Thirty Three Jones | Desktop Site
For most of Def Jam's East Coast artists, 2006 was a great year. Nas, Rick Ross, Jeezy, Ghostface and even the President Shawn Carter managed to drop an album or two. It wasn't all good for everyone on the label, though. Two of Def Jam's most talented rappers, both of whom happen to represent Jersey, remained in album purgatory as yet another year passed by without them.
Joe Budden, now four years removed from his self-titled debut, suffered the indignity of having his second album pushed back into permanent hiatus after having a listening and release party. For fans of New Jersey's other Def Jam artist, Redman, its been an even longer wait. But six years after the Funk Doc's last album, Malpractice, came out, it looks like we'll finally get to hear a new Redman cd. If the release date is to be believed, Red Gone Wild - Thee Album will be out on March 27th.
At this point I won't hold my breath, as Def Jam seems to have developed a strong aversion to releasing any albums originating from Jersey. I don't actually believe there's any regional bias behind it -- it seems like labels have been hesitant lately to put out albums from any lyrical rappers regardless of where they're from -- but that doesn't make it any less frustrating to see their albums get continually pushed back in favor of weaker artists. It's particularly surprising in the case of Redman, who has never had an album sell less than 500,000 (and the last three went platinum).
In any event, Red's just released a new mixtape in advance of his album, Live From the Bricks. Its a pretty solid tape -- if you're into Redman at all, go cop this mixtape right now. Several of the tracks feature Reggie Noble rapping over Jay-Z beats, so perhaps that's a strategy Joe Budden should look into for Mood Muzik 3 if he wants to get an album of his own out onto store shelves any time soon.
A couple of the tracks from the tape:
Yes Sir (My Love Blend)
Click Click
And one low quality audio stream of a song from his upcoming album:
Redman - Put It Down (windows media stream)
Throwback video:
Redman performing Time for some Aksion (and continuing the performance during an onstage beatdown)
If you're interested in buying Redman's mixtape, you can cop it at his website.
2/26/2007 6:30:16 PM posted by Fresh