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Mars Ill
Pro*Pain



Artist Info: Discography
Album length: 18 tracks: 67 minutes, 21 seconds
Street Date: 2004*


Pro*Pain, Mars Ill's infamously delayed second release for Gotee Records will finally drop this summer. After a couple of false starts (the album has been delayed three times since its original release date in October 2004), the final version of Pro*Pain will be cleaned up of its offending copyrighted samples and be re-released in its altered format on May 2nd. With all the anticipation surrounding this album, one has to wonder what to expect when it finally sees the light of day. This review focuses on the original mix of the album that was finally discarded last July.

The good news is that when Pro*Pain finally does drop, it will undoubtedly be hailed as one of the year's best albums. Put simply, Pro*Pain is a quantum leap forward from even their Gotee debut Backbreakanomics. As groundbreaking as it was, Backbreakanomics can in no way prepare the listener for what Pro*Pain has to offer. Musically, it laps every other hip-hop album out there. DJ Dust has stepped up his already-high standards of production, offering up a much more diverse set of sounds and samples with which to build the musical backbone of Pro*Pain. Dust has an adventurous sense of imagination, aiming to incorporate everything from horns and pianos to flutes and acoustic guitars into the trademark Mars Ill sound. Nothing is beyond his reach, as each track is crafted so intricately that the samples intertwine, rather than just overlap, with each other. The production is densely layered, yet always carefully so, that Pro*Pain sounds rich without sounding impenetrable.

Just as good, and equally adventurous, on this album is rapper/emcee manCHILD. His sharp wit and unparalleled flow is displayed on just about every song. He spits out searing raps against the emptiness of hype on "Say So" ("You a poster child for wasted talent / That's the thing I hate about it / We the people's choice / And you don't even make the ballot") and reads his verses like an open confession on "I Is." As sharp as he is introspective, manCHILD is also relentlessly tenacious on each track, trading battle raps with Ishues on "Saturday Night Special," and rhyming in double-time during stretches of "Sound Off." It is his potent mix of confidence and versatility that makes him possibly the best rapper in Christian music.

With Pro*Pain, Mars Ill have unleashed yet another album of cutting-edge hip-hop, leaving the rest of the pack two paces behind and struggling to keep up. Dust and manCHILD let their presence felt with Backbreakanomics, but this time around, the feeling is nothing less than earth shattering. The scariest part about Pro*Pain is that it would have easily been the best hip-hop album of the year - had it been released this year, last year, or 2004! This is their best effort to date and it's downright tragic that a project of this magnitude has been sitting around virtually unheard of for almost two years. At the creative rate that Mars Ill are progressing, it seems only fair that time would be the only force strong enough to slow them down.

- Review date: 3/29/06, written by Sherwin Frias



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. Artist Info: Discography
. Record Label: Gotee Records
. Album length: 18 tracks, 67 minutes and 21 seconds
. Street Date: 2004, but never released*
. Buy It: Amazon.com

  1. Pro Pain Intro
  2. Say So
  3. Sound Off
  4. Dog Ear Page
  5. More
  6. Jus The Two Of Us
  7. Stand Back And Watch
  8. Wicked Ways
  9. All Out
  10. Saturday Night Special
  11. Higher
  12. Moment
  13. Effortless
  14. Loud!
  15. Write Of Passage
  16. When Heaven Scrapes The
    Pavement
  17. I Is
  18. We Out
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This Friday, June 27, 2025
ALBUMS
7eventh Time Down We Praise You [BEC]
The Browns 25th Anniversary: Better Days Ahead [StowTown]
Franni Cash Wild Child - EP [Capitol CMG]
Matt Crocker interlude [Anotherland]
Jimmy Fortune Songs of an American Dreamer [Gaither]
Roxanne Grace Road Trip - EP [DREAM]
JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise The Live Reunion: Washington, DC [James Town]
Kutless The Seventh Seal - EP [BEC]
Evvie McKinney It Ain't Over - EP (independent)
Rusty Shipp Capsized Empire (independent)
SEU Worship A Forgiving God [Provident]
The Shimmering Carnelians The Doorway (Version 2.0) (independent)
We Are Messengers A Thousand Times - EP [Curb]

SINGLES
Anchor & Braille Rattlesnake - Single [Equal Vision]
ANTHNY imposter syndrome - Single [Provident]
Blanca Right On Time - Single [Curb]
Landry Cantrell & Elenee sunshine & rainbows - Single [DREAM]
Eddie Clark Never Content - Single [Syntax]
Colony House Atomic - Single [Roon]
Megan Danielle Preachin' To The Choir - Single [Provident]
Drea LP & OnBeatMusic Don't Try Me (DTM) - Single [Syntax]
Joseph Habedank Running to Me - Single [Daywind]
Lonnie Hunter Flow (Like A River) - Single [Uncle G]
Kashh Kade HELP - Single [Syntax]
KB x KEANU Keanu's Song - Single [Provident]
Tasha Layton Singing In the Dark - Single [BEC]
Tasha Cobbs Leonard The Hand That Keeps Holding - Single [Motown Gospel]
Tim Lovelace Celebration of America Medley (feat. Charlie McCoy) - Single [StowTown]
Lecrae Tell No Lie (feat. Jackie Hill Perry) - Single [Reach]
LO Worship The Perfect Love of Jesus - Single [Integrity]
Patrick Mayberry Thank The Lord - Single [Provident]
Michael Monroe John The Baptist (feat. Chris Renzema) - Single [Provident]
Alexander Pappas A Great Awakening / Un Nuevo Despertar - Single [Integrity]
PEABOD Summer in Seattle - Single [RMG Amplify]
Rave Jesus Walk On The Water Remix (From The Chosen) - Single [Provident]
The Rocky Valentines Nat Song - Single [Velvet Blue]
Saints In Exile & Cutright My Dead End (ft. Jeannie Ortega, Luc DiMarzio, Jericko) - Single [Syntax]
Emilie Weiss Take Care (Studio Sessions) - Single [BEC]

DVD
Jimmy Fortune Songs Of An American Dreamer DVD [Gaither]

Next Friday, July 4, 2025
ALBUMS
Chad Cory America [DREAM]
Tenielle Neda The Way Of Love [Wings]

SINGLES
Christian Back Now - Single [DREAM]



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