Reviews (page 5 of 8)
Good album, reminds me of a slightly less developed Jurassic 5. But of course, this album is from 5 years before they even formed. A stepping stone that holds up.
Never heard him before. Sounded more old school than the time period he came out of. Pretty solid, nothing stuck tho.
Cool beats and samples, old school flows, some of the lyrics are pretty cool but others have been dated like most 90s hip hop. 3.5/5
Man, the mid-90s were cool as hell for hip-hop. Pre-technological overload, the craft was insane. Crate digging and socially conscious grooves. The one downside is the cultural bent toward misogyny. It came up multiple times and is the one thing that turned me off. This was the magic time in NYC when it was livable and everybody in the culture was optimistic about a future world. That world never came to be, it the ciphers of old give a cool window into a better musical time in hip hop.
Respect the talent but not my jam, and no tracks that made me say wow.
Some OG shit , I liked it - clean Beats and rhymes.
My first thought was this sounds Wu influenced. It's close enough in release year for me to drop that allegation. Its....ok. nothing really jumps out at me.
Never heard of them but it’s great old school hop-hop
Thank goodness I’m not here to be objective bc this was right up my alley and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Here’s 4 reasons why I liked this album: 1) “Damaja” is a sick rap name 2) album cover is kinda nuts for reasons that Jeru couldn’t have possibly known (or did he) 3) a lot of really clever, socially conscious, and also humorous lyrics 4) changed up his flow throughout individual songs and across the whole album The production and beats are the only things that keep this from being a 5, and I honestly think the former is just a consequence of its times. 4.3/5 Fav song: Da Bichez + My Mind Spray
Not bad, not great. Major east coast rap vibes, but a lot of songs started sounding the same tbh. Could have thrown any of them in the soundtrack for NBA Street or GTA Liberty City and been right at home.
So good, I listened to it 4 times before rating
Will be playing da bitchez on repeat from now on
Well that was original....(desperately searching for an irony emoji)
Sure. Give or take. Have basically zero opinion about this one.
Yes, that was a 90's hiphop album that was just below the greats. And nothing more.
this just sounds like hip hop from a specific era to me. i don't dislike it, but this project had definitely helped me realize i like the chill and whimsy in west coast hip hop. especially when it can act as a counterbalance to the aggression (and misogyny) from this time period.
A genre I lack knowledge in is hip hop, so I can't provide a ton of insight. What I found on The Sun Rises in the East was a focus on Brooklyn. The album title backs it up, even! The lyrics weren't your standard fare; this is Jeru the Damaja's debut, yet his lyrics are so strong! His hooks are good. The songs are distinct from one another, like "Da Bichez" opens and continues with some beautiful horns. Maybe the many record scratches were overkill, but that may be personal preference.
Some more 90s hip-hop, this time from someone I wasn't at all familiar with. It was okay, but definitely wasn't blown away by this. He may have just been part of a big wave of hip-hop change but got drowned out by other big names. Ultimately, I thought this album was just okay, though.
2.7
Not for me.
Rap
90’s feel
First end to end album listen but familiar with many of the songs. Good work day music!
Didn't hear of this rapper before, but considering the time when this came out, it's no wonder, since there were a lot bigger fish in the sea back then. The album is pretty interesting, with strong and unusual beats, classic boom rap style. The technique is also pretty good, not as good as some of the other rappers of the time in my opinion. This explains the lack in popularity I assume. All in all, a good album to listen to, even more importantly, something new but well executed in the hip-hop sphere, where I tend to listen to the classics a lot, and not much else. So this was a nice breath of fresh air. Would give it 3.5 if I could.
Better than I expected but not for me to be fair.
Honestly, I enjoyed this more than I enjoyed yesterday's Slim Shady LP. Not enough to give it a higher score, but I felt the difference: the beats are less goofy and more groovy and it comes closer to the sci-fi promise of sampling culture. The piano on D. Original is fun for a bit and I liked You Can't Stop the Prophet, but I wonder why, when Straight Outta Compton surely comes upon us, I will accept "life ain't nothing but bitches and money" from Eazy-E when I find Da Bichez from Jeru so embarrassing. He says he's not a misogynist. He says he can't be sexist or racist. I guess it's just as embarrassing when Lupe Fiasco points out that 'bitch' is bad and 'woman' is good ('lady' is better, by the way). Maybe it has something to do with conviction. I really don't know. 1.5 It was illuminating to hear this next to The Slim Shady LP. Here I appreciated both the more interesting samples, the more absorbing beats, and the clean, uncluttered delivery of the lyrics. It was 20 minutes shorter. I laughed out loud at least once (possibly not on cue). The hideous cover art was less hideous than the Eminem album’s. So many advantages and yet only half a star more? It seems unjust but sadly there are other albums available for comparison and Jeru the Damajah, like Eminem, made a profoundly dull record. Every track is one bar going round and round and round and the lyrics, regardless of their moral character relative even to Eminem, are, like Eminem’s, just rubbish. 1.5/5
Another relict of hip hop past in the US. Honestly, it's hard to tell a difference between all those albums. Not much interesting music in here, unfortunately.
