You might often wonder to yourself, who was the rapper that introduced a city to you. Some might say Common for Chicago, The Geto Boys for Houston or Too $hort for Oakland. For me the city of Boston was introduced by Ed O.G. & Da Bulldogs after their smash hit ‘I Gots Ta Have It’ off the debut ‘Life Of A Kid In The Ghetto’ from 1991. A solid album that introduced the crew with some real themes and light hearted tracks. The sophomore release ‘Roxbury 02119’ is a lot more rougher and musically a lot more consistent. Unlike their debut, it’s not a smash hit on ‘Roxbury…’ but as a whole album it jams with limited songs that could be considered “filler.” From the opening track ‘Streets Of The Ghetto,’ Ed O.G. sets the tone of this release for the 1993 ears. ‘Bug-A-Boo’ is in the past and it’s time to feel the streets of Roxbury. This is not to be seen as a complete 180 degree turn from the lessons ‘Life Of A Kid…’ provided as tracks like ‘Love Comes And Goes’ remember those lives taken unexpectedly and ‘Less Than Zero’ touches on the mistrust of Police within inner-ctiy boundaries. Ed O.G. was always a good storyteller when it was time although on this album there is more “streams of thought” lyrics which could possibly be the reason it is often slept on over the years. Beats were provided by Joe Mansfield and Diamond D. to which both producers made such a cohesive record. This was at a time when Diamond D. was in a zone so much so that the beat for ‘Busted’ ended up being the same beat with a slight change in music for Tha Alkaholiks’ track ‘Next Level,’ off their ‘Coast II Coast’ album a couple of years later. Even “The Great Diamond” himself didn’t realize this when QUANTUM LEAP RADIO interviewed him a couple of years ago (https://fanlink.to/QLLEAP311/) This goes back to the mystery of why is ‘Roxbury 02119’ often forgotten and was it just an album that was caught in such a good year of HOP music releases or did the record label simply neglect a hidden gem? What did you think of the album?

Singles include:
‘Skinny Dip (got it goin’ on)’ & ‘Love Comes And Goes’

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