Search - Channel Live :: Station Identification

Dark production, rough rhymes

stripe_santoro | adelaide, Australia | 08/10/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This was the first disc I ever bought, and mad izm is one of my all-time favourite rough hiphop tracks. It got me involved in the more-underground east coast scene and that's part of the reason I rate it highly. KRS fans should definitely check this out as his influence is all over it. He produces a few songs and stomps all over mad izm - which is a crazy track. There's some very left-field production from Salaam Remi - experimental and almost gothic - and vicious mic skills from hakim and tuffy. Kind of like the artifacts mic team but very dark in parts. Half the tracks are very good and half are decent but there's about 5 annoying skit tracks which make it hard to listen straight through. Some of the tracks are almost brilliant but are just slightly off due to an annoying quirk. Alpha and Omega has a wicked beat, one of the fattest basses in history, but the chorus "it's the alpha, and omega, we're gonna play these sucker mc's like sega" chanted by a boy, gets plain old annoying after a while. Buy or borrow it for the beats and some of the rhymes, copy the good tracks onto a compilation disc and listen to that instead. I wonder if there's an instrumental disc?"

One of the best ever!

M. Fritz | Detroit, MI | 05/02/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This disc turned me into a hardcore hip-hop head. These cats can spit some darts that would make mentor KRS-ONE proud. The beats are grimey and on point, and the rhymes are dope. This is a true underground classic, and for those interested in some ruff neck mid 90's hip-hop - this is for you. 11 years later and this CD still sounds better than all of the pop-hop out there now. Pick this up, you wont be sorry.



Top 5 Tracks (In my opinion)

1.Mad Izm

2.Station Identification

3.Reprogram

4.Down Goes The Devil

5.Who U Represent"

A good debut from KRS-One's proteges

SmokaJ | TORONTO | 07/16/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a hard hitting album, w/ The Teacher's influence all over it. KRS produced the majority of the album and Salaam Remi and some no-name did the rest, the result is a dark, heavy-bassed head-banger. CL crew members Tuffy & Hakim spit rhymes as dark and dirty as the beats, although they aren't stand-out MC's they've got skills and they ride the beats really well. The track listing is:



1) Station Identification

2) Channel 1 (Int.)

3) Lock it Up

4) Channel 2 (Int.)

5) What! (Cause and Effect)

6) Mad Izm F. KRS-One

7) Reprogram

8) Channel 3 (Int.)

9) Sex for the Sport

10) Channel 4 (Int.)

11) Down Goes the Devil

12) Build & Destroy

13) Alpha & Omega

14) Homicide Ride

15) Who U Represent



Almost all of the tracks will have you banging your head, my favorites are "Mad Izm," "Lock it Up," "What!," "Reprogram," "Down Goes the Devil" & "Who U Represent." An odd stand-out is the last track, which pays homage to Hip-Hop, rhyming almost every pre-'95 crew/name over a funky guitar.



Bottom Line: Any fan of hard-bassed NY Hip-Hop and/or KRS-One will like this album. 4 stars, Peace."