Day 9: East Coast Rap

Group Home
Livin' Proof

No producer simultaneously exemplified and transcended the sound of east coast rap in the early to mid 90s more than DJ Premier. RZA may have been equally brilliant, but his singular style was hardly archetypical; likewise, Havoc's sound was unwaveringly ominous in a way that set his tracks apart from all competitors. Sure, Primo had his own modus operandi--specifically, he combined dense loops with vocal samples and his trademark turntable-scratched choruses. But take out the distinctive hooks and any given Premier beat often sounds like it could have been crafted by any nameless DJ who simply made the track of his lifetime. And it would seem that Primo liked it that way: many of his choices for collaboration in the mid-90s showed that he valued artistic achievement well above widespread recognition. Indeed, east coast hip-hop heads know that many of his greatest tracks went to the great overlooked rhymer Jeru the Damaja and an even lesser known act called Group Home. Group Home's debut, Livin' Proof, was a rare treasure indeed, one of just a handful of non-Gang Starr albums produced entirely by Premier. The title track is vintage Primo, featuring an intermittent atonal chime motif over a gritty, oxygen-puffing loop and a perfectly scratched hook. "Suspended in Time" and "2 Thousand" have earthy, laid back grooves that recall the productions of Pete Rock, "Up Against The Wall (Getaway Car Mix)" pairs a stone-cold beat with a subtle jazz-piano figure that oozes class, and "Supa Star," a minor underground hit, has a rounded-out thud bass that in its day must have hit harder than just about anything on the market. Lil' Dap and Melachi the Nutcracker, the lyricists of Group Home, are generally considered mediocre MCs, and on their debut they are unsurprisingly outshined by the production. Their flows are far from embarrassing, however, and thanks to the beneficence of Premier, their names grace a wrongfully overlooked east coast gem.

Watch the video for Group Home's "Living Proof."