Review: Eazy E - Impact Of A Legend

Artist: Eazy E
Album: Impact Of A Legend
Year: 2002
Label: Ruthless Records

One of the most important, influencial figures in hip hop history, Eric Wright not only left behind his family, friends and millions of fans on the 26th of March 1995, but also a hip hop scene that has never been quite the same since. A lot of people try and diss Eazy for different reasons but the truth is if Eric didn't use his Coke cash to start Ruthless then hundreds and hundreds of todays rappers would not be around today, you only have to look at the N.W.A. tree to see that, and then add all the rappers who came up from listening to Eazy-Duz-It and Straight Outta Compton.


Seven years after Eazy died from aids his label who has since been run by his widow Tomica Wright released a new E.P. with unreleased verses featuring new Ruthless artists called "Impact Of A Legend". This came out with a little Eazy comic book, a p.c. game and a dope DVD with interviews of Eazy on B.O.X. and Arsenio, footage of his funeral, Eazy videos and a time line of other Ruthless video's amongst plenty of other quality footage.

The CD itself starts off with an intro before going into "Eazy 1, 2, 3" that starts off with a dope Eazy verse followed by equally as good verses by Phalos Mode and Loesta before Eazy and Phalos return with a second verse each and ends with some scratching by DJ G.L.E.

Next is "Cock The Nine" that features Loco S.A.B., Phalos Mode, and The Genie another mad track although the hook at the end of the track goes a little too long. This is followed by "Switchez" which is the single from this release. It starts off with the same Eazy verse as the one he does on Mack 10's "The Recipe" on "Get Yo Ride On" featuring Mack and MC Eiht, but this version features the impressive Roc Slanga, the track is crazy. Next up is a little pointless skit called "The Rev" it takes up a minute of your life that you ain't getting back. It gets straight back into it with "No More Tears" that features Sacraphyce (Pich Black), Phalos Mode and The Genie and "Ruthless Life" featuring Loesta and Cashish from (Intense Hustlers). The final and 8th track on this is "Still Fuckem" that has a incredible beat and an equally incredible verse from Eazy that was recorded just before he passed away, the track also features The Genie , Paperboy and Phalos Mode.

Rhythm D

Other than Paperboy I had never heard of any of the featured rappers on this E.P. but was impressed with every single verse by every artist on it and wouldn't hesitate to pick up albums by any of them. The production is flawless from start to finish all done by Rythm D who was signed by Eazy himself and has also produced for W.C., Mack 10 and Paper Boy. The only things that would have been better is if they left off the skit and put a few more tracks on it. I read that Tomica has plenty of other unreleased verses by Eazy that will probably never see the light of day which in my opinion is pretty wack to all his fans that fiend on hearing that unique voice rhyming over some gangsta beats. At least his legacy can live on with the prince of Compton Eric Wright Jr Lil' E. At the end of the day it comes down to this, if you like Eazy you'll love this if not........


MP3's
Eazy E - Eazy 1, 2, 3
Eazy E - Switchez
>>DOWNLOAD<<

Rating: 4 Daytons out of 5

Battle On Wax: Random Disses 3

Cool C - Boogie Down Productions got fame from dissing the Juice Crew, and Hilltop Hustler Cool C must have thought it was a nice idea because in '89 he came out with the single "Juice Crew Dis" (also on the "I Gotta Habit" LP) where Cool C disses the Queens Bridge posse. You can't help but shake your head as he disses MC Shan because he sounds like he's biting his style with an almost identical voice. Unfortunately in the near future Cool C will most probably be executed for the murder of a female cop in Philly while robbing a bank, he was supposed to be executed on the 9th of March but had the date set back.

DJ Quik - This is that classic Everlast diss track, 'Can't Fuck Wit A Nigga' by Compton's Quik, JFN and KK from the 'Menace To Society' soundtrack. This was sort of a side diss to Quik's battle with Compton Crip MC Eiht. I'm not 100% sure whats behind Quik's beef With former Rhyme Syndicate member Everlast, but I read somewhere that the House Of Pain member was on a DJ Muggs mixtape where he said "Who's that trick, known as Quik? making me sick, like strawberry Nestle' Quik". I'm not sure if there was ever a return diss to Quik by Everlast or not.


