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Review: Jack Foley
UNIVERSAL Music Catalogue are re-pressing and re-issuing a series
of classic LPs and 12” singles from Def Jam, one of the
most groundbreaking and inspired hip hop and urban music labels
of a generation.
Drawing on its huge catalogue created in the 21 years since its
humble beginnings in a student dorm room, this series of re-issues
collects old school classics by the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy
and LL Cool J along with more recent cuts from Ja Rule, Ludacris
and Sisqo along with forgotten gems from Memphis Bleek, DMX and
Slick Rick.
Through careful research and consultation, Universal Music Catalogue
have picked out 17 LPs and 19 12”s from the Def Jam archive
(see complete list opposite).
Many have long been unavailable on vinyl and will be welcomed
back with open tone-arms by the vinyl community.
Needless to say, there are some absolute gems among the releases,
both LP and 12".
First and most obvious is The Beastie Boys' seminal Licence
to Ill, a timeless LP that spawned such choice cuts as You
Gotta Fight For Your Right (To Party) and No Sleep Til
Brooklyn (I can still remember the 'bundles' we had in our
sixth form common room at college).
Public Enemy's It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back
is another gem, delivering such choice cuts as Don't Believe
The Hype and Bring The Noise.
While Ja Rule's Pain Is Love gave us one of the all-time
great hip-hop party anthems, Livin' It Up.
Not to mention LL Cool J's priceless Rocky V anthem, Mama
Said Knock You Out, taken from the album of the same name
- it's a raw, ragged hip-hop classic that will probably have you
shadow boxing along with it.
Proper vinyl junkies will also want to seek out the 12"
- many of which are hard to find.
Several of the best album tracks from the vinyl collection have
been dusted off in extended format to beef up any vintage record
collection and make them hip again.
If you had the originals, I'll doubt you'll need the re-issues,
but at a time when mainstream hip-hop appears to be dominated
by the likes of 50 Cent and The Game, it's kinda fun to return
to an era when the genre cared to have a little bit more fun.
It's well worth dusting off your wallet to pick up some of the
choicest cuts available.
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The LP albums
Beastie Boys - Licensed To Ill
(Buy
it)
DMX – Its Dark And Hell Is Hot
(Buy
it)
EPMD - Business Never Personal
(Buy
it)
Foxy Brown – Ill Na Na
(Buy
it)
Ja Rule – Pain Is Love
(Buy
it)
Ja Rule – Rule 3:36
(Buy
it)
LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
(Buy
it)
LL Cool J - Mr Smith
(Buy
it)
Ludacris - Back For The First Time
(Buy
it)
Method Man - Tical
(Buy
it)
ONYX - Backdafucup
(Buy
it)
Public Enemy - Yo! Bum Rush The Show
(Buy
it)
Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold
Us Back
(Buy
it)
Redman - Whut? Thee Album
(Buy
it)
Sisqo - Unleash The Dragon
(Buy
it)
Slick Rick - The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick
(Buy
it)
Warren G - G Funk Era
(Buy
it)
---------------------------------
The 12” singles
Ashanti - Foolish
Beastie Boys - (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)
Case - Touch Me Tease Me
DMX - Party Up
DMX - Slippin‘
Foxy Brown - I'll Be
Ja Rule - Always On Time
Ja Rule - Between Me And You
Ja Rule - Livin' It Up
LL Cool J - Doin' It
Method Man feat. Mary J Blige –
I'll Be There For You/You’re All I Need To Get By
Method Man & Redman - Da Rockwilder
Memphis Bleek - Is That Your Chick
Montell Jordan - This Is How We Do It
Public Enemy - Don't Believe The Hype
Public Enemy - Fight The Power
Redman - Time 4 Sum Aksion
Slick Rick - Children's Story
Sisqo - Thong Song
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