Pete Rock - NY's Finest (February 26, 2008)

Have you ever created something (a story, a painting, a blog post, whatever) that you originally didn't let everybody see because you weren't thrilled with the end result, and then several years later, you happened across it and decided to purge in order to clear out some space?  That's what today's post is: a purging.  I wrote this shit about a year ago, and while I'm still not thrilled with the post itself, I figured it's time to accept it and keep it moving.

My Gut Reaction: Pete Rock & Smif-N-Wessun - Monumental (June 28, 2011)

I'm still not a fan of that album artwork.  That image will replace the whale in my nightmares. 

There has been a rash of projects infiltrating our chosen genre lately that pair a single producer up with one or more artists.  These collaborative albums are considered to be "game-changing" and "historic", which is fucking riduculous, because this is exactly how hip hop used to sound back in the day: a rapper typically had the assistance of only one producer to help him or her get their point across.  Oh well, I suppose everything comes full circle.

Duck Down Records, home of the Boot Camp Clik, has been fortunate enough to unleash two entries into this category this year, both in the month of June.  Random Axe, the joint effort between Black Milk, Sean Price, and Guilty Simpson, dropped two weeks ago to stellar reviews and, predictably, really shitty sales, although one would hope that a certain Amazon link in the sidebar may help change that (hint, hint).  This week, they one-upped themselves by unleashing Monumental, a monster collaboration between original Boot Camp Clik members Smif-N-Wessun and a man that most of you two would consider to be one of the finest producers this game has ever generated, Pete Rock. 

Personally, I wasn't sure how a project from these two parties was supposed to even sound, as Pete Rock is more well-known for soulful samples and those fucking horns than he is for producing songs for the street audience.  Smif-N-Wessun also aren't typically brought up in conversation when heads discuss who Pete Rock should actually work with.  So Monumental was kind of surprising, although out-of-left-field arranged marriages such as this one aren't always a bad thing.

What worried me was the tracklisting.  I already knew that Pete Rock would be handling all of the instrumental work on here: if he didn't, I'm sure my readers would revolt.  But there seemed to be far too many guests on Monumental than there should have been, considering that the pairing of Peter with the Cocoa Brovaz was supposed to be the main draw.  I could get behind the promised cameos from Raekwon, Buckshot, and Sean Price; hell, I could even deal with Da Rockness Monsta, Styles P, and, um, Hurricane G (hey, Smif-N-Wessun have a proven history with her, so I can let that slide).  But Black Rob?  I get that he recently defected from Bad Boy Records to sign with Duck Down, but was this really the right time to bring him out?  And who the fuck thought it would be a good idea to feature motherfucking Memphis Bleek on a song that Pete fucking Rock produced?  Monumental seems to have gone from being an exciting (if questionable) pairing to a sadomasochistic tirade.  I'm intrigued, but not very thrilled, to be listening to this right now.

Hey, I have to be honest.

Unfortunately, the release of Monumental will always be marred for me by the stories released yesterday about the multiple incidents of police brutality that happened outside of the album's listening party held in New York City.  After the party was ordered to be shut down, one of Pete Rock's good friends was brutally beaten, and from what I understand, Louieville Sluggah (of the Originoo Gunn Clappaz) even had to go to the hospital due to injuries sustained in the one-sided melee that followed.  It sickens me to see police officers, drunk on power, exact their authority over a situation where there is no adversity to be found.  I even viewed a video someone took of the event, which clearly shows at least one man being attacked by a cop with a baton, who isn't fighting back.  I truly hope that this shit spurs a direct change in how people treat other people: there was truly no need for this shit to ever happen.

(Side note: I listened to the entirety of Monumental and wrote the rest of the review before reading about Tuesday night's incident.  I just felt that it deserved to be mentioned.)

1. INTRO

Yeah, that was a rap album intro, all right.

2. MONUMENTAL (FEAT. TYLER WOODS)

Hardly sounds as grand as its title would imply, but Pete's treat sneaks up on you in a subtle fashion, and soon enough, you'll notice your line of sight fluctuating as your head nods up and down. Both Tek and Steele, who sound much more reserved than I'm familiar with (possibly because neither man wanted to step on the toes of the certified legendary producer behind the boards), but they also sound much more lyrical than I recalled, so that was awesome. Peter's own verse (his first of two on Monumental) was decent enough, too. The chorus was both unnecessary and ass, but I've complained about hip hop hooks so often on this blog that the words don't even hold meaning anymore. Still, this track was alright overall. Not a bad start.

3. PREVAIL (FEAT. RAEKWON)

Smif-N-Wessun reunite with their “Black Trump” partner Raekwon the Chef for “Prevail”, and let me just say, sir or madam, that this shit was no “Black Trump”. The first verse, which Tek and Steele share over an unnaturally shitty Pete Rock composition, is so goddamn annoying that I wanted to throw this disc into the incinerator. However, once Raekwon appears for the second verse (after a rather dramatic entrance), the song suddenly turns into a banger, as Pete Rock, who was clearly bored of his own crappy beat, switches up the instrumental into one that will remind Wu stans of the final minutes of Raekwon's “Criminology”, which was, obviously, the point. When Tek and Steele reappear for the third verse, they are so inspired by the new musical backing that they seem to override the weak-ass first minute of this already-short song. It seems that Raekwon was not a part of the same studio sessions as Smif-N/or-Wesson, but that's a small price to pay for a song that is two-thirds fantastic.

4. THAT'S HARD (FEAT. STYLES P & SEAN PRICE)

This beat doesn't sound monumental either, but this song is what the title track should have been, made up of the verses of each artist and some scratching at the end, bullshit R&B chorus be damned. Smif-N-Wessun are joined by their Boot Camp Clik coworker Sean Price and, for some reason, Styles P of The Lox, and everyone turns in a good performance over the simple-yet-earwormy Pete Rock instrumental. Styles falters a bit, mainly because he's outside of his comfort zone, but he still sounds alright, as do our hosts, but the belle of the ball is clearly Sean Price, who destroys what is probably the most expensive beat he's ever been given in his entire career thus far. With this and Random Axe, the artist formerly known as Ruck is having one hell of a year.

