buggin out

Black Milk = The Total Package, December 10, 2007

If you listen to a lot of hip hop records, and you check the album credits, you come to realize that while there are many nice MCs and many quality producers, there are very few that can do both. Swizz Beats and Kanye West are two notable producers who have tried, but they generally come up short as MCs. Looking for that cat who does both, and even does them well? Enter Black Milk.

The production on Popular Demand is, in my opinion, flawless. Black Milk mans the boards from top to bottom without help. He crafts a wide variety of beats, from the booming "Sound the Alarm" to the instrumental "Play the Keys", and flows seamlessly from track to track with interludes that would… Read more

The "Wild Cowboys" of Hip Hop, November 28, 2007

Wild Cowboys is the debut album of hip hop luminary Sadat X. To this point, Sadat was a member of the influential Brand Nubian, whose entire discography is very strong. After the solo success of group leader Grand Puba, Sadat chose to break out on his own. Wild Cowboys is the first of several strong solo efforts on his part.

Released in 1996, Wild Cowboys has a very loose, jazzy feel (not unlike much hip hop of that time. The production is very understated and relaxed, yet is very engaging. Pete Rock, Buckwild, Diamond D, Alamo, Showbiz, Da Beatminerz, and the underrated Minnesota all provide very chill jazzy tracks. If you know their work, you know what you're getting… Read more

A Lost Classic "Straight From the Soul", October 30, 2007

A while back, I decided to dig deep for quality hip hop albums that made it past me. I had basically all the acknowledged classics, but I had a feeling I had to have missed a few along the way. One of the first I came upon was Rough House Survivors-Straight From the Soul. I picked it up, mostly because it was very cheap ($2) and it came from one of hip hop's most reliable years (1992). I was hoping for a solid album. I got far more->a near-classic.

The whole album feels very familiar. The MCs have a great chemistry, trading rhymes like Brand Nubian or Leaders of the New School. All have considerable energy and skill. The production, handled mostly by Tony Dofat, plays… Read more