Extra P gets much love from us – when you’ve got ‘Breaking Atoms’ on your CV, you’re guaranteed at least an interview. But the best kept secret in hip-hop has always been how much of a turkey ‘The LP’ is. Was. Could have been. In fact, a pottered history of its release schedule traumas is ten times more interesting than the thing itself. Geffen must have thought they were onto a winner – ‘we’ve got the ‘Breaking Atoms’ guy but without the 2 DJ’s!’ they frothed, we imagine. Fast forward to them receiving the LP from LP and going ‘Hmm, you don’t happen to have the numbers for Sir Scratch and K-Cut, do you?’
It’s saying something to consider that ‘The LP’ is, lyrically, conceptually and musically, much worse than the 2nd forgettable ‘Main Source’ LP with the perennially overrated Mikey D. Whether in the bootlegged version, the version that Hiphopsite.com dropped, or the new ‘official’ version, it’s a stinker. Are those beats really by the guy who did the ‘It’s Boy’ remix? Are those lyrics by the man responsible for ‘Friendly game of Baseball’, ‘Snake Eyes’, Lookin’ At the Front Door’, ‘Watch Roger Do His Thing’ and ‘Peace is not the word to play’? What the fuck happened? ‘Mad Scientist’ and ‘That Bullshit’ are gems, and ‘One + One’ is absolutely timeless, – but who hasn’t heard it a thousand times by now - and that’s about it. Pathetically repetitive choruses, barely an iota of lyrical craft and beats that Neek The Exotic and Chris Lowe probably said ‘no thanks’ to. ‘Queens Lounge’ might be some cop if Paul had invited some guests onto it – Royal Flush, say – and not done yet another chorus where he just repeats the name of the song. We’re with Geffen on this one.
Large Professor feat. Nas – One + One
8 responses so far ↓
1 Yeah // Jul 21, 2009 at 5:32 am
Agreed that “The LP” isn’t that great, but if we hadn’t have heard the bootleg tracks for 10+ years now it would have been a half decent standard quality level mid ’90s release. I wasn’t a huge fan of the singles back in ‘95 either. I’m a big fan of that previously unheard “Bowne” track that’s on the new release.
2 brian beck from wisconsin // Jul 21, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Is Spacey on this version? That was my shit, although it could’ve done with an Akinyele verse.
I quite liked Ijuswannachill too.
3 dan large // Jul 21, 2009 at 3:57 pm
get off that bullshit was my SHIT, dope track, i remember getting it on some bootleg 12 back in’t day
4 dan large // Jul 21, 2009 at 3:59 pm
also, if you click on the photo you get a super hi res photo of lolly badcock and michelle b wearing an extra p promo shirt, don’t get reallererer than that
5 102 names // Jul 21, 2009 at 5:04 pm
large pro’s album was decent, but shoulda come out properly at the time so we could be all nostalgic about it.
I think he’s gone through a dodgy phase, I didn’t rate his 2nd solo LP much, but will return to it see how it sounds now, ‘after school’ was a real gem, the beat on the killa sha 12″ is awesome, the come up is wicked, CT to Queens is dope, why you wanna do that beat is nice…he still gets props over here.
6 sg // Jul 21, 2009 at 5:24 pm
The LP has always been pretty wack. I remember buying the mad scientist 12″ and thinking is that it? I just wanna chill was only better because the first single from the LP was so poor. A few good tracks on it. You can 100% see why geffen didn’t release it. Still breaking atoms will always be top 10 of all time and the list of great tracks which Extra P has been involved in put him right up there with premier, dre,
7 End Level Boss // Jul 22, 2009 at 3:58 am
Agreed. ‘Queens Lounge’ is super annoying due to the wack chorus.
8 don king // Jul 24, 2009 at 6:04 pm
I remember hearing I Jus Wanna Chill in 96 and not being amazed, but on listening to The recent release of the LP…I think the whole thing sounds fantastic, There’s not a wack beat on there and it sounds fresher than a lot of mid 90s east coast music (as much as it hurts to say this I’m thinking Show and AG sound pretty nondescript in retrospect)
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