Black Market Militia

[claaa7]

I'm really feeling this album, Priest and Tragedy are pure dopeness together and they compliment each other very well. The production is fly for the most part though it gets a little slow and dragging in a few places, lyrically it's nice to see a group who ain't afraid of speaking the truth. This LP is reality, sometimes it's like hearing a nightmare really - both Priest and Trag can sound very convincing which is a big plus. I only wish Timbo King had appeared more, his solo track/intermission is one of the finest cuts on the album. Overall it's a very solid effort:

4/5

[tragedykhadafi12]

Was really excited to see tragedy and prist link up. Then timbo and razah too. Will cooper was alright but they could have done without him. Being a huge tragedy fan and huge fan of priest timbo and hell razah, this album was really dope.

[claaa7]

01. Children of Children [Intro]
02. Thug Nation
03. Mayday
04. Audobon Ballroom
05. The Struggle
06. Hood Lullabye
07. Gem Star's
08. Righteous Talk
09. The Final Call
10. Dead Street Scrolls
11. Paintbrush
12. Blackmarket
13. The Breath of Life
14. Think Market

[Ritter]

Dam I love that album. Dead Street Scrolls and The Breath of Life are some great tracks.

[Mic Tyson]

real good album, but to me it doesn't have a whole lotta replay value, but thats just me.

[biggorfries]

This album definetly belongs to my top 5 albums of the last 5 years..
To me it was a breath of fresh air in hiphop, love the beats and political lyrics... Also the mixing of the album is very good, which makes it sound clear but still very hard hitting.
Plus this album was the reunion of Priest & Razah working together.
The Brooklyn-Queens collabo also worked out very well, with Priest & Tragedy as experienced veterans and Razah, Timbo and Cooper as expertitious henchmen.
IMO Razah killed this album.. he came harder than ever....

CLASSIC

Best track: Black Market (still get goosebumps everytime i hear Razah startin his verse)

[a1_primecuts]

classic shit.. "the struggle" still bangs

[Hollow Dartz]

real good album, but to me it doesn't have a whole lotta replay value, but thats just me.

I agree 4 stars.

[Hollow Dartz]

01. Children of Children [Intro]

02. Thug Nation
This is a hot beat to start off the album. Tragedy starts it off cool (I'm not really a fan of his) William Cooper sounds nice for a white guy and Timbo King goes in on here "Call me the black menace, slap niggaz like I'm playin' tennis
When shit pops off, it don't finish
Smoke in the air, you smellin' spinach
I'm sick in the head, I need a clinic, yeah, infinite
Cuz I rise without the finer thing, Lord of the Rings
Be them corner kings, wings of war, hoes klingons
So bring on your whole platoon, ya'll buffons
With a bunch of toons, need to retreat soon
Black thorough, Black Othello, my click be the wild fellows
From the wildest ghettos, yeah
Armed with angels, protected by a guided light
Violent fights, U.S. and dirt eternal silent night"
...I wasn't really feeling how Killah Priest came on this joint, but it's all good. 4/5

03. Mayday
Nice to hear my nigga Hell Razah on this joint, he definitely goes in hard on here, 2 strong verses to hold down the fort. Tragedy comes in ok on here, I think this should've been a Hell Razah solo track though... 4/5

04. Audobon Ballroom
This joint is ok, I think Dead Prez is on here, Nice verses by everyone nothing too bad but nothing really special about this joint. It's far from wack but skippable. 3.5/5

05. The Struggle
This joint is a straight banger William Cooper opens this shit up Raw
"I show both sides of the coin, we angels with dirty faces
Some say the love the wicked, more deadly than the hatred
Life's a bitch, so just face it (face it)
When out of control, that mouth piece is dangerous
Know when to put the clamp on, chill out, put ya breaks on
You better watch the tone, if you wanna keep your face on
Be all knowledge, that's pursuit of wisdom
Give me the word, guy, I waste them dirty, tray eight, lace them
With no fingerprint traces, I flatline your airtime
You'll be suprised on what's heard on the grapevine
My box cutter don't stutter, sirens bring handcuffsBelieve me, that's hood life, time's is rough..."( I didn't post whole verse)
....Priest follows up real strong and Tragedy ends it off cool,
the beat on this joint is a straight banger. 5/5
06. Hood Lullabye
This joint is a nice track, Timbo comes in strong followed by Hell Razah "Little Red riding hood got raped in the black whip" and Priest is on some other shit on here, i think they should've kept going in on here though. 3.5/5

07. Gem Star's
This beat is mad ill Tragedy is nice on here I can't lie, but I think Killah Priest Just rips this shit "My rhymes a guideline, for political thugs and O.G.'s
Who blows trees in front of authorities, like giving a fuck
Revolvers will squeeze, regardless to the warrants you read
Trauma we bleed, before they put our wrists in them cuffs
I sit in the cut, like I'm sixty two, and next Panther
Narrator, screen writer for niggaz in handcuffs
Gangstas are freedom fighters doing life in the slammers
Where the strangers take advantage, when they tie bananas
And I thank you, what the knife til we collide with them hammers
Phantoms, they talk before we sell them
Cats yell from they gut, the shells come and their skeleton struck
How I survive that four/five, well I tell 'em it's luck
Fellas erupt, at chow time, shots heard from a loud nine
Fitted turbans, we feast and beneath her loud signs
I don't care, if you crip oryou blood
When cops come, get rid of them drugs
For revolution, grab that mask, pistol and glove
This is the love, black oils richer than blood
I'm sick of the grudge, between vice laws and G.D.'s
Latin Kings and Mieta's, it's that real shit, that hood lecture"
...William Cooper ends it nice, these niggaz lyrics on here are strong.. 4.5/5

