View From Masada

Killah Priest | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 9, 2000)
• Original Release Date: May 9, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mca
• ASIN: B00004T02V
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,162 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #98 in Music > Rock > Rap Rock

Track Listings

1. Intro

2. View From Masada

3. Hard Times

4. Maccabean Revolt (Interlude)

5. Maccabean Revolt

6. Gotta Eat

7. Whut Part Of The Game?

8. I'm Wit That

9. Bop Your Head

10. Rap Legend

11. Places I've Been

12. When Will We Learn

13. Food For Thought

14. Live By The Gun

15. If I Die

16. Outro

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars from then till now, May 21, 2000

By 

"hungriot" (Olympia, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: View From Masada (Audio CD)

"heavy mental" was an immaculate piece of art that stayed clear of most hip-hop cliches and was soaked in religious mysticism. this album doesn't even sound like it's from the same person. before i even opened the case, i knew i wasn't going to like this album as much as his debut. i looked at the song titles and said "oh no!" it's not a bad album per se, just not killah priest as we knew him. i think maybe he was trying to appeal to a larger audience and was trying to prove himself or something instead of doing what he does best: creating abstract raps that don't sound like anyone else's.

in the future, "view from masada" will not be regarded as a classic like "heavy mental". it will be forgotten because it doesn't sound as provocative compared to the rest of the hip-hop industry.

the addition of 'bounce' beats was shameful.

this album frustrates me becuase a good artist sold out to sound more commercial. it is however, better than anything jay-z or master p could ever dream of making.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Are you sure he's part of the wu?, May 13, 2000

By 

jErRy ScOtT (tALLaHaSsEe, fLoRiDa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: View From Masada (Audio CD)

I wasn't extremely disappointed to see no wu members on his cd cuz his first cd only had a couple wu, but damn if he is part of the wu he ought to have someone on it, at least meth, or u-god. I'll quit hating on that. If you've never heard Killah Priest he sounds exactly like Black Rob, but a lot better. My fav tracks are "what part of the game" "gotta eat" the track with canibus"i'm wit that", and "live by the gun". In "live by the gun" Killah starts off fast and he sounds pretty tight. I wish he would rap fast more often. This cd is pretty tight though. It would have been 5 stars with some wu members, but go peep it! See for yourself.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More street life and less religion - Big change for KP, May 11, 2000

By 

Todd E. Jones "Music Journalist" (Edison, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: View From Masada (Audio CD)

I think it's cool album.. It's waaay different from Heavy Mental and that's both a good and bad thing. first, bad: There is NO Wu-type sound and NO Wu-tang emcees.. There's a producer called LZA and this person is NOT the Rza... There's not even the "Wu" symbol on the album.. If you never heard of him before, you would never guess that he had ANYTHING to do with the Wu-tang clan affiliates or The Sunz Of Man. The beats are a little thicker than HEAVY MENTAL (which had weaker beats but they were very mystical sounding and very creative too).. Many of the beats sound the same on this jam. Killah is trying to gain a bigger audience. This is evident on "Gotta Eat" where he says, he "does this for his thugs".. Another bad thing is that, the album is too short.. When HEAVY MENTAL had 20 songs and clocked in a lil under 74 minutes, MASADA has only 16 songs and clocks in under 60 minutes. I also think there should have been more guest appearences... one problem is that there are no cuts like "The Professional" or "Cross Your Heart" though "What Part Of the Game?" may be considered a classic joint in a couple of years...

GOOD things: One thing I didn't like about HEAVY MENTAL was that it was too religious and not enough street oriented. Hip-hop was born in the ghetto streets and it's important to have that aspect. MASADA has a street feel. It has a harder edge. Sure, the music is not as mystical sounding but it's more jeep-friendly. Killah can get the attention of less-spiritual hip-hop heads with dope songs like "What Part Of The Game?" and "I'm Wit That". The new project (the 4 horsemen) is on this album (minus Kurupt...) "What Part Of the Game" w/Ras Kass is a dope song which assault wack emcees who want to be like Pac and Biggie.. "Oh you a baller now? What part of the game is that?" Canibus does a dope job on "Bop Your Head"... also, Shamello (who did the production for Busta's "Put Your hands where my eyes can see" produces the very dope "I'm Wit That"

Dope cuts: "What Part Of the Game?" f/Ras Kass "I'm Wit That" "Bop Your Head" f/Canibus "Macabean Revolt"

Songs that seem to be lacking or just not that great: "Gotta Eat"

It's a good effort.. Most of the songs are dope... They are all pretty short (the album is short.) but the main thing is that the production and the guests are different from the first album... So if you LOVED Heavy Mental, this will be a big departure whereas if you though HM was too out there or too religious sounding, you may like Killah's new street-oriented style.. He does use the term "Thug" a little too much.. it sounds odd out of his mouth but he's from New York and there's plenty of Thugs surrounding him...so he may be one of them... He's definitely still on another level than most of the emcees out there...