Juice Crew 3rd Millenium

I grew up as a Juice Crew junkie, so what better way to start my new blog than to look at my favorite hip-hop crew as a teen? I also chose it because I've never been able to find (and believe me, I've looked), any information about this record anywhere online. I'm guessing this just flew under a lot of peoples' radars, and if it's not entirely unheard of, it's at least thoroughly forgotten.

Of course, it's no "Symphony;" but 1999's "Thug Money" by Juice Crew 3rd Millenium ain't bad. The line-up here doesn't quite feature the All-Star line-up of your dreams either; but it's not a bunch of completely unrelated new jacks using the name, like say "The Unit" who Latifah was putting out around the same time. It features MC Shan (Juice Crew Allstar), Big Skoob (yeah, he counts as a Juice Crew Allstar), Grand Daddy IU - who also produced the track (he's almost a Juice Crew allstar... he just came a couple years too late), Oz-Born (who I believe is the Oz of IU's "Oz's Track," which he put out independently that same year) and D-Low (new jack who sings the hook).

"Thug Money" is the only song on this 12", with Dirty, Clean, "Super Clean," Instrumental and Acapella versions. The instrumental is a slightly understated but effective track for a thuggish posse cut. It won't blow you away, but it's pretty good; and every MC comes with a reasonably tight, hardcore verse ("Our projects stand alone; I represent the zone: Pickett Avenue, you get robbed on the payphone.").

It was pretty surprising to see the Juice Crew turn up as a collective on Universal Records(!) as late as 1999, and it's easy to dream about a full-length project that never was to be, reuniting all the Juice Crew members for a collective album to finally follow In Control vol 1. But this joint, while not bad, doesn't exactly scream "summer hit sure to lead to a major label contract." Indeed, this was actually due to be featured on (as can be clearly read on the label) a Mr. Magic sampler album (all originals? Or lots of prereleased material? We'll never know) called Mr. Magic's Greatest Flavors, an album which never wound up happening. All we have is this. It's no must-have if you're not a die-hard Juice Crew enthusiast, but if you're thinking you'd like to check this out based on the line-up, you won't be disappointed.

Update 1/31/12: see this new video post I made on this same record.

Introductions

elcome to my new blog! For 2007, I'm taking Werner's Humble, Little... etc. in a bold, new direction that only lots of other hip-hop blogs have gone before!
This is my blog (natch), so pretty much whatever the heck I feel like will go in here. But the plan is to just take a look at some interesting hip-hop records... maybe a few tapes and CDs, too. Of course, I might write about some other things if they strike me... heck, I may even manage to nab me an interview or two. ;)
This is not an mp3 blog, though. (Nothing against them; I've even downloaded a thing or two from a few of 'em; but) The hope here is to encourage you guys to track down and find your own copies of whatever interests you here. And before you ask, the best places are just whatever used record stores you can find. That's right, welcome to crate diggin'. Online, of course, I can recommend Ebay and gemm.com. And if I ever have a specific angle on where you can pick-up an obscure new release, I'll mention it in its entry.