Ante up!
Brooklyn natives M.O.P. (that's Mash Out Posse, as opposed to something you clean the floor with) have been making rowdy hardcore hip hop anthems since the release of their debut album ‘To The Death’ in 1994. Their first single, the aptly titled ‘How About Some Hardcore’ was notable for having the video directed by Hype Williams – the future “go-to” guy for high budget glossy rap videos. Their sound caught the ear of legendary hip hop producer DJ Premier, who would go on to produce a number of his trademark banging boom-bap beats on each of their next three albums.
And what a trio of album they’ve been. The follow up, 'First Family for Life’ had the dubious honour of being the New York branch of HMV’s most stolen album of 1998. After building a dedicated underground following, M.O.P. started to receive mainstream attention in 2000 with the release of their fourth album, ‘Warriorz’. This spawned the raucous stick-up kid anthem 'Ante Up’, and the song, with its chorus of “kidnap that fool”, miraculously made its way into the UK top ten. Its subsequent remix featuring Busta Rhymes had many a club in hype mode, with the kind of slam dancing not seen since the days of Onyx in the early '90s.
That sort of tough-guy mentality definitely gets you noticed and heavily censored follow-up single 'Cold as Ice' also received mainstream radio airplay and was bizarrely used in a Ice White toothpaste advert. With their stock at its highest point, M.O.P. signed to Roc-a-Fella Records. This led to a few guest appearances on Jay-Z tracks, a rap-rock compilation album and a very mismatched collaboration with Victoria Beckham that went down like a fart in a lift. The group then got caught up in hellish label politics, and their Roc-a-Fella debut album was shelved.
Consequently, M.O.P. were left in limbo, but managed to bounce back when they were signed up by a famous fan of theirs – 50 Cent – to G-Unit records in 2005. Although they managed to put out a few compilations of unreleased tracks, no official album was forthcoming and they were ejected from their contract in 2008.
Last year, they decided to go the independent route, and have finally released their long awaited fifth album 'Foundation' to mostly positive reviews. Their forthcoming gigs at the Jazz Café promise to be high-energy affairs, so expect flailing limbs and rabble-rousing, passionate hip hop delivered to an appreciative audience of loyal followers.
M.O.P play 2 nights at the Jazz Cafe this week.
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