Tuesday, August 11, 2015

24 Hours of Triumph & Tears





What's happening folks!  Been a few weeks, but this has been a rather newsworthy week.  Unfortunately it hasn't all been good news.  It's been a week where we celebrated the return of an icon, but we also mourned the passing of a hip-hop bar-barian.  Let's start with the good stuff.

This past Friday marked the LONG anticipated return of Andre Young, otherwise known as Dr. Dre.  The revered and iconic rapper/producer dropped his first album in a whopping sixteen years with Compton: The Soundtrack by Dr. Dre.  The news that he was dropping a new album one week before the release of the highly awaited N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, most cynics were thinking "He hasn't even dropped Detox yet" or "I'll believe it when I see it".  He's had a widely known reputation for his perfectionist persona, thus Detox never being released.  However, it turned out not to be a hoax, as he provided an exclusive stream of the album on August 6 through Apple Music, and the results: WOW!!!!!!  This was an instant classic, one that was almost worth the sixteen years in hiatus.  It's like he never missed a beat.  Obviously he had to adjust to 2015, but it's like he reinvented west coast hip-hop yet again.  Plus, he assembled an all-star cast of people to join him such as A-listers like Aftermath labelmates Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, and new signee Jon Connor, as well as Jill Scott, BJ The Chicago Kid, Snoop Dogg, The Game, Xzibit, Ice Cube, and Marsha Ambrosious.  He also brought newcomers to the mainstream such as Justus, Raleigh's own King Mez (I'm seeing a NC/Aftermath connection as Mez made it on Dre's album, and Snow Hill femcee Rapsody delivered a blistering verse on Kendrick's game-changer To Pimp A Butterfly), Candice Pillay, and especially Anderson.Paak.  Tracks like "Genocide", "Talkin To My Diary", "All In A Day's Work", and "Satisfaction" are all standouts that continue to push along his legacy as one of the all-time greatest hitmakers.  However, it's the MONSTROUS single with the aforemtioned Anderson.Paak "Animals" that will cause the repeat button to malfunction the quickest.  Along with another legendary producer, DJ Premier (which is a production lover's wet dream in itself), they constructed the album's best highlight with the socially aware cut focused on how Blacks are portrayed in the media, "Animals".  Much like his prior two albums (the landmark Chronic and the equally monumental 2001), once you push play, repeat the only button pushed, not the skip button in the slightest.  Every song is patented Dre, and fits right in with today's standard of music, only it sets a new bar of musical showmanship.  What Kendrick started with TPAB, Dre continued it and pushed the envelope a little more.  It's safe to say that Aftermath has constructed the two best albums not only of the year but two of the greatest in the last several years.  Here's to Aftermath.  Now about that Jon Connor album...


Now for the sad bit.  Twenty-Four hours after this incredible comeback of Dr. Dre came the shocking and saddening news early Saturday that Brooklyn's own Sean Price passed away in his sleep, according to his wife who stated it on Twitter.  Within minutes, shockwaves were sent throughout the hip-hop community and boy did it hit very hard.  Not since the likes of Pun and Big L have we received news this bad of a passing (not that any passing within the hip-hop community is pleasent).  Mournful tweets and Facebook posts from the likes of DJ Premier, Talib Kweli, producer Marco Polo, DJ/producer Statik Selektah and many, many others have expressed sympathy, grief, and shock.  We first got exposed to the excellence of Sean P as one half of the insane duo Heltah Skeltah, along with partner Rockness Monsta, within the famed Boot Camp Click ensemble.  In '96, they dropped their near-classic debut, Nocturnal, which presented the singles "Lefleur Leflah Eshkoshka", "Operation Lockdown", and "Therapy".  This gold-selling debut marked the rise of BCC and the emerging star of Heltah Skeltah.  A few years later, they dropped their sophomore effort, Magnum Force, which didn't hit quite as hard as their debut but nonetheless spawned a riot-inducing single in "I Ain't Havin' That".  It was said that their Magnum Force album was sounding to mainstream, and not as gritty as the traditional BCC sound would normally incorporate.  Lyrically, this was still Ruck & Rock at their best, and the title for best duo in hip-hop status was gaining momentum.  After a break up with Duck Down, Rock went on his own to record with House Of Pain's DJ Lethal, while P-Body stayed on and became a solo act.  He released his rather dope debut, Monkey Barz, which spawned the single "Boom Bye Yeah" and officially put Sean P as a formidable solo artist in the game.  He followed that up with an even better sophomore album, the 9th Wonder, !llmind and Khrysis-produced Jesus Price Supastar.  The album was among the top of the list of hip-hop albums in 2007.  His third full length album, Mic Tyson, stands to this day as his best overall album, but also his highest charted album as well, with production work from The Alchemist, Evidence, Khrysis, and Statik Selektah among others.  He was also potent in the mixtape circuit with staggering mixtapes such as Kimbo Price, Master P, and Donkey Sean Jr., with his latest, Songs In The Key Of Price, dropping on the 21st of August.  In 2008, he got back with Rockness to put out D.I.R.T. (Da Incredible Rap Team) and it was met with very favorable reviews, and it proclaimed them as "back".  Three years later, he collaborated with Detroit mainstayers Guilty Simpson and Black Milk as Random Axe for their self titled debut, which was one of the best hip-hop albums to come out in all of 2011.  At the time of his death, he was planning for another solo album, as well as another Heltah Skeltah album, a collab album with Non-Phixion member Ill Bill, another Random Axe album and rumor had it that he was planning an album with Statik Selektah.  

As of right now, there's no official cause of death but regardless of what the autopsy says, we will forever miss one of the craziest lyricists of our generation and this is without question a tough pill to swallow.  Earlier this year the underground community mourned the loss of veteran Pumpkinhead so needless to say it's been a rough past few months.  He has collaborated with the likes of Talib Kweli, KRS-One, Wu-Tang, Gangrene, and Onyx among others and has really touched the hip-hop community with his often times hilarious wit and brutal honesty.  A mural was painted in Brooklyn for the highly regard emcee, and is definitely worth viewing.  As one of my top ten favorite emcees going, this one hurts a little, honestly damn near a lot.  I would put him in a class of bananas emcees that could control any track he was featured on and make it his just by voice and rewindable bars.  Much love to the Duck Down family and his BCC brethren, but deep and heartfelt prayers go out to the Price family, which consisted of his wife and three children.  We salute Sean Nice, P-Body, Ravishing Ruck Rude, all of those aliases, but we give nothing but love to the one and only Sean P.  Thank you brother for your talents and contributions to the culture.  May you and Pumpkinhead rest well, but remember to take part in the heavenly cypher up there too.  One time y'all...P!!!!!!

That's all for now, but come back with me next week for another blog posting.  Let's hope and pray for a better week.  For now, I'll leave a few Sean P cuts to show off his greatness.  Stay safe everyone, and prayerfully you'll ride again with me very soon.