Capone-N-Noreaga - The War Report

The other day I watched a portion of VH1's Greatest 100 Hip-Hop songs of All Time on VH1 Soul. While I think those shows are interesting to watch, they are extremely narrow in their level coverage. The hard rock/metal countdown seemed short sided to me, but this one was even more incomplete. It just seems unbelievable to me that music journalists specializing in rap music along with a panel of rappers, producers and DJ's would exclude so many important and influential MC's in favor of pop songs like Nelly's "Hot in Here" and MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This." C'mon, no Gang Starr? No Mobb Deep? No Pharcyde? Souls of Mischief/Del/Hieroglyphics? Big L? KRS-ONE? Kool Keith? Even "The Bridge is Over" didn't make the list. It was thoroughly disappointing.

So, on that same note of classic rap, I have to mention the debut by Queens, New York's Capone-N-Noreaga. The War Report is a perfect example of grimy post-golden age era hip-hop - Hard beats, gritty lyrics about crime, drugs and the hood, referring to their housing projects as "Iraq," the continuous use of the instigating phrase "What What," and various other things suburban nerds like me have no real comprehension of. At 20 tracks The War Report drags at times, but there are some definite bangers on here such as "Bloody Money," "LA, LA," "Halfway Thugs," and "Illegal Life." For more insight into the mind of NORE check the links below:

Cocaine Blunts Interview

Noreaga's Twitter

Capone-N-Noreaga - The War Report