Production duo Cecil Otter and Swiss Andy finally release their much anticipated Wu Tang / Fugazi mash up project. I was a little skeptical at first too, but this is really dope. You need a sample? Oh, ok.
01. Sleep Rules Everything Around Me 02. Suicide Surprise 03. Another Chessboxin' Argument 04. Ghetto Afterthought 05. Sweet Release 06. Shame On Blue 07. Slow Like That 08. Floating Lables 09. P.L.O. Squared 10. Nowhere To Wait
This next pick is one of the albums in everyone's top 10. All my picks thus far are probably rarely going to come up in someone's top 30....let alone 10. But these have all been selections that have meant the most to me. This is probably the one album (aside from maybe my #6 pick) that are highly praised by the masses. I believe it was one of my older sisters boyfriends that left this TAPE at my house back in 93'. I was only 9-10 years old, and was a highly influenced kid. Praise the Hiff Hof god's that He hadn't left behind Snow's "infromer". I remember first being drawn in by the angry, curse laden delivery. There was no album or sound for that matter that at the time sounded alike it.....
#2 Wu - Tang Clan - Enter The 36 Chambers
BRING DA MOTHERFUCKIN' RUCKUS!!! A 10 year old mexican from a So Cal hood was immediately pulled in. A 9 man crew from Staten Island put together a masterpiece by outdated and budgeted means. Nearly 20 years later, that release hasn't grown tired or lost any of its initial allure. The crew may have faltered and let ego's undermine the clan...but their first effort still stands on its own untarnished and unscathed over time. Here was a group of emcees coming together and creating music that trampled across uncharted territory. They did it the way they wanted and stayed true to themselves. They forced the project down the mainstreams throats and dug out a niche in for themselves. It's rare to get an emcee that is as hungry as the wu tang clan fresh out of the gate....LET ALONE 9 of them all vying for the same jump off verse on a song.
I remember the day this came out. I was a freshman in high school. I remember me and a group of friends went downtown at lunch break and all of us picked this album up. We drove around blasting this on a shitty sound system in a shitty car, smoking low grade weed. We never made it back to school that day. I'm not sure how it was for most other SO CAL 80's babies growing up, but the circle I ran with were all about anything WU. Which leads to my # 8 All Time Favorite Album....and probably top 3 Covers.....but thats another story.
#8 Rza - Bobby Digital in Stereo
Rugged Penmanship, Dirty Drums, Dusty Grooves, Strung out Synths, Psychedelic Keys & a KICK ASS cover designed by Bill Sienkiewiczs of Marvel Comics fame. What more can you ask for? I never understood the naysayers critiques on this album. Damn near 14 years later & it's still in constant rotation. From the laid back vibes on Love Jones to the absolute destruction spat on Holocaust (Silkworm). This album was a melting pot of styles. I pretty difficult task to pull off, it usually takes away from the cohesiveness of an album. But with RZA doing the production made that feat possible. Is this album my fav Wu album? No. But it's definitely had one of the biggest impacts on me.
