Customer Reviews

Y2K [Vinyl]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Do not sleep on this album because this is some of the best NYC hardcore in years. Although some people might think this is just the same old QB hardcore like Mobb Deep or CNN, this is similar but still fresh. There isn't one bad song on the entire album. Although Who Shot Rudy? is the most well-known song, Take It There, Somebodys Gotta Do It, The Blocks, No Exceptions, The Operation, and On the Real are all hot tracks as well. This album features some great production by the likes of Mike Heron, DJ Premier, VIC, Godfather Don, Pete Rock, Max Vargas, Marley Marl, and EZ Elpee (who did some production on N.O.R.E., and produced Iraq & Bloody Money on The War Report and Bloody Money Part 3 on Melvin Flynt Da Hustler). The album is almost worth buying for all the guest appearances by fellow QB artists like Capone of CNN, Havoc and Prodigy of Mobb Deep, MC Shan, Nature, Rapper Noyd aka Big Noyd, Cormega, Triple Seis, Nashawn, and Prince AD. This album has great production, rhyming, guest spots, and great beats. In short if you like hardcore NYC/East Coast rap BUY THIS ALBUM!

I love QB rappers, and these guys are the best around besides Mobb Deep, NAS, CNN, Cormega, etc... Every single track on this album will keep your head nodding! It's a bomb album. Give it a shot, you won't be disappointed. It's better than any commercial stuff you hear all over the radio now!

Most definitely phat! dope!! album all songs are nice on this album producers like dj premier pete rock marly marl etc gives you that underground real hip hop plus the lyrics have creative more and just brag.if you love real hip hop this album is a must buy!!!

I HAD TO GET THIS ONE OVER AGAIN,PLUS IT WAS WORTH IT!!...MUST BUY...IN ORDER TO TRY!!!

In all honesty this is one of the best rap albums I have ever had the privilege of listening to. It has incredible production, insanely tight lyrics (expecially by Hostyle) and a great nessage to hip-pop musicaians which is "F U". These are some grimey QB rappers, if you like this album try to cop the double cd 'Screwed Up'. I don't think they sell it on amazon, but I have it and it has the best tracks from Y2K and Loyalty pplus some of the tracks have been changed a bit and there are some new tracks as well. Screwball is one of the best groups in rap, realize it.

The 4 man group (KL, Poet, Hostyle, Kyron) from QueensBridge drop one of the tightest rap albums ever for their group debut. Of the 650 or so rap albums I have, this is defintely in my top 10, probably my top 5. Better then their 2nd album and packed with 19 songs. Of the 19, about 10 are classic material, 1 I skip, and the other 8 are good or great songs. Guests are on a few songs and each member has a classic material solo. The guests are fellow QB affiliates (all but 1). Production is great as well. Mike Heron does 7 songs, DJ Premier, Godfather Don, and Max Vargas all do 2 songs, and V.I.C., Pete Rock, Marley Marl, Kid Called Roots, EZ Elpee, Eddie Sancho all do 1 song. If you are a fan of QueensBridge rap or real street rap then this album is a must have for your collection.

#2 - 10 (hostyle, kl, kyron, poet -- great beat)
#3 - 10 (Poet -- tight beat)
#4 - 9.5 (poet, kyron, capone, noreaga -- great beat)
#5 - 10 (kl, poet, hostyle, kyron -- great beat)
#6 - 8.5 (hostyle & kl)
#7 - 8.5 (hostyle, kyron, triple seis)
#8 - 9.5 (poet f/ MC shan -- tight beat -- about Da Bridge)
#9 - 9 (Poet, Prodigy f/ Godfather Don -- also on Mobb Deep's "Free Agents" bonus disk)
#10 - 8 (kyron, hostyle, nature)
#11 - 9 (hostyle, kl, poet, big noyd -- remix is on Hostlye's "One Eyed Maniac" album)
#12 - 9.5 (poet, kyron, hostyle, NaShawn -- tight beat)
#13 - 9 (hostlye -- tight beat)
#14 - 11 (one of my all time favorites -- Kyron f/ Hostyle -- unbelievable beat -- dissin Mayor Giuliani)
#15 - 4 (kyron)
#16 - 9.5 (Hostyle -- great beat & catchy hook)
#17 - 10 (KL f/ Prince AD -- great beat)
#18 - 9.5 (hostyle, kl, poet, kyron -- nice beat)
#19 - 10 (poet, kyron, kl, hostyle -- great beat)
#20 - 9 (kl, kyron, cormega, havoc -- nice beat)

SCREWBALL!! -- QUEENSBRIDGE!!

