Black Hippiz - Life Sex Death album review
Black Hippiz - Life Sex Death is a hood classic among many Flint rap albums. Yet this has been the most overlooked album to have come out of Flint, Michigan. The album has some unique sound to its own right due to the production. Think electronic music meets gangsta rap and ghetto tech. Only its’ not electro rap from the 80s.
Thugz Get Drug has some futuristic sounds due to the foley and sound effects used such as a UFO ship and cell phone beeps. This song is a Black Hippiz and Selby Hood posse cut with 5 different people featured.
Gargamel discusses how he is a madman in a whole full of crack babies in garbage cans. He is the real deal pimp who fucks hoes high and low. He goes knee deep in the back of a jeep. Most niggaz want to be part of the dope game, but couldn’t hang when selling large quantities of cocaine. Stay true to the game.
Being in the drug game is not an easy task. It comes with difficulty. You always have to be on your toes to look out for the Task Force.
Fuck My Baby Momma deals with the usual baby mama drama people who live in the hood experience. Only difference is the song uses an array of sampled songs such The Isley Bros. - Between The Sheets, Boogie Down Productions - The Bridge Is Over, Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Starting Something, Michael Jackson - Human Nature, and Notorious BIG - Big Poppa.
The phone rings at the very beginning of the song. It’s Gargamel’s baby momma. By initial response, he reacts towards her in a disgusting rude manner. He reacts by saying “Tell her fuck her and her damn baby.”. He proceeds by saying “Fuck my baby momma!”.
Stupid ass trick. 9 months ago she used to be up all on his dick. Stretch marks are showing on her vagina. Now she’s acting like she got clout. Gargamel shanked in her the stomach and mouth. Gargamel caught his baby momma slipping at the corner store. She was out to buy some zig zags with a dime bag in her purse. Gargamel starts seeing visions of a hurst.
Back to reality. It could have been a tragedy but he didn’t choose to go that route. Fuck a blood test. That’s what you get for trying to play out Gargamel. He knows it’s not his baby.
The Joint has a laid back chorus with a mellow vibe. The song is perfect to blaze up a blunt to and get stoned. Although Cutt & Gargamel do rap on this song, it was Broomstick from Selby Hood who wrote this song. He was the ghostwriter for many Black Hippiz songs and Selby Hood songs.
The track Evil is driven with heavy bass that will rattle your speakers and possibly destroy them if set at a loud volume setting. The song discusses how evil is good. What stands out the most is the bass and percussion. It is wicked shit!
The track LSD is pretty much self-explanatory. LSD is short for Life Sex Death. Life, sex, and death are what leads to paths of destruction for humankind. The song explains the life of a criminal.
I Want My Cut is not a posse cut unlike the other songs that are on this Black Hippiz album. It is a solo performed by Cutt.
City Slickers is a Black Hippiz posse cut with Cutt & Gargamel. Cutt wrote the entire song.
4/5****!
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Black Hippiz - Dead Rezidentz album review
Black Hippiz - Dead Rezidentz is a hood classic among many Flint rap albums. Yet this has been the most overlooked album to have come out of Flint, Michigan. Despite being on a national record label, the group got overlooked. The album has some unique sound to its own right due to the production. Think electronic music meets gangsta rap and ghetto tech. Only its’ not electro rap from the 80s. The production is what really stands out on this Black Hippiz album the most. The album has nice production value in it. Dead Rezidentz is an album you do not want to sleep on or miss out on listening to.
Now Triad Records was their record label and their distributor they were signed to. Triad Records went bankrupt in 1999 causing the group to be independent again. This led to the label to cease promoting the album and stopped pressing up copies. Now if Triad Records had not went bankrupt, then Black Hippiz would have achieved the same status as Spice 1 when he was signed to their label in 1989.
I Gotta Tellie is about Gargamel’s experiences and tales in the drug game as a drug dealer. The chorus has a catchy verse which is: I gotta tell and I won’t tell. That chorus verse will stick in your head for years on end which is what makes this song stand out the most from the other songs on this Black Hippiz album.
Gargamel won’t tell if you won’t tell. This is explained at the very beginning of the song. So keep it strictly on the down and keep hush hush.
Gargamel works odd jobs just to stay alive. He killed a guy with a glock .45. Another man then made a transaction way up north with him, Gargamel came up short. He sent mail to someone he owed money to. People were sent after Gargamel because he smoked their weed. Fuck them because he has more mail. Gargamel’s gotta tellie and he won’t tell.
