This album (as well as Fabolous' Ghetto Fabolous album) dropped on 9/11/01. For those too young to remember, that was the day of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

At the time, I had just started the 11th grade. I was born and raised in Queens, NYC and my high school was also located in Queens. I believe I was in AP Spanish class when the planes hit the World Trade Center. I didn’t find out about the attacks until Leadership class, which followed AP Spanish. The principal and vice principal walked into our class and explained to everyone what was going on. I thought it was a freak accident at first until my Leadership teacher turned on the radio and the reporters announced that a 2nd plane hit the WTC and that the country was under attack. After that I didn’t know what to say. All I could think about were the World War II Kamikaze bombers that we read about in school.

Later on that day, since my high school class was only about 400 students, we all huddled up in the school gym and saw live footage of the aftermath of the attacks. Some people were crying, concerned about their loved ones in the area. Others were upset. My biggest worry at that point was that President George W. Bush was going to institute a draft and that I would have to go fight overseas. Even to me, it was pretty obvious that there was going to be a war. And wars can last a long time. For a 15 year old who was going to be 16 in a couple of months, I was nervous about that.

After class, I remember some people were having problems with their cell phones and there was just general disarray. When I got home, I contacted my closest relatives to make sure everybody was alright. Fortunately, everybody was okay.

As a result of the attacks, my local record stores had closed down early. Back then, in my part of Queens, we used to have The Wiz and Coconuts. Both stores were closed when I went to buy the new Jay-Z and Fabolous albums. I had to wait until the next day to buy them. NYC public schools were closed the next day due to the attacks.

The role that context plays is interesting when it concerns music. Younger generations as well as future generations will listen to these albums and enjoy them or hate them. However, they’ll never know what it meant to go to the actual store to buy the album. And they’re so far removed from the 9/11 attacks that they don’t associate the attacks with those albums. They’ll know that those albums came out on the same day but it doesn’t mean anything to them. To me, both The Blueprint and Ghetto Fabolous, will always be associated with the attacks and my fear of an impending draft.

This is Danny Brown’s 2nd full length, solo album. It was released on 8/15/11. I didn’t download it or buy it right away. What hyped me up for the project was seeing Danny Brown perform tracks from the album live. On Saturday, 8/20/11, The Combat Jack Show held a free BBQ/concert at The Morgan, a former bar that was located in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NYC. I’m related to one of the former owners of the bar and I’m also a huge Combat Jack Show fan so I decided to go the event and do some video documentation. Jon Connor, Action Bronson, Maffew Ragazino, Party Supplies all performed live. Meka (from 2DopeBoyz) and Statik Selektah had brief DJ sets.

Danny basically headlined the event and performed a slew of cuts from XXX. He literally started the show with the intro/title track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyBWOHDcqUQ

Catered to the self destructive people in the crowd:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7RJzJ6tLg4

Repped his hometown:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmLrG6e3PZ0

And closed things out on a spaced out trip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG2M5IF32wQ

I was so impressed with the performance that I decided to buy a physical copy of the album. Danny Brown is signed to DJ A-Trak & Nick Catchdubs' record label, Fool’s Gold. The label has their own small shop located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

I went there not too long after the BBQ and copped the album. Admittedly, I wasn’t impressed with the CD packaging. It was a four panel, thin sleeve design, with only the cover and tracklist on the back. However, Danny convinced me that this was an album worth buying so I was glad to show support, especially since that show was free.

The first time that I heard of CyHi Da Prynce was also the first time that I saw him live back in June 2010 at Highline Ballroom in NYC. This was before the 2010 BET Awards Cypher, before he signed to G.O.O.D. Music and before Kanye West dropped My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. CyHi was just a rapper signed to Def Jam. He was opening for Joell Ortiz and Jay Electronica at this particular show. Right off the bat, the audience wanted to get to the headliners. They booed the other opening act, STS (but he won the crowd over with an a cappella freestyle), as well as CyHi (this was the same show Big K.R.I.T. was booed at as well).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJycVO_IMAo

Flash forward a few months, CyHi signs to Kanye’s label, has a guest spot on Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and he drops a memorable verse at the G.O.O.D. Music Cypher at the 2010 BET Awards

https://youtu.be/uhSER0DzUP4?t=2m17s

and now all of a sudden, CyHi was no longer the random rapper signed to Def Jam but a legitimate up-and-comer with a huge cosign.

