Every once and awhile I’ll take some time out to sift through the mass amount of emails I receive on the daily to check for some up and coming artists I might have to fuck with. Case in point… emcee TAO and producer Defizit. Two Cali folks that linked up for a (2)dope project that I’ll let TAO explain…
Before We Knew is almost a concept album. I would call it me and Defizit’s take on the mid-90s golden era NYC sound, tempered with west coast sensibilities and bay area steelo. No gimmicks, no fake shit, no catchy dance songs and no conscious bullshit. Just dope sample based beats with ill chops, bangin drums, graceful fat basslines, etc. And ill verses in the vein of what I’d like to call classic lyricism. This is paying homage to the shit that inspired us from the past, while simultaneously tryin to wake this game up and kill all the wack shit currently out there. That ain’t hip hop to me. Before We Knew is short for a reason; we’re just gettin’ started. It is the product of some big dreams and hard work, and as of yet we’re only gonna get better. – TAO.
Tracklist + Download link after the jump…
01 Intro (Money Where Our Mouths At)
02 Don’t Stop
03 Wake Up
04 Audio Graffiti (For Those Who Can’t See Me)
05 Just Relax
06 Reminisce
07 Introspection
08 For the Sco (Rock 2 Dis)
09 Caught in the Game
10 Where I Must Be