5. TOP OF THE WORLD (FEAT. MEMPHIS BLEEK)

The first outright awful endeavor on Monumental, but it isn't because of the presence of motherfucking Memphis Bleek, although his verse, rather predictably, sucks cock. No, this song is garbage because Peter's beat is boring as fuck, and both Tek and Steele get lost in the shuffle with their inadequate bars and their crappy faux-optimistic chorus (on which Pete Rock also half-assedly contributes). Given the guest list, I should have seen this coming, but I'm still in shock as to just how far Monumental has fallen within the space of one nearly five-minute-long track. Wow, this was bad.

6. FEEL ME (FEAT. ROCK & BUN B)

After Rock (from Heltah Skeltah) provided a stellar verse on Random Axe's “Another One”, I was looking forward to his work on Monumental, and I walked away from this song feeling despondent. Pete Rock (no relation) lends a piano-driven beat that is pretty goddamn dull, and Da Rockness Monsta provides a horrible chorus that would be laughable if it weren't so fucking terrible. Luckily, he fares a little bit better with his verse, as fo Tek and Steele, who sound alright, if distracted. The weirdest part about this song is definitely the Bun B cameo: if you had told me a year ago that Bun B would someday work with Pete Rock on a song recorded with Smif-N-Wessun, I would have punched you in your lying whore mouth. But he's on here, and he sounds decent enough. Unfortunately, the entire track is too blah to keep my interest.

7. ROSES (FEAT. FREEWAY)

And the rash of random cameo selections pulled from a magician's top hat continues with Freeway, who, oddly, is restricted to hook duty only on this song, on which Tek and Steele suddenly get serious and talk about how important it is to tell someone how you feel about them before it's too late. Beardy sounds okay, but you keep half-hoping he'll spit a verse, and your wish is never granted. Pete's beat is mostly low-key percussion with some chanting thrown in for good measure: that is to say, it's pretty simple. The song itself wasn't bad, but I think we may be straying a bit too far from what people were actually expecting from the pairing of Pete Rock and Smif-N-Wessun.

8. FIRE

Well, this was a misguided attempt at a high concept: Tek and Steele both portray the devil on this track, happily corrupting a young soul who never seems to question why his version of Lucifer has two distinct voices commanding him to do his/their bidding. Peter's instrumental was okay enough, but it doesn't carry the heat required for a track about Hell. I give our other two hosts credit for switching things up with their subject matter, but there has to have been a better way to rap about this topic than how “Fire” turned out. Also, the chorus blows, but it's almost as though you don't even have to read that statement to know that, right?

9. THIS ONE (FEAT. TOP DOG, JAHDAN BLAKKAMOORE, & NOBLE SOCIETY)

Meh. That's right, I'm bringing it back out.

10. DO IT (FEAT. HURRICANE G)

The Cocoa Brovaz reunite with their perpetually annoying “Spanish Harlem” costar Hurricane G, with generally pleasing results. Pete Rock flips the Babe Ruth “The Mexican” sample differently than what the Theodore Unit used for their “'88 Freestyle”, while Tek channels Big Daddy Kane during his opening bars to this genial throwback. Smif-N-Wessun sound much better than their invited guest (obviously), but Gloria manages to not embarrass herself, causing the whole of Monumental to swing back in the right direction. This was just fun to listen to. Couldn't help but feel bad for Tony Touch, though.

11. NIGHT TIME (FEAT. BUCKSHOT)

The beat on here isn't anywhere near monumental, either, but this massive collaboration should have also been the title track. (Maybe someone should combine this with “That's Hard” for a sixth-grade level pastiche of a mash-up.) After a quick snippet of a Richard Pryor comedy bit (which was also used on the Twinz song “Sorry I Kept You”), Tek and Steele kick some chill rhymes over a relaxing instrumental, with both Pete Rock and Smif-N-Wessun's Duck Down Records label boss Buckshot (of Black Moon) bringing up the rear with some entertaining verses. The energy level just isn't there, but “Night Time” was still an enjoyable diversion that will make you wish that it was about four minutes longer and that it featured the rest of the Boot Camp Clik.

12. (I'M A) STAND UP GUY (FEAT. BLACK ROB)

Although I liked his debut, Life Story, it could be argued that guest star Black Rob is of even less consequence to the current state of hip hop than even Memphis Bleek. He makes his Duck Down Records debut (as he was recently signed by the collective for some ungodly reason) on here, contributing a horribly loquacious chorus and a decent-enough middle verse over some uncharacteristically street Pete Rock production, which sounds as though it was ghostwritten by Nashiem Myrick (of Puff Daddy's Hitmen fame). Tek and Steele do what they can, but the ingredients fail to blend together properly, and the song ends up tasting bland as a result.

13. GO OFF

I couldn't get into this shit, no matter how short it ended up being. Pete Rock's instrumental never adjusts itself, and both Tek and Steele sound ill-suited for it, making the entire track sound bad as a result. It is what it is.

14. TIME TO SAY

Monumental ends with Smif-N-Wessun's attempt at a semi-inspirational song, one where both Tek and Steele describe their struggles and how they won't let anyone get them down. Somehow, their plan of attack involves having Tek repeat the long-ass chorus multiple times throughout. This song was too numbing to have any sort of real impact on anybody, so while the effort is appreciated, the fact of the matter is that Monumental ends extremely poorly. Even having Pete Rock end the actual project with an outro that apes the project's intro doesn't help. Oh well.

THE LAST WORD: Monumental is ultimately disappointing, although I'm not sure why I felt let down by the project: I wasn't really expecting anything from the off-the-wall pairing of producer extraordinaire Pete Rock and street rap enthusiasts Smif-N-Wessun. Neither Tek nor Steele will ever earn any accolades for their skills behind the mic, but for the most part, they sound okay (except for on the final two tracks, anyway). I suppose my biggest problem with Monumental is with Pete Rock's work behind the boards, which is neither as bombastic as his past music has been, nor is it modified enough to suit his collaborators: in short, he sounds uninspired for much of the runtime. This leads to a fourteen-track album on which only a handful of songs are even worth actually listening to, and in this economy, that shit doesn't fly when an artist is hoping for his or her fans to pay full retail for their output. I'm loving this surge of producer/rapper collaborative projects, but it's sad that Monumental, the one with the highest pedigree (due to Pete Rock's involvement, obviously), is the one that sounds the most unnatural.

