Every magazine has it’s own history behind their name. The name TRUANTS was one that kind of breezed in at the right time when we were looking to change our name a year ago – it was catchy and it described the team of writers. We had no idea however that ‘truands’ means gangster in French, until our Galic family started hinting at it. It got even better when noticed the rap game in general is big on the word “truants” as well as “truancy”. Overtime we collected tracks that namedropped them, little did we know it would make for one of the best rap/hip-hop compilations we could possibly dream of. Hereby we present you TRUANTS: THE HIP-HOP COLLECTION, consisting thirteen tracks on that Truancy tip by our favourite rappers. The entire collection makes for a pretty hyphy party!

Stream: [wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/32/Tupac%20-%20Starin’%20Through%20My%20Rear%20View.mp3″ text=”Tupac – Starin’ Through My Rear View” dl=”0″]
“We all die, breed bleed like humans, towns run by young guns, outlaws and Truants, shit’s deep.”  This is probably our main jam because it was the first one we noticed, and the track itself is prodigious. Off the “Tupac: Resurrection” soundtrack and one of the very few tracks on the album Eminem didn’t touch, which on a production tip might be a good thing – this one’s produced by Makaveli and Hurt M Badd and the line about Truants is dropped by Outlawz member as well as Tupac’s godbrother Kadafi (yes, unfortunately named after Muammar) – deep track about leaving the past behind you and moving on. Legal last name change to Shakur, please.

Stream: [wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/32/Blackalicious%20-%20The%20Fabulous%20Ones.mp3″ text=”Blackalicious – The Fabulous Ones” dl=”0″]
“Super fabulous the patterns have been upgraded / triple stamina commando get your hut raided / couldn’t handle it you panicked and your luck faded / leep on yappin out your trap and I’ma duck tape it / see we been doing this since you was in a wet diaper / confusing as a Rubik’s cube to the dense cipher / intuitive just like confusions in your next life / or a new addition of a ludicrously vexed sniper / pursuing moving units influence the next writers / Student you ruin because you’re Truant before your test biter / blooming and moving on in unison / consuming the consumer / and you and your crew’ll be implemented as ‘west siders’.” Off the highly acclaimed NIA album from the brilliant Blackalicious duo. It’s been a staple of our record collection since we were a hell of a lot younger than we are now, so to realise this lyric was on it was great to see. Gift of Gab keeps it complex as ever, verging on the random. It’s hard to follow, but if you can keep up you are in for a treat. Not only that but Chief Xcel brings one of the best beats on the album to the table on this jam and it’s a real indication of the talent this man is.

Stream: [wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/32/talibkweli.mp3″ text=”Talib Kweli feat. UGK – Country Cousins” dl=”0″]
“And the puberty came, started hitting them cuties with game and the Truancy came.” One of the greatest rappers of all time mentions our namesake in a track, and in one as good as this, JEEEZE, it’s on. And as usual it’s pure gold, and his immaculate style and finesse in his writing and verbal execution is all too clear to see in this one. This song finds itself on his forth solo album “Eardrum” and it’s all about unity between people in different areas and the various connections, especially in music. “It’s nothin, you stay connected by the slang you bustin” very much, the ethos we hold close to us.

Stream: [wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/32/D12%20-%20Revelation%20(feat.%20Eminem).mp3″ text=”D12 feat. Eminem – Revelation” dl=”0″]
“Got bored and became Truant.” Story of our life. We got bored and listened to some D12 and that’s how we found out about the existence of this track, life is a vicious D12/Truancy circle.

Stream: [wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/32/Cam’Ron%20-%20Losin’%20Weight%20(feat.%20Prodigy).mp3″ text=”Cam’ron feat. Prodigy – Losin’ Weight” dl=”0″]
“Bitches screwin’ me, two and three Truancies” / “Short like next to Ewing, head for Truant, his set was ruined.” This track is a personal favorite of ours, comes from Cam’ron and Prodigy of legendary Mobb Deep fame. released all the way back in 2000 when the strength of Cam’ron’s work was a hell of a lot stronger. The beat is a beauty, piano dances over the precise percussion, a fine piece of production from Darrell “Digga” Branch.

