Best Debut - Black Knights vs. North Star

[claaa7]

both of these albums were released during a period where i had gone kind of estranged from the Wu for a few years and when i finally returned and went back and checked out the releases i had missed out on, i never gave these 2 a chance. now i listened to the Black Knights album "Every Night is A Black Knight" a couple of weeks back and thought it had dope verses by Doc Doom, dissapointing apperances by Holocaust, and whatver verses from Monk... but what really tuned me off from it was the generic production, save for a few joints (including RZA's lone contribution which is actualy really good) I don't ever want to hear this album again.

with all the Christ Bearer hoopla lately i actually went back and checked out the Bobby Digital Presents North Star album and while it's not outstanding it got enough hot joints to justify it's existence. Armand Van Helden delivers two bangers with "Luv Allah" and "Nuttin", featuring Dom Pachino, 9th Prince and Tekitha, respectively. i used to bang some of AVH's house music back in the day, has he had any other placements on hip-hop albums? on the flip side of that it has one of the worst RZA produced tracks ever with "See Me", featuring Free Murder. it is hardly a disc i will be revisiting much but it is a much coherrent album than the Black Knights disc and it also does a much better job at combining a West Coast sound with a Wu-Tang vibe.

[claaa7]

lol @ "See Me" and "Destiny" though.. these 2 are probably RZA's worst productions ever.

[claaa7]

this also felt out of place on the Black Knights album to me, though Holocaust delivered

[Rev Jones]

as far as I know these are the only hiphop tracks Armand Van Helden ever produced. too bad really

as for your question I tend to agree with you: Northstar debut (but a few beats are less than stellar) > Black Knights debut (suffered from some generic beats). but it's been a long while since I listened to the Knights' first album. the Frusciante produced Black Knights albums are really good as is the CB EP 'Jesus Christbearer Superstar'

have you checked any of the 71Raw or Anthai solo projects? I'd recommend those, especially the Anthai EP 'Beats Behind Bars'

[hotnikks]

Northstar

[Sir Artsdradamus]

i voted black knights because i was thinking Medieval

[noel411]

When did black knights release an album? What was it called?

I have a bootleg titled 'every night is a black knight', but I didn't think it was a proper album.

[Lance_Goines]

Northstar all day!!!
I actually liked "See Me" Rza's attempt to make west coast beats worked IMO.
The reason why was CHRISTBEARERS flow, the way he rides beats is a stand out
"Destiny" was lackluster but again CB stole the show
Allah Math's beats we're all bangers, this was before he switched his style
This album I had on steady rotation..
As for the black knights...smh..
They should have stuck to Rza , Skarekrow, and Allah Math..
I was so disappointed...
They have a sequel to that album on their bandcamp

[THE MASON]

Northstar album.

some great tracks, and some terrible ones but all in all. I enjoy bumpin this album. Crazy is a dope track.

Black Knights album I got off that shitty Chambermusic site a few years back, big time regret. while its nice to have, album was a let down. could have been something great but fell short

[RADIOACTIVE MAN]

i wish Rza would just let go of that black knights of the north star album he is sitting on

[Pattch82]

I have a playlist that I bump on my iPod that is a mix of the two albums plus some other Black Knights and North Star joints...


Black Knights Of The North Star (Playlist)

01. Punishment feat. Holocaust
02. Fatal Sting
03. 4 Sho Sho feat. RZA
04. Zip Code
05. Duck Lo
06. Howling Wolves feat. Shogun Assason & Holocaust
07. Red Rum feat. Shacronz, Mikey Jarret & Sho Shot
08. Nuttin' feat. 9th Prince & Dom Pachino
09. Duckie
10. Almighty Black Knights feat. Holocaust
11. 40'z & Blunt'z feat. Holocaust
12. Terrorist feat. Killarmy & Holocaust
13. Rollin' feat. Bobby Digital
14. Street War feat. Holocaust
15. Crunch Time feat. Holocaust
16. Black Knights Of The North Star

17. Black Knights, North Star, Holocaust & RZA - 14 minute Freestyle



This shit bangs!!!

It still baffles me to this day what happened to Holocaust!! He was absolutely dope as FUCK in 98/99... every verse he dropped was fuckin' crazy, he killed it on Dirty Weaponry, the Swarm, Silkworm, Terrorist, Howling Wolves, 40'z & Blunt'z, etc.

What the fuck happened?!!! Dudes whole voice, flow, style, everything changed!!!



Peace!

[claaa7]

^ looks good homie.. it baffles me to about Holocaust, always has. i know a lot of people like his later stuff, but to me he's pretty much unlistenable... when RZA first started pushing Black Knights / North Star though?! God damn, all the albums and songs you mentioned plus all those early freestyles... he was a serious problem!

[David Daniel Davis]

Holocaust/Warcloud has rampant drug abuse issues, keeps getting locked up, is surrounded by people who have no good intentions for him and his biggest issue I believe is that many other emcees feel threatened by him and just are unwilling to get on a track with him because they know that they will be decimated. He destroys anybody else on a track

[Rev Jones]

When did black knights release an album? What was it called?

I have a bootleg titled 'every night is a black knight', but I didn't think it was a proper album.

that's the one we're talking about (I think, lol)

[Hollow Dartz]

The Northstar album is the lesser of two evils, I always liked "Luv Allah" and "Ballin", black knights album as everyone mentioned had wack production, Doc Doom was the only one spitting heat and Holocaust sounded out of place " Smack this bitch", "Almighty black Knights" .