That Sweet Boom Bap - Beats From The ’90s Review
K-Def - ‘For Da Family’ & ‘Jam On It’
taken from Beats From The ’90s (Ghetto Man Beats, 2008)
Although I’ve been more than enthusiastic about the recent spate of releases from Jersey’s one and only K-Def, the thought of previously unheard material honed by the man himself during one of hip hop’s golden ages has had me understandably drooling at the mouth for the past couple of months. Sure enough, his latest release Beats From The ’90s delivers all that its title promises: for fans of that official boom bap, this is a release to cop with the swiftness.
When I spoke to K-Def back in April I was a little concerned that this particular drop would be little more than a collection of previously released instrumentals from back in the day, but in reality it offers a whole lot more. Apart from ‘Ain’t No Crime’ and ‘Gettin’ Hot’ this is all new material to me, and it further confirms why K-Def should be held in the very highest of regards when it comes to consideration of producers who have made substantial contributions to the genre. What I really like about this compilation of largely unreleased work is that you can detect K-Def’s developing production aesthetic throughout the era, so whereas the aforementioned ‘Ain’t No Crime’ reeks of the earlier stages of the decade, tracks such as ‘Dramaz’ and ‘Been There Part 2′ tie in more closely with the contemporary material found on Willie Boo Boo: The Fool and The Article. Bottom line? It’s all bangin’.
Ultimately, Beats From The ’90s feels good because it unashamedly presents the sort of delicately executed yet sophisticated production nuances that define an age that endures as one of the most creatively productive and ingenious in the genre’s history. Forget about the next big thing: for pure, unadulterated listening pleasure this latest installment from the Ghetto Man Beats camp easily ranks as one of the best things that 2008 has had to offer for serious fans of that ol’ boom bap. Cop it now and rub your hands at the thought of 24th June: disappointment is out of the question.
June 14th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Both those tracks are just great - perfect easy weekend listening. I think sometimes instrumental hip-hop turns people off because there’s a perception that without rhymes a track is lacking something. And in a way it can be true - plenty of straightforward looped tracks would be boring as hell to hear without an MC on them. But music like this, changing up, dropping elements in and out of the mix, is so-well crafted that it’s almost an injustice to describe it as ‘instrumental hip-hop’ anyway. This is simply hip-hop in its own right. Love the doorbell sound effect in ‘For Da Family’ too! So this drops on June 24th? Sounds like a must-buy to me.
June 15th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Yea the ‘For Da Family’ cut is particularly good. I’m assuming it’s an alternate version of the song K-Def produced for Mic Geronimo’s second album, the other version of which is also very good.
June 17th, 2008 at 2:15 am
finally someone does it right. large pro didnt with the beatz volumes. everyone is realizing the mid 90s is the way
June 17th, 2008 at 7:51 am
illest - That’s officially the most positive I’ve ever heard you. Damn, this must be good
June 17th, 2008 at 11:47 am
lol
June 17th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
dan love……i know i always sound negative. lol. i just know what these guys are capable of . you know all of these producers have vaults of unreleased material that just sits in boxes and us fans want it. we would pay for it (maybe not 80 dollars for a 6 song ep) but we will pay. its frustrating the stories ive heard about pete and large pro and kdef and other producers who just ride around playing music to get sweated. thats why its good that kdef is droppin this because we all want this. look at all the blogs. most of them are 90s joints. just like this one is mainly. i spoke to jamey staub, petes old engineer, about this and jamey said he has dats full of unreleased pete stuff. of course he does he was in the studio for 90 percent of petes releases. i tried to get it but to no avail. JUST PUT IT OUT. mad respect to kdef who has been through a lot with marley (very shady business by marley) about getting his own joints.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I agree that if it is simply the case that the beats are being held back then of course it is very frustrating for hardcore fans, but I’d assume that a lot of it was due to sample clearance issues. Otherwise it just doesn’t really make sense: why not give people what they want? Particularly in this day and age where releasing material is so straight forward if you want it to be.
Maybe it’s all being saved for a rainy day. Let’s hope so…
June 17th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
some of it may be sample clearances but a lot is not. like the futureflavas remixes for example….he actually played those. he could drop those in a mixtape format or something. plus he has so many joints that he could find 30 that have nothing to do with trouble and sampling issues. he has a million records. he cant navigate through that? a lot of it is ego. i definitely agree give the people what they want. im glad kdef is doing this. and what godfather don did. and what buckwild did.
June 17th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
It’s just a strange way for your ego to manifest itself: surely if you’re that into ‘you’, you’d want to get those things out there.
Who knows, maybe PR will see sense and get together a release. Other nominations for vault clearing releases? Showbiz would be top of mine.
June 17th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
i definitely agree with showbiz….and large professor
more of godfather don
January 30th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
ILLEST!! You’re so fortunate to have spoken to Jamey Staubs. He’s a legendary engineer. I completely agree with everything you’re saying, and have said the same for years… where is all this stuff that these legends are hiding? They act so secretive about the music, as if nobody will be interested to hear it. Are they nuts? I was so excited to hear that BuckWild was releasing his B-sides and Remix Raririties joint a few years back… Can you imagine if they never released the Baby Pa album on BBE? Damn… That’s a classic album for sure!!!
I want to hear those Pete beats when he was on the SP1200 — like 95-98. You just know he’s got so many floppy disks laying around.
++ DRUMAT!C
January 30th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
And yeah… this is hip-hop… PR ain’t selling more than 50,000 units of his old material. No need to have concern for sample clearances… even do it in mixtape format… fuck the RIAA!
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