Olas un Bekons

Digital Cratediggin' With OuB [Day 9]

Added 2020-11-19 23:38:54 +0000 UTC

Hey ladies and gents once again. Today I got a big batch for you. Dropping random selection of 30 entries for all hip-hop tastes (hopefully). This one has few singles, few dope albums. So here are 3 my nominations out of it.

- As a part of ODB month (R.I.P.) I am including 3 releases by Ol' Dirty Bastard - N***a Please 20th Anniversary Remaster and Return to the 36 Chambers The Dirty Version 25th Anniversary reissue. Interestingly, both were made available as WEB releases only. Both are considered classics, especially the 1st one. ODB was the most iconic character out of Wu-Tang crew, and the hardest to define. The man who coined the phase 'Wu is for the children' is allegedly behind many wild stories starting from taking a limo to collect food stamps, and ending with urinating on LL Cool J's platinum record plaque. Man was difficult, man was misunderstood, and it resulted in some great music. R.I.P. Check vid I upped on youtube with ODB and RZA around the time of his 1st LP.

- Step In The Arena is a great album by Gang Starr. Everyone who's paying attention to hip-hop culture should know it. That's why I am always happy to see classic hip-hop albums getting those 180 gram reissues. Gang Starr's classic got it in 2019. And it got two dope bonus tracks - Credit Is Due and Check The Technique (Remix). Gang Starr is legendary. R.I.P. Guru who was an exceptional emcee and taught us hip-hop fans many things. Many of those were to be found in the 1990 classic... My favorite is the quote from 'Who's Gonna Take The Weight' - "Spirituality supports reality / We gotta fight with the right mentality."

- My last mention would go between Chaka Khan and London Posse EP. 'I Feel For You' record which I really love (even Melle Mel appears an here). It also was one of those first ones to introduce hip-hop to mainstream pop-funk audiences. But yeah, on the other hand I GOTTA mention London Posse self-titled EP from 1987. If you are not into UK hip-hop that much, there's a big chance you still have heard about the Ragga hip-hop classic posse from England's settlement center. Their album 'Gangster Chronicle' is considered as one of the best UK hip-hop albums EVER (if not the best!). However, their record career started with the 1987 EP on UK's Big Life label. It's more of a single of 'London Posse' 3 versions and 'My Beatbox Reggae Style'. Many including myself consider this release sub par in comparison to the album and next singles in the 1988-1990 era. But still it has a nostalgic value of then unknown crew at a starting-gate of their career. After all, this is the only London Posse release featuring the original line-up of MC Rodie Rok (now known as Rodney P), Bionic MC, Sipho the Human Beatbox and DJ Biznizz. R.I.P. Sipho.

If you're not into those mentions, there are much more that were left without a mention. Firstly, there are many other Wu releases (Ghostface Killah single, Masta Killa singles, ODB mixtape, Wu Live, Method Man's best hits, and some GZA (comp EP of great hits and Pro Tools instro album). Secondly, there are some old school hip-hop vinyl drops of mine - Jocko (R.I.P.), Melle Mel's 12''er and Shango electro funk hip-hop dope LP.

Thirdly, I have added unknown and more recent albums of Chris Lowe and G. Dep. Both are dope East Coast emcees known in 2000's for mostly 1 album each. G. Dep has a cult following, but similarly to aforementioned ODB has had many run-ins with the law and problems with addictions.

Fourthly, there's some West Coast underground stuff such as the Pharcyde re-issue of their classic 1992 LP, and few recent singles that were WEB only with experimental remixes of their tracks. And also there's dope California crew World-n-San (deffo check their bandcamp page too).

Last but not least there's underrated Midwest female rap album from II Tru, Duo that collaborated with Mo Thugs and Bone-Thugz-n-Harmony in 90's. And also, for more international reference, check out dope Canadian underground tunes from the crew called Intreprid Stylez. Their stuff was released on Chopped Herring, so if you interested, cop it from them since it's dope.

Preview tracks included as always, full ones might be found here -