Killah Priest Heavy Mental CD

Principally recorded at Power Play Studios and Rude Time Studios, New York, New York; Skip Saylor Recording, Los Angeles, California.

With the re-emergence of party-oriented hip-hop tracks in the late '90s, lyrically talented rappers began to get phased out and could sometimes be considered obsolete if not promoted properly. Despite this, one thing is always certain: skills are skills, and MCs whose skills overpower their production rarely go unnoticed. Killah Priest comes from a camp (Wu-Tang Clan) whose lyrics will always be respected for feeding your head, regardless of production. Formally introduced to the hip-hop world on GZA's "Liquid Swords," Killah Priest debuts with his own solo album ahead of his highly-anticipated Sunz Of Man project. On HEAVY MENTAL, Priest shocks listeners with his complex lyrical style and is assisted by members of the Wu, who add additional musical flavor to the proceedings.

Parental Advisory

Engineers: The Arabian Knight, Tolio Torrinello, 4th Disciple.

Audio Mixers: Collin Stanback; Dino Zrvos; Arabian Knight; Fourth Disciple; Y Kim; Killah Priest; Anton Pukshansky; Troy Hightower; Bob Power.

Recording information: Power Play Studios, New York, NY; Rude Time Studios, New York, NY; Skip Saylor Recording, LA, CA; Skip Saylor Recording, Los Angeles, CA.

Photographer: Mark Humphries.

Unknown Contributor Role: Tom Coyne.

Personnel includes: Killah Priest, Genius, 60 Second Assassin, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Tekitha, Inspectah Deck, Hell Razah, GZA (rap).

Producers include: 4th Disciple, Killah Priest, Y-Kim, True Master, The Arabian Knight.

Spin (4/98, p.123) - 8 (out of 10) - "...Killah Priest's jump-cut preaching adds Book Of Revelation bluster and astronaut daydreams to the Wu view, more consistently metaphysical than Ghostface's blunt confessions but still in line with the Wu belief that black soul is more interesting than black violence..."
The Source (4/98, p.168) - "...HEAVY MENTAL, mindfully weaves a tapestry of Five Percent-speak, Hebrew Isrealite interpretations of the holy books, and a hip-hop purist's dissatisfaction with the present state of hip-hop..."
NME (Magazine) (2/28/97, p.44) - 8 (out of 10) - "...Gruffly swerving from conspiracy theory to street politics to arcane lessons in Egyptology, Priest is as happy imparting down-to-earth truisms as he is astro-travelling through the cosmos....this is not your standard Wu-Tang Clan release..."