-Max

RELATED POSTS:

You can read more about Pete Rock here, and you can click here to catch up on Smif-N-Wessun.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth - The Main Ingredient (November 8, 1994)

The second full-length from Pete Rock & CL Smooth, The Main Ingredient, has been on my to-do list ever since the write-up for its predecessor, Mecca & The Soul Brother, first ran on HHID. So what kind of excuse do I have for taking my sweet-ass time getting around to an album that is among the most heavily requested in the blog's history? Surprisingly, it wasn't laziness, my go-to answer for most things of this caliber. No, this time it was pure intimidation: Mecca & The Soul Brother wasn't exactly a chore to sit through, but it feels a lot longer than it really is, thanks to the way Pete and CL sequenced the album, bridging the gaps between entirely unrelated tracks with instrumental interludes that made a straight-through listen a tiring affair (although it must be said that the music itself was good). So I had always planned on taking a break between their main two contributions to the hip hop cause (I'm not counting their debut EP, All Souled Out), as I wasn't quite ready to throw myself into that type of commitment so soon.

The Main Ingredient was released in 1994, and it doesn't deviate from the formula that Peter and Corey Penn believed to be a winning one: jazzy samples are beaten into submission and molded to fit their needs, while CL Smooth attacks each track with the exact same level of intensity, regardless of its subject matter. The Main Ingredient can actually be seen as a true follow-up effort in every sense of the word: in places, it sounds exactly like how a Mecca Soul 2: Electric Boogaloo project would. Pete even saw fit to incorporate more musical interludes in between songs, which, once again, don't really relate to one another in any cohesive manner. The main difference between the two projects has to be the sheer number of radio-friendly songs found on The Main Ingredient, and by that I mean that there are a handful of tracks that could slide seamlessly onto radio playlists without any Clear Channel programmers losing their shit, not that either of these guys thought that selling out was the best move to make. Although The Main Ingredient was released around the same time that they appeared alongside Brand Nubian's Grand Puba in a famous (to hip hop heads, anyway) Sprite commercial, so it isn't like they weren't familiar with the concept of signing a piece of paper and receiving money in return.

Sales-wise, The Main Ingredient performed just as well as one would expect a rap album primarily marinated with jazz samples ever could, which is to say, not very well at all, allowing Pete Rock and CL Smooth to remain cult figures in our chosen genre for the rest of their natural lives. It was as well-received by the critics as Mecca & The Soul Brother was, though, and the general consensus that I've seen on the Interweb is that many people believe that The Main Ingredient is the better of the two albums, although there are no songs on here that come close to rivaling the duo's biggest song, “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)”. Unfortunately, this project will forever be overshadowed by the fact that Pete Rock and CL Smooth called it quits as a duo the year after The Main Ingredient was released. Citing a poor working relationship, both men spun off into solo careers, with Pete Rock continuing to establish himself as one of the best producers in hip hop history, while CL toiled in limbo, unable to release a solo album until 2006, possibly because he had established an identity alongside his former friend that was so strong that hip hop heads refused to let him be his own man, which makes you sad, until you remember just how good he sounded over Peter Q. Rockefeller's production work (and those goddamn glorious horns). During this time, the two worked together sporadically, most notably on Pete Rock's solo debut Soul Survivor, but refused to take it any further than the occasional brunch.

The other reason I'm just now getting to The Main Ingredient actually has to do with the passing of an entirely different artist, Keith Elam, best known as Guru from Gang Starr. At the time of his death, Guru and his partner, DJ Premier, weren't even on speaking terms (due to the interference of a third party who won't be named here, as I don't want to give them any more publicity), and as such, were never able to resolve their differences. Both Pete Rock and CL Smooth decided that their own personal differences shouldn't be enough to keep them apart, and not only have they resolved their issues (as far as I know, anyway – what am I, their biographer?), they have actually reunited as a duo, with a third full-length project being teased as the ever-elusive “coming soon”. Whether that shit is true or not remains to be seen, but I figure that now is as good a time as any to finally give you two a forum to discuss The Main Ingredient.

So.

1. IN THE HOUSE

The Main Ingredient kicks off with a brief funky instrumental, but the one attached to the actual song is fairly simple, with its drum hits and organ keys introducing the project. CL Smooth takes the first and third verses effortlessly, while Peter Q. Rockefeller seems to have stepped up his delivery (if not his writing, since he famously uses ghostwriters). The Q-Tip vocal sample (from The Low End Theory's “Verses From The Abstract”) that is worked into the track as though he were in the studio with them constitutes a brilliant idea. Oh, if only the song itself were somewhat more engaging.

2. CARMEL CITY

The brief half-remembered dream of an instrumental interlude (which plays out after “In The House” but before this second track begins) doesn't prepare you for the somber tones Peter plays for listeners on here. CL Smooth sounds alright enough, but nothing on “Carmel City” sticks to the ribs: his meandering slice-of-life rhymes sound passable, but I'll be damned if I can remember a motherfucking thing he was talking about. Also, Pete Rock's uncharacteristically spacey sound effects sound like a better fit for Large Professor.

3. I GET PHYSICAL

I believe this was one of the singles from The Main Ingredient, but the only acceptable reason I can conjure up is because “I Get Physical” kind of bridges the gap, sound-wise, between Mecca & The Soul Brother and this project, because nothing else about this song would cause anyone to purchase this album. CL Smooth has charisma behind the mic, and he is still a perfect fit for Pete Rock's production work, but he's not exactly the go-to guy for hip hop quotables: aside from “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)”, I can't recall any other memorable couplets from him. Also, I don't remember it taking this long for me to get into the actual music on The Main Ingredient. Weird.

4. SUN WON'T COME OUT

Although the song's title was borrowed from a Harvey Scales song, it still serves as a fairly bold statement from the duo: on the “chorus”, Pete Rock asserts that, without musical assistance from CL Smooth and himself, the “Sun Won't Come Out”. Although I was amused at how Pete kept dropping references to the duo's previous songs, so maybe I'm taking this write-up a bit too seriously. The overused Bob James “Nautilus” sample in the background (seriously, James should receive a co-writing credit on every rap song ever made) provides the melody to the track, and while I liked this song a lot more than I remembered, it still wasn't anything to write home about. And I taught my home to actually read, so that is a big deal to me.