08. Righteous Talk
This joint right here is nice, alot of talking in the beginning though, then Timbo King goes in, I just wish the talking wasn't too long in the beginning. 3.5/5

09. The Final Call
This joint is aight, Priest and Tragedy both hold it down then in the end there is alot of talking like 16 bars lol. It's all good though, a good track not as good as the other material. 3/5

10. Dead Street Scrolls
This beat is kind of ok I had to get used to it, Hell Razah goes in, I wish he had more shit on this album, Priest follows up crazy, tragedy is ok on here. 4/5

11. Paintbrush
This is another instant banger everyone comes hard Priest and Hell Razah just take over this track you forget the other members
"Photography is like a movie film
Astrology is like I move through realms
Prodigy melodically, I produce a gem
Like cole, I dig deep into your eternal soul
I speak a journal, like your fortune told
Ya'll some purple, and light ya weed and blow a circle
I right the dead street scrolls, it's rare like the Devil's love letters
Let this essence of this thug, bless ya
Dream of Black Israel, the fetus of a baby Jesus
Seed of Emmanuel, see a man, in his cell, a breather
I need one, my weed's done, throw away the roach
Get close, with the man, with the most witcha
I draw pictures without paint, with the ink
When I think, the sun and moon, stars, link
It's like sixteen bars, get in sink
I'm like the author Alex Halley
Ridin' the, last note, before Malcolm was buried
I'm the artist, and what I do with markers
I color in words, like I'm two years old
All I need is a fubius code"
....Razah comes crazy aswell

" angels cry, the ghetto for dead souls
We left on this globe, tryin' to crawl out the bottomless hole
Live it out, before the book of life close
I was told from the first few sentences, written in Genesis
Seven six, God gave me a gift, I exist
From a family, of kings and queens, and blacksmiths
We build like Harold O'Biff, add up the hype
Liftin' the whiff, and get while we equal infinite
It's Black Market militant, Hebrew immigrants
They check the pyramid, to see for my finger prints
From New York to Palastine, if you could travel in time
You realize, who was God's bloodline
Why the dead bury the dead, the blind leadin' the blind
The makers of the fathers and nines, fathers and crimes
That climb on the mountain of Sear, evil drink from the fountain of fear
Got men drowin' in tears, countin' on his birthday years
We break bread at a table, with thirteen chairs, and long beards"

...4.5/5
12. Blackmarket
This joint right here is mad crazy aswell Priest comes in soo cocky on this joint and he just rips it
"First and foremost, we let our jobs toast, and sing bravo
Drink the red wine, the sands of time, stampeded by a million broncos
Through the congo, beneath the cosmos, Priest the 5th apostle
I'm like Picasso, I paint a hot flow, the canvas is your mind
When you visualize, you can see it like an art show
It's warm like a bullet goin' through the Pope shirt
Sinkin' in the lungs of the quiet Cardinal
I'm like Leonardo Da Vinci, my pen squeeze out sculptures
High, like a ski Alpen, grease with my feet stretched out
On a sheik sofa, turn that beat loud, I'm bout to freestyle, soldiers
My rhyme show the depths, like a rich photographer in Yugoslavia
To Romania, fills whole stadiums, to them Hungarians, that's done carryin'
To Bogaria, to the Bocan peninsula, the flow turn vocals into pictures
The beauty is like the snow fallin' in the winter
Rhymes, are like icons of heroin adicts
With fiends, with their bare arms, scratchin'
They palms practice, the plan that the white, can't craft to
Turn our people backwards, in black hoods to Spanish Harlem
The plan is Gotham, and I'm Batman, amongst these crack lands
I hold revolvers, listen to the soul of Marvin
To bring back the promise, it's Black Market"
...Everyone comes hard on here I don't wanna keep posting verses on here though
this is a classic. 5/5

13. The Breath of Life
I'm not really feeling this joint right here to be honest, they do flow on it well though, I love the message but something about it I don't like, maybe because it comes on right after blackmarket and it does transition well. 3/5

14. Think Market
This joint is cool, a nice intro to a very well put together album by Black Market, beat has some knock to it and they all go in. 3.5/5

Lyrics -4.5/5
Beats- 4/5
Overall - 4/5

A great Debut album, it's a shame albums like these don't sell, people beg for them but don't wanna buy them, this joint came out and surprised the people, they definitely have a message for the people and they are exposing the fake and keeping it real, while using dope beats to keep you in tuned this is a banger. ****Overall 4/5**** ****Certified Wu-Banger****

[LuckyTheWonderDog]

I'd pretty muich agree with your review Hollow. I might drop it down to 3.5 just cos it hasn't stayed in rotation much for me.

[David Daniel Davis]

Hood Lullabye is my personal best joint on here. Paint Brush is a straight Swizz Beatz rip off. Ron Browz totally stole his snares and scratches. Only thing he was missing was some horns and Casio keyboards

[bone]

good album

[ForensikZ]

13 years later. yes this album was an underground classic. it held me down my senior year of high school. was a crazyyear for underground releases. this was so underappreciated and deserves a second look.