Soul Survivor 2

Pete Rock | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 11, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rapster
• ASIN: B0001LYF0O
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,229 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Pete Rock, producer extraordinaire, MC and Hip Hop royalty. At the dawning of the 1990s, Pete Rock manned the boards and his MC counterpart C.L. Smooth handled microphone duties on two of the most influential and timeless contributions to Hip-Hop ever released. 1992’s Mecca & The Soul Brother and 1994’s The Main Ingredient have gone on to shape and influence an entire generation of music listeners as well as producers such as The Neptunes, Kanye West, Just Blaze and 9th Wonder.

Constantly producing and remixing music’s brightest stars (Nas, Public Enemy, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, Notorious B.I.G., Run DMC, Q-Tip, Mary J. Blige) and having released a classic solo album Soul Survivor (1998) and Instrumental excursion Petestrumentals (2001) Pete Rock returns With Soul Survivor 2.

Acting as MC, and producer Pete Rock has assembled a cast of Hip Hop’s most talented artists to deliver more than just a sequel to Soul Survivor. Pete teamed up with Dead Prez to create "Warzone", a club and street anthem for 2004 reminiscent of the heyday of Public Enemy and NWA when the music had so much soul that you couldn’t help but dance to it, but at the same time it also presented a strong social message. Recently reunited, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth have crafted a summertime anthem titled "Love Thing", which brings to the forefront Justin Timberlake back-up singer Denosh. Other standout collaborations with Pete Rock on the album include the poignant Pharoahe Monch on "Just Do It", the soulful North Carolina group Little Brother on "Give It 2 Ya", and Slum Village’s certified head banger "Da Villa". The album also features collaborations with Talib Kweli, Kardinal Offishall, RZA, GZA, Postaboy, J-Dilla, Black Ice, Leela James, Skillz and Krumbsnatcha.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dope., April 9, 2005

By 

Reggie (Queens, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soul Survivor 2 (Audio CD)

Great album with jazzy beats. I agree with some people that Postaboy shouldn't have appeared on this album. Dead Prez "Warzone" is sort of a party sound track but just listen to what they're saying and it was weird with "in the club" at the end of every bar. RZA and GZA "Head Rush" is a short but awesome track and nice beat. Pharoahe Monch, Kardinal Offishall and Black Ice did pretty well. Skillz and Talib Kweli both fit so well with Pete Rock, those were the standout tracks. Also Slum Village did great. J-Dilla and Pete Rock rapping okay on a nice beat. "It's A Love Thing" and "Appreciate" were great songs with CL Smooth reunited with Pete Rock. Little Brother and Leela James did well too. All in all, this is a pretty good album and Pete Rock did a good job on the beats fitting in well with the rappers. Really loving the beats, one of the best of 2004. Check out Madlib, another great jazz producer. Also check out 9th Wonder of Little Brother, he's great too.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Soul Survivor II- Mixed Bag, May 12, 2004

By 

M. Haverstock (Tinley Park, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soul Survivor 2 (Audio CD)

A review of a Pete Rock CD always has to be prefaced with the fact that it is better than 99% of material out there, but having said that, this CD disappointed me. I'm with the other reviewer- the spoken word gives me a headache too, and Postaboy is just awful. But as bad as he is, "Warzone" with Dead Prez has got to be the worst Pete Rock track ever. If I didn't know it was Pete Rock I would have guessed it was Ludacris or Ying Yang Twins or some bs. The tracks with CL Smooth are obviously the highlight of the album, and the tracks with J-Dilla and Slum Village work well. The other reason I am dissapointed is that Pete doesn't rap except for one song. I know he is often critisized for his skills on the mic, but I actually enjoy his rapping very much and think it is missed here. I don't think he should put out an entire album of just him rapping, but when he shares verses like on Soul Survivor I, it is very effective. Overall, a good 3/4 of the tracks are slammin, but compared to Soul Survivor I, where every tracks was incredible, its a letdown. But once again, compared to everything else out right now, I'll take half a CD of Pete Rock over anything else.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Destined to be labeled a disappointment - yet very good, September 19, 2004

By 

S.J.S. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soul Survivor 2 (Audio CD)

If you have ever heard "Mecca & The Soul Brother" or "The Main Ingredient" with his back'n the days partner C.L. Smooth on the mic you know what Pete Rock is capable of. If you take a look at 90's New York hiphop history you will most likely get to the conclusion that he was one of the most influential producers in the first half of the decade and has left a mark on the sound of rap's world capital like few others.

Pete Rock is, to be honest, a mediocre MC. As mentioned above, in his earlier days it was C.L. Smooth who accompanied him and did most of the rapping on his albums, his first solo effort "Soul Survivor" was crowded with guest rappers from Common to Kurupt and its official follow-up actually comes in the form of a compilation with Pete doing what he does best - beats.

The expectations people tend to have for albums like this one, albums by legends they had to wait for half a decade, are usually impossible to live up to. If the artist tries to move on with his style, the album will be compared to his earlier work and critisized, if he sticks to his trademark sound it will be compared to his earlier work even more and he'll be critisized for not moving on. However, the route Pete chose to take kis the latter. And it turns out to have been the right decision.

Indeed, Pete fails to produce another classic. His work on "Soul Survivor II" is solid, but at many points lacks the brillance of some of the material he has done. Still, there is no jumping on bandwagons and when it comes to 2004 trends, Pete is not very obliging. Instead, many of the beats seem to be geared to the artists that rap on them much more than to the majority of the potential audience - "Give It To Ya" featuring Little Brother and the short yet very entertaining "Head Rush" featuring the Wu-Tang masterminds RZA and GZA are good examples.

The tracks on "Soul Survivor II" are usually carried by both Pete Rock and the MC's. "One MC, One DJ" featuring Skillz reflects the concept of the album and "Da Villa" featuring Slum Village, "Beef" featuring Krumbsnatcha and "Fly Till I Die" featuring Talib Kweli & C.L. Smooth are more examples of how both the MC(s) and the DJ should contribute to each track. Also, Dead Prez turn their formula into the menacing pseudo-club joint "Warzone", Pharoahe Monch does the good (by his standards average) rapping part on "Just Do It" and Kardinal Offishal drops some nice verses on "We Good".

The album's flaws are minor. Not every track is equally strong and the long-awaited reunion with C.L. Smooth (that has, on a side note already turned into beef by now) is not what people would have hoped for it to be. Nevertheless, this is overall one of the more solid hiphop releases in 2004 and anachronistic in a quite positive way