DSD:Black Moon/Em/Prince Paul/Rob Swift/Roots/Sporty Thievz

[TheBigSleep]

Tuesday, February 23rd, 1999.

Six LPs: Black Moon's second, on Duck Down / Priority, Eminem's sophomore, via Aftermath / Interscope, Prince Paul's second, through Tommy Boy / Warner Bros., Rob Swift's follow up by way of Asphodel Records, The Roots' fourth, on MCA and Sporty Thievz's only, via Ruffhouse / Columbia.

Pick your favorite and / or the best album, doesn't matter.

Previous Dropped Same Day(s):

Enter the 36 Chambers vs. Midnight Marauders.
Guerrillas in tha Mist vs. Runaway Slave vs. Stunts, Blunts & Hip Hop vs. Whut? Thee Album.
'93 'til Infinity vs. 187 He Wrote vs. Return of the Boom Bap.
Blowout Comb vs. The Diary vs. (Twista's) Resurrection vs. Word...Life.
Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous vs. Rollin' Wit' Dana Dane vs. Return to the 36 Chambers.
Ahmad vs. Ill Communication vs. Nuttin' But Love vs. On the Outside Looking In vs. The Sun Rises in the East.

[TheBigSleep]

The titles have been changed from Dropped Same Day to DSD in order to preserve character space, especially as we vote on days where many albums dropped.

This week we head to the end of the nineties per Chaz's request. Jumpin' back to the middle of the decade next time around.

[vincentlopez]

The Roots. Remember it like yesterday. Tower Records on South Street only had copies of the cover art displayed here but I wanted the cover with the guy holding the Ace of Spades. Picked up Prince Paul's album, too, for $9.99.

[Bigg Boss Luciano]

Sporty Thievz... fly azz production, dope concept and witty lyrics... what else do ya want?

I heard all of them albums (except for Rob Swift's joint) and I gotta say: "Damn, that was a good day", lol.

[cleanprophet]

I went for Prince Among Thieves, I was quite surprised to see that I was in the majority on this one to be honest!

I remember not long after it came out, me and my boys were having a smoke and someone put this on, none of us had heard it and we all sat in silence throughout the entire thing, save for the odd comment here and there. There was no conversation at all.

Obviously it's an album that works best as a whole and due to the concept it'a not an album I play a lot but it's always fun to go back to.

Cool guest spots too, BDK, Kool Keith, Biz etc

[kimani]

"Like Breezly Brewin', ya style I'mma haveta ruin." The one that has the crazy Ultramagnetics guy and that random dude who made beats for Stetsasonic.

Admittedly, I'm pretty unfamiliar with these choices...

[atlantiswasreal]

i know prince of thieves is a dope album but i'm shocked things fall apart isn't running away with it. one of the last true great classic hip hop albums in my mind.

[Tim Burton]

I will have to go with Things Fall Apart. I love all the different album covers and it was a really good Roots album. I didn't like it as much as Do You Want More?!!??! but still worth the purchase.

[TheBigSleep]

Sporty Thievz. I heard all of them albums (except for Rob Swift's joint) and I gotta say: "Damn, that was a good day".

Glad to see someone vote for this, as I figure it's still fairly overlooked and can easily get lost in the shuffle.

Rob Swift's album wasn't gonna win anyway (and remains the only one without a vote so far). It's not bad for what it is but turntablism, trip hop and / or instrumental hip hop releases probably won't win against well regarded hip hop albums, at least not here. (Maybe under certain circumstances.)

Glad to hear it, that was one of the original intentions of this concept, to make people say stuff like that. I like the have you done your homework aspect of it too, because '90s hip hop albums aren't exactly obscure for T.R.O.Y., so it's basic but thorough, which inspires people to check for what they've missed.

I went for Prince Among Thieves. Obviously it's an album that works best as a whole and due to the concept it's not an album I play a lot but it's always fun to go back to.

This is pretty much me. I'll play a few songs from it here and there but can sometimes wind up listenin' to the whole thing again that way.

I know Prince Among Thieves is a dope album but I'm shocked Things Fall Apart isn't running away with it. One of the last true great classic hip hop albums in my mind.

I'm surprised to see Things Fall Apart and War Zone tied. I'll have to revisit War Zone I guess. These results have a tendency to change as they progress, I wouldn't call it yet.

I will have to go with Things Fall Apart. I love all the different album covers.

For those unaware:

[vaporized2]

might not be considered a 'proper' album in that sense but still went for Rob Swift. there's definitely filler and 'turntable' stuff but I'm Leaving, Modern Day Music, and 'Something Different' are the 3 best tracks on any album here imo. strange that Roots should've dropped the same day cause Modern Day Music captures the spirit of DYWM?! era Roots better than the Roots themselves ever did after that album...

