Re-Issues

Over the years a shitload of hiphop albums have been made available to the public again (and by public I mean for those of us who still BUY music). Traffic Entertainment especially has released some killer album from the Cold Chillin' catalogue and with labels like Wild Pitch re-releasing their work classics like "Breaking Atoms" and "Four Horsemen" were available once more.

So once in a while I'll try and keep the site updated with current and upcoming re-issues.

The thing about re-issues is that sometimes the label responsible is just too damn lazy. The recent re-releases of "Mecca & The Soul Brother" and "Criminal Minded" are class examples of how a re-issue should be handled while other albums like "A Constipated Monkey" by Kurious and Ice T's "Home Invasion" seems somehow cheap compared to other re-issues.

Why didn't they include the excellent "Mansion & A Yacht" on A Constipated Moneky? If you're going to re-release Home Invasion, which is a good album but hardly anticipated as a re-release, why not release it as a double disc and include the Temptation of Ice disc as well as "Mixed Up" from the I Ain't New Ta This 12"?

The class example of pointless re-issues however is the recent Uncut Snoop Dogg Approved series which featured re-releases of "Eazy Duz It", "Ghetto D" and "Strictly Business" by EPMD. Now that last one makes sense as it has been out of print for a while but both the Eazy-E and Master P albums have been re-released not long ago (and with extra tracks included unlike the Snoop Dogg versions).

Enough with the negative shit though, here is an album that althoug not being an official re-release should make a lot of ageing b-boys happy :



1. Think You Can Hang 5:51
2. Pay Ya Dues 4:44
3. We're in This Together 4:27
4. Aladdin's On a Rampage 4:46
5. Funky Song 4:01
6. How Ya Livin' 3:53
7. Comin' Straight From the Heart 4:20
8. Playing for Keeps 3:54
9. Make Room for the Dub.b.u 3:47
10. No Mercy 3:21
11. Easy Money 3:11
12. Keep Em' Flowin 4:58
13. The Dub B.u. Just Begun 3:20
14. Thats Why They Do It 4:33
15. Funky Song (Remix) 3:46
16. Pay Ya Dues (Inst) 3:56
17. Funky Song (Remix Inst) 3:48
18. Hip Hop I Crave 5:04
19. My Dreams 4:03

A DJ Aladdin endorsed release of Low Profiles long out-of -print "Were In This Together"! The tracks a sequenced totally different but the entire original album is included. In addition you also get "Think You Can Hang" from the Rhyme Syndicate compilation as well as "Hip Hop I Crave"/"My Dreams" from the 1987 12-inch release on Nu School Records + a few remixes/instrumentals.
The best thing is it will only set you back 11$ compared to 100$ for a copy of the original album!

Also be on the lookout for new versions of "XL" and "Strictly Ghetto" by King Sun, "On Fire" by Stetsasonic,"Escape" by Whodini, "Call Me D-Nice" by D-Nice "From Where!?!?!" by Mad Skillz, "Searching 4 Jerry Garcia" by Proof, "Episodes of a Hustler" by Big Boyd as well as self-titled debut albums by Kool Moe Dee and Nice & smooth

On the vinyl tip the self-titled "Cypress Hill" album has been released as a 20th Anniversary Red Vinyl edition, and both GZAs "Liquid Swords" and "Kill At Will" by Ice Cube will drop soon

And finally, check out this great article in The Guardian about hiphop re-releases.