Wednesday, March 17, 2010

ChaRon Don & DJ Huggy (Hands Down) - Mental Combustion (2001)


Hands Down most recently made waves in hip-hop circles with their 2007 release Art of Life. But for a decade prior to its release, the duo of ChaRon Don and DJ Huggy were active participants in the Pittsburgh hip-hop scene. Both members graduated from Schenley High School and have continued to build and develop as music artists since.

What I am presenting today is some of the groups early work. The album is titled Mental Combustion and was released in 2001. It features fellow Pittsburghers Dashon, Ron Noodles, and RXC among others. A young ChaRon sounds something like a conventional 9th Prince, of the Wu-affiliated Killarmy, while Huggy's production sounds best when there's an eery ambience to it.

Instead of posting a link to the entire album, I picked out a few of my favorites for you to check out. I'll be digging into the crates of Pittsburgh hip-hop throughout this year, so stay tuned for more music that has yet to be unearthed on the interwebs.

01. The Church Sermon (feat. Soul Dean)
02. Raw Passion

03. Streets is Watchin
04. Penny Candy
05. Brotha's & Sista's

06. Hype to Def (feat. Dashon)
07. Infinite Measures
08. Linguistic Terrorism (feat. Ron Noodles)
09. I Love You (feat. Renassaince)
10. Say Grace (feat. Rashad)
11. The Young & The Wreckless (feat. Nabri Savior & Sha-King)
12. U Count (feat. Don Juan & Ill Gill)

13. When Cries Lose Tears (feat. Zay-Zay)
14. Ms. Barbie (feat. Justuce & Soul Dean)
15. Street Journal (feat. Mr. Story)
16. Enough is Enough (feat. Caleesh & Will)
17. I Grabbed the Mic [And Asked the Crowd]
18. Mental Combustion (feat. T-Diddy)