25 bullets came spraying thru his windshield. Whoever it was wanted Gargamel dead for a bad drug deal. It was a drug deal gone wrong which led to his kids being kidnapped. Now it’s time to split some wigs. Gargamel killed a couple of federal agents and some undercover police officers. Other drug dealers shot at all his soldiers in a trap house on the Southside of Flint. Now Gargamel is having visions of bodybags and bloody rags.
Gargamel is the self-proclaimed Selby Hood rap star. He comes himself to Bruce Lee. He is the triple beam king. Fuck an Arab if he owns them mail because Gargamel’s gotta tellie and he won’t tell.
Thugz Get Drug has some futuristic sounds due to the foley and sound effects used such as a UFO ship and cell phone beeps. This song is a Black Hippiz and Selby Hood posse cut with 5 different people featured.
Gargamel discusses how he is a madman in a whole full of crack babies in garbage cans. He is the real deal pimp who fucks hoes high and low. He goes knee deep in the back of a jeep. Most niggaz want to be part of the dope game, but couldn’t hang when selling large quantities of cocaine. Stay true to the game.
Being in the drug game is not an easy task. It comes with difficulty. You always have to be on your toes to look out for the Task Force.
Fuck Em samples Missy Elliott - Hit Em Wit Da Hee. Mix the sounds of pop rap, ghetto tech, and horrorcore, the results end up being this song. The guitar notes give off a horrorcore sound. The group highlights an aggressive approach on the mic.
Fuck Em is aimed towards people who hated on Black Hippiz and Selby Hood from the beginning, but now want to be down with them. They ask them where their next spot their groups are going to rock are. When Black Hippiz and Selby Hood dropped their albums, they never left Flint meaning their album were not distributed nationally.
Shit Don’t Stop was recorded in 1997 by Garamel. He brags about his own riches and independence on this song. At that time, Gargamel was making $100,000 a week! He has had dreams of becoming rich. He is the triple beam king. Gargamel is taking his success to the top with this song.
Murder Ride features acid rap legend Esham. The song is very Esham inspired as it has a spooky horrorcore sound and vibe to it. The looped sample of a woman screaming helps give the song a horrorcore vibe. Noticeably at the end of the song is where the tempo and pitch change by playing downscale.
City Slickers is a Black Hippiz posse cut with Cutt & Gargamel. Cutt wrote the entire song.
5/5*****!
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BOS - Da Mic Terrorist EP EP review
BOS - Da Mic Terrorist EP is a forgotten product of Cleveland hip hop. This EP has that early 90s hip hop sound included. The EP has a low quality production sound to it thanks to its thin beats. Many people slept on BOS back in the day. They were overshadowed due to the rising success of Bone Enterprise, Southpaw, and K Chill. The song discusses getting paid by prostitution. In fact, BOS is very much similar to Brothers 4 The Struggle, Raw Ice, K Chill, Southpaw, and MC Chill.
This EP was mostly hip hop and not all rap. By the time BOS released this EP in 1992, gangsta rap was on the rise and hip hop was being phased out. That is why not many people know or are aware of this EP. Society’s change in musical direction when the EP to be overlooked and overshadowed.
Da Bona (Da Boner) is an original Ohio groove with a Cleveland killer touch. The tempo to this song is slow. The track is ice cold. Rugged and rough but still smooth. The song uses thin beats, a rhythmic percussion selection, a small array of guitars, and a bass line.
Da Bona was a buzz single that made the group an underground hit in the Cleveland scene. Yet they were overshadowed due to the rising success of Bone Enterprise, Southpaw, and K Chill. The song discusses getting paid by prostitution.
Alert! A mic terrorist is about to attack. So take cover immediately. On Mic Terrorist, BOS explains to the listeners how the audience demands the group BOS. BOS kicks it straight to us lyrically on the mic by using rap lyrics. Reggae meets hip hop music on Mic Terrorist. Mic Terrorist has a live feel with a Cleveland killer touch.
Mic Terrorist was another hit that made the group an underground hit in the Cleveland scene back in the early 90s such as the song Da Bona. Mic Terrorist was another song which success reached the same heights as Da Bona.
N My Neighborhood is a hip hop song that uses a touch of soul, blues, and rap by sampling different songs. N My Neighborhood samples Bobby Bland - Ain’t No Love, Brothers Johnson - Strawberry Letter #23, and E.U. - Da Butt. BOS talks about how things are in their neighborhood. BOS discusses issues such as gambling, violence, and crime.
A live news broadcast regarding a shooting is played at the very beginning with sirens in the background. The 6th District Police have been put on alert. It was a shooting of gang members in the area. 20 seconds later, the song transitions to BOS. BOS gives us listener(s) the 411 on East 102nd Street, Cleveland, Ohio, US. You’ll meet friends and a handful of enemies. East 102nd Street is home to high rollers.
