Murder City Mob - The Criminal Type album review
This album was released on Darkside Records. The same label Dead On Arrival was on. MCM is from Flint, Michigan. MCM is Murder City Mob. The Criminal Type album was released in 1992 on cassette only as most albums and EPs were at that time.
MCM comes ruff and rugged on Loud And Foul which is more of a freestyle track. It’s all foul play on Loud And Foul. Loud And Foul was a track strictly for the streets only and not for the radio for radioplay. The group called MCM is considered to be “loud and foul” by police and local law enforcement along with citizens of Flint which is why the track is appropriately titled.
Gangsta Jackin' samples of Ice Cube - Jackin' 4 Beats. Gangsta Jackin' was strictly for the streets only. It's too hard for radioplay. Gangsta Jackin’ is a straight up gangsta rap track! The gangsta rap samples hit harder than a kick drum!
MCM comes ruff and rugged on Criminal Type. Criminal Type is gangsta rap meets early hip-hop type of track. MCM describes their actions and activities through criminal behavior. It described on the album that MCM is the criminal type.
The first side of the cassette should have been the Explicit side and the second side should have been the Clean side. MCM did release a self-titled EP after that they vanished as all the other Flint rap groups back then did. Other than that this cassette is very short as typical Flint cassette tapes were in those days.
4/5****
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DOA - Problem Child album review
This album/EP was released in 1993. DOA is 6 Feet (6 Feet Deep), Darrell Malone, and Loc Da Smoka. DOA (Dead On Arrival) was a rap group out of Flint, Michigan in the early 1990's.
This album has a bit of Old School flava to it with that Flint Town sound. (Heavy bass with gangsta rap and old school hip hop along with R&B/Soul.)
This album has a bit of Old School flava to it with that Flint Town sound. (Heavy bass with gangsta rap and old school hip hop along with R&B/Soul.)
This album/EP is SAMPLE CRAZY with Rock samples, Hip Hop/Rap samples, and Jazz samples. Even movie samples are used! Documentaries too. Think Roger and Me. All that good shit!
First song is Running Scared, which has heavy hitting distorted Grand piano notes with super hard bass. It's early in the morning and it's time to sell marijuana. 6 n da mornin' police on the dick. Now it's a dope raid. Time to leave the scene! Duckin' and dodgin' the 5-0. You get the idea.
Samples are Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love, Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive, Dr. John - Right Place, Kool and The Gang, and KRS-One.
The next song is My City's Going Down (Part 1). Samples from the Michael Moore documentary Roger And Me are used in this song. Flint at that time was gaining notoriety for a major violent crime center. Money Magazine had rated Flint one of the worst places to live in America in 1994. Ever since GM closed down their automobile manufacturing plants in Flint, Flint has gotten worse year by year.
Here DOA talks about how rough Flint really is with all the violent crime, drugs, and political corruption. Nothing in Flint is getting better. There's only 4 police officers to cover every 2 blocks. Over 30% of Flint’s population is unemployed.
If people would have taken more action and paid attention to what was happening with Flint, things would have been a lot different then they are now!
The next song is Look Whut It Dune To Me. Here Loc da Smoka and 6 Feet talk about how they got into doing drugs, drug trade, and the effects of drugs in general. This song samples BDP - Illegal Business and BDP - Love's Gonna Getcha. The bass is super sick! The end turns into a dedication track with a bunch of shout outs.
The next track is the title track Problem Child. Talks about how home is hell. No love. Born in the ghetto and raised in da guttah. Life's a mothafucka stayin' alive in hell as 6 Feet Deep put it. This shit is getting' ugly. It's not fair being broke for 6 Feet Deep.
Here 6 Feet talks about how the ghetto is a living nightmare. He makes a lot of references to his revolver gun. Loc Da Smoka was just a poor kid who never had much. Running wild through neighborhood and selling drugs as a problem child. Loc Da Smoka was raised to be a ruthless cold hearted individual while being in the ghetto. This track is killer!
The next song is I'm On My Feet. Here 6 Feet talks about the effects of poverty on children in the ghetto and what children will do to keep roofs over their heads. Such as selling dope, gambling, buying uzis, and using food stamps for other things besides food. 6 Feet talks about sniping niggaz at Flint Park in the dark. Really it's about Six Feet wanting to improve his lifestyle by selling drugs.
The sixth track is Cruzn which samples Juicy - Sugar Free, Eazy-E - Boyz In The Hood, Smokey Robinson - Crusin', and Zapp - More Bounce To The Ounce. Cruzn with da homeboys and puffin' dat ganjah. This is the last track.
