2pac – Me Against the World

2pac
Me Against the World
March 14, 1995
Out Da Gutta Records/ Interscope Records/ UMG
073/100

1. Intro (performed by Dan O’Leary, Debbie Hambrick, Jay Jensen, Jill Rose & Sarah Diamond) // 2. If I Die Tonite // 3. Me Against the World (feat. Dramacydal & Puff Johnson) // 4. So Many Tears (feat. Digital Underground, Stretch & Thug Life) // 5. Temptations // 6. Young Niggaz (feat. Killa, Funky Drummer & Moe Z.M.D.) // 7. Heavy In the Game (feat. Richie Rich, Ebony Foster & Lady Levi) // 8. Lord Knows (feat. G-Money, Kenyatta Forman, Killa, Kim Armstrong & Natasha Walker) // 9. Dear Mama (feat. Reggie Green & Sweet Franklin) // 10. It Ain’t Easy // 11. Can U Get Away // 12. Old School // 13. Fuck the World // 14. Death Around the Corner// 15. Outlaw (feat. Dramacydal & Rah Rah)

2pac is  the JFK of rap: very charismatic, inspirational and influential, surrounded by drama during his lifetime and conspiracy theories in death, fairly popular when he was alive but never moreso than after he got shot and killed in the public eye and, if we’re being completely honest with ourselves, overrated as hell in what he actually achieved in the realm of the living while nobody can say with any accuracy just what the guy could and would’ve done if his ending was less premature.
It’s not as though the man didn’t leave a slew of commercially and artistically succesful releases in his wake. In fact every album he released up until this one has already gotten a recommendation for a purchase on this website. But he never dropped anything as significant as Ready to Die, Illmatic, Reasonable Doubt or The Chronic and the almost god-like reverence many people had for him, the phrase “best rapper dead or alive” was dropped casually in one sentence with the name 2pac on a regular basis, in the late ’90s and the naughties was ridiculous. A lot of people held the opinion that not only are Brenda’s Got a Baby, Keep Your Head Up and Dear Mama deep and meaningful songs (which admittedly they are), but that also they aren’t at all at a contradiction with his more violent, misogynistic, homophobic and otherwise less socially responsible moments, most infamously Hit ‘Em Up. In other words 2pac could get away with pretty much anything on his albums and still be considered a martyr and a saint, so long as he included at least one thoughtful or pseudo thoughtful track on there. The truth is probably that while 2pac, a classically trained actor mind you, was one of the few people in gangsta rap who could deliver both conscious material and hyper violence with equal fervour and credibilty, there was never as much of a unified vision to it as his fanboys would like you to believe. He was just really good at setting moods, no matter what that mood was. And it should be noted that 2pac may have lived a lot of shit he rapped about, he had been in prison and he may not have seriously known or believed it when he layed down some of those vocals but he would eventually meet a violent death in the streets, but there was a lot of fiction in his raps too: He never seriously was a drug dealer for instance and it was sort of mathematically impossibly for him to beef with everyone he mentioned on 7 Day Theory, so Pac may not have been the realest motherfucker to have ever existed, he was however life sized.

Saafir – Boxcar Sessions

Saafir
Boxcar Sessions
May 10, 1994
Qwest Records/ Reprise Records/ Warner Bros. Records/ WMG
053/100

1. Grap the Train // 2. Swig of the stew // 3. Poke Martian (feat. Poke Martian) // 4. Playa Hata // 5. Pee Wee // 6. Battle Drill // 7. Westside (feat. King Saan) // 8. Worship the D // 9. Light Sleeper // 10. Rashinel (feat. Rashinel) // 11. Can-U-Feel-Me? // 12. No Return (Goin’ Crazy) // 13. Big Nose (feat. Big Nose) // 14. Just Riden // 15. Hype Shit // 16. Real Circus // 17. Bent // 18. The Instructor // 19. Joint Custody

Well that was unexpectedly boring. Saafir, a Digital Underground associate and an Oakland CA native, released his solo debut Boxcar Sessions in early 1994. It apparently has a cult status of sorts. This album is a combination of his own battle rhymes and awkward flow with mostly dusty, shuffling jazz drums, booming basslines, scratching and very little more in the way of melody. Every song on it sounds the same to such an extent that I literally can’t remember a single one of them for positive reasons, and I’ve just listened to this album three times. I’m a well-documented fan of all of Digital Underground’s projects so far but both the vocal side and the instrumental side of this album are underwhelming and pretentious, both of which could’ve been helped by adding some Shock G. Where the fuck is he at?

