Tight with Lasso ? Absolute, Mr. Tru, Ill Harmonics
Reality Check ? RedFlagUnit (Sev & marsILL)
Understand ? SupTheChemist
Jurny ? Jurny (LPG)
The Road I Once Lived ? Man of War
The Day My Dog Died ? Greg Words
The New Song ? D.O.P.E. Statikk
The Outlet ? SolSeekers
Expect The Unexpected ? Sackcloth Fashion
Double CD for the price of one. Features the best underground Hip Hop acts you will ever hear. Non stop dope. Even Marcos from P.O.D plays guitar on this gem.
Double CD for the price of one. Features the best underground Hip Hop acts you will ever hear. Non stop dope. Even Marcos from P.O.D plays guitar on this gem.
CD Reviews
Greatest Christian Hip-Hop Compilation to date!
Scott Hay | Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada | 05/01/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I was completely blown away after 1 listening of this CD. I dare someone to listen to this entire set and say that Christian hip-hop is still [bad]. ALL MY FAVORITE UNDERGROUND EMCEES ARE ON HERE! Peace 586, Soul Heir, Playdough, SUP The Chemist, 3NP, Future Shock, Braille, Lojique, and tons and tons of new artists I hadn't heard of yet that I'm totally psyched about (RedCloud, Mr. Tru, Dirt, Absolute, DizOrgan). The only thing this album is missing is an appearance from the Labklik boys, but hey; no Compilation is ever 100% perfect :) I seriously recommend this to every fan, AND sceptic of Christian hip-hop. I guarantee your opinion will be changed after just one sitting."
Gospel Flava's Expo Review
Gospel Flava | 01/31/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Fashion Expo Volume 1Hip hop on parade, that's what this is. A fashion exposition, where the threads and accessories consist of loops, breakdowns, beats, samples, flows, scratches, patter and effects.One after another, emcees, DJs, turntablists and auxillary officers of hip hop offer scripturally-inspired and holy words wrapped up a variety of externals. It's a heady experience and even those starved for brand new material will scarcely be able to take the entire 36 tracks (2 discs' worth) in one sitting.The compilation was masterminded by the humble Syntax Records honchos who double as artists on the label (Sackcloth Fashion, see review). Needless to say, that gives these execs. an advantage, as their production, mixing, recording and mastering skills come authentic.And we have to agree with the brief press notes that accompany the project: there indeed was a strong `no chaff' policy in effect for this endeavor - a separation of the wheat from the chaff, the phat from the wack.The result? An avoidance of the twin plagues of compilation CDs (uneven production, weak tracks mixed in with strong ones).The consistency in production lends a vibe of continuity, with a tendency towards to orchestral loops and thick, sometimes booming tracks. But a compilation is a compilation, and it would be near impossible to remove versatility, especially on one like this, which has over 30 artists on board.It's just that this time you'll hear some of these artists in a different production context than you've heard before. Click here for the complete lineup.Hip hop veteran Peace586 finds his place on the project with "Runnin'". What a track, with catchy hook and simple, profound flow sermonics. Fellow journeymen, E-Roc, Playdough and GRITS also handle respective tracks, tackling a variety of themes.Corey Red impresses every time out, and he continues that trend here. Featuring Precise, "No Gray Lines" is a song that grabs with his hyper monotone patter that's manipulated to give a apocalyptic feel. "There's no more gray line, either you with Jesus or you're not, either your soul's headed for heaven or hell is where you'll rot".Refreshingly, the female emcee voice has a say on Fashion Expo. And you'd be dead wrong if you're assuming that this is tokenism. On par with the best of the rest, you find Diz Organ's west coast parlance on "Under Man" to be lyrically hard hitting, beat flowing, and true. She also pops up with vocals on the multiple artist collab, "Quality Junk", as the opening track on disc 2.Here's some other select cuts that generated deep appreciation, based on innovation, head bob-ability, memory stickiness and how severely the urge ran to press that `track repeat' button."Matthew" by Dirt: compassionate song with a story, nice bass, bouncy with a serious hook. "Who Am I?" by Illustrate featuring Joe Bereal: nicely flowing testimony track with a bump. "Game Over" by Fros'T: creative vocal patterns showcase nice similes with the drawn out chords of the loop making it work. Lyrics exhort that life is not a game but that we're to `travel on the straight and narrow'. "Tight With Lasso" by Absolute, Mr. Tru, Ill Harmonics: plucky guitar loops fling the hispanic flava'd rhymes and samples with frequent mic exchanges (favorite phrase: "up and coming has-beens"). "Jurny" by Jurny: from the respected LPG somes Jurny on a solo trip, reflecting on his rap experiences. "The New Song" by D.O.P.E. Statikk: a palette of instruments (electric guitar, piano, tables and more) set off this crew's poetic honor of hip hop cultured street ministry Essential to your knowledge of what this holy hip hop is all about, it's some serious understatement to say that Fashion Expo Volume 1 make the grade.More like, it's the teacher."