KRS One - I'm sure pretty much every one has heard this direct diss to St. Louis pop artist Nelly, but I had to stick it on here anyway. It's probably one of the better KRS tracks Iv'e heard him do in a while as I'm not much of a KRS fan since 'Return Of The Boom Bap' (although he still has some gems since that). KRS will always be a hip hop legend and one of the most feared rappers in a diss fest. Nelly will just go down as another Kris diss victim.

E-40 - This track starts off reinacting a Rasheed Wallace interview where he said that he is into real hip hop and dissed E-40 and the Goodie Mob. The track is also directed to AZ for saying that 40 doesn't deserve to sell records. This track kills them off, pure dopeness from one of the most original MC's of all time. The Vallejo king E-40 has just dropped another album,'My Ghetto Report Card' which features alot of Lil Jon production. Unfortunately he has dropped off since early releases such as 'Federal' and 'Mail Man'.

Willie D - This is Willie D's revenge track on female MC Choice who released 'Stick-N-Move' on Rap-A-Lot and dissed D. The inevitable happened, Lil' J dumped Choice (never to be heard of since) and Willie D made this track called 'Little Hooker'. He released it on the 'I'm Goin Out Lika Soldier' album. Lines like "Next time you wanna wear hot shorts, Get rid of those god damn stretch marks, Coz you ain't no looker....... You lil' arse hooker" are the more tame ones on the track, he gets pretty ruthless on it. Willie D is undoubtably one of the most brutal MC's alive and is definitely a rapper you don't want to get in beef with in or out of the studio, ask Melle Mel about his boxing game...

MP3's:
Cool C - Juice Crew Dis
DJ Quik - Can't Fuck Wit A Nigga
KRS One - Over Here
E 40 - Record Haters
Willie D - Little Hooker
>> DOWNLOAD HERE <<

High School Hoodlums

Bullets flying, students screaming and teachers running for their lives. Another emotionally insecure kid has brought his daddy's pistol to school and taken his anger out on anyone and everyone who has given him a hard time. After pumping bullets into his class mates and teachers he proceeds to aim the gun to his forehead and blow his brains out.

A media frenzy then attaches itself to the case. Interviews with students and teachers who knew the suicidal school shooter are conducted and the shooters life story is written and talked about in magazines, newspapers, TV shows and on the radio. In the midst of all this happening, the shooters pass times, interests and hobbies are investigated as the media hurry to find a scapegoat in an attempt to explain what caused such a fucked up event to take place.



If they are lucky they will find out that the kid had a huge collection of horror movies or that he listened to Eminem or Marilyn Manson. Convinently enough, they always seem to find a 'reason' for his psychotic actions. It is far easier to point the finger at the entertainment industry than it is to blame the education system or unfair social conditions, so the media run with it. Not to mention the fact that newspapers sell a whole lot faster when stories are glamorized.

Parent groups, religious groups, womens rights groups etc all then come out of the woodwork calling for horror movies, death metal or hip hop (whatever the kid was into) to be banned as it causes people to go out and commit mass murders. Unintentionally this pushes record or movie sales through the roof, after all, controversy sells ( just look at NWA and the 2 Live Crew). So in the end of the day the only real winners are the movie studios, record labels and the artists/directors themselves. So after all the unfair negative press, justice wins out.

The case that made me think of writing this article is the one that took place at a Minnesota school on March 21stf 2005. Jeff Weise, a sixteen year old Native American who attended Red Lake High School in north Minnesota turned up to school one day and shot and killed seven people (after killing his grandfathers partner and his grandfather that same morning). This massacre was the worst America had seen since the notorious Columbine Massacre that took place on the 20th of April 1999.

