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This album was released on July 22nd in 1997. This is the debut album by Company Flow, which is a group comprised of Bigg Jus, Mr. Len & El-P. I’m starting an El-P Marathon now, so that’s why I’m doing this shit. I’ve been wanting to check this album out for a minute tho. It’s considered a classic album due to it’s influence in the underground and experimental Hip Hop scene. I’m expecting it to be amazing. El-P is an incredible artist. Company Flow is a cool name for a group. The album cover is dope af. There’s really no reason for me to not expect greatness from this project. I don’t think I’ve ever heard any of Bigg Jus or Mr. Len’s work. Bigg Jus is a rapper & Mr. Len is a DJ. I don’t really have anything else to say before listening. I’m just really excited. Every song is produced by El-P, except where noted.

Track 1: Bad Touch Example

Alright here we go. It’s starting… Okay, this is already weird as hell. Bigg Jus is goin’ in on the first verse. Ooohh shit… Yup. Yup. This is for me. This is my kinda shit. I’m gonna love this album. Fuck. I love this feeling lmao. I always get so excited the first time I hear shit like this. I love it. I don’t even know how to describe it. I mean, it’s not so weird that I can’t enjoy it. It’s different tho. I wish I could explain it better. The beat isn’t that different, but the way Bigg Jus is flowing over it is crazy. This is so fucking dope. He slaughtered that first verse. “Make most crews disappear like blackheads on Oxy creme / Under the lights I fuck up mics with my uncanny ability to heat seek / Through brain facilities with the science of microchemistry / This history of my hip hop is too deep to be dissected / If you can’t recollect don’t even half step or try to test it.” Gaaawwwwwd DAMN. This beat is fantastic too. Oh fuck. OH FUCK. Here comes El-P. Oh my fucking God. This is some of the dopest shit I’ve ever heard in my life. This shit was made specifically for people like me. My gawd. I think I’m having an orgasm. “Triple felon emcee minus the melanin / When I bomb it’s the type of shit to make Baby Jessica jump in the well again / Sunshines on rain acid, El-P the battle master / Lactose breaking down your fucking fractals till you’re flaccid.” Yes. Yes. Yes. I definitely fuck with this song. I can already tell this is gonna be some of the best shit I’ve ever heard. This song is absolutely dope af. 5/5

Track 2: 8 Steps To Perfection

This beat is dope af. I’m getting some very slight Reggae-ish vibes from the production. It’s got a very smooth rhythm. Jus is rappin’ his fuckin’ ass off right now. Just look at this shit. “Transistor blister, feedback freak the impedance / Funk flow, we expose frequencies in sequence / Napalm gets dropped long range like fiber optics / Check the rhyme activity; your skills is microscopic.” This shit is crazy. Honestly, I think even Slug couldn’t have topped this guy at his peak. Can you imagine that? Slug at his peak vs. Bigg Jus in a rap battle… Gotdamn… El-P murdered this shit too. “Rusty goner weasel painting beats on an easel / Shoot a head up; what, bitch? You’re boxing shadows / Look out my way, you’ll pull the breath out your battle / Breaking your double helix and now the shit is single.” Nobody raps like this. I fucking live for this shit. I should really take off points for that F bomb from El-P, but this is just too good… Bigg Jus came through again at the end and tore the final verse apart. Yes. This shit is dope af. 5/5

Track 3: Collude / Intrude Feat. J-Treds

I wasn’t able to find much information about this J-Treds guy, but apparently he was a member of a group called The Indelible MCs. His most popular song is called Make It Happen. I wish I knew his full government name. Whatever, it doesn’t matter. The song is starting now. Oh fucking shit. Oh my fucking fuck. Y’all. El-P’s flow on this first verse is bananas. Gotdamn. Lmao. I’m so happy right now. This beat is dope af too. Jesus fucking Christ. El-P is a goddamn monster on the mic. This is insanity. “Instigate lyrics, then back fell another MC / Who thought ’cause he was dipped in powder blue that he could rock past El / Got your Hip Hop essence out of the Cross Colors catalog with analog technology / Ask L. Ron Hubbard to break down my Scientology.” Good fucking lord. I can’t put into words what the fuck El did on this track. He annihilated that first verse. My gawd. J-Treds is goin’ in now. Yeah. His verse was really fucking great too. I’m personally more impressed by what El did on this song, but J-Treds still murdered it. El’s goin’ in again. God fucking damn. “Fuck Time Warner and it’s affiliates for runnin’ that wannabe Big Willie shit / Leave those fancy clothes up to the Pope / List all personal possessions in your liner note / While I connect wreck genuinely cuttin’ through these red ropes.” This dude is on a whole other level. J-Treds came through and murdered this shit again at the end. “We do this one time so catch it / Two of the illest and unsigned / Lethal separate but combined / Friction created a frontline environment / Got you stepping, trying to evade us busting caps in your thoughts.” This song is formatted as a battle between El & J-Treds. I definitely gotta give it to El-P, but it’s not like J-Treds was wack or anything. He killed this shit. El-P just wasn’t gonna let himself got slaughtered on his own track tho. I definitely fuck with this song. It’s dope af. 5/5

