(Note- This was initially going to be a single post, but it was SO long and took me almost 5 hours to complete it, necessitating that it be split into two parts.)
Yes
you read that right. This post will be dedicated to No Limit Records,
probably one of the more revealing posts I've ever done on this blog so
far. It will not be a "rise and fall" post in the general sense, but
rather I'm going to talk about the albums I did own, among other things.
In early 1998, I got turned onto No Limit by a guy named Pharrell
Robinson, and after that, I decided to check them out and didn't look
back. Believe it or not, even though I was still an "East Coast head"
then, I was a big fan of the crew. In addition to the albums, I had a No
Limit earring, ring, bracelet, skull cap, t shirt and of course a
silver charm with a necklace, I sure did. Now you may ask, "why Wayne
why?!" lol. With hindsight being 20/20, it was the hype (which I
admittedly was caught up in), the marketing & promotion and the
production. And with a few exceptions, it sure as hell wasn't due to
their lyrics, but I'll get into that more in a bit.
I
will go on record and say I respect Master P for his hustle and
business sense (then and now). When I think it about now, I feel he
would've been a lot more effective remaining behind the scenes. Going
from his local record store ("No Limit Records") in Richmond, California
to selling CDs and tapes out of the trunk of his car (and getting
noticed in the process) to landing a nice distribution deal with
Priority Records (which was a big deal at the time, and later included
No Limit Films, clothing, toys, shoes, etc), P did major things and for
better (and worse), he changed the game and influenced many independent
labels that came afterwards, especially in the South. They had a hell of a
run that most in the industry today would kill to have. Before I get to
the albums (I'll only be covering the ones I've owned and/or heard), I
want to touch on four things.
Lyrics
When
it came to lyricism, top notch or not, this was never No Limit's strong
point, and those familiar with their sound can testify to that. I'll go
more into this as the post continues, but it goes without saying that
Fiend, Mac, Mia X, Kane & Abel, Soulja Slim (RIP) and sometimes
C-Murder and Mystikal brought whatever lyrical muscle there was to the
tank.
Production
![]() | ||
From left to right ---> Craig B, Carlos Stephens, KLC, O'Dell and Mo B. Dick |
Ah.
Beats By The Pound were the heart and soul of No Limit and a large
part as to why the label was so successful. These 5 men provided trunk
rattlin, thumpin, bass heavy beats that would define the No Limit
sound. I remember when two of my cousins, Andre and Aaron (and myself)
would buy the albums, the first things we would look for was a "soldier
song", which was our term for a joint that had 5 or more artists on it,
and seeing who produced it. Chances are if it was produced by KLC and/or
Craig B, you were in a for a banger.
Promotion
P
was good at promoting his label and he did this very effectively. The
man knew how to sell his product to the masses. Two key factors were 1)
the gold No Limit logo (pictured above) placed on the back of the jewel
cases and 2) the promotion of upcoming albums in each album insert, as
well as magazines and TV commercials. This was very strategic and it
worked for a while. And speaking of those album covers, that leads me to
the fourth section, lol.
Album covers
Created
and designed by Pen & Pixel, their album covers were some of the
most unique, overblown covers in hip hop history and you'll see why
throughout this post.
(Although I no longer own these albums, I still remember them.)
THE DISCOGRAPHY
Pre 1996
Can
you believe there was a time when Master P was considered an
"underground artist"? This is true. He had to start somewhere and to
this day, I have never heard any of his material prior to the release of
"The Ghetto's Tryin To Kill Me" and I have no desire to track them down
and check em out, not even out of curiousity. Going back to the
"Ghetto's Tryin To Kill Me" album, I only heard it once and I doubt it
has aged well after all these years. A young and unproven P was clearly
trying to find his voice, and being that it was released in 1994, it
largely fell on deaf ears, not only because he hadn't made a name for
himself yet, but there were many other artists at the time who were
rapping about the same topics and doing a better job at it. He stayed on
the grind though, so you gotta respect that.