I saw him live a 2nd time at Highline in March 2011. Again, he and STS were the opening acts but this time Yelawolf was the headliner. CyHi’s set went much smoother this time around especially since he now had more of a name for himself. He also didn’t get booed this time around (although, somebody did throw an empty Gatorade bottle at him at one point). It was during this show that he handed out copies of his 2010 mixtape, Royal Flush. He personally handed me a copy during his set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WouCBUoXsPE

In October 2009, Fat Beats NYC held an instore event for Sean Price’s Kimbo Price mixtape. I thought only Sean Price would be there, so I brought only Sean Price related CD inserts. Apparently, the flyers also indicated that Buckshot and the Blue Scholars would be there as well (I didn’t see this particular flyer at the time). As it turned out, Buckshot, Geologic (Blue Scholars), Rock (Heltah Skeltah), Skyzoo, Torae and Ruste Juxx all made appearances at the store.

I got the chance to meet everybody including Buckshot and Geologic. I also briefly spoke to Skyzoo and Torae. What really caught my interest was the fact that I saw Skyzoo on television the month before, when Derek Jeter broke Lou Gehrig’s hit record for Yankees all-time hits. Sky was hanging out with Jeter’s family. That caught me by surprise and I asked him about that. Him and Torae laughed about it but he did admit that he was in fact there and that a lot of people reached out to him about his television appearance. It would make more sense for perhaps Jay-Z to be there but not a random, Indie rapper like Skyzoo (no disrespect intended, Skyzoo is dope). What I found out later on was that Skyzoo used to date Jeter’s sister and that’s why he was sitting with Jeter’s family. At around the :14 second mark, you can see Skyzoo in the blue, long sleeved shirt applauding Jeter alongside his family:

https://youtu.be/wCHNThbOJJk?t=14s

As for Sean Price, he couldn’t make it. Apparently, he was arrested for a traffic violation or weed (I forgot) and he couldn’t make it to his own instore event. As a consolation prize, I was able to get Sean’s partner-in-crime, Rock (aka Rockness Monstah), to sign their Heltah Skeltah albums. The silver marker that he used was about to finish, hence why the signatures aren’t that clear.

EDIT 7/13/15: I completely forgot about these but I did manage to get some posters signed by Buckshot, Geologic, Skyzoo and Torae.

I bought this in 2000 around the time it was initially released. It was my introduction to Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Dan The Automator and Kid Koala. At the time, I was moving further away from the mainstream and this album couldn’t have come at a better time. It has a space opera concept and contains Del’s trademark, off kilter rhymes, Dan’s cinematic production and Kid Koala’s timely scratches. It had a massive impact on the underground scene, in a similar way that Kool Keith’s Dr. Octagonecologyst influenced the underground in the mid 90’s.

Flash forward to July 2014, I finally got the opportunity to see Deltron 3030 live. It was a free show held at Prospect Park in Brooklyn. The group was backed by a symphony orchestra. Normally, I don’t care for this type of thing. All you need for a Rap show is 2 turntables and a microphone. I’ve seen rappers perform with live bands and they’ll be completely out of sync. I’ve also seen Mos Def perform with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra and it wasn’t as great as it was hyped up to be. But Deltron figured it out. With Dan The Automator serving as not only the producer but also conductor, all the players in this production were in sync. The album tracks that were performed sounded beautifully with live instrumentation. Everybody had their role and executed it perfectly. I’m glad that I attended and had such a great spot to capture it on video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxpVyGk0Myw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51FB_1qQyzI

David Dallas is a rapper from New Zealand who gained some American attention when Kanye West posted his “Big Time” video on his blog back in 2009.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQyeNHwOTC0

Given Kanye’s popularity, anything that he cosigns will get noticed immediately. Dallas garnered enough attention to land a deal with Duck Down Records and in 2011 he released The Rose Tint as a free download under Duck Down Records. The album generated 50,000 downloads prompting Dallas to release a deluxe edition of the album for physical release. The album includes some bonus tracks as well as a bonus disc of instrumentals.

Following the Kanye cosign and signing to Duck Down, Dallas briefly moved to NYC to pursue his dreams of making it in the USA (he’s very popular in New Zealand). He did shows in the US and promoted The Rose Tint. I saw him live in March 2011, opening for Pharoahe Monch at his W.A.R. album release show at SOB’s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wpFkPE95T4

Dallas didn’t really take off in America and seems to have gone back to New Zealand where his popularity is still very high. The Rose Tint was a dope album though, very underrated. He’s not a rapper who will knock you out lyrically but he knows how to make songs and his beat selection is incredible. Fire & Ice, P-Money, Exile, etc. all did an incredible job on the boards.

