Artist: Gang StarrTitle: Hard To Earn (CLASSIC REVIEW)Rating: 5 StarsReviewed by: Kidz In The Hall

Naledge and Double O, known as Kidz in the Hall, got the memo. All you need in this life of Hip-Hop is an MC and a DJ, respectively. Meeting up while attending the University of Pennsylvania, Jabari “Naledge” Evans, by way of Chicago, and Michael “Double-O” Aguilar, by way of New Jersey, decided to put their own stamp on the rap world. So before the comparisons of this latest underground sensation and Gang Starr get out of hand-for the record, their upcoming debut School Was My Hustle really is that good-AllHipHop.com had them speak their piece on why they feel Guru and Premier’s Hard To Earn is a classic. Why not, say, Step In The Arena or Daily Operation? “This is the album that introduced me to that format, to that sound,” answers Naledge. “Even when I went back and listened to other albums later on, none of them hit me harder.”

Word. Here’s the rundown:

“Intro (The First Step)”

Naledge: They introducing themselves like, “We about to show you what it takes to do real Hip-Hop”. That’s a bold statement to make. If you don’t know nothing about Hip-Hop, listen to what we doing.

Double-O: It set the album up perfectly.

“ALONGWAYTOGO”

N: It just makes sense. The song was trying to say you can spends years doing something and it takes somebody else six months, if they don’t really know what they’re doing. The beat is classic. To me the beat almost makes the song. That’s what I mean wit Premier being able to talk with the beat. A lot of times his production is what evokes the feelings. Whatever words he injects within the verses or within the hooks, a lot of times that creates the mood of the songs.

O: Because Guru, he’ll call himself the monotone emcee, Premier definitely tried to make it so the entire song came out without feeling flat, all the songs. With this song specifically, with what he’s talking about it’s almost like the tone that he has in the verses, it’s not necessarily a scary story but it gives you that type of Vincent Price thriller intro type feel that things are not all good.

N: Real eerie.

O: Exactly.

“Code of the Streets”

N: Production wise Premo murdered this. Guru did a good job in getting inside the beat, not trying to overpower it. That’s why Guru and Premier fit. Guru was being stylistic but he almost uses his voice as an instrument to get inside of the beat. This is a perfect marriage of their sound. Other than “Mass Appeal”, this song is the most memorable for me, on this album.

O: It was a done a lot back then, but particularly this song does not really have a hook. It’s a very quick break and then right back to what’s going on.

N: It lulls you in. It’s almost like how Phonte did that verse that didn’t rhyme and you don’t realize that it doesn’t rhyme until the end.

“Brainstorm”

N: [It] almost sounds like some old Ice Cube sh*t.

O: Yeah, it’s definitely that Hank Shocklee, wall of sound he tried to create out the box.

N: It threw Guru a monkey wrench. There’s a certain sound you expect, and this is not what I expected.

O: Records like this definitely help break the album out. Especially at this point, you’re talking about the third album, people might have been a little used to what they thought was the Premo sound. He’s done it again obviously with the Christina [Aguilera] album but it’s always dope when he just throws in that type of record that’ll throw you off.

N: A lot of Guru’s rhymes are stream of conscious to an extent. It’s not animated but a lot of times he switches from topic to topic but then he brings it back full circle and closes it out.

“The Planet”

O: From a producers standpoint, what I love about Premo is that he [can] take any two bars from any record, it didn’t matter what he was sampling from, and make a dope joint. It just goes with their album, you have to make sure you don’t get stuck in the same vibe. You don’t want to make a monotonous record in any way. This is another one because they’re using a folk sample and it’s actually slower than the other records.

N: This is like perfect background music. It’s one of those joints you might play in the office. You might hear somebody playing it. You don’t really notice it but it’s like the perfect meeting song.

“Aiight Chill”

N: Whatever happened to props? A lot of old records it’s like, “Yo this is Chuck D, I just want to say that so and so is dope as s###.” “Yo what up this is DJ So and So from Arizona and I just want to say KRS is the dopest.” Yo, that s### used to be dope! People giving you props on your records, that was some straight early 90s s###. “Ayo, this is the #1 soul brother Pete Rock…” [laughing]

O: People always think about the Native Tongues and that whole movement, but it was bigger than that. Everybody really, to a certain extent f##### with each other before the whole East/West thing. It was like the calm before the storm. People were just happy, I can make a living doing this.

