Lil' Cease & DJ Dels Presents Junior M.A.F.I.A. The Lost Files

The childhood friends, protege's and in the case of a certain Kimberly Jones, lover's of the late, great Notorious B.I.G. were once known collectively as Junior M.A.F.I.A. and admittedly were one of my favorite groups growing up. Don't believe that this well spoken, devestatingly handsome and tremendously bright blogger was once down with the Bed-Stuy Masters At Finding Intelligent Attitudes? Just peep both my worn down CD and Cassette copies of "Conspiracy"....lol

An understated crew that without a doubt was overshadowed most of the time by their ring leader's masterful performances, the M.A.F.I.A. in my eyes was always solid. Even though everyone except Biggie and Kim was geared more toward unforgivably hardcore rhymes based on their lives coming up in the Stuy and were by no means lyrical dynamos, the chemistry was there and I always felt that they expanded very well on Big's earlier, edgier music.

Unfortunately, "Conspiracy" was the singular height of their group offerings and Junior M.A.F.I.A. would disband in 97' after the tragedy that ensued in L.A. that ripped their friend and mentor violently from them. Coming together briefly in 2005 and 2007, three of the original seven members (Lil' Cease, MC Klepto and Larceny) would release two more albums, with neither really creating much of a stir.

Today, one of the crew's better known member's and Biggie's closest cousin Lil' Cease has managed to keep himself somewhat afloat within' a vastly different Hip-hop landscape. Not one to really pop up on mixtapes anymore in any capacity, Cease surprised me by letting go of some previously unreleased music with DJ Delz from the original Junior M.A.F.I.A. members that dates circa 02'-05'. I guess that time period is a more accurate window of when they all were deciding to call it quits and splintering into different directions. Alongside Delz, Cease drops some unreleased cuts that regretfully never saw the light of day and gets his hosting duties on, chiming in several times throughout.

There are some tracks that I can remember bumping into on some older, underground compilation albums (what ya'll know about the "Anti Backpack Movement?!) like the F.T. assisted "Money All The Time" and some joints that were present on the mixtape circuit ("Come Get Me"), but for the most part, yeah, these are all definite exclusives that I haven't ever heard.

Wih appearances from Prodigy, Bun B, Method Man, Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel this was interesting to hear, no doubt, but after you run through everything I think it's obvious why they ultimately didn't put these out. Whether it was Kim's god awful hook in the beginning of "Good Times", the cheesy bounce on the production for "That's What It Is" or the dumbfoundingly bad Rodger Troutman appearance (or impression) on "Nothing Wrong", I kinda had to go back and bump "Conspiracy" just for the sake of preserving my view of the group in their heyday.

Standout tracks: "Everyone's A Snake" and "Get Up Stand Up".

A standoffish 5 1/2 outta 10 purehip-hop rating....

-BIG D O













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