Happy 20th Anniversary Salute: H.N.I.C.

What's going on happy people?! This twentieth anniversary salute goes out to an album that once and for all established this emcee as a seminal artist and mic handler during this time.  He was already one of the most in demand emcees around with his no holds barred, chilling delivery and vivid, tough guy talk rhymes.  Being one half of one of the most compelling and influential duos in all of hip-hop, Mobb Deep, he was fully saturated in acclaim already with prior albums like the unforgettable classic, The Infamous, its insane follow-up, Hell On Earth, and their breakout album, the double-platinum selling, Murda Muzik.  It was finally time for him to step out on his own for a solo effort, and this album reminded people of why he needed to be mentioned again of why he was among the true elite in hip-hop circles.  We salute the late, great Prodigy of Mobb Deep and his solo debut, H.N.I.C.

From the moment we saw that epic image of Albert Johnson on a throne of ice with the letters 'H', 'N', "I', and 'C' carved in to the throne, we knew another quiet storm was coming soon in the form of a solo album.  When the storm came, it dropped more fury with it.  We got a first taste of what we were in for with the thunderous first single, the Alchemist-crafted, hook-less banger, "Keep It Thoro".  P obliterated this single with lines a-plenty and bars that made us put P among the best in the first place.  The second single was "Y.B.E. (Young Black Entrepreneurs)" with Cash Money Millionaire and former Hot Boy, B.G.  The cut, which obviously highlighted being your own boss and making big moves, was heavily sampling Whodini's "One Love", but in all due respect to Whodini, "One Love" never sounded so gangsta.  These cuts set the way for what would be an excellent album for Bandana P.

Folks, P never softened his blow not one bit on this album.  While he was more of a thinking thug on this release, he was also his nihilistic best with tracks like the epic title track, "Infamous Minded", "Gun Play", and the ice-cold "Wanna Be Thugs" with partner in rhyme, Havoc.  These cuts are vintage Mobb and puts you at relative ease if you were wondering if P would loosen the pressure on your neck just because he went solo.  With contributors such as Rockwilder and Just Blaze providing some of the boardwork, some of the sounds on here could be heard on the radio such as the aforementioned "Gun Play", "Diamond", and "Do It", and you could add the knocking Bink-produced "Rock Dat" to the same list.  However, he gets painfully serious on a couple of tracks as well.  On the track, "Veterans Memorial", over a melancholy Alchemist track, he reminisces on those that were gone and how he's handling them all being gone.  Very surreal stuff, especially in retrospect.  It especially got real on the haunting track, "You Can Never Feel My Pain", in which he vividly details his struggles with sickle cell anemia and how the dreaded condition pushed him to depression and tending to drugs and alcohol to cope.  For anyone who either suffered through it themselves or those who knew people who has suffered through it (R.I.P. to my childhood homeboy June!) this was a particularly poignant cut that resonated.

For those that wanted a complete and fluid album from P, they got it.  This was a big time album and it put P as not just a sociopath with a fetish for guns and crime, but it also pulled back some of the covers to realize there was also a method to his madness as well as a source of his anger and pain.  For later solo albums such as H.N.I.C. Pt. 2, H.N.I.C. Pt. 3, The Bumpy Johnson Story, Return Of The Mac, Albert Einstein and his final; album, the much talked about Hegelian Dialectic: Book Of Revelations all demonstrated his profound talent on the mic as well as being quite the storyteller, it was H.N.I.C. that made it all official.  We all wanted to know how it would be like to do an effort without Hav, and we found out, and was very pleasantly pleased.  Nearly three years removed from his untimely (and very questionable) death, the game hasn't been the same without P.  His talent of the pen and his rhymes and knack for telling some of the most thugged out stories known to man are gone.  We lift our glasses, not just to commemorate the greatness of H.N.I.C. and its twentieth year of blessing our ears, but to the memory of the best emcees we've ever had the privilege of hearing.  He taught us what "Shook Ones" were, his put his lifetime in between the paper's lines, and taught us that there was a war going on outside no man was safe from.  We toast to the memory of Albert "Prodigy" Johnson.  Long live P.  Long live the Mobb.  Salute and rest in Him! Until next time folks!

