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Aaliyah
Ultimate – Are You Feelin’ Me?
Believe Music–Timbaland, Various
A second posthumous collection for the tragic RnB princess
I was an Aaliyah fan from the moment I heard ‘Back n Forth’
back in 1994. Yes, her tracks with Timbaland & Missy greatly
redefined RnB/hip hop/pop music (heck, my grandmother
knows they changed the game) and the obvious classics are
all included here, but true Aaliyah heads will already own
most (if not all) the tracks featured here. Unless aimed purely
at latecomers, this collection is pretty redundant.
For Aaliyah’s memory, Timbaland & Missy’s sonic innovation.
For Aaliyah not being able to rest in peace (and the few filler tracks)
Highlights; O ne I n A M illion, M ore T han A W oman, A re Y ou
T hat Someb od y
CLASSIC ALBUM
MR LIF–I PHANTOM
Definitive Jux 2002
El – P, Edan, Fakts One, Insight
One of the undergrounds finest orators dissects the world’s end
Mr Lif’s conscious, multi syllable flow arguably puts him on a par with Nas and (deep breath) the God, Rakim.
His debut chronicles modern angst, paranoia and social woes and ultimately Armageddon, through various
interwoven plots. The first half evolves from a ‘must get paid’ intro and heist fantasy, to a diatribe against office
burnout culture (‘Live From The Plantation’, ‘New Man Theme’, ‘Success’). The later half of the album goes even
further with tracks like ‘Iron Helix’; in which a capitalist tempts a ‘naive’ indigenous tribesman (played by
Insight) into swapping his traditional lifestyle for one of shallow modernity (Lif urges Insight to ‘...kiss the
barcode on your wrist...get your feet accustomed to concrete’) ultimately leading to a nuclear holocaust
(‘Earthcrusher’). The final track ‘Post Mortem’ has Lif, El – P, Jean Grae & Akrobatik as the recently deceased
describing their final thoughts, post nuclear strike. El - P plays an adolescent