I would wonder why 2pac decided not to show up on this album but I can’t think of anything on here that he would sound appropriate over. There are many criticisms one can throw in 2pac’s direction but boring he was not.

This album was released on Qwest records which means Quincy Jones inked him a deal. Maybe Q doesn’t actually care about rap music and his only demands of the genre are for it to not interfere with his afternoon nap, in which case Boxcar Sessions achieves its goal nicely. Don’t pay too much attention to the lyrics either because when I finally forced myself to do so something apparently called Worship the Dick was on.

Boxcar Sessions is simply not very interesting and besides that, at nineteen tracks there’s much too much of it. Reviewing it however isn’t difficult, so at least it has that going for that, which is nice.

Best track
Worship the Dick

Recommendations
What do you think?

Digital Underground – The Body-Hat Syndrome

Digital Underground
The Body-Hat Syndrome
October 5, 1993
Tommy Boy Records/ Warner Bros. Records/ WMG
080/100

1. Return of the Crazy One // 2. Doo Woo You // 3. Holly Wanstaho // 4. Bran Nu Swetta // 5. The Humpty Dance Awards (feat. 2pac) // 6. Body-Hats [Part I] // 7. Dope-a-Delic (Do-U-B-leeve-in-d-Flo?) // 8. Intermission // 9. Wussup wit the Luv (feat. 2pac) // 10. Digital Lover // 11. Carry the Way (Along Time) // 12. Body-Hats, [Part II] // 13. Circus Entrance // 14. Jerkit Circus // 15. Circus Exit (The After Nut) // 16. Shake and Break // 17. Body Hats [Part III] // 18. Do Ya Like It Dirty? // 19. Bran Nu Sweat This Beat // 20. Wheee!

Outside of their small but dedicated fanbase Digital Underground is mostly known for being 2pac’s first vehicle on the road to stardom, for those too young to remember Humpty Dance being a mild hit anyway. That’s a shame because their post-Sex Packets discography is some terrific stuff. And despite sporting two Shakur guest appearances (one of which is on a skit) Digital Underground’s brand of party rap has little to do with 2pac’s blend of consious gangsta rap, Keep Your Head Up, and not-so-consious gangsta rap, I Get Around.
Even if the latter is produced by the Underground Railroad and features Money B and Shock G. The song has both rappers adjusting to 2pac’s stylo, and Pac even wrote both their verses. 2pac’s lone musical guest appearance on Wassup With the Luv? finds the DU in a similar situation recording what is essentially a 2pac song, a sort of less hopeful, more pissed off variation of what Marvin talked about on What’s Going On. But other than that the Underground remains less seriously, determinedly political on their third full length studio album than Shakur. This essentially a return to the good natured party music that was their debut, after dissing an unnamed celebrity for trying and succeeding at looking whiter to sell records on No Nose Job off their sophomore album Sons of the P.

Dr. Dre maybe known as George Clinton’s hip-hop heir, but Shock G and Money B would be much more fitting pretenders to the throne (No-one can truly succeed the George, especially considering the man is still alive and still active in music.)
Where Dre took George’s sound (as well as lots of blaxploitation, which no other critic ever seems to aknowledge) and mixed it with hip-hop, but completely ignored the P funk state of mind, in stead maintaining the gangsta rap lyrical themes, and the posturing that comes with it, that were the rivers and the lakes he was used to from his time in N.W.A.
Shock G however embraced the P with all of its silliness. Dre describes himself “looking like [he] robbed Liberace.” while Shock G once described himself as “[looking] like MC Hammer on crack”, which is pretty representative for the difference in mood between Death Row Records and the DU. It is probably for this reason that the DU was nowhere to be found on any Pac’s Death Row output, while they were all over his Insterscope albums.