3.11
2 stars - lyrics meh, production mostly meh except I like the dissonant piano on track 1
Dit voelt een beetje alsof ik dubbel 6 heb gegooid, een joker of troef mag gebruiken. Ik ken het album niet en ome Jeru ken ik alleen van het drum 'n bass nummer 'Set It Off' met Camo & Crooked, maar dit soort muziek kan ik de hele dag aan hebben staan. Lekker gruizige boom bap uit 1994 met een prima rapper op hele sterke Dj Premier beats. Dit soort beats zijn anno 2025 nog uniek, laat staan in 1994. Ik snap niet zo goed waarom dit album uitgekozen is, los van het feit dat Dj Premier wel een legende is dus. Kijk ik naar of je dit album echt gehoord moet hebben dan is dat antwoord voor de niet-liefhebber sowieso nee. Dit album is binnen het eigen genre al niet eens de absolute top, denk ik. Ik vind dit wel lekkerder dan 90% van wat er op deze lijst te vinden is. Ik ga deze 4 sterren geven en ik wil officieel vastleggen dat het een schande is dat 'The Infamous' van Mobb Deep niet in deze lijst staat.
I wish I had known this back in the day and smoked some Mary Jane while bouncing my speakers to it.
Dude spits slow and over articulates while still managing to mumble. The beats are mediocre and there’s not an identifiable flow. Production is worse than most homemade cassettes.
Pretty decent old school hip hop. Has the same issues as a lot of other hip hop, but I enjoyed it as a 90s throwback.
solid 3.5
Jeru is here and he is intent to cause Damaje. After that, he may drop some philosophical knowledge and maybe a slur here and there. I know at least one song here. Let’s set the course for east and chase the sun alongside my pal Jeru. This song is SICK. From the intro, right into D. original. The discordant piano beat is so hard. God. Please continue in this vein. Beat is less fun here. The lyrics are fun and the rhymes are really popping off the page here. Let’s use this skit to describe what is happening on Spotify. An apparently aged Jeru the Damaja in a pork pie hat is absolutely throwing down HARD in front of a green screen that’s blue. It’s god damn gold. That visual adds like 12 stars to this. Not officially, but in my heart. Mental Stamina is good. Another heavy, raw rap track. Da “Bichez” loses me slightly with the lyrical content. I’m not a misogynist BUT is a classic argument. Kinda lame, but of the time. The Jeru loop of cupping his ears makes up for it. LOOK TOWARDS THE DARKNESS. What a silly and hardcore opening. Super scientifical powers needs to be added to my daily vocabulary. The beat has destroyed me. My intestines have been blown to smithereens and I lay here motionless, cheering against Ignorance and his wife, deceit. “Perverted Monks in tha house” is one of the great song titles I’ll see this year. The devil does appear to be pretty happy if the laughter is any indication. Great lyrical work here. A more serious moment in an album with fairly whimsical rhymes. The beats still hit so very hard. A small let down in form, but nothing bad at all. A decent song. Come clean buddy. Despite the homophobic artisan chef work at the top, this is one of the best rap songs from this region and time, and therefore, one of the best of all time. So incredibly catchy, tough, mean, clever. Fantastic. Another excellent beat mixed accompanied by solid rhymes. AND a whole bunch of fun animal noises. Jeru looks tired in the dance. He must’ve put in a few hours of takes just fucking giving it in front of the camera. Looks like a self production, so all you can hear is his breathing and the shuffling of clothes. The song doesn’t wear down though. The beat is still fun as hell, and the rhymes are great. This thing is a monster. So much energy behind the rhymes and the beat selection and composition of DJ premier make “The Sun Rises in the East” a complete auditory delight. Exactly what I look for in a hip-hop release, especially regarding atmosphere. Every beat of the drums bring to mind a menacing east coast monstrosity rising out of the Hudson, like a Brooklyn based Kaiju. Knocked me down and kept me wanting more for the duration of the tight 39 minutes. Dance on Jeru, thanks for the excellent Thursday. I owe you a new Pork Pie hat. 4 HIGHLIGHTS: D. Original, You Can’t Stop the Prophet, Ain’t the Devil Happy, Come Clean - E New Y Radio
This was pretty standard 90s rap I think, which is not a genre I listen to much on my own
The production stands out, I immediately like the drums and looped samples. Jeru's rapping is articulate and smooth. Mental Stamina is a good one and Da Bichez has a nice jazzy feel to it. Ain't The Devil Happy is another highlight. My Mind Spray goes futuristic with its beat and Come Clean is pretty out there too. There's a couple of questionable lines, it is still the 90s, but the beats are too good. Tight 40 minute runtime too - refreshing and a diamond in the rough.
Look - it wasn't the worst thing I heard today, and it sounds better (or maybe just less offensive) than most of the hiphop I've had so far.
Never grabbed me. One and done.
It was okay
Didn’t do much for me.
búmbapprapp. fín lög, 5 prósent. vantar slagara. 3,5.
There's some beats and some flow here that tug at my interest, but not enough to justify repeated listening.
Decent but unremarkable early 90s hip hop.
8.5/10 Never heard of Jeru and this was really excellent. Really of its time, really good Love his flow, reminds me of Del the Funky Homosapien. Production is excellent, really high quality cut & paste samples Best: Ain’t the Devil Happy
Good beats yeah and an album cover that makes you go hmm
This was kind of fun--old school NYC rap. A bonus: relatively speaking, it rated fairly low on the misogyny-ometer.
Interesting. I don't love rap, and some production choices I disliked, but overall enjoyable.