5/5*****!!
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DOA - Marked For Death album review
This album/EP was released on cassette in 1994. More Rock elements are prevalent on this album.
The Marked For Death Intro samples Cristo Redentor by Donald Byrd and the movie Alien 3. The intro is super badass! It's about a minute long however. 6 Feet Deep had ventured into becoming a producer at that time.
To My Mafakaz is a dedication song which samples Zapp - Freedom and Zapp - Dance Floor. On To My Mafakaz, Loc Da Smoka refers to some rappers as "wanna be gay hoes" because he thought every rapper in Flint was trying to jock DOA's gangsta style which is what DOA was known for in Flint at the time. Now everybody wanna hit every studio.
On If I Wuz A Police, Loc Da Smoka (I'm sorry, Officer Loc) tells use what he would do if he was the police. Such as getting hydraulics for paddy wagon, free all the homies in jail, sell narcotics, ignore crime, arrest the real police, etc. Officer Loc makes a diss to Chief Woodrow Stanley. At the beginning of the song you can hear the opening intro theme for the TV show called COPS, which is called Bad Boys - Inner Circle. A Cheech and Chong movie sample is used also!
Ridin' High samples the song of the name by Faze-O. This is a track that only the true budheads will understand. It's a great track to get blazed to. Listen to this track when you smoke while you're ridin' high and rolling in your cruiser down the road.
Holla samples the smooth ass Zapp - Tut-Tut Jazz song. Holla is a track dedicated to all the true dawgs, ladies, homies, and all the budheads out there. This is a dedication track.
Another thing is that 6 Feet Deep dissed The Dayton Family for riding the DOA's dick. Yes TDF gets dissed on this smooth ass dedication track. Took-N-Bone always got love from the DOA. Project Born, BODK, Guttt Control, Quala D, B-Mad, B-Def, Tony Lampty, Anthony Jones, and Marcus Wilson all got shouted out with a handful of other people.
This song up next is My City's Going Down (Part 2). Samples from the Michael Moore documentary Roger And Me are used in this song. Here DOA talks about how rough Flint really is with all the violent crime, drugs, and political corruption.
Flint at that time was gaining notoriety for a major violent crime center. Ever since GM closed down their automobile manufacturing plants in Flint, the effect on Flint was absolutely devastating! Nearly more than half of the city of Flint is on welfare and food stamps. Crime in Flint continues to grow!
Survival is a reggae fusion dancehall track where 6 Feet goes straight up Reggae with a Jamaican flow. He's about how he lost his job, his wife, and his sanity. Here 6 Feet talks about the struggles of hustlin', starvation, and life. Living on the edge. Think early 70s funk and early 70s reggae! It would have been super crazy is Loc Da Smoka had a Jamaican madd ill flow. Survival is a Reggae track.
Payback is a diss song aimed at The Dayton Family. Payback was a diss track off of Marked for Death EP aimed at all of TDF. After listening to Payback, Six Feet Deep bragged about Shoestring in 1994. So did Loc Smoka. Loc Da Smoka rapped about how Shoestring used to drink beer, smoke dope, drive, deal drugs, and rap. He used to drive and now he walks. That's why Loc Da Smoka refers to Shoestring as a "used to nigga" and as a bitch. Loc Da Smoka dissed Ira Dorsey too.
Also DOA accused TDF of jacking their style. Loc Da Smoka dissed Ira Dorsey. Most rap groups from Flint were scared to diss TDF with the exception of Took-N-Bone.
What got me the most was that none of the members of DOA dissed Jake the Flake, considering the fact that he was popular at the time. Both TDF and DOA made money off their albums. Basically the TDF vs. DOA beef was neighborhood rivalries because Flint is a small town.
5/5*****!!
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Born Soul - Blacker The Berry Sweeter The Juice album review
Blacker The Berry Sweeter The Juice is a bit more R&B/Soul than from From The Beginning To The End album. Blacker The Berry Sweeter The Juice! was released on CD and cassette by Born Soul Productions and Musik Innovator in 2001. This album has a more dark mood laced on club than the debut album From The Beginning To The End. Blacker The Berry Sweeter The Juice is mixed with soul, R&B, and club music.
Black Berry Intro will remind you of the first bridge to Atomic Dog by George Clinton. The bridge and chorus are both funky.