<object width="420" height="100"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ioozUGsUq8s?ve ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ioozUGsUq8s?version=3&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="100" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

[TheBigSleep]

Remember it like yesterday.

Glad to hear it. Some of the responses, like this, with memories of Tower Records in the nineties, sound familiar (it certainly rings true for my life) and that's definitely part of what I'm goin' for with the series.

Might not be considered a proper album in that sense but still went for Rob Swift. There's definitely filler and turntable stuff but I'm Leaving, Modern Day Music and Something Different are the three best tracks on any album here in my opinion. Strange that Roots should've dropped the same day...

I just meant that people will most likely shy away from music with less vocals in favor of something that has more rhymes, especially within T.R.O.Y., for better or worse.

Pretty much all these albums have some filler I think. Nice to see everything accounted for now though, this is one of or perhaps the most consistent of the larger release days. It's always good to not see zeros in any of the half dozen rows.

And I think it's strange that Em's major label debut dropped the same day as Vanilla Ice's Best Of.

[aleph]

And I think it's strange that Em's major label debut dropped the same day as Vanilla Ice's Best Of.

Yeah, uh...strange. Ka-ching!

[TheBigSleep]

Hah, I'm not surprised at a Vanilla Ice greatest hits (sadly just the first summary of his major label hits), vaporized was talking about The Roots and Rob Swift dropping the same day and how that was an interesting coincidence, so I made the Em / Vanilla Ice parallel. TLC's FanMail dropped then too. It was a money making day all around I guess.

[Odnet]

I have some pretty good high school "walking around town with a walkman"-memories with the Black Moon album, so I went for that. The Roots and Prince Paul albums are solid, but I was never big on them. The Black Moon album had some bangers (that track with the Funkadelic sample and Busta Rhymes on the hook? Loved that shit).

[Debonair_P]

A Prince Among Thieves for sure - there's not really another album that can compare to it. I was the biggest BCC fan ever and was extremely amped for it, but a lot of that Black Moon album was distressingly bland (particularly after the excellent Warzone single.) The Sporty Thievz album has some good guilty pleasures on it - that Frogmen song is pretty interesting. Rob Swift had a lot of filler on it (especially for a short album) but I did listen to 'I'm Leaving' a lot. I like the Roots album now, but I thought it was a big step down from Illadelph Halflife at the time.

By the way: where is Buckshot's cameo on Prince Among Thieves? I remember seeing his name on the ads but could never figure it out.

[Versive]

Prince Among Thieves, but I'm not gonna front like Slim Shady LP wouldn't have been my answer back then.

Glad to see Breeze getting props like this.

[Thun]

All of these albums are pretty underwhelming in retrospect.

[TheBigSleep]

I have some pretty good high school walking around town with a Walkman memories with the Black Moon album, so I went for that.

I gave War Zone another spin. Better than I remembered perhaps but I still wouldn't have gone with that. Not even sure how I'd rank it against Things Fall Apart, which at the moment actually has a few votes less.

A Prince Among Thieves for sure, there's not really another album that can compare to it. By the way, where is Buckshot's cameo on Prince Among Thieves?

Agreed. When I think of '99, Prince Paul's album is one of the first that jumps to mind. I think you can hear Buck on the track Mr. Large, right? That's what I remember at least.

Prince Among Thieves, but I'm not gonna front like The Slim Shady LP wouldn't have been my answer back then.

Thank you, I'm glad someone said it. Apparently it's not okay to say you voted for Eminem. I'm wondering if the few (but slowly rising and still anonymous) Em votes are due to backlash or if more people would have voted for that had there not been better choices.

We kind of stopped doing the at the time versus looking back comparison and a few more of the younger T.R.O.Y. members could possibly participate this time I'm guessing.

[More Gravy Please]

Interesting to see Prince Among Thieves storming ahead. I voted for Things Fall Apart which is my 2nd favourite Roots album after Do You Want More.

[battlecatmeowstab212]

TLC's FanMail dropped then too. It was a money making day all around I guess.

Which was also the first album since Pearl Jam's to debut at number 1 without a music video supporting it. (the "No Scrubs" video didn't premiere until two weeks later)

Glad I could inspire such a close call. As much as I love the Prince Paul and Roots records, I've probably gotten the most enjoyment over the years from 'Slim Shady LP.'

I did a write up on the tenth anniversary of its release here - http://popularopinions.wordpress.com/20 ... slimshady/

[Philaflava]

Roots are the only logical answer.

[TheBigSleep]

Interesting to see Prince Among Thieves storming ahead. I voted for Things Fall Apart which is my second favorite Roots album after Do You Want More.

I was surprised to see that Prince Among Thieves has retained the lead (or at least this much of one). Three albums with double digit votes.

TLC's FanMail dropped then too. It was a money making day all around I guess.

Which was also the first album since Pearl Jam's to debut at number one without a music video supporting it. (The No Scrubs video didn't premiere until two weeks later.) Glad I could inspire such a close call. As much as I love the Prince Paul and Roots records, I've probably gotten the most enjoyment over the years from The Slim Shady LP.

Thanks, I didn't know that fact. Nice write up by the way.

And yeah, I don't know if you were just speaking generally but if you had any specific '98 / '99 match ups in mind that you would like to see, send me a message. (If anybody has any that they think would be good, feel free to throw 'em my way.)

Glad to see someone is finally brave enough (seven votes in) to voice their opinion. Like was mentioned earlier, this was definitely popular at the time so maybe backlash has something to do with the lurker votes.

Roots are the only logical answer.

Hah, thought you might say somethin' like this. I figured there was some potential for a Philly bias here.

Didn't think I'd see that War Zone and Prince Among Thieves were both ahead of Things Fall Apart. The only person who actually mentioned Black Moon was Odnet and yet they are in second place still.

The discrepancy between the ratio of who anonymously votes for what and the people that actually say what their choice is can sometimes say a lot about what forum members think is acceptable versus their own personal beliefs. It's funny what people do and don't represent.

And I can kinda understand that with the lack of votes and comments with Eminem (even back then versus now). But why are there votes and yet little to no comments for Black Moon?

[kimani]

And I can kinda understand that with the lack of votes and comments with Eminem (even back then versus now).

I think I would actually enjoy (and be more forthcoming about my enjoyment of) the Slim Shady LP more now than then. I remember copping it and being utterly blown away by my disappointment. It was around the same time as Chronic 2001 and I expected harder beats; actually, I probably also expected less whining, but I take the blame for that as it was an unrealistic possibility.

[TheBigSleep]

I think you're probably an exception to the rule though. I was mainly just talking about the hype at the time that has died down and how it was the last of six to be mentioned in the thread even though it had more votes than a couple of the others.

I couldn't get anyone to say they voted for Ill Communication over The Sun Rises in the East, even though ten percent did. T.R.O.Y. got 'em shook.

I'm wondering more about why Black Moon has a fifth of the vote and only one person standing up for it. Regardless, The Roots broke the tie with them, Street Cinema broke the tie with The Ablist, The Slim Shady LP has slowly gained some votes as I predicted (and now we almost have four albums with double digit numbers).

[battlecatmeowstab212]

And I can kinda understand that with the lack of votes and comments with Eminem (even back then versus now).

I think I would actually enjoy (and be more forthcoming about my enjoyment of) the Slim Shady LP more now than then. I remember copping it and being utterly blown away by my disappointment. It was around the same time as Chronic 2001 and I expected harder beats; actually, I probably also expected less whining, but I take the blame for that as it was an unrealistic possibility.

Are you sure you aren't thinking of 'The Marshall Mathers LP?' There's a lot more whining/emotion on that. On 'The Slim Shady LP,' Em's mostly an emotionless stoic.

[kimani]

I mean his voice. His voice is whiny bitch shit and I didn't like it and didn't give a shit about his lyrics or meanings. I wanted some Dr. Dre What's The Difference type bangers and what I got were ballads.

[Jaz]

Possibly Prince of Thieves...a bit of an insult to put that gimmicky Eminem shit amongst some classic albums....that's just my opinion though.

[TheBigSleep]

I don't see how it's an insult just to have it there as an option. The whole point of this series is to list the albums that were released on the same Tuesday and let people decide by voting for them. I don't edit the list based on my opinions because that kind of defeats the purpose, now doesn't it?

And I think it says something about T.R.O.Y. that Eminem's album is fourth out of six, whereas on a lot of other forums it'd probably be first or at least closer to the top.

Anyway, what else were / are you considering besides Prince Among Thieves? Personally I think I'd rank Things Fall Apart second to it.

[battlecatmeowstab212]

It's also alphabetical order which, to be fair, is historically the most insulting of all of the orders.

[Jaz]

I don't see how it's an insult just to have it there as an option. The whole point of this series is to list the albums that were released on the same Tuesday and let people decide by voting for them. I don't edit the list based on my opinions because that kind of defeats the purpose, now doesn't it?

And I think it says something about T.R.O.Y. that Eminem's album is fourth out of six, whereas on a lot of other forums it'd probably be first or at least closer to the top.

Anyway, what else were / are you considering besides Prince Among Thieves? Personally I think I'd rank Things Fall Apart second to it.

That make sense and yep The Roots would be the second choice for me TBS.