Original Flavor - Beyond Flavor (1993)

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01. Intro

02. Can I Get Open (Feat. Jay-Z)

03. Beyond Flavor

04. Old School Skit

05. Whatchawant

06. Stick It Where The Sun Don't Shine

07. Blowin' Up Da Spot

08. Hit

09. Nigga Code

10. Many Styles (Feat. Jay-Z)

11. All That

12. Shut Up And Manage

13. Here We Go (Fuck It Up)

14. Keep On (Searching)

15. Shout Outs

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Veteran jazz drummer Max Roach has often compared rap to bebop, and for all the differences between jazz and rap, there are, in fact, some parallels, especially on the East Coast. Like the beboppers of the 1940s and 1950s, many New York, Philadelphia, and Boston rappers have been obsessed with technique. Anyone who has attended a hip-hop competition in any of those cities knows how technique-obsessed East Coast MCs can be; like bop icon Sonny Stitt, they view music as a form of sportsmanship and want to make sure you know how impressive their chops are. That obsession with technique is impossible to miss on 1993's Beyond Flavor, the second album by Original Flavor. This New York group is about flow, flow, and more flow, which is a different mindset from the gangsta rap mindset of many West Coast rappers. If, in 1993, you asked a hip-hop expert what the main differences between East Coast and West Coast rappers were, he/she would have responded that while the West Coast was about beats, hooks, and storytelling, the East Coast was about rhyming technique. There were many exceptions to that generalization, but Beyond Flavor does fit that stereotypical view of New York rap; Original Flavor and its allies (including a young, pre-solo career Jay-Z) spend most of this CD bragging about their rapping skills and showing off their considerable technique. When MCs have this much technique, the flow-for-the-sake-of-flow approach can be exhilarating, even if it does wear thin after awhile. Listening to Beyond Flavor is a lot of like hearing a group of East Coast hard boppers showing you how fast they can play standards; although chops for the sake of chops has its limitations, you still find yourself admiring and enjoying the display of virtuosity.

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mp3 @ 128 kbps / Joint Stereo / 41,4 mb

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Can I Get Open (Feat. Jay-Z)
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Original Flavor - This Is How It Is (1992)

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01. This Is How It Is

02. When I Make It

03. Best Friend's Girl

04. Way Wit Words

05. Kick the Butta

06. Waitin' 4 My Break

07. Handle the Technique

08. Give 'Em Some Wrek

09. Gumdrops

10. I Like It (Freestyle)

11. Brain Storm

12. Swingin'

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One of rap's middle school crews headed by Ski, an MC/producer, Original Flavor dropped their inauspicious debut This Is How It Is in 1992. Although Ski worked with legendary New York DJ Clark Kent for the project, the album fizzled unceremoniously. For their follow-up, producer-in-training Ski enlisted the aid of a few more MCs including T-Strong, Chubby Chub, and a young Brooklynite with some experience in the rap field, Jay-Z. Jay-Z had worked with fellow Brooklynite Big Jaz on the track "Hawaiian Sophie" and the two were commonly referred to as Jaz and Jay-Z. Original Flavor was Jay-Z's training grounds and served as a catapult for his future endeavors. Flavor's sophomore release Beyond Flavor was released in 1993 to a mostly unenthusiastic audience. However, the lead single "Can I Get Open" features Jay-Z in impeccable pre-Jayhova form, with a decidedly less edgy rhyme format. Jay-Z's skills far surpassed those of the rest of the crew and his solo career would begin soon after the release of Beyond. Jay Peso went on to guest MC on the classic Big Daddy Kane posse cut "Show & Prove" (among others), then released a number of singles on his own including "In My Lifetime." It was at this time that Jay-Z turned to Jigga and adopted the Tony Montana-styled persona. Jay-Z would continue to work with his Original Flavor partner Ski after the group disbanded, making him a member of his Rock-a-Fella staff. Ski produced four tracks on Jay's solo debut Reasonable Doubt in 1996 and two on 1997's In My Lifetime, Volume One.

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mp3 @ 192 kbps / Joint Stereo / 62,5 mb

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SAMPLE:

Brain Storm

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