Pete Rock. I first heard the name not too long ago, when I found out he’d remixed PE’s Shut ‘Em Down and produced Common – The ***** In You. Pete is a very prolific producer, with a very ’70’s style that is truly soulful and can be nostalgic. He has a talent for picking out fitting MC’s to be on his songs, and since he doesn’t rap often & has a collab on every track that’s a good thing.
1) Truth Is ft. Black Ice
Over a great slow beat with echoey riffs and lazy strums, Black Ice talks his verse, which is pretty nice even with no flow. Kinda makes you feel like Malcom X is talking to you in rhyme, over a beat. (Great)
2) We Good ft. Kardinal Offishal
The beat here is a funky guitar chord, I’m not sure how to describe it but it’s very 70’s. Canadian Kardinal has a good first verse, but his second is much better. (Great)
3) Just Do It ft. Pharoahe Monch
Love this beat, a halting funkified…beat. Again it’s hard do describe, but it has bells and an echoey xylophone(?) chorus. Pharoahe’s verses are, as usual, illness. (Excellent)
4) Give it To Ya ft. Little Brother
The beat is nice, laid-back and soulful as usual but unique in itself. This chorus has someone singing, and Little Brother’s verses are basically fire. (Excellent)
5) It’s the Postaboy ft. Postaboy
This beat is more energetic, chaotic. Postaboy dominates the track, and he’s aight, but his voice gets pretty annoying. (Decent)
6) It’s a Love Thing ft. CL Smooth, Denosh
Pete and CL reunite on this track. It’s a 70’s-style love cut, the beat has horns and that echoey xylophone sound in the background, with a really bumpin base. Smooth’s lyrics are..smooth, and Denosh sings smoothly on the cut as well. The whole cut really has that perfect flavor they were looking for. (Excellent)
7) One MC One DJ ft. Skillz
The beat is again more energetic, this one has samples of James Brown screamin in the background. Skillz’ verses are pretty nice. (Great)
8) Beef ft. Krumbsnatcha
Very laid-back beat, a complex snare with harplike strums and bells in the background, but Krumbsnatcha’s verses are nothin special, except for the last one. At least he rides the beat well…the chorus can get annoying, though. (Good)
9) No Tears ft. Leela James
This cut is about hard times. The beat is nice, base bumpin, more harplike strums that fit Leela James’ soulful, Macy Gray-soundish crooning. Gives a great, laid-back feeling. (Great)
10) Headrush ft. RZA, GZA
YES! A song with Wu-Tang Clan’s head honchos. The beat sounds almost like RZA and Rock collabed on it, like Pete tried to produce a song for a Wu group album. RZA leads off with a pretty nice verse, but GZA’s is better, str8 illy. (Great)
11) Fly Till I Die ft. Talib Kweli, C L Smooth
The beat is smooth, that Kweli-fitting type of ethereal shit that backs his voice great, however it’s a bit stiff after a while. Talib’s verses are some realness, managing in his way to bring conscious rap into the mix of sickness and smoothness. C L Smooth is smooth on the hook, but unfortunately that’s all he does. (Great)
12) Warzone ft. Dead Prez
Dead Prez on a party cut? At first this was a wtf track, but listen and you see what’s being said. Over a great vintage dance beat, Dead Prez rebukes the industry’s major artists going soft on club songs; the style of the song just doesn’t appeal to me, DP is still a bit too commercial for my tastes here and every line ends with “in da club”… (Good)
13) Da Villa ft. Slum Village
The beat is nice, a fade-in horn over soft piano chords and a laid back snare. Slum Village largely comes nice, especially the second & 4th verses. The hook is nothing special, but it really doesn’t matter. (Great)
14) Niggaz Know ft. J-Dilla
This beat seems almost like a PR interpretation of a Dr Dre track, maybe Watcher (pt 1)..actually it’s very similar. It’s not bad, it’s not great. Dilla’s verse isn’t that nice, but his flow is really good. Pete actually raps on this one, maybe his verse was ghosted by J, maybe not. It’s in that moderate area. (Decent)
15) Appreciate ft. C L Smooth
C L returns on this last cut, rapping verses this time. His shit is smooth as usual, sounds a bit like LL on the cut. His flow is good and smooth, lyrics are aight. The beat is a nostalgic type of strummin guitar, I think it’s sampled. (Good)
My Rating: 4.2/5
All in all, Soul Survivor II is a solid followup and largely a really *****in good album. It has few failing points, and even fewer are Pete’s fault. But PR managed to bring out most of hip-hop’s most popular ‘underground’ MC’s from all over the country and out of the country, plus reunite with Smooth a few times, and he pretty much makes it work, showin versatility by crafting beats to match each MC’s/singer’s style.
My Recommendation: If you’re tired of the same old shit, and jus want somethin new, pick this one up; it’s def worth the $$.
In 1997 Mase burst on the rap world with super producer Puff Daddy in the year of Bad Boy Records. After appearances on Notorious BIG’s “Life After Death” album, the buzz on Mase was huge. After retiring from rap a few years later to start a congregation in Atlanta, the buzz returned when it was announced Mase would be returning to rap.
Mobb Deep first blew in the early-mid 90’s. Hip Hop fans loved their chemistry, Havoc’s dark, grimey production fit perfectly with Prodigy’s strictly gutter style. Since then, their music slowly evolves every time they put out an album, from their original dark shit to more piano-laced, to this.
Young Buck. G-Unit’s first Southern member and probably the least “lyrical,” Buck is–like most Southern artists–all about the flow, jewels, hoes, and as indicated by his album’s title, ca$h. Since the G-Unit group album, hip hop heads have increasingly embraced him, and the G-Unit soldier hopes the fame will help sell his album (if not that, then the G-Unit imprint on his CD case will, at least).
At the moment of this review, Shyne Po is Hip-Hop’s most wanted. Originally a Bad Boy-signee, Shyne’s first CD suffered in sales because Po was labeled a Biggie sound-alike. But after being incarcerated just as his career was taking off, Shyne blows up his rep by revealing a deal with Def Jam, a possible appeal and an album of songs recorded right before his sentencing. All this combined, plus his increasingly noticed back-and-forth with 50 Cent, has made all his fans jump out the woodwork.
01.) “Ain’t No Click” (feat. Tony Yayo) (4.5 out of 5) Produced by Havoc
‘Big Syke Daddy,’ the second solo album from Tha Outlaw, Tupac’s roaddog, Big Syke. At times, Syke’s flow is noticeable similar to Tupac, and he also rhymes about the same issues.
The album cover is a drawing of an EC team member throwing a punch on a red carpet entrance, the back cover shows the cat that got clocked. It’s always a good thing if the cover already implies violence, that way I know I won’t have to deal with 16 songs about how some guy can’t get his girl to perform fellatio on him. It’s doper than the Volume 2 cover but not as dope as the one for Vol. 1
Tech N9ne is a recent favorite of mine. The man is strange and slightly twisted, his style is different and good, he raps fast, he’s sick in an Eminem type of way…he’s great. Tecca Nina is a favorite underground artist hailing from–gasp–Kansas City. One would think (and many have said), how can a good artist come from Kansas City? Well, listen and learn.
1. Simple Statement