Get To Know H.E.R.

Hits: Puttin Work In (ft Raekwon), What You Talkin (ft Havoc), Roc-Da-Spot, Yo (ft Redman), Bac Stabbers, Listen Up (ft Teddy Riley), Never Defeat ‘Em (ft Method Man), Jane, They Tell Me (ft Keith Murray), Actin Up (Vic D and Tre)

Strikes: Left For Dead (ft Skyzoo)

Balls: Blow, Run It (ft KRS One), Listen Up (ft Teddy Riley)

Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith are together EPMD, an undeniably legendary group in hip hop history. Still, after my initial surprise of the news of a new album, I was immediately met with thoughts of worry. It’s been almost a whole decade since their last release and the game has changed a whole lot in that time. What if they’d decided to compromise who they were to make a hip pop album that appealed to the masses. Fortunately for all of us, EPMD decided to make an album that deviated very little from their original formula. Fortunately for them as well I suppose, because unless they’d invented some sort of new dance craze, no radio station in their right mind would ever play them anyway.

The album is basically what we’ve come to expect from EPMD by now. Lyrically, nothing much has changed subject wise or technique wise, which in this case is not so bad. Seriously, after witnessing what artistic growth can do to an artist from listening to 808s and Heartbreaks and Universal Mind Control, I say sometimes it’s better to just fuck growth and do what you do best. The beats hit hard, literally oozing with the East Coast sound and actually feel pretty nostalgic at times for this day and age. The beat on Never Defeat ‘Em in particular was crazy for me. As far as guest spots go, the usual suspects are found here. Fellow Hitsquad members Redman and Keith Murray both do their thing and their respective tracks are better for it. The inclusion of Wu members Raekwon and Method Man was also nice and the only guest that really disappointed me was KRS, but only in that I expected a whole lot more than what I ultimately got.

We Mean Business picks up right where EPMD had left off and it sounds as if they’d never left. If you’re a fan of the group, you know what to expect and won’t be disappointed. Now the real question is which group had a better comeback album, Heltah Skeltah or EPMD? Hmm..

Hits: Intro, Undisputed, Wish You Would (ft TI), One More Drink (ft T-Pain), Call Up The Homies (ft The Game and Willie Northpole), Contagious (ft Jamie Foxx), Last Of A Dying Breed (ft Lil Wayne), MVP, I Do It For Hip Hop (ft Nas and Jay-Z), Do The Right Thing (ft Common)

Strikes: Southern Gangsta (ft Rick Ross, Playaz Circle, Ving Rhymes), What Them Girls Like (ft Chris Brown and Sean Garrett)

Balls: Everybody Hates Chris (ft Chris Rock), Nasty Girl (ft Plies

Ludacris is and has always been one of the few mainstream southern acts I’ve always had utmost respect for throughout the years. He’s always managed to make songs that attracted an audience without selling out his integrity as a lyricist. Granted, his songs haven’t always been thematically very interesting but you can’t knock the guy on his technical skills. The greatest thing about Luda, however is that he seems to be constantly evolving and improving himself. Most rappers at this point in their careers tend to become lazy with their rhymes (it happens even to the best of rappers…think about Big Daddy Kane after Prince of Darkness). Luda on the other hand sounds better and matures as an artist with each album.

The album in question starts off with a bang, since the intro actually has rapping on it (rapping on a rap intro?! No way!). But all kidding aside, after the great intro, the album continues to drop track after track of dope rhymes over some equally dope beats. Speaking of dope beats, before going any further props are due to the man for reaching out to Primo and 9^th Wonder instead of relying solely on the usual suspects. And further to the man’s credit, he went all out on the two songs in question.

As far as guest artists go, I was pretty wary of the overload of guest artists on this and expected Luda to become lost within this sea of features. Not to worry though, as Luda seems to have stepped up his flow enough to stand out even alongside giants such as Nas and Jay. This, of course indirectly brings us to the one glaring negative on this album. With so many guest artists, there’s not only the risk of the main attraction being downplayed, but on the flipside, the guest in question may suck so much that he or she is able to drag down the whole track by him or herself. I mean, most of the guests on here are on point. Some of these guests were surprising in that I would’ve never expected the collabo (Common) and some guests were surprising in that I expected the track to suck and was instead pleasantly surprised (T-Pain). But there were some collabos that produced some very questionable results. Rick Ross, Playaz Circle and Ving Rhymes provide possibly the worst lyrics on the entire album, all on one track (so sick I wrote my rhymes in the hospital???? Come on…). Not to mention that the track with Chris Brown turned out to be a complete mess (proving once again that all tracks ending with the words Girls and Like are destined to suck hard).

