All City - Metropolis Gold (November 3, 1998)

I am dead serious when I say that I only listened to today's post for the first time just last week.

But, come on, this album was a pretty obscure release and the promotion for it was one of the worst I've seen so far.  I mean, they dropped three singles, while only really backing two. One of them didn't even get the proper video treatment.  Have fun explaining that.

How was I introduced to this album, then? Why, during a quick background check I did for my last review on Onyx co-founder Fredro Starr's so-called production credits, of course.  I wanted to check if he produced some more gems to the world, other than those I've already heard with his baldmates. Of course, I later found out that Agallah was the real producer of the beats credited to Fredro that I liked. Oh well.

All City is a duo comprised of rapper Lawrence J. Troupe aka J Mega aka JT Mega (?!) and rapper/singer Gregory P. Cordew aka Greg Valentine. (Much love to one Felix Montana for providing their elusive real names).  These two met each other when both performed as solo artists in 1993 at the famed Lyricist Lounge, which was a bunch of open mic events hosted in LES, Manhattan, and subsequently formed the act.  Somehow, the duo caught the attention of Onyx, a group fresh off the success of their debut smash Bacdafucup, and were in the process of creating their magnum opus, All We Got Iz Us.  Somewhere along the way, All City impressed Onyx enough that they helped the duo sign their first record deal with MCA Records while simultaneously signing them to their vanity label, Armee Records, with them appearing on All We Got Iz Us, as well.  Then, Armee Records commissioned two promotional singles, one in 1995 and one in 1997, before MCA bit the bullet and dropped the actual lead single for the duo's album, Metropolis Gold, which was named, um, The Actual, produced by DJ Premier with a B-side called Priceless, produced by Pete Rock. I mean, talk about fucking the prom queen.  Both sides actually had videos shot for them and everything, with Primo and Pete appearing in their respective videos and Onyx appearing in both to support Meg & Greg, which was awful nice of them. A second single called The Hot Joint was issued by MCA, with the remix as its B-side.  Again, both single and remix got the video treatment. However, these were two of the worst music videos I've ever seen, as they were basically the same goddamn video, with the original having some women gyrating to the hook, while the remix replaces them with DJ Clark Kent gyrating to the hook.  The third MCA single, Ded Right, got nothing. No promotion, no video, zip.

Now, I remember my impression of these two nonames when I first heard them on All We Got Iz Us.  J Mega sounded confident behind the mic, as his delivery is clearly effortless, while Greg sounded too, well, safe when spitting his threats.  I mean, the dude has a voice that would fit on an episode of that purple pedophile Barney The Dinosaur. Don't get me wrong, he's not Melachi The Nutcracker or anything, but I just couldn't get past his voice and believe me, you'd better bring your a-game delivery-wise if you're going to share mic-time with Onyx, of all the rap groups in the world.

Getting back to my background check on Fredro, the producer. Turns out he produced not one, but two songs for our duo on the album.  All City also acquired the services of various other producers including some at-the-time big names like Def Squad's own Rockwilder, DJ Clark Kent, Amen-Ra from Diddy's bag of Hitmen, Dave Atkinson, EZ Elpee and the aforementioned Primo & Pete Rock.  Meg & Greg also brought in a couple of unknowns named V. Black & Latif King to complete the proceeding, although to be fair, Latif was the first producer on board the project and he did produce the B-sides on their promo singles.

So, Let's see what All City did for themselves with what was given to them:

1. WHO DAT
The A-side of the first promo single, released in 1995. The beat that kicks in amidst Onyx' ad-libs sounds like those beats you hear during skits, which can be pretty good at times.  This one is the slow, menacing type that was pretty commonplace in 95-era New York, and as far as that type of beat goes, this one's not bad. Weird, though, that I can't find the producer of this track anywhere on the internet.  I figured that since he did Metrotheme, which was the B-side of this single, Latif King produced this. If he did, he did an admirable job.  And just when you're about to groan from exasperation at yet another rap album intro, J Mega gets on the mic and delivers a pretty good verse, introducing himself and his partner, who neither rhymes nor sings on this track, but the track is still intact to me. Onyx acting as J Mega's hypemen during his verse was inspired as it added more authenticity to his contribution. To every single rapper in existence, this is how you do album intros.