5. I GOT A LOVE

“I Got A Love”, which was also a single, sounds obviously like a single: Pete's production work grabs your ears immediately...although I had forgotten until today that the melody during the hook disappears completely when the actual verses kick in. So that was strange, having only the drums stand out during CL Smooth's performance when his partner is one of the best producers in hip hop history. The music during the hook immediately transports you back to hip hop radio in 1994, but nothing else about this track holds up today. Yeah, I said it. What of it?

6. ESCAPE

I used to like this Pete Rock solo joint back in the day, probably because as a writer, I entertain the idea of escaping the doldrums of everyday life every fucking day, either in real life or on virtual paper. But my God, this song is fucking boring as shit today. I think Pete Rock is fully capable of carrying a song by himself (he did so on Soul Survivor and wasn't the worse for wear), but this track proves that he needed a bit more practice first. This was disappointing, as I was actually looking forward to this track when I decided to finally cave in and review The Main Ingredient. Stupid biased memories fucking up my reality!

7. THE MAIN INGREDIENT

The hook on here is severely lacking in the creativity department (they clearly didn't feel it was worth the effort to try), but Pete's rocking beat, which uses the same Albino Gorilla sample that A Tribe Called Quest marauded over on their “Midnight” (specifically “Psychadelic Shack), works well, making this the first actual track on The Main Ingredient that is actually still good. If only the hook didn't suck so goddamn much, this would have been a great song. As it stands, it's merely pretty good.

8. WORLDWIDE (FEAT. ROB-O)

Pete sends CL Smooth out to pick up some tacos and a three liter bottle of Pepsi Max while he and guest rapper Rob-O (from Pete's side project InI, which he was never officially a part of but everyone associates him with anyway) take over an entire track on The Main Ingredient. The beat is pleasant enough, but neither artist is intriguing enough for any listener to follow their rhymes with any degree of attentiveness. It was okay to listen to, but the subject matter, which I assume was just these two talking shit, was lost to me. This is why Pete Rock worked with CL Smooth in the first fucking place, folks: to avoid somnambulant collaborations such as this.

9. ALL THE PLACES

It's getting harder and harder for me to understand why some critics and fans hold The Main Ingredient in higher regard than Mecca & The Soul Brother. This song is beyond boring: Pete Rock's beat once again fades into obscurity, leaving only the drums behind, technically providing CL Smooth with a foundation to rhyme about absolutely nothing, but even when the melody finds its way back home after being abandoned in the woods, it isn't anything impressive. The little interlude tacked on at the end seems to contain all of the energy that the actual song was lacking.

10. TELL ME

CL Smooth's flow on The Main Ingredient is much the same as it was on his previous efforts, but that's not necessarily a bad thing: although he'll never appear on anybody's top five, he has a way with words, cramming multiple syllables into a single bar but never neglecting the audience (by that, I mean that listeners will understand every word). So he sounds pretty good on here, even if Pete's treat is sorely lacking. The interlude at the end was pretty interesting, though, as it most likely inspired Puff Daddy to use the same Oliver Sain sample (from “Over The Hill”) for his later “Young G's”.

11. TAKE YOU THERE

The most accessible song in Pete Rock and CL Smooth's entire career uses Keni Burke's “Risin' To The Top” as its base, and it still sounds entertaining as hell today, even if CL's rhymes don't make any fucking sense within the context helpfully provided by the chorus. But what the heck, I'll take it, since I still liked this song, but I do have to admit that the honeymoon is pretty much over, and the annulment is on.

12. SEARCHING

Also one of the singles, or maybe the hip hop radio station around my way at the time decided to play an album cut. I'm not actually sure. This version of the song seems more incomplete than I recalled, but not because of a lack of melody this time around: I just seem to remember there being a much more bombastic sound. CL's love rap (of sorts) is decent enough, but the song seems to have green mold growing on it.

13. CHECK IT OUT

Much more up-tempo than most of The Main Ingredient, almost as though the instrumental was the equivalent of Pete Rock shouting, “Hey! Look at me!” For his part, CL brings three verses chock-full of heat into the booth with him, packaged in one of those thermal carriers that pizza delivery guys use, riding the beat as if he's the only rapper that ever could. Which he very well might be. This shit was nice.

14. IN THE FLESH (FEAT. ROB-O & DEDA)

A quick verse spit during an interlude from Deda (who also appears on the actual track) lends the song its title. Which doesn't make much sense, even within our chosen genre, where nonsensical tends to be the order of the day. Why would these four artists (Pete Rock also spits a verse) feel the need to prove that they're really performing “in the flesh”, especially when they're recording a song for an album on which you won't be able to actually watch them performing anyway? As the kids would say today, this was a posse cut concept fail. Aside from the lack of a theme, the song itself was also kind of dull, as you don't really want to hear from any of these guys again after you walk away. So there's that.

15. IT'S ON YOU

CL Smooth uses this somber Pete Rock instrumental to relay a message of self-empowerment to the listeners, advising that the only person standing in the way of being all over his nuts is you. Unnecessary EPMD sample aside, “It's On You” tracked very well with my subconscious: it isn't exactly a feel-good listen, but I found it entertaining. The interlude at the end features a verse from Grap Luva (Pete's younger brother) leading into...

16. GET ON THE MIC

That title makes much more sense for a potential posse cut than “In The Flesh” did, so of course this is a CL Smooth solo affair (as Pete's ad-libbed hook doesn't count). I can't think of many artists that would hear this particular instrumental and straight spit, but CL gives it a go, and does so successfully enough. Still, I'm happy that this exercise is now complete.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Just like with Mecca & The Soul Brother, listening to The Main Ingredient is akin to flipping through a book of short stories, where reading one or two stories a night is the best way to digest the material. Except that this time around, you'll probably put the book down and not be tempted to pick it up again for several months, when you absolutely have nothing else to read while you're taking a shit. Pete Rock's production is much more polished this time around, which has the curiously adverse effect of stripping the songs of their magic; the beats lack the spark and hunger that his best work, both past and present, contains. So listening to The Main Ingredient straight through has been downgraded to a bother. CL Smooth's lyrics, on the other hand, sound exactly the same as they always have, which isn't always a bad thing, although that lack of artistic growth can be frustrating, as some of these songs are simply boring as shit. The Main Ingredient was ultimately very disappointing to listen to today, but there are a fair amount of good songs (listed below), and there is still enough on here to wish that Pete Rock would put the bullshit aside and just work together again already, but it doesn't hold up nearly as well as Mecca & The Soul Brother. Hell, the good songs listed below aren't even essential listening.