It soon became apparent that Weise, who was nicknamed the "towering loner", was a fan of old horror movies and horror rap. In particular, Weise was a fanatic fan of bay area horrorcore artist Mars, CEO of 'Mad Insanity Records'. The media made a huge deal out of the fact that Mars' upcoming album title was 'Some Girls Deserve to Die', a title inspired by the Hillside Strangler police interrogation tapes.

Due to this case, Mars' name spread like wild fire and the 'negative press' just enabled Mars to reach an even larger audience. I have even read, although only on an internet forum and most probably complete bullshit, that someone in the Mad Insanity camp spread the word to the media in attempt to gain some free publicity. Who knows what really happened, all that is for certain is that Mars' music was used as a scapegoat to explain why Weise pulled the gun on his victims. As a result Mars gained alot of attention and no doubt it increased his record sales. Another win for hip hop and artistic expression.


Up for download are a few tracks that came to mind on the topic of school shootings. They are all pretty much on topic and fairly recent, although the Gregory D track is alot older and talks about a gangsta shooting up a school so it's a bit different, but it's a sick track so I added it anyway.

Rest in peace to all who have passed away in these senseless massacres.



MP3's:
Apathy - School
Gregory D - Hi-School Hoodlums
Ill Bill - Anatomy Of A School Shooting
Insane Poetry - Any Given Monday (Intro)
Insane Poetry - Any Given Monday
MaddWest - Johnny Rage
Q Strange - Nothing
>>DOWNLOAD ALL<<

*Thanks to Prime for the Apathy track and Marcus for tracking down the Ill Bill mp3.

R.I.P. DJ Train

Rest In Peace
DJ Train


Real Name: Unknown
Hailing From: Compton, C.A.
Born: Unknown
Died: July 1994
Cause of Death: Smoke inhalation. He died in a house fire trying to save his son who was already rescued by his mother.

DJ Train was a long time high school friend of MC Ren, He scratched for JJ Fad, CPO and MC Ren. Unfortunately he never got the respect he deserved and even now it is almost impossible to find out any information or pictures of the legendary DJ from the CPT, I even had to edit the CPO cover to put the logo up because I couldn't find a pic anywhere.

Edit: Added photo (26/12/11)

MP3:
CPO - Homicide

DJ Kansel vs DJ Sum1 - Mixtape Series Volume Two

..:: Battlehogg Mixtapes ::..



...::: DJ Kansel vs DJ Sum1 :::...
...::: Mixtape Series Volume Two :::...



...::: Tracklisting :::...
1 - DJ Kansel - Intro
2 - Savage - Stand Up (The Bone Crusher Mix)
3 - 7L And Esoteric - One Six
4 - Killa Kyleon (Boyz N Blue) - It's Goin Down
5 - Suffa - Hilltop Hoods
6 - Z Ro - Z Ro
7 - Con Psy - Stand Up (The Grills Remix)
8 - Lil' Flip - Drugs (Screwed)
9 - Kim - No Turnin Back (Produced By Simplex)
10 - Scribe - Stand Up (The Trina Remix)
11 - DJ Kansel - 2 Fast 4 Yall
12 - Motion & Conceps - Exclusives
13 - DJ Sum1 - Intro
14 - Majik Most - Stickem
15 - Ill Bill - Unstopable
16 - Task Force - Snake Charmer
17 - Cali Agents - Up Close And Personal
18 - Part Time Maryders - Pimping Fresh
19 - Tone Deff - Politics
20 - Eyedea , Blueprint & Abillities - Before And After
21 - J Zone And Celph Titled - Eatadickup
22 - Poison Pen - Mecca
23 - Triple Threat, Main Flow & Talib Kweli - Hip Hop Worth Dying 4
24 - Lyrical Commision Ft. Chopper Read - Chop Chop
25 - Bonus - Part Time Maryders (Scratch Track)

