Innercity Griots

Innercity Griots, the second album from Freestyle Fellowship, is perhaps *the* essential West Coast left-field rap album of the early '90s. Released in 1993 on 4th & Broadway, it's a towering, progressive hip-hop masterpiece that expanded rap's boundaries through lyrical elevation and production innovation. Their talent was ahead of everybody else by light years. This is pure b-boy jazz. The original single vinyl LP is now hideously scarce, and of course the sound suffers from not being officially released as a double. This Be With re-issue fixes both problems, and for completeness also includes 'Pure Thought' from the CD version of the album. This incredible display of imaginative hip-hop sounds better than ever. Freestyle Fellowship were some of the earliest technically dazzling rappers to come out of California. Mikah 9, P.E.A.C.E., Aceyalone and Self Jupiter - along with DJ Kiilu - forged their famed lyrical dexterity in the ultra-competitive crucible of the Good Life Cafe. Founded in Leimert Park, South Central LA in December 1989, this earthy health-food store and cafe was where the city's finest microphone fiends would gather to showcase their freestyle skills at the Thursday night open-mic. Forcing MCs to raise the bar and stay fresh every week (a challenge made even tougher by the strict 'no cussing' policy) the Good Life became an incubator for groups like the Pharcyde and Jurassic 5 and their events attracted big-names like Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Ice-T, Pharrell, an

Tracks

1~1~Bullies Of The Block
1~2~Everything?S Everything
1~3~Shammy?S
1~4~Heat Mizer
1~5~Six Tray
1~6~Danger
1~7~Inner City Boundaries Bomb Zombies
1~8~Cornbread
1~9~Way Cool
1~10~Hot Potato
1~11~Mary
1~12~Park Bench People
1~13~Heavyweights
1~14~Tolerate
1~15~Respect Due
1~16~Pure Thought

Details

Format: Vinyl LP
Artist: Freestyle Fellowship
Release Date: 05 July 2024
Genre: Rap & Hip-Hop
Label: BE WITH RECORDS
Distributor: Rocket Group