Legacy of Blood

Recently Babygrande Records repressed arguably one of the best underground hip hop releases of all time, and one of my all time personal favorites "Legacy of Blood" by Jedi Mind Tricks. Just a brilliant, stunning album from front to finish with some of the most brutal raps over monster beats. This album is truly perfection! I've listened to this thing so much over the years I can receipt every lyric to every song pretty much by now. To me, this was Jedi Mind's best release and I don't know if they can ever reach the same level as this one. Above is my original pressing that I got in 2004 on black vinyl. I can't believe it's been almost 10 years since this came out? It just seems like yesterday, and now I'm feeling a bit old just thinking about it. 

You can see the front and back art appears are a slightly different on the new repress, so for anyone looking to buy one on ebay that is the difference between the old and new copies.

Babygrande hit a home run on the new repress with the limited orange vinyl. Goes perfect with the fire on the cover. I don't really know the background behind this picture but that's a pretty wild picture. 

On the repress the front art appears zoomed in while the back art appears zoomed out. Also the logos/bar code etc moved to the bottom of the back.

Check out one of my favorite tracks "Saviorself" feat. Killah Priest. Vinnie dropping some serious history lessons over a Spanish guitar inspired beat.



"This is war rap similar to Jacob's Ladder, walk around like Thor with the sacred hammer... and you don't really want the guns out, we some vampire motherfuckers burn when the suns out."

Heavy Metal Kings

Ok, so follow me here. "Heavy Metal Kings" is a group consisting of Ill Bill and Vinnie Paz from Jedi Mind Tricks. Before they were an official group, this was a single put out in 2006 for Jedi Mind Tricks LP "Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell" which featured Ill Bill. At the time the single was pressed on plain blue vinyl and has been extinct forever. I never even remember hearing about it and they are pretty impossible to find. Turns out, that 100 copies turned out on a turquoise vinyl as a pressing plant mistake and were held back by Babygrande. They just reissued these this year and they sold out right away, but luckily I was able to snag one before they were gone. This is a true piece of rap history and I'm glad I scored a copy!

Looking AMAZING on turquoise marble out of /100. This is a classic track to a classic album. Vinnie Paz and Ill Bill, does it get any better than that? For you hardcore kids out there, both of these rappers have been down with the hardcore scene for years and give shout outs in a bunch of their lyrics. If you don't know Jedi Mind Tricks, Vinnie Paz, or Ill Bill then I suggest you go check that shit out ASAP. Below is the original music video for when this came out.

Heavenly Divine... Steadily Shine in '99

Here is one I had to go diggin' in the crates for. When I bought this almost 10 years ago and I had the choice of getting it on CD or LP, I am glad I opted for the LP. As a 15 year old kid, I am glad I had the insight of downloading the shit for free off the internet and owning a copy of it on vinyl. In my room I had a little shitty CD boom box, but for my record player I had my dads old stereo set up with two big ass Technic speakers and an old Technic record player. So basically I was faced with either A) listening to CD's on a shitty boom box or in my car, or B) listening to vinyl on some big ass speakers and rocking the fuck out. Needless to say, this very record got the neighbors coming pounding on my door telling me to keep that shit down on more than one occasion. 

Some say that Jedi Mind Tricks "Violent by Design" is their classic album. I believe it's Legacy of Blood, then Violent by Design, but to each its own. This is not the original 1999 pressing on Superegular Recordings, but the 2003 repress on Babygrande. Either way, you can't really find this release for under $50 dollars anymore. For a while these were going on ebay for upwards of $100 dollars!

 Here is my copy of the "Heavenly Divine" single on Superegular Recordings. Heavenly Divine is definitely the most well known song on the album, and probably still Jedi Mind Tricks most famous song. When this LP was recorded JMT consisted of Vinnie Paz, Jus Allah and Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind on production. After this release Jus Allah had a falling out from the group, and rejoined years later in 2008 on "A History of Violence". But its like when he came back his voice sounded all weird and way too gruff, so to me this release and his one solo album are the only releases where he actually sounds good. Check out Heavenly Divine below:

And check out one of Vinnie Paz's most recent solo tracks. For those of you that don't know Vinnie Paz is all about that hardcore shit, check him out repping that Trapped Under Ice and Terror merch: