Rampage - Scouts Honor... By Way Of Blood

Rampage - Scouts Honor... By Way Of Blood 1997

Rampage, whose birth name is Rampage The Last Boy Scout but uses as a rap alias Roger McNair, has exactly one claim to fame in his fabled career: he just happens to be Busta Rhymes's cousin, which can do more for you than you realize. Because of his blood ties, Rampage has signed record deals, both with and without his Flipmode Squad brethren; he's made cameos on high-profile projects (such as the fan-freaking-tastic remix to Craig Mack's "Flava In Your Ear", which also featured a young Notorious B.I.G., Busta himself, a flirtatious housekeeper named LL Cool J, and...um...Craig Mack); he's received discounts from Starbucks, which have helped support his twelve-Frappuchino-a-day habit; he somehow persuaded Durex to sponsor his album cover; and he convinced Elektra Records (home of two of the most combustible acts in hip hop history, Busta and Ol' Dirty Bastard) that Scout's Honor...By Way Of Blood would be a great title for his debut release, a concept that can be disproved in the two seconds it would take you to read the title.

Scout's Honor... is one of those albums that only exists because Rapper A is friends/cousins/brothers/shares a weed carrier with Rapper B, a trend that exists in all musical genres, but seems all too prevalent in hip hop. The beautiful minds at Elektra found Rampage's guest spots on Busta Rhymes's The Coming to be transcendent, and felt the best outlet for that energy would be on a plastic shiny disc. To be fair, I loved Busta's "Abandon Ship"; I felt that the cousins bounced off of one another with a tandem that couldn't be matched back in 1996. That, and the first single, "Wild For The Night", which (surprise!) featured Mr. Rhymes, are what compelled me to pick up the album back in 1997, back when I apparently had money to burn. It turns out that I would have been better off throwing my money into a wood chipper.

By Elektra records, producers: Armando Colon, Busta Rhymes, DJ Scratch, Rampage, Rashad Smith, Sprague "Doogie" Williams & Backspin.

A1-Intro Ft. Kareem, Storm, Kau Kidau
A2-Flipmode Iz Da Squad Ft. Busta Rhymes, Lord Have Mercy, Serious, Spliff Star
A3-Da Night B4 My Sh-- Drop Ft. Alan Scott Plotkin
A4-Talk Of The Town
B1-Get The Money And Dip Ft. Busta Rhymes
B2-The Set Up
B3-Wild For Da Night Ft. Busta Rhymes
B4-Flipmode Enemy #1 Ft. Serious
C1-Take It To The Streets Ft. Billy Lawrence
C2-Conquer Da World Ft. Meka
C3-Hall Of Fame
D1-Ni--az Iz Bad Ft. Serious
D2-We Getz Down (Remix)
D3-Rampage Outro

Pz, AD