Happy 20th Anniversary Salute: Stankonia

What's good folks?!  This twentieth anniversary salute goes to arguably the greatest hip-hop duo of all-time, definitely the most commercially successful.  These two Atlanta natives transcended hip-hop and made themselves pop phenomenons throughout their careers.  Selling over twenty million units combined. these two redefined how cool hip-hop can really be.  On their fourth album, they capitalized off the momentum of one of the most artistically brilliant hip-hop albums to ever exist in Aquemini, and came back with an album filled with funk, synth, soul, and plenty of hip-hop for dat ass.  This album also experimented with other sounds such as techno, psychedelic, and a bit of salsa to further expand their reach.  This effort also won them a Grammy for Best Hip-Hop Album and Best Rap Performance For a Duo Or Group.  This album still continues to age with grace and you still experience artistic and lyrical mastery from these tow guys.  Ladies and gentlemen, we salute Andre 300 and Big Boi, Outkast, and their stellar album, Stankonia.

According to Dre, "Stankonia" is a (fictional) place where "you can open yourself up and be free to express anything".  You can best believe when it comes to expression, these two do it as good or better than anyone else around, especially musically.  Since their classic debut, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, they've established themselves of wanting to be different, thus their name.  On Stankonia, they continue to separate themselves from the pack starting with their blistering lead single "B.O.B."  The psych-techno,heavy drum cut is as left brain as you could possibly get from them, and it works with the masterful artistic and lyrical abilities of Dre and Big Boi.  Complete with electric guitars, rapid-pounding drums, and deep basslines, this cut is high energy and contains enough juice to pack the floors of the club and still produce tons of sweat.  The second single wasn't as fast-paced, but was nonetheless momentous with "Ms. Jackson", an apology of sorts to what's assumed to be the mothers of their baby mamas, especially the much known mother of Dre's son Seven, Erykah Badu.  However, this obviously isn't where the greatness ends.  It just starts from here.

The next single was prototypical Outkast, "So Fresh, So Clean".  With Big Boi giving himself a lyrical kiss to his own reflection in the mirror, Dre spits about an infatuation with a woman, thus exemplifying their ever-conflicting, yet complimentary styles and visions.  Beyond this was more highly infectious cuts such as "Call Before I Come", "Spaghetti Junction", "Gasoline Dreams", and the excellent "Slum Beautiful".  With every cut, we see the southern charm, yet intriguing complexity between the two emcees, even more than we saw on previous releases of the aforementioned Aquemini and the stunning ATLiens.  Dre and Big Boi perfect their duality with the common thread of bringing entertainment through unbelievable music and at times substantial lyrics and concepts.  From reaching out to suicidal pregnant teens on "Toilet Tisha" to speaking of materialism and flash on "Red Velvet", these two continue to let the music speak for them by continuously pushing the envelope.  With other cuts such as "Snappin' & Trappin'", "Xplosive", and the knocking "Gangsta Shit", it's legit hard to pick out a true favorite, as each track is unique and has a life of its own, with Big Boi and Dre like mad scientists crafted an album that, although this album has unique tastes per track, everything here flows as roughly smooth as only Outkast can do it.

Outkast's string of widely successful and monumental albums would continue with the amazing Speakerboxx/The Love Below commercial and critical monster and the soundtrack to their own excellent movie, Idlewild.  Unfiortunately, Idlewild would be their last album together to this very day.  Big Boi has found solo success with his simply unbelievable debut solo, Sir Lucious Leftfoot, and his follow-ups of  Vicious Lies & Dangerous Rumors, and the intergalactic funk of Boomiverse.  However, Andre Benjamin and Antwan Patton created an album as succulent as a fresh pot of ribs with the skin falling off the bone.  With Stankonia, this is what down home dirty south sounds like with some Funkadelic mixed in on occasion.  This was quite the enormous album and still deserves the acclaim it's gotten over the years.  We salute Outkast and Stankonia.  With that, we lift our glasses.  Until next time folks!

