The Sun Rises In The East

Listened to this album while eating humus and carrot sticks on the deck in the sun. Surprising good listening for when you're eating humus and carrot sticks on the deck in the sun.

It's hard to beat when both a rapper and a producer are at the top of their game. If I was Guru in 1994, I'd be lowkey pissed, because DJ Premier provides an insane set of beats for this album, and the Damaja more than lives up to his end of the deal. It's dated in the ways most of the era's best boom bap is—the requisite homophobia pops up in Come Clean and "dealin' with bitches is the same old song" in more ways than Jeru likely intends—but otherwise it performs an excellent lyrical balancing act: rugged yet conscious (without feeling overly preachy), delivered in a cadence that would hold you at gunpoint if it wasn't so tired with the gangster act. It even manages to have a bit of fun, with Jeru's spin on Redman-esque superhero storytelling being too corny to take seriously yet too entertaining to dismiss. It's not too shocking that an album like this would land under the radar compared to the Ready to Die and Illmatic crime rhymes that it rebukes, but it stands alongside them as a prime example of NYC hip-hop at its finest. Key Tracks: Mental Stamina, You Can't Stop the Prophet, My Mind Spray

An underground classic that got lost in the mainstream due to its proximity to other major releases, notably Illmatic. A lot of it didn't age particularly well, but there's some cleverness in the beats (Come Clean) and the lyrics (You Can't Stop the Prophet, among others) that still stands up. Best track: You Can't Stop the Prophet

Didn't like hip-hop then. Don't like it now.

This is a revolutionary hip-hop album....... for 1988. 6 years later, Jeru gets buried by hip-hop royalty in Biggie, Nas, WuTang and more. Rap was about to change forever but it sounds like the damaja was late to the party. This record is just ok.

Hard hitting samples, crisp MC delivery, strong lyricism, balance between consciousness and gangster, Brooklyn sound, album cover shows WTC in flames (in 1994!). This one hits hard. Love! Ain't the Devil Happy Da Bichez

Sounds like Jay Z's granddad. I love the historicity of this album, but I also really dig the album itself. Jeru has great flow, good beats, and some truthful rhymes. This will definitely stay in my rotation for a while.

Damn, I always get surprised by how much I have grown to love east coast rap. This album is very strong as a debut and as a contemporary to Illmatic, Ready to Die, and Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). I think because of how large those 3 albums are, this album and others end up getting lost in the mix, but they deserve a little retribution.

This is a classic, even though I personally prefer 'Wrath of the Math'. Jeru kicks esoteric knowledge and is a real rap legend. I went to see Jeru at Sub Tub in Umist in the '90s. After the show he went amongst the crowd to meet random people, even though it was mostly drunk students dancing to drum and bass. I vaguely remember seeing someone get punched in the face, but I suppose it was a rap show in the '90s.

A quintessential hip hop album of the mid 90s. This album is such a great encapsulation of east coast rap with its swing beats and its elements of jazz and world music. My only criticism is some of the misogyny in the lyrics though compared to some contemporaries, this album is pretty tame. The flow is acrobatic and the lyrics are clear and often socially conscious.

Super unique and fun bars and flows. Another underrated throwback rap album that was extremely influential!

Great early 90s NYC rap. The juxtaposition between Jeru The Damaja's easy listening and fun flows with the discordant and jarring beats makes the album still fresh today even with all the hallmarks of the East Coast rap resurgence from that era easily identifiable. I'll be coming back to this for sure.

I thought this album was pretty cool. It is very emblematic of early 90s hip hop but it still feels relevant today. He had a nice flow and the album was pretty smooth while still being hard hitting.

New York rap from the 90s almost always works for me, and this is no exception. DJ Premier's beats are the star of the show here. His samples are brave, almost avant-garde, even dissonant at times, yet he still manages to make everything into a head-bobber. He creates such a rich atmosphere from so few elements. He cuts the samples up in a way that calls attention to the cuts themselves and it really punctuates the songs.

For the most part, never heard this. I know I’ve heard samples from this though. Pretty good. I enjoy it lyrically and a lot of it still as relevant as the day written.

