Artifacts - Between A Rock And A Hard Place (1994) by Will Danner published on 2022-12-10T15:02:35Z Artifacts :: Between a Rock and a Hard Place :: Big Beat Records ** RapReviews "Back to the Lab" series ** as reviewed by Jason De Zilva By 1994, several Hip Hop duos had already established a high-quality standard in back-and-forth rhyming amidst unbridled chemistry and fluent exchanges that impressed upon the listener a friendship that emanated further back than simply rhyming on the block. Groups such as Run-DMC, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, EPMD, and Outkast entrenched themselves in Hip Hop as rhyming couplets wherein the sum was greater than its parts, even if the parts were still exceptional independently. At each of the aforementioned groups' peaks, classic albums resulted less so from the individual performance than the amazing fluidity sparked by complimentary flows and a vision truly shared by both members. In late 1994, the Artifacts came to embody such a description with their album "Between a Rock and a Hard Place." Similar to De La Soul and Outkast, the Artifacts were emboldened by a sense of trying to be different (or, excuse the pun, blazing a new path). Although group members Tame One (aka the Notty Headed Terror) and El The Sensai did not envision an even newer "DAISY Age" or "Dirty South," their Hip Hop utopia consisted of endless graffiti walls, raw MCing and Phillie blunts atop the dreary landscape that is New Jeruzalem (New Jersey). In essence, Artifacts had brought backpack rap to the fore with their odes to graffiti, representing a sharp shift from the gangsta rap genre and offering an infectious alternative to heads who were simply looking for great beats, rhymes and spray-painted life. Read more here: https://www.rapreviews.com/archive/BTTL_betweenarock.html Other reviews: https://timeisillmatic.me/2019/09/10/artifacts-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-october-11-1994/ http://hiphop-thegoldenera.blogspot.com/2017/05/album-review-artifacts-between-rock-and.html Tags Artifacts Big Beat/AtlanticRecords RedefinitionRecords NuJeruz NewarkNJ RealHip-Hop EastCoast BetweenARockAndAHardPlace 1994 GoldenAgeHip-Hop TameOne akatheNottyHeadedTerror ElTheSensai Artifacts - Between A Rock And A Hard Place (1994) 01. Drama (Mortal Kombat Fatality) 02. C'Mon wit da Git Down 03. Wrong Side of da Tracks 04. Heavy Amnuition 05. Attack of New Jeruzalem 06. Notty Headed Nigguhz 07. Whayback 08. Flexi wit da Tech(nique) 09. Cummin' Thru Ya F-kin Block 10. Lower da Boom 11. What Goes On 12. Dynamite Soul 13. Whassup Now Muthafucka 14. C'Mon wit da Git Down rmx ft Busta Rhymes