Release Date: Jun 23, 2015
Genre(s): Rap, Pop/Rock
Record label: Mello Music Group
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Head here to submit your own review of this album. It was humid in the Bronx in July 1994, 'The World Is Yours' by Nas (produced by Pete Rock) had just dropped. Hot 97 kept it on heavy rotation and Charlie from Best Deli & Grill had a tape. I was outside somewhere with a few friends when we hear loud bass and God-awful rattles, then mids and highs distorting "I sip the Dom P, watching Gandhi til I'm charged, then writing in my book of rhymes, all the words past the margin.
It's been almost 15 years since Pete Rock released the original Petestrumentals album on BBE records back in 2001, and listening to this long-gestating follow-up, it would appear that not a whole lot has changed in the interim. That's not to discount the potency or worthiness of the project, but as one of the best hip-hop producers of all time, Pete Rock not only stayed in his lane, he'd already dug it up and paved it himself; he's entitled to stay in it. While Pete Rock's presence is nowhere near as omnipresent as it was in the mid '90s, his influence still crops at seminal moments; earlier this year, his services were called on to bless Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly.
Who’s your favorite emcee? It’s a question every Hip Hop fan has been asked, with answers like Nas, Biggie, Tupac and more often flooding in. These rappers all employ a different style, yet they each have one thing in common: great beats to back their groundbreaking wordplay. From Large Professor and DJ Premier to Johnny J and Dr. Dre, Hip Hop is built not only on the talents of those that hold the mic, but their invaluable beat making partners as well.
Hip-hop producers rarely come greater than Pete Rock, whose reputation as one of the titans of the '90s golden age hasn't and shouldn't be diminished by the increasing marginalization of his profile in the mainstream. Just because he's doing latter-day mixtapes with Camp Lo and scoring extended Smoke DZA monologues doesn't mean he can't bring the same insight and motivation that he brought to "The World Is Yours" or "Be Easy" or "The Joy". The man knows his craft and doesn't skimp on it, so it hardly matters whether an MC on one of his tracks is a household name or a hardcores-only attraction, so long as the beat's done justice.
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