Happy 20th Anniversary Salute: Train Of Thought

What's the deal homies?!  This 20th anniversary salute goes to an album that is widely considered among the true great modern hip-hop albums of this new century. This DJ/emcee combo had been known from underground efforts such as Lyricist Lounge Vol. 1, Soundbombing, and Soundbombing II.  The Brooklyn-Cincinnati pairing had quite the anticipation growing, especially once the Black Star project hit.  What resulted was an album that was as fundamentally hip-hop as it was culturally substantial.  We salute Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek as Reflection Eternal, and their debut album, Train Of Thought.

Fresh off the overwhelming critical success of his effort with Mos Def as Black Star, Kweli had the heads ready and open for his debut, and in 2000, it arrived.  He collaborated with longtime partner, DJ Hi-Tek as Reflection Eternal, and they brought Train Of Thought.  The album was first powered up by the thumping first single, "Move Something", but it was the infectious second single that put more people open to them.  The cut, "The Blast" was an excellent cut that even highlighted Hi-Tek behind the mic as well.  This was a cut that wasn't just for the fellas, as the ladies were able to do a good two step to it in the club as well. A great mid-tempo beat, along with great lyrics from Kweli and an introspective few bars from Tek made this cut a definite standout.  The majority of this album is fairly introspective, but also relies on Black culture, the community, ancestry, and the human spirit.  Cuts like the simply gorgeous duet with French duo Les Nubiennes, "Love Languages", "Memories Live", "Africa Dream", and the dazzling "Four Women" are so rich with culture and with self introspection that it's impossible not to get completely lost in them.  Kweli's ability to grab you, yet educate you is a gift, and it's vividly displayed all over this effort.

Kweli is also an emcee, and don't ever forget that.  Cuts like the Kool G. Rap-assisted "Ghetto Afterlife", the Mos Def-featured "This Means You", "Name Of The Game" and the lyrical slap-tastic collabo with Rah Digga and Xzibit, "Down For The Count" all highlight Kweli's excellent abilities to hold and control the mic, as a battler just as much as a teacher and poet.  These are more rugged tracks that Hi-Tek crafts more so than the melodic, slow to mid-tempo grooves that he provides on here.  Of course, there is the somber "Good Mourning" that gives the album even more of a reflective vibe as Kweli give a salute to those that have passed on.  Kweli sounds absolutely hand-in-glove over Hi-Tek production, as everything Hi-Tek crafted was seemingly very appropriate for the rhymes and delivery that Kweli was presenting.  This album was much cultural as it was day to day humanity, and these two pulled this off effortlessly.

Talib Kweli later delivered a thunderous solo album with Quality, and from there delivered other tremendous solo efforts such as The Beautiful Struggle, Eardrum, Gravitas, Gutter Rainbows, and Radio Silence.  As for Hi-Tek, he delivered three highly enjoyable self-produced compilation albums, Hi-Teknology , Hi-Teknology 2: The Chip, and Hi-Teknology 3: Underground.  All these albums highlighted the best out of emcees both known and unfamiliar.  As for these two together, they presented one more album in RPM: Revolutions Per Minute, which pretty much just as hard as their debut, but make no mistake about it, Train Of Thought was a diamond in the ruff, with highly thought-provoking rhymes, exceptional and consistent production, and a substantial, yet honest, look at the celebratory nature of the Black experience.  Not to mention, this was also just as much good ol' fashioned hip-hop for both club-goers and backpackers alike.  For this unbelievable album, we give Kweli and Tek a firm salute and raise our glasses! Until next time.

Happy 20th Anniversary Salute: Let's Get Free

What's happening beautiful people?! This twentieth anniversary salute goes to a duo who's debut album invoked images of legendary albums such as It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, Fear Of A Black Planet, Straight Outta Compton, and Steal This Album due to themes of Black empowerment, socio-econimic divisions, the education system, health/wellness, and of course police brutality.  After first making their presence felt on the AWESOME Soul In The Hole soundtrack for their track "Score (Game Of Life)" and the n again the enxt year on the Slam soundtrack with the stellar "Selling D.O.P.E.", it was time these two Tallahassee, Fl-turned-Brooklyn residents to deliver their message to the masses, and did they ever.  It remains one of the most underappreciated debut albums in modern hip-hop.  This salute goes to dead prez and their stunning debut album, Let's Get Free.