Nope. Next?
Was okay, beats were pretty good. 3/5
The Sun Rises In The East is good old fashioned east coast rap. DJ Premier is amazing on this album, a lot of unique classic east coast beats. It sounds very Wu Tang-esque. Nas is also a lofty but fair comparison 8.4/10
Sounds like any other 90's rapper to me. Some good songs, a lot of okay ones, and a few that were extremely annoying
3-4
I like "You Can't Stop the Prophet" and "Ain't the Devil Happy". As with all hip hop, I don't really know enough about it to feel like I can give it a fair rating, but I don't dislike it. I do feel like this got repetitive after awhile though.
Very good, I'd pick this up if I saw it. Certainly won't mind listening to this again.
🎧Kind of mid tbh
Like a few other records from this time period, I don’t dislike the overall style, but it’s still too one-note for me. 3/5
I liked the flow and the overall feel of what was being said.
A good hip hop album but not as great as some of it’s contemporaries - DJ Premier on beats makes it cool and Jeru does a good job on the mic - but it lacks star tracks.
Unrelated but do yall put off listening to albums bc yk they will be on this list? because I definitely do and im thinking maybe I shouldn't. Also I never know if anyone is actually reading this or if im just making a fool of myself. I guess I make a fool of myself either way bc I write some pretty stupid reviews sometimes. Anyways. im not crazy about super traditional hiphop. Like this seems pretty good, but it's not super exciting to me. Maybe my perspective will change eventually. 7/10
3/10 - idk it was just kind of bad. It was rap but it didn’t have anything that I really liked. His name is pretty funny tho
The verses were pretty uncreative, and the production was a bit too creative - I think that led to a pretty dated feel. It’s even worse when you consider that albums like illmatic and ready to die were coming out of the same places at around the same time as this album. This album doesn’t come close to either of those. Comparisons aside though, the album was fine. I didn’t love it, but I wasn’t bored while listening which is worth something I guess
It's good, but he's not the most charismatic MC and these beats aren't very interesting. C
Fyrir rappplötu er þetta áhlustanlegt en samt ekkert sésrstaklega skemmtilegt. Ég mun mjög fljótlega gleyma Jeru og aldrei hlusta á tónlistina hans aftur. Sem er kannski bara allt í lagi.
Initially I thought this was fine but nothing special. But somewhere around Can’t Stop the Prophet I got into it. This album isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s really good
Enjoyed it, but because i enjoy east coast rap. As it stands it doesn’t stand out.
It's great.
It's a really good album I liked. A nice Boxing Day surprise. The skits aren't obnoxious, unlike a few rap albums. I liked every song on the album. This album is proof that East Coast rap outshines the West Coast by a mile. 4 stars for "The Sun Rises in the East".
Can't listen to this
No clue what this was before I listened to it. The rhythms and accompaniment seemed fairly basic but I did enjoy the fact that I could keep up with the lyrics.
Freaking awesome
Good beats. Can't do the vocals or some of the lyrics.
3.5/5
I think I want a new list.
I like the rhythm and flow of this more than most East Coast hip hop. I'm still not a huge fan, but I get it.
Killer 90s rap with great beats from DJ Premier. Of course it has the requisite misogyny sadly but that's unsurprising. I don't think this album really has the influence and prevalence to qualify for a place here, but it's fun to listen to regardless.
The rapping is about average; maybe a bit better. The beats were okay
A fun underground hip-hop album with wickedly clean production by DJ Premier that ultimately just doesn’t live up to some of the larger albums of the time or have any especially memorable tracks to go back to
Some of the samples are interesting but he rides almost all of them too long, so they overstay their welcome. None of this really stood out to me.
As good a score as I am ever likely to give to a hip hop album. Usually can't listen to it at all, but somehow I made it all the way to the end with this one.
not for me
No es el álbum de hip-hop/rap que volvería a escuchar. No tiene ese atractivo masivo que tienen otros discos del género que sí traspasan las fronteras de la idiosincrasia gringa.
Nice change of pace.
Enjoyable early hip hop album 3/5
Great album that I have never heard before. Excellent lyrics and beats. It's a style of hip hop that I really like and grew up listening to. I'm sorry that I have not heard it until today. I'm sure that I will be listening to this again.
Packed with fire beats and decent rap, it's quite a vibe
Good but not great 90s hip hop
This is no Jungle Music. Brooklyn Took It.
So good
solid rap album
2,5
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
really good 90s rap album. i really liked the production here and jeru's flow is pretty good. it's a bit dated, but it is a 30 year old album. is it the best rap album i've heard of this era ever? no. is it pretty decent and a great example of 90s rap from new york? i think so
I understand why this is here but is not my thing
Viiibez
Jeru isn't fooling me. He's not a gangster, he's just a big ol' goofball. He may be rapping about his unparalleled skills, breaking backs, blowing up the World Trade Centre and most definitely not being a misogynist, but deep down he's really just a goofball.
Saved Prior: None Off Rip: Come Clean - E New Y Radio, Jungle Music Cutting Edge: None Overall Notes: Didn't really do anything for me. Wasn't a bad listen, just meh.
A solid but not spectacular East Coast Hip-Hop album. It's a good listen that I could imagine listening to a few more times but compared to Illmatic, The Infamous and Enter the 36 Chambers, it's not something that's going to stand out. 7/10
Better than I expected. Kind of old school, on the border of the upcoming gangsta rap. Having just listened to Eminem for yesterday’s album, I really liked that he managed to respect women and differentiate between most women and those only after money. Might listen again.
