My top 6 albums of 2011 + Savage! Good lookin' out to the homie Øyvind Holen for this!
Link with comments in Norwegian:
http://www.jubel.fm/?/blogg/white_shadow_jubler
In English:
Fuck autotune, fuck club-hiphop, fuck traprap, T-Pain, Drake and Weezy, fuck singin' hooks and fuck all attempts to hit the pop-charts. Real boombap-hiphop with spitting, cutting and scratching is alive and well, according to Geilo's Hiphop pride White Shadow, who just released the album, Savage.
For real, a Norwegian releasing an album with guest appearances by Chino XL, Masta Ace, Vinnie Paz, Edo G, Ruste Juxx and Poison Pen on the same album? To quote KRS-One, who's sampled on the track ”Final Call of the Barbarians”: “We will be here forever and ever, while you’ll be over by next September."
Jubel.fm challenged The White Shadow of Norway to hit us with the five best boom-bap albums of 2011. He gave us six.
First, a little taste of Savage.
Then, White Shadow's own favorites of 2011.
1. Snowgoons presents Savage Brothers & Lord Lhus: The Iron Fist.
- It's a bumrush party when Germany's Snowgoons invites their old and new fellow producers to make an album, including themselves, Sicknature, Al'tarba, The Returners, and yours truly. This is the follow up to A Fist in the Thought, by former Snowgoons-affiliates Savage Bros. and Lord Lhus. I say former, cause as most people know Lord Lhus got into beefs with AOTP, JMT, LCN, GHG, and Snowgoons during 2011. Because of that he was released from his deal with The Snowgoons a while ago, to put it nicely. I don't think anyone involved in the beef will let that stop them, so we'll still get bangers from all involved for years.
- To me, Savage is the album of the year, but since that's my own album I've decided not to include it in the top 5, but am bold enough to pull out my own track for this album, ”Return of the Iron Fist”.
2. Outerspace: My Brother's Keeper.
- More AOTP-bizness from Outerspace. My Brother's Keeper is their best album so far, and it's even better than their mentor, Vinnie Paz' solo, and the Jedi Mind Tricks albums this year. Solid, though somewhat repetitive production makes this album a banger, and Outerspace always deliver the goods on the mic. Skammadix, Vanderslice, Nero, C-Lance and others gets to throw in their A-game production wise, and it's hard to pick a favorite song,since the whole album is great, but I'll pull up ”Behead the Kings” as one of the best. If you're gonna buy one Hip-hop album that's not a compilation this year, then this is a great choice.
3. M.O.P. & The Snowgoons: Sparta.
- M.O.P. is back with their best album since Warriorz in 2000. They sound like themselves and haven't changed much in ten years. You know what you get, it's hard, brutal, and maybe a bit too noisy at times, but the solid production by The Snowgoons elevates this album. M.O.P.'s had a hard time releasing tracks with the right production in recent years, and after Warriorz they've had upfront but somewhat misplaced club-Rap type beats which didn't fit them all that well, so on this album it's safe to say that The Snowgoons jumped in and secured the future for M.O.P., while M.O.P. took The Snowgoons to next level colabs with legends, such as with M.O.P. themselves, and PMD about to come.
- Still the production here's not what you'd call your average Snowgoons type beats, as some of the epic orchestral sound they're known for is mixed with a dirty 90's style boom-bap sound. That's perfect, and with only ten tracks, all of them solid, this album tempts you to destroy the repeat button. ”No Mercy” hits the hardest, and is my favorite.
4. Jedi Mind Tricks: Violence Begets Violence.
- Every time JMT releases an album it's an event in the Hip-hop underground, and this time we waited for three years since their last album. During those years several things went down. Jus Allah returned, and, disappointing to many, Stoupe has left JMT to produce Trip-hop, like Dutch and Vespertina. Because of that JMT hooked up with many of the best up and coming producers on the scene, like C-Lance, Shuko, and Junior Makhno on ”Fuck Ya Life”, which is the best, and most original beat on the album, in my opinion.
- Vinnie Paz is Vinnie Paz, and brings better rhymes for every album, which is one of the reasons why JMT's been the most respected crew in underground Hip-hop for years. Stoupe is missed somewhat, but the new producers does a great job, without turning Stoupe clones. Violence Begets Violence is a solid album, but I think Violent By Design will remain Jedi Mind's classic. Either ways, a great Christmas gift for mom, dad, and the kids especially.
5. DC The Midi Alien: Avengers Airwaves.
- DC's producer album, featuring the cream of the crop from the underground: Vinnie Paz, Reef The Lost Cauze, Slaine, Outerspace, Reks, Termanology and many others. The production is basic boom-bap, and cinematic. Samples from 70's Italian, and French, soundtracks are used, while ”Technology Takeover”, which is the best cut on the album, samples U2s ”New Year’s Day”, to great effect.
- An album that doesn't hit all that hard at first, but grows on you. Good conscious lyrics a plenty too.
6. Apathy: Honkey Kong.
- Apathy is a seasoned vet in the underground community, who's been putting out records since the late 90's, was signed by Atlantic in 2003, but that album was never released. So he went independent again a couple of years later where he's done well despite people getting tired of waiting for the Atlantic album, but he went from being the underground artist said to take boom-bap to the next level in the music biz, to being somewhat slept on. He's released some mixtapes, and a couple of albums in recent years anyway, and this is the new one, Honkey Kong.
- Heavy, varied, and sometimes spaced out production by underground heroes like Stu Bangas and Vanderslice, and legends like Beatminerz, DJ Muggs, and DJ Premier, on a beat that doesn't sound like Premo at all, makes this a thrilling experience, that still seems to not hit quite as hard as it should have, making the listener somewhat wonder if Apathy took a hit from the struggles he's been through, as in many peoples opinion he went from being the no. 1 emcee on the scene to somewhat more average, but to me, this is still one of the best albums of 2011.
"The Recipe” featuring Xzibit is my favorite track. It's on like Honkey Kong!
No comments:
Post a Comment