Recent Bay Classic: Mob Figaz and Nick Peace Mob Trial

Look at how off-brand this fucking album cover looks. What a joke! Why is Husalah's head bandaged? Nick Peace still produces beats? Those were the thoughts that I had when my older brother Adam (better known to you guys as "big brother") gave me this CD - along with C-Bo's Tales From the Crypt! - for Christmas a few years back.

Boy was I wrong. This album, without really trying to be anything special, is probably one of the best Bay Area albums to come out in recent memory. It occurred to me today that I've never written about the album, nor have I even seen anything written about it, despite how much people write about rap music on The Internet. Maybe if it was called Asher Roth and J. Cole and Drake and Mickey Factz and Cory Gunz and Charles Hamilton and Eskay Present Mob Trial it would have gotten better coverage. Then again, none of those guys (Eskay excluded) were even around a whole two and a half years ago. In another two years, they'll probably be on Nah Right Records, a subdivision of Warner Music Group, where they'll get paid 30 cents a click, or some shit. But I digress.

Why is this album so good? I, for one, think that this album shows what good independent artists are capable of when their albums are more curated, and they aren't a clusterfuck of throwaway verses, recycled verses, and features from bum-ass rappers who you owe a favor to. This album succeeds by giving each Husalah, Jacka and AP.9 (who, despite being a 'lesser' Mob Figa, kills it on this record) a chance to do a few songs entirely solo, instead of with Lee Majors. Or even each other. And, the production is from a seasoned Bay Area producer who never made a Hyphy record, to my knowledge. Aside from this album, Nick Peace has had - to my knowledge - nothing to do with Bay Area rap since Hell's Kitchen came out. That album has Saafir on it. Think about that.

AP.9, Husalah, Jacka "Going 4 Blood"

Classic Nick Peace production on the second track, here. Is that a harp and a synth? Does it sound like you're playing Zelda? Then it's probably Nick Peace. But it makes a nice accompaniment to the hook, where the Mob Figaz flip of LL Cool J's opening lines to "I Need Love":

"When I'm alone in my room sometimes I stare at the wall/
and in the back of my mind I can hear my rifle call"

I am all for sick gallows humor on rap records, and this album has no shortage of creepy shit, including the titles to the songs.

AP.9 "A Friend of Ours"

AP.9 "Mob Hit"

The rest of the album has AP.9 rapping over crazy bass-heavy, high-BPM bangers, and are some of the more Hyphy-influenced tracks on the album. Still, this production suits AP.9's less lyrical, less religious, less introspective style of rapping much better than the softer Zelda-sounding stuff on this album. The production on "A Friend of Ours" could practically be a Ratatat song. And AP.9 manages to ride them perfectly [||].

Jacka "A Gangsta's Gangsta"

Jacka "Thrones and Crowns"

Again, is that a harp on "Thrones and Crowns"? But what production could better suit a rap song about regretting becoming a rapper? It's really interesting to hear a rapper talk about rap a just another gig, without getting into how selling tapes and selling drugs is really the same thing. It isn't. Of course "Thrones and Crowns" does turn into a somewhat standard gangster rap song towards the end, but there's always that Conflicted Muslim side of Jacka that comes out that makes it all OK.

"A Gangsta's Gansta" is just pure California driving music. I think part of the reason I never posted this music was because this CD never left my car when I lived in San Diego. Also, Mike Motherfucking Marshall is on the hook, so you can ignore the fruitiness of the title. This shit goes.

Husalah "Murder on My Mind"

Husalah "Ways and Means (This is Dope)"

Husalah "Sleep With the Fishes (Boom Clack)"

And finally we get to the three highlights of the album, the Husalah tracks. Hustlin Since the 80's and Dope, Guns, and Religion were both solid albums, but if I were stuck on a desert island, I would rather have these three songs than either of those albums. Maybe not.

"Murder on my Mind" and "Ways and Means" have the same approach to gangster rap that I haven't heard much of since the Geto Boys. The approach is this: I am rapping about killing people over the pettiest things; I must be clinically insane, or a monster. It's rare these days to hear rappers get into the psychology of how sick most of the subject matter is in rap music. He never gets Bushwick Bill-level crazy on the mic, but he says some weird shit.

"I'm not in my right mind, turn animal at nighttime/
fangs grow out my mouth; rifles come out the house/
your life is about your spouse; mine is about the block/
soon as the pipe come out, I'ma just light your knot/
I Shock G's, so you can "Do Whatcha Like"/
go toe-to-toe, but know I bring the pump to fights/
I'll hump your wife, crush your life, fuck I'm nice!/
Emperor Hu-Sellasie-ah, or just Husalah Christ"

The production on "Sleep With the Fishes" is truly next level. I consider it to be meta-production. Postmodernist production. The bassline is the sound of a trunk rattling, and a dude saying "Boom Clack", imitating the bassline that already makes reference to the experience of listening to rap music in your car. Also, this is Hus at his most charismatic. Tons of stolen Too Short lines, and tons of misogyny. His adlibbed speech at the end about how you don't want to be like him - even though he knows you do - is brilliant: "You could be a doctor. You could be a lawyer. Something like that. You don't wanna be no kingpin dope dealer man, getting money man, knockin bitches, candy painted cars."

Anyway, there's my summary of what makes this album a classic for those who haven't heard it. It's hard for me to write about music I really actually like, so bear [||] with me [||]. I'm still waiting on my package of Jacka goods. I hope they actually send it! After that, I will contact the winners of the contest.