From the onset, you see the ever controversial cover art of the OSPAAAL Tricontental Conference, as well as the back cover art of a man who's back was horrifically decimated by getting presumably whipped.  You already have a sense that you know what type pf ride you're about to be on.  The key to m-1 and stic.man is that both emcees present militant and conscious rhymes that aren't overtly preachy.  In fact, they still bring some street elements to them as well, which makes this more relatable to those on the corners or in the prisons that want emcees that they can relate to while getting educated as well.  The intro alone is worth the listen, as it's a monologue by Omali Yeshitela of the Uhuru Movement ( do yourself a favor kids.  Research and Google the Uhuru Movement for a sincere education in African liberation worldwide).  From there, it transitions into "I'm am African", a rallying cry of sorts reminding people (Black people) of their ancestry.  We are pretty familiar with the sickeningly bouncy first single "Hip-Hop" and its message of not allowing these corporations to restructure the culture.  We may also be familiar with the hypnotic and slightly seductive "Mind Sex", which is an ode to loving your mate's mind as well as their body.  The rest of the album is as pro-Black and afro-centric as any album we've ever been blessed to hear.

The uncomfortable realities from cuts such as "Police State", "Psychology", and "They Schools" are unsettling, but they end up being such intriguing listens as they shoot right between the eyes with facts and images of struggle, socio-ecominc inequalities, and oppression.  Also, other topics such as media irresponsibility and mistrust on "Propaganda", the prison system on "Behind Enemy Lines", and how we're look at as savages on "Animal In Mind" are so vital to the central theme of this album of liberation and afro-centric education.  While an album like this would've been more iconic during the conscious rap period of the early nineties, this album is especially relevant in today's times.  This isn't fluff, sugarcoated material, or something to ignore.  What m-1 and stic.man managed to do was to grab you by the throat and knock some sense into your heads about how much further we as a people and a community have to go.  Over mostly ominous yet nonetheless excellent production, DPz presented an essential look at the world we live in and how it still really hasn't changed.

While they presented a couple follow-ups in the slightly more accessible yet still in credible RBG: Revolutionary But Gangsta and Information Age, as well as a few mixtapes (especially the Turn Off The Radio series), Let's Get Free remains their holy grail and the main album that presented their message with complete power and vigor to wake the socially and culturally dead.  In this Trump era, this album is even more important than it was when it was released for obvious reasons.  We than stic.man and m-1 for an album explosive enough to cause another red, black, and green movement.  For these things and more, we salute dead prez for an unforgettable job well done.  Until next time!

Happy 20th Anniversary Salute: The Marshall Mathers LP

What's happening peoples?! This 20th anniversary salute goes to a rather landmark album in not just hip-hop history, but music history.  This album is among the best selling hip-hop albums of all-time and made the entire world a believer in the talent this Detroit native possessed.  Following up his already massive debut from '99, The Slim Shady LP, which garnered over six million units in sales, this Aftermath signee knew he had to up the ante in shock value, but also in artistic and lyrical merit.  He did that, and then some.  This album won numerous awards, but also brought along with it tons of controversy from different artists, civil groups, and even the government.  Regardless, this album became a  milestone in mainstream American music and ended up selling over twenty million units worldwide.  Nothing less than historic.  This is the salute to Eminem and his sophomore masterpiece, The Marshall Mathers LP.

Following up the bizarre greatness that was The Slim Shady LP, Marshall Mathers wanted to unfold more layers about him, while completely getting a lot more stuff off his chest.  When he first dropped "The Real Slim Shady", we almost immediately believed this would be another SSLP, with its references to pop figures like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera and it being a fairly bubblegum-like Dr. Dre track much like "My Name Is" was.  However, the second single took a much more serious turn, as he dropped "The Way I Am", a venomous middle finger to his critics and detractors that seem to like to comment on everything they didn't like about him and he addresses them and their entitlement.  It was his third single that took his career and artistic abilities to another level.  The ominous Dido-featured "Stan" was a Mark 45 King masterwork describing the story of an obsessed fan that ended up taking his own life.  Playing the roles of both Stan and himself, this cut was as brilliant as it was dark.  It was also nominated for numerous awards, and helped propel the album through stratosphere (not to mention Elton John performed the cut with Em at the Grammys of 2001)  He released two other singles from the album in "I'm Back" and the simply dope "Bitch Please II", which was the sequel to Snoop's classic "Bitch Please".  Now, how was the rest of the album? In a word: CRAZY.

Em definitely had a lot more emotion, anger, and aggravation with this album.  While he was mostly focused on shock elements and bathroom/drug humor with his debut, this album was more serious.  He still kept a lot of elements of his debut, but as evidenced with cuts such as "Kill U", the very disturbing "Kim",  and the surreal "Marshall Mathers", Em wasn't fucking around with this album whatsoever.  He went to the core of his imagination and his pen game to present some of the most compelling music of his career in this release.  With an obsession for drugs, violence, misogyny, and homophobia (many argued), Em with many songs went there, and was unabashed about it all.  If trying to subdue any sophomore slump was his goal, he obliterated it in full.  Every cut here was filled with more intensity and more fearlessness than his first album, which is saying a mouthful.  It's no wonder this album turned him from a superstar to a megastar.

Although he released several subsequent albums that followed, including his almost as excellent follow up The Eminem Show, Encore, Relapse, Recovery, Marshall Mathers LP 2, and his most recent Music To Be Murdered By, The Marshall Mathers LP became the holy grail upon which every album from him would be put with or against.  None have met or even come close to measuring up to the god-level acclaim this album produced and how he asserted himself among the true elite of emcees and overall pop stars of his generation, if not of all-time.  Lyrically this album was head and shoulders above anything in the game during that time and remains one of the greatest albums to ever exist in hip-hop.  We salute you Em.  HELL of a job.  Lift your glasses.  Until next time folks.

Happy 20th Anniversary Salute: Like Water For Chocolate

What's happening folks!  It's that time again.  That time where we salute the twentieth anniversaries of certain albums that made tremendous marks within hip-hop and still sustain and hold up after all these years.  There were a number of albums that fit that mold and they will each be given a salute worthy of their greatness.  We will start with an album that brought this emcee to a new level within mainstream hip-hop.  His '94 epic effort, Resurrection, was a stellar album that really showed the talent of this Chi-town legend.  From there, he delivered One Day It'll All Make Sense, a very reflective yet very underrated album that further showed his knack for battling, as well as storytelling and just overall excellent writing.  He was definitely ready for the next level, and it came in force.  This album became his most acclaimed album up to this point and even brought him his first gold album.  We salute Common and his stunning 2000 effort, Like Water For Chocolate.

Common always tends to start his albums off with excellent first singles that focus in on his superior emceeing abilities.  With Resurrection, it was the title track, while with One Day It'll All Make Sense, it was the funky "Reminding Me (Of Self)".  With LWFC, it was the incredible collab with then- relatively unknown R&B star Bilal, the Premo-powered "The 6th Sense".  This thumping cut was conscious without having to be preachy, and immediately drew people in.  However, it was the second single that proved to be the moment that catapulted his career.  The Dilla-crafted "The Light" didn't just hit, it exploded.  The exceptional love letter on wax to presumably then-girlfriend Erykah Badu was an incredible piece that sampled Bobby Caldwell's "Open Your Eyes" to perfection.  This cut not only garnered him a whole new audience, but gave him his first Grammy nomination along with even more respect within the hip-hop community.  The rest of the album was just as uplifting, positive, reflective, at times emotional, but definitely all hip-hop.  Cuts like "Heat", "Dooinit", and the Bilal/Jill Scott-assisted "Funky For You" are just that: funky.  Instantly movable and able to put you in a good space quickly.  Before long, we get hit with cuts like "Nag Ciampa", "A Song For Assata", "Geto Heaven" featuring D'Angelo, and "Payback Is A Grandmother", in which these are very soulful, afro-centric, and at times moving cuts that exemplify what Common bases himself on: community, family, spirituality, and the ability to be united against prejudice and bigotry through music.

