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Checkmate

After recording three albums in six years, Save Me in 1999, Crown Royale in 2003, and The Rebirth in 2004, Seattle rapper Gangsta Nutt was ready to go even higher. He assembled a star-studded guest list and dropped the epic double-CD Checkmate as his second album of 2004. Coming in at 31 tracks, Checkmate might be the longest album ever from a Seattle rap artist.

Standout tracks on disc one include “Ten Toes,” which gives the listener a dramatic contrast, hard lyrics set to a soft and sweetly gentle beat. Nutt admits that life, “Got me heavy on some real s***, my mind on some meal s***, I’m living to die, so I’m on some murder, death, kill s***.” Somewhere around the halfway point in “It Goes Down” (featuring Yukmouth) I started involuntarily nodding my head and really catching the vibe.

“Heavy On My Mind,” “Bout That Drama,” and “Dangerous” are solid gangsta cuts which explain Nutt’s perspective through his confessional lyrics. His gravelly voice somehow captures the urgency of living in the streets day to day. “A petty-a** beef took him from his wife and kids,” goes a sorrowful line from “Heavy On My Mind.” One of Nutt’s achievements on Checkmate is the desperate conviction with which he performs his lyrics.

The pleasant and melodic “Listen To My Demo” (featuring Budder) describes how difficult it can be to get a foothold in the constantly shifting music industry, especially for someone trying to escape a former life of crime. “All I Ever Wanted” is a celebratory cut about material success. “All I ever wanted was a plushed out crib, with a super bad b**** in my plushed out whip,” dreams Nutt in the chorus.

The last track on disc two, “King Of 206” might be my favorite on the album. The beat has sinister bounce, while the lyrics brag and boast. Gangsta Nutt had accomplished all he set out to, but as he phrased it on one of his early hits, there is always “mo to grab.” I gotta give a shout out to RC The Trackaholiq who produced much of this album. The beats on Checkmate will rattle your trunk or your living room, and that’s a promise.

In 1982 according to legend, producer Quincy Jones considered almost seven hundred different songs for Thriller. Eventually Jones recorded thirty songs and then picked the best nine for the final record. To me that’s more fair to the listener. To be honest, Checkmate is a little exhausting, and a few of the songs probably could have been left off. But for those who have an unlimited appetite for gangsta tales, this double album will be the answer to their prayers. Written by Novocaine132

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The Streetz Iz Enough

Skuntdunanna dropped his CD, Trapped In Da Hatrixx, on Sea Sick Records in 1998. By the time his next album The Streetz Iz Enough came out in 2003, Skunt had joined D-Sane’s Street Level Records, home to Syko, IK, Byrdie, and the label’s marquee group F.T.S. The Streetz Iz Enough is a tour de force from one of the slickest rappers to ever emerge from Seattle. Spending all his time and effort in the studio paid off, allowing Skunt to develop a unique personality and character on the mic in real time, and the listener can hear him shifting gears between gangsta, hustler, pimp, comedian, and stone cold MC.

To me, one of the best things about Skunt’s material is the steady flow of truly hilarious punchlines. “Must have got help from the Post Office, because they turned thug overnight,” is one that always makes me chuckle. He makes joke after joke, using wordplay and insults, generally staying three or four steps ahead of the listener. Because his flow is so asymmetrical, there’s no way to know what he’s going to say next. Guest appearances enhance many of the tracks here. Wanz sings the groovy hook on “All I Got,” rap veteran Silver Shadow D lends some ragga chanting to “Soundproof,” and golden-voiced Byrdie drops a delectable verse on “Shake It.”

My favorite cut on this album is the title track, “The Streetz Iz Enough,” featuring underground Seattle rap hero Framework. This song goes so hard with lines like, “Memories of childhood days, but now instead of playing ball, I’m dropping flowers on graves.” Another hot track on this CD is simply titled, “Skuntdunanna.” “Pronounce the f***ing name right, dog,” he exhorts the listener. “Crazy Life Pt. 2” is an autobiographical piece which tells Skunt’s story of coming up in the Seattle rap game. There are even a couple of skits, “Rap Right Commercial,” and “Rejection Hotline,” which add to the entertaining vibe of the album. The cover artwork says this is the first official Skuntdunanna album, and the musical partnership between Skuntdunanna and D-Sane continued to grow throughout the 2000s and 2010s. Written by Novocaine132

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In Tha Name Of Game

Seattle rapper Twin Gamer aka Twin-G dropped his debut CD In Tha Name Of Game in 2001. The album features a long list of guest star MCs, which is evidence of Twin-G’s hard work and dedication to networking and making connections in the fast-moving music industry. Skits set throughout the album, between the tracks, chronicle increasingly desperate phone calls from a man trying to incriminate his friends after being apprehended. But being a snitch is a big error in the world of hustlers, and by the final call the man begs for help which will obviously never arrive.

The one and only Sir Mix-A-Lot and scrappy rapper Chedda Hound both make appearances on “Peanut Butter Guts,” which refers to the luxury, golden-brown, leather interior of Mix’s pimped-out, all-white truck. “Show Me The Money$$,” featuring Kokane and Spice 1, recontextualizes the 1996 Jerry Maguire quote into a rhyme-heavy gangsta rap hit. The philosophical and introspective “What Can I Do?” includes the lyric, “On ‘the blade’ trying to feed my kids, wishin they would stop yellin, success in this town ain’t an option for a two-time felon.” The Blade, of course, is the street nickname for the area surrounding the notorious 3rd Ave block downtown between Pike and Pine. “Tha Thing To Do,” featuring Prevento, has a slinky, Pink-Panthery detective beat that almost sounds experimental at times.

After his debut, Twin-G followed up with his next project, In Tha Name Of Game Vol. 2, which came out four years later in 2005. Twin-G’s brother is an MC too, going by two different names, Skuntdunanna and Mafia. Written by Novocaine132

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