back in 1996, at the tender age of seventeen, i landed a summer job picking up dead bodies at the coroner's office in pittsburgh.  at that time, i was quite impressionable, and was voraciously soaking in all the music i could stomach.  i will never forget seeing the music video for 'operation lockdown' by underground brooklyn rap duo, heltah skeltah, and thinking it was the sickest rap video i'd ever seen.  it feels like overdosing on peyote as you question the nature of life and death as your body overheats in a sweatlodge.  nearly two decades later, in 2012, dj intelligencer turned me on to the existence of the record 'mic tyson', which he'd upped to this site, by one hald of heltah skeltah, sean price.  i was blown away and listened to it on repeat.  in 2016, price died an untimely death at the age of 43.  the rap community mourned, and raised some $73k for his family, with help from prominant emcees like jay-z and eminem.  feeling nostalgic recently, i realized i had not ever spent time with price's first solo record, 2005's 'm.o.n.k.e.y. b.a.r.z..'  perhaps unsurprisingly, i discovered this record to be a classic.  hopefully his legacy continues to reach wider audiences going forward.  

_alibi