Zhigge - Zhigge LP

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Polydor (1992)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Zhigge is another group that I certainly don't remember by name from the early 90s.  This, their only full length, came out in 1992 which was absolutely a time where I was paying quite a bit of attention to everything that was happening on Yo! MTV Raps.  and while I do not remember this group or any of their videos, I can't shake a weird familiarity with the song "Rakin' in the Dough."  While I can't remember it specifically, it's definitely got a chorus that sticks in a way where I'm positive I must have heard it before.

Based on that, there's a pretty decent chance I heard Zhigge in the 90s, but forgot about them.  Likely because I never bought anything by them, so they were likely just heard in passing.  I am more than happy to play catch up now.  While I'd never say that Zhigge is a can't miss, must hear, essential hip hop record of the 90s, it's still a pretty fun listen.  The production is very strong and reminds me of the first UMCs record in the way that it's upbeat and fun, but still hits pretty hard.

Lyrically, the group has several unique MCs and while I can't put them on the same level as The Pharcyde, I find definite similarities in the two group's dynamics.  The way they pass the mic back and forth to each other and compliment the style of the others is really interesting to hear.  They've got dense and pretty complex lyrical structures and they pull it off pretty flawlessly each time.  This is another group that I'm happy to have stumbled on as it's essentially a new record to me, but one completely steeped in the hip hop era that I love so much.

Zhigge - Zhigge: 
https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCkzi6pdcWRlrwCk2EdH9t_Q