Album Review : Looptroop Fort Europa

Artist : Looptroop

Album Title : Fort Europa

Styles : Organic Hip-Hop / Jazzy Hip-Hop / Reggae / Political Hip-Hop

Label : David VS Goliath Records
Reference Code : DVSG037-2/037/040
Released : 2005/04/27

Running Time : 58:25

REVIEW >>>

Looptroop come from Sweden, North Europe. Yep that cold land in the very northern regions of Europe that is still mostly unknown even to the most claim-to-be hardcore hip-hop heads around the world. Ever since their formation in the early 1990's the troop have spread the word like locusts, touring and visiting more than half of the whole globe including South Africa, Jamaica, Japan, All of Europe, America and about every other place you or i can name, no doubt. Their political approach to the music is a rare thing in hip-hop music these days but with that the troop has won over the hearts of the fans in all the countries they have performed at and during the years they have become the most famous and succesful european hip-hop group on the global scale. Government conspiracies and discrimination is every day life to some people in certain parts of the world and that's what the troop is about, hip-hop with a message. If anything is wrong with the world there's a good chance you'll hear about it on one of their records. In short words that's the story of Promoe, Cos M.I.C., Supreme & DJ Embee aka Looptroop. It's time to for the official Culture Universal review of their latest offering Fort Europa.

After the great success of Promoe's and DJ Embee's solo projects in 2004 - 2005 it's time for the comeback of Looptroop Rockers themselves with Fort Europa, their third full album and first release in the past 3 years. What has changed during these 3 years? What becomes clear even to the deaf ears once inserting the cd to your sound system is the amazing quality/trademark sound of the latest DJ Embee productions. The man has matured and the productions are fresher than ever and it's no wonder anymore that many hip-hop enthusiastics already consider Embee the hottest producer in the west side of the world. While the production is top notch and almost flawless, the lyrical offering doesn't pale in comparison. The troop once again attacks the wrong doings of the american government as well as other countries counterparts but also battle with some new topics such as discrimination as well as rape & incest among other things. Embee also throws in some reggae influences on tracks like "Hurricane George" (a lyrical attack against the US president George Bush) familiar to most of the troop's fans from Promoe's solo releases which adds to the variety and keeps the album fresh from start to finish.

It's rare to come across an album especially from Europe that is so perfectly true to hip-hop without any of the bullshit and cliches that plague the whole culture these days. Even if you haven't ever heard or liked any european hip-hop you are still guaranteed that this album will make you change your mind forever that is if you have the slightest clue of what hip-hop music and culture is about. No need to worry about the language being the barrier here either since Fort Europa is 100% in english without any funny dialects. The beats and lyrics are also in perfect harmony, for an example on the most "touching" part of the album the TTT tracks (Trinfidelity, Trinsanity & Trincest) this mentioned harmony adds a real touching element to the overall experience and truly showcases the lyrical skills of the troop. When listening to Fort Europa it's very easy to forget your cd player has a fast forward button at all because you won't need it. This is based on the fact that there are no weak tracks here, no filler material or any skits that break the balance of most albums released nowadays. So why not 5 stars? The album delivers on every possible aspect in the book but what prevents it from being an alltime classic album is the fact that there are no tracks that really stand out. This however is not a bad thing at all and entirely positive since you're most likely going to listen to the album from the start to finish everytime you put it on. If all you need from an album is great jazzy beats, great political/message oriented lyrics then consider this album a modern classic in hip-hop music. Words are not enough to describe the rare quality that this album delivers to any hip-hop fans and unless you're a communist, government official or a rapist, this album will change what you think of european hip-hop or even hip-hop in general. Believe it.

Rating :

Words By : Jesse Viinikainen

ADDITIONAL INFO >>>

Looptroop the god's gift for European hip-hop are back with their third album Fort Europa which continues the political force started by the 4 members of the troop Promoe, Cos M.i.c., Supreme & DJ Embee in the early 1990's. Fort Europa is the troop's first album in 3 years ever since the release of "The Struggle Continues" in 2002.