BUY OR BURN? I would burn this one. There is enough decent material on here to warrant spinning it once, but if you ever listen to it a second time, I would be surprised. This just wasn't very compelling. It is what it is.

BEST TRACKS: “The Main Ingredient”; “Check It Out”; “It's On You”; “Take You There”

-Max

RELATED POSTS:

You can read about the other Pete Rock & CL Smooth projects here, and as for Pete Rock's solo career, here's the link to those write-ups, as well.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth - Mecca & The Soul Brother (June 9, 1992)

For Day One of the current stunt blogging, I figured I may as well discuss an album that more than a few of you two have been requesting for the better part of the past two years. So you two better get your comments ready.

Mount Vernon duo Pete Rock & CL Smooth managed to sell enough copies of their debut EP, All Souled Out, to allow Elektra Records the justification they needed to set a budget for a full-length project: Mecca & The Soul Brother was the result of that tax write-off. Filled to the brim with jazzy samples, hard-hitting drums, horns, and the efficient and cocky lyrics of CL Smooth (along with the less-assured rhymes of Pete Rock, who, as per usual, remains behind the boards for most of the album), Mecca & The Soul Brother spoke to a legion of hip hop fanatics who liked their feel-good music wrapped in a horn-laden candy shell. And yet, this album still failed to move any units, thereby contradicting every single hip hop fan's claim to "keep it real".

Mecca & The Soul Brother's first single was "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)", a dedication to those who have passed. This song has become the legacy of Peter Phillips and Corey Penn, as the duo would only last for one more project before splitting up over unresolved personal issues. I would go so far as to label the track one of the few perfect rap songs ever recorded, as each component sounds raw and naked without the others to envelop it. For proof of this, listen to the instrumental of the song whenever you get the chance: while it sounds great, it still feels completely empty, and that would be a strange comment to write about any song, let alone something featuring rapped lyrics. That's how good the song is.

Spoiler alert: Nothing else on Mecca & The Soul Brother matches the intensity of that one song. But you should still read on to see if anything comes remotely close.

1. RETURN OF THE MECCA
The intro to this song is annoying enough to make newbies hit the 'eject' button and move on without ever looking back. Try your best to look past the pretentious posturing, and you'll be rewarded with some hard drums, intermittent horns, some entertaining wordplay from Corey, and a stupid-ass "hook" that consists of the title being repeated ad nauseam.

2. FOR PETE'S SAKE
After a brief interlude featuring Peter Q. Rockefeller behind the mic, a badass instrumental kicks in and CL starts spitting as if his life and/or career depended on it. Pete Rock comes back around and provides a verse, as well (the same verse from the interlude, sure, but it sounds much more polished), but the track still pretty much rocks.

3. GHETTOS OF THE MIND
The intro was annoying (the title of this song is stated over and over again, not unlike the hook to "Return Of The Mecca"). That shouldn't be the reason why I couldn't get into this track, but it just may very well be.

4. LOTS OF LOVIN'
While I'm not a fan of the singing on the hook, I concede that it fits in well with this love rap. The reason I like this song is more because of Pete's rocking behind the boards (he inadvertently invents adult-contemporary hip hop, and yet, it doesn't sound bad) than it is for CL's paint-by-numbers rhymes.

5. ACT LIKE YOU KNOW
The brief interlude at the beginning throws you off the scent, so much so that the instrumental will scare the shit out of you, and I mean that in the best possible way. "Act Like You Know" is also the shortest song on Mecca & The Soul Brother so far, so CL Smooth breezes through his three verses before you even realize that someone was rapping.

6. STRAIGHTEN IT OUT
At this point, new listeners will realize that the typical Pete Rock & CL Smooth formula is in play: jazzy samples, CL Smooth rapping his ass off, and Peter providing increasingly annoying ad-libs where the chorus would otherwise go. Rarely do these two deviate from this business plan, folks. That can either be a good or a bad thing, depending on hos much you like CL's lyrics. (For what it's worth, I think he sounds good, especially over Pete Rock's horn-laden instrumentals, even though his boasts are nothing new.)

7. SOUL BROTHER #1
Pete Rock's solo song, featuring rhymes that sound better than his contribution to "For Pete's Sake" (even though that song was basically named after the fucker), but still need some tweaking (I'm just being picky, though). He sounds more comfortable behind the mic, though, which counts for something. This isn't that bad, actually.

8. WIG OUT
Love the drums, hate the title. CL may as well be rapping about flappers and Prohibition while instructing all of the ladies to get their asses on the floor to dance the Charleston. Pete Rock's insistence on telling listeners that it's the "nineties" only adds more fuel to the anachronistic fire. An experiment in slang gone wrong, fellas.

9. ANGER IN THE NATION
This politically-charged track features some of the most focused CL Smooth verses I've ever heard. He'll never be confused with a Paris, a Chuck D, or an Ice Cube, but he gets his point across over Pete's pulsating drums. This was impressive, to say the least.

10. THEY REMINISCE OVER YOU (T.R.O.Y.)
An undisputed classic record, and the one song that both Pete Rock and CL Smooth will be answering for throughout the rest of their fucking lives. Peter and Corey's ode to late friends and family is oftentimes considered one of the best rap songs ever written, and it holds up today on the strength of CL's poignant lyrics and those horns. Those glorious fucking horns. This one song has inspired rappers, writers, and other bloggers, and for a damn good reason. If you've never listened to this song before, then we're not on speaking terms until you click here. Smart move on the label's part to insert this song as the album's centerpiece.

11. ON AND ON
The freestyle interlude prior to "On and On" (provided by Grap Luva, Pete's younger brother) goes on and on for way too long, and when the song finally kicks in, it sounds too similar to the tracks featured on the first half of Mecca & The Soul Brother. That is to say, it isn't bad, but it also isn't memorable. Not like anything that followed "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" even had a chance, but still.

12. IT'S LIKE THAT
This shit was pretty weak.

13. CAN'T FRONT ON ME
The beat on here is so fucking awesome that you'll overlook the cliched hip hop song title. But at least it isn't called "When We Ride", "Keepin' It Real", or "I'm On A Boat". Pete's ad-libs are almost laughably bad.