But even with those two travesties on this album, I would have to say that Theater of the Mind is without a doubt, Luda’s best album thus far (although Word of Mouf is arguably more fun of a listen). If he continues on this track for his next effort and cuts out some of the shitty guests and bullshit, who knows, his next album may just end up being a southern classic.

Hits: I’m Coming (ft Black Milk and Nottz), The Truth (ft Freeway and Brother Ali), God Like (ft D Black), Bless The Child (ft Little Brother), Oh Really (ft Posdnuos and Slug), Trap Door (ft MF Doom), Dead Wrong (ft Young Buck), Kissin The Curb (ft Bishop Lamont and Busta Rhymes), How We Ride (ft Freeway), White Van Music (ft Alchemist, Evidence, Prodigy), Get ‘er Done (ft MF Doom), Feelin’ My Shit (ft Casual), Glow (ft Elzhi and Royce Da 5’9”), Home (ft Vitamin D, C Note, Main and Ish)

Strikes: Scared (ft Blueprint), Soil Raps (ft Keak The Sneak),

Balls: Gangsta Boy (M.O.P.), Big Homie Style (ft J. Pinder, GMK and Spaceman),

Note: Turn It Down, Hi and RIP are interludes

I should really kick myself in the ass for taking so long to write about this damn album. Since I first heard this thing straight through, it’s been getting heavy rotation weekly.

Where should I start?

If you don’t know, Jake One is a relatively low key producer who has produced tracks for artists as diverse as De La Soul and 50 Cent. However, each of these tracks has been nothing but straight fire, especially that De La one. Quick story, De La Soul was at Rock The Bells this past summer and as soon as the beat for that song came on, the crowd went fucking nuts. Then they stopped the song and the crowd sat down. Then out of nowhere the beat came back and everyone stood up again at the same time. This went on about 5, 6 times and would’ve looked positively ridiculous if I wasn’t a hip hop fan.

Anyways, this album offers more of the same sick beats he’s been dropping on us for his whole career. And of course, what goes better with sick beats than sick emcees? That’s exactly what this album has to complement Jake One’s production. With just a glance at the list of emcees that are on this album, I had no doubt it would be chock full of sick rhymes. There were your usual “stick with what works” collabos such as Elzhi and Royce in Glow and Evidence and Prodigy in White Van Music, both tracks that were complete scorchers. But what made this album even better were the unusual collabos that seemed strange on paper, but were excellent in execution. In particular the track with Posdnuous and Slug caught my attention, since I had actually secretly been wishing for this to happen forever.

Before I start rambling, I’ll cut this review short and lay it out simple for you. If you hadn’t by now, do yourself a favor and listen to this shit as soon as you can. Even with a couple of misguided tracks, it’s one of the best producer driven albums of 2008 and a definite contender for at least top 15 overall. Seriously, it’s worth the time.

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Hits: Gladiator, Inhale

Strikes: Universal Mind Control (ft Pharell, Punch Drunk Love (ft Kanye West), Sex For Sugar, What A World (ft Chester French), Everywhere

Balls: Make My Day (ft Cee-lo), Announcement (ft Pharell), Changes (ft Muhsinah)

New Common albums are usually a reason for celebration. I like to consider myself a pretty big fan of the man, and I loved everything he’s released (yes, I thought Electric Circus was a blast). Well, everything up until 2007’s Finding Forever. Common albums are usually automatic top 10 of the year material for me and I was surprised that while I liked Finding Forever, there were moments where I was actually bored. I wrote it off as a fluke and figured that by his next album, he’ll be back in top form. And then, he proved me wrong by dropping this steaming pile of shit.

Seriously, what the fuck is the man thinking? I mean, I’m all for artistic growth, and I appreciate when artists go towards new directions, but when that direction is in direct opposition to what that artist normally represents, that calls for a huge what the fuck moment. Thematically, this album plays like Common was listening to “Go” on repeat throughout when he was recording this. Which, wouldn’t be all that bad if he had his usually rhymes to back it up, but on most of these songs it’s like he completely forgot about the lyrics. Bad lyrics + generic topics always, always equals bad songs. Sex For Sugar is a prime example of this. Fuck it, I’ll go so far as to say, this is probably the single worst song Common has ever made in his career.

