View basket “The Muzappers Mixes (20th Anniversary Coloured Vinyl)” has been added to your basket. Innercity Griots Freestyle Fellowship SKU: BEWITH101LP Barcode: 4251804125369 25.00 £25.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: Be With Records Released Date: 16th July 2021 Buying Format: 2LP Out of stock Back Order Add to your Wishlist Description Product Info Innercity Griots, the second album from Freestyle Fellowship, is perhaps *the* essential West Coast leftfield rap album of the early ’90s. Released in 1993 on 4th & Broadway, it’s a towering, progressive hip-hop masterpiece that expanded rap’s boundaries through lyrical elevation and production innovation. Their talent was ahead of everybody else by light years. This is pure b-boy jazz. Format Notes: 2021 double vinyl reissue, 140g vinyl, includes “Pure Thought” bonus track from the original CD version, original picture sleeve and printed inner sleeves based on the original one. The original single vinyl LP is now hideously scarce, and of course the sound suffers from not being officially released as a double. This Be With re-issue fixes both problems, and for completeness also includes “Pure Thought” from the CD version of the album. This incredible display of imaginative hip-hop sounds better than ever. Freestyle Fellowship were some of the earliest technically dazzling rappers to come out of California. Mikah 9, P.E.A.C.E., Aceyalone and Self Jupiter – along with DJ Kiilu – forged their famed lyrical dexterity in the ultra-competitive crucible of the Good Life Cafe. Founded in Leimert Park, South Central LA in December 1989, this earthy health-food store and cafe was where the city’s finest microphone fiends would gather to showcase their freestyle skills at the Thursday night open-mic. Innercity Griots has been described as the Rosetta Stone for rap styles. The group’s dense, vibrant wordplay and enviable interplay quickly earned the attention and respect of the city’s hip-hop underground. Frenetically trading acrobatic rhymes with agility and grace, the Fellowship used their voices as instruments like true virtuosos, spraying improvised raps like a Coltrane sax solo. With the bulk of the album’s production handled by The Earthquake Brothers, and Bambawar, Daddy-O, and Edman taking over for some of the tracks, Innercity Griots dances between organic and programmed music, largely forgoing sampling and instead built around live jazz jams. The likes of Freddie Hubbard’s “Red Clay” and Miles Davis’s “Black Comedy” were used more as templates for house band The Underground Railroad Band to spiral out from. As Pitchfork noted in their recent 9.0 review of this classic album, “Freestyle Fellowship embodied the style and spirit of jazz on a molecular level. They shared the effortless cool and tough countenance of the great bebop players from the ’50s without verging into jazz-rap parody. Their innate jazziness felt tangible and hard-earned”. The unusual approach to the music was matched by the Fellowship’s lyrics. Eschewing the tired rap tropes of the time, this multifaceted album instead explores their ruminations on greed and homelessness, weed, sex, survival, insecurity and tribalism. Remastered by Simon Francis for double vinyl and cut by Pete Norman, we hope this long-overdue re-issue of Innercity Griots satisfies the legions of fans that have since been bewitched by the majesty of this record. It should also introduce some new listeners to yet another overlooked classic. Mykah 9’s beautiful and moving “Park Bench People” is one of Innercity Griots’ most beloved and unique tracks, something that wouldn’t feel out of place on a traditional vocal soul-jazz record. Arguably as skilled a singer as he is a rapper, Mykah 9 weaves a downbeat tale of the homeless in Leimert Park and across LA, channeled into stream-of-consciousness scats and whispers, bellows and moans. Just sensational. The strung-out “Heavyweights” reveals the Fellowship at their most adversarial. They bring plenty of back-up to this rowdy posse cut, perfectly distilling the uproarious intensity of a cutthroat MC battle. The album closes with the patchwork rap kaleidoscope of “Respect Due” and of course, for the sake of completeness, there’s also “Pure Thought” from the CD release, a stunning track full of elegant fireworks and a brilliant sample of Billy Cobham’s “Stratus”. Amazing. The Fellowship weren’t all that concerned with following industry trends and 4th & Broadway struggled to market the group and get airplay. Overshadowed by the hype around fellow ’93 rap classics (Wu-Tang, Snoop, Tribe) the group never got the wider recognition that they deserved at the time. In West African tradition a griot is a repository of vital history, sharing stories and wisdom with each generation by setting words to music. Over the past three decades, Innercity Griots has been ushered from rapper to rapper and from fan to fan as a rite of passage. As both oral history and foundational rap music, it will, indeed, outlast us all. Aceyalone was right. Remastered by Simon Francis for double vinyl and cut by Pete Norman, we hope this long-overdue reissue satisfies the legions of fans that have since been bewitched by the majesty of this record. It should also introduce some new listeners to yet another overlooked classic. Artist Freestyle Fellowship Genre Rap / Hip Hop Label Be With Records Buying Options 2LP Format 2LP Condition New Country UK Track Listings Blood (1:08) Bullies Of The Block (4:55) Everything’s Everything (3:47) Shammy’s (4:16) Heat Mizer (1:08) Six Tray (4:39) Danger (3:58) Inner City Boundaries (4:39) Bomb Zombies (1:06) Cornbread (4:21) Way Cool (4:22) Hot Potato (4:30) Mary (3:45) Park Bench People (4:59) Heavyweights (6:11) Tolerate (1:01) Respect Due (3:53) Pure Thought (3:14) Share this On Facebook On Twitter Via Email More from Rap / Hip Hop View Product Quick View Vince Staples Vince Staples Rap / Hip Hop | EMI | 1LP Released 20th May 2022 £24.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Vince Staples Vince Staples £24.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: EMI SKU: 3862604 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 20th May 2022 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Beastie Boys Hello Nasty Rap / Hip Hop | UMC | 180g, 2LP Released 2nd April 2015 £35.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Beastie Boys Hello Nasty £35.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: UMC SKU: 6942391 Formats: 180g, 2LP Released Date: 2nd April 2015 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View McKinley Dixon For My Mama And Anyone Who Look Like Her Rap / Hip Hop | Spacebomb | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 7th May 2021 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders McKinley Dixon For My Mama And Anyone Who Look Like Her £21.