>>| DOWNLOAD |<<



..:: Link ::..
DJ Kansel @ MySpace.Com

Review: Convicts - Convicts

Artist: Convicts
Album: Convicts
Year: 1991
Label: Rap-A-Lot

This album is from one of the dopest record labels of all time, Lil' J's Rap-A-Lot Records. From it's early days of releasing material from the original Ghetto Boys like the "Car Freaks" 12" and then the new line up "Making Trouble" album to the Def IV, (former Ghetto Boy) Raheem and Royal Flush albums, the label was always going to be crazy. Even though the path was laid in the late 80's with those classic releases I think it was when the Rick Rubin backed Geto Boys self titled album dropped in 1990 that the label went to a new level with the early 90's releasing albums by artists like The Terrorists and Ganksta N.I.P. from the South Park Coalition, East Oaklands Seagram (R.I.P.), Odd Squad, 2 Low, DMG, Trinity Garden Cartel, Big Mello (R.I.P), Tim Smooth, Blac Monks, O.G. Style, Too Much Trouble, 5th Ward Boys and of coarse these guys, The Convicts.


(Rap-A-Lot CEO Lil J)

The Convicts consists of Big Mike and Lord 3-2 who got put together by Lil' J to make this classic album that you'd be lucky to find a copy on ebay for less than $50 and was one of the few Rap-A-Lot albums in the 90's that was released on picture cover vinyl with all the tracks instead of a plain covered 6 track "Hot Club Wax" release. The album starts off with "Free World' that has the two pretty much going through what they got convicted for and giving a run down on the jail system, pretty def track. Track 2 hits with "Peter Man" which is Big Mikes alias as a dope man, the tracks about him going around slangin' it is a crazy track but pretty unrealistic with Mike spraying up at least a dozen people including a bunch of jump out boys in 6 minutes and 45 seconds. It does have a nice Flavor Flav "stay off his dick" sample for the cut. Next up is "This Is For The Convicts" which must have pissed label mate O.G. Style off with the first minute of the track being ganked straight off his "I Know How To Play 'Em" album. After that it goes straight into some crazy fast hard rapping by Mike and followed by the same fom 3-2 with a nice beat.

This next track is called "Fuck School" and to be honest I find it out of place stuck in the middle of a in-and-outta-jail album. I think it should have been done either as track 1 or as a past tense styled track? You can guess the basics of what this one's about (dissing teachers, slangin' and partying) it has a nice funky sax sounding hook to it."Penitentiary Blues" talks about different penitentiary issues from the bad food to jackin' off in the showers and is a pretty good track but has some pretty average rhymes to it.


(The Geto Boys with Big Mike in the line-up)

This next one is one of my favourites from the album, it's called "1-900-Dial-A-Crook" it starts off with a couple of guys in the middle of stealing a car calling their phone service on advice to get it, the call gets put on to Big Mike who gives the play by play, that verse ends with the two guys thanking Mike before the next customer calls in and speaks to 3-2 about rocking up some coke. The next caller needs help on his bitch kicking him out which is answered by a dope Scarface verse. This is where the track gets a little off topic, Lil J calls up saying he's locked up in Saudi Arabia and needs to take out Saddam Hussein, Willie D kicks the Hollywood type verse followed by Bushwick Bill which seemed a little weird for me considering the Geto Boys album that came out that same year has Bushwick dedicating a whole track about 'Fuck A War' with lines like "I ain't goin' to war for no shit talking President" now all of a sudden he's taking out Saddam? "Woop Her Ass" is a good track about exactly that and has a mad sample of Andrew Dice Clay ("kick the bitch down the fuckin' block") throughout and ends with a verse by Rap-A-Lot's female rapper, Choice. "I Ain't Going Back" and "I Love Boning" are next and are not too bad but for me nothing special. The album gets back in gear with "DOA", I can't say much about this one other than it's a dope straight up gangsta track.

"Wash Your Ass" is a funny fuckin' track with lines like "Funky bitch , while dont you take a bath hoe, you've been having 'em same draws on 3 days in a row". You may think by the title that the track is a metaphore ,but no it's about people stankin' needing to wash their arses. The reason for this track is beyond me but it has a dope beat. "Illegal Aliens", This track sort of pisses me off when I hear it, 3-2 starts by dissing the fuck out of "wet backs" and then Mike starts on Japanese and Iranians and also gives a few lines to Mexicans again. The track is laced with ignorant racist comments before the track is out they manage to diss the Chinese, Vietnamese, whites and Cubans. Everyone's opinion will vary on the track though.


