Large Professor - Main Source

Well lookie here: Xtra P is back up in this piece. It's about damn time. He's been producing at his usual rate, but still it's nice to see him back in front of the mike. Main Source (still bitter, Paul?) is a pretty strong showing, especially for a guy that dropped his first LP in 1991. Rap is a young man's game, but Large Professor flows over new school beats better than a lot of older MCs. And a lot of the new cats, too. He's never going to cross over like Wayne or Jeezy, but he has the longevity and he's been in hip-hop before it was big business, so you know he appreciates still being around and relevant. There's also the small matter of his having birthed a style that has influenced every rapper or producer in the game, whether they know it or not. He gave fucking Primo lessons when he was coming up, for chrissakes.

While he's still clocking production dollars on the regular, Xtra P and full-length releases have had a rockier relationship. He recorded a record for Geffen that was shelved, then bizarrely resurfaced on Matador for the good but instantly disappearing First Class. This time around, Large Pro is dropping Main Source on Gold Dust Media, who released a couple vinyl volumes of instrumentals on LP with pretty good success. Large Professor comes with the same hard flow that he displayed back in the days when he fronted the trio the record is named for. A couple tracks degenerate into what the amazing Robbie at Unkut so eloquently refers to as 'Grown Man Rap gone wrong' but when Xtra-P gets busy with it, like on Hardcore Hip Hop, all the new school suckers disappear like roaches when the lights come on.

There are seventeen tracks on Main Source, and I will say that's probably too many. No skits though. A couple tracks are short shout-out type deals with Jeru and Malachai though, so there's not too much fat. You want this, and chances are someone is going to throw you some useless gift card for the holiday, so why not snap Main Source up here.

R