Fashion Expo raises the standard!
stewart johnson | midwest boi | 01/03/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Sackcloth Fashion does it again. This time they bring an arsenal of gifted lyricist along to remind you not to sleep on this trip. If you enjoyed Sackcloth Fashion's album "something for everyone to hate," then you'll be more than pleased with this DOUBLE LP crammed with hours of listening pleasure. If you weren't hip to Sackcloth's uniquness and innovation don't despair they had you in mind too when putting this gem together. With songs perfomed by Sup the Chemist, Jurny of LPG, Grits, Corey Red and Precise, Illharmonics, E-roc, Future Shock, Solseekers, Peace 586, Redcloud, Braille, Absolute, Frost, Illustrate, Dirt, Project America, Dope Statikk, RedFlag Unit, KJ52, and several others the production meshes perfectly with each vocalist. If you are a fan of Phat Hip-hop then you need pick this joint up! One of the joys of reviewing albums is that you get to hear them before they come out. This is one of the best hip hop albums to release in a good five years. This album has the potential to really advance hip hop by raising the standard in creativiity and artistry. When I review an album I usually point out the good and bad. The only thing I can say negative about this project is that it won't make as much noise as it should. It is very difficult for me to choose the songs that stand out because of the overall quality of this release, but I will point out a few of the songs that seemed to really push the artistic barriers in hip hop and a couple other tracks that stood out for various reasons. Angels is just ill. It is a very short track with four emcees back to back. Redcloud sets if off lovely. Absolute comes in right behind him with a dope harmony laced deliver. Braille is third and probably the least appealing. He is over shadowed by the other emcees including Mr Tru who closes off this 2 minute ditty. Other stand out tracks inluce Water World performed by Redlcoud, Traveling Performed by Absolute, Submit performed by Future Shock, Rising Sons by Mr Tru, Man of War and E-roc, Quality Junk Coleon, Redcloud, Diz Organ, Mr Tru, and Sir Rocdomz, The Wind by Trey qel and Ajax, Jurny by Jurny and Journey through my mind by Grits. My two favorite tracks (at the moment) are Understand by Sup The Chemist and Connect by Sackcloth Fashion. These two songs represent innovation and creativity. This should be known as a hip hop classic in years to come. I'm certain that it'll really get things going for several of the newcomers featured on Fashion Expo. If round 2 is half as good as round one then i'm already in anticipation!"
1340mag's review of Fashion Expo
1340mag | 01/31/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have no idea where to start this review. This CD is HUGE! It's 2 CDs jammed with old school hip hop. They have to be pushing the time constraints on each CD, there is just so much here! Okay, for you fans of Christian rap, don't bother with the rest of the review - just get off the Internet and buy this! This double CD is a virtual "who's who" of Christian hip hop artists. The only guy I can think of that should be on here but is not would be T-Bone, everyone else is here. You have Dirt, Coleon, Sup The Chemist, Jurny of LPG, Redcloud, Peace 586, Grits, Prophetics, E-Roc, Fros'T, and KJ52....and that's just half the songs! There are way too many artists on here to list them all. The music on here is high quality and created , as I understand it, by Sackcloth Fashion (whose album also rules). The lyrics are exactly what you expect and desire, bold in your face, yet peaceful and understanding lyrics. The definition of Christian, uncompromising and compassionate. All the rappers do a great job also, I don't even know what to say there is so much stuff to write about! My solution to this problem would be simply to tell you to go out and buy it : ) I'm not sure how much they are charging for this CD but whatever it is, if you like hip hop , it's worth every penny. A great CD in a market that is not known for it's quality. Also check out our interview with Syntax Records in this issue : )"
Rebirth Mags Review of Fashion Expo Tru Hip Hop Round 1
Rebirth Mag | 01/31/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"FASHION EXPO - Round One: Tru Hip-Hop Syntax Records Music Type: Hip-Hop Artist Origin: Various I really gotta use the "forbidden" term here: Christian hip-hop. This double CD is one of the most outstanding projects in this field at the moment. And I'm sure the impression will last for a good while. The 36 (!) songs feature all the "Christian" emcees you ever wanted to hear and a couple more: from Dirt to Soulheir (of Mars Ill), from Sup the Chemist to Braille, from Playdough to Sev Statik and the list goes on for a good while. Fashion Expo also features all new and unreleased songs. In fact, it was a crew called Sackcloth Fashion (they also released a record in '99 called Something for Everyone to Hate, more about them at www.sackcloth.com) who came up with the idea for this compilation as well as with seventy basic beats. The emcees would pick a beat and rap in their vocals over it. Then