(3-2)

Over all as much as this album is sought after and is a old classic gangsta album, in my opinion it's not as good as some of the other Rap-A-Lot releases of it's era like O.G. Style's but it is still a deff album with a few incredible cuts on it. After this was released Big Mike and 3-2 went to L.A. and stayed in a apartment paid for by Suge Knight. Snoop ended up staying with Mike because of his Long Beach home being too far from the studio. Mike and 3-2 even recorded a track with Snoop and Warren G and was also signing to Death Row but with limited studio time and their project getting pushed back Mike decided to take up Lil' J's offer of replacing Willie D as the new member of the Geto Boys. The two of them packed their bags and returned to Houston, Geto Boys released "Till Death Do Us Part" in '93, and Mike followed up with his solo "Somthin' Serious", "Still Serious" and then "Hard To Hit". 3-2 hooked up with Da and Awol to release the Blac Moncs "Secrets From The Hidden Temple" album and then his solo "Wicked Buddah Baby" album and another Blac Monks album before leaving Rap-A-Lot.

Big Mike has recently been released from jail after serving three and a half years and dropped "Naw'Lins Phat". 3-2 has recently released the "Probation" album.



MP3's:
Convicts - Free World
Convicts - 1-900-Dial-A-Crook
>>DOWNLOAD<<

Rating: 3 and a half Daytons out of 5

Battle On Wax: Pooh Man vs The Dangerous Crew

Here's a little focus on the beef between former Dangerous Crew member turned convicted Bank robber Pooh Man and Too Short, Ant Banks and Spice 1. I'm not sure how this all started (although I think Pooh was unhappy with his contract) and I'm a little unsure who dissed who first. Pooh's Scarface Records "Judgement Day" album has a handful of Dangerous diss tracks on it including the track "Bring It 2 'Em" where Pooh samples Cube's 'God damn, I'm glad ya'll set it off' and some of his lyrics leave you to believe that Ant Banks dissed first? On Banks '93 "Sittin' On Somethin' Phat" album there is a track dissin' someone, I'm not sure who because he doesn't mention any names although Pooh features on the album so I'm 50/50 on it.

Regardless of that the first tracks up for download are Pooh Man's 'Ant Banks Dis' which is a skit dissing Banks (the man responsible for the MC Ant production and most of the early Dangerous stuff) for not writing his own lyrics (I read a Banks interview where he admits that Bad N' Fluenz wrote half his 'Big Thangs' album). Next up is the 'Bring It 2 'Em' track where Pooh disses Banks and Too Short pretty fuckin' hard. 'Studio Gangsta' is Pooh's diss to Spice 1 and 'Backstabbaz' is Pooh going at Mhisani (aka Goldy) and then Ant Banks. His "Judgement Day" album was released around the same time as the gangsta flick "Menace II Society" that Pooh Man has a role in and kind of reminds me of Eazy E's "It's On" E.P. with multiple diss tracks on it.

Next up is Too Short's "Get In Where You Fit In" featuring Rappin' Ron (R.I.P.) and Ant Diddley Dog. This is a dope track that goes for over 8 funky minutes off his '93 masterpiece. Spice 1 gets his reprisal on his '94 album "Amerikkka's Nightmare" on the last track "You Done Fucked Up". This about the time that addicted heroin addict, Pooh got arested robbing a Walgreens drug store in Oakland and sent to San Quentin prison to serve 36 months of a 5 year sentence. While locked up Pooh Man's "Ain't No Love" album got released on 'In-A-Minute' with the title track being a verbal onslaught on his former crew.

After Pooh Man got released he squashed the beef with Ant Banks and Spice who in a Murder Dog magazine interview said the following.......

Have you ever settled the beef between you and Pooh Man?

Me and Pooh squashed the shit. He got out the pen and I ran into him. We started choppin it up and smoked a few blunts and shit. Two weeks later this nigga comes smashin passed my house with hella cop cars chasing him and a helicopter.

