Quannum Collective

Solesides' Greatest Bumps

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Editor's Review:

Back in the day, before the artists known as the Quannum Collective — DJ Shadow, Blackalicious (DJ Chief Xcel and rapper Gift of Gab), lyricists Lateef the Truth Speaker and Lyrics Born — were one of the Bay Area's most successful independent hip-hop outfits, the crew was a group of UC Davis students who banded together under the moniker of Solesides and started kicking out some of the highest quality independent hip-hop that the West Coast has ever produced. This Solesides Greatest Bumps is the crew's look back at the old days, and a reissue of a lot of material that is now impossible to find, or just plain permanently out of print.

Kicking things off hard with DJ Shadow and Gift of Gab's "Rhyme Like a Nut," (one of the first cuts these two ever recorded) the old school juice flows freely from that point on. This two-CD set boasts seminal DJ tracks like Shadow's vinyl-only (and well out-of-print) releases "Entropy" and "Hardcore (Instrumental) Hip-Hop," and the stellar Chief Xcel track "Fully Charged on Planet X." Lyrical gems include tracks of the first (and no longer pressed) Blackalicious EP, Melodica, and rare verses from rappers Lyrics Born, known then as Asia Born ("Send Them") and Lateef (The Quickening").

This set is perfect for anyone who wants to dig a little deeper into the roots of underground Nor Cal hip-hop, and it is truly some of the best work this crew has ever released. Maybe this time around, people will notice how super dope this stuff really is.

– Max Sidman

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Record Label Quannum Projects

Released October 2000

Tracks

CD 1
1. Intro
2. Rhyme Like A Nut!
3. Entropy (Part A – The Third Decade, Our Move)
4. Lyric Fathom
5. The Wreckoning
6. Asia's Verse
7. Deep In The Jungle
8. Hardcore (Instrumental) Hip-Hop
9. Send Them
10. Swan Lake
11. Lady Don't Tek No
CD 2
1. Latyrx (Last Chance to Comprehend)
2. Say that
3. Freestyle Rapping
4. Rhymes For The Deaf, Dumb and Blind
5. Entropy (Part C – Count & Estimate)
6. Fully Charged on Planet X
7. The Quickening
8. Hot Breath
9. Balcony Beach
10. Lateef's Freestyle
11. Blue Flames

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