The beats are often very dissonant such as ok D. Original and You Can’t Stop The Prophet. Personally, it’s not my favorite although I think it works better on YCSTP. Da Bichez is almost a good song but the lyrics are really sexist which really ruins it for me. Jeru does mention “I’m not a sexist” on My Mind Spray which honestly makes it worse. I find the hook on Come Clean annoying. That being said, most of the album is enjoyable. I don’t know enough about hip hop to get into specifics but I did like a lot of the beats and I’m sure this album was influential but I can’t help thinking that it hasn’t held as well as some other hip hop albums from that era. Favorite songs: Mental Stamina, Ain’t The Devil Happy, Jungle Music, Statik Least Favorite Songs: D. Original, Perverted Monks In Tha House, Da Bichez, Come Clean Light 5/10

A note to male artists: you can’t just say you’re not a misogynist and then go onto say virulently misogynistic things. I liked a lot of this musically but when I started REALLY enjoying it I looked at my phone and realised the album had ended and Spotify had shuffled similar songs. So.

It's one thing to be a misogynist, but to be one that declares, "hey!, I'm not a misogynist" while demonstrating that he's a misogynist. the rest plays like a mediocre east coast Ice-T, though i did like "Ain't the Devil Happy".

Day 20 of Albums You Must Hear brings me the second Hip-Hop album so far, The Sun Rises In The East by Brooklyn, NY emcee, Jeru The Damaja. While the rap market was bloated and over saturated in 1994, some of the greatest acts in Rap Music, my first love, dropped their debut albums in 1994. It was a hell of a year. Ready To Die from The Notorious B.I.G., Illmatic from Nas, Creepin’ on ah Come Up from Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, The Most Beautifullest Thing In The World from Keith Murray, Tical From Method Man, Southernplayalisticcadillacmuzik from Outkast, all debut albums from icons, and thats just scratching the surface. The Fugees, Warren G and Da Brat also stepped out onto the scene. On top of all that, established artists like Snoop Doggy Dogg, Ice Cube, 8Ball & MJG, House of Pain and Hammer released music in ’94. Shit, even Shaq had a rap record, and it actually wasn’t total crap! Thats just in hip-hop, 1994 was a great year for music in general. I say all that to justify why Jeru the Damaja wasn’t really on my radar… I knew of Jeru the Damaja and saw the video for his single Come Clean on Rap City on BET and I liked it, it just didn’t stand a chance competing with the above mentioned artists for my attention. Jeru went to high school with Guru and DJ Premier of Gang Starr. When he was featured on the song I’m the Man from their album Daily Operation, doors were opened for the Brooklyn rapper. Come Clean gained a lot of traction with its gritty, authentic New York hip-hop sound. The Sun Rises In The East is entirely produced by DJ Premier. Jeru has a very clean and intelligent flow. You won’t be starved of any witty punchlines, and while the majority of the tone of this album is anti-gangster rap, he uses his distain for that part of the culture to come off pretty aggressive and violent. Jeru’s stance earned him more than a few adversaries with his colleagues at the time. I love Gangsta Rap, so while I recognize the abilities Jeru showcase in this album, its just not in my wheelhouse, as my Uncle Rick would say. Its 1994’s version of “woke music” and their were plenty of NY lyricists like Jeru the Damaja at the time. This might sound sacrilegious to other hip-hop heads, I found Coolio to have more of an impact on Rap. Side note, the cover art for this album depicts Jeru in front of a skyline of Manhattan with the World Trade Center buildings on fire and collapsing, eerie shit. In the end, I appreciate the lyricism on this album and how it stayed authentic to New York hip-hop. It may be among your favorite ’90’s rap albums, it just had way better competition in the genre at the time, in my opinion, to draw me in. With that said, Jeru the Damaja is still active even today and is passionate about his craft. No disrespect intended Mr. Damaja. Please share your thoughts, opinions and memories!!

cool

In the top 50 of all time

Ovo je taj pravi hladni pa čak i mračni east coast klasik, 4.5, no cap. DJ Premier je napravio svoj posao kako on samo zna sa produkcijom. Esencijalan album za east coast. U ovom slučaju dajem peticu (4.5), jer ono, jeben album od glave do pete, no skips.