Solid 90s rap
WOAHHH SO BOPPY!! Some tracks were harder to listen to if I listened to the lyrics, but crazy grooves, lit samples, and a lot of fun. Fav songs: Statik
Love it
so many swears
Hyvät taustat
Great.
wieder einmal spärlich möbiliert: die meisten tracks bestehen aus beats , mit sehr wenig melodie angereichert - sogar der darübergerapte text ist eher eintönig. verstehe dass dieses album damals inpiration lieferte, aber heute eher nicht mehr.
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.
Now, I am not normally a gangsta rap fan but there is something appealing by the laidback flow and the groove of the tracks. It sounds really good! That being said., I am a white European middle class kid who has become an adult — this was not written for me, was it? Anyways, I'll give it a 4 even if I will probably not listen to it again.
I found this one pretty average. Rating: 3
213/1001 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑
Better than I had thought
Hip Hop luminaries in 1994: Warren G, Snoop Doggy Dogg (sic), Craig Mack, Biggie, Tupac, Bones Thugs-n-Harmony, Queen Latifah, The Brat, Nas… Nah. Jeru didn’t cut it then. Still doesn’t.
Just not very good
Smooth raps, thumping beats (courtesy of one DJ Premier); this came out in 1994 but still stands up well today. A fine head-nodder to add to the collection.
Sometimes I really wish I could properly get into hip-hop. I'm sure there's a whole depth and layer of nuance that I'm missing. However, this also gets filed under "kinda funky I guess"
I mean, it's nice to hear a hip-hop record from this time that isn't an hour or longer. The beats are strong and his flows are good. So I was enjoying it, but then I was grinding my teeth through all of "Da Bichez" and couldn't get the taste out of my mouth for the rest of the album. Why would I listen to someone that raps about women this way? The more of these older rock and hip-hop albums I hear, the less tolerance I have for them. "I'd body slam her, but I'm not a misogynist." You absolutely are. Fuck you, man.
This is way better than I expected. Has a great flow. Had never heard of him prior to this.
Good shit. Crazy album cover. Not incredible, which might be why I haven’t heard of it. It’s fine, I guess. 3/5
Average hip hop. Not notable.
Solid album Standout songs: Mental Stamina Aint the Devil Happy Come Clean
This album was ok. I like the sounds better than the songs.
It grew on me over time, but didn't consistently set itself apart. I really enjoyed "My Mind Spray"
Sounds like 90s rap. Good but forgettable compared to the bigger name releases of the time such as Snoop Dogg, Warren G, Tupac, Biggie, Nas and Bone Thugz-N-Harmony. Had this come out in 92 or 93 then it might be referred to more often. By 94 a lot of this sounded more derivative of earlier albums.
It's cool to hear Guru out of the box on 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' which is huge street cred for this collab since Jazzmatazz was a true early hip hop innovator when they dropped Vol. 1 also in 1993-- an album that forever forged a new path and split rap much more distinctly into rap and hip hop. That was impactful for me as a listener because I took that divergence seriously and forever took the offramp to hip hop *against* rap-- a lower form of music. It also shows how hot the scene must have been up in Brooklyn The Planet God Dammit. I hate the repeated tone in Mental Stamina which sounds like a truck backing up. It's a very annoying sound and I can't help but wonder what producer thought it was a good idea. Da Bichez [sic] really bends towards the innnovative hip hop of the era, but crosses the red lines of mysogyny and obscenity. These two traits are notably all but absent in other important hip hop related bands of the era like Brand Nubian, Arrested Development, Digable Planets, Jazzmatazz, Pharcyde, and of course legends, ATCQ none of whom really needed the crutch of toxic masculinity to absolutely crush. In that sense, just this song fails the album's sniff test for me.
I was mildly looking forward to this nostalgia but that ended soon after I clicked play. To be fair, Guru's Jazzmatazz and virtually every Gang Star album (except Hard to Earn) took a few listens before I fully enjoyed it. But damn! It's 2024 ain't nobody got time for multiple listens! I didn't mind the beats as much as some of the lyrics. The subtle horns, electronica was a nice touch. Ain't the Devil Happy was good blending in some old skool skratching, old world strings and electronic drum machines and lyrics were decent. It was probably a highlight. But a majority of the lyrics are super juvie and lack perspective. The track Da Bichez was terrible. Never herd this before, but good for an education for early 90s NYC rap.
Jeru really doesn’t like bichez. To be clear, he distinguishes between the young ladies and the sistas. Bichez are not all women. But if the man has a grievance against you, he will lay out your wrongs in blunt, savage, and poetic fashion, and lace it with one of the most impressive vocabularies in hip hop.
The music/samples on this album are not good just like the lyrical content.
this looks fire af big fan of the spotify campus videos on most of the songs on this album. its just jeru old ass dancing in front of a blue background. its not even format for a cellphone screen aspect ratio its just a 16:9 video at the center of the screen with black filling the blank space. the beat on My Mind Sample samples the same song as sparkdala by quasimoto, but it turns out there's like a million different songs that sample that one song, interesting. dj premieres beats are grimy as hell and deru spits on every track. good shit usually i don't like old hip-hop but this appeals to me i like it a lot.
Pretty standard 90s rap with very repetitive beats. 4/10
Pretty good album... slight bump up to 3.6+ because I really like this era of Boom Bap kind of hip hop.
Interesting beats but not quite as immersive as some other hip hop I've had so far, though I am the furthest you could possibly be from an expert on this genre! I enjoyed the flow and vibes for sure
Quite good recording quality just not my kind of music
#375. Pretty solid album. It's good, but I'm not sure that I'd pick it up to listen to a second time. 3/5: it is what it is. Song added to playlist: You Can't Stop the Prophet I've created a playlist on Spotify that consists of the best and/or my favorite song from each of the albums in this book. This list can be found here if you are interested: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7MAXDGLWlwLkFLb8veGfkA?si=FqkQQPgZTFWG0jAUJXLFZA&utm_source=copy-link
Tout est très moyen: les paroles volent pas hauts, les beats sont affreux et le cover est dégueu. C'est vraiment juste pas bon
Hip Hop, Rap. Grundsätzlich nicht so schlecht. Trotzdem nicht meins.
This feels very much like a 1994 record, it even has that same kind of offset typewriter font that graces the cover of Neil Young’s “Sleeps with Angels” or that the movie “Singles” used. There are some great tracks here and the 40 minute runtime is a plus, but it’s not the most engaging record to me and doesn’t really hit the same highs as some of its contemporaries, like De La Soul or A Tribe Called Quest or even DJ Premiere’s work in Gang Starr. Enjoyable, but not quite essential.
Easy listen. Would have been bigger if it was released earlier. The Wikipedia entry mentions Illmatic, Enter the Wu Tang, and Ready to Die which definitely dominated 93-94, but I think this more occupies the same place as Midnight Marauders which is the better album imo.
Once again had no idea this dude existed - good listen. The flow is a little slow / basic for me, but I get what this has probably done for the future of rap and it's a nice album to chill to in the morning. Highlights include: "Da Bichez" and the chill overall vibe (Yo! MTV Raps, anyone?)
Favorite Track: Come Clean - E New Y Radio
One Certainty: The sun rises in the east and this kind of hip-hop holds nothing for me!
You Can Stop The Prophet is still a great tune. The rest are good, but I prefer Premier’s Gangstarr output. 3/5
Not for me
Loved that
Wow, this was a surprise, mainly because I’ve never heard of Jeru before. I was very pleased to find that the entire album was produced by DJ Premier, one of the best beatmakers of all time. Preemo’s fingerprints are all over this thing. It sounds amazing and is already gonna go onto my list of great 90’s rap records.
LP
Great seminal 90s rap album
I had never heard of this artist nor had I heard of this album. I'm a little surprised, though I was never a huge fan of early East Coast rap. I don't find this album as compelling as Illmatic, though few albums are that compelling. I enjoyed a lot of the songs including Ain't the Devil Happy, Mindspray and Da Bichez. A lot of this is very early 90's rap and that is not a criticism. This isn't Illmatic but it's a good example of what good East Coast rap albums sounded like in the early 90's.
Couldn’t finish. I don’t like the style.
My precoceived idea was that this would suck. But apparently I'm becoming indoctrinated into the east-coast rap scene of the 80s and 90s. I really enjoyed this record. Just the right mix of social consciousness and hardcore with some excellent grooves. I had a hard time with "Bitch," though. Weird to get this and Wu-Tang one after another.
Fantastic old school hip hop album. Great beats, great lyricism. 8/10
Solid, but compared to the 90s hip hop pantheon records this can't compete.
Très posé, solide et confiant. Les échantillons sont assez lents et carrés. Même quand on nargue, on ne verse pas dans l'enfantin.
I find this kind of music very confronting and really didn’t enjoy. Fist of the selections I only listened through only once.
So much hip hop came out in the mid 90’s, I’m not surprised I missed this one. Solid beats and some provocative themes… and lyrics that don’t age well. Feels like 90’s east coast hip hop… and that’s not good or bad, just a lot of hip hop history under that bridge.
It’s got a good beat, and I can rap to it.
At first I thought it would gonna be tiring since the first tracks overhelmed me a bit with the psychodelic beats. But his flow, lyrics and overall easy style of rapping is a great opposition to these beats. Enjoyed it.
Never heard of this guy, glad I heard it. Solid album
A really terrible album. I'm certainly no big fan of HipHop but a lot of artists base their music on samples, whiche are often interwoven with the rap singing in an interesting way. But here, nothing, void, total abyss.
*No music on this album - just rap and noise
This was fine. I didn't hate it. And while I don't have any sort of historical knowledge of the hip-hop genre, it seems like a product of its time.
Better than I was expecting. Good beats and solid lyrics
Great
Ok.
It's fine but not spectacular. Some of the beats cook but some fall flat. Overall inconsistent but a decent slab of 90s hip hop.
Pretty surprised by this one. Great beats and a good MC. Not as good as Wu-Tang but definitely in that vibe. Still it’s 90s hip hop so expect some homophobia and misogyny that hasn’t aged well - less than the West Coast rappers, but still there.
He looks so serious
Phenomenal album. Glad to have been introduced to it.
Escuchas una canción y las escuchaste todas
This isn't really what I was expecting. It was a great listen, with lyrics that just flowed and were easy to understand.
