Critical Beatdown

Artist: Ultramagnetic MC's
Label: Roadrunner Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Original recording remastered
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 016861829728
EAN: 0016861829728
ASIN: B000167STY

Release Date: 2004-05-18

Critical Beatdown

Related Categories:

East Coast

| Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

General

| Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

Old School

| Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

Pop Rap

| Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Watch Me Now
Ease Back
Ego Trippin' [Original 12"]
Moe Luv's Theme
Kool Keith Housing Things
Travelling at the Speed of Thought [Remix]
Feelin' It
One Minute Less
Ain't It Good to You
Funky [Remix]
Give the Drummer Some
Break North
Critical Beatdown
When I Burn
Ced-Gee (Delta Force One)
Funky [Original 12" Version][*]
Bait [Original 12" Version][*]
Chorus Line [Original 12" Version][*] - Tim Dog, Ultramagnetic MC's
Travelling at the Speed of Thought [Hip House Club Mix][*]
Ego Trippin' [Bonus Beats][*]
Mentally Mad [Original 12" Version][*]

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Customer Reviews:

Awesome Album.......2006-01-23

This is one of my favorite albums of all time. Every track on this album is great, and the extra songs are just as great as the original songs. If you like rap at all, you must buy this (if you don't already own it).

One of my favorite albums from the 80's [5 stars].......2006-01-19

Yes it is true, "Critical Beatdown" by Ultramagnetic MC's is one of my favorite albums I've heard. The Ultramagnetic MC's consisted of Kool Keith, Ced Gee, Moe Luv, and TR Love. Kool Keith and Ced Gee would be the vocalists in the group, Moe Luv was the primary DJ and TR Love was the their back up DJ. Funky production was curteosy of Ced Gee.

At a time in 1988 when rap was being surfaced with political views like Public Enemy, and the dawn of gangsta rap like N.W.A. were making an impact in its culture, Ultramagnetic MC's were down in the Ultra Lab, creating an album to let listeners know that rap wasn't just for that concept. They wern't trying to sound like gangsta rappers or getting involved in movements many movents that were going on at the time. This group were just out to show off their skills and make a name for themselves. With banging singles like "Ego Trippin", and "Funky (remix)", Ultramagnetic MC's proved to listeners they were just as good as any other rap group out there.

On to the "Critical Beatdown" album. Listening to Kool Keith on tracks like "Kool Keith Housing Things", I have a feeling that he was confortable with the way he was rhyming, as he rode each beat with ease. It seemed like there was not one time I was scratching my head wondering what in the world he was saying. Each rhyme he said was making perfect sense. Ced Gee was just as good as Kool Keith when it came to him behind the mic. A good example would be the chance he gets to shine on his solo "Ced Gee (Delta Force One)". His production was great also. Ced claimed that BDP's Scott La Rock helped with his production skills, teaching him how to use the SP-12 (for those that don't know, thats a machine that makes drum beats), and tought him how to chop up samples. Obviously Ced Gee got the hang real quickly, because it would greatly show inside of his production. DJ Moe Luv scratches would play a part in this album also. There are a lot of times when Moe Love would get his chance to shine, like in the middle "Ego Trippin" as he would get some cuts in, as well as "Moe Luv's Theme". TR Love would DJ in the album also, but not as much, but he does get a verse in the song "A Chorus Line", which I will get into. All songs here shine in a unique way, which is why I enjoy this album.

Now I bought this around this time last year, and saw that it was remastered, and six bonus tracks were added. Tracks 1-15 were on the origonal, and 16-21 are the ones that were added in. The origonal 12" version of "Funky" is dope but I like the remix better that appears in the album. "Bait" was a promo that was used on the DJ Red Alert Show back in 1988. The beat to that song was sampled by EPMD on the song "Brothers On My Jock" and on Ghostface Killah's "Daytona 500" later on in time. "A Chorus Line" once again proved why Ultra was one of the greatest groups. This time they introduce an emcee named Tim Dog (you might recognize him from the notorious song "F**k Compton" which sparked the response from Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg back around 1991/'92) to do the first verse to make a name for himself. As I said earlier, TR gets a verse in the song also starting off with "Hold the beat, stop the beat, drop the beat...". My personal favorite is the "Traveling At The Speed Of Thought (Hip House Mix)", because it comes like a dance party track, but at the same time keeps it's hip hop style while sampling Afrika Bambatta's "Planet Rock".

