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Planet Rock(1)" is the best hip-hop song ever made. Even if it's become a cliche, it's more important than ever now that Williamsburg is threatening to ruin electro by making it a fashion statement. Roctakon likes to pretend that he likes it,...
expand review but that wimpy Depeche Mode soundalike shit can't fuck the real deal: bulletproof Arthur Baker drum machines and Kraftwerk synths with that gangster bass line. Bambaataa freaks the vocoded robot voice on the intro, and MC G.L.O.B.E. and company kill the raps and chants. Get on down, let your soul lead the way, shake it now, go ladies, it's a living dream, love like this! Or flip it over and scratch to the instrumental if that's your thing; it's the sure shot. -Ayres
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SPECIAL DEAL: Purchase this LP and get a FREE Stones Throw Fan Club
45 featuring two exclusive Arabian Prince tracks not on the album.
With the Innovative Life Anthology 1984-1989 Stones Throw takes it back to the 80's LA hip-hop scene, that special time...
expand review when gangsters were rocking a jheri curl and danced to the electro beat. Arabian Prince is the main focus here - the former producer for N.W.A. (Dre, Cube, Eazy - that N.W.A.) was definitely an influential figure in spreading that uptempo, sex driven, vocoder laced LA electro style though he never quite got the credit or fame as fellow LA producer/DJ Egyptian Lover (who actually gave Arabian Prince his name). This comp will shed some light on many of Arabian Prince's productions that may have been over looked in the past and hopefully give the man the credit and respect he well deserves as a pioneer. Check the heavy robo-funk on N.W.A.'s "Panic Zone(1)," the vocoder raps on "Freak City (2)," the freaky sounds of "Innovative Life(3)" and "Innovator(4),"
the quirky Prince-esque style of "Strange Life(5)," and the tough electro beats of "It Ain't Tough(6)" and "Professor X (Saga)(7)." Ten tracks total spread out on double vinyl. -snackmaster
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Mash-up is still fun, especially when it's produced well. "Disco Inferno" over(1) the Cure's "Close To Me" is very effective, especially because Aristocat re-arranges the beat to match the different segments of the song. You also get a super-useful instrumental version of...
expand review the track that you won't find on any Cure 12". Flip features "Make You Feel That Way" over(2) a loop of Chris Isaaks' "Wicked Game," pretty smooth. Also features the rare acapella to Queen's "We Will Rock You," for "extreme" mash possibilities (where'd he get that anyway?). -the mgmnt
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Man, there are some things I feel like I don't even have to write a review for. What could I tell you, loyal Turntable Lab customer, about A-Trak and The Rub boys that you don't already know? This has "no-brainer" written all...
expand review over it. A-Trak leads off the A-side with his blend(1) of Outkast's "Skew It On The Bar-B" with a modified instrumental from Kanye's "Touch The Sky," mining those tasty Curtis horns for all they're worth. Ayres & A-Trak team up for the useful "Mr. Collipark Breaks," and then Urrs takes it solo with Ying Yang and Pitbull's "Shake(2)" over the always recognizable Yaz sample. Cosmo Baker closes out the side with some more 'Kast(3), this time with "B.O.B." over the pounding drums from Bloc Party's "She's Hearing Voices." (Man, "Bombs" never gets old, or less timely.) On the other side, Trak lays Project Pat's recent Lab favorite "Good Googly Moogly" over 2 Live Crew(4), then laces "Tell Me When To Go" with Laid Back's "White Horse(5)." The final blend, with Lil Keke's "Chunk Up The Deuce" over Twilight 22(6), is uncredit – dunno why, it's pretty cool. Ayres closes the whole deal out with a quick Baltimore club edit of Corey Hart's "Sunglasses At Night," just in case you didn't get enough of it on the Roctakon EP from Money Lotion. (Psych – this Sunglasses EP has been in the works for a long, long time, so it's just a happy accident.) 8 tracks total. -Chris Lemon-Red
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This EP was released in 1994 as a reminder of how superior the Tribe catalog was. It was like check us out, we can make a single out of our album cuts and it sounds better than anything out there. It also...
expand review gave us the ability to play loud 12" versions of "We Can Get Down(1)" and "Clap Your Hands(2)" from Midnight Marauders, plus rediscover stone cold classics like "Footprints(3)" and "Verses From The Abstract(4)." -the mgmnt
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The single that fortified the three-peat. Damn these fucking basketball references. Includes "Award Tour" instrumental. -the mgmnt
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The fourth Tribe album from 1996 in its original double vinyl, pic sleeve format. This album is most noted for the rise of Jay Dee & The Ummah plus the conspicuous presence of Consequence. Like anything Tribe post-Marauders, this album sounds a...
