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The Format
Hip-Hop · 2006 · 13 tracks

The Format

AZ

Technical mastery meets soulful boom bap. AZ delivers a masterclass in multi-syllabic flow over dusty, precise production from DJ Premier and Statik Selektah.

November 7, 2006 · Quiet Money Records

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The Format represents the pinnacle of the sophisticated street rap aesthetic that AZ has spent his career perfecting. It sounds like the interior of a high-end sedan moving through Brooklyn at 3:00 AM: smooth, expensive, and deeply rooted in the pavement. The production is a love letter to the boom bap era, eschewing the glossy pop-rap trends of 2006 for dusty soul loops, crisp snare cracks, and the surgical scratching of DJ Premier. It is an album that demands your attention not through volume or aggression, but through the sheer technical brilliance of the lyricism.

Tracklist · 13 Tracks
01
I Am the Truth
3:59
02
Sit 'em Back Slow
3:48
03
Get High
3:06
04
Make Me
3:09
05
Games
3:49
06
Rise and Fall
4:10
07
Animal
3:48
08
Doing That!
4:07
09
This Is What I Do
3:18
10
The Format
3:03
11
Vendetta
3:14
12
Game of Life
4:05
13
Royal Salute
2:20
Moments Worth Listening For
The way the beat on the title track cuts out for AZ to finish a complex rhyme scheme acapella
The aggressive, barking energy of M.O.P. contrasting with AZ's fluid delivery on Sit 'Em Back
The soulful, pitched-up vocal sample on The Rise and Fall creating a melancholic backdrop for street tales
Where This Album DepartsEach spoke is a trait. The orange shape shows where this album pulls away from — or holds to — the rest of the artist’s catalogue. Tap for more.

How does The Format sound next to the rest of AZ's catalogue?

Defiant+1.0σ

Defiant saturates this record notably more than the artist's norm.

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