To think, one day last year, a 19 year old teenager came across this album at a music store by accident. I really had no idea who Ultra or Kool Keith was or the way that it sounded, but I'm glad that I came across this, because it's now one of my top 10 favorite hip hop albums ever. Not often are classics like this are remastered and reissued, so if you're looking for some classic old school 80's hip hop albums, then this would be a perfect addition to your collection. As for Ultramagnetic, this album reached #1 in Rap's top 15, and #57 in Bilboard's top Rap and R&B charts back in '89, according to the booklet inside the album. They would go to realease 2 more albums: "Funk Your Head Up" in 1992, "The Four Horsemen" in 1993, and the "B-Side Companion" in 1997 that some remixed tracks appear on this album. I haven't heard "Funk Your Head Up" or "The B-Side Companion" just yet, but I believe that "The Four Horsemen" is another Ultramagnetic classic that should be heard. The group would split up and Kool Keith would do an album with Tim Dog called "Ultra: Big Time", and realease many albums under many aliases (Dr. Octagon, Dr. Dooom, Rev Tom, and many more) as well as his own name. Also there are a few bootleg Ultramagnetic mixtapes that Ced Gee released, showcasing some of the group's earlier work, before they became popular. But from what I heard Ultramagnetic reunited about a year ago, so thats some good news. As I said before this right here is a pure classic that should be heard by hip hop heads, old and young. Pick up your copy and enjoy.

Lyrics: A+
Production: A+
Musical Vibes: A+
Overall: A+

My Favorite Tracks: Ease Back, Ego Trippin, Kool Keith Housing Things, Feelin' It, Funky (both versions), Critical Beatdown, Ced-Gee (Delta Force One), A Chorus Line, Traveling At The Speed Of Thought (Hip House Club Mix), and Mentally Mad

dont say its for sale if its on backorder.......2005-09-09

they said it would ship in 48 hours and when i ordered it, a couple of days later they said it was on backorder. when i asked them what day they would get them in, they said they didnt know. so i cancelled my order, and it took at least 2 weeks for me to get my money back in my account and i had to call amazon to get it all straightened out

"A groundbreaking Hip-Hop masterpiece"!!.......2005-08-27

This is the "RE-MASTERED" edtion of the ultimate, groundbreaking classic "CRITICAL BEATDOWN". This is one of the top 5, best Rap albums ever made in the history of Hip-Hop music. Very few come close, or can be put in the same category. Ultramagnetic is so ill, I can't find words to describe their dopeness and uniqueness. The production by Ced-Gee (producer of the classic "CRIMINAL MINDED") is flawless! Kool Kieth kills it with his trademark outer-space, mad scientifical flow. The beats are incredible! And this CD edit. is loaded with extra tracks not found on the original release. A Hip-Hop masterpiece!! No self respecting Hip-Hop head would be caught with out this CD in his collecton!

1988: Year Of Hip Hop Classics.......2004-11-04

Damn! Took them long enough to do this one. It's still the same album, just simply adjusted for the Ultra fans. Nice touch replacing the earlier short version of "Ego Trippin'" (which cut originally into "Moe Love's Theme") with the full 12" mix. This album still kills a lot of the so-called standard Hip Hop records of today (hell, the crap they play on the radio nowadays is so filtered, all I listen to is Old-School...) These brothers came up from nothing and put their hearts into everything here. They didn't talk about sellin' crack or pimpin' hoes or money and bling-bling all over their albums. Ultra mixes reality with imagination and makes joints crazy enough to keep the listeners interested. My favorite part of the album is when they kick it into high gear on track 9, "Ain't It Good To You," but to this day I can't stop playing, "When I Burn," one of two solo joints for Kool Keith. The most impressive of this collection are the bonus tracks using the digital masters (who'd thought these tracks would be preserved so well after 16 years?!) Well, I have the same problem as the others, but slightly different. Why the Hip House remix of "Travelling...?" I wish they would have used the Extended Hip Hop remix at least, if not the 1986 version of that track! For the most part, You can't satisfy everybody. They still did heckerfresh work to this classic and, hopefully, Ced Gee stop bulls***in' and get back into production because the industry is in desparate need of his space-age groceries. Next mission: Funk Your Head Up: Remastered w/ 2 bonus tracks first time on CD! (Yeah, Right...)

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