Fitting that my last album of this project would be the absolute bottom of the barrel, the very dregs of music. What a pile of crap. The album, its cover, the music, it all comes together in a cornucopia of crap. 1 star, but should be 0.
Nothing I hadn't heard before, but I warmed to this as it progressed. Some interesting beats / samples and great production, that isn't too slick. New to me, but makes me want to hear more.
I can live with the lack of a fuck filter, but not the misogyny. This has aged appallingly. Tight beats, dumb ass lyrics.
In the same year that Illmatic came out, we also got this, it feels so dated, some of the themes it tried to tackle are okay, but overall this wasnt my jam
Some of the other reviews I see for this are really not putting this album in the context of when it came out. This record is really good and brings some things that weren't as prevalent at the time it came out. You can hear that NY sound coming through strong and it has the same feel as a KRS One album
An underground classic that got lost in the mainstream because 1994 was an amazing year for hip hop releases. I hope some of those records are in this project too (e.g., Nas - Illmatic, B.I.G. - Ready to Die, Big Daddy Kane - Daddy’s Home, Beastie Boys - Ill Communication, Outkast) DJ Premier is amazing as always with the beats, and the lyrics and flow are a great example of mid-90s NY bravado. Best track: You Can't Stop the Prophet 3⭐️
Liked it. Sort of hypnotic. Lyrics are fairly uninteresting.
of the multitudes of rap albums i've heard at this point in my life, this is one of the ones i like the least
The Sun Rises In The East is decent, not something that properly grabs me but the beats are fucking stellar, they've not overly complicated or showy or anything but they stand up strong and make most of the album a good listen. His style is pretty methodical but not in the boring way like 50 Cent was recently, it's just matter of fact, lacks flair but works fairly well with the overall production. A solid 3.
This is almost really good - I really like his delivery on the verses, and the beats behind this are great - but it definitely lacks something. Not quite sure what it is, but it just doesn't grab me as much as it should do. It's all decent, but nothing screams brilliant. 3/5.
Raw and heavy, with rap and beats that left me wanting more.
Pretty forgettable 90's east coast gangster rap
Why are there so many hip-hop albums in this list? To me, this sounds no different from any of the other hip-hop albums in the list and is just as unremarkable. Going by the number of plays, Spotify users don't rate it very heighly either.
4.2 - Enjoyed this a lot, felt like it was pretty authentic
What a pleasant surprise. Some really nice beats, can't say I was really paying too much attention to the lyrical content but two of the tracks are called "Perverted Monks in Tha House" so you have to assume the wordplay is elite. Really liked this, very tight, no real filler, some creative and catchy beats, mellow but also pretty hard. Fave Tracks: D. Original, Perverted Monks in Tha House, Mental Stamina, Da Bichez 4.4/5
Forgettable. It wasn’t bad, but I wouldn’t care to listen to it again.
Amazing rhymes and flow over occasionally good but mostly serviceable beats. I definitely want to hear more of what Jeru has to say, but hopefully over more dynamic beats. I feel like Madlib or someone would be perfect with his flow.
Niet mijn smaak rap
Pretty good classic rap. Not one of the all-time greats, but a nice listen nonetheless.
While the album is a classic, there are so many bangers from 1994 it's hard to justify this one being on the list over some of the others.
I don’t see this as anything particularly notable. And some lyrics have dated terribly.
A not terrible rap album with some sick beats and great flows….for the time. Unfortunately this was a bookend for a previous generation of rap that was immediately overshadowed by releases from the GOATs in the same year that changed the game immediately, so this would have fallen under the radar for most. It immediately put my infant to sleep, so not all bad. 3/5
It was okay. Didn't feel the need to skip any songs. 3/5
meh.
Certified underground classic. Jeru provides great bars and flow, but Preemo steals the show with gritty and abstract production.
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.
Day214 - maybe because i’ve never heard of this guy but it sounds like craig mac or the wu tang clan and that’s not bad but it’s not original sounding
Solid beats, playful instrumentals and energetic lyrics
Above average rap. Some predictable tropes. Nice production.
# 292 : Meh! Rap is still not my thing.
The best component of this album is definitely the rhymes. Cleverly constructed, proficiently delivered, never written just to fill the page. I like the smooth beats, the dry humor, and the gothic novel-like Prophet storyline. The themes are pretty standard, and the social commentary isn't groundbreaking or anything, but that's fine because the focus of the album is on the craft of the word, finding new ways to talk about old topics.
It's got that old school hip hop vibe with some cool beats. Not sure about how it fits in the time period but I enjoyed it
Never heard this before but enjoyed it. DJ Premier
Really good
Easy listening but a bit in one ear and out the other
Not really my thing but I did nod my head a few times
Enjoyed this
Nö!
decent sound although crude topics and not my style overall.
I was listening at work, so it was hard to hear/digest the lyrics. But I loved the flow, and I'm a sucker for this type of hard-hitting, minimalist production. It's hard as hell.
DJ Premier shows again how he's one of the best producers in hip hop. Jeru is alright. Not an album I would need to see on this list but you can't go wrong if you're in the mood for some good 90s eastcoast hop hop.
Not bad
Doesn't go hard like some of the other albums in this era, but not bad.
