7.30.2013

Classic Music: Antlife's Top 25 Hip Hop Albums of All-Time #6 (Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth "Mecca and the Soul Brother") (1992)



Funky..

The summer of ’92 is one of those summers that I always wished I could get back. I honestly doubt that my friends and I realized how much classic music was droppin’ at the time. Most of which, have been on this list of mine on here. Maybe because we were still kids or whatever, but everything just seemed perfect or just right, back then. Music was everything to us, and it sounded like it’d last forever. And many of those albums from back then have. 

If you weren’t around back then, I can tell you, Pete Rock was THE go-to producer for dope beats! There was no other cat back then that had better remixes, or was held up as high as Pete was during this time. The dude was serious! Nothing even close to subpar was being put out by the guy. And most of us back then had already heard “The Creator” and “Mecca and the Soul Brother” (the song) by the time the album was coming out, so we knew it was gonna be a dope and a classic listen. I remember buyin’ this album from HMV on 72nd Street and Broadway in NYC back then, with money I got from my dad. Buying albums back then were really a big deal to me, because I always expected that I’d be listening to that album a whole lot after that.

Mecca and the Soul Brother, if I may say, is just perfect to me. The production is top notch, infused with all kinds of jazz elements and funk pieces. Drums that’ll kill your headphones if they’re too cheap, and basslines that really take you to another place musically. Pete was always known for his horns, and you’ll hear some of the best ever sampled on this album. We all know about “T.R.O.Y.”, which is probably the most widely known track on the LP. But there’re just so many gems on this one, it’s hard to just speak on one. And C.L., (who has always been a favorite of mine), really delivered lyrically on this album. These two were seriously the perfect duo.

I always loved “For Pete’s Sake”, “The Basement”, “Can’t Front On Me”, “Straighten It Out”, “Act Like You Know”, “Return of the Mecca”, “Skinz”, etc. The album has some really timeless music on it, and if you’re a real Hip Hop head, you already own this. If you don’t yet, shame on you for sleepin’. Point is, everyone should have this masterpiece in their collection. I’ve pretty much owned this in every format. Vinyl, cassette, CD and MP3. That’s how dope it is! You should definitely have this one in the stash too. 

Respectington..

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