Crate Essentials: D&D AllStars x Common x Cocoa Brovaz x Brand Nubian x Genius x Jay-Z x Shabazz The Disciple x Boogiemonsters

D&D AllStars' "1, 2, Pass It," features Mad Lion, Doug E Fresh, KRS-One, Fat Joe, Smif-N-Wessun & Jeru The Damaja. Of course, with the D&D stamp on it, you know it had to be DJ Premier on the production. It also came with a dope remix & Big C's "Look Alive," which was produced by Diamond D. This is a classic 90s joint & an essential piece of wax.

This is one of my favorite joints from Common: "1999," which features the homie, Sadat X. It was obviously released in 1999, had production from Hi-Tek and was released on Rawkus Records. The 12" includes a dope remix from Soul Supreme, which is just what the production name suggests, a real dope Soul'd out track. Enjoy.

This is such a tough track! Cocoa Brovaz's "Bucktown Remix" features M.O.P., which just adds to the ugliness the track already possessed. With a headnodding beat, Cocoa Brovaz give us another dope anthem out of the Boot Camp Clik. At the time, the whole BCC had the game on lock, so I could have picked any track from them and it woulda been an essential lol.

In 1998 Dilated Peoples released "Work The Angles," & as soon as I heard DJ Revolution's work on the cuts, I was instantly hooked. Kut Masta Kurt handled the production & Dilated came with some good lyrics. Released on ABB Records, there was a later remix to the track or "Rework the Angles," but it wasn't as good as this original. Definitely pick this up!

Taking it back to '93, this is Brand Nubian's "Love Me Or Leave Me Alone." One of my favorite tracks, of any year, any crew - I spin this regularly. It also contains a remix version of the track, plus the B-Side joint, "The Travel Jam." It was released on Elektra and while the lyrics are a bit much for a beat so smoothe & mellow, it's hard to deny that it's a dope record!

Another throwback, this is EPMD's "The Big Payback." It was released in 1989 and outside of "You're A Customer," this was 1 of my favorite early joints from EPMD. They gave us so many incredible records! I have a tape somewhere of me chopping this up & juggling it for like 10 minutes lol. It'd be annoying to hear now, but it was definitely a fun record to mess with. Essential!

This is Genius' "I Gotcha Back," which has production from RZA, was released on RCA Records & while it was already out for a while before this, it was officially released on vinyl in 1994. I remember how excited I was when I copped the original Genius album pretty much on the strength, but I def didn't see the bigger picture of what would come - crazy.

I first heard Jay-Z's "In My Lifetime" in the movie "Bullet." It was a movie w/ 2Pac - a so-so flick, but some nice fight scenes. This is definitely 1 of those tracks from Jay-Z that slipped thru the cracks, until it was spread on the internet. I have the picture cover version of this record somewhere amongst the crates, I like the alternate mix better than the original.

Shouts to Eternia on this one, pretty sure she is a Shabazz The Disciple fan. I've always liked this record, too - it's "Death Be a Penalty bw Conscious Of Sin." Both sides of this 12" are dope, but the b-side might be the more recognizable b/c of the beat, I dunno. Shabazz got bars, for sure. It was released in 1995 on Penalty Records & was produced by 4th Disciple.

I know it might not seem like as much of an essential record as SOME of the others, but Boogiemonsters' "Recognized Thresholds Of Negative Stress," while a mouthful (II), it is one sick ass beat. The track was released in 1994 & was put out on EMI/Pendulum Records. They went on to release a # of dope 12" & some solid albums.