Crate Digging: The Black Market Militia

by The Black Market Militia

The Black Market Militia is a supergroup, made up of Killah Priest, Tragedy Khadafi, Hell Razah, Timbo King, and William Cooper (whoever he is). This album came out in 2005, and I remember being quite fond of it at the time.

Listening to this again for the first time in ages, I still find it quite enjoyable. In my mind, all of the production for this album was done by Bronze Nazareth, although he actually only produced two tracks - the intro, and one that is mostly interlude (although it's a beat that he uses a lot). The rest of the beats were provided by Godz Wrath Productions, and people like Ben Varges, Squeeze, BP, King Solomon, Subliminal, J. Rusch, and Dev 1, most of whom, I am still unfamiliar with. The best way to describe the sound though? It sounds like Bronze Nazareth.

Lyrically, this album is exactly what you would expect from these guys. It's literary, thug nation stuff, with lots of biblical references, and a general sense of the importance of black uplift, although not by the established rules. Dead Prez have a guest appearance on here, and that kind of sums up the politics for me.

This is a solid, dependable album, by some of the second-tier journeymen of New York hip-hop. I admire Hell Razah, Killah Priest and Tragedy Khadafi a great deal for their bodies of work, both individually and when they collaborate. I do feel like they haven't done much that's different since the mid-00s though, so this album will stay in my collection, while I won't automatically purchase something new from them.