Gravediggaz – The Pick, the Sickle and the Shovel (1997)
So the first album that I picked as part of my New Year’s Resolution was Gravediggaz’ The Pick, the Sickle and the Shovel. It’s a decade old album, yet it holds up rather well.
The first thing that stuck me when listening to the album was how influenced by the Wu-Tang the album is. Their debut was all about the gimmick of “horrorcore” but this one might as well be an album by some Wu-disciples with the RZA assisting on the mic. It sounds like a Wu product or byproduct. And currently, that’s not really a bad thing.
The best part of the album is that it’s so clearly from that mid- to late-’90s era. The productions are lush, the lyrics are dense. If hip-hop eras were meals then the current era is like brunch; nothing distinctive and certainly not satisfying. But this album hails from the Thanksgiving of hip-hop; it might not have been the main course, but even the sides work well at a later date.
But nostalgia only goes so far. It’s not a flawless album. The guests (mostly Wu affiliates) bog down some songs and create an atmosphere that feels congested and not with talent, and on some tracks the beats seem a bit droning. It’s kind of hard to pinpoint what Prince Paul contributed to the project, and if you’re not a fan of Five Percenters this probably isn’t an album you want to hear.
Still, it’s great to hear RZA dropping (obscure) jewels of knowledge. In fact “Twelve Jewelz”, his solo song, is a unique peek into the RZA at his clearest. Frukwan and Poetic impress and hold their own with the numerous guests. Oh… and Kelis sings the hook on “Fairytalez”, one of the album’s better tracks.
All in all, it’s not really a “fun” album; it’s more akin to The Infamous than anything by the Black Eyed Peas, but it’s an album that’s actually gotten better with age.
