INTO THE SWAMP

Ryu & Celph Titled feat. Juelz Santana - S.C.O.M. (off Fort Minor: We Major, 2005, self-released)

It’s weird to remember that Linkin Park, who have the number one album in the US this week, went on hiatus inbetween their (great) second album Meteora and the (boring) follow-up Minutes to Midnight. This allowed the band’s songwriter Mike Shinoda to indulge his passions in the hip-hop elements with his side-project Fort Minor. The resulting full-length The Rising Tied isn’t a bad album, but it’s the promotional mixtape Fort Minor: We Major that remains… special. (And not always in a good way.)

There’s a whole bunch of things that make We Major an oddly fascinating listen. For example: “executive producer” Jay-Z leaves a voiceover for the intro; Shinoda inadvertently introduces Scoop Deville to the world; Green Lantern samples Queen of the Stone Age’s immortal “No One Knows”; Lupe Fiasco delivers a story-rap about an anime space-battle; there’s a posse cut called “Respect 4 Grandma”. But absolutely nothing is weirder than “S.C.O.M.” On this lunk-headed track near the start of the tape, where Juelz Santana kills Ryu and the clumsy Celph Titled on their own shit by making a pledge so good I’m going to quote it at length:

Shinoda know, if it’s a problem I’m coming over, yo

Quick fast in a hurry

Knock it into overdose

And I mean that, just call if you need that

I wish Mike Shinoda the best in everything for cultivating the priceless image of Juelz and a thousand Dipset goons coming to his rescue, no matter when or where. Mike Shinoda and Juelz Santana are simply the best guys.