Gee Rock From Jerzee

In 1993, Gee Rock & da CND Coalition released their debut album, a very indie, and now quite collectibly rare, cassette called Straight Outta Jerzee. Since then, Gee Rock has stayed consistently active in the underground scene, If you're not from New Jersey - Hell, even if you are from New Jersey - you've probably only ever come across him if you've been searching up rare, indie hip-hop online. Maybe you've seen somebody requesting rips of his albums on a forum, or come across a random album of his on CDBaby. Well, he's finally caught the attention of "the limited labels;" and twenty years later, his debut album has been repressed, appearing on wax for the very first time.

The production is the star here. Gee Rock is more than passable on the mic, with a high energy flow to match his tracks. He clearly knows his hip-hop and knows what's called for to make some really hot shit. But his voice and lyrics sound a little unrefined; sometimes other members of the Coalition even wind up stealing the show from him.  I think he's honed that aspect of it as career went on; this was, after all, his first tape.

But the point is, he's at least good enough to keep the flow moving without stumbling so you can appreciate the music, which you absolutely wouldn't want to miss. I said "high energy" before, and it absolutely is; but it's still rugged and hardcore. Layers of killer samples, dusty horns, deep bass lines, scratches that blend smoothly into the track. Track after track is a killer. Sometimes you'll recognize a sample - "This Is a Recording" uses the same basic break as a classic Das EFX single, for example - but he gives them all new life by pairing them up with several other records, and his crew adding a totally different flow over it. "It's Like Dat" features a classic break you've heard many times before, but never used the way it is here

And it's a full-length album. As you listen to it, you keep thinking, "well, the rest of the tracks can't be as good as that first one." Then a few more tracks in, "they must've blown their load by now!" But no, from beginning to end, every track is a monster. It's almost overkill. Most artists, if they were capable of producing something so dope in the first place, would've filled up an EP and declared victory. But this album just keeps going.  There's so much you won't even be able to fully appreciate everything until you've put in a lot of time with this album. With a lot of albums, the first listen is the most compelling and after that you start to recognize the weak spots until your interest shifts to other albums. This album's the opposite; you won't even know what you've got on your hands after the first listen.

Almost as interesting as the record itself is the aforementioned "limited label" that's issued this. We've got a new player in town, Heavy Jewelz Records. It's either owned or co-owned by Verge, of The TROY Blog, and who you've probably spotted in the comments section here. I remember saying years ago that I'd love to be able to support their stuff if they ever shift from posting rips of other labels' records to putting out wax themselves, and now I finally can. And happily, both musically and in terms of presentation, this is the kind of top quality release any TROY reader knew they were capable of.

The sound quality is pretty great. It's sourced from an original cassette, as the masters are long lost; but it sounds like they've cleaned it up and remastered it a little. It comes in a sticker cover (and my copy at least came with extra stickers), and is limited to 300 copies - 100 on a caramel swirl colored wax, and the rest pressed on classic black. And for a limited release, they're basically priced the same as any new LP - $25. I definitely recommend copping this one before they disappear (their site is here); and I'm quite interested to see what they come up with next.