This collection is twenty tracks deep, nineteen of which were recorded between 1994 and 1998... although, strictly speaking, the first and last are an intro and outro. But the outro does feature Omni freestyling, and they were both produced in '95 with a smooth beat by Fanatic; so we'll count them as one song. So that's eighteen songs from the 90s, and one self-produced track Omni recorded in 2002, where he was starting to test the waters for his comeback. That song is called "Testin' the Waters."
The enclosed booklet has some great notes by Omniscence himself, where he helpfully explains that these songs are largely from three distinct eras. The first are tracks originally recorded for Raw Factor, but the label rejected because they were literally too raw and not commercial enough. Then you've got some tracks from '96 with a little harder edge ("I'd been scorned by the industry") he made for a 6th Boro compilation. Then there are a few songs from '97-'98 that he recorded in NY as a demo he shopped around, but that otherwise went completely unheard. And finally, there are a couple loosies, like two songs he recorded with Mixmasta D and that 2002 comeback track.
So what did I do? I basically contributed one song. If you've followed along with my Omniscence coverage, you might recall that I have an old Raw Factor promo EP with one song (called "Keep Giving Me Love") that had still never been released anywhere, despite the recovery and eventual release of the long lost Raw Factor album. I now realize it must have been one of those tracks the label stupidly didn't want. I described it in my initial post as one of the tightest tracks, and now you can finally hear it for yourselves. In fact, you can hear two versions, because it turns out mine was a later release of a demo they already had called "The Flav's About To Drop," with the same raps and instrumental, but a completely different hook and some other subtle variations. The Lost Tapes includes both.
There are a couple other points where you'll hear verses or elements repeat across songs here, because these were all unreleased tracks, so why not recycle something from them? You know, the same situation as the Children of the Corn album Dust & Dope was able to release. But it's pretty minimal. This is a satisfyingly full and diverse album. I said these were mostly unheard songs earlier because four of them were already featured on the 2015 Dope Folks EP Elektra Emancipation: No A&R and No R&B Niggas In the Studio, but this is their first time on CD at least. And we have the original version of "This Year," a song that was titled "Dick Suck" on the Raw Factor album, with an entirely different instrumental.
Overall, Omni fans should be delighted. Lots of lost music has been uncovered, and this isn't a case of the final, weakest scraps. They might be the final ones, but they're as strong as any previous Omniscence record. Most of the production's by Fanatic, and there are a handful of guest spots by the usual suspects. Some of these songs could make the 'Greatest Hits.'
The original release was a 2-disc set in a digipack. This new one is a single disc in a jewel case. It still has all 22 tracks from the three releases; but it's missing the four uncredited bonus tracks: additional remixes of "Raw Factor 2.0," "Ease My Mind," "Letter To the Better" and "Welcome" that had mostly been cassette exclusives prior to that. You still get two versions of every song from all three releases on one disc, so it's pretty packed and more than enough for most fans, I'm sure. But serious collectors should be aware that the original's a little preferable. ...And serious serious collectors will have those bonus remixes on their initial releases anyway, so I guess it's a pretty niche distinction. But still. Just so ya know.
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