Killarmy

I dont have to tell you what Wu-Tang did for Rap. Everyone has their own personal favorite member and/or spinoff group and I am no different. One of the ones that most people seem to miss also happens to be among my favorites is Killarmy. Besides my personal opinion on these albums, I'll let the great open-source arbiter of reality do the talking about Killarmy since that is where I would have gotten all of my information anyway.

Their 1997 debut album Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars has a lot going for it, including a bit of production by Rza. The majority of the album though is produced by 4th Element, but the sound still closely resembles that of the Clan with some different theme to the lyrics.

Buy some Silent Weapons

Silent Weapons for Silent Wars

Dirty Weaponry was my intro to Killarmy and to the idea of Nation of Gods and Earths ideology and Black Islamic Hip-Hop. Coincidentally it's also in Dirty Weaponry that the group displays their own sound, different from, but still associated with the Wu Family. Dirty Weaponry samples a number of old war and science fiction movies including Turkey Shoot. The last song has some bizarre vocal sample that I still find creepy every time I hear it. I'll send you a buck if you can tell me what it's from.

Buy some Dirty Weaponry

Dirty Weaponry

Like lots of groups, Hip-Hop and otherwise, Killarmy's last album is probably their weakest. That does not mean that they went out with a whimper. Merely, it means that there is nothing really innovative and new about Fear Love and War, and in that sense it feels like a continuation of Dirty Weaponry which is fine considering that was a great record. While a bit less militant, it still features the strong production from 4th Element and Mathematics that made the previous albums so damn good.

Buy some Fear Love and War

Fear, Love and War