14. THE BASEMENT (FEAT DEDA, GRAP LUVA, HEAVY D, & ROB-O)
I wish that this posse cut had a more engaging beat, but hearing Pete and CL share mic time with the likes of Heavy D (Pete's cousin), and three other artists that most folks will have never heard of is a definite change of pace for the listeners. This track is certainly a product of its time.

15. IF IT AIN'T ROUGH, IT AIN'T RIGHT
Meh. Although I have to note that "Nautilus" is played in the background at one point, further proving my theory that every rap song in history has sampled that Bob James masterpiece.

16. SKINZ (FEAT GRAND PUBA)
I'm annoyed that this song is censored, but hearing Grand Puba (of Brand Nubian: also CL's cousin, so this album is a full-on family affair, and the writer of all of Peter's verses on this project) rhyme was a nice switch. Everyone involved has done much better work, though, so this was a weak way to end the album.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Mecca & The Soul Brother doesn't sound like a cohesive album: it comes across as a collection of singles. Here's why: each song is fully fleshed out and treated as the separate composition that it is, with a sound that never truly blends in with the previous or the following track. As a result, listening to Mecca & The Soul Brother is akin to reading an anthology of short stories: you probably won't want to play this all in one session. CL Smooth's lyrics have never sounded as good as they do over Pete Rock's production, which isn't exactly timeless, but is still relevant to today's audience. Not every song clicks today, but enough of this project works enough to justify its inclusion on multiple lists consisting of the best hip hop albums ever made. Ever made, folks.

BUY OR BURN? You should most definitely buy this one, although you'll be forgiven if you purchase individual songs, such as the ones listed below, as a sort of appetizer sampler. This album is why Pete Rock appears in everybody's hip hop producer top five.

BEST TRACKS: "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" (duh); "Can't Front On Me"; "Act Like You Know"; "Anger In The Nation"; "For Pete's Sake"; "Lots Of Lovin'"

- Max

RELATED POSTS:
Pete Rock & CL Smooth - All Souled Out EP
(Other Pete Rock projects can also be found by clicking here.)

Pete Rock & CL Smooth - All Souled Out (June 25, 1991)

Peter Phillips and Corey Penn, better known in the filed as their gamer aliases Pete Rock & CL Smooth, are a duo from Mount Vernon, New York, who have earned praise from critics and hip hop heads alike for their jazz-influenced beats (Pete) and their ability to rhyme over said beats (CL). They were known for remixing existing hits for rap and R&B artists alike, until Elektra Records gave them a shot at earning their own audience share.

In a move that I completely agree with but most of the music industry refuses to acknowledge (at least when it comes to hip hop), Elektra Records only commissioned Pete and CL to record a six-song EP, as a way to introduce themselves to America. The sales of the final product, All Souled Out, would then have to justify the release of a full album. (Why, if only most of the rappers in the South were marketed with this blueprint, we may not be wondering why hip hop is as dead as disco.) Pete and CL ran with this opportunity, and the rest is history.

Obviously, All Souled Out found its niche, since if you're still reading this write-up you will have heard of Pete Rock & CL Smooth, from their rise to their eventual falling-out. The breakup of the duo wouldn't happen for several years yet, so there is no foreshadowing on All Souled Out, just the rhymes of a talented guy just happy to get a shot, and the early-but-still-ridiculously-professional beats from who would later become one of the best producers in hip hop, period.

So are the six songs on All Souled Out worth your time? I don't usually like to show my cards so early in the game, but yes.

1. GOOD LIFE

Aah, drums and horns. I like how CL Smooth praises his lady friend's intelligence by mentioning that "you use logic". The song itself has a timeless quality; it's as if Pete and CL could have recorded this song last week (that is, if they were still on speaking terms), and it would still sound exactly the same. This is a good thing.

2. MECCA & THE SOUL BROTHER

Ah, a title track for an album that hadn't even been announced at this point. In contrast, this song sounds clearly dated, but in a "it still rocks harder than anything released in the new millennium" kind of way. Beats like this probably would have saved Pete's solo sequel Soul Survivor II. Also, better collaborators. (Side note: So Vast Aire has a Cannibal Ox reunion track produced by Peter Rockefeller called "Mecca & The Ox"? What the fuck? Isn't Pete supposed to be the 'Soul Brother' of the title? Why else would everyone call him Soul Brother Number One?)

3. GO WITH THE FLOW

It's not a bad song by any means, but I'm not really feeling this one. I suppose it would serve as some great inspiration when I remove my pan flute from its holster and turn all Zamfir on my two readers, but that's it.

4. THE CREATOR

Pete Rock's solo rhyme showcase, on which he sounds like a speedier Erick Sermon, a comparison that you can't really make today. While he's never been the best rapper (indeed, he's usually outshined by any given rapper that appears on a track with him, but be fair to the man, he's a producer first), he holds his own admirably on this track. I believe "The Creator" was a minor hit back in the day, which is hilarious to me, since it's the one song that doesn't really feature CL Smooth.

5. ALL SOULED OUT

Not bad, but not great. Pete and CL would make much better songs later in their respective careers.

6. GOOD LIFE (GROUP HOME MIX)

The new beat sounds much darker, and yet, more optimistic, than the original, even though the lyrics are exactly the same. That said, I prefer this version to the original. I don't have a clue why it's called the "Group Home" mix, though I'm sure it has nothing to do with those two weed carriers who were lucky enough to score Primo beats from the local Goodwill.

FINAL THOUGHTS: All Souled Out sounds like the type of album you listen to while smoking cigarettes while sitting around in a black-and-white hue as the smoke circles you and your friends, while you write your musical dissertation on overt jazz influences on popular music out loud as your friends debate your every thought. Pete and CL easily prove that they are deserving of an album, and their full-length debut Mecca and the Soul Brother would see itself hit store shelves one year later.

BUY OR BURN? A six track EP with four great songs? There's a sixty-six percent chance that you'll love this disc. You can't pass up those odds. Legally. People have been locked up for less.

