Here we have a posse cut full of MC's who all share an Irish heritage with the track being released the day before Saint Patty's day. As expected the production is dominated by an Irish 'horn' sample and obligatory Irish references are included in the verses. Diabolic and Apathy (unsurprisingly) have the two best performances here, the 3 relative unknowns who make up the tracks middle are alright and Ryu and Mac Lethal finish the track off well enough. Decent, but nothing special.
Oh, and does anyone else think Paradime sounds like Joell Ortiz with an Irish accent?
This is well known as one of the greatest posse cuts of all time and with good reason. Over Buckwild's haunting production Big L lays down one of his greatest verses ever and my personal favourite of his.
'A tech nine is my untensil filling n****s with so much lead they can use they dick for a pencil'
It's nice to hear Jay-Z back when he was a bit more 'hype' as well and had the ability to switch his pace up. This tracks main feature though is it's energy. All six verses are delivered so well and manage to maintain this abundance of energy without resorting (too much) to generic rhymes, i.e M.O.P.
If you die and come back I shoot your spirit now your ass is just a holy ghost
Big L > Jay-Z > Grand Daddy I.U > Party Arty > Microphone Nut > Lord Finesse
This track right here is from what is possibly the most underrated Hip-Hop album ever, Binary Star's Masters of the Universe. K.G.B is the last on the album and it's a dark, grimey, vocal 'chant' led beat with over 6 minutes of non-stop rapping; no choruses, no scratches, just bars. Funnily enough, the two members of Binary Star (One Be Lo and Senim Silla) are pretty disappointing in comparison to their previous efforts on the album and it's the more unknown featured artists that really steal the show.
Malaki > Lacks > Elzhi > J.U.I.C.E > Senim Silla > Texture > One Be Lo > O-Type Star
'A wack MC is something I could never be that's like tryna grow dreadlocks while on chemotherapy'
Army of the Pharaohs debut album, TheTorture Papers (charming, I know), got straight down to business, opening the album up with this 6 minute long, 9 verse posse cut. Shuko produced the ‘epic’ feeling, string led beat, suited perfectly to the constant stream of MC’s laying down bar after bar. Vinnie Paz opens the track up with a little shit-talking hype up intro, about the only thing he does well anymore in my opinion. Unfortunately he decided he wasn’t done shit-talking and that the track would be all the better for having two more interludes throughout where Paz’ gets to display his extremely limited vocabulary by inserting ‘fuck’ and ‘shit’ over and over. The aim was obviously to help break up the verses lest the track become too monotonous but a much better idea would have been to added some scratching and cuts which would have fit the tracks tone perfectly.
Now, getting to the actual verses, Apathy leads the track off and puts down one of the best verses from the album and undoubtedly the best verse on the track.
‘And if you're facin' us, block off a 30-block radius
I throw more blows than boxin' Dr. Octavius ’
Unfortunately the track goes through a bit of a flat patch afterwards with King Syze, Crypt The War Child, Des Devious and Esoteric all putting forward decent verses but nothing spectacular and you start to feel monotony set in. Yes, they all have aggressive deliveries and fairly good rhyme schemes but there’s no punch lines or even particularly clever/witty lines in general that stand-out. Luckily Chief Kamachi and Celph Titled are up next and help lift the standard with Celph’s witty exaggerative braggadocios style built for a track like this.
‘It’s the Army, we got power in numbers
And that's nines, .45's, .357's, and M-500’s ’
Planetary’s up next. He’s alright. Vinnie Paz then proceeds to close the track off in what I can only guess is some attempt to ‘save the best for last’. Of course, the day Vinnie Paz outshines Apathy or Celph Titled on a track is the day Immortal Technique becomes a Republican. So, in typical Paz’ style he spits a horrible verse where his flow doesn’t change once and he puts out the weakest rhyme schemes of anyone on the track. He does drop a gem on us though
‘That’s the reason that I'm fly like the life of a bird ’……..... -_-
All Vinnie Paz hate aside the track’s actually quite good and well worth a listen
So, i'm thinking that every Friday from now on i might throw up one of Hip-Hop's staples, the posse cut.
This particular track is just one of many classic joints to be found on Kanye's latest album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy , my personal favourite album of 2010 and, according to metacritic, THE most critically acclaimed album of 2010.
This is one of Jay-Z's best verses from 2010 and Pusha T, who has been a bit hit or miss for me lately, kills his verse as well. The real surprise is Cyhi Da Prince, the relative unknown at the time this track was released (as apart of Kanye's GOOD Friday Initiative), who's flow is superb, rhyme schemes are constant an adds a nice dose of wit and charisma as well. Swizz Beatz contributes to the hook itself in various parts and while i usually can' t stand the sight (or sound) of him he's bearable in this track. RZA jumps in for a little angry outro which rounds off the track nicely.
The beats perfect for bars bars and more bars and with Kanye & No I.D. handling the production i'm not sure it's possible to produce anything less than brilliance. The tracks got incredible replay value as well, I have to say, it's my most played song off the album currently.
I’m so appalled I might buy the mall
just to show ****** how much more I have in store - Jay-Z
