DJ Drank - Greatest Malt Liquor Hits (2002)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XOOLFJZT
Oh, this! 30 tracks from US hip hop's classic era, averaging at just under a minute long each, each one advertising -- yup, you got it -- St. Ide's. Check out that line-up: Wu, Rakim, Ice Cube, EPMD, Snoop Dogg, King Tee, Kool G Rap...I could go on. Yup, Wu's "Shaolin Brew" is that tune lying beneath Raekwon's "Spot Rusherz" skit, and the Nate and Snoop tracks practically justify G-Funk's existence in themselves.

But it's almost all awesome; perhaps it does damage the credibility of Wu and Cube's anti-commercial somewhat, but the amount of effort in the lyrics steers this away from the typical soulessness of most celebrity advertising. And there's a sweet East-meets-West vibe about it all that confirms this as one of the most unexpected rap classics I'll ever encounter. - Liam
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XOOLFJZT

Disclaimer - The Airbag's Lipstick Kiss (2003)

http://www.mediafire.com/?43ulfmyjnzr
Well Blah Blah early 00s Babble nostalgia/bias, but this is a really good album, an it'd be cool if it were disseminated slightly more amongst the remnants of a community it's creator meant something to. Thought it might provoke slightly more interest/discussion on here due to it's parochial pedigree anyhow.

This is Chris Willie Williams tortured, melodic, electropopangst, witty, multireferential concept album "The Airbag's Lipstick Kiss", an album that evokes musically the wide array of stages of reaction, rationalisations and emotions mandelbrotting throughout one soul in the aftermath of a traumatic break-up. From the first track on, music and lyrics seem to evoke the twists and turns of one troubled minds thought processes after a split. Virtual vistas of self pity alternate with darkly funny bitter twists on pop-culture aphorisms, often within 2 passages of the same song.

Not to get too pretentious about this (well I have already, so might as well go the whole way) it can't help but have added weight for Babblers of a certain age detailing so intensely the loss of innocence (in the "ideals of romance" sense) of a young man at the dawn of the decade. When I hear this album it evokes my expereince of hanging out on Babble in the first 3rd of the 00s, virtual electronic protean luminous blue messageboard with virtual friends reflecting into dark suburban streets outside. Things get really classic Babble-tastic when Joe H joins for a duet on the penultimate song "Please Pardon Our Progress!"'s brainstorm miasma. Closing track "I Couldn't end it there" reminds me of Pink Floyd's "Outside the Wall" or Zappa's "A Little Green Rosetta" (but better) or the last page of 1984 with it's "calm after the storm" purgatorial mood.

Oh, and the line "Should I Be Sticking Chick Tracts into Trick-Or Treaters Snacks?" (from God Said Plastics) is surely one of the greatest tounge-twisters ever placed into the rock context. - A Smith
http://www.mediafire.com/?43ulfmyjnzr