Kool G Rap’s 4, 5, 6 is an essential document of 1990s East Coast hip-hop, classic in the canon of mafioso rap, and a standout in a legendary catalog with no shortage of high water marks. After a remarkable three-album run by Kool G Rap & DJ Polo, the former partners split in 1993. The rapper who’d invented mafioso rap and provided a template for countless hardcore emcees to follow was now in uncharted territory, but even with the sea changes in his own career and in hip-hop overall, Kool G Rap would deliver one of the era’s best.
In terms of its place in his revered discography, G Rap’s solo debut embodies beginnings and endings: obviously, it’s the beginning of the Queens legend's second act–now a solo artist sans DJ Polo. It’s an ending because it’s the final album ever to be released on the landmark Cold Chillin’ label that launched Marley Marl’s Juice Crew.
By fall 1995, that legendary collective had splintered amongst label woes and changing times. Cold Chillin’ was in a state of collapse; Roxanne Shante wouldn’t release another album after 1992’s The Bitch Is Back; Biz Markie’s pointedly-titled All Samples Cleared! had mostly gone unnoticed in 1993; and similarly, Big Daddy Kane’s commercial fortunes had continued their rapid descent with 1994’s lackluster Daddy’s Home. Wanted: Dead Or Alive, the final album from Kool G Rap and DJ Polo as a duo, had dropped in 1992 to critical acclaim but was overshadowed by controversy after Cold Chillin’s parent label, Warner Bros., refused to distribute the project due to a growing backlash against gangsta rap. Upstart Masta Ace had defected to relaunch his career more fruitfully away from the Cold Chillin’ banner with his crew, Masta Ace Incorporated.
Additionally, a wave of emcees who were direct disciples of Kool G Rap’s persona and style were now releasing their own masterworks and setting a new standard: Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… and Mobb Deep’s The Infamous… were both part of the soundtrack for the summer of 1995. Their critical acclaim affirmed that New York City street hop was suddenly thriving after the boho rap wave of the early 1990s and following three years of West Coast G-funk dominance. The emergence of artists like Nas, The Notorious B.I.G. and Wu-Tang Clan (who included among their ranks former Cold Chillin’ artist The Genius aka GZA) had given the East Coast a grimy yet commercially viable aesthetic to rally around. There was an undeniable renaissance.
The murky opening title track sets the stage perfectly; a gurgling masterpiece that establishes the dark storytelling that was both G Rap’s hallmark and the album’s throughline. When G Rap spits: “I gotta be nice to the dice, so I'm talkin' to 'em/I step back, gave a tap on the sidewalk and threw 'em,” it’s evident that his pen is arguably sharper than ever, and so is his creative vision. The album’s conceit is a dice game as an extended metaphor for the life of a hustler, and Kool G Rap describes the scene perfectly — over an ominous loop of the piano intro from Weather Report’s “Mysterious Traveler.”
“It’s A Shame” has the slow-rolling groove that wouldn’t sound out of place on a mid-1990s UGK album. It comes courtesy of a slick sample of “Love Is For Fools” by Southside Movement — and G Rap lays out a street manifesto exquisitely over the course of four minutes. And the slow-rolling “Take ‘Em To War” is a nihilistic look at street hustling, and it’s gritty and unflinching.
Another standout featuring production from Dr. Butcher, “Executioner Style” is the kind of downbeat murder rap that G Rap helped to invent. There’s no doubt throughout 4, 5, 6 that the Kool Genius of Rap isn’t interested in resting on his laurels or simply polishing his enviable reputation. He’s especially inspired here, rapping with vigor and dropping darkly malevolent lines like:
“I take ten paces, draw my s**t, and aim at n***as' faces
Leavin' no traces so a n***a is beatin' body cases/
I'm wettin' s**t up, you get hit up by the super soaker/
Brain after brain, I'm a motherf**kin' chain smoker…”
The album’s dark overtones were reflective of G Rap’s life at the time. The rapper had been involved in an altercation with some street hustlers and there were rumors of a contract on his life. It’s why 4, 5, 6 was mostly recorded in the remoteness of Bearsville, N.Y. That kind of menacing, foreboding energy is all over the album. On the heels of the hatred and violence of “Executioner Style,” G Rap flips the mood for the rallying “For Da Brothaz,” an ode to the bonds of hustlers from the neighborhood.
“Thinkin back when I was chillin with K-Von but now he's long gone/
So I carried on and wrote this song to keep the strong on/
Me and black go way back to in childhood when we was wild hoods/
Runnin around the neighborhood and up to no good/
Started hangin' hard out there on the boulevard in stolen cars/
Then put behind bars, sellin' drugs and pullin' yards/
Then my crimey got locked up for cookin' the rock up/
Started bouncin' uptown to stock up/
My n***a straight blew the block up…”
Buckwild provides two of the album’s most radio-friendly moments. The first is soon-to-be single Bobby Caldwell-sampling “Blowin’ Up In the World,” a rags-to-riches look at Kool G Rap’s kingpin moving from a broke nobody to a neighborhood baller. The Nas-featuring single “Fast Life” is a highlight for all involved: two iconic Queens emcees clearly pushing each to deliver standout verses; as the Bronx-born Buckwild offers up the album’s slickest moment courtesy of his flip of Surface’s beloved 1980s R&B chestnut “Happy.” Nas is the young gun here, and “Fast Life” is an interesting moment between his Illmatic “Nasty Nas” beginnings and the emergence of the “Nas Escobar” persona that would color so much of his late 1990s output.
Songs like “Ghetto Knows” highlight the darker, more sinister side of Kool G Rap’s lyrical persona; it’s a paranoid directive aimed at nameless adversaries over rolling, boom bap production. It’s the kind of song he’d basically invented and serves as a reminder that Kool G Rap is at his best when he’s dropping lyrical bombs over stripped-down, no frills production. The album closer is only moderately more lighthearted than the rest of the album, as B-1 and MF Grimm flex their indie rap bona fides over Dr. Butcher’s track. The street tales are still intact, but the vibe feels like a classic posse cut from a Golden Age Juice Crew album.
Released September of 1995, 4, 5, 6 established Kool G Rap beyond his Juice Crew history and tenure with DJ Polo, and it set the table for one of the more acclaimed runs of the late '90s/early 2000s. G Rap would follow it with 1998's Roots of Evil and 2002's masterpiece, The Giancana Story.
There can be a tendency amongst fans, artists and commentators to relegate the stars of rap’s Golden Age to the halcyon days of the late '80s/early '90s in a way that culturally traps them in Yo! MTV Raps clips and Word Up! magazine nostalgia. With 4, 5, 6, Kool G Rap proved that he not only fathered the new school that was now making waves, he was more than capable of shining alongside them.
