In 1994, two rappers with separate flailing careers decided to team up in an effort to double their chances at success. Brooklyn's Big Ill paired off with Harlem's Al Skratch to form, obviously if you've looked at the picture to the right, Ill Al Skratch, and with the assistance from producers The LG Experience and LoRider, released their debut
Creep Wit' Me, a twelve-track attempt at being a smoother, R&B-inflected EPMD. Although neither Ill nor Al actually made any of the music, so I suppose that analogy makes no sense. Anyway, Ill Al Skratch managed to score no less than three popular singles, one of which featured R&B star Brian McKnight, although odds are that, while you might remember one of these tracks, you've likely forgotten that Ill Al Skratch ever existed, possibly because Ill Al Skratch sounds like the name of one dude and not a duo.
Click here to read some of my thoughts on Creep Wit' Me. In 2015, Harlem rapper A$AP Rocky released his sophomore effort,
At. Long. Last. A$AP, to a fanbase that had only grown in size since his first studio project,
Long. Live. A$AP, and his mixtape debut,
Live. Love. A$AP. Crafted with only the barest minimum of assistance from the rest of the A$AP Mob (although the late A$AP Yams served as an executive producer from the great beyond), Rocky turned to producer Danger Mouse for guidance, pulling in guest assists from artists such as Kanye West, Mark Ronson, ScHoolboy Q, Future, Lil Wayne, UGK, and Rod Stewart because, well, why the fuck not? Rocky uses the eighteen tracks presented to cycle through his favorite vices: sex, money, and various drugs all play large roles in the narrative here.
Click here to catch up with A$AP Rocky's At. Long. Last. A$AP. These posts will be unlocked
for a limited time only, so you two should jump in as soon as you can. If you'd like access to more, you should
subscribe to Hip Hop Is Done. For the low low price of three dollars (USD) a month, you'll receive additional reviews and articles that don't fit within the Hip Hop Isn't Dead project, and we're all jonsing for more of that sweet sweet content, am I right?
Thanks for reading! I'll be back soon with, I don't know, something?
-Max
Max, I’m interested in reading the Ill Al Skratch review but the link isn’t working.
ReplyDeleteI’d love to subscribe, I’ll have to take a deeper look on the Patreon content. Thanks!
Sorry about that - Blogger has sucked for quite a while now. The link should be fixed, but just in case it isn't:
Deletehttps://www.patreon.com/posts/30825828
The Ill Al Skratch only links to Blogger.
ReplyDeleteUgh, fucking hate Blogger. Thanks for bringing it to my attention though - the link has been fixed, but just in case:
Deletehttps://www.patreon.com/posts/30825828
Ill All Skratch is a legend. They deserve love.
ReplyDeleteBut that's not what I wanted to write about. For all your bitching about misogyny in rap, you never reviewed any of the quality female raps, except Lauryn Hill and MC Lyte, but the reviews were cringe, especially the ones about Missy Elliot (yuck). Meanwhile no respect for Queen Latifah, or Yo Yo or JJ Fad, but that might be too retro for your shitty taste.
I am surprised that you know about the existence of Ill Al Skratch, because if your shitty taste is any indication, you should not know about their existence. If you're a psy-op, at least admit it.
That's nice. Thanks for reading!
DeleteAnyway, as for your comment, I think I see what you were aiming for by trying to call me out and shame me because of my beliefs (because it IS possible to enjoy hip hop AND recognize its problematic elements), but immediately trashing the female rappers that HAVE received reviews on the site (save for a couple) makes you a part of the misogynist narrative in the fanbase/audience/culture. You're allowed your personal preference, certainly, but artist such as Kim, Foxy, Jean Grae, Bahamadia, Rah Digga, Rage, and, yes, Missy Elliott all deserve their shine (especially Missy, she's a fucking trendsetter, like it or not), and to shit all over them simply because you buy into some notion that they are universally disliked among hip hop heads, while Lauryn Hill, MC Lyte, Yo Yo, JJ Fad (JJ Fad? You're possibly the first person to ever bring them up on the blog) and Latifah manage to escape scrutiny at all times, is not a good look. Just because YOU don't like them doesn't mean you speak for the trees, my guy.
DeleteThe flip side to the coin is that the reason there aren't that many female emcees reviewed is absolutely because of the response to the posts I've run in the past. Those write-ups are the ones that are the most ignored here. I'm not going to speculate as to why that may be the case (you may think you have an idea, but the reviews for what you refer to as "quality female raps" are also among the least read on the site), but there's a reason the female-led reviews I've run in the past few years have all been couched in stunts (such as the Wu-Tang holiday thing, or the '30 posts in 30 days' stuff). The clicks just aren't there, which makes me believe that nobody wants to read about those artists. If the numbers improve dramatically, I'm absolutely happy to swerve back in that direction, as there are many artists that deserve virtual ink.
That 'Thanks for reading!' part, though? I meant that.