Well, even the worst albums usually have one or two redeeming songs in it, and in this case those songs are Gladiator and Inhale. Gladiator is the one song on this album that sees Common back to his usual self. As for Inhale, all I can say is it’s an enjoyable song, and it’s short, so it ends before you start thinking otherwise. Announcement and Changes are both honorable mentions but each screwed it up somehow. When Announcement first came on, it was great. There was so much energy and Common’s lyrics weren’t nearly as bad as they were on the rest of this album. And then, I hear Pharell’s verse and prayed that this song wouldn’t end with that. And then Common came back on for one more verse and the song ended with a shitty Common verse instead of a shitty ass Pharell one. Changes also came close to working pretty nicely, with its message that seemingly has no place at all in this album and its Panacea-esque beat. Besides, I’m a fan of Muhsinah. But unfortunately for all of us, Common just sounded really uninspired throughout and the end result was just alright.

Honestly, I never thought I would say this but, stay the hell away from this album. No beating around the bush, it sucks. I would say just download Gladiator and Inhale, and maybe check out the solid songs. As for the rest of the album, fuck it. Forget it ever happened. Now excuse me while I go drown out the memories of this shit by listening to Like Water For Chocolate a million times straight through.

Hits: I Say Peace (J-Live), Live The Life (ft J.Sands), The City (ft J-Live and Surreal), Stress (ft Quenns Connex and Termanology), Long Life (ft Talib Kweli), Veuillez Veiller Sur Vos Reves (ft Les Nubians and John Banzai), The Plan (ft Dynas and Lucian), It Is What It Is (ft Naledge), Chill (ft Large Professor and Meeme Nelzy), Changes Of Atmosphere (ft Supastition), Live The Life (Original Mix), Chill (Lark Chillout Mix) (ft Large Professor),

Strikes: How To Fish (ft Reach)

Balls: Changes Of Atmosphere (ft Liza Garza), Won’t Do (ft Miles Bonny), Vibrate (ft Blu),

Well, I’m a bit short on time today, so I’ll get right to the point. I love this album.

Dela is a rising producer from France whose 2008 album I’ve been bumping since I first got it. Seriously, I loved his 2007 effort, Atmosphere Airlines, but he’s really outdone himself this time. Dela’s a jazz hip hop producer and he’s one of the best post 2000 producers to do it. His beats provide the perfect backdrop for emcees to just dumb out over. And dumb out is exactly what this lineup of rappers does throughout. I found myself listening to Chill (Lark Chillout Mix) and The City over and over again on repeat for weeks after giving this a spin. The one track I really wasn’t feeling was How To Fish, which actually was also featured on Atmosphere Airlines as well. I guess Dela loves the track, but truthfully I thought it was pretty boring.

Great beats + great rhymes = great album. And there’s no exception here. So do yourself a favor and listen to this right now. In fact, with this being an import and all, I’ll even provide a link. Enjoy

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0CZAA8F0

Hits: Voyagers, Mudgreen, L.A.V.A., Sirens, Chrono Trigger, Lunar Illusion, Treasure Hunt, A Mind On A Ship Through Time

Strikes: Mustard Seed Celebration

Balls: Introlude, Speak-O-Vision, Vandalism, Orange Penicillin

Last year, Panacea, which is comprised of Raw Poetic and K-Murdock, dropped what I consider to be one of the finest releases of 2007. I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one that thought so, since blogworld was full of praise for this underground duo from DC. As such, I was surprised that this album dropped as quietly as it did. No promotion whatsoever and one day it was just there. But that’s beside the point because, quiet release or not, what we have is a new Panacea album on our hands and that’s always something to be grateful for.

As far as Raw Poetic goes, his rhymes are what you would come to expect from him by now. I wouldn’t put him near the greatest, but he gets the job done and he has one of the more enjoyable flows of any rapper out today (IMHO). However, as good of a rapper as he is, he does need a captivating beat to be engaging to the listening audience. This of course, is where K-Murdock’s production comes in. Before I say anything else, I will say this. K-Murdock’s beats are absolutely beautiful. They have a futuristic sound, with touches of jazz here and there and the resulting sound calms the mind and takes it into another plane. Genius.