2. STAY AWAKE
Rockwilder produced three cuts on Metropolis Gold, and his first one honestly sounds like if two of Large Professor's and the Ummah's respective beats got together after a hard night of drinking and strip poker, then proceeded to make a mistake that will change their lives forever.  I mean that in the best way possible. The saxophone in that mistake of a beat was a nice touch.  However, we come across three obstacles in All City's path: 1. Technically, they're pretty sound as rappers, but they're not really saying anything.  That might not be everyone's cup of tea.  2. Sometimes, Greg's crooning is in the wrong place, such as this song.  I get that they're trying to evoke a jazzy type of mood, but the lyrics have to fit that mood in order to feel jazzy enough to hum along to a rhythm like this one.  3. Greg's voice, man. He's not convincing me when he's boasting about getting money with that voice.  As standalones, the beat and the lyrics were fairly good.  Together? Misfire.

3. PRICELESS
The Soul Brother blesses this B-side to the lead single, The Actual, with a beat that could've fit right in Soul Survivor with a sweet Biggie sample, and that's awesome. The beat is perfect for the boasts n bullshit that we've seen from Meg & Greg so far, even with Greg's muppet voice.  Pete Rock's ad-libs from the video version, however, are gone, which still doesn't make sense.

4. METROTHEME
the aforementioned B-side of Who Dat.  Latif King receives the first production of his career, and I'm telling you, this Latif dude had something.  His beat is minimalistic in approach, which is right up my alley. In my opinion though, allow me to state that the sequencing of this album so far is abysmal. I mean, look at the tracklisting above. How do they make any sense arranged like that?  The least you could've done, MCA, was place this track as the second one. Anyways, J Mega & GV seem to respect Latif's beat enough that they try extra hard to fit their boasts, which again are not bad, within the beat delivery-wise.  They make it work, I'm glad to say.  And Onyx are back, providing an infectious hook and ad-libbing for our duo, similar to the first track.

5. XTREME
The first Fredro Starr production of the night is, unfortunately, a short one with not one 'Xtreme' aspect about it.  At times like this, I wonder who writes the song's names and if they get smacked later for even suggesting such stupid-ass names. Also, the beat is a massive step down in energy from Fredro's tracks with Onyx, who are on this track, too, providing the hook and ad-libbing again.  However, in All City's case, that energy winddown is NOT a bad thing, as it forces Greg to reign in his voice from ruining the proceedings for everybody involved.  J Mega is his usual consistent self here.

6. THE HOT JOINT (REMIX)
If this album had any momentum so far, that shit is blown to smithereens by this flossy Diddy-esque track, courtesy of DJ Clark Kent.  Remember how albums from that era listed both single and remix on the same album and listed the remix first, then popping up the original later? Remember how angry that made you feel? Well, MCA is also trying to piss us off.  This song sucks balls, by the way. Everything about it was ear-bleedingly trash, from the lyrics to Clark actually ad-libbing to his own baby-killing beat.

7. THE ACTUAL
I fucking told you, the sequencing of this album is horrible. How could you put a track like The Actual produced by boom bap king, DJ Premier, after a track like The Hot Joint Remix? Anyways, since this is 97-era Primo, this is a treat with scratches galore. Even if it's not as good as quite a few of his contributions in that time period. He cuts up J Mega's verse from the above-mentioned Metrotheme with a few other samples expertly, which obviously inspired J Mega to go in. Greg also manages to keep up without embarrassing himself.

8. LIVE IT UP
Amen-Ra from Diddy's merry band of Hitmen produces this song.  See track #6 for reference. Fuck this album's sequencing.

9. AFTA HOURZ
V Black, with his lone production credit under this pseudonym, produces a track that is later mixed by DJ Premier to a degree where I highly suspect that V Black is DJ Premier.  The excellent piano loop permits our duo to kick game about nightly street life with decent results. Unsurprisingly, J Mega delivers the better verse, as usual.  Whereas, Greg is spouting random gibberish.  I still liked this song, though.

10. DED RIGHT
Another club track, although this beat by EZ Elpee isn't as much of an earsore as the previous club tracks. No, it's the lyrics that are the culprits this time.  You know the guy in your circle of friends who hates rap? The lyrics to this song are the reason why.  At the end of the song, Greg spits over a relaxed instrumental his smooth shit, lasting only 4 bars long. Those 4 bars are better than the entire song that preceded them.

11. GET PAID
This Rockwilder production, xylophone and all, is utilized by Meg & Greg to speak about society's ills, caused directly or indirectly by greed and lust for money.  What do you mean, the hook's stupid?  By the way, Greg Valentine the singer makes his debut on this song in a truly horrendous manner.  No lie, one of the shittiest songs I've ever heard.