I have never heard of this artist before, and I absolutely loved this album. I thought the beats were fantastic. Very interesting uses of instruments in there. Jarring in spots but that felt completely intentional. I loved the flow too...great rhythm to it. Some of the lyrics haven't aged well, but not outside of the norm for the era.

Here’s to you Jeff ❤️

Raw and heavy, with rap and beats that left me wanting more.

Originale, crudo, rap preciso

This album fucking rules. If you need introduce somebody to 90s rap, do it with this album. Beats are great and interesting--I'll always for jazz-inspired beats like on Da Bichez. Lyrics are great and important, flow is great. Favorite tracks: Da Bichez, Ain't the Devil Happy. Honorable mentions to Mental Stamina and My Mind Spray

I'm surprised by the year. This sounds later then 1994. Which might point to why this is on this list. Very tight, if a bit shocking to be to shocking.

Great.

Wordplay that clearly inspired all of modern rap with weirdly addictive beats

One of the best rap albums I've never heard of before. On top of the songs having excellent and diverse flows, the production is especially excellent with its driving simplicity. So many albums have a tendency to be over produced, but this is the definition of "keep it simple stupid" and let the rapping do the talking. Top tracks: You Can't Stop The Prophet, Ain't The Devil Happy, My Mind Spray, Come Clean

Great lyrics. Story telling/catchy/good hooks. Not too much machismo. Solid.

Diese Challenge ist einfach super. Ich höre Alben, die ich nie freiwillig angehört hätte. Nun entdecke ich , gut gemachter Rap oder Hip-Hop einfach Spaß macht . Mein bisheriges Vorurteil wird korrigiert. Das gilt auch für dieses Album. Sehr gute Produktion, frech, provozierend, toller Rhythmus, cool einfach.

Pleasantly surprised! First song’s beat through me off at first but that song grew on me listening through it the first time. Then Jeru was done warming up. Lyrically, dude is on point and the beats are some really unique ones especially using piano in hip-hop.

Da Bichez is another classic example of 90s hip hop trying not to be disparaging and failing miserably. Don't worry guys it's not the queen's, sisters and young ladies you need to worry about, it's these vampryic bitches. In saying that, You Can't Stop The Prophet is another classic example of 90s hip hop bringing outrageous texture and nuance to some surprisingly deep subject matter. Personifing Ignorance with a posh English accent was a left field and kind of hilarious flourish, same with the overall character development, scene building and to be continued ending. All straight poetry. Product of it time defense plays five stars.

Oh man this album is great. Love the flow and there's plenty of cool lines throughout, and the production and beats sound out of the world

This record maintains the balance of the universe.

Classic new york hip hop, gritty beats, and creative samples never heard of this rapper despite being a big hip hop fan and I loved this project the mixing is really bad but I think it really adds to the aesthetic of the album almost all songs are bangers but some of the songs were not as interesting as others but were still good. 9/10

Great seminal 90s rap album

Love it

Not a hip hop listener. But this has a good groove and doesn't seem to have aged. It's of its time, but clearly timeless

Love it - old school sound with cool and unusual samples and beats from DJ Premier plus Jeru the Damaja's unique style.

Phenomenal album. Glad to have been introduced to it.

I first heard this album years ago and wrote him off as another failed DJ Premier pet project in the vein of Group Home. After listening to this again, I have no idea what I was on because this is a fantastic album. Jeru has some real dumb lines but he says it all with such command that you can't help but go along with it, same with Premier's production. Easy 5 mics.

Great east coast hip hop with wonderful music beds that reminds me of the best of Wu Tang.

Genius east coast hip hop, from a time most of the scene was looking west. An artist I had never even heard of, but wish I had! Hints of wu tang style, in beats and flow, and i can hear his influence on both Akala and eminem, and many others. Bordering on conscious, but with beats and skits too. Loved it, now off to find out what he did to be expunged from the history books!

Man i was not expecting to like this. Immediately it just grabbed me and didn't let me go. Infectious beats, clever lines. This thing rules

Damn!

Very good east coast rap.

I'm really surprised I've never heard of this album before because it's very much in my wheelhouse. some really clever rhymes, incredible production, and is over before you're even starting to lose interest.