Jeru’s delivery throughout is smooth, the bests are a tad basic but enjoyable. Da Bichez is almost as awful as the album art. Great rhymes and smooth delivery, no phoney tough guy vibes. Good stuff 4 stars
Quite mid
Pretty standard 90s rap album, nothing special.
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.
5/10. It had some nice beats, but I'm simply not much of a fan of rap music in general. At least it's not trap.
Have heard better hip-hop from this list
I can’t look I say as I cover my eyes and peek between my fingers. That’s how I felt listening to this. Totally engrossed. Loved the horns and a lot of the humor.
Ook
Want my bag. There are other rap/hip hop albums I enjoyed more.
Sorry Jeri, just not feeling the darkness today, thanks for stopping by tho. 1 Star
Two songs in and I do like the beats. Some good lyrics in D. Original. It was fine. Pretty mid to me honestly. Nothing stood out to me except very few of the lyrics.
Come clean was interesting. Overall take: I didn't hate it. I didn't love it.
Not bad, not into hip hop but I liked it more than I thought I would.
Meh.
Enjoyable, but not memorable.
Pretty much a by-the-numbers jazzy hip hop album
Wow!
3.5/4 - rlly enjoyed standout tracks: - my mind spray - jungle music
I keep skipping Hip-Hop albums because outside of Public Enemy, De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest and some others, I rarely hear originality or innovation. So I thought I had better give this one a go just to make sure I wasn't missing some originality and innovation. I wasn't. This sounds exactly like early 90s hip-hop and seems to be totally generic. Gave up after the (to underline my point) one with the boring jazz trumpet sample called... I kid you not "Da Biches". And that is just after "Mental Stamina" which is trying oh so hard to be "How I could just kill a man" by Cypress Hill. Is the album title trolling? Because yes, this is the essence of predictable.
Is chaos the opposite of form? Is substance the opposite of oblivion? This one loses me right off the bat. The cover doesn't help much. It sounds pretty solid but it doesn't seem to aim very high and there's not much here for me to dig into. It does have a track called 'Perverted Monks in the House', so 3 stars.
This feels fairly run-of-the-mill hip hop. I listened with the expectation that I'd at least register a faint ringing of recognition at hit single 'Come Clean' - but nothing. I didn't dislike this particularly, but I'd struggle to differentiate this from the glut of second-tier early to mid nineties rap releases out there. At least the line about blowing up the World Trade Center aged well.
African...............Americans..
I'm not a fan of rap, but as far as rap goes, this wasn't terrible. 2/5
Probably good but not my rap hip hop thing.
This was fine. Ok. Nothing to dislike but nothing to love. Quite enjoyable but largely forgettable hip hop. 2.5
Freaky Flow
2/10
Not my usual thing but I actually quite enjoyed this. Early 90s rap/hiphop reminds me of the teen center days.
Mental Stamina Da Bichez Come Clean - E New Y Radio
Some decent beats, nice listen but nothing crazy
Much better than most modern hip-hop, but still nothing truly memorable
First time I heard this album. It's similar in style as other east coast hip hop from the same time period. My first impression is that I like it and I need to give it another listen. It's not really on the same level as Enter the Wu-Tang or Illmatic as both of those blew me away the first time I heard them.
this lowkey aged really fucking bad… also ok just forever be a west coast rap girly i have never really liked east coast / NY rap. I did appreciate when he appreciated black women tho that was cool. mostly not great tho. Didn’t like the F slur. 1.) ain’t the devil happy 2.) da bitchez (cannot believe this is this high) 3.) you can’t stop the prophet
Oh no!! Hip hop! I cannot relate to or much connect with this genre as "music." I can call it poetry set to rhythm, but this is just juvenile rhyming, so if I judge it as poetry, it's bad. Really bad.
It's just more rap. Unbelievable - how did so much rap get onto this list? I definitely don't EVER need to hear any more rap before I die. I hate it more now than I did before starting this project. The more I hear, the more I hate it.
Un poco rollo, pero te hace mover la cabeza con ritmo.
Hip Hop shit hop not me do rap crap.
I saw Jeru a few times in the early 00s so have a bit of a soft spot for him. This still stands up, especially with the DJ Premier production, although not a huge fan of J's overtly pseudo-intellectual lyricism (despite the flawless flow)
I damajed my ears listening to this. There’s so much better hip hop out there.
This record’s on here?!? I did not expect this one due to it being underground hip hop. But, this is a longtime favorite of mine. The production, the lyrics, the mood, the grittiness - 90s hip hop! This record played a pivotal role in my development and fondness of hip hop growing up. This album did get thrown under the radar with the likes of other major hip hop artists also dropping around this time, but I will always cherish this one.
Not 36 Chambers, but pretty decent
I'm not a huge fan of rap music and had never heard of this before. I was about halfway through when I looked at the release date and was surprised as I would have placed this earlier than 94. That just made it sound even more dated. It was an interesting listen, although I wouldn't listen again.
Album 427 of 1001 Jeru The Damaja - The Sun Rises In The East Rating : 2 / 5 I listened all the way through. Just not for me. I like tunes.
Really enjoyed the production and Jeru's flow. Lyrically it's dated. This was robbed of wider success - if only it had come out any other year! The newly released (like a week ago as I write this - great timing!) expanded version on spotify has instrumental versions of D. Original, You Can't Stop The Prophet, and Come Clean. They slap.