However it is also in the production where this album’s minor problems lie. The beat may be fantastic and the rhymes may be on point, but sometimes it feels like the two are completely out of synch. There are some songs (Mustard Seed Celebration in particular) in which the beat totally overpowers the rapper. Then there are songs such as Speak-O-Vision in which the Raw Poetic’s energy doesn’t match with the calm soundscape of the production (although the beat does pick up in the end). Individually, the two artists comprising this duo are very talented and more than capable of creating great music. However, when together, they do need to work around each other and do need to fix their chemistry on a couple of songs.

All in all though, I did enjoy listening to A Mind On A Ship Through Time. Its calming sounds are very different from most hip hop coming out these days, and it provides for a refreshing 46 minutes. If you enjoyed their 2007 release, there’s really no excuse no to give this one a try. I look forward to future releases from this group.

Hits: Welcome To Heartbreak (ft Kid Cudi), Heartless, Paranoid (ft Mr Hudson), Street Lights, Coldest Winter

Strikes: Love Lockdown, Robocop, Bad News, See You In My Knightmares (ft Lil Wayne)

Balls: Say You Will, Amazing (ft Young Jeezy)

Note: I’m aware that there’s a bonus track on this, but I’ve decided that bonus tracks aren’t actually tracks that contribute to the body of the album and will from now on only give such tracks a mention if they deserve it. This one really doesn’t.

When Kanye West first made it known that he would be recording an album entirely in auto tune, I was shocked, to say the least. I expected that shit from Lil fucking Wayne (who consequently appears on this album) but from Kanye? When I heard this, I immediately wrote this album off as a complete failure in the making. After listening to this album from start to finish, was I right or was I being close minded?

Well, I’ll start by saying this. 808s and Heartbreaks really isn’t a hip hop album (and it isn’t The Love Below). Also, the Kanye West you’ll hear on this album isn’t the usual egotistical man you hear rapping about how great his production (which admittedly it is) and his lyrical prowess (pshhh) are. In fact, since Kanye doesn’t rap on this you should probably consider this not as a Kanye album but a side project by his alter ego, Kanye Pain (or T-West, whichever you prefer). Recognizing this will be crucial to whether or not you can actually enjoy this album.

As for the actual contents, I was half right when I dismissed 808s as a complete failure since half of its tracks were in fact, a total mess. Love Lockdown was probably reworked a gajillion times before it was put on this album and you know what? I still can’t stand it. But the real killer here is Robocop, which is without a doubt, the worst track on this album and probably in Kanye’s whole catalogue. On the flipside, there were several tracks on this album that I found myself liking and could even see myself enjoying the shit out of on a later day. Street Lights for one, is a beauty of a track, and Paranoid is also one hell of a song.

The production on 808s, as one can expect from a Kanye album by now (even a Kanye Pain album), is fucking magnificent, albeit a bit similar. The problem with the bad tracks is surprisingly not the auto-tune, which, after the first couple of tracks really wasn’t nearly as distracting as I thought it would be (except on Love Lockdown for some odd reason). No, the problem is that Kanye the singer has the most simplistic lyrics I’ve heard in a very long time. It also doesn’t help that his better collaborators behind the mic aka Common, GLC, Talib, etc. are nowhere to be found on this album and we’re instead presented with the simple raps of Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy. To be fair, sometimes, simple works. But other times, it turns otherwise heartfelt tracks into repetitious, boring as shit material.

Speaking of heartfelt, another thing that you should be aware of going into this album is that the subject matter isn’t your typical Kanye West fare (remember the how great his production and lyrical prowess are thing?)). On the contrary, the subject matter is depressing as hell and really fucking emo. Which is understandable I suppose, considering his mother recently passed away and that he broke off his long term engagement with his fiancée. For the most part, this was actually a welcome change from the Mr. Ego Kanye was becoming and reminded me more of the lyrics on The College Dropout. It was when he started complaining about the problems his success brought him that I couldn’t really feel it anymore. First off, that subject is beaten to death in the rap game. Second, fuck all that. I mean I understand it’s your life and all and you got your problems but really? You got a problem with having too much money? But….I digress once again. That’s really more of a topic for a blog I should start one day entitled “What’s Wrong With the World Today.”

