DJ PMX – The Chronicle II – Prologue Of The Original – Review

DJ PMX - THE CHRONICLE II Prologue Of THE ORIGINAL

Release Date: March 14, 2012

Track Listing

  1. Bad Moon feat. Young Dais, Simon, Two-J & Hi-D
  2. Flash Back feat. Natsu
  3. Machi Moyou feat. AK-69
  4. The Phoenix (Will Rise)
  5. Rep My City feat. THA DSC, Kayzabro, Big Ron, Richee & Koz
  6. Lady Luxury feat. Hi-D & AK-69
  7. Before You feat. Big Ron
  8. Westside Freak feat. Two-J
  9. One Love feat. Maccho
  10. Endless Road feat. Zang Haozi
  11. Kaze Fuku Doyou feat. Say
  12. Memories…
  13. Fantastic Voyage feat. HI-D
  14. Jackin 4 Tha Beats
  15. Summertime In The SFV
  16. 4 My City 2 feat. Utamaru, Dabo, Young Dais, Two-J, Mr. Oz Christy

Review

DJ PMX. Never heard of him right? I guess it depends on whether Japanese Hip-Hop is your thing. As a member of DS455 he helped pioneer “Japanese West Coast Hip-Hop”. He’s been around since the late 1980’s so he’s no spring chicken. But with all that experience comes this album, which is a compilation of his best material to date.

Don’t go into this expecting miracles and Japanese versions of the glory days of Death Row. This is far from that and to be honest, that’s pretty damn hard to replicate.

Instead go into this with an open mind for a sound that was a huge thing back in the day. It’s definitely a throwback to the American G-Funk sound and it will probably bring back memories of good times when Hip-Hop didn’t suck.

Yes, there was such a time for those who grew up in the era that influenced the type of Hip-Hop contained on this album.

So for those accustomed to the modern day version of the genre this is going to sound like old people’s music. But it’s good old people’s music for the most part. A lot of the tracks are straight up party joints and club jams with the odd R&B influenced slow jam thrown in to mix things up.

Songs like Westside Freak, Jackin 4 Tha Beats and 4 My City II take the west coast influences to heart sounding very similar to the heyday of the genre. Westside Freak is some damn funky stuff and is indicative of the type of jams that got the floor moving when I was Hip-Hop loving youth.

Other tracks such as Fantastic Voyage and Summertime In The SFV are covers of songs by Coolio and The Dove Shack respectively.

The Fantastic Voyage cover is pretty awful sadly.Yeah, so maybe it ain’t all good in the ‘hood. Summertime in the SFV on the other hand, is very faithful to the original and is a great chilled piece of Hip-Hop sweetness. It doesn’t have to be all gangsta 24/7.

If you want something a bit harder then give Machi Moyou, The Phoenix (Will Rise) or Rep My City a go. Those should bring enough to satisfy your inner Boyz N’ The Hood wannabe thug.

For the Hip-Hop aficionado a listen to this may stir accusations of The Chronicle II – Prologue Of The Original – being a rip-off of a popular American sound. But what these days is not a rip-off of something else?

The return to a sound gone by is actually refreshing given the state of Hip-Hop these days. If you’re on the fence about the genre or just don’t like it this won’t change your mind. Otherwise Hip-Hop heads or curious parties about Japan’s take may find this worth investing some time in.

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