12. TIMEZ IZ HARD
Latif is back.  And he's hellbent on picking up the duo from this horrendous form they're in.  He succeeds in resuscitating only J Mega, as Greg's goofy ass is still in crappy R&B mode.  But, really, that's actually a relief, as I'm not in the mood to hear his squeaky voice flossing anytime soon.  J Mega makes good of this opportunity, describing life in the ghetto with a delivery suited for introspective rhymes.  This was nice.

13. DAYDREAMING
Greg utilizes this opportunity to flex his R&B by covering Kurtis Blow's Daydreamin', aided by a very convincing Dave Atkinson instrumental, and I have to say, Greg does the song justice. His voice might even be a better suit for the song than Kurtis himself.  That is until J Mega tries to join Greg in his tribute by kicking a full verse in place of Kurtis's two bars, and he majorly fucks things up with his sex rap.  I mean, Kurt never even mentioned a biological private part. Moving along.

14. FAVORITE THINGS
The second Fredro production, which is somewhat decent. And what does All City use it for? Why flossing, of course. I mean, in a very distant reality of course, I can believe that J Mega can pull  some women. But ain't no way in hell that Greg Valentine will ever be considered pimp material. The R&B hook is the sewage icing on this shit cake. I'm very disappointed that Fredro's production skills are associated with this horrible, horrible garbage.

15. THE HOT JOINT
Amen-Ra returns for the original second single, in all its flossy manureness. What the fuck do you mean, that's not a real word? PSA: shoe-in does NOT condone violence or hatred against any human being, but man do I hope someone got his ass whooped for sequencing this album.

16. MOVE ON YOU (REMIX)
After hearing this flirt rap, I'd rather you move on to the next song. Rockwilder produced this remix and the original, the second promo single. The beat to the remix is alright, but the original is one of the best beats he's ever done, but as the case is with Stay Awake, there just isn't any chemistry between him and our hosts. In fact, this song is even worse, as the flirt raps are flat out ass. Which is something to note, considering that the lyrics for the original and the remix are the exact same.

17. JUST LIVE
For our final number, Latif King sees us off with a brilliant sampling of Art Farmer's Chanson. Our duo, BOTH of them, make an honest attempt to redeem themselves from the ear-rape we've listened to throughout the album by spitting conscious bars. Latif must be doing something right, because both J Mega and GV deliver potent verses about staying strong in the face of life's bullshit. I'm kind of pissed off that Greg waited a full album to tone down his voice the way he did, but his verse is finally focused on something to say, although to be fair, I had trouble recognizing him from J Mega as GV's lowered voice sounds almost exactly like his partner. J Mega delivers the highlight of the album, in my opinion.  Maybe it's because it's the last friggin' song on the friggin' album, but all I can seem to think about when remembering this album's positives is his verses here. Latif proves to us that he was always the one who had the most chemistry with All City. Nice work. And we're done.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Latif & Rockwilder's contributions to this album pretty much sum up my stance on it: this album is the divisive kind. Half of it contains brilliant compositions by Latif, Primo and the PR, on which our duo find their footing pretty nicely. While the other half is Meg & Greg stumbling from low to sinking low on Rockwilder's beats and some of the flossiest crap I've ever had the misfortune to listen to from the likes of DJ Clark Kent and Amen-Ra. Daydreaming remains the sole confusing track to me. It depends on whether Greg's earnestness wins you over enough to disregard J Mega's shitty sex rap. It's all up to you.

WORTH IT?
Since I'm a cat who sees the glass half full, this album's positives outweigh the negatives. However, not everyone out there can be as optimistic as me so I leave the choice up to you. Either support the album, or burn Latif's tracks along with The Actual, Priceless, Afta Hourz & Xtreme.

TRACKS TO TRACK DOWN:
BASIC TRAINING
This song, however, might help you make up your mind about All City. Since I began listening to 90s hip hop, I've heard a TON of timeless beats. I know I heard this just last week but I guarantee you, dude/dudette: This is one of those beats. Courtesy of, of course, Latif, the B-side to the second promo single,  Move On You by Rockwilder, utilizes a straight up menacing piano loop that switches mid-song without sacrificing its quality. This type of beat is most suitable for Meg & Greg's bragging, and sure enough, they take turns one-upping each other effortlessly. Fuck MCA for not including this on the album. You can find this pretty easily on the web. So git.

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For more about Armee Records bosses, Onyx, click on their name. Duh.