Chambermusik Records
2009
The Outfit Lp (Explicit)
About This Album
New York City has a long history of giving us rappers who love flowing for the sake of flowing. That's only natural; the Big Apple, after all, is where hip-hop started and where the original b-boys first made their mark back in the late '70s. So it stands to reason that N.Y.C. is always going to have some MCs who are obsessed with rhyming technique and are mainly concerned with showing off their verbal dexterity (as opposed to a rapper's top priority being, say, a sociopolitical agenda, sexploitation, or a lot of thug/gangsta posturing). And that flow-for-the-sake-of-flow approach is alive and well on Phil Anastasia's The Outfit LP, which thrives on a New York b-boy aesthetic. Anastasia's perspective is New York b-boy all the way -- not West Coast gangsta, not hip-house, not Dirty South, Florida bass, or crunk, but straight-up N.Y.C. boy -- and he isn't shy about letting people know that he's representing the five boroughs. Anastasia doesn't do it alone; he shares the microphone with a long list of other MCs, including Raekwon, Neph-E-Neph: The Last American B-Boy, Shyheim, Dyverse the First, King Just, Rahsaan, ParaDox, Lounge Lo, Dr. Ama, and Inspectah Deck. And all of them add to the flow-flow-flow vibe that characterizes this 2009 release. Between Anastasia's strong rhyming skills, the infectiousness of the beats, and The Outfit LP's overall exuberance, this album has a lot going for it -- which is not to say that the flow-flow-flow approach doesn't have its limitations. It does. But even so, Anastasia's microphone prowess is impressive, and The Outfit LP is an exhilarating listen -- limitations and all. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
Track List (try tracks 1,2,4 and 7)

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