So…what’s my final word on 808s and Heartbreaks? It’s not as bad as I expected it too be (how could it have been?) and it’s definitely not as bad as some people are saying it is (close though). Like I said, don’t expect Kanye the rapper and it puts this project all into perspective for the most part. However, keep in mind that since this is basically an experimental thing as Kanye usually is a rapper (well, he’s usually a producer I guess, but whatever) and not an auto tune singer, it’s not as good as it could’ve been. Of course, the fact that I prefer this album to T-Pain’s last one, who’s day job in fact is auto tune singing, speaks miles about how bad he is. Anyways, there are a few good fucking tracks to be heard on this album so just track those songs down. I won’t guarantee that you’ll like the whole package though and to be quite frank, you probably won’t.

First and foremost, my apologies for the lack of updates lately. Life’s been busy. That being said, I realize that this album is no longer “new” anymore, especially in the fickle hip hop culture of today but fuck it.

Hits: King Of The Decks (ft Sean Price and Tash), The DJ (ft KRS-One), Do Your Thing (ft Guilty Simpson and Royce Da 5’9”), Funky Piano (ft Bishop Lamont, Crooked I, Styliztik Jones), Start The Revolution (ft Bootcamp Clik), Invaders From The Planet Sqratch (ft DJ Qbert), EY (ft Joell Ortiz and Termanology), Casualties Of Tour (ft Rakaa Iriscience), Damage (ft Blaq Poet and Bumpy Knucks), Blow Da Spot (ft Strong Arm Steady), Pro’s & Cons (ft Evidence), The Re Match (ft DJ Spinbad), Raided R (ft DJ Raid)

Strikes: N/A

Balls: Intro (ft Jazzy Jeff), LA DJ (ft Tony G), The Big Top (ft Special Teams), Scratch Nerds, Willie Lynch (ft Styliztik Jones and KBimean), The Biggest Up (ft DJ Premier), DJ Revolution (ft Planet Asia), Spit Ridiculous (ft Defari), Calling HAUL, Man Or Machine (ft KBimean), The Set Up (ft Sway and King Tech)

The sound of scratching is fucking majestic to me, so any time there’s a DJ album featuring actual DJ-ing and not just screaming random bullshit over someone else’s tracks I get a bit excited. I mean shit, I nearly fell off my chair when Invaders From The Planet Sqratch came on and freaking The Re Match was on a whole other level. The album is a bit guest heavy, but then again what did you expect from a project like this (just as long as he’s not rapping on his own tracks ala Black Milk it’s all good). Besides, the guests on here are pretty varied as they range from the well known (relative to blogverse of course) such as Royce, to the unknown, such as Styliztik Jones, and from established legends, such as KRS, to rising newcomers, such as Joell Ortiz. Most of the featured rappers held their own weight, but I couldn’t really get into KBimean. I mean, Man Or Machine would’ve been a no question hit if it weren’t for that one verse KBimean dropped. I’m serious.

The one problem I had with some of the tracks on this album was that it got a bit too preachy for my taste sometimes. I can’t stand much of current day hip hop either, but I’m of the opinion that rapping complaints about it in an album such as this one is like preaching to the fucking choir right? I wanna hear some you spit some nice shit instead of complaining that the rest of hip hop isn’t. Or, you can opt to go the KRS route and instead of simply complaining, lead the way and teach the young’ns a thing or two. But..I digress.

You may be thinking that that’s a whole lot of solid tracks for one album, but keep in mind that most of them are skits. Some of them could’ve been taken out, for sure, but some (The Biggest Up in particular for earning Rev the “DJ with the biggest fucking ego award”) add to the album pretty nicely. Also, considering that this whole thing was 24 tracks long, no strikes is a hell of an achievement. So, at the end of it all, I will honestly say I enjoyed the whole thing very much and would recommend you give it a try as well because any DJ that actually scratches on a fucking record these days have to deserve something right?

