For those silly mortals who were born too late to experience the golden age of rap, the real Brother J was frontman for the colorful group X-Clan. (Actually I shouldn’t even say “the real Brother J” when I’m not even calling myself Brother J, I’m just using a favorite throway line of his as the name of my blog, but anyway…)

The reason I’m even bringing Brother J and X-Clan up now is because I just noticed they’re opening for Public Enemy at B.B. King’s in NYC on March 11.

Which probably prompts a lot of, They’re still around?? Yes, but it’s a different lineup. But believe it or not, Brother J and X-Clan did make some music after their first two albums.

This first track is “They Turned Gangsta” by Poor Righteous Teachers featuring Brother J from the album New World Order*
prt_they-turned-gangsta.mp3

And here’s “Weapon X” from the recently reformed X-Clan’s Return to Mecca album, released earlier this year. (Originally found on Freemotion**). Despite having an all new lineup surrounding Brother J, I think think this track does capture the old school X-Clan vibe.
x-clan_weapon-x.mp3

*This slept-on album sees PRT collaborating with like-minded talents ranging including the Fugees, KRS-One and more. I’ll probably do a post with some of these tracks soon. (Sooner than later if thre’s there’s any response to this post of course =).

**Despite infrequent updates, FreeMotion remains one of my favorite audioblogs.

Rest in Peace, Professor X! Not the X-Man, kids, I mean PX the Overseer…. *sigh* nevermind…