Next up was 1995's "99 Ways To Die", which I did own. I only played it about 2 times when I had it, and the only song that stuck was "Rollin Thru My Hood", which featured the late Big Ed, Lil Ric, King George, and Silkk. Later in 95, the first TRU album was released and it was No Limit's first on a major label (Priority Records). The C-Bo assisted "That's How We Break Bread" and the southern classic "I'm Bout It, Bout It" (featuring Mia X) were two of the highlights from this album. There was another artist affiliated with P at the time by the name of Tre-8, and while I never heard his "Ghetto Stories" album, also released in 95, I do remember a song called "Fright Night", and let me tell you something, Tre's flow over that dope beat was tight as hell. Definitely YouTube that one if you've never heard it.
Next up was 1995's "99 Ways To Die", which I did own. I only played it about 2 times when I had it, and the only song that stuck was "Rollin Thru My Hood", which featured the late Big Ed, Lil Ric, King George, and Silkk. Later in 95, the first TRU album was released and it was No Limit's first on a major label (Priority Records). The C-Bo assisted "That's How We Break Bread" and the southern classic "I'm Bout It, Bout It" (featuring Mia X) were two of the highlights from this album. There was another artist affiliated with P at the time by the name of Tre-8, and while I never heard his "Ghetto Stories" album, also released in 95, I do remember a song called "Fright Night", and let me tell you something, Tre's flow over that dope beat was tight as hell. Definitely YouTube that one if you've never heard it.
1996
With
the Priority Records deal already in place, not only were they heading
for major things in 96, but they maintained a distinctive West Coast/Bay
Area sound, and some may still argue that this was their best period as
far as music is concerned.
Well,
this is the album that got the ball rolling for P and No Limit Records.
The lead single, "Mr. Ice Cream Man" was a little too gimmicky for my
tastes then and especially now, however, two standouts on this album
were the UGK featured "Break Em Off Somethin" the sequel to "I'm Bout
It, Bout It". The rest of the album was your standard gangsta fare,
nothing special about it. This was also the first album for P and the
label to go platinum.
Oh
man, Silkk Tha Shocker. Nothing against the man personally, but he's
one of the top 5 worst artists in hip hop history. His stop and go flow,
seemingly going off beat and trying to catch back up with it, was not
impressive at all. It's safe to say that the only reason he got put on
was because he was Master P's younger brother, I doubt any label
would've signed this cat. Regarding his debut, well, I've heard it once
and it wasn't good. "Murder" (featuring Master P and Big Ed) and "It's
On" were tight ONLY because the bangin beats and not the lyrical
content. Let's move on to 1997 shall we.
1997
No
Limit's success continued in 1997. Their presence increased in the
mainstream, the albums and singles kept coming and the promotion was
on.
![]() |
This is the fourth
TRU album overall and the first double disc for No Limit. Let me say
something before I go any further, NONE of the double albums released on
this label were justified in their length, not one. With the kind of
material they were putting out, there's no way in the world such
material warranted two discs. Honestly, this album would've been much
better as a single disc. Starting with the first disc, the 7:04, KLC
produced "No Limit Soldiers" is another southern classic. While P
delivered his "usual" and Silkk came with a nonsensical verse, C-Murder
and Mia X shined on this one. Now, I gotta rant on "I Always Feel Like"
and "I Got Candy". Not only did I not care for those songs, but what
makes it worse was that P jacked two classics in the form of Slave's
"Watching Me" and Cameo's "Candy" and did nothing to expand on them. One
can argue that Puff Daddy was doing the same thing at the time, but at
least there was a musical element there that you didn't get at No Limit,
if that makes sense. P was called one of the biggest biters ever, and I
agree. "There Dey Go" and the Silkk solo "Pimp Shit" knocks in the
system, their lyris were about as shake your head worthy as you can imagine.
