Search - Marley Marl :: In Control

THE JUICE CREW IN EFFECT!!!

SmokaJ | TORONTO | 07/25/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Marley Marl's first (official) album has to be one of the corner stones to the temple of Hip-Hop. Marl is (in my mind and in countless others) Hip-Hop's greatest and most inspiring producer. He has influenced the likes of DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Erick Sermon and pretty much any dope producer from the east-coast. The beats that he made are still being sampled today and it always blows my mind the music he created with such pre-historic equiptment.



In Control, Vol. 1 contains so many classic tracks, headlined by arguably the greatest posse-cut in history "The Symphony." Back in the golden-era (pre-1990) of Hip-Hop, The Juice Crew on the Cold Chillin' label ran the business!!! Everybody knows that. They were the Yankees of Hip-Hop. They were unstoppable with a dream-team roster that included Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, Masta Ace, Intelligent Hoodlum (Tragedy Khadafi), Kool G Rap & DJ Polo, Roxanne Shante, Craig G, MC Shan, and of course the man who made all their butter beats, Marley Marl. All those MC's and more come to the table to help bring this masterpiece of an album to life.



Tracklist:

1) Droppin' Science - Craig G

2) We Write the Songs - Heavy D & Biz Markie

3) The Rebel - Tragedy & Percy

4) Keep You Eye on the Prize - Masta Ace & Action

5) The Symphony - Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap & Big Daddy Kane.

6) Live Motivator - Tragedy & Percy

7) Duck Alert - Craig G

8) Simon Says - Masta Ace & Action

9) Freedom - MC Shan (this track was later re-released on Shan's 2nd album "Born to Be Wild" under the title "Give Me My Freedom")

10) Wack Itt - Roxanne Shante



Bottom Line: This album is a piece of Hip-Hop history. I still listen to it today and as Hip-Hop keeps embarrassing itself, this album sounds better with each spin. It's a bonifide CLASSIC if there ever was one...5 stars, Peace.

"

One of the best from the Golden Age

Derek Johnson | United Kingdom | 02/11/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hard to believe, that this is 20 years old this year. What's even harder to believe that this still sounds fresh, and to my mind (and ears) hasn't dated in the slightest. I'd agree with SmokaJ's review that as a Producer Marley Marl is underrated. Not only was he the in-house producer for Cold Chillin' records/Juice crew, which served many, if not all the peoples featured on this LP, but he has worked with LL Cool J ( and helped to get his ghetto pass re-issued on Mama Said Knock You Out) and whose choice of samples was diverse and well used.( apparently when he was a DJ on WBLS, he had access to it's vast music library, which a few of the samples used on this LP were gathered from)

On to the LP. I have given this release, 5 stars; even through I don't rate every song on this release? Why? Because apart from a few mishaps, the main stay of this disc are worth the price of the admission. The mishaps would fall under the following titles:

'We Write the Songs 'Biz Markie & Heavy D Which is a very mellowish slow affair, Freedom & Wack it (I've never been the biggest MC Shan or Shante fan, so maybe that's part of the reason why I dislike these cuts) Also certain members, to my mind were under used. Big daddy Kane & Kool G Rap appear once (but boy, what an appearance!)

Highlights: The symphony is one of THE highlights of this release, particularly for Kool G Rap's verse (for me he rips it, and I pity Kane having to follow in his wake. G Rap is another who is very under rated!)

Craig G and particularly Tragedy were (at that time) some of the lesser lights of the Juice crew, who bring their 'A' game on cuts like: 'Droppin' Science', 'The Rebel' & `Live Motivator'. Another under rated MC that shows his potential ( but still never got the props his talent deserved) was Masta Ace, who is the lead point guard on the classic 'symphony' and also does a good job on 'Simon says'

All-in-all this is a classic release, that looking at the price Amazon are quoting, is hard to find these days. I wouldn't pay that price for it, but this is a must have of a by gone area.

"