Juggaknots - Re:Release: Clear Blue Skies
MusicMash Rating: not rated yet
Pitchfork Media Rating: 8.2
Don't up your bids yet, web shoppers-- your wallet can breathe a huge sigh of relief. At last, the sounds of Clear Blue Skies can again grace the ears of the common man, an album only
A-Rod or B-Gates could have picked up recently. The availability of the Juggaknots’ one vinyl-only full-length had been relegated to the Net over the past few years, fetching upwards
of sixty dollars each time it was posted on eBay. Rumors of another pressing floated for some time-- in large part because the only other Fondle ‘Em LP of the era (Kool Keith and Godfather Don’s The
Cenobites) got another go-‘round in 2000-- but this year Clear Blue Skies is finally getting the King Ralph Royal Meal Deal expanded treatment, available for the first time on either CD or
double vinyl, with eleven bonus tracks, in a store near you.
Up until this point, Breezly Brewin and Buddy Slim haven’t exactly been household names, but the Bronx duo has risen to cult status through some exceptional guest appearances.
Many may remember the Brewin’s contribution to “Fire in Which You Burn”, on Company Flow’s Funcrusher Plus. If you have a reasonable excuse for missing his opening verse
(though, you don’t), perhaps he’s more recognizable as the lead role of Tariq in Prince Paul’s cinemaudio opus A Prince Among Thieves. With an added third member (Queen
Heroine), the Juggaknots also helped fill in the RZA-esque bleeps and Pterodactyl-screams of Mr. Len’s “This Morning”, the standout track on the Matador-released Pity the Fool. If all of this
slipped under your late 90s rap-o-meter, hopefully last year’s terrific comeback 12” “WKRP in NYC” jogs your memory.
I’d high-five you if these releases were all a part of your music library, but in case they aren’t, consider Re: Release your salvation. All nine tracks from the original album are collected here,
albeit in incorrect order. Call it nitpicking, but the sequencing of this LP is essential: from “The Hunt is On” to “I’m Gonna Kill You”, each song pounded into the next, creating a thick swamp of
street wisdom and relentless battle raps. Breaking up the flow with bonus tracks (read: session outtakes) that rarely last two full minutes was a mistake. Still, the masterwork remains.
“Trouble Man” is the proper Clear Blue Skies kickoff, with a distantly fading piano and a bassline that seemingly jumps the gun before the start of each measure. Buddy Slim, vocally
reminiscent of Parrish Smith, clobbers the track. Complete with sampled explosions (don’t front) Slim gets to work: “You become a sittin’ duck, but fuck it I ain’t givin’ in/ I’m livin’ trifle, the
pen and pad becomes a 12-gauge rifle.” This is pure, unadulterated, urban angst, twisted through the mind of a grizzled war veteran.
Easily the album’s highlight, the title track is curiously found as an unlisted bonus cut. This song should not go unnoticed, and the following statement is not made lightly:
“Clear Blue Skies” is one of the greatest hip-hop songs of the past decade. Breezly Brewin, through some knob tweaking, portrays both a white father and his son, quarreling over the son’s
interracial relationship. ...
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