July 2009

When coming across rap groups on the interwebs that I’ve not been made familiar with prior, I have a proclivity to just figure that they’re just a blog based project. That concept, though, again and again has been proven incorrect. But I guess even if the Good People were a two dimensional ensemble, they’d still be pretty good. Comprised of New York area performers, the duo (DJ Emskee, the group’s emcee and Saint, its producer) have been occupied creating true school hip hop gymnastics since about 2005. The Good People haven’t met with the widest batch of appreciation as of yet, but considering the pervasive renown that Home Coming has thus far received, it seems that their lot is set to change.

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There’s not now, nor will there ever be a shortage of old tyme west coast rap stuffs – BG Knocc Out and Dresta, Battlecat and Dru Down for starters. But there’s so much more beyond those works that remains relatively unspoiled over time. Not every disc that gets a revisiting – or a discovery – ages as well as those aforementioned albums. WC and the Maad Circle, though has. Unfortunately, the group is going to most probably be remembered as a stop over for Coolio.

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The biggest acts of what unfortunates term ‘alternative rap’ from the ‘90s aren’t really around any more. Dilated Peoples seemed to have disappeared even if Rakaa Iriscience and the Alchemist seem to crop up pretty frequently. Much the same can be said for Jurassic 5. Apart from the fact that the group’s production duo – Cut Chemist and DJ Numark – has either staked a claim at a solo career or been endlessly featured on other’s albums, no one else from the seven man crew has been making too much noise. Now, though, Chali 2na has gone and done it. His Fish Outta Water may have been delayed for what seems like years, but it’s now arrived. The time that fans have waited even seems to be rewarded considering the nonstop highlights that the disc gives.

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The dawn of the ‘90s allowed for a ballooning rap crowd to get record deals and eventually make a huge pot of money, get lazy and eventually disappear. That’s not necessarily the arc of every group’s career and even if Tha Alkaholiks (aka Tha Liks) maintained a pretty devoted following into the new millennium, it became apparent that there was a finite number of albums that the trio could crank out with a lone focus on drunkenness. With a declining album sales and a growing thirst for success, though, the group called it quits after 2006’s Firewater – and honestly, I didn’t even know that album existed until today.

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The drought of funky soul instrumentals ended when Stones Throw, Daptone, Truth and Soul as well as some other imprints began reissuing lost classics on top of releasing some new fire. The varying degrees of success that each label has encountered is mitigated by the overwhelmingly positive reception that each new slab is met with. Maybe some of those folks are gonna make a cool milli, but even if they don’t, releasing music with such a high standard should be enough of a reward (almost).

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Masters of Ceremony were comprised of MC Dr. Who, DJ Shabazz and none other than Grand Puba - although at this point he still used his surname, Maxwell. Yep, prior to working out some righteous and overly politicized jams, Grand Puba did time in this pretty early rap crew. The group’s first single, “Crime,” was released in ’85, with its follow up "Sexy" b/w "Cracked Out," coming two years later. And although, it took a total of three years for the ensemble to release a full length, the resulting 1988 Dynamite, as dated as it is now, compares with any of that early wave of hip hop.

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