Track 4: Blind

Jus & El are trading verses on this song right now. The beat is dope. The first verse was nice. The hook was kinda weird at first, but I like it. The scratches sound really good. The song just ended. Huh. You know, I really don’t have anything interesting to say about this one. I really enjoyed it, but it’s definitely my least favorite track so far. Bigg Jus & El-P were both spittin’ their asses off, but the more musical aspects of this track didn’t really do much for me. I still really enjoyed it tho. This is dope. 4/5

Track 5: Silence

This beat is dope. Bigg Jus is goin’ the fuck in. He killed that first verse. This hook is really fucking nice too. The scratches from Mr. Len sound great. Jus is goin’ in again on the second verse. I think this is a solo track from him. “Our father up in heaven control to uproot dark ruthless demigod / Notorious sets in half that it can’t be attacked by entering the dragon’s path / And you won’t last in the rugged badlands of the math.” Wow. I don’t really have much to say about this track either. The structure is pretty straightforward. It was just two fantastic verses and a dope hook from Bigg Jus. I really enjoyed this song, but it didn’t amaze me like the first few songs did. The beat was nice, but I wasn’t blown away by it. This is still a very dope song tho. I fuck with this. 4/5

Track 6: Legends

This beat is really fucking good. You can tell that the production was handled by the same person who did the beats for The Cold Vein. It has kind of a similar dirty, lo-fi sound. El-P is ripping this shit apart right now. “Denomination of commonly monstrous / Caution blow the unit’s sensation / Fucking with your theology like Darwinism in the Bible Belt / When I felt demagogueous, bogus spit kill abolish.” Holy fucking shit. He absolutely slaughtered this track. The whole song is just him goin’ in on one long ass verse. “I can range from cop killer to rapist to presidential assassin if I chose / Simply for the sake of the derangement, but I don’t / And for the specs on my non-technologic pre-produce for lessons / The tune caress tunes of the legends.” Yes. I definitely fuck with this track. He snapped on this song. It’s dope af. 5/5

Track 7: Help Wanted

This is an interlude. Some guy’s talking about how they need to murder a fuck load of citizens in order to “save the country’s economy.” I don’t have anything to say about this track. I got nothing out of this.

Track 8: Population Control Feat. R.A. The Rugged Man

El-P’s goin’ the fuck off a cappella right now. Oh SHIT. Gotdamn. When the percussion came in just now my face had a seizure. Oh man… This beat is incredible. Good lord. El-P is a genius. He spit his fucking ASS off on that first verse. Lmao. That was crazy. “I don’t try to be different; I am / So inevitably my style will survive when your now turns to then.” Oh shit… Oh no… Please… Please, God… R.A. The Rugged Man’s yelling in the background during the hook. Please… PLEASE. Please tell me he has a verse. I swear to God if his only contribution to this song is that annoying ass yelling in the background, I will slit my wrists. Just kidding. I won’t do that. I’ll be very disappointed tho. This production is crazy. Bigg Jus is goin’ in now. Man… These dudes are insane. Jus killed it. Wooooow. Of course. I shouldn’t be surprised. I should’ve known a verse from R.A. would’ve been too good to be true. Fuck you. This song is still insane either way. El-P & Jus tore shit down. This is dope af. 5/5

Track 9: Lune TNS (Prod. Bigg Jus)

This beat is dope. I guess this is a solo track from Bigg Jus. He’s goin’ in about the graffiti scene. This is cool. I mean, I’m not really that interested in the content, but it’s still a good song. The beat is nice, and his flow is cool too. Actually… Hmm… Honestly, I don’t really know if I like this song. The beat’s cool, but… That’s kinda the only thing I like about this song. “Straight up, for niggas who don’t understand / Obviously this wasn’t made for you, so fuck you.” Oh okay then. I guess I’m just not the target audience, so fuck me. 3/5

Track 10: Definitive

This beat is dope af. Gotdamn. El-P is fuckin’ killin’ the first verse. “I’m convinced future MCs are sending robots back in time / As we speak to kill my mother before I’m born; be warned.” Okay, this is a solo El-P track. The second verse was dope af. The scratches from Mr. Len are nice. The final verse was crazy. El-P slaughtered this shit. It’s got a very straightforward structure. It’s just three fantastic verses with a short break in between each one. I have no problems with this song. This is dope af to me. 5/5

Track 11: Lencorcism (Prod. Mr. Len)

Okay, this is just a 36 second instrumental interlude from Mr. Len. It was cool, but it’s not something I’d ever listen to again. There’s no reason for me to not delete this. MAYBE if it was longer than 36 seconds I would consider keeping it, but nah. This did nothing for me. I’m not gonna rate it since it isn’t really a full song.

Track 12: 89.9 Detrimental

This is the audio of a radio freestyle that El-P did. I don’t know if I should give this a rating… It’s not really a song, and you can tell that it’s ripped straight from the radio. The verse from El-P is fantastic, but I don’t think I should give this a rating.