N: It was still a block party vibe like, We all make good Hip-Hop. Everything has been so regionalized to where little s### like that, it’s like Damn, where is the feeling?

I identify with them too because they did the whole college thing and linked up through that.

"Speak Ya Clout"f/ Jeru & Lil Dap

N: This is the perfect album cut. They went from concepts back to just styling. This beat makes you want to rhyme.

O: If this was on the Wake Up Show right now, you’d have 16 MCs going back to back to back. It’s a gift for a real rapper to just have some s### like that, the beat will still come off as dope but the MC can just flow, period.

N: It was way more performative [sic] back then. Hip-Hop sounded like a concert. A beat switch up is the staple of a live show. You can imagine Guru and Premo switching the beat up and everybody going nuts.

O: Hip-Hop started in show form, and then came records. Now you don’t perform until you have a hit single, and then you just do some songs, then perform that single and the people will be ready for you to get off the stage.

“DWYCK”

N: Talk about styling Nice-N-Smooth! They said a whole lot of nothing and sounded really cool doing that s###. I think Smooth is the prelude to [Farnsworth] Bentley, the gentleman’s rapper.

O: This joint was a classic before it even got on this album. I think it was the B-side of two different records from the second album. [“Take It Personal”] and it was on “Ex Girl to the Next Girl” too. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you got into Hip-Hop because you brought an old school Hip-Hop CD or because you heard this when it came out and you was watching Video Music Box and seen them on the beach. You can be at a party in Malibu or you can be at a party at The Arc in Brooklyn, and everyone knows this record. That’s how timeless this is.

“Mass Appeal”

N: I don’t even got nothing to say.

O: This is just another testament to what Premo can do with a little bit of nothing. Premo defined what we think of the NY gritty sound, this is just another classic. Guru is able to rap on Premo records and still come off without being overshadowed.

N: It’s effortless. That’s why I f##### with Gang Starr so much. I remember in college freshman year you get stuck with people from different regions. I had kid from the Bay, a kid from LA, I’m from Chicago, and I was more into quote unquote underground, east coast hip-hop. It’s one of those records you throw on when you having song battles. A m########### throws on E-40 and the m’f*cka throws on Cube, I’m like listen to this sh*t!

"Suckas Need Bodyguards"

O: I love how you didn’t have to pose like you were the hardest, super gangsta dude in the world back then to comment on the dumb s### people do. It was way extra back then to have NYPD all around you and whatever. But again, it’s before 96, 97, after B.I.G. and Pac died…

N: Everybody scared.

“Now Your Mine”

N: A lot of people criticize Guru but he gives as much as slack as the beat gives him. Metaphorically, he’s pretty dope. For somebody today to listen to it they might not think it’s such dope metaphors, but people really forget what was going on at the time they made these records. If somebody were trying to tell me that they could put The College Dropout against a record like this I’m like you can try, but I just don’t know if in five years I’m going to listen to that record like I listen to this record. Everything today, it comes from s### like this. So it’s not even to point that record out saying it was bad or anything, it’s a great record, but it just shows how Hip-Hop has moved. Few people think long term now. They think for the big hit, the quick lick, get in get out like a robbery.

“Mostly Tha Voice”

O: From “Now Your Mine”, and now this, the mood is starting to change as you get to the end of the album. You start to get more of a, obviously he’s now more into the jazzy side, you got the upright bass sample, it’s starting to hit you now. You had your peak already with “DWYCK” and then with “Mass Appeal”, now it’s definitely going to be dope but let’s bring the feel down as we get closer and closer to the end of the album. If you were to end the album on a super crazy high point, it wouldn’t cover the full scope of what you needed to in trying to make a full musical piece.

N: It’s almost like an essay. You’ve got to have your intro, your body, and then your conclusion. Few albums really can accomplish. The artist always sees it like, “Yo, it’s so cohesive! This is going to change the game son!” But this sh*t actually accomplished what it was setting out to do. They came off as so, “We just doing what we do, what?!” We changing the game, if you want to listen, listen. If not, don’t do it.

“Comin for Datazz”

O: This is the last hurrah.

N: The point that was made at the beginning is being made at the end. It leaves you wanting more, to an extent.

