Just when you thought the labels were done with Christmas, (based on last week's serious lack of noteworthy new releases), this week they have come roaring back with a fresh batch of new music.
Well, at least some of it is new.
The thing that really stands out most about this week's bumpercrop, is the disproportionately high amount of rap and hip hop in the mix. Not that this is in and of itself unusual — it's just the way that so many rap albums are hitting all at once this week. You would think that the marketing strategy of the record labels would have dictated spreading them out more. At least, that's how it worked back when I was slinging discs for a living.
As with everything else this holiday season, the majority of these are compilations or greatest hits collections of some sort. In addition to the big guns like N.W.A. and 2Pac, you've also got hits packages from the likes of Mack 10 and Westside Connection (both of whom have direct ties to N.W.A.).
There are also a few noteworthy rap albums this week featuring actual new music. From the Wu-Tang Clan camp comes The Big Doe Rehab, the latest solo offering from the Wu's Ghostface Killah. Geto Boys member Scarface also has a new solo joint out with the decidedly gangsta title of M.A.D.E.. The man credited by many as the pioneer of the explicit, pre-gangsta "dirty rap" style, Oakland rapper Too $hort, is back with Get Off the Stage. Meanwhile, ex-Fugees rapper/producer Wyclef Jean duets with everyone from Paul Simon to Mary J. Blige on his Carnival sequel, which not surprisingly is called Carnival, Vol. 2: Memoirs of an Immigrant.
Personally though, I'm most excited about N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton [20th Anniversary Edition], where the gangsta classic gets the deluxe reissue treatment it so deserves.
I actually have some history with this group, who single-handedly pioneered the West Coast gangsta rap style, when this landmark album was originally released in 1987. Although the picture is a little small, that's actually me you see (dressed in white) in a photo taken that year with Eazy E, Dr. Dre, MC Ren and company at the record store I managed at the time.
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