Gramofix (2026, 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.
More than most things these days, I do love when a 'lost' underground gem from the Golden Era of hip hop gets rereleased. The lore of The Anonymous is a little complicated, but I will so my best to briefly summarize. This album was originally released on cassette only in 1995. When it was releases in 1995, the name of the group was Vertigo, not The Anonymous. The group was made up of 3 members: An MC from New York called Vesuveo, an MC from the California Bay are called Able and a producer from the Cleveland area named Zinndeadly. Oh, and they formed in Philadelphia. I think I have that all right.
Now if you read what I write about hip hop regularly you're probably thinking that because this was released in 1995 I'm going to mention how that is the year I lost interest in hip hop as the sounds were changing and the production work in particular just didn't hit me the same way. Well you're wrong, I definitely won't bring that up. What I will bring up is that this album was recorded in 1993 and 1994, so it feels much more at home in that era of production work and because of that slots in better with the type of hip hop production that I enjoy.
And the production is great. You've got everything I'm looking for. Uptempo drums, interesting samples and a general fullness to the sound that I thought was slipping away as 1995 progressed. Lyrically both Vesuveo and Able are very excellent. You can hear a meeting of styles with an east coast and bay are MC exchanging verses and their geography and influences are apparent, but they blend together remarkably well. It feels like they were pushing each other to get better, tighter and more dynamic with their flows and it pays off big time. I really dig the way they construct their rhymes and generally keep up a faster pace as they are dropping their stories.
I certainly had no idea this cassette only release was a thing in 1995, but I am so grateful that others were paying more attention than I was able to. This is one of my favorite records that I've listened to this year and I highly recommend seeking it out if you tend to like the sort of hip hop I write about on here.
The Anonymous – Swells Of Abstract:
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