Civil Service

1. Can't Save

2. Easy Cause It Is

3. Typical Flows

4. No Man Island

5. Justice Coming

6. 12th Story

7. Trouble

8. Drink Ticket

9. Butterfly Knives

10. Do

11. Pavement

12. Style Wars Theory

13. Before Before

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist
In the final years of the last millenium, two native New Yorkers added a page to Chicago's hip hop history with the advent of the WHPK Wednesday Night Rap Show. Although short-lived and never formally christened, the Show had heads from Roosevelt to the Hundreds stuck on 88.5 FM midweek. In the show's aftermath, from the ashes of countless vinyl crates and echoes of chaotic show-closing freestyle sessions, Typical Cats was born. Featuring MCs Qwazaar, Qwel and Denizen Kane, producer/dj Natural and media assassin Kid Knish, Typical dropped a self-titled full-length on Galapagos4 Records and began a relentless campaign to restore a fallen hip hop world to its former promise and glory. The talent assembled was unmistakable, the sound created was formidable. Firmly planted in tradition, unorthodox in invention and possessed of a strength only earned in the furnace of experience, their Sound is the Future that hip hop's Past would have had if its Present weren't held hostage by the uninspired and unrepentant. A flurry of solo projects later, Chicago's prodigal sons return. Hip hoppers rejoice. Suckers duck and cover. Typical Cats come to conquer. Battle champs, hotline legends, poetry circuit kings. Tuck Your Pride In 'Cause All Lyrics Connect At The Soul. And it's on and it's on and it's on. QWAZAAR - A native of Chicago's gritty Low End, Qwazaar strikes from hip hop's essence. Whether the subject matter is inner city or interplanetary, the flow remains untouchable - a percussive yet fluid attack that evokes South Side rain and helicopter blades in a single breath. The content is heavy-a holdover from days when this veteran MC (No Pity/Outerlimitz) had to lyrically slay rivals to earn his sterling rep. "After the dust settles, witness the blood puddles..." Lights out, kids. The Q-W-A is here. QWEL - You first seen his name dangling a quarter mile up on a suspension bridge from your scratch-bombed window on the Orange line. You first heard that distinctive melodic/abrasive storm of syllables on old Nacro and Scam Artist tapes with inserts printed at the Kinko's. Now the heat's been perfected-and this nasty North Side revelation music rebel is out to wake the sleepers. From Ted Turner's devil ass to the so-called competition-everyone and their mama gets dealt with when the kid laces up his boots. DENIZEN KANE - From the rum and coke rumble of Chicago's North Side flow spots to the celluloid veneer of Def Poetry Jam's main stage, Denizen Kane rips the party with a poet's heart and an outsider's eye. Journalistic, impressionistic, real-life and drastic, young Kane's late night Red Line revelations turn into heathen hymns on tape, capturing the moody face of the metropolis in color. How long can a lost one roam until he finds his way home? Listen to your city fall apart through the muddy mouth of an immigrant

Product Description
It has been four long years since their now-classic debut Typical Cats dropped on Chicago hip hop label Galapagos4. Successful solo projects and worldwide tours have only whetted the appetites of the legions of fans eagerly anticipating the follow up. The time has come, and the Cats have a message. Attention Citizens of Hip Hop (Nation Within a Nation): We have waged a rebel resistance to that cynical enemy of the listeners and true heads—the Establishment—for decades now. Our enemy, fully aware that the people need beats and rhymes to live, has embarked on a campaign of sonic terrorism, flooding minds and airwaves with pollutants while grudgingly distributing real hip hop in tainted and dwindling doses. In order to combat this toxic status quo and restructure the underground network that is the last hope for our rebel tribes, we have dispatched our most highly skilled team of operatives under the code name Typical Cats. Representatives Qwel, Qwazaar, denizen kane and DJ Natural (along with special delegate Kid Knish) have spent the four years since the last restructuring effort in the field and have now been authorized to administer an emergency plan effective immediately to:

1) Eradicate the underground of the Establishment’s clone minions

2) Create an infrastructure with which to bring our Movement above ground

3) Bring an end to the chaos of the warring tribes and effectively bring the

disputed territories under rebel control

The science of this nation-building initiative is to be distributed in a disc form entitled Civil Service. The disc will contain explicit and coded information technology capable both of disabling Establishment operatives and activating rebel representatives and stations in one precise deployment. Civil Service is a series of ongoing tasks of utmost importance to the survival and eventual victory of our nation within a nation. In a time of heightened crisis such as this, it is a form of struggle through self-government, a collective orchestration of success as we define it, and our response to the Establishment’s shadow war on its own people.

Citizens: Our existence has become conflict itself, and our Enemy interprets our independence as hostility. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our independence is simply an expression of humanity in a bleak and alien environment. We are fulfilling the broken promises of the Establishment. We are the architects of our future, the makers of sound. The Most loves not the boastful. Civil Service for the hopeful.

Peace, the Service.

Civil Service,Typical Cats,Galapagos,Hip-Hop,Pop,Rap & Hip-Hop,Underground Rap

Average customer rating:

Not as good as it could be...

