producers: dj greyboy

Back in 1998 San Diego resident DJ Greyboy released the "P-Jays Unda-Pendent Hip Hop Volume 1" compilation to critics giving it a thump up. And it did have it's share of gems on it: A.G.'s "Hidden Crate", U.K.'s "Destroy The Scenery" or their "United Kings" (Remix). Greyboys refusal to produce anything that could just remotely be put in drawers, or categories, because it was much more just hip hop, then it was eastcoast or westcoast or thug or underground or whatnot hip hop. So at the end, it wasn't even unda-pendent hip hop, it was just plain and simple: hip hop. Okay, this is not really a formula for your music, but still, Greyboy returns with his second installment with the added "Unda Attack" name. And he took what he had with his first. Carried that some months further, to give it the now flavor. But in the end it didn't really work.

Imam Thug spits the broadest Queensbridge flow on both of his tracks: "Throw It Up" and "One T.H.U.G.". While the beat of the first is at least bouncing in a enjoyable party type vibe, the latter not only contains a previously heard sample, but in general doesn't make much to keep us interested. This is sounding like a "The War Report" outtake. Lyrically this is something every Nore fan would enjoy. But those fans are not really the same folks that did enjoy listening to the seminal album "Doom" by Mood. And so we are afraid to say, that Mood is not the same no more, but actually adapted to the expectations that is coming from the thug audience. Not to say that they are on a thug tip now, but not only the beats to "Diplomats" or "Polygood" are more animated. The first is guitar enhanced, while the second one is choppy, the piano and the drum kick. "Castles" does take the energy down, but it's still missing the mysticism that made their album so magical. Lyrically Mood is still on point, but a lot of their content is confusing us, especially those that miss the esoteric content of their old stuff.

Then there are also two offerings by Master Foul. And he has to take this back into more pleasurably areas with "Street Pigs" and "Chickens". Here the formula, already heard on other tracks, gets repeated. So in the end, it's a new beat, a new emcee, but essentially the same. Then again, his lyrics on "Street Pigs", if paid close attention to, contain a dopeness that's not obvious. And the beat of "Chickens" is easily one of the nicest on here, and again the lyrics keep our ears listening. I.C.'s "Genuine" tests our tolerance with a keyboard / organ sounding like a demo version of some kid just trying out his new Christmas gift. This can't really amaze or please. But his "Cathy" does. Not groundbreakingly innovative, but also not of the same piece of wood as all the rest you heard before, The drums are shuffling nicely, the horns are hard, but not too dominant, so that they still provide a carpet for I.C. to flow over.

Interesting enough, Greyboy gets much braver on the remixes. All of the ones featured here are very interesting compositions. "Throw It Up" lacks the appreciated partyness of the original, but it has a ireness, it sounds haunted, sounds somewhat insane, and we suddenly go: 'yo, this should be a beat the Mood rhymes over'. But they get a summery vibe, with a rising horn on their "Polygood" remix. Again somewhat too nice and too happy to fit the Mood, it could actually be worse. And there's also a new version of A.G.'s "Hidden Crate". Again Greyboy pulls something very different outta his equipment. Sounding like some nicely flipped 80s pop, this is nothing our ears are too used to, and after the initial shock, it suddenly shows how dope this is, also in combination to A.G.'s flow, his dope rhymes, and the scratched chorus. If every track would sound as phat as this, we'd had trouble to enjoy the album from the get go, but we would grow accustomed to it and finally realize that this new style is off the snowman.

But before ending this review we shouldn't forget the scratch and put bits and pieces together intro. This is as close to braggadocios lyrics a DJ can come, and it's dope. Duck Down's O.G.C. then "Shoot To Kill". The beat here is again somewhat tamed, the musicality is appreciated though. Quite violent in content, this is not as dope as it could inspire us to rewind this constantly. Neither the beat or the lyrics are necessarily bad, but they seem to be an ill matching, taking the end result lower than necessary. And finally the outro is not as dope as the intro, but by now we are not that tempted to skip back and really check how they compare.

DJ Greyboy has the tendency to go for picks that are not too obvious for the next kid. But with that he pulls together compilations of bench warmers, that intend to take over the game and score unexpectedly high. But life is rarely like that. Bench warmers can only raise above the competition if they have their own distinctive and very effective styles that the world is not used to. These cats here are compromising to the conformity of what they expect will succeed. This is too thuggish for the audience that will hear about this or check it out, and the masses that would like this style will probably not hear about it. And so this possibly and actually could please the masses, but it lacks creativity to get the critics acclaim.