Description:
The Soul Survivor offers a timely reminder of why he’s known, according to Motion PR at any rate, as “the hip-hop producer’s producer”. The Chocolate Boy Wonder melts genuine ‘head apathy at rap’s current bling-bling fixation with a purist’s selection of tracks, the majority of which until now haven’t heard the light of day. The artist born Peter Phillips on 21 June in Mount Vernon, New York emerges from the vaults with some true sounds from the underground.
Which means?

Pete Rock stated on as a DJ on Marley Marl’s In Control radio show on New York’s WBLS in the late ‘80s. Along with the likes of other leftfield souls such as A Tribe Called Quest and Gang Starr, Rock started to merge jazz and soul into hip hop. Dissatisifed with today’s crop of largely careerist rappers, he’s bought out this compilation showcasing material that was recorded but shelved prior to its scheduled release date or released and overlooked.

Is it much cop?
911 may have been a joke to Public Enemy, but Rock turns detective. His brief? To address the criminal neglect of these 14 tracks.
How many good tracks?
A baker’s dozen plus one. 21-7. You get the picture.
And the worst?
Dud tracks aren’t in Rock’s brief. What a label might have once viewed suspect, he shows up to be false. Especially on his own opening track ‘Give It To YA’LL’ and later collaborations with the Un and Grap Luva.
Biggest disappointment?
Rock’s reputation. He’s viewed amongst the underground fraternity as a forgotten legend. Hopefully, this album will help to address that.
Verdict:
As hip hop gets ever blander, whiter even, and predictable, this album serves to recall its illustrious past. History lessons have never been so much fun. Nor so moving. In every sense of the word.
(5/5)