Plumb Stupid is a diss track that is aimed at these watered down gangsta rappers. BOS gives us originality on this track. Both members rap with such pose and grace.
4/5****!
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INOJ - Ready For The World album review
The debut and only album from long lost pop star INOJ (pronounced I know J) covers songs from contemporary R&B artists and groups such as Ready For The World (RFTW), Anita Ward, and Cyndi Lauper. A portion of this album is cover songs. The mood of this album is sweet and passionate with a pop touch. The beats and lyrics are super catchy. INOJ's sweet, sensual vocals blend in well with the catchy beats making want you to listen to her more. Soul meets bass music with pop ballads. This album is a must have for anyone who loves 90’s music! Music from the 90s was some of the best of all time.
The album was released in 1999, but was not released in the United States. It was not released in the United States because her music was selling higher in other countries such as Indonesia, Japan, and Germany. Her music sold to different countries as a business move and marketing tactic by her record company. At first it was specifically Japan.
Columbia Records and So So Def dropped the ball by failing to promote INOJ (Ayanna Porter) properly back in 1998. Instead Columbia released the album outside of the United States. It is truly a shame that INOJ did not prosper under Columbia as they had a star on their hands. She was a musical phenomenon back in her day with two hits that established her as a true singing sensation. For some reason the album went largely unnoticed. Thankfully the album has been released digitally thus being available for all to stream across the world. So at least they got that part right.
INOJ released a cover version of Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time under Columbia Records in 1998 as a single which was produced by Lil Jon. The song was a radio hit back! It was played everywhere back in 1998 due to its dance pop sound.
However this cover version of Time After Time is much more uptempo meaning that this version is 132 BPM with a time signature of 4|4. Time After Time was produced using 808s and 404s. Not no 808’s and heartbreaks.
The organ used gives the song a holy religious feel to it with angelic guitar notes for backing the dance pop vibe and sound.
This version of Time After Time has a different breakdown in terms of lyrics. But some of the lyrics were retained from the original version. Read the breakdown below.:
[Breakdown]
And you say, go slow
I fall behind
The 808's on time
There is something nostalgic about Time After Time. This is a type of song that will remind you of your childhood, high school, or the college years. So it brings back a lot of memories to many people.
The single went from selling just a few thousand copies from being certified gold by the RIAA in just weeks back in 1998. The song was a top charting hit in several countries. For example, Time After Time was a Billboard Top 10 hit in the United States (#6), Canada (#7), and New Zealand (#10). Radio stations played the hell out of Love You Down in Atlanta, Georgia.
Love You Down is a cover song of Ready For The World - Love You Down except this version is a lot more upbeat and fast paced than the original. The Miami bass and Atlanta crunk beats add a new spark of energy to the mix.
Her cover of Love You Down went viral before going viral was even a thing. This was during a time when social media didn’t exist. It was due to DJs supporting her music and playing it on the radio in the United States that her first two singles were a breakout success. The song was a top charting hit in several countries. INOJ followed the success of Time After Time with a re-make of Ready For The World - Love You Down. Radio stations played the hell out of Love You Down and her Time After Time cover in Atlanta, Georgia.
There is something nostalgic about Love You Down. This is a type of song that will remind you of your childhood, high school, or the college years. So it brings back a lot of memories to many people. INOJ's version so good that it beats the original version straight out of the water! There's no doubt both the song and the singer are ready for the world.
All I Want is an original song that was written by INOJ herself and is not a cover of any song that is out already there. In this song, INOJ searches for the right type of man she wants to engage a relationship in. All she wants is your love.
All I Want should have been chosen to be another single due to its uptempo nature and beats. It’s a shame that the record company did not select All I Want to be a single.
All I Want has an uptempo nature due to beats. The song is 126 BPM, uses 32 measures, and has a time signature of 4|4. The song’s upbeat nature gives it a dance pop vibe. Incorporate the genres of R&B/Soul, pop, and dance with the result being this song.
INOJ describes the type of guy and relationship she is looking for in Verse 1 with the chorus being pretty much self-explanatory. In this song, INOJ looks for a guy who's fly. She already has a friend. She ain't looking for your new beginnings.