If you’ve been following hip hop for the past year or two, there’s no way you haven’t at least heard the name Black Milk thrown around here and there. He’s slowly but surely been growing in fame and has become a household name for underground hip hop fans all around. These days whenever I listen to an album, if it says that the track was produced by Black Milk, I automatically have high expectations for the track (think 9th Wonder back in 2003/2004). This is with good reason too, since more often than not, he actually meets those expectations (ie. Motown 25). Needless to say, I’m expecting good things from Tronic as well. One thing I will say though is that I hope he raps a little less on this one. He’s an excellent producer, but to be honest, his beats ache to be rapped by better emcees than himself.

Hits aka Why You Should Care

1. What else did you expect from this album besides banging beats on the production end? Black Milk really is evolving with each beat he makes and he may just end up being a monster producer one day.

2. Excellent choice of guest rappers. Royce, Pharoahe and Sean P are three of my personal favorites so I loved hearing them over Black Milk’s beats.

3. Good tracks: Long Story Short, Bounce, Losing Out (ft Royce Da 5′9″), Hell Yeah, Reppin For You (ft AB), Overdose, Matrix (ft DJ Premier, Pharaoahe Monch, Sean Price), Try, Bond 4 Life (ft Melanie Rutherford)

Strikes aka WTF

N/A

Balls aka Whatever Floats Your Boat

1. Black Milk’s rapping has definitely improved since his last album. However, his shortcomings are made obvious when he raps alongside Pharoahe and Royce Da 5′9” on Losing Out and Matrix respectively. Still, it’s clear that he’s getting there.

2. Maybe it’s just me, but there wasn’t much coherence in this album. It felt a bit like just a loose collection of songs.

3. Solid tracks. Give The Drummer Sum, Without You (ft Colin Munroe) (note: the instrumental only second half of this song is pretty sweet though), Hold It Down, Tronic Summer, Elec Outro

Final Thoughts:

Black Milk still has some way to go before he can create an entire album full of classic material, but to say that he may one day do so, wouldn’t be too far of a stretch. If just for the beats, check this album out. I promise it won’t be a waste of time by any means. O, and The Matrix is my shit.

It’s about fucking time. That was the single thought running through my head when Election Day came and this album was actually dropped on the world. It’s been a while since Tip had released his last solo album, and with his last two efforts forever shelved and made available only through bootlegging, I’m surprised to say the least. Because to be honest, I figured a new Q-Tip album was destined to be simply one of those things talked about but never come to fruition. Another Detox, another Cuban Linx II. And yet, here it is. All I can say is, I hope that the quality of the music can match the excitement of hearing an entire album full of new material from one of my favorites of all time.

Hits aka Why You Should Care

1. The Abstract Rapper is back. Most of us would probably agree that Tip was much less than par on Amplified, so I had to say that I was a bit worried coming into this one. However, those fears were quickly laid to rest as dude is on point all throughout.

2. Some people have complained about the organic production of the whole album. I would say that this makes the album great. The production on this is upbeat, jazzy, soulful and a huge breath of fresh air compared to the rest of the garbage being released these days. Make sure to listen to Dance On Glass, on which the beat just kicks in out of nowhere. Overall, beautifully produced.

3. Great tracks: Johnny Is Dead, Gettin Up, Official, You, We Fight/Love (ft Raphael Saadiq), Move, Dance On Glass, Life Is Better (ft Norah Jones), I Believe (ft D’Angelo), Shaka,

Strikes aka WTF

The only track that really got to me was ManWomanBoogie (ft Amanda Diva). Just too strange and experimental for my tastes.

Balls aka Whatever Floats Your Boat

1. If you’re an avid Q-Tip fan and had downloaded his past couple of scrapped efforts, some of the songs here will already be familiar material to you. Still, it’s a great feeling to see some of those songs get a proper release, especially Johnny Is Dead.

2. There’s no guest rapper on this. Take that as you will, but as for myself, I wouldn’t have minded seeing a Phife/Tip reunion track. Even Busta and Tip would’ve been nice although to be fair, Busta really wouldn’t have fit in with the groove of the whole thing.

3. The one solid track: Won’t Trade

Final Thoughts:

I love this. So far, the fall quarter of 2008 is shaping up to be the best quarter of this year with quality releases dropping left and right. And even within the storm of unusually good hip hop at this time of year, I feel that Tip’s Renaissance really stands out. Tip fans, don’t be worried, it’s much much better than Amplified was. And for those who aren’t Tip fans, get into this man’s music as soon as you can, starting with his Tribe Called Quest material and working your way to this one.