Innercity Griots, the second album from Freestyle Fellowship, is perhaps the essential West Coast left-field rap album of the early ’90s. Released in 1993 on 4th & Broadway, it’s a towering, progressive hip-hop masterpiece that expanded rap’s boundaries through lyrical elevation and production innovation. Their talent was ahead of everybody else by light years. This is pure b-boy jazz.

The original single vinyl LP is now hideously scarce, and of course the sound suffers from not being officially released as a double. This Be With re-issue fixes both problems, and for completeness also includes “Pure Thought” from the CD version of the album. This incredible display of imaginative hip-hop sounds better than ever.

Remastered by Simon Francis for double vinyl and cut by Pete Norman, we hope this long-overdue re-issue of Innercity Griots satisfies the legions of fans that have since been bewitched by the majesty of this record. It should also introduce some new listeners to yet another overlooked classic.

TRACKLIST:

A1. Blood

A2. Bullies Of The Block

A3. Everything's Everything

A4. Shammy's

A5. Heat Mizer

B1. Six Tray

B2. Danger

B3. Inner City Boundaries

B4. Bomb Zombies

C1. Cornbread

C2. Way Cool

C3. Hot Potato

C4. Mary

C5. Park Bench People

D1. Heavyweights

D2. Tolerate

D3. Respect Due

D4. Pure Thought