On with the review: The Body Hat Syndrome, the concept the three title tracks revolves around, is every bit as silly as the Sex Packets of their debut. If the cover hasn’t given it away; It’s about a body-sized condom that protects the body and mind from brainwashing, mind impregnation, maleducation, the media and other, less abstract things such as the KKK, HIV, the LAPD, crack cocaine and television. Off course there is a serious, political message in there but that message is hidden behind/ diluted with the DU’s trippy fun. That’s the biggest difference between Shock G and Pac: Shock has his tongue planted firmly up his cheek most of the time while Pac is usually either discussing some depressing, dead earnest shit or having some juvenile gangsta fun (often both over the course of the same song. Pac wasn’t one for sticking to a subject most of the time. Especially on his later output)

The Body Hat Syndrome is a mellow, groovy, funky, flirty, sleazy, bacchian booze orgy that doesn’t take itself too serious but is bursting with confidence and is the perfect soundtrack of a house party with a bunch of kinda high, kinda drunk folks. It doesn’t demand much of the listener. In fact the less attention you pay to it the better it sounds. That’s not to say it’s bad, in fact it’s some great stuff. But it does mean that rappers Shock G a.k.a. Humpty Hump, Money B and new member Saafir aren’t lyrical rappers. They’re not about telling stories or dropping knowledge and in stead more about putting stuff that sounds cool or ridiculous in a loose, funky flow. Putting it under a magnifying glass is therefor somewhat of an exercise in futility as this album , except Wussup Wit the Luv isn’t about individual lines, verses or songs even. It’s about setting the mood. And that it does with verve.

It is too bad that the Underground never became as succesful as their most famous protégé 2pac. Arguably their music, while a little too off, psychedelic and funky to be called poppy, is a lot more accessible than 2pac’s activism and tough guy posturing. I guess that the fact that the DU and Pac are entirely different musical creatures helps explain why 2pac’s sizeable fanbase never ran out to pick up Sex Packets, Sons of the P or The Body-Hat Syndrome.
Oh well, I guess one can find consololation that their talent and hard work didn’t leave them entirely penniless, though nothing can be found on the interwebs about any gold or platinum certification they pretty much have to have some copies of their previous albums to be granted a third album by Tommy Boy records (although by that logic they must’ve sold null copies of The Body-Hat Syndrome because they parted ways with the label after this one droppd) and I’m sure their work on 2pacalypse Now, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. and Me Against the World really brought in the revenue. But today they are all but forgotten and it’s time to give their own albums some time and attention. Shock G, Money B and now Saafir, as well as their myriad of backing musicians should be better known and more acclaimed than they are today. Especially since this would be the kind of hip-hop that people who generally claim not to like hip-hop usually find quite enjoyable.
If you find a copy of The Body-Hat Syndrome or of any of their previous releases (even This Is an EP Release, though that one should be lowest on your list of DU priorities) you should take it home. It is well worth the cash. Also I’m sure Humpty Hump will apreciate it.

Best tracks
Wussup With the Luv
The Return of the Crazy One

Recommendations
Pick this one up.

2pac – Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.

2pac
Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.
February 16, 1993
Interscope Records/ UMG
070/100

1. Holler if Ya Hear Me // 2. Pac’s Theme [Interlude] // 3. Point the Finga // 4. Something 2 Die 4 [Interlude] // 5. Last Wordz (feat. Ice Cube & Ice-T) // 6. Souljah’s Revenge // 7. Peep Game (feat. Deadly Threat) // 8. Strugglin’ (feat. Live Squad) // 9. Guess Who’s Back // 10. Representin’ 93 // 11. Keep Ya Head Up (feat. Dave Hollister) // 12. Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. // 13. The Streetz R Deathrow // 14. I Get Around (feat. Shock G & Money B) // 15. Papa’z Song (feat. Mopreme Shakur & Poppi) // 16. 5 Deadly Venomz (feat. Treach, Apache & Live Squad)

“There’s no reason for a record like this to be released. It has no place in our society.”
Dan Quayle (vice-president of the United States of America) on 2pac’s debut album 2Pacalypse Now.

