fellowship distributes the true essence of emcees, and adds what is lost most in hip hop today..KNOWLEDGE

I admit it took a long time for me to really get into "Innercity Griots," but after a few months of sporadic listening, I was glad I took the time. It didn't impress me at all upon my first few listens, but it grew on me once I began to appreciate the Freestyle Fellowship. In 1993, the LA crew of Mikah 9, P.E.A.C.E., Aceyalone, Self Jupiter, DJ Kiilu and producer J-Sumbi bring a whole lot to the table, and most of it is beyond the surface. Many of Freestyle Fellowship's rhymes are, indeed, freestyles. It's hard to characterize them; they're artistic, conscious, humorous, clever, and immensely talented. Each rapper is distinctive and incredible in his own right, and putting them all together is pretty amazing. Aceyalone stands out as the lyrical wizard, and Self Jupiter stands out as a funny performer. Mikah 9 is notably multitalented, and P.E.A.C.E. is the most laidback and abstract. Freestyle Fellowship emphasizes the performance aspect of hip hop, and I'm not sure that the studio album even does them full justice (I'd LOVE to see them live). Each song has a very loose, live, and free-flowing vibe, and at times the songs' structures will bring to mind improvisational jazz. These rappers also use incredibly quick deliveries and sometimes use exclamations and noises that will remind you of Fu-Schnickens. Their chemistry is awesome, and most of their hooks consist of all four guys just yelling together. The production is for the most part minimalist, bringing the live performance vibe to the forefront, and I think that's a wise move. Freestyle Fellowship profiles a place and time where hip hop was fun.

You can't listen to this like you would a regular album. The songs don't really relate to each other, and sometimes it sounds like more of a compilation, with some solo songs and posse cuts thrown in; sometimes it feels like a long rap battle party. But if you appreciate lyricism, then you can't overlook the rap performances on here, because many are nothing short of incredible. They twist and bend syllables for rhyme structures like you've never heard before. There are some songs that you can skip over, and the sound quality at some points is a little suspect, but the highlights make this an album more than worth the purchase.

The album opens with "Blood/Bullies of the Block," which starts with a cool a capella intro and gives way to an old-fashioned boom bap, braggadocio freestyle track with upbeat production. They assure the listener that "Everything's gonna be alright" on "Everything's Everything," which has impressive verses delivered at lightning speed between party and instrumental breaks. "Shammy's/Heat Mizer" is a song all about hoodrat females, with a silly outro. The beat is very simple and emphasizes a spontaneous, loose feel. P.E.A.C.E.'s solo track "Six Tray" is more laidback and funky, and "Danger" puts their tag-team approach to the forefront. The first real highlight comes in the wonderful "Inner City Boundaries/Bomb Zombies," a track that has a really catchy beat and perfect hook delivered by Self Jupiter. This song is conscious and even a bit Afrocentric, standing out from the other songs by not only boasting amazing performances but a worthwhile message as well. "Cornbread" is Aceyalone's remarkable hook-free gem, with a beatbox-style backing, and "Play It Cool" brings to mind a Nervous Breakdown-era Fu-Schnickens track. "Hot Potato" doesn't stand out but is actually decent, and the ragga-influenced weed ode "Mary" is okay. The most outstanding track on "Innercity Griots" is the breathtaking "Park Bench People," where Mikah 9 sings a breezy, classy, soulful and jazzy R&B song about views from a park. The production is absolutely gorgeous and the entire song is perfect, it's amazing how multitalented this guy is, especially because this song was inspired by his homeless experience. "Heavyweights/Tolerate" is a huge posse-cut freestyle tag-team, with a good outro, and the album closes with "Respect Due," a celebration of hip hop, and "Pure Thought."

In 1993, the best year of hip hop in my opinion, good albums such as "Innercity Griots" were overshadowed by Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Doggystyle, Midnight Marauders, Return of the Boom Bap, and the other monumental rap classics released that year. But looking back, "Innercity Griots" is a pretty darn impressive recording, even despite its few flaws. For those who enjoy this album, I recommend the solo albums from each member, where you get to appreciate each MC in his own right. Only Aceyalone's are even mildly well-known, but stay on the lookout. In the meantime, if you haven't already, I recommend checking out "Innercity Griots," and make sure you give yourself some time to let it grow on you.

The Freestyle Fellowship is made up of an unprecedented amount of talent. Crew members Aceyalone, Mikah 9, Self-Jupiter, J-Sumbi, and P.E.A.C.E. completely revitalized the Los Angeles underground hip-hop scene in the early 90s. The signature element of the collective is their bafflingly speedy flows. In addition, they bring a whole new set of fresh ideas to the table. Even in the early stages of their career, every emcee is on the top of their game. The production, if unspectacular, is a vast improvement from "To Whom It May Concern..." (1991). That really doesn't hurt the album in the least. Their flow and rhythms dictate the production's breaks and cuts. At times, their flows are so fast, it's nearly impossible to follow. Much of their flows are undoubtedly freestyles, which gives the album a certain charm and freshness that many rap crews could never attain. "Inner City Boundaries" featuring Stetsasonic's Daddy-O and "Shammy's" are fine examples of their impenetrable tag-team rap battle styles. The street-smart "Everything's Everything" and the untouchable "Way Cool" rank among my favorites. The posse cut "Heavyweights" features a slew of quality guest emcees including Spoon (of Iodine), Archie, Cockney "O" Dire, Ganjah K, and Volume 10. Each track emulates originality.