While his previous albums were primarily handled production-wise by fellow Chicago native, No I.D., this album was handled by a collective known as The Soulquarians, which was comprised of producers and musicians such as Dilla, Quest-Love, D'Angelo, James Poyser, and Karreim Riggins.  This album dabbled in live instrumentation more so than any type of sampling with he exception of some such as the aforementioned "The Light".  Lyrically, this was his most focused and most hungry since Resurrection.  Without question, this was his most cohesive and fluid album, and generally is seen as his most soulful even to this day.  We were even blessed with a remix to "Geto Heaven" with Macy Grey that was simply exceptional with different lyrics and a funky piano groove that easily rivaled the original.

This album subsequently became to the success of Common, with later albums like Finding Forever, Nobody's Smiling, The Dreamer, The Believer, his powerful 2017 offering Black America Again, and especially his 2005 masterpiece, BE, showing just how much of a legend he would become.  His obsessive of hip-hop and culture continuously has brought out his best and passionate work, and jut was Like Water For Chocolate that made people who may have previously slept on Lonnie Rashid Lynn before, but then became very familiar and even became fans of him as a person and an emcee.  With Like Water For Chocolate, his knack for consciousness and community was doubled down more than ever before and presented a legit classic that spawned a star.  To Common and LWFC, we salute you!  Until next time.

Happy 20th Anniversary Salute: Supreme Clientele

What's going on ladies and germs?! We have another anniversary salute to present and give props too.  This album has been hailed as one of the single greatest Wu solo albums ever.  Following up his debut, Ironman, wasn't easy by any means.  His debut, which relied heavily on Wu-mates Raekwon and Cappadonna, was a stellar debut that was worthy of being in very heavy rotation and marked the official arrival of Ghostface as his own identity within the group.  Then, this album came.  Complex, yet at times brilliant, and one hundred percent Wu-Tang.Easily rivaling Raekwon's treasured Only Built 4 Cuban Linx as best Wu solo effort, this album made him a star while Ironman had put him on the map.  This salute goes to Ghostface Killah and his sophomore album, Supreme Clientele.

Hoping to capitalize off the success, commercially and critically of Ironman, GFK wanted to have an album that was distinctively him.  At this time, The Wu was going in a downward slump of sorts, and this album was needed to remind cats who still ran the game.  From the onset of the first single, "Mighty Single", we knew this would be a ride.  Was it ever.  While heads were open off of "Mighty Healthy", it was the instantly hypnotic and infectious follow-up, "Cherchez La Ghost" that put him another step up.  Sampling the old disco cut, "Cherchez La Femme", this was an instant club smash that put the ladies AND the fellas on the floor.  Complete with vocalist Madam Majestic, this was became a notable Ghost classic.  The remainder of the album was vintage Wu, but definitely next level Ghost.  Blazers like "Nutmeg", "Buck 50", and the Juju of The Beatnuts-produced "One" encapsulate the star appeal Ghost was shooting for while still staying apologetically true to his origin.  However, there was one cut that remains among the brutal, yet unorthodox, cuts to exist within his discography, and that's the scratched record-looped, "Strokes Of Death", which is as menacing as you could imagine.  Along with Solomon Childs and RZA (who snapped on here), this cut is half rugged, half ingenious, especially in terms of the RZA-laced production.

What Ghost tends to always excel in is his storytelling abilities.  With cuts like "Child's Play", "Saturday Nite", and "Malcolm", he executes his pen game along with his imagination to  excellent craftsmanship, and reaffirms how gifted he is to be mentioned with fellow lehendary stroytellers such as Slick Rick and even his own Wu brethren Raekwon.  While Ironman was clearly a more gutter record, Supreme Clientele was the more star making record, and he achieved it here.  Lyrically on point even more than his debut, plus with less Rae and Cappa influence and co-hosting, Ghost was able to shine on his own for the majority of this album and was able to create for himself a standout album that was able to uphold the tradition of the Wu, yet be able to avoid the sophomore slump that Wu brothers such as Meth, Rae, and GZA had unfortunately endured.