A lot had happend to the man born as Lesane Parish Crooks, but known to everyone and their grandmother as Tupac Amuru Shakur, since the release of his debut. There was the Dan Quayle controversy, which had the then-vice president condemning it for its alleged inspiration of the murder of a state trooper. There had been more controversy because a stray bullet had killed a little boy at one of Pac’s live shows and even more controversy because he had filed a $10,000,000 civil suit against the Oakland Police Department who had allegedly beaten him for jaywalking (the case was eventually settled for $42,000).

Controversy sells. And it did help sell nearly a million and a half copies, without getting much airplay but based on word of mouth (not unlike a bunch of Comptonites with attitude problems). I like to believe that people mostly bought 2Pacalypse Now because it was actually quite decent, but I’d be lying to myself if I did.

Anyhow, since it did sell well the sequel was likely to serve-up more of the same material, passive street narratives. In stead however 2pac gets on a soapbox much more than he did last time around. In stead of showing the listeners a glimpse of the life, times, trials and tribulations of young women growing up in less than pleasant circumstances in poor urban areas, the way he did on Brenda’s Got a Baby, he actively speaks to them and tells them to keep a positive outlook on life on Keep Ya Head Up. Rather than telling a Soulja’s Story he executes a Soulja’s Revenge.

And he even manages to have some fun with the hoochies (and Digital Underground) in the club on I Get Around, which he never did on his debut and which kind of contradicting his pro-feminist stance found on a Keep Ya Head Up, although the man himself would offer-up the explanation that these songs aren’t contradictory at all since he’s sending messages to different types of women. (bullshit).

These contradictory tracks would make for a patchy schizofrenic album on which each individual song would render the next insincere if there wasn’t some middle ground in the form of street narratives such as the title track and The Streetz R Death Row, on which he explains how the streets effect his mental health and induce both apathy and paranoia, making him the man he is today (with today being february 16, 1993).

There are more guest rappers on here than last time around. Most notably West Coast heavyweights Ice Cube and Ice-T drop by for the ménage à trois Last Wordz. Live Squad, the group headed by Pac’s homeboy Stretch, pops up on two tracks, one of which, 5 Deadly Venomz also includes Naughty By Nature’s Treach and Flava Unit’s Apache. Digital Underground actually drops in for some guest verses on I Get Around, which they couldn’t be bothered to do the last last time.

The production, courtesy of Digital Underground, Stretch and Bobcat, is tighter and livelier than last time around and even though there’s still not much in the form of complete hooks, things aren’t quite as minimal as last time around. But adding richness and swagger does come at a price. Strictly contains some better songs than 2Pacalypse did, no doubt. Both I Get Around and Keep Ya Head Up, as well as the middle finger-to-his-absentee-father duet with his stepbrother Papa’z Song being prime examples, but as an album this is less than the sum of its parts whereas its predecessor was much more. Strictly lacks 2Pacalypse‘s intimate confessional feel. Still, it’s hard to stay mad when there’s this much movement away from 2pacalypse without loss of quality (deliberately avoiding the word progress here).

Also, this album doesn’t have any true low points like Young Black Male or Part Time Mutha off his debut were.

All in all Strictly 4 My Niggaz is a more professional, more diverse but less consistent and less compelling sophomore  release of one of hip-hop’s biggest characters, and even though it’s definitely a stepping stone to the celebration of excess that would be come All Eyez on Me one shouldn’t hate this album for it, because it is pretty good regardless.

Best tracks
Keep Ya Head Up
Soulja’s Revenge
I Get Around
Last Wordz
Papa’z Song

Recommendations
Pick this one up.