Perfect start to finish. One of the best classic hip hop albums I've heard

Jeru has formidable intelligence with a freaky-freaky flow. Preemo’s production has a cold menace that’ll make your neck snap. An Essential Combo

Great rhymes

Great 90’s NY hip hop. Really enjoyed this!

How have never heard this. Absolute amazing hip hop album…. I’ll revisiting this bad boy very soon!

Fantastic early-90s east-coast rap.

A near perfect rap album

I can't believe I hadn't heard this one, but it was obviously good.

Although I had never heard of Jeru The Damaya before seeing this the album cover alone screams classic 90’s hip hop and this project really does not disappoint. This album is filled with slick rhymes, abstract beats and little MF Doom-like skit snippets throughout with no filler whatsoever, I wouldn’t be surprised if Joey Bada$$ took inspiration from this album for his mixtape 1999 as there are a good handful of moments on here that remind me of that project, classic Brooklyn hip hop. I particularly enjoy the unorthodox piano on the track ‘D.Original’ and the catchy hook on ‘Da Bichez’. Despite the stripped back production making way for more lyrical focus the beats on this record kept me listening and that’s why I find this to be such a great record, because there’s that balance

What the heck amazing?! The root of some Dilated Peoples samples?! Super fun. Really good. Good vibes!

Good shit, really enjoyed the old school NY rap vibes.

Amazing, I feel bad for not ever hearing this.

Heaps of family samples, and dope tracks. Up loud relive the hay day

Wow I can’t believe I’ve never heard of him before, but I was impressed by this album. While both are great, I’d consider east coast rap superior. I will definitely be checking out more of his albums.

This may well be my favourite hip hop album I've heard on the list so far. I'd never even heard of Jeru The Damaja before this, but I can see why he played a big part in the revival of the East Coast Hip Hop scene. The lyricism is excellent, there's a real poetic quality to his rapping. The misogyny is obviously there but I don't think it's as bad as a lot of the other rappers around this time. The beats were amazing too, and they never felt overshadowed by the vocals. Instead the beats and rapping always seemed to compliment each other. This was just a great classic hip hop album, the best hip hop I've heard on the list thusfar, and potentially my new all-time favourite hip hop album.

DJ Premier beats en goede old school east coast rap. Kende alleen mental stamina, wat ik wel echt een goed nummer vind net als de rest van het album eigenlijk. Staat blijkbaar in het rijtje met east coast classics uit die tijd waar ik het nu ook mee eens ben

Thought the fist half was shit but then the second half was the shit.

Probably not the same target audience as a white 47 year old. But sheeeeat I dig it

You can see how the influenced rap music, very good album

I can’t tell if I’ve heard of this guy before or not, but the name sounds vaguely familiar. Either way, this is some excellent ‘90s NY hip hop. On first listen of course, I’m paying more attention to production, and I really love this dusty boom nap style. The lyrics I do catch are solid, and the vocal delivery is excellent too. Definitely on the higher end of the hip hop albums we’ve had on the list so far. Favorite tracks: Jungle Music, Come Clean, Perverted Monks in tha House, Statik, D. Original. Album art: Pretty standard art for this era/style of hip hop. But the twin towers burning is a surprising image. This was after a bombing in the ‘90s so it had to have been controversial then, but who could’ve known how controversial it had the potential to become? Maybe Jeru knew, y’know you can’t stop the prophet. 4.5/5

Very cool album, quite a transitional album from early to modern hip-hop.

Drugi dio mi cak bolji al mislim da je cijeli album za 3.5

First listened 2016. Seminal Hip-Hop album.

One thing I like about 90s east coast hip hop is the albums are so consistent. I may not like individual songs as much as I do their west coast G funk counterparts but whenever I strap in for an album I know what to expect. 7/10

Apparently I like old school hip hop

Hip-Hop classic, the instrumentals are beautifully constructed and they have that marvelous 90's feeling.

I didn't think this was as good as Lauryn Hill's album but still fun to dive into old rap to see the roots of the genre

Giving a 4 because the beats are excellent and Jeru sounding really entertaining on his first album. Don't really care for the homophobic line but almost every 90s rapper is guilty of this. Can't rate it higher just due to the holier-than-thou attitude that would paint his imagine in later years.

