Large Professor
The LP
Had I written this review for the album's originally planned release date in 1996, I would have probably opened it by simply saying, "The Large Professor, the main ingredient in The Main Source has gone solo." The long-awaited and long-anticipated first solo studio album from Large Professor, was ready to be heard by the masses way back in 1996, but it was unceremoniously shelved by Geffen Records. His actual sophomore release, 1st Class in 2002 transformed into his debut solo album, while a select group of bootleggers championed The LP. Thirteen years late, the Queens emcee/producer acquired his masterpiece, threw on some stuff that didn't make the '96, and The LP was officially released.
Armed with a special swagger and confidence from the get-go, even the mostly instrumental, “Intro” has you anticipating on what’s next as it asks, “Yo Professor, what’s up?” “That Bullshit” quickly transports you back to the lyrical prowess and emcee suave bola-ness of the mid-1990s. The Large Pro laments about it gettin’ harder in the streets to survive as he exhorts folks to get their minds together and avoid the social pitfalls (including a minor explanation of his Main Source departure).
“Hungry” is a braggadocios-yet-captivating display from a stellar emcee, written at a time when his productions with Nas and Kool G Rap were overshadowing his mic skills in the media. Extra P’s vocal delivery is crisp and full of clarity, while the track is accompanied by the mandatory in-your-face hard snare and a funky baseline. The track and its aforementioned elements are the foundation and the blueprint for any and all Large Professor-produced offerings. Throughout, the man who mentored DJ Premier with the chop has produced tracks for the likes of A Tribe Called Quest and Nas exalts on the fact that he has mastered the art and craft of looping a track.
Unveiled as a single during the changing of the guard from "golden era" morals to the shiny suit era, “I Juswanna Chill” marks P's 1996 needed commentary. The song thrives on the mantra of, “I don’t wanna ill, I just wanna chill and keep my hand around a hundred dollar bill,” which is the Professor’s introspective realization that he was meant to rhyme not commit crimes.
Cutting, scratching and transforming is artistically and skillfully utilized like a tutorial throughout this album. The turntable mastery flourishes and thrives in “Funky 2 Listen 2” and “The LP (For My People).” With “Funky 2 Listen 2,” transformer scratches are used like an instrument as it vibes underneath the cutting of Big Daddy Kane saying, “funky to listen to.” Meanwhile “The LP (For My People)” is a smooth track that bounds with a hard snare that still manages not to destroy the smooth ambiance. Greg Nice saying “LP” is precisely scratched, as the creative give and take track inspired by the people and made for the people gets funky for the people. After all, it was Large Professor who reconstructed "recognize" to "Nas" on the remix to "It Ain't Hard To Tell." The 1989 rookie demonstrated his turntablism at a time when deejays were being phased out from major label projects.
“Queens Lounge” is a pleasurable trip through the borough, while “Hard” is a shout out to the Professor’s beats and production, as well as the community that he comes from. When you come from hard times and hard streets you get inspired to create hard beats and a hard ghetto style. After giving Queens' Nas and Akinyele and stellar production throughout the decade, The LP had the creator's lifelong home in mind. Nas catches this vibe briiliantly, on one of his finest unheard 1996 moments, "One Plus One."
This album felt like an old friend; when I pressed play, I was hearing 98% of the cuts for the very first time, but I was smoothly transported musically back to 1996. The skillful funky basslines and the hard pulverizing snares of a Large Professor production maintain their vibrancy and energy. Meanwhile, Extra P’s lyrics and delivery like a funky fossil, leaves an imprint in the Hip Hop soil that lasts and permeates music of today. Those who understand the importance, the originality and the experimental significance of music from that time period like a Hip-Hop Archaeologists will fully appreciate this freshly dug up and well preserved musical offering.
Click here to buy on iTunes
Armed with a special swagger and confidence from the get-go, even the mostly instrumental, “Intro” has you anticipating on what’s next as it asks, “Yo Professor, what’s up?” “That Bullshit” quickly transports you back to the lyrical prowess and emcee suave bola-ness of the mid-1990s. The Large Pro laments about it gettin’ harder in the streets to survive as he exhorts folks to get their minds together and avoid the social pitfalls (including a minor explanation of his Main Source departure).