2pac – 2pacalypse Now

2pac
2pacalypse Now
November 12, 1991
Interscope Records/ UMG
075/100

1. Young Black Male // 2. Trapped (feat. Shock G) // 3. Soulja’s Story // 4. I Don’t Give a Fuck (feat. Pogo) // 5. Violent // 6. Words of Wisdom // 7. Something Wicked (feat. Pee Wee) // 8. Crooked Ass Nigga (feat. Stretch) // 9. If My Homie Calls // 10. Brenda’s Got a Baby (feat. Dave Hollister) // 11. Tha’ Lunatic (feat. Stretch) // 12. Rebel of the Underground (feat. Ray Luv & Shock G) // 13. Part Time Mutha (feat. Angelique & Poppi)

Being relatively new to their work, listening to Digital Underground’s Sex Packets and This is An E.P. Release I couldn’t really see just how 2Pac fitted in with the merry bunch that apparently birthed his career. Even if he did appear on Same Song the man is hardly known for being a P funk enthousiast or a laid-back funny guy, rather he was known for being quite the angry dude who liked to start shit, which makes him and Humpty Hump like day and night.

But Sons of the P however showed a more politicised D.U. that namechecked Nation of Islam and dissed black celebrities trying to look more caucasian and did quite well at that, and Pac followed suit by rhyming about his crack slanging career on his guest verse on The DLFO Shuttle, stressing that he didn’t much enjoy that particular lifestyle but had very little of a choice but to do so. After hearing that song the pairing made much more sense.

Now I don’t want to be a dope man, listen
I didn’t have a dime, a nickel, penny, a pot to piss in
See all my clothes had holes and they fit tight
Pray to God cause it’s hard trying to live right
Waiting on the train can’t hang with the street gangs
Making me insane, putting rain on my whole brain
But the train means change to better thangs
Can’t live with the negative and ghetto pains
Can’t be late, can’t wait to get to where we’re going
Almost ten to four and I’m sure that the train is showing
But I ain’t sure where it goes, I don’t really know it
But I got faith, that’s all it takes to get to where we’re going

It is this mindset, as well as the D.U.’s updated ’91 dusty, swingless funk beats that are found on Pac’s ’91 Interscope Records debut album 2Pacalypse Now.

His debut is different from his subsequent work in several ways.

Strictly For My N.I.G.G.A.Z,  his sophomore album, included at least one celebratory radio single in the form of I Get Around. And on every single subsequent album release they became more prominent, aiding 2Pac in gaining radio actual radio hits, culminating in his Death Row debut album All Eyez on Me an album so bloated, single-minded, repetitive and overrated that it took some seriously brilliant marketing to sell it to the masses. For better or worse no such radio-friendly track can be found here. In fact hooks, the sword by which a radio song lives or dies, are barely present on this album at all. Even when R&B singers are brought in, such as on Brenda’s Got a Baby or Part Time Mutha everything remains raw, or at the very least meaningful and true to its creator’s beliefs.

Many of Pac’s subsequent social commentaries like the ode to single mothers Keep Ya Head Up, the ode to his single mother Dear Mama and the euology of his dead homies Life Goes On are much more positive than anything off 2Pacalypse: the 2pac found here is a rather passive and observative narrator of street life. Although he does parttake in the events he describes (by which I mean that several tracks he rhymes in first person, whether he actually did any of the shit he raps about himself I wouldn’t know) he doesn’t appear to have the idea that he’s ever significantly going to change anything and just rolls with the punches, doing what he has to in order to survive another day.  His tales are strikingly personal but not quite activist, mostly descriptive of events leaving the listener to draw his/ her own conclusions. On the album’s closest thing to a hit single Brenda’s Got a Baby he describes the trials and tribulations of an abused and impregnated ghetto girl, but never explicitly urges the listener to do something about it and “change the way we eat (…) live (…) treat each other” the way he famously did on his posthumous monster hit single Changes. It is this weary attitude that most separates 2Pacalypse from all of his other work. Some will say that he only mentions problems, and never comes up with any solutions but one must keep in mind that this is a rap album, essentially a piece of art. And the fact that Pac was just as clueless as to the solutions to these things which did really bother him, not unlike the people whose everyday struggle he rapped about, placed him among them, giving him credibility and sympathy other rappers lacked. After all 2pac was a musician, not a politician, and besides who wants to get preached to while listening to music? There’s an in-you-face subtle quality to this that most other albums couldn’t even dream about.