expand review bit better removed from the pressure of the nineties and a little aging. Check out: "Get A Hold(1), Jam(2), 1nce Again(3), The Hop(4), Phony Rappers(5)" and "Stressed Out(6)." -the mgmnt
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This could be the most essential pairing of Tribe tracks on 12": "Check The Rhime(1)" backed with "Award Tour(2)." Extras include both instrumental versions plus the Mr. Muhammad's Mix(3) of "Check The Rhime." -the mgmnt
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How many of you bought Midnight Marauders on vinyl, opened it up to find some weak-ass piece of flimsy vinyl, then play it and hear one of the most quiet major releases in history?!!! You know you can get the young butt...
expand review meat in the clubs moving to non-single tracks like "We Can Get Down" or "The Chase pt.2," but you never had the vinyl muscle. They finally wisened up and pressed this baby up loud the way it shoud be. A gotta have. -the mgmnt
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I really lost my shit when I first heard this. Heads in the know tell you that this their best, most complete album. No weaklings, just solid beats and lyrics like 2 day old shit. Excursions, Buggin Out, Rap Promoter, Butter, Verses...
expand review From the Abstract, Show Business, Vibes and Stuff, The Infamous Date Rape, Check The Rhime, Everything Is Fair, Jazz (We Got), Skypager, What?, Scenario. -the mgmnt
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My favorite Beatnuts single, no mas. "No Equal(1)" is a paradox of styles, and it's beautiful. The Nuts come in slaying some of their best Corona gun talk, but the beat is far from rugged. It's that smoothed out jazz feel that...
expand review just seems like it was dropped from the easy listening gods. Add some smartly placed vocal samples ("number one, competition is none") and expert production technique, and you have one the most fascinating sounds to come from the era. So smooth, you probably won't even notice. B-side features "Psycho Dwarf(2)" the Nuts' semi-successful attempt at frat party track. Even at this apex of meatheadedness, the production saves them from sounding like the Young Black Teenagers. All important instrumentals included for both tracks. -the mgmnt
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The creation of these beats is what really hits me when I listen to this album now. Thick man... these guys have got some of the best loops anywhere here. Production values high with the vocals are strictly on some drinkin, smokin...
expand review blunts, shootin people and fuckin bitches type stuff. The difference between them and most though is that they make you laugh at the same time. Not only that, this is actually perfect for layin in the cut, beats so smooth it don't matter what they say. This thing got heavy heavy rotation from me in the summer of 93, and there's lots of favorites on here. Props Over Here, Hit Me With That, Lick The Pussy, Let Off a Couple, Superbad, Get Funky, Ya Don't Stop, etc. -the mgmnt
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Wow. New hip-hop that doesn't suck bear balls! Outkast reunite with Raekwon for something that's worthy of being referred to as the sequel to "Skew It On The Bar-B." Damn if Big Boi doesn't sound sixteen and hungry on the opening...
expand review verse. And you known Rae feasts on sinister crime beats like this (I would have pasted in some ridiculous Rae verse here, but the lyric sites haven't deciphered em yet... really, they have the other verses but not his). And Andre? Finally, people are starting to realize his top 10 status. Love the 12" vinyl here too with the instrumental and clean acapella. -the mgmnt
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Big L came back from some minor hits like "Put It On" to blow people out with this 12". Both sides banging with the infectious Big L flow that had become lyrically focused, spitting fire with precision. Street heat was generated. Suddenly...
expand review Big L was making one of the most anticipated albums in years, and right in the middle of it all he was gunned down in the street. Recorded at D&D, for that "get ya meat lumped" sound, Ebonics is one of the greatest if not the greatest songs about spittin slang. L breaks down almost every word that you and your Tweety-bird embroidered denim shirt wearing boys throw at each other after watching Boyz in the Hood. "The studio is the Lab." dirty, clean and instrumental. "Size Em Up" dirty, clean, instrumental. -the mgmnt
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1995... Even on record, Big L always sounded like he's was freestyling on the Stretch show, especially riding now uber-recognizable samples like De Barge's "Stay With Me" (aka "One More Chance") on "MVP(1)." Also includes the Summer Smooth remix(2), both instrumentals, and...
expand review the bonus track "Fed Up With The Bullshit(3)." -the mgmnt
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