Pure Hip Hop

The 25th Anniversary Of Muddy Waters (Revisited) By The The Philosopher

 Who remembers ‘Muddy Waters’? The third and my personal favorite solo album from one of the all time great rappers and one of hip hops most charasmatic personalities, Redman.  It’s well documented the great man himself has said, ‘Muddy Waters’ was his personal favorite piece of work

 Executively produced by Redman’s long time friend and mentor Eric Sermon, ‘Muddy Waters’ was released way back in 1996 on double vinyl, cd, on Def Jam Recordings. Whiles the album definitely comes under the ’authentic hardcore hip hop’ category it peaked at a more then respectable twelve on the U.S. Billboard 200 and reached the number one spot on the R&B Albums chart.

Muddy Waters is an album I enjoy today maybe even more then I did more than 20 years ago. Not only is Redman at his funkadelic lyrical best, he demonstrates he is an equally potent producer producing near enough half the tracks on the album. So un like certain of his peers at the time, there are no signs of any bling bling or shiny suites on this hip hop master piece. The only thing you’ll find on this album is, dope rhymes cooked over neck breaking beats seasoned with those deep dirty Def Squad baselines.

When it come to features Muddy Waters has a nice varied selection of dope hardcore hip hop artists of that generation with the likes of Keith Murray, Jamel, and Eric Sermon appearing on the album. Whiles the hip hop world got see the start of the flourishing relationship between Redman and Method Man, with Meth appearing on the classic track,  "Do What Ya Feel'. And we also got hear a rare verse from K Solo's on the banger "It's Like That (My Big Brother).

Theo The Philosopher 

Not only is Redman known and loved for his skills on the mic, the New Jersey natives likeable personality has also contributed to Reds becoming one of everybody's favorites, and Muddy Waters is an album that is jam packed with the legends light hearted personality.

My final conclusion is that ‘Muddy Waters’ is a hip hop master piece that has passed the test of time with flying colors and is a album I can enjoy from 1st track to last. While the legend Redman has gone to make a whole list of classics music, Muddy Waters must go down has one of his best pieces of work. A  must in any worthwhile hip hop collection Muddy  Waters is definitely worth revisiting, and if you don't know about it, I advise you get to know. 

 In no particular order I’ve listed 5 of my favorite tracks, I have also included some of the videos from the record. Check them all out and see what you think.

My five tracks to check out are, Creeping, Case Closed, Da I’ll Out, Whateva Man, and Welcome.

Track listing