Most of these songs are pretty good, even if there are a few embarassments to be found on here. Young Black Male has Pac amateuristically speed-rapping his way through a not very engaging instrumental. Part Time Mutha, a prequel of sorts to Brenda’s Got a Baby, straight jacks Stevie Wonder’s Part-Time Lover in a rather lazy manner, with a rather generic female rapper dropping in for a verse, even if our host’s performance is just fine.

The rest is pretty damn good, with Trapped, Soulja’s Story, I Don’t Give a Fuck, Violent and If My Homie Calls being highlights because they flow tighter, have more interesting instrumentals, drop more profound knowledge or are simply better thought-through than the rest of what inhabits 2Pacalypse, and Brenda’s Got a Baby is hands-down the best song on here (It is considered canonical rap music for a good reason.) What remains is not quite filler but does run together. Given that this album stems from a time when albums were projects that were listened to in one piece, rather than bought off iTunes track-by-track, and also given that even the brainfarts are more intriguing than the highlights of most of today’s top rap artists “albums” this should be seen as a endorsement.

Here’s the thing. I’ve never considered myself much of a 2Pac fan, what with most of his die-hard fans being really fucking annoying pricks with a tendency of yelling things such as THUG LIFE and WEST SIDE without so much as a hint of irony, and All Eyes on Me (2Pac’s most famous album and one of hip-hop’s best selling albums in general), the only album of his I have heard in its entirety before I subjected myself to 2Pacalypse to write this review, sucking, save for five-to-ten songs (out of twenty seven).

But his debut is surprisingly entertaining and substantial, talking about real problems without our host catching a messiah complex, not mentioning THUG LIFE or WEST SIDE once, and it has effectively won me over and has me looking forward to going through his catalogue. Now, excuse my while I head for the yard to pour out a little liquor for the man (don’t want to do it here since I don’t want to make a mess in my room.)

Best tracks
Trapped
Soulja’s Story
I Don’t Give a Fuck
Violent
If My Homie Calls
Brenda’s Got a Baby

Recommendations
Pick this one up.

Digital Underground – Sons of the P

Digital Underground
Sons of the P
October 15, 1991
Tommy Boy Records/ Warner Bros. Records/ WMG
080/100

1. The DFLO Shuttle (feat. 2pac) // 2. Hearbeat Props // 3. No Nose Job // 4. Sons of the P (feat. George Clinton) // 5. Flowin’ on the D-Line // 6. Kiss You Back // 7. Tales of the Funky // 8. The Higher Heights of Spirituality // 9. Family of the Underground (feat. Stretch & 2pac) // 10. The D-Flow Instrumental // 11. Good Thing We Rappin’

Following the appetizer/leftover that was an EP release alternative hip-hop group Digital Underground’s sophomore LP Sons of the P, their second release of 1991 expands on the sound of their classic debut Sex Packets.

Although its very title is a rather literal admission that their sound stems from the movement started by George Clinton, who makes an appearance on this album’s title track, Shock G, money B and their extensive posse move away from the P-funk slightly towards something approximating more traditional hip-hop. Not to say that they abondon it entirely, in fact this may very well be the true G-funk as opposed to Dr. Dre’s early ’90s sound which in fact owed more to the blaxploitation era Curtis Mayfield and Isaac Hayes than to Parliament or Funkadelic. It’s not that the D.U. has turnt its back on the P, it’s just that the flows are tighter than last time around, Shock and Money seriously upped their skills and the beats hit harder than on their giddily, whimsically brilliant debut, which makes them somewhat less funky by default.