Stream: [wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/32/El-P%20-%20Truancy.mp3″ text=”El-P – Truancy” dl=”0″]
“But the Truancy in the bad apple would slowly form my spirit.” Memory is a wonderful thing, it’s hard for a truant to keep track of things at times but we remembered very early on during the selection process that on El-P’s incredible first full length solo record that there was indeed a track called Truancy, can’t pass up on gold like this we said, so it went on straight away.

Stream: [wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/32/IAM%20-%20Un%20Bon%20Son%20Brut%20Pour%20Les%20Truants.mp3″ text=”IAM – Un Bon Son Brut Pour Les Truants” dl=”0″]
The only French track on here is by the Marseille group IAM off their album L’Cole Du Micro D’Argent also has the most apparent Truancy shout-outs. The beat samples Yusef Lateef, which together with the quite animated POUR-LES-TRUANTS chorus is the best part for us (we seriously need to brush up our French).

Stream: [wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/32/Redman%20-%20Uh%20Huh.mp3″ text=”Redman – Uh Huh” dl=”0″]
“All my shorties skippin school, watch Truants.” We watch you too, Redman. We were very honored you gave us a shout-out on “Malpractice” for we loved that LP, made us want to smash things.

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“Don’t make ’em have to get cutting like Truancy.” Probably one of our favourite artists in all music, never mind just hip-hop. A huge inspiration to us as artists and writers. Off one of the finest hip-hop records of all time “MM.. Food”, and who doesn’t love a rapper who talks about food, lookin’ at you Lil ‘B.

Stream: [wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/32/Dilated%20Peoples%20-%20The%20Ruggedness.mp3″ text=”Dilated Peoples – The Ruggedness” dl=”0″]
“Dilated People ripping crew kids students that are Truants.” This track might have been the most difficult one to get our hands on after discovering it on YouTube. It appeared on the “Bomb Worldwide” compilation that came out on vinyl through Bomb Hip-Hop in 1997, and on CD a couple of years later. The Californian group earned European fame after releasing “Worst Comes Worst” and most noticeably, their joint with Kanye “This Way”. ⅓ of the group, Evidence, is a name that has appeared on Truants a couple of times before and you’ll probably be hearing about him a lot more when his second studio album “Cats & Dogs” hits the stores. Since Delay is Evidence’s last name, we’re unfortunately not sure whenabouts this is going to happen.

Stream: [wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/32/King%20Syze%20-%20Truancy.m4a” text=”King Syze – Truancy” dl=”0″]
King Syze is the little brother of Crypt and a member of the hip-hop supergroup Army of the Pharaohs. His flow is comparable to that of his brother. Both his albums “Syzemology” and “The Labor Union” are pleasant to listen to although the latter might be a bit weaker from a lyrical point of view. The track “Truancy” samples Barbra Streisand’s “My Heart Belongs To You” (insert joke about Barbra Streisand and sampling here). Needless to say, this track is about King Syze’s former truancy and how difficult his youth was. You could consider this to be one of those cliched “when I was a young boy my momma told me” tracks, but the beat is good and it flows well, and the theme is excellent so we give it a thumbs up.

Stream: [wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/32/T.I.%20-%20Slide%20Show%20(feat.%20John%20Legend).mp3″ text=”T.I. – Slide Show feat. John Legend” dl=”0″]
“All I see is the opportunity that lead me to Truancy.” This was one of the earliest tracks that became apparent to us that used our namesake, as huge T.I. fans at TRUANTS it’s great to see a line that is so relevant to us and makes such sense to us both as a family and imprint.

Stream: [wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/32/akrobatik.mp3″ text=”Akrobatik feat. Willie Evans Jr & Therapy- Black Hell Breaks Loose” dl=”0″]
“I’m from the land of hoods and Truants, call me a diamond in the rough.” And repeat.

Written by: Ross J. Platt &  Immy Soraya