#30thAnniversary – Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth “Mecca and the Soul Brother”

It was really impressive to release an EP as great as “All Souled Out” for a first project, but to reproduce that type of energy and level of Hip Hop mastery on a full length album is a whole other ball game! Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth did more than that on “Mecca and the Soul Brother”, they completely surpassed anyone’s expectations by dropping what is widely known as one the best Hip Hop albums of all time. In the same category of great duos as GURU and DJ Premier aka Gang Starr, the match between C.L. sharp but always smooth flows (he chose his name well!) and Soul Brother #1 magnificent sample collage is nothing short of incredible. Even if the album clocks in close to the 80 minute mark, there are no boring moments, thanks to the variety of subject matter, all the dope interludes and the thick, fat and melodic sound of the beats created with a multitude of samples blended in perfect harmony. Every damn track is a masterpiece, but we can’t close this little presentation without saying a word about “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)”, a dedication to their good friend Troy “Trouble T-Roy” Dixon, arguably the best Hip Hop song of all time and greatest beat ever. If you hear those horns coming in (sampled from Tom Scott’s cover of Jefferson Airplane’s “Today”), and you don’t have chills, we are not the same…

You can stream the LP, watch the videos and a couple of live performances related to this album below. But the best way to jump back in this classic is to listen to the RawSoul special 30th anniversary mix, including album cuts, remixes and tons of original jazz & soul tracks used to create this gem.