The subjects are more serious too, albeit in a tongue-in-cheek manner. No Nose Job may not be quite ment for literal interpretation (especially the part where some surgeon hilariously forces a nose job on a protesting Humpty Hump so that he may become a huge star), but it’s most definitely a much more profound statement than anything off Sex Packets, urging other black celebrities not to get cosmetic surgery or try to look less black via coloured contact lenses, because it might lead to black children growing up to dislike their appearances and think there’s something wrong with being black. On Hearbeat Props nation of islam, Malcolm X and Louis Farrakan are namechecked, and on The DFLO Shuttle 2pac talkes about having no choice but to sell drugs, and sounding like the thug life martyr everyone would get to know soon enough, for the very first time.

If the industry stories about how Digital Underground came into existence are true Sons of the P may be the album Shock G initially wanted to record, before he decided he didn’t want the Underground to sound like a Public Enemy redux. If Sons is an indication he might as well have done so, since despite some overlap in subject matter with Chuck D and cohorts they don’t really sound alike that much. Also the conscious, afro-centric lyricism fits Shock just as well as the sex-crazed humpty-dancing of D.U.’s debut album, making this experimentation with some new sounds quite succesful indeed.

Not that the guys have forgotten about the folks who bought Sex Packets. On the title track George Clinton himself gives his followers a thumbs-up, referring to himself and the D.U. as the sons of P, which is odd, because I recall him and Bootsy being fathers of the P, but whatever. Tales of the Funky is the moment that most recalls their debut, being that it’s a rather careless affair performed completely in P Funk slang (Bop Guns, Mothership connection and what not are namechecked) and Kiss You Back and It’s a Good Thing We’re Rappin’  are some vintage Humpty Hump sex rap, albeit the latter a bit more mysogynic and violent than I’m used to.

All in all, Sons of the P is a really good follow-up to Sex Packets, lacking highlight of the caliber of the Humpty Dance and Packet Man, but flowing better as an album, updating their sound and fucking around with some new lyrical themes quite succesfully, without selling their souls.

Well played.

Best tracks
No Nose Job
Tales of the Funky
Kiss You Back
Good Thing We’re Rappin’

Recommendations
Buy this album.

Digital Underground – This Is an EP Release

Digital Underground
This Is an EP Release
July 1, 1991
Tommy Boy Records/ Warner Bros. Records/ WMG
065/100

1. Same Song (feat. 2pac) // 2. Tie the Knot // 3. The Way We Swing [Remix] // 4. Nuttin’ this Funky // 5. Packet Man [Worth a Packet Remix] // 6. Arguin’ On da Funk

Sex Packets was some terrific stuff and left me wanting a chaser badly. This isn’t it. Although This Is an EP release isn’t without merit it seems mostly something cooked up by Tommy Boy records to make some quick cash by throwing together remixes, songs that may or may not be Sex Packets outtakes and a single taken from a soundtrack. While they were at it couldn’t they have thrown in the songs that were exclusively available on the casette version of Digital Underground’s debut album as well?

That said: This Is an EP Release is still hella fun to listen to when it’s on. The remix of Packet Man and Tie the Not take Digital Underground and blends it with Soul II Soul’s creating something more slick than you’re used to from these guys, to great effect.

Same Song taken from the Dan Aykroyd film Nothing But Trouble is also some good stuff with it’s electronic funk instrumental and 2pac’s atypically unthuggish blink-and-you’ll-miss it debut on record appearance. Ain’t Nothin’ this Funky hardly lives up to it’s title but is passable nonetheless.

Argiun’ On the Funk is Shock G and his alter ego arguing over a beat without so much as dropping a rhyme and doesn’t add anything to the Digital Underground catalogue, nor does the remix to The Way We Swing.

And then This is an EP Release is Over. With six tracks there isn’t much room for filler, but still there’s two tracks that are wholly inessential and one that walks the line. That leaves three dope cuts that might as well have been bonus tracks on Sex Packets or maybe Digital Underground’s Sons of the P. Considering that they weren’t this EP is still something every DU fan should check out.

Best tracks
Same Song, Packet Man [Worth a Packet Remix]

Recommendations
Beyond these two songs only real Digital Underground fans should spend money on this.