Customer Reviews

Live & Let Die

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After dropping two gems on hip hop, Kool G. Rap & D.J. Polo returned in 92 with the AMAZING third album. G. Rap was still in his prime with Live And Let Die, an album SO gangster it's beautiful. Ever wonder why Kool G. Rap was always looked at as one of the greatest MCs of all time, this album shows why. Here's the review:

Album Highlights: NO FILLER, this is ONE gangster film, every song from the intro to the final song is worth a listen.

Production: Thumbs up.

Lyrics and Subject Matter: Thumbs up, if you LOVE storytelling raps, this album is for you.

Originality: Thumbs up.

The Last Word: While truly better than Road To The Riches, but CHALLENGED by Wanted Dead Or Alive, this may or may be the BEST Kool G. Rap album EVER. He represented here with the gangster storytelling. He might not have made an impact in record sales, but he's still on of the greats, as he proves on this album. A STRONG RECOMMENDATION. Don't sleep on this album.

With this LP G Rap effectively put the nail in the coffin of so-called Gangsta Rap (yes, I'm aware that the genre continues to limp long blindly).

I say he put the nail in the coffin by expanding the limitation of the genre, upping the ante and showing that no one - other than perhaps WC and The MAAD Circle - could deliver a complete, provocative and thoroughly entertaining work of art.

G Rap loses points for run-of-the-mill misogynist rants, but scores points in virtually every other category.

G Rap is a rhyme master. His story telling is top notch which is where his competitors fail. G Rap lends us a lens with which we can measure why some people make the choices they do. He never digs down into the self-aggrandizing / self-indictment of his students (Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel, etc.). He simply shows you the situation - allows you to feel the appropriate emotions - and then shows you the outcome.

Masterful!

Now, having said that. This album probably won't be very comforting to you if you aren't a heterosexual Black male. But that's who he was delivering this to anyway. Try to open your mind and ears. You might actually like it.

G Rap. Kick more verses for us, homie!

Every thug rapper to come out in the past 3 years has been trying to make an album like this. And they still can't come close.

The Kool Genius of Rap gets Ice Cube's homie Sir Jinx to bring in a chunk of that West Coast Funk for a huge amount of this album.
Things start out with "On the Run", where G Rap tells a story about a drug dealer being given the job to deliver a huge case of money...and he makes a run for it. In "Crime Pays", G Rap tells people that it's easier to rake in dough by breaking the rules than it is to follow them. The "Train Robbery" sinks listeners in as he and his boys get chased by the Laws after robbin' the train. "#1 with a bullet" Sir jinx uses a Chi-Lites sample while G Rap and Big Daddy Kane go on a killin' spree. "Operation CB", my favorite joint, show G Rap trying to get some booty while tryin' to fend of knuckleheads trying to get in the way! I was on the floor laughing when I first heard this! "Ill Street Blues" is a joint that is considered a classic by many. This is the only good beat Trackmasters has ever made in their entire career. I have no idea what G Rap did to make the otherwise mediocre Trackmasters come up with a beat like this, but it needs to be done more often! "Edge of Sanity" is a chilling story of a man trying to find a way to support his wife and kid despite the fact that he can't get a job, so he robs a corner store, and faces jail time, all while finding out his wife is creppin with someone else. The album ends with "2 to the head", where G Rap, Mr. Scarface, Bushwick Bill, and Ice Cube go all out in a straight up bloodbath! Good wholesome entertainment.

Everyone who is a fan of the current thug rap that's popular right now needs to find this CD. This is one of the albums that served as a blueprint to the madness to come...

Got lucky and found this album brand new in a dirty old record store in the hood. It had never been played and the disc is flawless with zero scratches. I payed no more than 16 or 17 bucks for it. Judging from the prices the sellers here on amazon are charging for it I got an excellent deal. It's out of print and pretty hard to find so if you run across one, grab it no matter what condition it's in. I wouldn't pay 60 or 70 dollars though. These sellers are crazy but it's still a good album and Kool G Rap is a master lyricist and storyteller. He really captures the grimeyness of hood life and he leaves nothing to the imagination. G Rap is one of my favorite rappers and he is one of the few rappers to use the rapid-fire delivery method which he perfected and patented. You can see where a lot of rappers today got their style from. The Kool Genius of Rap. Cold Chillin needs to reissue this album as a double album as they have already done so for "Road To The Riches" and "Wanted Dead Or Alive". They did an excellent job with the reissues by the way. Get em if you don't already have em. Peace.

Kool g rap is oldschool and has been around for a while, he came hard on this album and its one of my favourites of his. Every single track has nice production and sounds tight. His flows are hard and he talks a lot of sense in his rhymes. You have to make sure you pick this up if you ain't got it, you won't be dissapointed to hear real rap like this. Later!

kool g rap was tioght this was his last great effort and was laying down gangster tracks way before biggie, jigga, wu tang, onyx, nas, dmx, ja rule and terror squad but still g rap went and got sir jinx to produce this album favorite track is 2 to the head which has ice cube, scarface, and bushwick bill on there kickinmg some crazy chit plus they sample funkadelic's classic track mommy what's a funkadelic.

As a sleeper album,this is indeed Kool G. Rap and DJ Polo's best work! With the production genius of producer Sir Jinx,(credits inculde artists,Ice Cube,Da Lench Mob,Kam,WC and The MAAD Circle,)G Rap shines,bringing his trademark ruffneck style and skills to deliver an album of hard rhymes,hard beats,and hard life.Hardcore hip-hop at it's best! True fans of Kool G. Rap know the deal...

Live and Let Die is the ONLY gangsta rap album you'll ever need to listen to. Why? No other hardcore CD produced after it or before it can come close to matching its quality. Kool G Rap & DJ polo create a CD that may be foul mouthed, mysoginistic and [one sided], however it is a well done foul mouthed, mysoginistic and [one sided] masterpeice. From Ill Street Blues to F**k U Man the rhymes are clever, intelligent and downright funny ("Ready to do some work were not a lazy crew we'll do ajob or two but yo m'man couldn't sick me with some Krazy glue!" "The thought makes me shiver-Damn what if I get caught they find me floatin in the Hudson River.) Anyone who can put all of the nautical refernces together (head, waterbed, deep sea diver saliva) in a rap lyric and then later on make reference to The Dick VanDyke show and My Three Sons in the same song themed around [love] is deserves a throne in the hip hop hall of fame next to Big Daddy Kane, LL cool J and Rakim. This is G Rap's definitive CD. This is one of Hardcore Rap's definitive CD's. Perhaps only Tupac Shakur cold have produced something better if he were alive. Too bad a lot of people slept on G Rap in the 80's and 90's; they missed the coming of a legend. He didn't have the flashy image of today's or even yesterday's rappers but his artistic skill and lyrical flow is unmatched on the microphone even today. P.Diddy, 50 Cent, and Eminem would be DESTROYED in a battle by this lyrical master. And all of today's rappers WISH they could create a CD like this. Like other overlooked rappers like Neneh Cherry, and Three Times Dope, Kool G rap will probably not be appreciated this generation but by another generation who will find his music and listen to it and take his songs for the classics that they are.