Philaflava.com ::

Tuesday, August 9th, 1994.

Two LPs: Boogiemonsters' debut, via EMI and Gravediggaz' first, through Gee Street / Island / PolyGram.

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.
The Ablist vs. A Prince Among Thieves vs. The Slim Shady LP vs. Street Cinema vs. Things Fall Apart vs. War Zone.
Da Hood vs. Doe or Die vs. KRS-One vs. Last Chance, No Breaks vs. No Man's Land vs. South Central Los Skanless.
Aquemini vs. Enquiring Minds vs. Foundation vs. The Love Movement vs. Vol.2... Hard Knock Life vs. Word On Tha Streets.
Doom vs. The Equinox vs. Phenomenon vs. When Disaster Strikes... vs. X-pressions.
Apache Ain't Shit vs. Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde vs. Hard or Smooth vs. Live and Let Die.
The Final Tic vs. h vs. It Was Written vs. Stakes is High.
I Wish My Brother George Was Here vs. A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place vs. The Dead Has Arisen vs. Like It Should Be vs. Nervous Breakdown vs. Play Witcha Mama vs. Resurrection vs. Ruthless By Law.
Death Certificate vs. Organized Konfusion vs. Prince of Darkness.
The 18th Letter vs. In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 vs. The Psycho-Social, Chemical, Biological & Electro-Magnetic Manipulation of Human Consciousness vs. Vendetta.
All Balls Don't Bounce vs. All We Got Iz Us vs. Do or Die vs. Jealous One's Envy vs. Smile Now, Die Later vs. Take a Ride.
Coast II Coast vs. Season of Da Siccness vs. World Ultimate.
Internal Affairs vs. My Own vs. So... How's Your Girl?.
Blunted on Reality vs. Fadanuf Fa Erybody!! vs. Fear Itself vs. Welcome to America.

Remember buying both of these albums when they dropped, just before I moved to Baltimore for my first real job out of college. Love them both. But Boogiemonsters (along with Black Moon, Jeru, Gang Starr, Tribe, Organized Konfusion, and Nas) really got me through some very tough times that year. Boogiemonsters has been an album that I've reached for just about every single month when I'm feeling stressed out. Even the cassette maxi-single remixes were great. Some albums just have a timeless effect on a person and this is definitely one of those albums for me.

I always thought Niggamortis was overrated but still a cool album. I give this to Boogiemonsters, easy. ROTS got too many classic cuts on there.

Boogiemonsters is cool to me. A handful of truly dope joints and great production across the entire album. Gets kind of weird in places though, like "Old Man Jacob's Well" and "Mark of the Beast." Never listened to their second album (God Sound), but from what I understand it's straight up Jesus rap, which I have no interest in whatsoever. But I digress.

I do like Riders on the Storm.... A lot. It represents a very specific time for me and brings back all sorts of dusty memories of my short-lived college radio show: dank basement studio, broken transmitter and all. Playing RA the Rugged Man/Akinyele white labels and busting out rare shit that I had just burned to cd-r but would never see on vinyl. Trying to figure out how to record promos to an old 8-track. Just a really fun time.

However, 6 Feet Deep takes it for me here. A lineup that would be a rap dork's wet dream in these times (STETSASONIC + WU-TANG?!?!?), truly bugged out production courtesy of Prince Paul (responsible for another of my absolute favorite records of all time, Buhloone Mindstate) and an awesomely demented take on hip hop. Too Poetic is a terribly underrated MC and he killed it on this record. The record KILLS. No pun intended.

gravediggaz was probably my most anticipated album ever. and it lived up to expectations and then some. that doesn't happen often.

I remember playing Gravediggaz out..Boogiemonsters was cool, mad that Honeydips In Gotham video version was not on the album (thats the 90's for ya), but 6 Feet Deep was just an instant classic for me. An album I can listen straight through without skipping.

Funny story, I met one of my best friends because of 6 Feet Deep, he chilled with the metalheads in school, and he heard about "Horrorcore", and asked me if I had Gravediggaz or Flatlinerz albums. I made him a tape, and we been friends ever since. Same day he gave me a tape of Rage Against The Machine, just another example of music bringing 2 different types a groups together....

the gravediggaz album spawned a ridiculous amount of alternate and remix versions that i spent years tracking down. amazing album and one of my favorites to this day.

that said, the boogiemonsters album had it's own unique tribe/de la kind of vibe that came at the right time for me. pound for pound it just wasn't as solid as the gravediggaz imo.

win: gravediggaz

First poll that I've listened to all of the albums included...

6 Feet Deep by a mile IMO. Riders of the Storm has 4 or 5 tracks that I play often, but I consider 6 Feet Deep to be a near classic.

Also, I know everyone brings up Honeydips in Gotham & Recognized Thresholds of Negative Stress when they talk about the Boogiemonster's album, but I think Masterpiece Thoughts is in the same league.

Rhyme 4 Rhyme wrote:First poll that I've listened to all of the albums included...

Starting when though? The first one is Tribe Called Quest and Wu-Tang.

TheBigSleep wrote:

Rhyme 4 Rhyme wrote:First poll that I've listened to all of the albums included...

Starting when though? The first one is Tribe Called Quest and Wu-Tang.

My bad. Aside from that one and the Vol.1, 18th Letter, Mic, & JMT also.

Both albums are great, but I would have to go with Gravediggaz.

Echo Leader wrote:Boogiemonsters is cool to me. A handful of truly dope joints and great production across the entire album. Gets kind of weird in places though, like "Old Man Jacob's Well" and "Mark of the Beast." Never listened to their second album (God Sound), but from what I understand it's straight up Jesus rap, which I have no interest in whatsoever. But I digress.

I quite like the 2nd album - it's not as interesting as the first but it does have some dope tracks. It's not heavy on the religion either (despite the title.)

Are you kidding me?...The Gravediggaz might have brought horrorcore in it's purest form, however Boogie Monsters made "Old man Jacob's well" and "Mark of the beast", which are way darker than the whole "6 Feet deep" album. While Graveddigaz already had a "trademark", the Boogie Monsters concept was more original...overall both albuns are unique in it's own way.