What the hell did he do?

That nigga robbed a bank. He's probably gonna be in there for a minute. That was my nigga. We had a few disagreements and guns was pulled. Tempers flared but we squashed all that shit.

So he wasn’t no studio gangster?

Pooh ain’t no studio gangsta. I knew from the beginning that he wasn’t no studio gangsta. I was prepared to get down with the nigga. We was gonna shoot it out and everything my nigga.

Did you and him ever get into any shoot outs with each other?

No, I had drove up and approached him one time and I had like three or four niggaz in the car with uzi's and I had a glock and shit. He had some of his boys posted up in the house with some pistols and uzi's. Me and dude had a few words but no triggers was pulled

I read an interview with Banks where he said similar things to Spice but at this point have not heard if Pooh and Short have sorted out their shit? Pooh Man is still serving time for Modesto jewellery store robberies and a bank robbery that was being watched by the F.B.I. and led to a huge man hunt. Unfortunately we don't have Ant Banks '94 album "The Big Badass" so I can't chuck on "Fuckin' Wit Banks".

MP3's:

Pooh Man - Ant Banks Dis
Pooh Man - Bring It 2 'Em
Pooh Man - Studio Gangsta
Pooh Man - Backstabbaz
Too Short ft. Rappin Ron & Ant Diddley Dog - Get In Where You Fit In
Spice 1 - You Done Fucked Up
Pooh Man Aint No Love
>>DOWNLOAD ALL<<

R.I.P. Proof

Rest In Peace:
Proof (D12)



Real Name: Deshaun Holton
Hailing From: Detroit, Michigan
Born: 2 October 1975
Died: 11 April 2006
Cause of Death: Shot and killed at the "Triple C" club on 8 Mile Rd and Gratiot.

Albums:
D12 - Devils Night
D12 - D12 World
Proof + Dogmatic = Promatic
Proof - I Miss The Hip Hop Shop
Proof - Searching for Jerry Garcia
Proof - Grown Man Shit
Proof - Electric Coolaid Acid Testing EP

MP3:
Menacide Ft Proof & McNastee- Drugz

Review: AMW - Criminals

Artist: AMW (Americas Most Wanted)
Album: Criminals
Year: 1990
Label: Triad

America's Most Wanted (AMW) are from Oakland California and have three members, Mellow-D, Chucksta and the backbone of the trio Boss Man who are the three guys on the cover with the white shirts, as for the fourth dude with the lacey singlet and that 'I want some choom choom' look in his eyes, I got no idea who that is? . "Criminals" (also released on pictured cover vinyl) came out on Triad records, the same label that released Spice One's debut , 'Let It Be Known'. Pretty much the same time these guys were working on this album there was a couple of guys in Tacoma (MC Deff and DJ E) who had the same name and half way through recording the album heard about these guys from the bay and changed there name to Criminal Nation and dropped the Nastymix classic 'Release The Pressure'. Back when I heard that Criminal Nation were called AMW I started hunting for any early material under that name and accidentally stumbled across these guys.



The album starts off with the title track and gets straight into some rapping from the get go, It uses the beat from 'The Message' with an extra drum beat through it. First up is Chucksta followed by Mellow-D and Boss Man and the track has some nice original samples scratched up between them. 'Addicted To The Dope Game' is next and has a nice fast paced beat with fast aggitated type rapping the only down fall to the track is some of Chucksta's lyrics are a little simple but the Boss Man comes in with the third verse and burns the entire track with bar after bar of furious well timed rapping. One of my favourites is next in 'Soldier Story', it has a crazy slow funky beat with a sick hook that comes into the track just before each addictive hook. 'Street Life' has an original sounding beat that kind of reminds me of an old 70's exploitation pimp movie theme, the track has fast paced raps with extra sound bites of gun shots, screeching tyres and voice over before each verse that makes the track.

