Album Review: Group Home - "Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal"

With an album name like “Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal”, the infamous name of DJ Premier listed as producer and an album dedicated to one of the greatest, I had to check out this album. My love for the old skool is no secret and with the inspiration of Group Home's dead homey and Gang Starr legend GURU, I thought this one could be a banger. My only regret is that I bought it.

Sure there are some great tracks and there is definitely a grimy yet laid-back feel to the whole album, which is largely held up by its beats, production and rhymes. The delivery and flow of the emcees on most of the tracks however starts to get seriously annoying and made me question if Lil' Dap & Melachi had even heard the beats before they hit the studio. Some tracks for me were a total miss and I've heard better amateur songs on myspace that I wouldn't buy. I couldn't get with “Get out the Car” at all. The chorus is dull and monotone and the first verse is way off beat. “Ghetto Soldiers” would be a killer tune - mad delivery in the lyricism. Even Young Luchiano sounds decent on this track, though he struggles to keep up with intensity, flow and even his jokes. “There's no swagger like Young/ make them fuckers call me monkey off the shit that I've just flung.” Seriously, my 2 year old niece is funnier than that.

This awkwardness of the album continues until the end. “Up against the Wall” is just as bad, the delivery is off beat and sounds awkward at best. “Ear to the Streets” with Young Luchiano is actually kinda nice, as they reminisce on their thuggish upbringing, though the chorus sounds like Busta with brain damage. This monotony of dull deliveries seems to continue throughout the album until the track, “The Legacy" which features GURU on the track before he passed.

Perhaps motivated to sound good on the track with one of the greatest, Group Home deliver my favourite verses on the whole album. So why couldn't they bring this intensity and delivery to the rest of their tracks? I'm guessing they were rushed with their album so that they could be the first to come out with the dedication to GURU. NAS questioned the group's hiatus on “Where are they now” and although an answer none the less, I feel the group have fallen off a long way since their Gang Starr features and the 95' album drop “Livin' Proof”.

Group Home & GURU - The Legacy


Even though I enjoyed the laid back and old skool vibe of Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal, if it wasn't for the production and efficiency of Preemo and Lil' Dap's skillfull lyricism at times, this album would have been garbage.

☢ ☢ 2 Nukes

And now you know,
Ingers

Rapper Tag Rnd IV: FRAKSHA

Rapper Tag Rnd IV: The Nine High simile king, UK lad now Melbournite FRAKSHA smashes the beat! This is one of my favourites.

Rapper Tag Rnd IV: FRAKSHA with some hot bars.


Peace
Ingers

RAPPER TAG - ROUND II Urthboy

What up playboys and playgirls??

Elefant Traks legend and The Herd O.G. Urthboy himself blesses the mic with some lyrical love before passing it to now London lad Brad Strut!

RAPPER TAG - ROUND II Urthboy



Peace
Ingers

RAPPER TAG - DOPE Concept by 360

So this idea has been done on Youtube before and it's the best thing about having such a massive online community.

360 came up with a great idea to promo aussie emcees! One beat, one rapper then they pass it on. So far it's 360, Urthboy, Brad Strut, and Bias B just got called out! This is the first in the series...check it out!

RAPPER TAG RND I: 360



Peace
Ingers

My top 5 funniest rap tracks...

What up homeboys and homegirls?!

I was chillin' in Amsterdam at a coffeeshop today, when a Luuuuuuda track came on - Hip Hop Quotables. It's one of my favourites and is up there as of the funniest tracks I've ever heard. Sure most punchlines are cleverly humourous anyway... but this track is straight comedic fire. Which got me thinking - what are my top 5 tracks with the funniest lyrics in them?

It's Monday, so at the very least I hope these tracks brighten the starts of your weeks! Lemme know if you agree or disagree and make sure to hit me up with your favourite funny tracks too - add us here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Liquid-Lyrics/257706653944?ref=search

Peace,
Ingers


5. Sporty Thievz - No Pigeons. Most of you will know the TLC song that dudes made fun of here - "No Scrubs". This track was the rebuttal for the fellas...and funny as hell!




4. Biggie - Just Playin'. "I'd prolly go to jail for fuckin Patti Labelle/ ooh Regina Belle, she'd probably do me swell/Jasmine Guy was fly/Mariah's kinda scary/wait a minute, what about my honey Mary/the jeans they fitting like a glove/I had a crush on you since real love!" 'Nuff said.




3. The Pharcyde - Ya Mama. Old skool, but still funny as ever, is this track by these hip hop pioneers!




2.Ludacris - Hip Hop Quotables. 2nd overall and this track comes with more punches than a Pacquiao fight. but with an opener like "Hi, my name's Ludacris and I'm high as giraffe pussy" it has to be the #1 song for funniest first line of a rap song! Surely?!
Ludacris - Hip Hop Quotables




1. Afroman - Crazy Rap. One of the funniest tracks I've heard and it even has the video to match, this is shit talking at it's best! Afroman also mentions Australia in it, so he gets mad love back from me.

