The Barrino Brothers - I Can't Believe You're Gone (1973)


In 2009, I'm happy to discover the lyrical effort brought by Raekwon and Joell Ortiz in their Crime Wave freestyles, they continue to provide high artistic standards in the true sense of the art form. I hope they continue to release standout freestyles to show future generations how to rhyme. Here you will witness the makings of the dark instrumental used in their freestyle, which is built from an great piece of 70's Soul music.

Raekwon - Crime Wave freestyle


The sample for this track comes from the 1973 album "Livin' Off The Goodness of Your Love" by The Barrino Brothers, a North Carolina-based quartet who released their one and only album under Invictus records. The sampled song entitled "I Can't Believe You're Gone", begins with a chilling guitar intro which leads into the vocal performance of the Brothers, who bring you raw emotion in the tradition of deep soul, from beginning to end. The drumming and percussion work which flows from soulful, upbeat measures into the darker chorus parts is one of my favorite elements next to the song's lyrics, for a Soul tune of this period, the level of detail in writing those specific parts is pretty outstanding to me.

Joell Ortiz - Crime Wave freestyle


For hip hop, I miss a period where there was one or a few select beats that an MC just had to freestyle over because they have the potential to be classic, like the beginning circulation of Come Clean, Protect Ya Neck, DWYCK, Shook Ones, Ain't No Nigga etc. I guess for two top-notch lyricists to choose this instrumental, it may be one of those stand out beats. I look forward to more aggressive production and classic sample choices from producers to come.