Memories from an album.. The Main Ingredient
This album dropped my in my freshman year at Ann Arbor in ‘94. At the time, I was in a hip-hop craze. I had Ready to Die, Tical, Project: Funk Da World, and Murder was the Case all on some type of rotation in my headphones. But, I was really surprised that Pete Rock & CL Smooth took over my attention so quickly and profoundly. The album was solid in its production, in my opinion, better than their previous album. It had me hunting for where Pete Rock got his samples from and appreciating new genres of music beyond my hip-hop scope. CL Smooth maintained consistent in his flow and lyrical dexterity for each topic on the album. Take You There, Searching, and In The House became my dorm room soundtrack. I was equally impressed to see how 9th Wonder flipped Take You There in later years. A Know The Ledge recommendation for must have if you were born after 1985.
Pete Rock & CL Smooth – THE MAIN INGREDIENT
I love this album too but with Ready to Die, Tical, Project: Funk Da World, and Murder was the Case all in my head, I could see this getting backburner love (well nix the Craig Mack lol). But this is some pure true Hip-Hop right here. The sad part is nowadays, when this sound tries to get recaptured, it tends to come off boring and dated. (See Dream Merchant Vol 2.) The b-boys of the game in the present time, need to strive for that extra effort to try to overshadow the more dominant-sounding club music that’s flooding the airwaves. It’s a task but not mission impossible. Oh yeah, Murder Was The Case is my favorite “soundtrack” of all time!
P.S. Ann Arbor is a whore!!! Go Bucks!!!
Oh, TC. I respect you so much as a hip-hop head and fellow blogger but then you gotta through that dumb “Go Bucks” at the end. I may have to assassinate you now. At least know you died with a respected opinion on hip-hop.
Such a great album. When I started getting into hip hop heavily last year, this album & Midnight Marauders are the two albums that really grabbed me.
“All The Places” is such a dope beat, gives me chills.
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