Liked it. Old school vibes and good flow.

Quite good, but more than a little misogynistic.

Solid stuff. Super creative, great beats, compelling raps.

One of the more lesser known but integral albums of the East Coast Rap Renaissance of the 90s, The Sun Rises in the East builds and lives up to its title with its minimal yet impactful instrumentation and potent rhymes from the original Dirty Rotten Scoundrel. Although overshadowed by what came before and afterward, this is an album that's not to be ignored and does more than it's required to hold its own. Favorites: D. Original, Brooklyn Took It, Mental Stamina, Da Bichez, You Can't Stop the Prophet, Ain't the Devil Happy, Mind Spray.

Great! Really liked the album.

rhythms 8/10

I love this quintessential 90's rap. Im familiar with Jeru but Wrath of the Math has been my go to album. Sun Rises is definitely still really raw but the complexity and lyricism are still present - this sound is definitely way ahead of its time - you can hear a lot of this in Blackalicious, the Roots, and more modern high brow hip hop Standout Tracks: D. Original, Come clean, Da Bichez

Solid east coast classic, unique beats and flows across the whole album. Took me a second to get into it but once I did I started loving it.

Love the unpolished gritty sound from early 90s hip hop albums. Plus this is fire and a lot of fun to listen to

This old east coast sound is such a vibe. Fun beats and fun bars make for a fun album (if dated at times).

The early 90's was a great time to be a hip-hop fan. You had the incredible debut of Nas with Illmatic in '94, the explosive Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in '93, A Tribe Called Quest's jazz rap classic The Low End Theory in '91, and many more. Among all these, though, is Jeru the Damaja's debut. It's got classic east coast stylings with boom bap beats, but the interesting part is Jeru's willingness to push the boundaries on the samples. All be frank though, this is just great hip-hop. As far as I'm concerned, Jeru can hang with the rest of them. Wicked.

ægte 90'er

Beats are fantastic and production tight. Rapping is fine but it really is the instrumentals that are the most enjoyable for me here.

Immaculate production with the weirdest early spin on the East Coast sound. Lyrics fell a little bit flat for me on first spin, though Jeru clearly created at least one elite project. Baffles me that I know nothing about this body of work.

Great 90s Rap from an artist I didn't know. Enjoyed the whole album.

Debut album from American rapper Jeru the Damaja (lots of the same letters in my name. It confused me at first). Produced by Gang Starr member DJ Premier. The album is credited with helping revive the East Coast hip-hop scene in the 90's along with Wu Tang, Nas, Big L and the Notorius BIG. Kind of ominous with the World Trade Center burning in the background of his album cover (the WTC had been bombed the year before). However, I did not find or interpret this album to be violent or even gansta at all. He seems to be challenging all rappers to his rhyming in a lot the these songs. And, his rhyming is great. I don't have a ton of experience in hip-hop lyrics but this guy sure seems prolific with his sheer number of lyrics per song. His non-stop lyrics are laid perfectly against hypnotic beats and weird and sometimes eerie sampling and sounds. As previously mentioned, Jeru seems to be challenging all comers to a rap-off against him and, in general, East Coast rap as in songs "Brooklyn Took it" and My Mind Spray." He goes anti-gansta in "Ain't that Devil Happy." Although he made some people (evidently The Fugees) angry thinking this to be misogynistic, one my favorite songs on the album is "Da Bichez" where he goes after a specific type of woman; those only after the money. Overall, a very well produced and recorded album. Along with the previously mentioned acts, probably a good place to start and/or experience early- to mid-90's East Coast hip-hop. I'm sure I'll be coming back to this album and scene in the near future.

I previously had only heard of Jeru through him being sampled by DJ Shadow. This is great stuff and with the exception of one dated track really top class Hip Hop.

The realness

I generally don't care for most rap, but I enjoyed this album quite a bit. I would listen to this again for sure.

Gick hårt bortsett från ett spår.

I was not familiar with the artist or any of the songs. However this was a good album and had good beats.

The daring tracks in the rap album with a good bit and voice.