HOSTYLE -- F. Ivey -- Queensbridge, NY
KYRON -- K. Jones -- b. 1975 -- Queensbridge, NY
POET -- W. Bass -- Queensbridge, NY
KL -- K. Lewis -- Queensbridge, NY

Check all my reviews

The only word come in my head is: tight (with capital letters). Listening to this album first, it sounded hot to me. Not just because tracks was produced by DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Marley Marl or EZ Elpee, but the voice of Poet and Kyron (these two MCs plain rip the mic). For the first time, I heard tremendous beats of 'F.A.Y.B.A.N.', 'Seen it all', 'You love to hear the stories', 'The heat is on' & 'The operation'. The tracks just caught my attention because of the beats. Then I just sat down and tried to understand the lyrics. Understanding the lyrics consisted of memorizing the hooks. Yes, the hooks was tight, so I memorized nearly all of that. The next step was to analyze the lyrics. I started to read them all. I can't say I really understand every word or phrase (maybe that's because of me being Hungarian and not knowing every ghetto slang). So, in addition, I must admit, I found a gem. The beats is tight and there's lyrics that are not like pioneers of a new hip-hop lyrical movement, but are well-structured. At the end, I must say this album is not one that going to be a classic like "Illmatic" or "The Infamous..." but is a must-have in every New York based hardcore rappers collection. There's so many wack MCs out nowadays but them Screwball MCs is kicking it. And it's true they are behind Nas or Prodigy but amongst other fellow Queensbridge MCs who is recognized real such as Cormega, Nature or that future shining star Nashawn a.k.a Millennium Thug. I can't say no bad words about Screwball: they real and truly represent where they came from. That's deep. And if something's deep then that can't be wrong. So, get Screwball album "Y2K" because it worth the money you spend on it. Told: 4-stars. One.

This album is one of the tightest I've heard in a long time. I admit I was sleepin on it for a minute. The name kinda threw me off but when I put it in the cd player it was an instant classic in my eyes. It's no Mobb Deep but as for fellow QB artists CNN, Screwball blows them out of the water. Every beat is nice the rhymes are tight and flow smoothly. To anyone with doubts I say this. STOP WASTIN YOUR CASH ON THAT CASH MONEY AND COMMERCIAL GARBAGE AND COP SCREWBALL. If you are disappointed I'd have to say your hip hop taste is terrible.

Just as the New York rap scene was dying off once again, Screwball brings it back into the scene. Screwball remain TRUE rappers, not needing cameo's from other rappers on every track to keep every track on this album hot. Everytime I listen to this album, weither in my car (good bass), or in my home, the songs have me singing along. With catchy RAP hooks, not "lame r&b hooks or loops" -- which they diss in #19, A&R Department, you get mad tracks stuck in your head. "H-O-S-T-Y-L-E" and "Who Shot Rudy?" are well-known tracks off this album, and most other tracks are as hot as the next. I can't name one bad track on this album, all of them are very original and very well put together. This is a must have for any fan of New York / Queensbridge (Cormega, Mobb Deep, Nas) rap.

The saying goes, "You can't judge a book by it's cover." Apparently, this cliché also applies to album covers as well. With a torn and bloody baseball corkscrewed with a threaded flathead as their logo, the most trite expression in the new millennium as their album title and the group themselves posed wearing bright colors but attempting to look hard, rappers KL, Hostyle, Poet and Kyron already have their work cut out for them.

That is why it is likely their debut release from Tommy Boy will be passed in the aisles of music stores this summer for rap albums of a lesser caliber. But the Queensbridge (NY) quartet of Screwball defy the odds with their sleeper hit Y2K.

Not adding anything new to the mix that hasn't already been overdone by other artists, Screwball's standout quality is not their lyrical content, nor the individual skills of the artists, but the production and atmosphere of this release as a whole. Screwball incorporates their distinct NY style and flavor, and while they are not as hot as Mobb Deep, they blow fellow QB rappers Capone -n- Noreaga out of the water.

Screwball puts rappers in their place over another DJ Premier gem on "F.A.Y.B.A.N."; prepares the masses for warfare on the eerie title track; drops some classic hip-hop over Biz Markie's beat making abilities on "Biz Interlude"; spits venomous verses on the anthem, "H-O-S-T-Y-L-E," and asks the cowards "Who Shot Rudy?"

Y2K is surprisingly tight for a virtually unknown group, and Screwball's underground status makes them aggressive for mainstream acceptance. This may be why their lyrical content is so narrowly focused, however, the foursome exude a lot of energy and the album's positives far outweigh the negatives.