Track 13: Vital Nerve Feat. BMS

Okay, this song has the same beat that El-P was freestyling over on the previous track. It’s dope. He’s rippin’ this first verse. “Doc Jekyll when I burn your paragraph down to a haiku / So Tootsie Roll the fuck back to your seat ’cause I don’t like you / I got a hundred beats, all nicer than your joint / Karaoke MCs need not receive Gs that’s the whole point.” The hook from BMS is cool. El did his thing on the second verse and now BMS is comin’ in right behind him. His verse was pretty good. He has a much more traditional flow than El-P or Bigg Jus, who is nowhere to be found on this song. The final verse was great. This is a really good song. The repetitive instrumental got old pretty quickly tho. Every verse on this song is great, but the more musical aspects of this track kinda left something to be desired. It’s still a good track tho. I fuck with this one. 4/5

Track 14: Tragedy Of War (In III Parts)

This beat is really dope. Bigg Jus is on the first verse. He killed it. “My complexity weaves fourth-dimensional in your mind / Check the index under ego smashin’ / Propaganda bashin’, meetin’ the merciless / Pry apart your bourgeoise industry functions.” Oh shit. Okay. Yes. The way the beat switched up after his verse was fucking awesome. Damn. The way Mr. Len mixed this shit is amazing. This is so fucking dope. This beat is incredible. El-P spazzed on that final verse. Yeah. This is definitely one of my favorite tracks so far. This is dope af. 5/5

Track 15: The Fire In Which You Burn Feat. Breeze Brewin’ & J-Treds

This beat isn’t bad. It’s really minimalistic. Breeze Brewin’ is goin’ in on the first verse. He did his thing. His flow kinda took some getting used to. Lyrically this song is really confrontational. J-Treds’ verse was dope af. El-P’s verse was crazy. “Got my name up in your mouth like cock or gingivitis / When every rhyme becomes the official new blueprint for wannabe writers / Catch a smack to the face on principle / Even when I say nothing it’s a beautiful use of negative space.” Jus closed this shit out with another monstrous verse. Each MC slaughtered this song. The production was kinda underwhelming, but aside from that I really fuck with this song. This is dope. 4/5

Track 16: Krazy Kings

Wooah… Okay… This is one of the best beats on the whole album. This shit is dope af. It’s like smooth, dark, heavy & lo-fi all at the same time. It sounds like there’s a vocal effect on Bigg Jus too. It sounds cool. The first verse was great. “You couldn’t hang if you was bit by a radioactive spider / I’m intrigued, your lackluster broken tarnished style is unkempt and wild and causing mayhem / The battle rhymer mixed with tonic and El-P is fucking lethal / Like an African disease killing people.” The hook isn’t bad. Okay, this is a solo track from Jus. The second verse was great. This is definitely one of my favorite songs so far. The final verse was dope. I definitely fuck with this track. This song is dope af. 5/5

Track 17: Last Good Sleep (Co-Prod. Mr. Len)

This beat is dope af. “At night I cover my ears in tears / The man downstairs must have drank too many beers.” Oh shit. Okay, this is already the most serious song on the album. This is one of the only tracks on the album that isn’t about murdering wack rappers. El’s goin’ in about how his mother got remarried, and entered an abusive relationship. “Now you’re all up in the family tree, come broken nuclear / With termites corroded in your veins and elected to drown the pain / But the pain couldn’t quite die with a thrown back whiskey sour / Puritan, crushing Moms between rocks for at least an hour.” Woah… That female vocal sample sounds really creepy, but in a really cool way. This is crazy. This beat is perfect for the lyrical content of the song. It just sounds empty and hopeless. This is fucked up. “‘You’ll never see him again‘ / Yeah, but I see him every night / And cover my ears in tears as he beats his fucking wife.” Wow. Pretty dark stuff. This is incredible. I definitely fuck with this song. This is dope af. 5/5

Track 18: Info Kill II

This beat is fucking amazing. It sounds like something you’d hear in an old sci-fi movie. Bigg Jus killed the first verse. Man, this is awesome. This is already one of my favorite tracks. El-P fuckin’ snapped on that second verse. That was crazy. I don’t really have much to say about this one. It’s got a very simple structure. It’s just two fantastic verses with some scratches in between. I don’t have any problems with this one. This is dope af. 5/5

Track 19: Funcrush Scratch (Prod. Mr. Len)

This is an instrumental from Mr. Len. It’s really fuckin’ good. I don’t know if I should give it a rating tho. Yeah, I’ll just treat this like a skit or something. For what it’s worth, this beat is really fuckin’ dope.

Final Thoughts:

This album is amazing. There’s not a single bad song on this project. Bigg Jus & El-P are fucking lyrical monsters. Seriously these guys are fucking insane. Just from this album, I have no problem saying that they’re two of the greatest MCs of all time. The production may be a little dated for some people, but I didn’t really have a problem with most of it. It’s very experimental compared to the other shit that was dropping in the late 90s. It sounds like the aliens on the album cover produced it. You need to hear this album. It’s just a collection of songs with two unbelievably talented MCs murdering bizarre instrumentals with unorthodox flows. This album is dope af.

Favorite Song: Info Kill II

Least Favorite Song: Lune TNS

Verdict:

92%

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