Review written by: MazaIn 1986 a song entitled "The bridge" came out featuring Queensbridge's MC Shan and Marley Marl. In the classic track, emcees spoke about their hoods. This time around, KRS-One caught the opportunity he had long awaited for and the legendary Juice Crew/Boogie Down Productions battle began after he attacked with South Bronx. After the Blastmaster destroyed them with The Bridge Is Over, KRS quickly became a star and Shan‘s career began to fade.
Somewhat suprising then that 2 decades later KRS-One & Marley Marl team up claiming Hip Hop Lives. Obviously a direct rebuttal from Nas's claim.
So what did these old timers manage to cook up?
Well one of my fav tracks is "The Teacha's Back". On it KRS rhymes
"the teachas' back the heat is back/ had to chill for a minute so you could see what was wack/ rapper's enter the game to increase their stacks/ no skill, no style man, please step back/ this that real, real, raw, raw, rah, rah rappin'/ you started off street, now you pop, whats happenin'?/ you callin' me contradictory?/ yet, i'm the most consistent mc in rap's history/ is that the mic? give it to me, hip-hop is livin' to me/ i smack rapper's in they mouth deliberately/ krs-one, i really mc/ i'm the difference between real and music tv"/)This I feel practically sums up the entire message of the album. How modern rappers only care about monetary gain rather than dropping something from the heart.
Other nice tracks on the album for me were "The Victory" (feat. Blaq Poet) and "All Skool".
One thing that was kind of annoying however was the general tone of "back in my day" to the album. Being young it just got on my nerves alittle.
Most reviewers have been banding around phrases such as "instant classic" and "the king is back". I however can't say this. Most people maybe saying this out of loyatly to this great man, but for me this was nothing other than a solid drop.