“Hungry” is a braggadocios-yet-captivating display from a stellar emcee, written at a time when his productions with Nas and Kool G Rap were overshadowing his mic skills in the media. Extra P’s vocal delivery is crisp and full of clarity, while the track is accompanied by the mandatory in-your-face hard snare and a funky baseline. The track and its aforementioned elements are the foundation and the blueprint for any and all Large Professor-produced offerings. Throughout, the man who mentored DJ Premier with the chop has produced tracks for the likes of A Tribe Called Quest and Nas exalts on the fact that he has mastered the art and craft of looping a track.
Unveiled as a single during the changing of the guard from "golden era" morals to the shiny suit era, “I Juswanna Chill” marks P's 1996 needed commentary. The song thrives on the mantra of, “I don’t wanna ill, I just wanna chill and keep my hand around a hundred dollar bill,” which is the Professor’s introspective realization that he was meant to rhyme not commit crimes.
Cutting, scratching and transforming is artistically and skillfully utilized like a tutorial throughout this album. The turntable mastery flourishes and thrives in “Funky 2 Listen 2” and “The LP (For My People).” With “Funky 2 Listen 2,” transformer scratches are used like an instrument as it vibes underneath the cutting of Big Daddy Kane saying, “funky to listen to.” Meanwhile “The LP (For My People)” is a smooth track that bounds with a hard snare that still manages not to destroy the smooth ambiance. Greg Nice saying “LP” is precisely scratched, as the creative give and take track inspired by the people and made for the people gets funky for the people. After all, it was Large Professor who reconstructed "recognize" to "Nas" on the remix to "It Ain't Hard To Tell." The 1989 rookie demonstrated his turntablism at a time when deejays were being phased out from major label projects.
“Queens Lounge” is a pleasurable trip through the borough, while “Hard” is a shout out to the Professor’s beats and production, as well as the community that he comes from. When you come from hard times and hard streets you get inspired to create hard beats and a hard ghetto style. After giving Queens' Nas and Akinyele and stellar production throughout the decade, The LP had the creator's lifelong home in mind. Nas catches this vibe briiliantly, on one of his finest unheard 1996 moments, "One Plus One."
This album felt like an old friend; when I pressed play, I was hearing 98% of the cuts for the very first time, but I was smoothly transported musically back to 1996. The skillful funky basslines and the hard pulverizing snares of a Large Professor production maintain their vibrancy and energy. Meanwhile, Extra P’s lyrics and delivery like a funky fossil, leaves an imprint in the Hip Hop soil that lasts and permeates music of today. Those who understand the importance, the originality and the experimental significance of music from that time period like a Hip-Hop Archaeologists will fully appreciate this freshly dug up and well preserved musical offering.
Click here to buy on iTunes
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Comments 26 posts
Razing Sounds:
the only thing worse than people who hate music simply because it's old is people who hate music simply because it's new.
Self-Impersonator:
Well 2010 got the best possible start! I'm no nostalgiac, I'm only 15, but this is mega dope.
Hunorix:
Unfortunately those who write on dx are not very elevated intelectually, therefore they consider outdated hip hop prior to the 00's, which is insane, black folks really can't appreciate their legacy like whites do with rock, which is a damn shame, me as a European, I am in love with american hip hop from the late '80s to the mid '90s, for me it is nothing odd and dated about that music, it's simply shocking to hear opinions that the rap from that period is wack, it's just insane, hip hop should elevate to a music of intellectuals like rock music did, but with so many childish behavior this never gonna happen, which is a big loss in my opinion. This song is just what i love about rap, it's not glorifying money and things unimportant to everyday life as the way nowadays big names do. Hip Hop must be loved and lived, that's my opinion, and it shouldn't matter what ethnicity or race you are. Hope some people understand where I'm heading with this post.
