N.O.R.E - Drunk Uncle Mixtape
Forgive my lateness in discovering this hot mixtape, but even at this late stage it is very deserving of a mention. And so if anyone else like me let this slip by them, you can now thank me...
Any real hip-hop head will instantly know who N.O.R.E, aka Noreaga, is. Not only was he one of the early pioneers of what was essentially the third wave of Hip-Hop- the 1990's scene, which followed on from the first and second waves in the 70's and 80's respectively, but he's maintained a constant presence ever since, popping up repeatedly over the years in a variety of guises; showcasing his early hardcore style, blessing us with his later pop efforts, dominating a whole different genre with his Reggaeton flavours, bringing through fresh talent and introducing new artists to the public, and more and more...
Now if I'm honest whilst I have always loved NORE, I've never been a dedicated fan of him until recently, in the sense that I never set out to listen to his work specifically or dedicated time to browsing through his body of work, but actually my exposure to him was mostly a kind of secondary buzz, via other artists. That's not to say that I hadn't heard a lot of his work or wasn't very aware of his skills, for a real hip hop fan it would be almost impossible to miss him completely. If you look back to the 1990's and the emergence of the modern style of hip-hop, Queens NY was a massive influence on the game, imprinting its native style on the music and producing a lot of the early talents of that era and NORE being a Queens native, of course he did frequently pop up on other artist's tracks.
And of course you can't have made it through any serious exploration of 90's hip-hop without coming across CNN (the rap duo made up of Capone N Noreaga) and being exposed to their raw urban style and hardcore rapping skills. It was clear from the start that CNN were authentic and worthy of respect when they had Tragedy Khadafi working with them on their debut single, but still I never really went off and spent the time to run down the whole CNN discography or check out Capone and NORE's solo work like I usually do with any new artist I come across. That's not necessarily a comment on their music, I did it with quite a few artists for no specific reason, they just slipped through the cracks until I re-discovered them later on.
So with NORE, over the years I was well aware of his solo success and I frequently caught him on features, where I did of course always appreciate him, but what got me looking into him in more detail recently was the podcast he now does with DJ EFN, called Drink Champs. It started around early 2016 and is basically NORE and DJ EFN getting drunk and questioning their guests who are hip-hop stars; rappers, producers, record label execs, anyone connected with the game. They have had amazing guests on the show, all kinds of cool people, which I think is a testament to how cool and respected the two are themselves, and through watching many of these episodes I've gotten to see what a character NORE actually is.
Not only does he love his drink and drugs, and have all the character (and associated stories) that goes along with that, but he is very funny, insightful, thoughtful, entertaining, knowledgeable, interesting, and basically just a great star to watch. He's one of those types of people you can't really describe to someone else, they just have to see it to understand it. Of course with his age and career progression, the actual music has taken a bit of a back seat and I think he even quit for a while, but anyhow that doesn't seem to have lasted and he is thankfully still dipping his toes into the art.
So in the last couple of months I've taken to watching a lot of the Drink Champs podcast, new and old episodes. In a few of the old episodes I heard them shouting out NORE's Drunk Uncle project, and I also recently watched the video for one of the songs off the mixtape, then later heard another one of the songs, and so I thought it was about time I checked the damn mixtape out, especially considering it actually came out almost a year ago, March 2016.
It is truthfully a beast of a mixtape, it's got a ton of features on it from people like Dave East, A$AP Ferg, Rick Ross, Kool G Rap, French Montana- all kinds of people. Plus dope production from people like Hazardis Soundz, Butch Rock, Swizz Beats and a ton of laugh-out-loud skits to break up the action. Like anything NORE does, the flavour is so varied and hard to pin down that I can't really say that the mixtape has one overall vibe- it's a nice mix of cheerful, dark, gangster and party beats all blessed with NORE's trademark care-free, husky flow.
Definitely worth checking out the mixtape. And subscribe to the damn podcast if you haven't already!
Stand-out tunes for me on the Mixtape were:
Queens, a bubbly, melodic tribute to Queens NY featuring Kool G Rap, Royal Flush and Nature. NORE's flow at the start is crazy!
Moments, a kind of emotional, sweet, nostalgic beat, topped with NORE rhyming about life's significant moments.
Slime Season, a pulsating, dark, rhythmic beat, featuring A$AP Ferg and Sanogram. The lyrics are on some braggadocious, arrogant, gangster shit.