Ghost has been named, by most accounts, the most prolific and consistent member of the Wu.  Later efforts such as his follow-up, Bulletproof Wallets, The Pretty Tony Story, Fishscales, and his collaboration with producer/composer Adrien Younge, Twelve Reasons To Die are all examples of the greatness that is Dennis Coles.  With his mask on or off, GFK officially took off with Supreme Clientele.  One of its most unlikely heroes to truly uphold the Wu flag, Ghost presented a monster album that remains arguably the biggest calling card of his career, and as incredible as his other projects have been, they've never been able to top this knockout of an album.  For that, we salute Ghost and Supreme Clientele.  Glasses up! Until next time.

Happy 20th Anniversary Salute: The Truth

What's happening folks?! This time, we salute an album that has been rightfully considered among the best, and most raw, debut albums in hip-hop history.  Brutally honest and insightful, this album was anchored by the support of Roc-A-Fella and his boss Jay-Z.  First shining through on The Roots' cut from Things Fall Apart, "Adrenaline", this gutter Philly-bred cat had the drawl, Philly swag, and enough authenticity to make him a very checked for emcee on the rise.  After paying his dues on albums from Memphis Bleek and Jay, it was his time to shine and he presented a debut filled with such unapologetic stances and images, it immediately defined him, and he became known from that moment as Roc-A-Fella's "general".  This is the salute to Beanie Sigel and his bananas debut album, The Truth.

With Jay and Bleek already carving a substantial niche within Roc-A-Fella, it was time for others to spread the lane for the Roc.  In comes Beanie, and with aforementioned projects and guest spots notwithstanding, anticipation was fairly high.  The first single to drop was the Kanye West-producer thumping title track.  The knocking two-note smash was just the right cut to introduce the world to how Beanie does it when the spotlight is on him.  From there, the follow-up cut, "Remember Those Days" with fellow Philly spitter, Eve, on the hook was a softer touch as he reminisces about better times in his life growing up including family and friends, those still here and those gone on to Glory.  Folks, this would be the last time on this album you'd hear a cut this non-hard on this album.  One particularly infectious cut is the Pac-Man video game sampled "Mac Man", in which he compares the street and his actions to video game characters in a truly dope moment.

While there were other cuts on here that could've easily resonated onto to radio and still present itself as true street cuts include the Jay-Z assisted "Raw & Uncut", the Memph Bleek-collaborated "Who Want What", and "What A Thug About", that all couple be bumped on the corners while not being ashamed if you heard it on the radio in heavy rotation.  However, we get a little darker and meaner with cuts like "Ride for My" and "Die".  The jewel of the album, on the other hand, lies within a track called "What Ya Life Like", in which Beanie very vividly describes life behind bars and what goes on within prison in such a way that you'll think twice before wanting to do things to put yourself in there.  Beanie unapologetically went for the entire throat for this cut and made you legitimately feel like you're watching an episode of Oz, only on wax.  This is one of the rawest cuts you'll ever hear in your life.  That's the thing about this album: this is a brutally honest album that contains no filters or chasers.  You take it all at one time, and often times the ingest won't be pretty.

While his following efforts such as his fantastic follow-up, The Reason, The B-Coming, The Solution, and This Time, The Truth remains the best album out of anything he's presented, and we saw the makings of a star with this unbelievable album.  Much like other classic debuts such as Get Rich or Die Tryin', Capital Punishment, and Life Story, The Truth brings you into his world, which is often filled with crime, drugs, payback, and hustling with such truthfulness (pun intended) and credibility.  Even the non-hard cuts on here are still filled with material not to go to the club and expect these cuts to play.  This is for the screwface hustlas. Hailed as one of best albums to ever come out of the Roc, Beanie established himself with The Truth as a worthy Roc-A-Fella mainstay and with that, we salute the general and his ridiculous debut.  Glasses up! Until next time.