Black Moon - Enta Da Stage

If there is only one word to describe this album it is 'RUGGED'
Surely the precursor to 36 Chambers and is the turning point that took hip hop back home to New York when Snoop, Dre & Pac were running things in LA.

First of all the production on this is perfect, better than perfect.
It was obviously mostly made up of samples actually sampled from vinyl; it has that dusty lo-fi feel to the whole album.
The Beatminerz (Evil Dee especially) just excelled themselves with the most simple of beats, but were so head nodding you could break your neck.
Mostly consisting of old breakbeats with added hits, hard hitting beats, infectious basslines and the odd mid range sample melting it all together.
I can’t praise the production enough.
It sounds muddy, classically oldskool in the same vein that RZA’s production did on 36 Chambers. Its like a mix of early RZA production and Q-Tips beats for ATCQ.
Still maintain that jazzy, soul sound but with an horrifically dark edge.

Then of course with have the MC's, Buckshot is the main man here and takes responsibility for most of the album.
He has such an amazing flow, brilliant deep laid back voice (like Guru but not so monotone); featuring boastful and threatening raps all along the same thuggish lines but it doesn’t get boring.
He paints a picture of how real Brooklyn is, violence and robbery is nothing, but he sounds sincere, it’s hard to explain but it feels right.
5ft Accelerator is his lyrical partner, a more wild style, higher pitched voice and comes with some disturbing lyrics.

This is a perfect 10 out of 10 album, only Illmatic and 36 Chambers can compare, even Mobb Deeps 'The Infamous' pales in comparison.
You just don’t get hip hop like this at all anymore, real rugged street shit, you feel its honest, its life to these people.
No bling, no fancy shit, this is pure gangsta rap.

Track highlights....
How Many MC's
Who Got Da Props
Powaful Impack!
I Got Cha Opin
Slave

If you are a fan of hip hop you need this, especially if you like the classic 1993/1995 ages.
If you are a fan of Nas, Gang Starr, KRS-One, Mobb Deep, Wu-Tang, Biggie, Onyx, ATCQ etc, you must cop this.