The Music Tank

20 years after Boogie Down Productions’ "Criminal Minded" and the untimely death of the group DJ/producer Scott La Rock, KRS-One unites with one of his former foes from the Juice Crew, the legendary Marley Marl, to make a statement on the path of the Hip-Hop Culture.

The album, which focuses on the pure form of lyrical content and hard-hitting beats, is properly titled "Hip-Hop Lives". The project comes into a key moment for the hip-hop scene at large. Not long ago, Nas released an album titled "Hip-Hop is dead" as in to mark a period of what the culture had become over the years. Marley & KRS were already working on a project but took this opportunit as to make a counter-statement to which Hip-Hop is ALIVE. The philosophy between the two albums seems the same. Both recognize the latent form of rap music being commercialized nowadays. Poor values, sex and drugs are vehiculated through the BET’s and MTV’s of this world. The present generation is exposed to ignorance and violence. While the basis of this culture where an expression form for the afro-americans at first, several positive movements shed the light on the possibilty of changing the state of things…

KRS-1 delivers the knowledge like always as Marley Marl lays the production all the way through, simple but with enough pound in the beats.

Check out the amazing video for the first single "Hip Hop Lives"