The Classics #1: Kool G Rap – 4,5,6
Kool G Rap had been in a game for a minute when 1995 rolled around. He had released several albums as a duo with DJ Polo, with varying degrees of success in the mainstream and significant respect in the underground. G Rap had significant rapping skills, with his speed and enunciation distinguishing himself from other emcees in the game, but his association with Polo, while resulting in some of the latest successes with 80’s up-tempo funk beats, was dating his sound and preventing him from truly moving forward. Once the duo split in ’93, and after a year of work, 4,5,6 released in 1995.
The first noticeable difference between what G Rap had been doing up to this point and 4,5,6 are the beats: for the most part they are darker, slower, more methodical instrumentals, that give him so much more room to showcase his aggressive multisyllabic flow, which existed in the past but had to conform old rhyme schemes and old beat structures, taking out a lot of the punch. However, being a debut album from a solo artist on a major label, there’s more variety in beat selection, with a couple, like Money On My Brain & Fast Life, reaching more into the mainstream.
Subject matter is also something of an interesting topic: songs like the title track, Take ‘Em to War, & Executioner Style contain elements of what would be horror-core, containing ultra-violent and gory street lyrics that others, like Gravediggaz and later early Eminem, would help popularize. For da Brotherz & Blowin up in the World are reflective tracks with storytelling elements, something Kool G Rap has always been fantastic at setting down. Finally, the tracks It’s a Shame & Fast Life were apart of a newer crop of subject material that focuses on highrolling drugdealers, that would be later called Mafioso Rap, that contemporaries like Jay-Z, Raekwon, and especiallt the Notorious B.I.G. would bring into the mainstream during the next two years.
This isn’t an album that starts new trends or introduces new ideas, but it’s one that brings together a lot of different elements of mid 90’s New York hip-hop and serves it up in an easy to consume package. It believe the only reason why this album isn’t more popular is that there were so many talented MCs that began putting out their classics around this time, over-saturating a regional genre that was already being dominated by Biggie Smalls.
Here’s a Spotify link to listen to 4,5,6: