The Cenobites - The Cenobites 2xLP - Green & Yellow Vinyl (/300)

 

Downtown Music / Fat Beats (2025, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

There are few things in this world that I like more than prime, golden era Ultramagnetic MCs.  Their first three albums are one of my favorite runs in all of hip hop.  I always wanted more, but I tended to be disappointed with anything that came out after The Four Horseman.  While Kool Keith has some other interesting projects, the production never rises to level of those first three albums, so I usually end up being disappointed.

But what I didn't know was that Kool Keith had hooked up with Godfather Don and recorded a bunch of songs under the name The Cenobites.  They release an EP on Fondle 'Em in 1996 and that was pretty much it aside from some other tracks trickled out on 12"s over the following decades.  I became aware of this project a few years ago and while I found the tracks online and downloaded them, the vinyl was a bit pricey to me.  Plus I really wanted a bit more than the seven songs on the EP.

Luckily for me, my patience paid off as a double LP Cenobites collection of what I assume is every song that they could scrape together.  Clocking in at 21 songs, there are so many gems on this album.  In some ways it feels like an extension of what was happening on The Four Horsemen.  Dark jazz loops drive the production with Keith and Don trading the sort of off kilter lyrics that are everything you really want out of these two.  

As much as I love 95% of this album, I do have to call out "Kick A Dope Verse" (both versions, as there's also a remix on here).  Don't get me wrong, it's a great song and Keith and Don tear it up.  But Bobbito from The Stretch Armstrong and Bobboito radio show (and who also ran the label the EP originally came out on) shows up and delivers one of of the worst verses I have ever heard on a good track.  Sandwiched in-between Keith and Don both rocking at a high level, Bobbito sounds like a failing open mic MC that just wandered into the studio.  I have absolutely nothing but respect for everything that Stretch and Bobbito did for hip hop, but woof, this verse is epically terrible.  And you have to hear it twice because of the remix.

Anyway, I just had to get that one off my chest.  But don't let that dissuade you from grabbing this otherwise incredible album.  I could not be more thrilled that all of these songs have finally been compiled and given a quality release with full artwork and all that.  Completely essential.