Gunfist

For the erudition of all, I have been contemplating mid-90s New York hip hop recently, and decided to do my noz* bit and post some mp3s. I’ve taken ten tracks off ten of my favourite albums – mostly my favourite tracks, but there are only so many times you can listen to shook ones.

GZA – Liquid Swords

I’m thinking I should have probably made the effort to choose a different cut from Liquid Swords, but I find it very hard to go past track 1. I’m sure everyone knows this one (and, let’s face it, all the others) already, but at least it was released right in the middle of my 94-96 range.

Mobb Deep – Up North Trip

Note: not Shook One pt II. In my opinion this is the bounciest track off the The Infamous, which is not really saying much I know.

Big L – Put It On

Upbeat jazzy loops and aggresively gangsta lyrics have always been a match made in heaven, and Kid Capri does a great hypeman bit. My favourite track from the least slept on “most slept on” rapper of all time.

Notorious BIG – Machine Gun Funk

I almost posted Friend of Mine instead of this, but that would have likely inspired me to think about biggie having sex, which is not something I need in my head. Though that would probably remind of the always entertaining video for Warning, featuring biggie beached in bed with three ladies, diddy’s unlikely casting as a rather ostentatious “pops from the barber shop”, who takes time to hop in the jacuzzi before ringing to give bigs the titular “warning”, and the dodgy shoot out at the end. Though, to be fair, I suspect that biggies unauthodox gun technique and substantial size was the inspiration for Cpt. Argghhhhh in the last matrix film, as the final results were eerily similar.

Jay-Z – 22 twos

Something a little more upbeat, from Reasonable Doubt, with a good slice of padding for length.

Jeru the Damaja – Ya Playin’ Yaself

Wrath of the Math always sounds like an older album to me, more in common with the early ninties gang starr stuff than illmatic. Despite that premo’s beats are great, and Jeru’s rhythmic delivery works nicely.

O.C. Time’s Up

The other contender for least slept on “most slept on” rapper of all time, O.C. absolutely nails it on this one. Excessively sampled, and twisted, by other tracks, the original never fails to get my head nodding. Brilliant.

Raekwon – Criminology

Again, a fairly bouncy track from a not overly bouncy album. RZA laces a massive kick drum, Ghost and Raekwon kill it. Nuff said.

Gang Starr – DWYCK

Despite your feelings on Nice and Smooth, and their brands of “what?” rapping, if this track doesn’t perk you up you’re probably dead. Fact.

Nas – NY State of Mind

Bit of an obvious one, both Illmatic and the track (given the title of the post). Premo knocks another one out, and Nas seems to know exactly how to start it after all.

Each of the albums these tracks represent are good start to finish, and well worth picking up – especially if you can get them in Fopp for £3 a pop. The image at the top is nabbed from the wooster collective, via google image search, by the by.

* thought a sort of shitty, only familiar with Very Well Known stuff noz.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Music, What. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. This post is tagged You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.