“I eat to live, not live to eat.”

Lethal touched upon this in the process of hitting y’all off with that new Gangsta Grillz, but I thought I’d reiterate that former Wu-Tang affiliate and current AMG signee La The Darkman’s ’98 debut Heist Of The Century is severely underrated. Considering that most Wu-related albums that weren’t released by the Clan’s original nine members (ten, if you want to count Cappadonna) were put out by groups, like Killarmy and Sunz Of Man, it definitely speaks highly of La that the Wu was willing to market him as a solo artist.

Those that know about La don’t need any further explanation; but for those that don’t, drawing attention to an album’s more well-known contributors tends to help stir up interest. On that note, Heist Of The Century was produced mainly by Carlos “Six July” Broady, who has worked extensively with Ghostface and Royce The 5’9″, with additional beats from RZA (on the graphic “Polluted Wisdom”), DJ Muggs (on the title track, which features the equally-underrated Killa Sin), and Havoc from Mobb Deep (who also raps on “Figaro Chain”). Clan members U-God, Masta Killa, Ghostface and Raekwon also appear. The lead single, “Spring Water” featuring Raekwon, had a nice summertime vibe to it with its (rather blatant) sampling of Maze and Frankie Beverly’s “Joy and Pain”, but it was really unrepresentative of the overall sound of Heist Of The Century, which was much darker in comparison.

While on the topic of La, here’s a video for a recent track he did with fellow AMG signee/younger brother Willie The Kid (together known as the Come Up Boys), for “When The Money Come”…

… and also, here’s a double video from ’01 by a dude named Bowtie called “Pain In Many Forms”/”Son Of A Junkie”, with the first track featuring dope guest verses from La and the legendary Kool G Rap. Never heard anything else about Bowtie after this — in retrospect, naming his record label “Filthy Rich Entertainment” might not have been the best idea.