By 2004, I was largely out of the sneaking-into-my-mates’-older-brothers’-rooms-to-borrow-their-CDs phase and well and truly into collecting my own hip hop CDs, with all five Masta Ace albums to my name.
November 10 marked eleven years since the original release of Masta Ace’s fifth LP, A Long Hot Summer, and to celebrate, the album is being re-released on CD by Below System Records. Originally released on Ace’s M3 imprint, the critically-acclaimed album was another conceptual, story-driven LP with 9th Wonder, The Beatnuts, Edo. G, Rahzel, Jean Grae, Wordsworth, Punchline, and DJ Spinna all contributing to A Long Hot Summer.
What is even more exciting is that the re-issue will include two previously unreleased Masta Ace songs: GMO (below) and Globetrotter, which features AKD.
GMO was not actually recorded with the LP’s sessions, but serves as a nice fit with the other songs on the LP. Ace told Ambrosia For Heads that GMO is a track he started writing over a year ago, and that he was given the beat by Brutal Artistry almost two years ago. “I was just waiting for the right opportunity to finish the verse,” he said. “It’s a very simple 40 bar verse … just talking shit. I don’t do very many songs like that, so this is a special joint for that reason.”
According to Masta Ace, fans and critics are calling A Long Hot Summer his best album, so be sure to check it out – if you’re not already a fan, this is the album that will change that.