BEST TRACKS: "Good Life (Group Home Mix)"; "Good Life"; "Mecca & The Soul Brother"; "The Creator"

-Max

RELATED POSTS:

Pete Rock - Soul Survivor

Pete Rock - Soul Survivor II

Pete Rock - Soul Survivor II (May 11, 2004)

First of all, I want to thank my two readers that continue to check on my more-and-more-dwindling-in-update-frequency blog. I realize that not posting for a week and a half is like an eternity for some, so I appreciate everyone who visits. Of course, if there were more comments on my posts, I may find more time in my day for the write-ups instead of trivial things such as breathing and sleeping, but that's just my observation.

(*cough* Leave some damn comments! *cough*)

Anyway, Peter Phillips, also known as Pete Rock One Of The Greatest Hip Hop Producers Of All Time (yes, that's his full rap name), decided to capitalize on the underground and critical success of his first solo album, Soul Survivor, by waiting six years to release a sequel. Since his original home base, the almighty Loud Records, folded, Soul Survivor II was released on BBE Records, an imprint that was an acronym for 'Barely Breaking Even', which is probably a very optimistic assessment on the performance of this disc.

There are several reasons why Soul Survivor II failed to push as many copies as the original recipe. For starters, the music itself is completely different: PR quietly decided to switch up seemingly his entire style for this album, with only a few of the tracks hitting the mark for folks (like myself) who loved his earlier work. He also made the conscious decision not to actually appear that often on his own album: unlike Classic Soul Survivor, Pete is content to remain behind the boards, providing an occasional chorus here and one verse there, as if he were trying to make the definitive East Coast version of The Chronic. Pete Rock also fished from a pool of lesser-known artists as guests, instead of high-profile acts such as Method Man and Big Punisher, who graced the earlier album.

Soul Survivor II is one of those albums that most Pete Rock fans have no information about, even though he is one of the most loved producers on the network of hip hop blogs. (I see you, Dan Love.) I had originally given this a spin back in 2004, but quickly forgot about it: I can tell you right now, without you having read any of the actual write-up, that the songs on this CD don't grab you like "Tru Master" and "Strange Fruit" did on Soul Survivor 1.0. However, it was time to bring it out of my crates for an update. Here's hoping that it will serve a better function than as a makeshift shiv in my next movie.

1. TRUTH IS (FEAT BLACK ICE)
I still don't trust rap albums that start with spoken word poets. I think it stems from that time where a rap album that started with a spoken word intro played me for twenty bucks in 3-Card Monty. Ever since then...

2. WE GOOD (FEAT KARDINAL OFFISHALL)
At this point, I've only heard two Kardinal songs: "Bakardi Slang", which I happen to like, and the Canadian remix to the Wu-Tang Clan's "Careful (Click, Click)". He comes off OK on a beat that sounds as much like Pete Rock as my writings read like Tolstoy.

3. JUST DO IT (FEAT PHAROAHE MONCH)
I can't be counted as one of the biggest Pharoahe Monch fans, and this song certainly won't win him any new listeners. The beat actually sounds worse than the lyrics, if you can even fathom the possibility.

4. GIVE IT TO YA (FEAT LITTLE BROTHER & DARIEN BROCKINGTON)
This is the most conventional PR beat so far, if by "conventional" you read "can be considered to be a little bit too chilled-out, since it almost put me to sleep". Which is a shame, because I like Little Brother about twenty-nine percent of the time.

5. IT'S DA POSTABOY (FEAT POSTABOY)
I can't help but have a felling that Postaboy is one of those rappers that the rap dorks on Boxden claimed I was "supposed" to check for seven years ago. Of course, I conveniently failed to do so, because life is fucking short. Suffice it to say I am not very impressed, and that's probably the reason why I haven't heard anything new from Postaboy since.

6. IT'S A LOVE THING (FEAT C.L. SMOOTH & DENOSH)
C.L. may be "the best that ever did it on a Pete Rock track", but that doesn't automatically make this song a good one.

7. ONE MC ONE DJ (FEAT SKILLZ)
This beat is half amazing, half annoying-as-fuck. The formerly mad Skillz sounds fantastic as always, though, so chalk one up in the "win" column.

8. BEEF (FEAT KRUMBSNATCHA)
The hook is awful. Krumbsnatcha, who frequently rents himself out as a successful rapper for parties, comes off as decent enough. This track may have made for a much better listening experience, though, if Pete Rock and friends weren't afraid to stray from the "verse/hook/verse/hook/verse/hook" format that makes most hip hop fans long for those nine-minute epics by Grandmaster Flash, Man Parrish, and Afrika Bambataa.

9. NO TEARS (FEAT LEELA JAMES)
This song sounds like an outtake from the original Soul Survivor sessions. This is a good thing.

10. HEAD RUSH (FEAT GZA/GENIUS & THE RZA)
Pete Rock tries his best True Master imitation, which is a very questionable move for being one of the best hip hop producers of all time. That said, this track isn't bad, but I hesitate in calling it a "song", since it clocks in at barely over two minutes.

11. FLY TILL I DIE (FEAT TALIB KWELI & C.L. SMOOTH)
Don't get too excited: C.L. only appears on the chorus. Kweli sounds incredibly meh; for the first time on Soul Survivor II, I actually prefer the beat to the rhymes.

12. WARZONE (FEAT DEAD PREZ)
This is the least-sounding PR song I have ever heard. I can do without the constant repetition of the phrase "in the club", but otherwise, this song rocks.

13. DA VILLA (FEAT SLUM VILLAGE)
Someone (sorry, I forget who) had requested that I review some Slum Village on my blog. It's in my pile, which seems to be growing taller as each day passes, but in regard to this track, all I can say is meh.

14. N----Z KNOW (FEAT J DILLA)
This would be the track where PR actually drops a rhyme. Even though this is his CD and all, I can't say that I've missed his verses one bit. J Dilla, R.I.P.

15. APPRECIATE (FEAT C.L. SMOOTH)
Now this is more like it! Why the hell can't they work out their differences? Nobody actually wants to hear C.L. Smooth without PR, so why does he even pretend otherwise?

FINAL THOUGHTS: Soul Survivor II is a completely different listening experience when compared to his first solo album. That said, it's nowhere near as good as Soul Survivor. The beats aren't catchy, save for a handful: the guests come off as uninspired, or in the case of Postaboy, completely out of place. Supposedly Pete Rock is about to release an album that is solely collaborations with New York-based artists: maybe that CD will sound more like how we all expected this one to be. Oddly, one of the most enjoyable aspects of Soul Survivor II is the fact that Pete included snippets of beats as musical interludes, and these beats all sound as if they were from a discarded early version of this project. In no way am I saying this is a bad album: I would prefer to listen to this every day for the rest of my life if that meant rappers like U-God and Memphis Bleek would leave the public consciousness. And it is entirely possible that we may all appreciate this album in about twenty years. But when compared to Soul Survivor, well...

