Down(load) By Law

A couple of weeks ago I dropped that big ass zipfile of random 90s joints that you might've forgotten about, should play more often, or not heard before. It was pretty popular so here's the early 00s edition.
It took a bit of thinking about it because whereas during the 90s I feel like we were mostly all on the same page (or at least aware of the majority of releases), by the time Y2K hit things were about more than NY and LA and people were finding their listening niches and picking sides. Going through my folders from 2000-2003 there's the established A-list artists you'd expect, alongside underground indie joints (both backpack and more thugged out), and artists from all over the US, plus the UK too as that was doing quite nicely at the time. I was definitely a lot more open minded back then, possibly as a result of being in my early 20s and generally being  less cynical about things but also because I worked in a Virgin Megastore so I had plenty of time to investigate any release that looked interesting. That's how Blackalicious ended up on here, as Blazing Arrow was one of the few rap albums I could play in store to disrupt the playlist of Sophie Ellis Bextor, Wheatus and Robbie Williams. It was also a time of hitting up the bargain bins in various 2nd hand record shops and picking up anything that looked like it might be something. Discogs and the "vinyl revival" have pretty much killed that experience off for good unfortunately

Anyway, here's the selection....

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Casual - I Got Ta Get Down

D Block - 2 Gunz Up

Da Ranjahz ft Ras Kass & Bilal - Da Dopest

DJ Quik ft Pharaohe Monch - Murda 1 Case

Ghostface Killah - Cherchez La Ghost (Heartbeat remix)

Bars & Hooks ft Prodigy - Mind Blowin'

Cappadonna ft Raekwon - Love Is The Message

Blackalicious - First In Flight

Grand Agent - Every 5 Minutes

Just Ice & Big Daddy Kane - Just Rhymin With Kane

Big Scoob - Brooklyn Flava

Run DMC ft Nas & Prodigy - Queens Day

Declaime - Caliwayz (remix)

The Game & Obie Trice - Growin Up In The Hood

Scarface ft Jay Z - Get Out

Pitch Black ft Foxy Brown - Got It Locked

Guru ft Timbo King, Killah Priest & Black Jesus - In Here

Perverted Monks - Desperado

Willmatic - Surround Surveillance

Soul Supreme ft AG, T Max & Pete Rock - Queen (Hip Hop)

I was going to do a brief write up on each track but that's a bit much. If there's anything you want to know just ask..

The photo was taken in a shop that I found one of the above records in. It's a complete health and fire hazard that makes NYC's The Thing look like Ikea and I can't believe it hasn't been closed down but an hour or so of awkward physical contortions and inhaling all manner of nastiness yielded a result or two so, y'know, appreciate that.