Sick. I lived it
Some dope boom bap beats on here. The lyrics didn’t age well on some songs, namely the bichez, and the use of the other f word, which I know was pretty prevalent in hip hop at the time, but still doesn’t excuse it. It’s hard to give this album more than a three. His rhymes are solid, but this album was released the same year as Illmatic and Ready to Die. Biggie and Nas pushed hip hop forward lyrically with those albums. So while Jeru has some solid raps and good flow he kind of gets left in the dust by his peers.
Solid 90s hip hop at its finest!
1/5
I confess I had never heard of this album or this artist despite claiming to be a hip hop head - I feel humbled. I enjoyed the lyrical flow and the DJ Premier beats. It slaps but it doesn’t scratch an itch - that’s where I feel a bit hollow. I like it, yes. I see the love for it. It’s not Wu-Tang. It’s not Young Zulu Nation. It’s something else. It’s something else.
It's a rap album from 1994. I'm not sure why this is on the list. To his credit, a bit of the lyrics are: We be on the microphone, doin' lyrical king fu. So, there's that.
I didn't find this super memorable, but it was a solid listen. Strong beats, an assertive flow and clever lyrics. Fave Songs: Mental Stamina, Brooklyn Took It, Ain't the Devil Happy
Really enjoyed this! Obviously need to listen to more early-mid 90s hip hop. Last few songs are a little weaker/less engaging.
Really good example of rap done well. Jeru has great sound and mic style. I will ceetainly listen to this again. there are some great tunes on this. Favourite song: Jungle music and Statik are great tunes. Least favourite: Album artwork: This wont be going on my wall at home
Tämähän oli aivan sellaista mikä mulle tippuu! Osa stygeistä toki jäänyt vähän ajasta mutta minkäs teet. 4/5
Olipas hyvä, kunnon laatuysäriä. Jotain typerää lyriikkaa, silti vahva 4/5
Pätevää riimittelyä, mut vieläkään ei ihan tää ysäri-geimi aukene.
Den var udmærket, har aldrig hørt om ham før. Megafede beats! Positiv nok overraskelse, men den kommer nok ikke i rotation herhjemme.
Sindssygt fede beats! Flowet var godt men gjorde ikke nødvendigvis så meget for mig, teksterne var nogen gange gode men ret hit or miss (lidt for ""conscious hip hop"" fokuserede måske)
Umiddelbart var det fint nok at høre der var en sang som er blevet samplet / genbrugt af The Prodigy på Diesel Power, hvilket var lidt en overraskelse
rapsy w klasycznym oldschoolowym stylu, ciekawe utwory ale nic na playliste, gosciu brzmi troche jak ice cube
Great lyrics. Story telling/catchy/good hooks. Not too much machismo. Solid.
HL: “Ain’t the Devil Happy”, “Come Clean”, “Jungle Music” Rounding up to a 3 today. He’s not a misogynist, he says so multiple times
groovy fun hip-hop with meaningful content that has apparently been called one of the top 100 hip hop albums of all time - completely produced by DJ Premier. This is a fun listen - i liked it.
Favourite song - Ain't the devil happy
Never heard of Jeru before, and it was interesting to read about a counter-culture rap album. Most notable were the stripped down beats and focus on rap only. Content of the songs wasn't that interesting to me, but I'm glad I listened to this album. D. Original was my favorite track.
Sounds more like a like 80's west coast rap. It has some pretty good moments but there just so much other hip hop from that era and before that's much stronger. 2.5
Another rap record that sounds like the other rap records from the nineties. Maybe I’m missing something.
Seemed long.
I started off not liking this one much. But by the end I found myself nodding along with the beats a little. I probably wouldn't choose to listen to this one again. But I never wanted to turn it off so it must be okay.
We miss popped up. I assumed it was something international... British maybe. But no, this is straight up American '90s gangster rap that I have literally never heard of. Which is kind of crazy. Anyway, this was fine.
Never heard this, but it was an interesting bridge between hip hop and gangsta rap. I'm sure that's the reason this one made the list.
Same old repetitive rap beat from the 90’s.
7/ 10. Rap albums not my cuppa
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.
This was alright. I’m not a big fan of rap but this was tolerable. Happy 2nd generatorversary to me!
This is an album that I was not on my radar at all. hard to put it in context, it feels old school even for coming out of 94. but really picks up steam in the second half.
Oh obscure 90s hip hop. *farts*
90's hip hop rap. not the worst or best. I still think its dumb. (I give it one star for the promising unexpected start to 'Come Clean') turned it off before it made me dumber.
Gave it a quick listen. Two stars.
It is unusual that I have never heard of the artist or album for a must-hear record. Better than average early 90s NY rap. It does not fall into most of the usual traps of gansta rap (which I cannot abide). I enjoyed the singles, and the production is crunchy and discordant in a way that really appeals to me. And it isn't one of those massively over-stuffed and over-long 90s albums, coming in at a succinct 39 mins. "Da bichez", however, I could live without.
Meh 2/5
Nope. Absolutely rubbish. Or not for me
I like it but for 1994 times had moved on maybe? Still, it's well produced and certainly controversial
Stupid
Great sounding New York hip hop
3+
Solid beats and rhymes from a guy I'd never heard of. Associated with gangstarr. This one won my heart with the prophet track in which he battles his nemesis "Mr. Ignorance." Finds that perfect balance of dumb and clever.
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