PETE ROCK & CL SMOOTH
Get On Down proudly present Mecca And The Soul Brother, the critically acclaimed 1992 full-length debut from Pete Rock & CL Smooth. The album is considered as one of the greatest Hip Hop albums of all time. Boasting tracks such as the first single, “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)”, a dedication to their deceased friend; “Trouble T-Roy”, which went on to become not only their signature hit, but also one of Hip Hop’s all-time great songs.
The album is propelled forward by Rock’s quick, soulful interludes; usually bits of old R&B tunes layered with his signature trumpet and sax loops. Smooth’s liquid freestyle delivery pieces together the perfect vocal match that, together, creates a sprawling, nearly 80-minute-long album on which not a single song or interlude is a throwaway or a superfluous piece.
Mecca And The Soul Brother has stood the test of time. The release has been named one of the essential recordings of the 90s by Rolling Stone, appears on Ego Trips listing of the Top 25 Hip Hop albums released from 1980-1998, and appeared on The Source’s 100 Greatest Rap Albums of all time.
PRESS FOR MECCA & THE SOUL BROTHER
“It would have been hard to match the artistic success of their debut EP on a full-length recording, but Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth did just that on Mecca and the Soul Brother, and they did so in the most unlikely way of all after the succinctness of All Souled Out — by coming up with a sprawling, nearly 80-minute-long album on which not a single song or interlude is a throwaway or a superfluous piece.”
“While there’s no faulting the rhymes Smooth drops on the duo’s debut, “Mecca and the Soul Brother,” his wry wordplay is rarely as eloquent as DJ Rock’s rhythm tracks. Nor is that simply a matter of smart samples and fat beats, for Rock not only knows how to mix jazz, R&B and reggae sound swatches into a seamless fabric, but expertly controls the rhythm’s ebb and flow, giving these performances a vivacity rarely found in rap.”
“Mecca And The Soul Brother is nevertheless a stone classic album and a gorgeous encapsulation of everything that was right and beautiful about New York rap at that time. It took a particular set of circumstances to allow an album like that to exist, and that same set of circumstances couldn’t ever exist again — not even two years later, when the duo made their still-pretty-great sophomore album The Main Ingredient. So the album stands as an example of two hugely gifted and complementary young artists making the best album they ever could make, actualizing their shared potential completely.”
“Mecca And The Soul Brother has a sound that showed a great intersection of music’s past and future…Somehow, with its horns, heaviness, and hurt, “T.R.O.Y.” is a club song that inevitably moves bodies then, now, and 20 years from now. This is what Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth did so masterfully, especially on their most heralded work. Mecca And The Soul Brother is the kind of album that feels like a book, given to loved ones to steer the course of their thinking.”
“Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth offered something special with this album. Conscious, mournful, playful, joyous and just straight-up head-nodding. Mecca is the kind of album you play straight through whether you’re listening to every idiosyncrasy of every track, or just kickin’ it with your homies and need some music for the background. Over a decade later, this music is still relevant.”