It may take a few spins to fully digest the material. At first I thought it was a bit unorganized and kind of spotty. But like most good albums that emulate any sense of complexity, further listening will prove you wrong. Overall, this is a cornerstone album of the West Coast underground hip-hop scene. It's so good, that it will have you buying up their solo works. Just excellent!

It's a CLASSIC. Get with it. Just to correct the 1st reviewer; "Park Bench People" was in fact sung by one of the 4 members. The singer is Mikah 9. The lyrics were never written down, it was improvised over a couple studio sessions. It gets better with each listen. Mikah used the 6 weeks he spent homeless in Leimert Park as inspiration for the track.

there isn't anyone out there that doesn't like speedy deliveries with articulation. you hear it a lot in more recent hiphop. BIG JAZ and JAY-Z busted the style in the song "jigga", Blackalicious in alphabet aerobics, Bone thugs n Harmony is known for it. but remember style like that was around before and innovated in hiphop through the Freestyle Fellowship and Heavyweights. due respect goes directly to the founders of Project Blowed for articulate, verbose, "rat-ta-tat" , harmonized lyrics, the FELLOWSHIP. however, what sets them apart from the rest is that.. these cats FREESTYLE like that! daaaaaamn! ...one more thing, though Bone's music does sound nice.. remember Abstract Rude's freestyle "...dat da da dat da Bone Thugs! leave the style alone dud!" .. so get this album and appreciate the artform; the prominence of the LA underground.

Some of the best cds out there will still only get four stars. The reason-to reserve five stars for an album like this. This is perhaps the only album of the 90s (and maybe Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde) which can be put in a class with such greats as Criminal Minded (BDP) or Strictly Business (EPMD). Being an old school rap fan, I had to be practically forced to listen to this album. Hell, this album is still in the rotation. If you can find it, you've gotta check out Aceyalone's (from Freestyle Fellowship) first album: All Balls Don't Bounce. This is another classic for any collection. 99% of what I listen to is 80s, east coast rap- Acayalone and Freestyle are the exceptions to the rule.

This album is a definate hip hop classic.And a must have for any true hip hop collector with any knowledge of real skills.And a guaranteed party rocker for any deejays crate.unfortunately not available on wax anymore (for some unknown reason.)The with songs like Shammys and Cornbread you will definately by the cd just for the sake of repressing a copy on wax just for yourself.Ive grown up on hip hop all my life and have deejayed for people such as KRS-ONE and alot of others and have known a good emcee or group when i hear one.This is one of the dopest albums ever.

Even though this is technically their 2nd album after "To Whom It May Concern" this was my 1st introduction to the crew. Even after all these years it still has so many magical moments that I recommend it to alot of my friends that are looking for something fresh+original. This is the start of the boom of albums concentrating more on lyrics rather than phat production. All 4 mcs are on top of their game throughout the album and the production is off the wall. However that same off the wall production lets them down afew times over the course of the album. Also 1 or 2 of the tracks are abit weak, whether thats to do with how old the album is or that it just wasnt as good as the rest of the tracks. That said, even after 14years tracks such as "Danger", "Innercity Boundaries", "Cornbread", "Hot Potato"(still awesome), "Respect Due" and "Pure Thought" sound as fresh+tight now as they back then. This is the perfect intro to the Fellowship for any new fan. Still hot to death.

1993 was a big year for the city of Los Angeles. Dr. Dre and Snoop were holding down the mainstream portion of the rap scene. The Pharcyde were doing their alternative hip hop as an addition. But who held the underground? There was a group called Freestyle Fellowship who was taking care of that problem. Consisting of Mikah Nine, Jupiter, Aceylone, P.E.A.C.E., and J-Sumbi made this group, with dope beats and dope rhymes. I don't recognize these people except Aceylone because his name still roams around today (and somehow I've been avoiding him for a while). This is one of those albums that I didn't know was released until I came to Amazon.

The group is great for showing off their mic skills, but at the same time, having fun with their word play. A couple of notable tracks that I fell in love with right away is "Shammies", dedicated to chasing the females. "Way Cool" is a fun song, and as I said before, great word play, especially by Jupiter. I think thats Aceylone gets on that track and screams his head off while rhyming. To tell you the truth, I think Jupiter shines on a lot of songs, especially on the song "Six-Tray". Mikah 9 does a little singing/rapping mixture on the relaxing song "Park Bench People", and according to one reviewer he was inspired to write this while he was homeless. Listening to that song, it seems to make a lot of sense.

Production is pretty cool. I like the instrumental-type beats that each member rhymes over. It kind of sounds like something that The Roots would create, but at the same time keep it's hip hop style, like on "Innercity Bounderies". They'd flip an old school sounding beat for Aceylone for his solo song "Cornbread". I'm also digging a lot of the slow and mellow sounding songs like "Mary", a song dedicated to smoking weed.

The album is dope as well. The only problem that I have with this is the sound quality. Some songs are good, but at the same time some songs sound like they're being performed live with no audience. I really don't care about that very much, but when you hear it real closely, you'll realize that. I've gotten used to the members in the group to distinctively tell who is who. Maybe if I heard their solo albums, I'll be able to tell a little easier. But all that is no big problem, and can easily be surpassed. When I bought this album, there was a sticker on the packaging that said "Mad beats and straight up mic skills from L.A.'s underground", a good way to describe this album. I recommend this album to underground hip hop listeners. I origionally gave this a 7, but then after a while I bumped it to an 8, but now I give it a 9. This is one of those albums that you're are going to have to let grow on you. When it does, you will fall in love with it.

Favorite Tracks: Bullies On The Block, Shammies, Six Tray, Cornbread, Way Cool, Hot Potato, Mary, Park Bench People, Hevyweights