Artist: Lloyd BanksTitle: Rotten AppleRating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Jamiyl “J Boogie” Samuels

The last time Lloyd Banks released a solo album, New York Hip-Hop wasn’t in “crisis”. There were no D4L, Dem Franchise Boyz, or a “Whisper Song” carving genres of “snap rap” or “intimate club music”, respectively. No one knew who Mike Jones was, and when you mentioned the People’s Champ, wrestler “The Rock” instantly came to mind. Fast forward two years to 2006, and the aforementioned sound of Southern Hip-Hop, from Atlanta and Houston in particular, has captured the airwaves and the minds of fans everywhere. East Coast radio stations flooded their playlists with music from below the Mason Dixon line. Sure, lyrical content wasn’t at a premium, but the artists were having fun. The result was a slew of hook-driven, dance-creating soundscapes that left artists from New York with a little hate in their blood. After one leaked album and numerous delays, Lloyd Banks returns with Rotten Apple (G-Unit/Interscope), primed to remind folks what crew controlled the game before his hiatus.

Listening to Rotten Apple, one can’t help but compare the sophomore LP to its freshman precursor. Where Hunger For More started off with the energy of “Ain’t No Click”, the new album opens with the subdued boom bap of the title track. “What a way to double up, headed for my second win,” brags Banks. On “Survival” the G-Unit soldier rides the track effortlessly, giving the listener a tutorial on how he learned to protect himself from haters: “Poppa was a rolling stone, never came back now I’m on my own/So I had to learn a few things ’bout survival like the ice pick gun or the bottle.” Blue Hefner doesn’t disappoint on the wordplay boasting that he’s got “TV’s the size of Kevin Garnett,” among other gems. Banks successfully switches up his style on the true school inspired “Make A Move”, and pulls Musiq Soulchild out of the Witness Protection Program on “Addicted”. “Help” shows a mature Boy Wonder touching on the prospect of settling down with a woman he can trust, a noble gesture from the man who claims to sleep with one female a day. With success, however, comes a tendency to get complacent and lose the fire in the belly. “Hands Up” and “Cake” are examples of stellar uptempo production that allows Banks to spit his best bars. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough of these tracks on Rotten Apple.

“Playboy 2” finds Banks revisiting the stop and go flow of the original. “These haters still won’t give me my props, I’m shocked/I do it for the concrete, the curb, the block/All I got is the street, my word, my c**k.” The song ends the same way as its predecessor, unfortunately the production doesn’t match the celebrator” tone of the original. Tony Yayo guests on “NY NY”, a slow moving Eminen track with equally unhurried rap from Banks. The high energy of Tony Yayo is sorely missed as he makes a low-key eight-bar appearance. “You Know The Deal” continues the laid back production theme, further disappointing in that Rakim, who is featured, only appears on the hook. Banks’ nod to the South “Iceman” is a sleeper compared to Hunger’s “Work Magic”.

There’s nothing like hearing an emcee spit bars with a purpose. Banks shows up to play, but he sounds too comfortable, a product of the production. No sophomore jinx here, but those spoiled by the energy of the first album might be left at a stalemate.

Artist: StimulusTitle: A Kings County TaleRating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Latifah Muhammad

On his debut solo album, A King’s County Tale (Sugar Water), Stimulus provides us with lyrical ear candy, by impeccably telling one story after the next on this 15 track disc. The Brooklyn dwellers album opens with “The Story”, a well-written tale of Hip-Hop, but disguised in the main character’s trials and tribulations. If you don’t listen carefully, you may miss the point, because each character, starting with Kurtis who loved “Blow” to the Doctor whose real name was “Dre” plays a roll in the life and evolution of a story of Hip-Hop. For Stimulus, and the rest of this strong album, telling his parables results in good music, period.

Explaining his name on the song “S.T.I.M.U.L.U.S.” the up-tempo beat infuses a xylophone and complements his straightforward, but witty, rap style. The song allows Stimulus to explain the difference between him and rappers whose videos are on heavy rotation on MTV, while adamantly proclaiming Hip-Hop is far from deceased.

With confidence in his rap style and his purpose in the Hip-Hop game (which is to, of course stimulate people’s minds), Stimulus shows diversity in his content. “The Middle” featuring Dionysos, the other half of the group Stimulus is part of, The Real Live Show, says that our generation has no great wars, no real suffering, and thus no purpose. But as the chorus questions our motives, the lyrics are relatable as they touch on the struggle of being a young person in America and dealing with paying back student loans, or riding public transportation to get to a job that barely pays enough to survive. But it’s not all serious as the song “So High” deals with his close relationship with the blunt.

