STRIVIN'

From about 1994 through 1999 I received a ridiculous amount of music from every major label and tons of independent labels because of the newsletter/magazine I put out. Inevitably, some stuff didn’t catch my attention at the time and just ended up being put in my CD crates without being listened to. What’s cool is now all these years later I’ll just dig through my crates and choose some of that overlooked stuff to listen to at random. Tonight I was looking for a particular CD and while searching for it I noticed a CD from Frankie Cutlass that I don’t remember ever checking out.

Released on Relativity Records in 1997, Politics & Bullshit, was really a showcase for the production skills of Frankie Cutlass as he didn’t rap on it at all. There’s been many records like that since then, but back then they weren’t too common or at least I don’t remember too many of them in the 90s. DJ Honda had one that I remember… Anyway, I don’t remember producer records being too common. Frankie gathered some hot names at the time (Heltah Skeltah, Lost Boyz, MOP, Fat Joe, Mobb Deep, Keith Murray, Busta Rhymes, Coco Brovaz, etc…) as well as some vets (Sadat X, Craig G, Roxanne Shante, Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap) and put together a strong album. I’m glad it’s in my collection and it’s worth having in yours.

Here’s a couple of my favorites off the album…

“Focus” – Lost Boyz, MOP

“The Cypher: Part III” – Craig G, Roxanne Shante, Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane (Kane fuckin’ KILLS it!)

“Know Da Game” – Mobb Deep, Kool G Rap, MOP

“Pay Ya Dues” – Keith Murray, Busta Rhymes, Coco Brovaz