Video Blog - Dead Prez, Bigger than Hip Hop Cypher

Ok so I'm travelling. I'm bored. I have a MacBook Pro I gotta use more. A gang of lyrics I've written over the years and a heap of beats on my playlist. So this is the result - far from a perfect recording but a bit of fun and I hope you enjoy it none the less! :)

Album Review: Statik Selektah - "100 Proof the Hangover"

Sup peeps?

Twenty ten, 2K10, 2 thou plus 3 squared add one... whatever you call it is here! Will this year be as big as 2009 for hip hop however? I'm unsure, but so far, so good. I've been reminiscing recently, bumpin' some old skool Busta Rhymes and Naughty By Nature in anticipation for their appearances at Good Vibrations festival in Sydney next weekend - it should be NUTS!

I've also decided to start reviewing albums instead of tracks to give LL some direction. Albums are rated on their bomb factor at the end with a radiation scale of 1 to 5 ☢. The scale? 1 ☢ is not even worth getting paid to illegally download. 5 ☢ is so good it's worth picking up from the artist him/herself and paying in gold bullion. Easy.

I'm a massive fan of Statik Selektah so the timeliness of his third and latest album being dropped last week on Feb 2nd, aside from it being 2 days before my birthday (dopest present ever) was perfect for the first album I chose to review properly for Liquid Lyrics!

Statik Selektah - "100 Proof the Hangover"


I had been looking forward to Statik's new album '100 Proof The Hangover' for what seemed like an eternity after having a musical hangover from indulging in way too much of his last release 'Stick 2 the Script' as well as other mixtapes he has helped produce. Termanology and Skyzoo are just some examples of emcees who have a permanent place in all of my playlists as a result of Statik's previous album!

Despite the sample heavy nature of each of the beats, which I respect and usually enjoy, I was left feeling a little disappointed with the head-nod factor of this album on some tracks. Even with the superstar guestlist of respected and raw-as-fuck emcees that his albums provide I was left expecting a little more! I'm not going to lie though - my expectations for every track on this album were sky high based on the quality of Statik's last album and recent collabos with other artists.

Having got the slight disappointment out of the way, most of the joints are ill no doubt...the beats are spicy hot and the spits are colder than Antarctica before Global Warming. But that's what you should expect from an album with both the producer and the caliber of the artists invovled! Yet I was left disappointed by tracks I really had high hopes for considering the above. "Night People" (featuring Freeway, Red Cafe & Masspike Miles) did nothing for me and nor did "Do it to Death" (featuring Lil Fame, Havoc and Kool G Rap), which was weak considering the accolade of the artists involved.

The good news however is that the album was full of bangers and will continue to grow on you with each and every listen, such is the diversity of this album. The stand out tracks for me were: 'Critically Acclaimed' (Lil Fame, Sean Price & Saigon), 'Follow Me' (Smif n Wessun), 'Life is Short' (Consequence) - still love every Cons track I hear- and "Eighty Two" (Termanology) which is one of the lyrical highlights of the album.

My favourite of the lot however was by far 'The Coast' (featuring Evidence, Fashawn & Kali). The beat is crispy smooth but hard enough to make Busta nod his head to the track. Add to that the verbal genius of these 3 emcees with gems like:
"But now I'm on point like a javelin, way beyond battlin'/
I'd've stayed travellin, haters stop babblin'/
Remember this California's my residence/
All my peoples' dilated - just ask Evidence"

Check out 'The Coast' here:




Check out the track 'Critically Acclaimed' here:




Despite my disappointment with a few tracks, you'd be crazy not to get this album, particularly if you want to boost your knowledge of some of the best emcees in the game in the USA right now. This is because Statik's quality control is second to none and he always ensures he is working with the crème de la crème of artists. If you miss the days when hip hop had feeling, artists worked hard to earn a crust and lyrics had integrity, then you'd be loco not to buy this banger!

☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ 4 nukes!

Peace and love!
Ingers

Liquid Lyrics - Talib Kweli Inspiration

To compliment Mos Def we had to get a clip of his fellow Blackstar member at his best. Brooklyn-born Talib is one of the most respected backpack rappers because of his smarts which are both reflected through his opinions and his lyrics themselves. This clip is an excerpt from the Def Poetry TV show (which presents artists, actors and poets alike reciting original verse) and is a critique by Talib on religion. A very philosophical poem, I’ve often listened to this and wondered what the world would be like if everyone had similar values. As Jay-Z said on his track Moment of Clarity, "If skills sold, truth be told/I'd probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli”. I wish. Enjoy.

Liquid Lyrics - Mos Def inspiration

This is the video that inspired the Liquid Lyrics idea. New York MC, actor and political activist, Mos Def (one of my favourite artists) is renowned for his social commentary on the injustices and hypocrisies of life in the land of the free, USA. Mos is filmed here freestyling to a beatbox in front of an energetic crowd, who hold onto every word that he says. The complexity of his rhyme words, the humour and the similes that the Mighty Mos drops make this a clip a classic Youtube watch.

Liquid Lyrics website coming soon!

coming soon