The best of The Martorialist : a compilation

There comes a point where every blog indulges in the odd celebratory self-referential post, usually when said blog's owner can't think of anything to write about but still wants to hack something out to end the week regardless. So, with that thought in mind, here's a best of.. compilation made up of 25 songs I've posted about on here since 2008 :



The best of The Martorialist (so far)

1. Melle Mel - Drug Wars (1989)
2. Mac Mall - Soak Some Dope (1994)
3. Big Noyd - Heartless (2008)
4. Juvenile ft. B.G - 187 (1998)
5. Lil' Wayne - Cash Money N*gga (2005)
6. Poor Righteous Teachers - Wicked Everytime (1996)
7. C.O.D AKA Dope-E & K-Rino - Clever Word (1990)
8. The Diplomats - Drama King, Drama Gang o.g version (2002)
9. Jim Jones ft. Max B & Mel Matrix - Anniversary (2007)
10. The Jacka - Heavy Rain (2005)
11. Slick Rick - Treat Her Like A Prostitute movie version (1988)
12. 4-2 Tha Dome - Blame It On Society (1995)
13. Grand Puba - Let's Go (2007)
14. All $tar - Keep Doing My Thang (2008)
15. Pretty Tone Capone - Case Dismissed (1992)
16. Curren$y - Reagan Era (2008)
17. Edan - Funky Rhyming (2005)
18. Eddi Projex & Beeda Weeda - Gettin' G's (2010)
19. Buddah Nation - Buddah Nation (1992)
20. T-Bo & Mike Da Hustla ft. Mr Murder - Who Dem Boyz? (2000)
21. Beanie Sigel ft. Peedi Crakk - Philly (2006)
22. Casual - Turkey And Dressing (2001)
23. Max Minelli - My First Verse (2003)
24. Lil' Boosie - Fresh remix verse edit (2009)
25. Rock ft. Sean Price - Fuck Dat Rapper (2008)

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The relevant info' :

1. Melle Mel's own Night Of The Living Baseheads from his Piano LP. A case of The Rapper Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks since he was freebasing at the time, but although he has songs which are more iconic, I contend that Piano contained his apex with this and Free Style where he accidentally created the iz-ing words trend that E-40 and Snoop would later squabble over the inventing rights to.

2. A Mac Mall non-album exclusive which can only be located on the Sic Wit Tis CD EP; produced by the gawd Khayree and probably Mac # 2's hardest jam from his prime era.

3. Okay, so nothing will ever top Recognize And Realize Part 1, but Noyd's storming Heartless from his Illustrious album here just about nudges aside Shoot 'Em Up (Bang Bang) Part 1 as his 2nd best solo track and it whets my appetite for gimmicky male accessories with its mentions of "Infamous handkerchiefs".

4. A forgotten cut by Juve & B.G with Mannie in Mantronix mode which originally appeared on the advance copies 400 Degreez and then found its official home on that DJ Skribble compilation which the AZ It's War song where he dissed Kurupt and E-40 comes from.

5. The last song Wayne and Mannie did together which was intended for The Carter 2 but ended up on Wayne's Reebok mixtape with Mick Boogie and The Carter 2.5 mixtape EP type thing.

6. A late-period P.R.T joint from their final album with Wise Intelligent at his most stylized, gymnastic, and cracka-hating.

7. An early S.P.C cut by Dope-E & K-Rino's first group C.O.D from their amusingly titled Cummin' Out Doggin' EP where both rappers extol the virtues of using a thesaurus.

8. The original preferred mixtape version of Drama King, Drama Gang, which popped up at some point between Come Home With Me and Diplomatic Immunity Volume 1 since sample clearance prohibited it from appearing on Kay Slay's first album.

9. A Max B helmed Byrd Gang classic from the same comp Dipset compilation as Cam's Suga Duga which I've always though sounds like one of those DOOM productions from the Monsta Island Czars album which later became Ghostface joints where he resold the beats to him.

10. Jacka's most notorious and, indeed, best unreleased song to date, which is yet another entry into the ever-increasing catalogue of Mob Figaz songs about the pitter patter of drizzle on the concrete streets of the Bay.

11. The superior beatbox version of Treat Her Like A Prostitute with Doug E. Fresh taken from the Teenage Love 12" we can use as the missing link between The Show/La Di Da Di and Sittin' In My Car.

12. The introspective title track to the solitary EP release by Albama's 4-2 Tha Dome, who are kinda like a 90s version of fellow relatable 'bama everymen G. Side, just without the lyrics about bloggers.

13. Puba Maxwell's song from the Japanese Top Shelf '88 compilation where Black Sheep, Smooth B, Grandmaster Caz & Melle Mel etc all recorded songs in the '88 stylee to suprisingly good effect. In Germany and Croatia there are still fully-manned suicide hotlines open for Euro' hip hop dudes reeling from the shock that Top Shelf '88 wasn't the genuine album of ‘lost '88 gems from a secrete studio which burned down in mysterious circumstances’ that it was originally marketed as.

14. One of $tarlito's prime sad-rap moments from when he still went by the sobriquet of All $tar on the $tarlito's Way 2 'tape.

15. The unique guide to how rappers should beat murder charges by Mobstyle's Pretty Tone Capone, which the likes of Steady B, Cool C, Big Lurch, Max B, Boosie et al clearly should've studied more thoroughly.

16. Curren$y's viral-video single from the Independence Day mixtape and the song which made me reconsider my previous stance that he'd gone from respectable Wayne weedcarrier to Lupe-lite sap.

17. Edan's exclusive 2005 HipHopSite 7" which just about gets away with sampling played-out staples like Champ, Funky Drummer and U.F.O and whining about internet criticism because it's so good and it sounded what I'd always hoped those early Edan singles would.

18. A semi-remake of C-Bo's hardnosed classic Want To Be A "G" by Eddi Projex and Beeda Weeda, ripped straight off Youtube since no MP3 of it is currently floating around.

19. The weed themed Harlem posse cut by Downlow, Zhigge, the Ghetto Dwellas, and Figures Of Speech, which is thankfully a helluva lot better than the original weed themed Harlem posse cut Pass Da Boo-Dah that Spoonie Gee, Doug E. Fresh and DJ Spivey released in 1983.

20. The essential title track from T-Bo & Mike Da Hustla's album, a key release in the moonshine 'n' rhinestones southern whigga-rap movement and the South Coast Coalition discography.

21. A State Property cut from Beanie's mixtape with Clinton Sparks which also gets away with the whole retro samples schtick due to how good State Prop always sound over these sort of breaks, and one of Beanie's most savage verses where he performs unmentionable acts with broomsticks which would even have MC Ren blushing. Noz recently mentioned how B.G and Soulja Slim were particularly efficient at using murder as their muse and Beans belongs in the same category.

22. If there's one post-Fear Itself Casual song your writer would want to listen to before being strapped into the electric chair it would be Turkey And Dressing, and this result is achieved by a 50/50 ratio of Cas' going off on one and a Stimulated Dummies beat which ticks every box in the banger category.

23. Thee jam of all jams on Max Minelli's I'm All I Got album which uses a reoccurring "____ ass n*gga" motif towards the end four years before Hot Stylz made it famous.

24. Basically, Boosie's excellent verse about the finer points of men's fashion from the otherwise terrible Fresh remix by 6 Tre G, kindly edited into listenable shape by Paul.

25. A mixtape banger by Rockness Monsta & Sean Price over creepy John Carpenter soundtrack style synths which bafflingly didn't end up on that last Heltah Skeltah album.