It's important to preserve and remember the many hip-hop classics that have graced us throughout the years, and while many have come to be widely recognized within the canon, there are some that consistently fly under the radar. As it happens, Capone-N-Noreaga's The War Report has officially celebrated its twenty-third birthday, a milestone that did not go unnoticed by N.O.R.E. " Took me 6 months after to finally stop selling drugs haha," he captions, alongside a picture of the album cover. "Congrats I would like to thank me!!!"
While The War Report is lined with hard-hitting and grimy street classics throughout, there's something about "Stick You" that stands out. Perhaps it's the song's cinematic quality, as Capone, Noreaga, and Tragedy Khadif weave an interconnected tale enhanced by immersive sound effects and heightened attention to detail. Perhaps it's the Naughty Shorts produced instrumental, an ominous sample paired with hard-hitting boom-bap drums, a staple of late-nineties New York rap. Whatever the allure may be, "Stick You" stands as a relic of a lost time, one where crime narratives were the wave, vividly rendered movies without a big screen.
Happy anniversary to The War Report, a classic album that doesn't get the attention it deserves.
QUOTABLE LYRICS
I got three people with me, with trenches
We uptown waiting on the benches
The cab taking long, Dominicans coming strong
Claiming that it's on, from dusk til dawn
We right across the street, they don't see us
Ayo, our Cuban disguise, it got us looking like we Jesus