digga:
true.that's the same point i made on my post.but u know,it's that they don't wanna understand.see i love europeans (and other people around the world) because they understand hip hop and see that it's music. here,we do stupid shit...i hate all this" this is old so it's wack" crap. i guess fucking al green sucks,teddy pendergrass sucks, even r.kelly sucks. but u can't play that new shit when u trying to get sum ass. u gotta play the old records.the point i'm making is that music is music.in fact,most of the new music sucks
Dr. Props:
Mad Dope, ill skills.. 100% Classic
digga:
ya'll cats talking bullshit.the album came out in '96. of course it's gonna sound like that.u know what.this is the only music that gets ridicule by fans becuase something is old. what part of the game is that. so illmaitc, reasonable doubt, paid in full, me against the world, the first cuban linx, etc. is wack because it's old and to quote ya'll "outdated". never happens in rock music.u2, bruce springsteen and rolling stones still pack stadiums for their concerts. the large pro cd is hot because it has that classic sound that heads grew up on. sometimes it's about the vibe of the record more than the lyrics and beat.
Bob Oblah:
yup,
rap has the worst fanbase of any genre of music. One week they call you the greatest of all time, the next week they call you irrelevant
that said, 2010 is lookin good:
Revolutions Per Minute
Distant Relatives
Wu Massacre
Doe or Die 2
2009 was good:
The Ecstatic
Cuban Linx 2
Boy Meets World
MalMoe:
True Words my man. True Words.
classical jun:
Broooowwwnnnnn Brooooownnnn.
Out In Queens.
LP One Of The GOATS str8 up & down
H.I.T.T.M.A.N.:
I love this fuckin` album,been bangin` it for years.My man Sef Hef actually did the beat for Hungry though.Large Pro is 1 of the nicest producer/rappers to ever do this shit,respect due!
-H>
oilcity:
Large Pro has always been ahead of his time...great review by the way, in depth look at a classic record that almost was forgotten
mrslick:
So I gotta cop this album again it's all good I've been bumpin Large Pro since "Breakin Atoms" Too bad I'll never see a Main Source reunion now that would be fresh!!!!! No worries Large Pro will always give the party people "Something funky to listen to"
Eddie Arkadian:
I remember when I bought "1st Class" off of Sandbox Automatic's website in 2002 and they package it with an abbreviated copy of this. Me and my two friends listened to this more than "1st Class". Glad to see this came out for commercial release.
MurrayOTU:
Top, in-depth review Dre. Touched on this in my Best of '09 review over at OTU.
gozomo33:
up until now, a previously unreleased classic...
bob dobalina:
I bought this earlier this year, close to perfection. I wish Large Pro was more active today, like Premier and Pete Rock. His album last year was great too. I even like 1st Class.
Black Admiral:
You know its bad when material from 96 is better than whats out now.....I'll give it a 3 because its a little dated lyrcally, but really it like's Q Tip's album but with boom bap tracks..The turntable work is exquisite and I love to hear well chopped samples...Producer need to check this out...
Jriggs:
@BLACK ADMIRAL
Why give it a 3? Lyrically dated? No son. 5 stars automatically!! This album is a classic and is a representation of hip hop in its purest form. How can this album be dated if it shits on anything to come out in recent years??
That dude named Elli:
They said it was bad when the best album of '09 was OB4CL 2 and that sounded like '93. At least '96 is closer to '10.
The.Watcher:
Lyrically dated?
No Son, all of the best albums are from way long ago...RD, Illmatic, 36 C, Ironman, Tical, R2D, Nation of Millions, Criminal Minded etc...
Derrit:
It's dated lyrically but yet you'll still pick it up? lol...Makes no sense whatsoever...Obviously you like it and the lyrics doesn't matter...I heard this album over and over like years ago and some people are just now catching on to it because Thank GOD! Large Pro reintroduced to people who haven't heard it or already heard it or needs to hear it...Shit is a banger all the way through and it's overly satisfying regardless what anyone may say or think!
Articulate1:
Large Pro is a living legend and one of the best producers of all time, support anything he drops. Nas flow on "One on One" is incredible, laid back steam of consciousness rapping. Classic material.
BK's Finest:
Great album. Better than 90% of the records out this year...
kronichy:
finaly this album comes out, and its bangin
Mr Flamboyant:
Shucks... Didn't know this classic was finally coming to the world officially. Great stuff. indeed. The LP is worth purchasing!
docturjay:
i gotta go cop this asap. i know it's gonna be CLASSIC MATERIAL.