Marxmen

While waiting to release their latest proper full-length, M.O.P. haven’t exactly been twiddling their thumbs. With no release date in sight at their latest label, Roc-A-Fella, Lil Fame and Billy Danzenie have craftily issued two records under different names in the past few months. While Mash Out Posse — a reworking of tracks from their back catalogue with a rock group; a seemingly ingenious can’t lose proposition — faltered in its execution, Marxmen Cinema definitely has the firepower to keep anticipation for their new material high. Over the course of this two-disc, "official M.O.P mixtape,” the duo’s requisite boisterous malevolence is in full effect with group champion DJ Premier laying down the gritty track for "Bloody Murdah.” D.R. Period’s contribution "Here Today Gone Tomorrow,” is another highlight, as it brilliantly splices together beeps, gun clips and mournful horns under the duo’s mortality-themed rhymes, rivalling their best material. While the standard, reckless fare is present, the duo’s dabbling in ’70s blaxploitation soul and willingness to show their sense of humour by crooning alongside Sade, are newer developments they’d be wise to further develop. Yet they should really regulate the mic time given up to untalented extended family, something that weighs down both discs, which in truth could have been significantly pared down. The second disc actually consists of rare and unreleased tracks over the course of MOP’s career and effectively highlights how the group has refined their brand of strangely invigorating nihilism to a fine art.