Mike Cheese of THE INFAMOUS GEHENNA reviews rap songs

Despite all the ghey fanboys and Euros who jock them and make up tons of dumb stories about, GEHENNA is without a doubt one of the best hardcore bands of the past 20 years. If you aren’t already on the Gehenna program, check out our earlier interview with their singer Mike Cheese and get caught up.

One of the things that I’ve always appreciated about Mike is that he has been repping Southern rap for a solid 15 years. Maybe Gehenna stood out from all the shitty, generic moshcore bands of the 90s because Mike was listening to Geto Boys, 2 Live Crew and The Mentors instead of XDiscipleX and Vegan Reich, I don’t know. Either way, I was super stoked that Mike took the time to review some rap songs for us. I sent him 10 songs that I like, and asked for his thoughts– check it out!

I love shit from Screwston Texas, and SALIH WILLIAMS made some amazingly dirty Third Coast bangers (just ask anybody who heard the first MIKE JONES record). While PAUL WALL hasn’t impressed me lately, I remember how excited I was when this single came out in the fall of 2005. Mostly cause PAUL WALL showed respect to the local Screwston Texas legends by using the “sittin sideways” sample from a DJ SCREW mixtape and putting BIG POKEY of S.U.C. (who actually spit the words on the old SCREW tape) on the song too. I kind of thought when Him an Cooper stopped making shit he would end up flopping with his first solo attempt but it wasn’t the case. I was living in Reno Nevada (where later PAUL WALL filmed his “Drive Slow” video) and I think I might have been the first mother fucker to play it there. I remember when I was DJing at The SATELLITE BAR everybody would always go apeshit for that Texas Shit. I think I was wearing my “Free PIMP C” t-shirt when I first played this song out.

“Tell The World My Name” is a great record, and it’s a shame that K-SOLO never got the respect he deserved. I when to go see EPMD, DAS EFX, REDMAN, KEITH MURRAY, and K-SOLO on the Hit Squad tour in San Diego in 1991. It was pretty packed and it was in a fucking airplane hanger / where house looking place. After K-SOLO finished his set he walked off the wings of the stage and into the crowd with everybody else. I was like “Hey man. Your record is great and your performance was great too, but you gotta tell the sound guy to pump your vocals up.” He looked at my 16 year old graffiti writing ass and just shook his head looking kind of bummed and said “Thanks man. Thanks for the support.” then he walked over to the sound booth and gave the sound man the finger, yelled at him for a minute, came back and said “Good looking out man.” and walked back stage again.

NITTI who did the beat makes some great stuff, but YUNG JOC is fake as fuck. “Meet me in the trap”? Who the fuck is he foolin’? What does he think we might believe he was in a drug house while writing his commercial jingles. YUNG JOC is full of shit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwO5dNtH1HA

I’m not sure but I think it was ALCHEMIST who did the production on this. It seems to have all of his signature style elements. Anyhow its a killer song and C.N.N. have always been great. I still have my white label copy of “L.A., L.A.” and listen to it every so often. I wish NOREAGA wasn’t so commercial now. C’mon bruh. Get back to that gutter shit. PLEASE.

Bay Areeeeeaaaa. I believe this was recorded on a cell phone that was stolen off of a table at the Burger King on 16th and Mission. I bet you’re asking “What is it about this urban jungle known as the Bay Area that has people ‘Goin’ Dumb’?” My belief is that Northern California has the best weed and some of the best connections for MDMA in this great country. So what does that lead us to do? Why what else? Eat handfuls of freshly capped up pills and smoking a half ounce of weed a day, then jump out of the car to dance, while it’s still moving. That my friend, is having a good time, which in these parts is also know as “Goin’ Dumb”. I personally like ANDRE NICKATINA (a.k.a. DRE DOG) better than these dudes, but there is something about this Bay shit that is amazing.

I consider this a shit on shit crime. Lame.

MOBB DEEP ”The Infamous…” is one of the most important rap records in my life. I went through 16 copies of this tape, 10 copies of the CD and have owned 10 or more copies on vinyl at one time. I used to carry around the J-Card from the cassette in my wallet! Anyhow I could go on and on about this album and this song but it would simply bore you to death. I suggest anyone who has never heard this record give it a listen. If you don’t like it, then you’re out of your fucking mind. This is perfect. One of the greatest songs from one of the greatest albums of all time.

Not a fan. I hate kids singing choruses. I’m also not big on how wordy JUELZ SANTANA seems to try to be, and ends up sounding a bit lame.

Even though he’s a Blood, I like all of JON GEEZY’s music cause its hard as fuck. LIL RENO and JON GEEZY are in my opinion the best new rappers out of the south. I also like the fact that JON GEEZY raps about what he knows about… Robbery. Check out his other shit like “Take A Loss” and “Put My Mask On”.

Another example of the great dance floor banger beats NITTI. I like this. It’s a solid party jam and girls tend to go nuts on the floor when you pump this shit right before to some Bay Area Hyphy shit.