Sophomore Attempt

Beats, Rymes and Flows

True Hip-Hop

Alright probally not one of the 50 best of 2005

Civil Service
Typical Cats
Manufacturer: Galapagos4
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | R&B | Styles | Music
General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
Pop Rap | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
General | R&B | Indie Music | Stores | Music
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ASIN: B0006866EK
Release Date: 2004-10-26

Tracks:

Can't Save
Easy Cause It Is
Typical Flows
No Man Island
Justice Coming
12th Story
The Trouble
Drink Ticket
Butterfly Knives
The Do
The Pavement
Style Wars Theory
Before Before

Album Description

It has been four long years since their now-classic debut Typical Cats dropped on Chicago hip hop label Galapagos4. Successful solo projects and worldwide tours have only whetted the appetites of the legions of fans eagerly anticipating the follow up. The time has come, and the Cats have a message. Attention Citizens of Hip Hop (Nation Within a Nation): We have waged a rebel resistance to that cynical enemy of the listeners and true heads—the Establishment—for decades now. Our enemy, fully aware that the people need beats and rhymes to live, has embarked on a campaign of sonic terrorism, flooding minds and airwaves with pollutants while grudgingly distributing real hip hop in tainted and dwindling doses. In order to combat this toxic status quo and restructure the underground network that is the last hope for our rebel tribes, we have dispatched our most highly skilled team of operatives under the code name Typical Cats. Representatives Qwel, Qwazaar, denizen kane and DJ Natural (along with special delegate Kid Knish) have spent the four years since the last restructuring effort in the field and have now been authorized to administer an emergency plan effective immediately to:

1) Eradicate the underground of the Establishment's clone minions

2) Create an infrastructure with which to bring our Movement above ground

3) Bring an end to the chaos of the warring tribes and effectively bring the

disputed territories under rebel control

Peace, the Service.

Customer Reviews:

Not as good as it could be..........2005-10-29

TC has a lot of talent and lyrical capability together and on individual levels. BUT, they still haven't matured enough to put a great album together. The beats are nice, but not very inventive or experimental, and certainly not up to their lyrical level. They need to work with better producers (ex. Cage w/ Def Jux, RJD2, DJ Shadow= great album; while Cage w/ Easter Conf. All-Stars= typical boring thug $h!t).

Some reviewers have commented about rhyming off beat. I think what they're hearing is TC spitting verse out as fast as they possibly can over beats. They need to be more patient and match their flows with the rhythms, especially Qwel. Qwazar shows the most control (check out is Outerlimtz album for a more mature Qwa).

I admire they're underground spirit in Chicago, a city that barely supports hip-hop to begin with. They would benefit a lot from a collab with fellow hoppers outside of Chi-town and to spend some time forming their story telling capabilities, and realize that the more you battle rhyme- the more obvious you think you still have something to prove. Living in Chicago I wish we had a more mature underground scene like NYC and the northwest, or even Atlanta. But TC reminds me that we still have a way to go.

Sophomore Attempt.......2005-09-20

My title suggests what was better... Common Sense's Sophomore CD, Resurrection, is one of the classic hip-hop albums. This one, unfortunately isn't.

My earlier review on the original Cats album was full of great enthusiasm. This CD is marked with mediocre beats overlayed harshly with at times tired attempts at memorable hooks. The CD represents maturity.. all the band members have matured. But not in the way you would want. Qwel, once the battle rap and punchline king, has now mellowed out and is soft spoken. Denizen is completely obssessed with slurring the most complex words he can. Usually Qwaazar would do that, but now Qwaazar is left with trying to bust memorable hooks and cheap boom bap type of raps.

In the end the quality of the CD stands for itself. A loud and abrasive ECHO. The quality of the CD is a step up from the previous, it has a more studio mainstream feel. But through the feedback and beat all I hear is an ECHO.

I hope they don't got out like this.

2 Stars for lots respect.

Beats, Rymes and Flows.......2005-09-17

Their first album was an instant classic. Qwell, Quasar, Denizen Kane and DJ Natural have done it again. Anyone who hears this album knows it. The beats, rymes and flows are dope. The Typical Cats came with new s*#@ no one can mess with. Just listen to one of their new songs and you'll know what I talking about.

True Hip-Hop.......2005-09-05

Typical Cats are the perfect example of what hip-hop should be.
As good as their first CD was, this one easily matches it. All three MCs deliver sick lyrics, i wasnt really feelin some of these beats a whole lot though. all in all this is an ill CD, definately recomend to any true hip-hop fan.

Alright probally not one of the 50 best of 2005.......2005-08-23

These dudes are really strong rappers but the beats are pretty bad and boring. They got some bad beats with some bad quality in the volume.The Lyrics are nice and the guys who specialize in freestyling are good and they have nice Flows. This album will get a 3.5 out of 5 by me because of there borderline great lyrics but the structuring-beats-and replay are mere average at best. Next time they will hook up with some dope beats.
Lyrics 8.5 Production 5 Replay 5 Entertainment 6.5