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In order to get back to our boom bap roots after yesterday's trip into hipster territory, I dug into the crates for some classic beats from Primo. Though Group Home's Livin' Proof is often cited as a prime example of DJ Premier wasting his best efforts on subpar emcees, this remains one of my favorite albums to emerge from 1995, a year that was for hip hop connoisseurs what 1961 was for oenophiles (Word of the Day, what?). The East New York duo's debut never received the amount of attention that Liquid Swords, OB4CL, Infamous or any of the other classics that came out that year received, but Livin' Proof holds up better than many of the releases that were at the top of the charts at the time. Admittedly, that's due in large part to Premier, who puts in arguably his best full album of work - even the beats for the 30-second introduction and interlude sound far better than the production you'll hear on today's top singles.
Here are my two favorite beats from the album:
Up Against The Wall (Lo Budget Mix)
Livin' Proof Intro
On one of the cuts, 2 Thousand, Lil Dap boasted that, "'95 is yours, 2000 is mine." With all of the promise their debut album showed, it certainly seemed like a possibility at the time. Group Home had a hard time living up to Dap's proclamation, however, with only one track produced by DJ Premier on their follow up, A Tear for the Ghetto. The album did feature one of the first songs of producer Alchemist's career, but was an otherwise unremarkable release.
If you don't already have it in your collection, I highly recommend picking up Livin' Proof. In case you need further convincing, check out the video for the title track off the album.
12/10/2007 08:00:01 PM posted by Fresh