the tracks were given their final arrangements, again by Sackcloth Fashion with some help from several DJ's (Mars Ill's Dust for example) and musicians. And the outcome is a decent compilation of true hip-hop with a wide range of (sometimes quite experimental) musical sounds as well as emcee styles. I can easily imagine the guys having no time left for their own project in the future cause they'll be busy producing all the other artists...Since we already covered a good amount of the featured emcees and their crews with reviews at Rebirth and I couldn't talk about all thirty-six tracks in detail, my intention was to focus on the not so well known names. Well, a couple of times it was impossible to simply leave the "big" names behind, but I hope in the end I managed to find the right balance and give you a somewhat representative overview. If you'll still have any doubts after reading this, check www.fashionexpo.net for a complete track listing and further information.CD 1:"Angels" has RedCloud, Braille and Mr. Tru of Sackcloth Fashion. The latter really reminds me of the old Britcore times style-wise, which sounds kinda funny to me nowadays. If you knew Braille I wouldn't have to say anything, so you'll have to scroll down for a sound sample of his other track. I never heard anything from RedCloud before, but he's tight as well. Even though I recently reviewed the Ill Harmonics album, I simply gotta mention Playdough and his track "Dues for Cashews," `cause it has such a cool chorus with live instrumentation of bass and acoustic guitar.Even if it's hard to speak of highlights here, "No Gray Lines" would be one of the potential candidates for such a title. A really dense atmosphere is being produced with the musical arrangements. Corey Red and Precise just fit in perfectly and help making this a quite "sinister experience." Dirt then delivers a track dealing with street kids called "Mathew." Man, he and the beat were made to come together. This is really catching stuff, musically as well as lyrically. Check the review of Dirt's recently released debut album ...A War to Restore (see review) as well.With DizOrgan in the house, there's also a female emcee representing on Fashion Expo. "Under Man" is pretty short but leaves a good first impression. I'd say she's like a more aggressive version of the great Bahamadia, i.e. she has a voice (you can also hear her in the chorus of "Quality Junk" on the second CD) as well as skills, and not just fancy video clips. I just think the production can't completely keep up with the high average level of production.Omnipoetics is another up and coming emcee that introduces himself with "Soft Spoken." Also "lyrics illuminate to keep the mind open..." and not to forget the appearance of DJ DNA. As far as I know, Fros'T is not new to the business and has at least released one record in the past. On "Game Over," his rather hard hitting rhymes and rough voice meet a sung chorus, which fortunately ends where R&B ones go on forever, if you know what I mean. CD 2:RedCloud has the most features on Fashion Expo, and not without reason. He and Coleon are absolutely convincing in the opener "Quality Junk." Fat beat with amazing Spanish-guitar performance by Marcos of P.O.D. as well. Just Mr. Tru's hipple-di-hop style gets a little annoying.If I would have to subsume what Braille's (review) doing in one word it surely was "tight"! If there's tracks who stand out a little on this strong record, "Perceptions" is definitely up there. "The Wind" features another dope collaboration - this time it's Trey-Quel and Ajax of Future Shock coming together. I wonder if they recorded their parts separately. Well, at least it doesn't sound like they did. It gets really funky with KJ52's "How We Do It." I can't imagine anybody not starting to nod their head to this. DJ Highwire is lending KJ a helping hand in form of some welcome cuts.RedFlagUnit is the mighty Mars Ill (review) teaming up with Sev Statik to perform a "Reality Check." If you only have the slightest idea of what these people are about, you'd better know that this combination can't come up with something mediocre. So they also chose one of the more unusual beats. You could call "The New Song" a rap ballad. It might have a commercial appeal, but it definitely lives from D.O.P.E. Statikk's raps and the piano harmonies, not some cheesy R&B hooks.Solseekers, who are supposed to soon release their debut on Sphere Records, bring us "The Outlet." Atmospherically, it's not too different from the last track, but still more in your face and built on the beat. "The Outlet," in this case, is one for all kinds of feelings, problems, etc. and called hip-hop. "...It's insane how it's getting worse than it was, this cats release their anger through the barrels of guns..."Even if not each and every of the ca. 140 minutes was able to burn me at 100%, there's by far too much potential in this to be ignored by the majority of hip-hop fans. Being a quality statement musically, and lyrically more than just a "positive alternative," this is (to unnecessarily use certain categories and comparisons again) the Soundbombing of so-called "Christian" hip-hop.- Oliver"
Track Listings (18) - Disc #1