'License To Kill' starts off with Mellow-D ripping a faced paced verse over the beat as does the Boss Man who can deliver fast tight rhymes with every word being clear as day, dope. Next is 'Crazy Mothafucka' that has hell samples throughout including a Flavor Flav one, another fast track with another dope beat. Next up is 'Gangsta shit' that starts off mad with a verse each by Mellow-D, Boss Man and Chucksta but the last minute has got them shouting out other gangsta groups, it goes for too long and will find itself getting skipped every time. 'Deep End' has a nice original sounding beat, it has a Chuck D 'how low can you go' sample that fits nicley into it but the rapping isn't quite as good as you get used to and probably doesn't do the beat justice.



'Armed And Dangerous' is a good track but nothing special and the next track 'Can You Step To This' is by far the wackest track on the album. It's about dancing which I fuckin' hate unless it's a breakin' dance track, it does have a couple of good verses but the rest of it is shit. 'Prophylactic' has a completely different style to the rest of the album from the guitar riffs in the background to the stlye of rapping, the style isn't as good as the other tracks but it's good to see there versatility. The last track on the album is 'I Gives A Fuck About A Bitch' that starts off with a minute of girls talking shit (could have been sumed up in about 8 seconds) but turns out to be a pretty sick track and has a mad hook using one of Too Short's 'bitch' samples, by the title of the track you can judge the topic to this one.

Over all the album is crazy, 12 well produced tracks by Tyrell 'Boss Man' Brewer and Eric Warren with some co-production be Chucksta and Mellow-D. Considering that this got released in 1990 their style was ahead of their time although their second album 'This Is The Mobb' that got released in '95 on D Shot records was a huge disappointment to me, it's a good album but not shit on there debut. I'm not sure what happened to them since '95 and if anyone knows please let me know. Boss Man featured on one of the dopest albums ever, C.I.N.'s '94 Mobstas' and I know of an album called Boss Man & Blackjak but i'm not sure if it's the same Boss Man.



MP3's:
AMW - Soldier Story
AMW - License To Kill
AMW - Crazy Mutha Fucka
>>DOWNLOAD ALL<<

Rating: 4 Daytons out of 5

Freedom Of Speech.... Just Don't Diss The Police

If you go back to early 70's at a Kool Herc block party the thought of the M.C. being the front runner of their culture in years to come and even the thought of releasing records would have never crossed their minds. Then in the early '80's when many artists were coming out trying to follow the Sugar Hill Gang or Kurtis Blow's lead of getting a record deal the thought of saying, FUCK THE POLICE on a record would have been just as hard to fathom, the end of Grand Master Flash, Melle Mel and the Furious Five's video for 'The Message' with a squad car pulling up and putting them into the back seat for no reason was probably a risky move at the time. Although six short years later there were five young black west coast rappers going straight to the point, obviously i'm referring to the legendary N.W.A.and that notorious track and nothing in hip hop has been the same ever since.

There have been countless incidents of police brutality proven over the past few decades but with minimal convictions on police officers and you can just imagine the amount that never get witnessed or caught on tape. This has prompted hundreds of tracks dissing the police by rappers who have been dealing with unfair treatment by their P.D. for years and finally had the chance to put their anger on record.


After N.W.A. released 'Fuck The Police' on 'Straight Outta Compton' they have been under close watch by the F.B.I. and Ruthless Records and Priority received letters by the assistant director of the F.B.I. Milt Ahlerich stating that law enforcement took exception to the the lyrics in 'Fuck The Police' stating that their lyrics are "advocating violence and assault" against police officers. Police departments around America were sending faxes to the P.D. of whatever city N.W.A. were touring and were forced to remove 'Fuck The Police' from their playlist. The group was swarmed by off duty cops at a Detroit show after chants of 'Fuck The Police'. N.W.A.'s 'Niggaz4Life' that sold 954,000 copies in the first week and hit no.1 on the album charts was temporarily banned in the U.K. Police seized 25,000 copies from Island Records before the courts refused to destroy the records and the police had to pay some damages to cover Island's cost to get the records back to the stores. Island then sent out letters to the stores informing them on the courts decission. I couldn't believe my luck when the copy I bought over the net from a UK store had the letter in the sleeve.