TRACKLIST & SOUND SAMPLES >>>

01. Dm-87
02. Fort Europa
03. 21 Grams
04. Chana Masala
05. Trinfidelity
06. Night Train
07. 21 Bars
08. Rainbow Faces
09. Hurricane George Feat. Timbuktu & Chords
10. Trinsanity
11. Sparkplug
12. Trrism
13. Carneval
14. Heavy Rains
15. Trincest
16. Unilateral Communication

Album Highlights are marked with this symbol

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	Artist : Looptroop Album Title : Fort Europa Styles : Organic Hip-Hop / Jazzy Hip-Hop / Reggae / Political Hip-Hop Label : David VS Goliath Records Reference Code : DVSG037-2/037/040 Released : 2005/04/27 Running Time : 58:25
REVIEW >>> Looptroop come from Sweden, North Europe. Yep that cold land in the very northern regions of Europe that is still mostly unknown even to the most claim-to-be hardcore hip-hop heads around the world. Ever since their formation in the early 1990's the troop have spread the word like locusts, touring and visiting more than half of the whole globe including South Africa, Jamaica, Japan, All of Europe, America and about every other place you or i can name, no doubt. Their political approach to the music is a rare thing in hip-hop music these days but with that the troop has won over the hearts of the fans in all the countries they have performed at and during the years they have become the most famous and succesful european hip-hop group on the global scale. Government conspiracies and discrimination is every day life to some people in certain parts of the world and that's what the troop is about, hip-hop with a message. If anything is wrong with the world there's a good chance you'll hear about it on one of their records. In short words that's the story of Promoe, Cos M.I.C., Supreme & DJ Embee aka Looptroop. It's time to for the official Culture Universal review of their latest offering Fort Europa. After the great success of Promoe's and DJ Embee's solo projects in 2004 - 2005 it's time for the comeback of Looptroop Rockers themselves with Fort Europa, their third full album and first release in the past 3 years. What has changed during these 3 years? What becomes clear even to the deaf ears once inserting the cd to your sound system is the amazing quality/trademark sound of the latest DJ Embee productions. The man has matured and the productions are fresher than ever and it's no wonder anymore that many hip-hop enthusiastics already consider Embee the hottest producer in the west side of the world. While the production is top notch and almost flawless, the lyrical offering doesn't pale in comparison. The troop once again attacks the wrong doings of the american government as well as other countries counterparts but also battle with some new topics such as discrimination as well as rape & incest among other things. Embee also throws in some reggae influences on tracks like "Hurricane George" (a lyrical attack against the US president George Bush) familiar to most of the troop's fans from Promoe's solo releases which adds to the variety and keeps the album fresh from start to finish. It's rare to come across an album especially from Europe that is so perfectly true to hip-hop without any of the bullshit and cliches that plague the whole culture these days. Even if you haven't ever heard or liked any european hip-hop you are still guaranteed that this album will make you change your mind forever that is if you have the slightest clue of what hip-hop music and culture is about. No need to worry about the language being the barrier here either since Fort Europa is 100% in english without any funny dialects. The beats and lyrics are also in perfect harmony, for an example on the most "touching" part of the album the TTT tracks (Trinfidelity, Trinsanity & Trincest) this mentioned harmony adds a real touching element to the overall experience and truly showcases the lyrical skills of the troop. When listening to Fort Europa it's very easy to forget your cd player has a fast forward button at all because you won't need it. This is based on the fact that there are no weak tracks here, no filler material or any skits that break the balance of most albums released nowadays. So why not 5 stars? The album delivers on every possible aspect in the book but what prevents it from being an alltime classic album is the fact that there are no tracks that really stand out. This however is not a bad thing at all and entirely positive since you're most likely going to listen to the album from the start to finish everytime you put it on. If all you need from an album is great jazzy beats, great political/message oriented lyrics then consider this album a modern classic in hip-hop music. Words are not enough to describe the rare quality that this album delivers to any hip-hop fans and unless you're a communist, government official or a rapist, this album will change what you think of european hip-hop or even hip-hop in general. Believe it. Rating : Words By : Jesse Viinikainen
ADDITIONAL INFO >>> Looptroop the god's gift for European hip-hop are back with their third album Fort Europa which continues the political force started by the 4 members of the troop Promoe, Cos M.i.c., Supreme & DJ Embee in the early 1990's. Fort Europa is the troop's first album in 3 years ever since the release of "The Struggle Continues" in 2002.
TRACKLIST & SOUND SAMPLES >>> 01. Dm-87 02. Fort Europa 03. 21 Grams 04. Chana Masala 05. Trinfidelity 06. Night Train 07. 21 Bars 08. Rainbow Faces 09. Hurricane George Feat. Timbuktu & Chords 10. Trinsanity 11. Sparkplug 12. Trrism 13. Carneval 14. Heavy Rains 15. Trincest 16. Unilateral Communication Album Highlights are marked with this symbol