They Not Ready is about how people are not ready for Born Soul. All you all the haters out there are not ready for Born Soul. People are scared of him musically speaking because he is ahead of his time. That’s why Born Soul is overlooked in the first place. They Not Ready is a track towards all the haters out there.
Ya'll Don't Know Me is a track towards all the haters out there. All you all the haters out there are not ready for Born Soul.
Let The Music Play has a song sample of the same name by The Drifters. Basically it is club music.
Night Life, Let's Dance, That Bounce, and Let The Music Play are club tracks. Optimistic, Regulation, Legal Pimpin, and Wegowayback are lyrical freestyle tracks.
4/5****
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Tweet - Simply Tweet EP EP review
Proceed is about wether or not Tweet should continue loving someone or not. The production as it is on point! The flute solo is quite lovely. The metronome in the background fits in perfectly with the beat and the drums. A smooth melody tune. In fact, Proceed is the 3rd most downloaded song that fans and other people buy off of the Simply Tweet EP.
Daydreaming is a beautiful cover of Aretha Franklin - Daydreaming! Her emotive, yet subtle vocal style fits perfectly to cover the romantic lyrics of Aretha Franklins Daydreaming song. Sorry is about falling out of love. Love is lost.
Way To Love is about searching for love. The Way To Love has that 70s soul sound with that new school neo-soul sound. The drum kits were perfect instruments performed in this track. Good choice selection on that!
Tweet shines brilliantly on the album's closing track Enough. On this song, Tweet tells us her story for calling it quits. She knew that her relationship ain't gonna last much longer. So it's time to move on the both of them.
Tweet should have not leaked the materials from Love, Tweet and Simply Tweet that way it would have gotten more fans to appreciate her music. She knew what she was getting herself into when she leaked her songs from Love, Tweet. That's why her songs from the Love, Tweet album was leaked onto her website for her fans to download for free in 2008. (Not trying to be mean or libel.)
Due to marketing, online leaks, emotions, and creative differences, Love, Tweet was shelved and leaked online. Which is probably why Love, Tweet was/is only released on promo only CD-r back around 2008/2009.
The songs that should have been on here were, Anymore, Remedy, My Dear, Cruisin', Love You More, It's You, Reasons, Priceless, Never Too Late, Alone, Addicted, You, and Procrastination.
As for distributors, Tweet should have went to E1, City Hall, CNR, CDBaby, Fontana, or Clout. Don't know why she didn't do that. Umbrella Recordings was not a good label for her. I don't see Grand Hustle as an option either. Tweet should have went to Truth & Soul Records as Nicole Wray did in 2010. Truth & Soul benefits well.
You see Tweet admitted that no distributors were there to take on and distribute her Love, Tweet album.
Her topics don't cover new ground. We've all heard this type of material before. If you are a devoted Tweet fan, this EP was not worth the long wait. But to support her, just buy this EP whether it be the physical CDs or digital copies.
3/5***
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Gina Thompson - Missing You album review
The Gina Thompson - Missing You album (if you want to call it that) was on Sunset Urban and Blue Mountain Records in 2009. All Missing You is only 3 tracks and 9 remix tracks. This is not even an album! All the songs are bad. Tracks 4-12 should have been put onto a CD single or vinyl. That would have been more appropriate than putting them on the regular album.
One can see why it did not top the charts for Top 200 for BillBoard. Missing You had charted #198 on the BillBoard for two short days and fell off. The marketing expectations for this album were way too high. The album sold piss poor in albums sales.
0/5Ø.
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Princess Kaos - A Woman's Point of View single review
This Princess Kaos - A Woman's Point of View single was released on Youngsta Records from San Antonio in 1992.
A Woman's Point of View is about what a woman's point of view was about sex, life, and philosophy. The first verses are very sexually explicit. She makes an ode the sexual position "69". It is all about the empowerment of Black women coming up. Very similar to Yo-Yo and her IBWC coalition from the 90s. (Yo-Yo and Princess Kaos are cousins for those who didn't know.)
Candy Fresh from Austin, Texas does the singing in the background vocals along with Kaos too. Kaos in effect! Samples are Jackin' For Beats by Ice Cube and Atomic Dog by George Clinton.
Princess Kaos breaks everyone else something proper on Break'em Off Somethin' Proper. Haters, lovers, fans, whatever. Princess Kaos breaks em off something proper about a woman’s point of view. Break'em Off Somethin' Proper is a sex song. Samples are Jackin' For Beats by Ice Cube and Atomic Dog by George Clinton.
5/5*****!
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