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: Spacebomb SKU: SB049LPC1 Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 7th May 2021 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Madlib Shades Of Blue Jazz | Music On Vinyl | 180g, 2LP Released 30th June 2017 £24.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Madlib Shades Of Blue £24.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Music On Vinyl SKU: MOVLP1898 Formats: 180g, 2LP Released Date: 30th June 2017 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Grandmilly & Shozae Adventureland Rap / Hip Hop | Stones Throw | 1LP Released 24th August 2018 £19.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Grandmilly & Shozae Adventureland £19.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: Stones Throw SKU: STH2397LP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 24th August 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Future Future Rap / Hip Hop | Epic | 2LP Released 12th January 2018 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Future Future £21.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: Epic SKU: 88985480931 Formats: 2LP Released Date: 12th January 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Nas King’s Disease II Rap / Hip Hop | Mass Appeal Records | 1LP Released 4th March 2022 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nas King’s Disease II £20.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: Mass Appeal Records SKU: NASMA2021IILP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 4th March 2022 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Run The Jewels Run The Jewels – 10th Anniversary Rap / Hip Hop | Seeker Music | 2LP, Coloured Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve Released 6th October 2023 £45.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Run The Jewels Run The Jewels – 10th Anniversary £45.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: Seeker Music SKU: SEEKR001X10 Formats: 2LP, Coloured Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 6th October 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Armand Hammer We Buy Diabetic Test Strips Rap / Hip Hop | Fat Possum | 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 29th September 2023 £48.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Armand Hammer We Buy Diabetic Test Strips £48.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: Fat Possum SKU: FP18243 Formats: 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 29th September 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Knxwledge 1988 Rap / Hip Hop | Stones Throw | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 27th March 2020 £19.00 - £22.00 Select options Knxwledge 1988 £19.00 - £22.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: Stones Throw Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 27th March 2020 Read More Select options See more in Rap / Hip Hop Start again
View Product Quick View Vince Staples Vince Staples Rap / Hip Hop | EMI | 1LP Released 20th May 2022 £24.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Vince Staples Vince Staples £24.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: EMI SKU: 3862604 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 20th May 2022 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Beastie Boys Hello Nasty Rap / Hip Hop | UMC | 180g, 2LP Released 2nd April 2015 £35.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Beastie Boys Hello Nasty £35.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: UMC SKU: 6942391 Formats: 180g, 2LP Released Date: 2nd April 2015 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View McKinley Dixon For My Mama And Anyone Who Look Like Her Rap / Hip Hop | Spacebomb | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 7th May 2021 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders McKinley Dixon For My Mama And Anyone Who Look Like Her £21.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: Spacebomb SKU: SB049LPC1 Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 7th May 2021 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Madlib Shades Of Blue Jazz | Music On Vinyl | 180g, 2LP Released 30th June 2017 £24.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Madlib Shades Of Blue £24.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Music On Vinyl SKU: MOVLP1898 Formats: 180g, 2LP Released Date: 30th June 2017 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Grandmilly & Shozae Adventureland Rap / Hip Hop | Stones Throw | 1LP Released 24th August 2018 £19.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Grandmilly & Shozae Adventureland £19.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: Stones Throw SKU: STH2397LP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 24th August 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Future Future Rap / Hip Hop | Epic | 2LP Released 12th January 2018 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Future Future £21.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: Epic SKU: 88985480931 Formats: 2LP Released Date: 12th January 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Nas King’s Disease II Rap / Hip Hop | Mass Appeal Records | 1LP Released 4th March 2022 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nas King’s Disease II £20.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: Mass Appeal Records SKU: NASMA2021IILP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 4th March 2022 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Run The Jewels Run The Jewels – 10th Anniversary Rap / Hip Hop | Seeker Music | 2LP, Coloured Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve Released 6th October 2023 £45.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Run The Jewels Run The Jewels – 10th Anniversary £45.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: Seeker Music SKU: SEEKR001X10 Formats: 2LP, Coloured Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 6th October 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Armand Hammer We Buy Diabetic Test Strips Rap / Hip Hop | Fat Possum | 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 29th September 2023 £48.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Armand Hammer We Buy Diabetic Test Strips £48.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: Fat Possum SKU: FP18243 Formats: 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 29th September 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Knxwledge 1988 Rap / Hip Hop | Stones Throw | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 27th March 2020 £19.00 - £22.00 Select options Knxwledge 1988 £19.00 - £22.00 Genre: Rap / Hip Hop Label: Stones Throw Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 27th March 2020 Read More Select options