(Click To Enlarge)

There was the unfair arrest and conviction of the late Vallejo rapper Mac Dre who was sentenced to five years for supposedly being responsible for robbing a string of banks in his area (The Crest). The police were going around questioning young black men for the robberies and after Dre released a track called 'Punk Police' giving a shout out to the Romper Room Gang and dissed the Vallejo Police chief by name the V.P.D. and the F.B.I. started monitoring his moves. A police informant that told police that the two of them were planning to rob a bank was the passenger in Dre's car on a trip to Fresno and taped their conversation, between the unproven claims by the informant and the lyrics to 'Punk Police' Mac Dre was sentenced.


LA rappers Rodney O and Joe Cooley were arrested by Santa Monica police officers while being interviewed for 'Rap Sheet' magazine. They were ordered to stay down on the ground for 25 minutes and accused of fitting the description of suspected car thieves, as one police officer put it "Well, you're black, aren't you?". Below is the article out of Rap Masters 1993 wrap up edition with more information.


(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Ice T's 'Cop Killer' track off of Body Count's album caused a heap of drama and resulted in him leaving Warner. After 2 Pac left Digital Underground he was arrested for jay walking by Oakland police officers, they gave him shit for his name and put him face down on the concrete and beat him leaving a scar on his cheek he took to his grave. This happened just after he released a track called 'Trapped' on his debut album '2Pacalypse Now' with a video of DJ Fuze playing a cop gets killed. The incident did give him $42,000 after he settled with the O.P.D. (He originally filed a one million dollar lawsuit.)

2Pac also got into trouble in October '93 for shooting two off duty cops. He saw the cops harassing a black guy at the side of the highway in Atlanta and got into a fight with them and of course he shot them, one in the arse and the other in the leg. The charges were dropped against Pac when it came out that the two cops were intoxicated and using stolen guns from the evidence room.

On April 11 1992 a guy named Ronald Ray Howard shot a Texas trooper in the neck killing him after he was pulled over while driving a stolen car with a busted headlight with weed and coke in his system. Apparently Ronald was a huge gangsta rap fan that had hundreds of tapes at home and was listening to 2Pac and Ganksta N.I.P. tapes.


Ronald's lawyer Allen Tanner tried using that to win the case, completely blaming gangsta rap for the death of the trooper saying "The music puts you in a quasi-hypnotic state" and "If not for that music pounding, do you think he would have killed that officer?". Pac got interviewed by the defence lawyer in prison trying to use different things Pac has said in interviews and on records against him.On January 26th '99 Ronald Ray Howard was again sentenced to the death penalty in a retrial.




Who can forget the four cops who were caught on tape for beating up Rodney King on the 3rd of March '91, After the 'not guilty' verdict on April 29th '92 L.A. was a warzone and led to a few records being made, The main one that comes to mind is Ice Cube's 'Tear This Muthafucka Up' off the 'Predator' album. Willie D also did a Rodney King track on his 'Goin' Out Like A Soldier' album the only difference was his was a diss track to Rodney King who I heard was recording a rap album a while ago?

In 1994, C-Bo was arrested and charged with illegal use of a fire arm after stopping a fight by firing bullets in the air, the fight apparently was between two rival gangs and somone was killed that night. He served 15 months before being parolled in '96 but he was sent back to prison after being arrested for parole violation for having a firearm and marijuana on him in Cincinnati. He was then released again on parole on the condition that he doesn't promote 'gang lifestyle'. He then released the album 'Til My Casket Drops' and on March 3 was charged with threatening and promoting violence against public officials and promoting gang lifestyle, criminal behavior and violence against law enforcement. One of the main quotes that was brought up from the album was "When they try to pull you over, shoot 'em in the face, y'all" from the track "Deadly Game". The charges were dropped but still remains one of the only rappers that has been jailed over lyrics, of course X Raided remains the main victim of this.



HHC May '94

MP3's:
2Pac - Trapped
Ice Cube - We Had To Tear This Mothafucka Up
Willie D - Fuck Rodney K
C Bo - Deadly Game
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