Whenever  an early ’00s Roc-A-Fella joint pops up on my Itunes I immediately get nostalgic and end up spending a good portion of my day shuffling through the endless amount of classics they dropped during that period. Just look at the lineup Dame Dash was putting on wax: Jay-Z, Memph Bleek, Cam’ron and The Diplomats, Beanie Siegel, the State Property collective, all backed by Just Blaze and early, hungry Kanye production.  An unbelievable time for East Coast hip-hop, and we as fans certainly reaped the benefits with a strong effort dropping seemingly every month. Despite the tremendous amount of talent amassed at the Roc during this time, the MC that always stuck out to me was Philly native Freeway. The first time I ever heard Freeway was on his hit single “Flipside” and I was immediately drawn to his atypical flow and aggressive delivery, it was unlike anything else coming from the Roc stable at the time. Free has also been one of the most consistent MCs to put out music over the last decade. While many other artists seemed to fade into obscurity after the Roc disbanded in the mid ’00s, Free has hustled and dropped a strong catalog of albums including the standout Stimulus Package where he teamed up with Seattle beat maker Jake One.

Whenever Free, Beans, and Hov got together on a track the outcome was always tremendous. Their chemistry was unmatched, and I believe that stemmed from them fucking with each other on both a competitive and friendly level, and no song better illustrates that relationship than “What We Do”. Arguably the strongest collab effort from the trio, “What We Do” features each MC spitting bars attempting to outdo each other all with no chorus over fire Just Blaze production — the true essence of hip-hop. I recently watched the video for this track and it got me feeling very sentimental about the early Roc-A-Fella dynasty. With crews running around these days wearing skinny jeans and women’s clothing, it’s important to look back at the Timbs and black hoodie era and remember that hip-hop wasn’t always this soft. I have it on good authority that Freeway’s next project will leave people thirsty for more gutter music. Catch Just Blaze’s dig around the 2:10 mark.

-Pete

Creative Source – I Just Can’t See Myself Without you

Freeway – What We Do

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I’ve been hesitant to post anything from Illmatic because like anything of good quality it’s not a quick-fix one night stand, you have to listen to the whole album many times to really understand and appreciate all of it’s beautiful details. Also, Illmatic is so complex in terms of rhyme patterns, expression, insight and innovation that I would have to do some very serious writing to do it justice and I simply don’t have that kind of time on Halloween. However, I did read something on Pitchfork that will better express how I feel about this album.

Illmatic is the best hip-hop record ever made. Not because it has ten great tracks with perfect beats and flawless rhymes, but because it encompasses everything great about hip-hop that makes the genre worthy of its place in music history. Stylistically, if every other hip-hop record were destroyed, the entire genre could be reconstructed from this one album. But in spirit, Illmatic can just as easily be compared to Ready to Die, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, and Enter the Wu-Tang as it can to Rites of Spring, A Hard Day’s Night, Innervisions, and Never Mind the Bollocks. In Illmatic, you find the meaning not just of hip-hop, but of music itself: the struggle of youth to retain its freedom, which is ultimately the struggle of man to retain his own essence.“-Matthew Gasteier

Nas – The World Is Yours

Do I think it’s the best Hip Hop album of all time? In my opinion titles like that limits the way you can appreciate other candidates so I won’t answer the question, not to you or myself. Do I think you can build hip hop from Illmatic alone? Absolutely not but I will encourage you to check this album out, it really is something special. Also, peep some classic articles and reviews about Nasty Nas after the break. Bloggin’ like it’s 1994, whatever. Enjoy.

Man look at these suckers. I ain’t no rapper, I’m a hustler. It just so happens I know how to rap.”

In the beginning Hip Hop was about b-boying, djing, graffiti and emceeing. The drug game of the late 1980′s changed the ghetto so, it was only natural that it would change the music as well. Additionally, Hip Hop itself became quite profitable and in turn created an opportunity for a lot of trapped young artists to leave a life of crime, danger and limits. I’ve come to realize that people perform at the highest level when their backs are against the wall. The extreme conditions and adversity that came from living in the hood was transferred into a musical energy and ‘realness’ that was able to touch and reach an entire world. It was survival of the fittest and to be an emcee in the 90′s you had to hold your own, no exceptions.

You see me all my life I had to sell drugs, while you grew up with straight nerds, I grew up with thugs.”

Why the brief history? Well, if you want to appreciate New York City’s mid to late 90′s Hip Hop you’ll have to realize that these guys aren’t just talking loud and being aggressive for no reason, they’re representing an attitude one needed to have in order to survive and stay sane in the concrete jungle that was NYC in the 90′s. Look at it this way, you don’t go into a battlefield to put your gun down, read a book, have some tea and talk about where you want to summer next year. You’re going to be screaming and hollering, cold, alert and focused at all costs; you’re going to be aggressive and you’re going to be challenging that next man if he’s trying to take you out. Like I said, it was a concrete jungle and survival of the fittest was the type of mentality that applied, “only the strong survive”

That was the mindset in NYC because prior and even during Guiliani that was the reality. I’m not praising it or saying it was correct but if you want to appreciate the music for what it is without having actually experienced that lifestyle, then you have to listen with some perspective. So when you hear lyrics that sound somewhat extreme, violent, and brutal, understand that that is just the top layer and the language only serves to represent issues that went much deeper than the words being used to represent them. Lastly, the only way to escape an extreme circumstance sometimes is to develop an extreme type of mentality. Most people don’t have to deal with such challenges in life so it may be hard to relate. For the sake of this mixtape I suggest you try, it will be worth it.

With that said, we exclusively present a mixtape that captures that time in New York City better then anything I’ve yet to hear – Kevin Casey Music Presents: Live From New York. Officially this is a mixtape but the editing and thought process displayed on this tape will make you think you are listening to an extremely well produced album. The transitions and details from song to song are flawless and carefully crafted. It’s not often a mixtape displays this level of depth with no compromise of quality. Kevin Casey has done his research to provide listeners with an expansive yet refined taste for the best NYC had to offer. Pretty much all classic mainstream and underground NYC hits are represented. However, only the best verses from the wide spectrum made the cut, making the listening experience easy and extremely entertaining. Having grown up listening to this music, I can tell you this was no easy task. Rappers were hungry back in the day and there were a lot of good verses but Casey did in fact manage to narrow it down to the best. All the rappers you hear on this tape are at their absolute prime and deliver their lyrics with the energy and hostility of the street. Like the time it represents, this tape is hardcore, gritty, challenging and extremely entertaining. This mixtape is available as a free download at KevinCaseyMusic.com and was made for the sole purpose of spreading good music. It’s been a while since New York City’s golden era was revisited with such thoughtfulness and sincerity; this is truly worth the listen. All that said, let me end this post like the tape begins:

New York will… not… lose… ever!

Live From New York (Intro)

Live From New York (Intro)

MP3

Mixtape