BUY OR BURN? Since this is a Pete Rock album, I'm tempted to advise everyone to make the purchase simply to support Pete Rock; if my two readers actually did this, you would be doing the world a great service. But simply put, this album only has a handful of good songs, so a burn would be most appropriate.

BEST TRACKS: "Warzone"; "One MC One DJ"; "Appreciate"

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Pete Rock - Soul Survivor

Pete Rock - Soul Survivor (November 10, 1998)

Moving on from the 50 Cents of the rap world, I present to you one Peter "Pete Rock" Phillips, who is better known as one-half of the dynamic duo Pete Rock & CL Smooth.

The critically acclaimed duo rose to prominence in the early 1990's, with an EP and two full-length albums that sounded great but sold probably twelve copies combined. Back in the day, however, hip hop greatness wasn't measured by chart dominance, which is why Pete Rock still has a viable career today. He is considered to be one of the greatest hip hop producers ever. Seriously. Ever. Most of my two readers won't fight me on that fact.

Soul Survivor was released a few years after Pete Rock and CL Smooth disbanded, much to the chagrin to the hip hop community, since most fans believed that each man brought out the best in the other. Desperate to change public opinion, Pete Rock released his "solo" debut on the mighty Loud Records in 1998. I put the word "solo" in quotations, since this album really acts more like a sampler of what rap artists were hot in 1998, with Pete providing the background treats and the guest vocals on his own songs. While the record went on to sell zero copies, Pete Rock's legacy had already been established, and a loyal fanbase who would later write about his work in online hip hop blogs would soon flourish.

1. SOUL SURVIVOR (INTRO)
Even hip hop legends can't live without their rap album intros.

2. TRU MASTER (FEAT INSPECTAH DECK & KURUPT)
Most people complained that the beat sounded too close to Primo for comfort. I was not one of those people. I fell in the camp who believed that Kurupt was severely out of place on this song.

3. HALF MAN HALF AMAZIN (FEAT METHOD MAN)
Meth would sound hungrier on a guest spot than he would on his own fucking album...

4. RESPECT MINE (FEAT O.C.)
This hasn't happened in a while. Three songs in a row, that are all enjoyable? Unheard of in 2007!

5. THA GAME (FEAT RAEKWON, GHOSTFACE KILLAH, & PRODIGY)
The song that probably cemented Pete's association with the Wu-Tang Clan, even though his contributions wouldn't start until 2006 (see Fishscale and Made In Brooklyn; I'm choosing to ignore Immobilarity). Oh, and Prodigy's here, too.

6. #1 SOUL BROTHER
The lone solo shot. Pete Rock has always been a better producer than rapper, but this song doesn't suck.

7. ROCK STEADY, PART II (FEAT LORD TARIQ & PETER GUNZ)
As I wrote before, this album was a sampler of who was hot in 1998. Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz supposedly qualify for that distinction off their success with that lame-ass "Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)" song that approximately nobody remembers. This song sucks, but it's unfair to blame Pete, since the guests are wack. (Did we still say wack in 1998?)

8. TRULY YOURS '98 (FEAT LARGE PROFESSOR & KOOL G RAP)
I'm pretty sure that the same people that leave comments questioning why I posted a review of Curtis Jackson's The Massacre will have absolutely no idea who Kool G Rap is. That's a damn shame.

9. IT'S ABOUT THAT TIME (FEAT BLACK THOUGHT & ROB-O)
Black Thought (from The Roots) is one of my favorite emcees, but this song is really boring.

10. ONE LIFE TO LIVE (FEAT MC EIHT)
I'm not the biggest fan of MC Eiht (I mentioned this on the Soul Assassins review from waaay back in March), but damned if he doesn't sound good over some quality production.

11. TAKE YOUR TIME (FEAT LOOSE ENDS)
We've come to the R&B stops on this ride, as Pete Rock attempts to prove he can do more than produce good rap records. Here, he succeeds.

12. MIND BLOWIN' (FEAT VINIA MOJICA)
Not the biggest fan of the guest, but I like the jazzy sounds provided here.

13. SOUL SURVIVOR (FEAT MISS JONES)
It's a scientifically proven fact: one out of every four hip hop albums has a title track. I decided to type that phony factoid as I can't come up with anything to say about the song; it's that forgettable.

14. DA TWO (FEAT CL SMOOTH)
I'm pretty sure that this one song was the reason anyone would have bought this CD. Taken as such, it's a damn good song, as this song fucking rocks. Best song on here by far. Pete and CL really do work well together! Too bad about the eventually re-falling out, though...

15. VERBAL MURDER 2 (FEAT BIG PUNISHER, NOREAGA, & COMMON)
(Performed in a singsong voice) One of these guests is not like the other...

16. STRANGE FRUIT (FEAT TRAGEDY KHADAFI, CAPPADONNA, & STICKY FINGAZ)
If you ignore Cappadonna's weak verse, you'll find this song to be awesome. Somewhere on the net is the original version which was just a duet between Pete and Tragedy. Anyone have info about that song?

17. MASSIVE (HOLD TIGHT) (FEAT HEAVY D & BEENIE MAN)
Since it's mandatory that a rapper include his family somewhere in the recording process, Pete gives us this weak-as-shit song featuring his cousin, Heavy D. Too bad it's not any good.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Soul Survivor still holds up today, better than most albums of the era would, due mainly to it's timeless production, which sounded like it was already five years old when it originally came out. Save for a couple of weak songs and some questionable guest stars, this was one of the more enjoyable reviews I've written in a while. Also serves as a good time capsule of 1998 hip hop, and, if pressed, can also be used as a handheld mirror.

BUY OR BURN? Buy this shit. It's cheap, trust me. Nobody bought it the first time around. Don't make that mistake again.

BEST TRACKS: "Da Two"; "Strange Fruit"; "Tha Game"

(Don't agree with the above review? I don't see why you wouldn't, but if that's the case, leave some comments below!)

-Max