Show & A.G. :: Full Scale (EP)

To discuss the “Full Scale (EP)” we’re going to have clear up any potential confusion from the jump. Most heads will know this is the same Showbiz & A.G. responsible for the legendary “Runaway Slave” album from 1992, but if you don’t know now you know. The tag team of rapper Andre the Giant and producer Showbiz muddied the water further by not only changing their name but by releasing this twice. That’s right. The EP came out in 1998 while the full length came out in 2002, featuring virtually identical cover art and an expanded tracklist. I’ll address the enhanced version at another day and time but for now let’s start with either version’s most famous track.

“Drop It Heavy” is notable for three reasons — an opening verse from KRS-One, an extremely charismatic follow up verse from the late Big Pun, and the fact this song got continually recycled on anything Diggin’ in the Crates did. No joke. It appeared on A.G.’s solo album a year later, then on the D.I.T.C. compilation a year after that. I get it. If I had Christopher Rios on a track dropping the heaters he did I’d milk it for everything it’s worth too. I can’t even call it exploitation because Pun passed away two weeks and a day before the D.I.T.C. album, so by that point the album was already mastered and being pressed for retail before shipping to stores. Any criticism they got for it was undeserved.

Do you remember the Ghetto Dwellas? If you own the “Full Scale (EP)” you’d have a hard time forgetting Party Arty’s grizzly flow on “Q&A.” If not you probably don’t. Arty and D Flow are little known outside of being friends with D.I.T.C. and often get confused with the Cella Dwellas. Unfortunately Arty passed away back in 2008 at only 31 years old, so any chance for rap fans to get to know him better is now long gone. As for Flow he’s still alive and well as far as I know, though Discogs says he hasn’t appeared on a track since 2012, so at the very least he’s semi-retired from the rap game.

If I’m being honest with all of you the two tracks mentioned are the only two reasons to own this EP. “Spit” sounds like Showbiz found two samples he liked, punched them in and called it a day. It’s a very bland song for two artists from a legendary crew of crate diggers. Andre also seems to be phoning in his verses with very uninspired raps. “You’re foul like judges in boxing.” You couldn’t even name one judge you disliked A.G.? Come on. “Face it, I’m the dopest in here.” Normally I’d agree with him but on this song it’s debatable. The title track featuring O.C. is aight but needed more than Omar providing the hook given how good he is on the mic.

The rest of this extended play is filled out by the incredibly subpar “Raw As Ever” and instrumental versions of every track EXCEPT for that one. “Last album was banging, but these crabs fell asleep.” On that point I won’t argue with Andre, but the problem with making an all-time classic LP is that you set a very high bar to reach on future releases. The “Full Scale (EP)” doesn’t match that and isn’t even as good as the “Soul Clap” EP that preceded “Runaway Slave.” I considered this a disappointment when I bought it a quarter of a century ago and I still do now.