I bought this around the time that it dropped in 1999. Royce Da 5'9" and Eminem’s buzzes were building thanks to Em’s Slim Shady LP and Royce’s appearance on the song “Bad Meets Evil”. Apparently, it wasn’t just a song, they became a duo called Bad Meets Evil. They released the song “Scary Movies” as a single along with another BME song, “Nuttin' To Do” and a Royce solo song called “I’m The King”. To this day, “Scary Movies” is my favorite BME song of all time. Once I heard that song, I knew I had to buy this maxi-single.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcAqu6kEbUU

I wish they didn’t have that falling out back then because I think that was the best time for them to release a BME album. It’s cool that they reunited years later and released the Hell: The Sequel EP but I feel they were hungrier in the late 90’s/early 00’s. The final product probably would have been much better back then.

Jin’s 2004 debut album on Ruff Ryder’s. Most of the world became aware of Jin following his classic Freestyle Friday battles on the 106th & Park TV show on BET. But I heard of Jin even before that when he used to post on the message boards of UGHH.com. I remember hearing a couple of his songs back then, acknowledging that he was dope but I didn’t think he’d go further than internet message boards. When I heard that he was on 106th and Park, I couldn’t believe it. I was in high school at the time but I was glued to that show every Friday to see Jin’s progress. He even battled Skyzoo back then before Sky had a name:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik--NFa90sU

Sky was Jin’s toughest opponent but Jin killed him with that Tweet line. Anyway, flash forward a couple of years and Jin was already signed to Ruff Ryders and caught some buzz off of “Learn Chinese”. It seemed like Jin was going to be the first official, solo Asian rapper to make it. But then Ruff Ryder’s completely dropped the ball. First, they barely promoted the album. Even though Jin was from Florida, he was repping Queens, NYC heavy back then (his family moved from Florida to Queens either in the late 90’s or early 2000’s) and he got very little support on radio, TV or in the streets. I only found out about his album release from seeing a poster in the streets somewhere. Then somebody at the label decided to release this piece of shit song as a single/video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knDdXblcAUY

Don’t get me wrong, The Rest Is History is not a classic album. It’s not even a great album, it’s okay at best. But Jin had two songs on there that I think would have done better as singles. The first is “Get Your Handz Off Me”, produced by Neo Da Matrix and featuring Swizz Beatz. Supposedly, this was a “promotional single”, but it barely got a push. Regardless, the beat and Swizz’s presence gives it that official Ruff Ryders look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8YHKiLlu-U

The other is “I Got A Love,” produced by and featuring Kanye West. Now, supposedly this was going to be the 2nd single but Roc-A-Fella blocked the decision to use this song as a single because they didn’t want to overexpose Kanye that year. Kanye’s debut album, The College Dropout, dropped earlier that year and if this song was used as a single, Jin probably would have sold more units as a result of Kanye’s growing popularity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Kg3sQGC7bo

Jin’s 2nd album, The Emcee’s Properganda was better than his debut but it was an Indie release and produced by Golden Child, a young, up and coming, underground producer. Jin’s shot at commercial success dissipated and he was back to the underground. Hell, I even saw him live for free in June 2005. He did a free show on his birthday at the old Knitting Factory in Manhattan.

Luckily for him, Asian fans support their own. He moved to Hong Kong and continued making music out there but catering more to his Asian fans. In recent years however, he’s gone back to making songs for his English-speaking fans:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT31JHm5XLY

The rest is history.

I just want to say that I really fucking hate this album. It was released in 1999 and by 1999 I was very much tired of most of the Southern Rap music that was on the radio. I didn’t care for No Limit, Cash Money or Three 6 Mafia. I believe Project Pat is affiliated with the latter. At some point, Loud Records (home of Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, Alkaholiks, Xzibit, Big Pun, etc) got a hold of other artists like Project Pat. When I visited the label in 1999 (my 2nd trip there) they gave me a free copy of this album. I could tell from the cover alone that I wouldn’t like it but I gave it a shot anyway. I put the CD in my Sony CD player at the time and I couldn’t make it past 2 songs. It was just horrible and the fact that Loud Records was releasing such a shitty album offended me. I was accustomed to greatness from Loud Records but this was pitiful.

I don’t believe in selling CD’s or video games, I’m not really into that. Not only because I’m a collector but also because you’ll usually get fucked when you try to resell something, especially if it’s not brand new. But I didn’t care, I wanted to sell this piece of shit. I didn’t care if I got half a chicken wing from Kennedy Fried Chicken for it, I needed this CD out of my life. At some point in the early 2000’s, I decided to go to the now closed down, Coconuts music store in Downtown Flushing, Queens. They used to sell used CD’s so I wanted to see if they were willing to take this accursed disc off of my hands. Prior to going into Coconuts, I didn’t realize that Loud Records had punched the serial barcode, making it impossible to sell the album to any reputable music store. When I brought it in, the cashier immediately told me that he couldn’t take it because the barcode was punched out. I pleaded with him, he wouldn’t take it. I have been in possession of this wretched thing for all this time.