Before I begin giving props and respect to anyone, let me remind y’all that I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Been living on this same ass Bushwick block for all of my 28 years. I done lived through, participated in and survived the crack epidemic, pacifier around the neck fad, Tommy Hill/Polo Era (Still rockin’ Lo like I’m Thirstin Howl III’s little brother), and the East Coast/West Coast beef (I never went to LA during this or after but I once flipped on this Cali dude in school for saying that E-40 was a better MC than Big Pun. It was about to get ugly in a way Bubba Sparxxx wasn’t ready for). Anyway, as you can see, I’m a straight NYC representative to the heart. I bleed Yankee pinstripes. But these Cali MCs are really the only heads right now that are giving me hope for some kind of a hip-hop renaissance to happen.

You got heads like Diz Gibran, and Blu handling the lyrical conscious/back pack aspect of it. Then on the other hand you have Jay Rock, Bishop Lamont, Omar Cruz and Glasses Malone keeping it G’d up like Negro League hats.

Then you throw in a group like Pac Div and the renaissance seems like it’s really beginning to manifest on the Left Coast. Listening to Like, Mibbs and BeYoung (still not sure who’s who to be real) say rhymes like, “I used to fuck with this hoodrat named Coco/she stole all of my shit and dipped like Flow Joe/I fuck with Shaky spots, chicken and Mojo/I stopped fuckin’ with Tribe when they went solo/nah, I’m just playin’ Tip, y’all still my bros tho/with all these gay niggas yellin’ ‘No homo,’” on “No No” was straight real and the truth. I stopped fuckin’ with Tribe when they broke up like I stopped wearing Rocawear when Jay and Dame split.

They continued to drop bombs like M. Night Shyamalan (Just stop making movies, son!) with “”Pac Div” where son spit, “Let’s shepherd the heard/professor with words/stay fresh off some herbs/no extra preserves/and if you muthafuckas can’t catch up then merge/king, nothing less is deserved/game’s wide open cause my game’s like potion/keep ya girl posing in the K-9 motion!” Damn, son! K-9 motion?? I’ma have to use that term one day.

These three amigos straight rode on these tracks with their guns ablazing. There’s no other way to put it. The three of them have distinct styles, but create a complete sound with dope rhymes, lyrics and straight flows. They can go from ripping a beat with ferocious rhymes to creating actual songs where they’re building about things they ain’t ever do on “Never,” or the struggle itself on “Young Black Male.” Either way they’re the type of MCs that’ll have you paying attention while boppin’ your head and moving your shoulders in entertainment. Aside from having being entertaining with theirs, they also have something to say and drop jewels here and there. These are the kind of MCs that we have to appreciate and support before we miss them like we do EPMD and State Property. Can I get a Amen?-The Infamous O

Hottest Joint: “Pac Div”

Weakest Joint: “Knuckleheadz”

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