[Verse 1]
I don't want no ball and chain to hang on me
And I don't need no ties
Don't want your wedding ring
I'm looking for a guy who's fly, ain't catching feelings
See I already got a friend
I ain't looking for your new beginnings
[Chorus]
All I want is your love
Can you give it to me? (give it to me all night)
All I want is your love
Can you give it to me? (give it to me all night)
INOJ doesn’t care if her man has a job. She is looking for some passionate kissing and hugging. And of course a little rubbing. She doesn’t want any headaches or heartbreaks. She wants good loving all night.
Included on her album was also a cover version of Anita Ward - Ring My Bell. However her cover of did not receive much exposure due to So So Def and Columbia promoting Love You Down and Time After Time as singles first. Her voice is angelic and beautiful on this song. Ring My Bell was produced by then underground producer Lil Jon.
The song is 62 BPM, uses 16 measures, and has a time signature of 4|4. Sure the song was uptempo and upbeat, but it was not too fast.
The night is young and full of possibilities. You can ring her bell. Well come on and let yourself get free. Now lay back and relax. Let your body put away the distance. You see, tonight is made for me and you, baby.
Rather Be Alone has a downtempo feel and sad mellow vibe with its soul sound. Incorporated is a flair of rock. INOJ sings her angelic self off on this song of hers. The song has a theme of betrayal due to its downtempo feel and sad mellow vibe.
Rather Be Alone should have been chosen to be another single due to its downtempo soul sound and nature. It’s a shame that the record company did not select Rather Be Alone to be a single. It’s a shame that the songs All I Want and Rather Be Alone were not chosen to be single. I don’t why they didn’t.
The song is 121 BPM at 30 bars and utilizes a time signature of 4|4.
INOJ finds out her man has been cheating on her with another woman. She was mistaken because he treated her like a queen. How could this be? He was using INOJ to cheat on her. Now she would rather be alone than be in love with him.
The chorus explains she would rather be alone than be in love with him now that he’s cheated on her. She would rather sleep out in the cold before lying in bed with him. She’d take the lonely road before taking any rides with him. All the things he said weren't true.
Need To Feel is song where INOJ needs to feel a man’s love. INOJ has got feelings for a friend, but does not know how to tell him. She wants to feel his love. She is scared to tell him. INOJ needs to feel his love.
5/5*****!!
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K-Buz$ – Da Grim Reapa album review
K-Buz$ – Da Grim Reapa is a forgotten Detroit rap album that slipped through the cracks in the 90s. Many fans slept on this ultra dope album. The album is provided by some laid back bass over dope instrumentation and production. Over half of the album is about drug use hence the drug related themes with songs such as Indo Smoke, Conyak N’ A Joint, Drink Drunk By G’s, and Self.
All of the album was produced and arranged by K-Buz$ for II Buz$ Productions. His debut album was distributed by Boomin' Records, Inc. The album released on Urban Knowledge Records in 1994 on CD, cassette, and vinyl.
Who? (Prelude) is the introduction that starts off the album. The prelude basically introduces to us who K-Buz$ and what he’s all about. K-Buz$ takes over like no other by making this a night you won’t forget. He encourages you to go to you local liquor store and buy yourself some smokes or an alcoholic beverage of choice.
This prelude samples Mary Jane by Rick James appropriately enough. The Mary Jane sample helped the song give off a funky vibe.
Rollin in my Hoop-T is a funky dope song about a day in the life K-Buz$ while rolling in his Hoop-T. Of course this song uses funky bass lines as many other songs on this album do. This song is no exception.
It’s just another day. K-Buz$ is headed to the car wash to get his Hoop-T buffed for a night on the town. He plans on getting his car waxed and rims cleaned. He’s bumping to his sounds. Homies in the hood trying to get a peak.
Now he is headed to the party store to get his drink on. He gets a 40 ounce of Colt .45. Of course he is gonna blaze 1 to this. K-Buz$ rolls in Hoop-T down 7 Mile Road.
Now it’s 6:45 PM. He’s got the glock cocked back incase any buster tries to rank for the crack rock. But everything is hunky dory. There is no static or no set trippin. Even the 5-0 chilled when K-Buz$ rolled in his Hoop-T. There’s a party everywhere.
Indo Smoke was produced by K-Buz$ for II Buz$ Productions. La Taunya Johnson and Wendie Palmer are the vocals. Those are the 2 who are singing. Into Smoke is a song about weed. Two words to describe this song would be funky and mellow. The song is backed by a funky but mellow bass line. It's a shame that music like this gets overlooked. This is that kind of underground music which does not get much radio play or airtime.
Conyak N’ A Joint is a dope track provided by some real dope instrumentation over some laid back bass. The funky bass lines will put you in a trance. Dis Piece Of Shit is a diss song aimed towards haters. Self samples SWV - Anything.
4/5****!
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