The T.R.O.Y. Blog Presents: Houston, TX

Another day, another great mix from forum member Tha Town (That E. Oak LOC!). As evidenced by his great G-Funk Cali mix, Tha Town is a veritable encyclopedia of rare, obscure, and otherwise criminally unknown gangsta rap. Dude's collection is large, and he's been blessing us with some serious knowledge since he joined the Phila forum. Don't believe me? Check his threads on Louisiana and Jackson, Mississippi. Highly recommended.

Anyway, if you've read these two posts, you already know that my own tastes are pretty bugged and I'm always on the lookout for some seriously Southern-fried, gangstafied, low-budget rap music. So, I approached Tha Town about doing a mix for the blog, and he came back with a collection of marvelous tracks focusing on Houston, Texas.

Here's what the Loc himself has to say:

"If you ask me, 90's Houston is best hip-hop anywhere, or anytime. This is some of the best of the best from that region. I had a really difficult time putting this together because I had about 100 tracks I wanted to put on here. A must have. Smooth, gangsta, and strong vocal hooks. Enjoy."

Indeed. Pop the trunk and turn the street volume up to 10.

1. Deep South Playas - "Trapped in the Ghetto"

2. Rashid - "H-Town Way"

3. Mass 187 - "Gangsta Strut"

4. 20-2-Life - "Feel Me"

5. Jakol - "Hit It From The Back"

6. 5th Ward Juvenilez - "Bad News"

7. 5th Ward Boyz - "Situationz"

8. DJ DMD - "Mr. 25/8"

9. Klondike Kat - "Ghetto Baby"

10. Guerilla Maab - "Still Here"

11. DJ DMD - "Keep the Real Ones By Your Side"

12. Ka*V*R - "Baby Love"

13. 20-2-Life - "After Servin' A Deuce"

14. Cappeela - "Mama"

15. Cappeela - "Playas"

16. Mass 187 - "Lord Knows"

Get learned.

-Echo Leader

Example - Impulses EP (Houston 1997)

Here's an extremely dope EP out of Houston, Texas. DJ Cipher and Dekay(who would later become known as the rhyming half of the BBE duo Nicolay and Kay) formed the group Example and in 1997 dropped only limited copies of this gem of a record. I first heard the track "Slow Motion" on DJ Eli's Night Train radio program on WKCR. I had no idea who this group was or what this record was until about a year ago. Thank you internets, T.R.O.Y. forum, and Crates Of Ag for making me aware of this ill piece of work.

We've already introduced you to "Slow Motion" with the sample for it here and The Moaning comp and mix here. Other stand out cuts on this are "Recollect", "7-26-96", and "Strive". But really, there's nothing wack on here at all. "Recollect" is on some serious summer time, feel good, anthem status, so don't sleep on that one.

Click the links in this post to see what these cats are up to now and click the highlighted tracks for previews.

01. i.e. intro

02. 7 - 26 - 96

03. The Strive

04. Slow Motion

05. Endless

06. Recollect

07. E.T.A.

08. i.e. outro

Freshly ripped from vinyl at 320kbps:

[mediafire link]

[megaupload link]

--Verge