New Kingdom • Heavy Load (1993)

New Kingdom only released two albums, both long out of print and both extremely good. I give you their first album here 'Heavy Load' from back in the days when I found Hip Hop worth more than 50 cents. • Stylo


Complete with their "Freedom Bus," afros and long-ass sideburns, these two New York homeboys (Nosaj and Sebastian) look like they're refugees from the '60s, but slam down some hardcore shit. The whole thing is real "retro," especially the old-style samples of stuff like the James Gang, Miles Davis and Grand Funk Railroad -- no sampled metal or hip-hop anywhere here, which is cool.
These two pot-smoking brothers are environmentally-conscious, too. On "Mother Nature" and "Good Times," they attack the big corporations for fucking up the planet, while tossing in some reggae-style rhythms on the slow, stomping thunder of "Mother Nature."
I like the use of unusual instruments, too -- there's what sounds like a steel drum on "Mother Nature" and a harmonica on "Half Seas Over."
The even do some decent rhymes about their favorite car (a Ford Maverick), in a deep, way-up-front groan over some heavy tribal noise. On the mellow tip, "Lazy Smoke" is a doped-up pot dream with some smooth sax on the side, and "Mars" jumps from fast hardcore to psychedelic, jazzy swirling.
The more I hear of this, the more I like it. The liner notes say they're inspired by everybody from Houston's own Geto Boys to Black Flag to Jolt Cola, but they don't sound like anybody else. New Kingdom aren't everyday rappers -- they've got a style all their own, ripped partly from the '60s but changed and made new. • Jeremy Hart

1 Good Times 

2 Headhunter 

3 Frontman 

4 Mad Mad World
5 Mama And Papa

6 Cheap Thrills

7 Mars

8 Are You Alive?

9 Half Seas Over

10 Mother Nature

11 Calico Cats

12 Mighty Maverick

13 Lazy Smoke

Jason Furlow [a.k.a. Nosaj] • vocals

Sebastian Laws • vocals

Scott Harding [a.k.a. Scotty Hard] • turntables
   
Produce by The Lumberjacks, New Kingdom, Scott Harding

Label: Gee Street
Catalog#: 74321 16649 2
Format: 320 kbps
Country: Germany
Released: 1993
Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop
Style: Hip Hop