Nine-one-sick
Just when I thought I was done with gangsta rap for a little while, I opened my mailbox to find this bomb:
Sac: Nine One Classix is the latest mix from r8r & L-Wood, who previously did a great San Francisco mix that I posted about, as well as a few I didn't (i.e., two mix CDs devoted to Northern Cali cassette-only rap and one collecting Kansas City rap).
Sacramento occupies a weird position in relation to the Bay Area rap scene. It's far enough from the Bay to seem really remote (90 minutes from SF and Oakland, about 60 minutes from Vallejo), but also close enough to share a lot of similarities and connections. As someone put it before, Sacramento might not be the Bay, but it's also not not the Bay.
Bay Area mobb music heavily influenced the sound of 90s Sacramento rap-- there are lots of slow tempos, sinister synthesizer basslines, some 80s R&B interpolations and very little sampling-- but lyrically, Sacramento rap seems a little darker. There's more shooting, less pimping and partying.
The mix seems really comprehensive. It's got tracks from Sac's bigger names, like Brotha Lynch Hung, C-Bo, Marvaless & X-Raided, but also 60 tracks from 58 other artists, almost all of whom were new to me. Even so, the selections are high quality throughout. It's the kind of mix that makes me a little nuts because I wind up wondering "if someone can pull together this much good stuff I've never heard from just this one little micro-genre, how much other great music is out there that I will never hear?"
Here are two excerpts from the mix:
r8r & L-Wood: Sac: Nine One Classix Disc 1 Sampler (Double J Promotions, 2009)
r8r & L-Wood: Sac: Nine One Classix Disc 2 Sampler (Double J Promotions, 2009)
You can also download both excerpts in a zip here. Ordering details on this and their great San Francisco mix are below:
Sac: Nine One Classix is the latest mix from r8r & L-Wood, who previously did a great San Francisco mix that I posted about, as well as a few I didn't (i.e., two mix CDs devoted to Northern Cali cassette-only rap and one collecting Kansas City rap).
Sacramento occupies a weird position in relation to the Bay Area rap scene. It's far enough from the Bay to seem really remote (90 minutes from SF and Oakland, about 60 minutes from Vallejo), but also close enough to share a lot of similarities and connections. As someone put it before, Sacramento might not be the Bay, but it's also not not the Bay.
Bay Area mobb music heavily influenced the sound of 90s Sacramento rap-- there are lots of slow tempos, sinister synthesizer basslines, some 80s R&B interpolations and very little sampling-- but lyrically, Sacramento rap seems a little darker. There's more shooting, less pimping and partying.
The mix seems really comprehensive. It's got tracks from Sac's bigger names, like Brotha Lynch Hung, C-Bo, Marvaless & X-Raided, but also 60 tracks from 58 other artists, almost all of whom were new to me. Even so, the selections are high quality throughout. It's the kind of mix that makes me a little nuts because I wind up wondering "if someone can pull together this much good stuff I've never heard from just this one little micro-genre, how much other great music is out there that I will never hear?"
Here are two excerpts from the mix:
r8r & L-Wood: Sac: Nine One Classix Disc 1 Sampler (Double J Promotions, 2009)
r8r & L-Wood: Sac: Nine One Classix Disc 2 Sampler (Double J Promotions, 2009)
You can also download both excerpts in a zip here. Ordering details on this and their great San Francisco mix are below:
posted by Matthew at
1:53 PM
3 Comments:
Wow...thanks for the incredible write up Matt! We are both excited you're digging the mix and appreciate you sharing your thoughts about it on the blog. r8r and I have been deep in the Nor Cal gangsta/pimp genre of rap since the 80's and figure this would be a nice ave to share our passion for this music and do something productive with decades worth of purchases...lol. Next we plan on releasing our first two tape mixes in a double disc package. Side A never was offered for sale and Side B was limited to only 50 copies which are long gone. We'll make sure to send one your way when they are ready. We love the projects you and your friends are dropping so keep up the good work!
Man, I just hope you keep coming with the mixes! I love how much research and care you and r8r put into them-- there's always a ton of great music on them that I never would have heard otherwise.
Got this album 2 weeks ago and it has not left my cd player! Siick all the way through both albums.
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