label: daybyday

compilation includes: breeze evahflowin', prophetix, mars ill, shorty raw, megalon, double k (puts), mr. rictor, writers guild, moka only, gametightelectro, athletic mic league, others.
year of release: 2002
 
The first DayByDay Entertainment release was a compilation. With their fifth release, they return to their roots and give us "On Top Of The World". For this offering D.J. Fisher gathered songs from a number of illustrious artists, known, unknown, own and next big artists.
And we shall start with the good stuff on here, that's first of all Athletic Mic's League's "Let It Go". And these cats don't let their punchlines get well done on the stove, but take 'em off immediately. The D-Techtive beat has the needed punch to make this a good time offering. Similarly jumping at you from the start is Mars ILL's "Abolition Of manCHILD", that's one of the best songs on here. ManCHILD is treated to a intensive Dust beat, that he uses to decipher and decode himself. Also excellent is "Century 21" by the Monster Island Czars Rodan and Megalon. This interestingly enough uses a high profile sample of a rock chick, that is in vibe however perfect for this straight spitting song. Another easily to recognize sample is strangely enough offered by Double K on his selfproduced "Livin' A Mean One". And this is one of the rare solo cuts and rare not happy songs from the People Under The Stairs artist. But it's still strong and covers a lot of the regular PUTS ground, while also conquering a lot of new space.

 
tracklisting
1. R-Son feat. Adlib "Mourning Would"
2. Breeze Evahflowin' "Realize"
3. Prophetix "Intangible"
4. Athletic Mic League "Let It Go"
5. Jeff Spec feat. Ishkan "Get 'Em"
6. Mars ILL "Abolition Of manCHILD"
7. Rodan feat. Megalon "Century 21"
8. Storm The Unpredictable presents Plexus "Take Offense"
9. Double K (PUTS) "Livin A Mean One"
10. Genelec "Sakura"
11. Gametightelectro "Mysterious Cats"
12. Mr. Rictor "Who"
13. Strange Brew feat. Juice "Take Heed"
14. 4Zone "Move"
15. The Premiums feat. Substance Abuse "Fractured Form"
16. Writers Guild "Xpendable"
17. Shorty Raw "In Dis World"
18. Moka Only feat. Ishkan "The Moon, My Love, And Me"
Mr Rictor of Divine Mind then puts a lot of Drum'n'Bass in his "Who". He's also doing the rhyming himself, and while we usually like him as a producer, there's nothing to not like about his rhyming. Shorty Raw makes the listener eager for his first solo release with the excellent "In Dis World". While his lyrics are strong in all aspects as they have always been (them being reflective, analytical, observing and recited with a humble flow), the Lord Lamont (also of Infinite Cycle) beat is much better than the ones we got from him in the past. The sample is not just excellent, it's embedded in a beat that features more than just this one good part.
Further there are cuts that are good but not as excellent as the previously mentioned songs. Like there's R-Son who teams up with Adlib to do "Mourning Would". The song is strongly carried by the jazzy guitar of the JJ Brown production, while the cats speak honest words on how good life could be if just a few simple things would be present. Similarly in vibe and virtue is Breeze Evahflowin's "Realize", where this firestarter emcee steps back to speak some reflective verses, along his usual braggadocios chewing. The Prophetix bless this compilation with a non album track called "Intangible", that uses a summery Jon Doe production. "Sankura" by Genelec actually was on Genelec and Memphis Reign's album "Scorpion Circles" (reviewed here), but is here strangely enough only credited to Genelec.
The jazz vibe of "Fractured Form" fits the funny cockiness of the verses by The Premiums and Substance Abuse well, while the Insane and Catalyst.dms beat on the Witers Guild song "Xpendable" is taking away much of the overall impression of the song. What leads us to a similar conclusion about "Get 'Em" by Jeff Spec feat. Ishkan that is only sounding less appealing due to the other songs on here being better. What then can also be said about "Take Heed" by Strange Brew feat. Juice and "Move" by 4Zone. But Moka Only and Ishkan's "The Moon, The Love And Me" are satisfying us with the good overall impression, where the lyrics speak about loves and the moon. Obviously.
The beat on "Take Offense" by Carl Walker and Kokayi is holding back the song by Plexus (as presented by Storm The Unpredictable). And it takes away so much from it, that it looses too much of it's potential. Furthermore one cat does a Shyne, as he sounds like Biggie on here, what however is not really his mistake and he even spits good lines, so the complaint shall end here. We further struggle with the beat on "Mysterious Cats" by Gametightelectro. The music is very 80s and while not mismatching the good times, chatting up females back and forth type vibe, it's still not rough enough.
This compilation is better than the majority of similar projects. While the number of thoroughly excellent songs might seem small, the songs that are good outweigh the album filler songs by a margin.
review: tadah
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