There are a few tracks that can be skipped, though. “Move” featuring Spagga is unbalanced thanks to a crazy all-over-the-place Spanish hook that sounds like a bad trip on LSD while “Race Against the Sun” is a big band style song that fizzles. Still, A King’s County Tale is enjoyable from beginning to end.

Artist like Stimulus provide Hip-Hop with balance, by giving us music untainted by commercial demands and reminding us that lyrics are just as important as image. There are no catchy hooks or computerized beats taking away from his words. The music takes a back seat by merely becoming a backdrop for his lyrical excellence.

Artist: Zion I & The GrouchTitle: Heroes In The City Of DopeRating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Kathy Iandoli

The California independent Hip-Hop scene has been seriously slept on since the dawn of its inception. Whether inhaling the THC-induced sounds of the Bay Area or improving your swagger to the rugged LA street beats, Cali is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to gifted MC’s. Following along that vein are the dynamic “duo” of Zion I and the Grouch of Living Legends. Roughly a modern-day Gang Starr (Zion on the words and Amp Live on the beats), Zion I combines pensive lyrics over commercially viable production while Living Legends stand as one of the most revered indie collectives on the West. Combine the two and the result is a work that will quite possibly make “heroes” of the urban prophets in their pursuit of quality music: Heroes in the City of Dope (Om). An album of this magnitude could only be created by two acts with their fingers to the pulse of experimental Hip-Hop.

Heroes in the City of Dope possesses a plethora of influences, from the Simon and Garfunkel inspired intro “Noon Time” to the screwed hook of “The Faint of Heart.” The vocal diversity between Zion and the Grouch gracefully balances each track even in the presence of smart cameos like Mistah FAB on the hyphy “Hit ‘Em” and Chali 2Na on “Too Much.” Most of the production-work is at the hands of the talented Amp Live, with some sparse beatmaking by Eligh, Headnodic of Crown City Rockers, and even the Grouch himself on the treble-heavy “Open the Door.”

Of the many notable tracks on Heroes in the City of Dope, two dramatically live up to the album title. The intoxicating “Make U Fly” features Esthero flowing like honey amidst violins, snares, and electric guitars. “Kickin It” utilizes punk samples to create this tough guy boombap that’s completely hypnotic despite Zion’s eery vocal similarities to will.i.am.

Should Zion I and the Grouch succeed in bringing Heroes in the City of Dope universally to the masses, it will be a triumph for something that the West Coast has been soldiering over for years. Radio-friendly or not, it’s definitely an iPod essential.

Artist: Wiz KhalifaTitle: Show And ProveRating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Paine

Pittsburgh’s Wiz Khalifa is finally getting well deserved nods after a sparking grassroots movement from an unheard city and without major cosigns. Since his Big Mike hosted mixtape Pittsburgh, Pistolvania at the top of the year, Wiz achieved tremendous buzz and Show and Prove (Rostrum) reveals the studio work that transpired from jump leading to Wiz’s biggest press to date.

“Crazy Since the 80s” is evidence of Wiz’s ability to make a radio-friendly record. Using a “Hustlin'” format, Wiz brags over the beat that pays tribute to the 17-year-old’s generation. Records like this and “Stand Up” show Wiz in a light very similar to Juelz Santana and Cassidy. Numbing gun and pitching punchlines dominate the verses, but the swagger is top shelf, with music that keeps things interesting. “Pittsburgh Sound” is the one distinction, showing Wiz’s hometown in sound and lyrics, revealing an energetic prodigy that could likely exceed what Ray Cash is to Cleveland.

The beats are largely provided by untapped talent, which favor vocal and Soul sampling. “Stay in Ur Lane,” produced by Black Czer borrows generously from DJ Premier and Jay-Z’s “So Ghetto,” though Wiz saves the plagiarism with a faster flow than Jigga. Equally, “Gotta Be a Star (Remix)” mimics “Sittin’ Sideways” a bit too closely. The album swings between Southern elements and gritty New York album cuts. While the music isn’t always the most original, it’s constantly exciting. The beats aren’t throwaways in the least, but Show and Prove shows its street-album origins, without the kind of crafting that a major would give the project.

Not many street albums are worth talking about a month after their release. While the Re-Up Gang has nothing to worry about, Wiz reaches higher than the norm. “Crazy Since the 80s” is a runaway single worthy of consideration in any radio market. Equally, the recent high school graduate shows, and proves his worth in the industry with an album that artfully captures the attitude of the youth’s American Dream-money, power, and respect.