Moving
onto disc 2, "Heaven 4 A Gangsta", the original and the remix, were the
wrong execution of the right idea if you ask me. "Freak Hoes" is one of
those songs that was tailor made to bump in the southern clubs, and to be
fair, P and UGK were already saying the word "twerk" before it became so
popular in 2013. The show stealer on this disc was the C-Murder solo
"Torcher Chamber". It was already clear at this point that C was the
best rapper of the Miller brothers, but that's not saying a lot.
Overall, it's ok, but still it would've been better as a single disc.
I'm
including this one here, not because I heard the soundtrack (to this
day I still haven't), but the movie itself is significant, not because
of the content, but due to P starting the "Direct To Video", independent
hip hop film. You can argue that Death Row Records got that ball
rolling with 1994's "Murder Was The Case", but that was more or less an
18 minute video. This wouldn't be the last No Limit film.
Femcee
Mia X was one of the brightest spots on a label with mostly men. She
stood out due to her lyrics and energy, and some of the time she
outshined the male artists on a track. This was her sophomore album and it's very good (I
never heard 95's "Good Girl Gone Bad"). The opener
"You Don't Wanna Go 2 War", a "soldier song" featuring P, C-Murder,
Silkk and Mystikal, was hard as hell and KLC's beat bangs. Mystikal
steals the show on this one too. Other good songs include the Foxy Brown
assisted "The Party Don't Stop", "Who Got The Clout" (featuring
Mystikal), "I'll Take Ya Man 97", a dope remake of the Salt N Pepa
classic, "Ain't 2 Be Played Wit", "Let's Get It Straight", "Mama's
Family" (featuring Fiend, Kane & Abel, KLC, Mac and, uh, Mr. Serv
On") and the tribute to her deceased sister on "RIP Jill" round out a
very good album.
SMH,
I'm not sure what the hell I was thinking buying a Mr. Serv On album,
but I did. Simply put, this cat was NOT nice at all and the ONLY times
he sounded dope was due to the production. "Let's Get It Started" is the
opener, and although it's a soldier song, something was missing from
this one. Mia X saves it with her verse. The only other song
worth mentioning is "5 Hollow Points". Serv On gets outshined on his own
track Kane & Abel, Mia X, Big Ed and Fiend, who provided the best
verse. That's about it, but we'll be revisiting Serv On again, smh.
This
was the biggest and most successful album of P's career, certified
triple platinum (you see what the marketing and promotion will do). It
was also the second No Limit album I purchased (on April 18, 1998). He
only had ONE song on this album by himself, the other 18 came with
features. I still don't like the song "Ghetto D" due to him jacking Eric
B. & Rakim's "Eric B Is President", even though one can make the
case that he and his brothers are not talking about making actual
"crack", they're using that as a metaphor for "dope music". The other
highlights, if you will, come solely due to the guest appearances and
the beats. Mystikal steals the show on "Let's Get Em", Mac comes nice on
"We Riders" (you should hear P's hilarious, off beat hook) and "Only
Time Will Tell", "Come and Get Some" (featuring C-Murder and Prime
Suspects), "Captain Kirk" (featuring Fiend, Mystikal and Silkk Tha
Shocker, and on this one, Fiend and Mystikal drop dope verses) and of course,
the hit single "Make Em Say Uhh!", featuring Silkk, Mia X, Fiend and
Mystikal. KLC drops one of his most memorable beats and that's largely
why this single did so well. This album has been considered a southern
classic by most, and while I respect it, I don't agree with it.
Mystikal's
No Limit debut (and second album technically) was good overall, and
this was the very first No Limit album I purchased, on April 4, 1998. I
remember the tight opener, "Born 2 Be a Soldier" (featuring P, Fiend,
Mac and Silkk), the title track, the tribute to his deceased sister
"Shine", the vengeful "Murder 2", "Ain't No Limit" (which should've
just been him solo style), "The Man Right Chea", "We Got The Clout", the
sequel to "Who Got The Clout" which features Mia X, "Dick on the Track"
and "13 Years".
Stay tuned for Part 2.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
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