Company Flow

Editor's Review:

Company Flow, arguably the kings of the East Coast underground hip-hop scene, have just come with their second full-length LP, but if you’re expecting the mad, machinegun rhyme style of Bigg Jus (he actually left the group recently to pursue a solo career), El P and Mr. Len, coupled with fat, low-fi beats bent on major label destruction, you’ll have to revert back to the crew’s Funcrusher Plus. Little Johnny From The Hospital is, as the title suggests, an album of instrumentals and break beats.

Though there is a fair amount of scratching throughout the record, mixing and production are the focuses here, and the result of El P and Len’s toil is a masterful example of what two talented producers can do. Beats mostly stick to medium range speeds, are strong and sturdy, and are laid over in many paces by ominous yet groovy bass and key lines, setting blue/gray tones with contemporary credibility and a looming, thuggish feel. At some points, the pitch of the melodic accompaniment drops drastically, falling into the beat, only to start at the top and drop through the floor again. On some tracks, horn loops and spacey effects add a dub-club feel, while fiendish disco breaks and deep, short-sweeping Moog strokes change the mood for other tunes.

And while some tracks do focus greatly on dope beats, breaks and loops (hey, it’s a break album), there are still smooth, jazzy, looped guitar and horn tracks, watery key solos and funky bass lines, all backed by those anthemic, steady-mobbin’ CoFlow beats. It may not be what you expected from Company Flow, but it’s certainly worth the trip to the record store, even if that store is 100 miles away.

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Record Label Rawkus Records Released January 1999

Tracks Comp Suzy Pulled A Pistolon Henry Friend & Friend Linoleum Bee Aware Wokers Needed # Nine Gigopet Epphawy Bms Digital No Lock Shodwsdrown Worker Ant Uprise Indelible Hybrid World Of Garbage Blackout Happy Happy Joy Kill