Happy 20th Anniversary to M.O.P.’s fourth studio album Warriorz, originally released October 10, 2000.

M.O.P., a.k.a. the Mash Out Posse, are hip-hop’s toughest duo. Eric “Billy Danze” Murray and Jamal “Lil’ Fame” Grinnage come across as though they really will fuck you up if you try to mess with them, and I certainly believe it. Their image 20 years ago was standard ‘90s streetwear attire and therefore about as far away as you could get from the shiny suits of the “Jiggy Era” dominating the charts in 2000. All of this is to say how unexpected a twist it was when M.O.P. scored a major hit with "Ante Up (Robbing-Hoodz Theory)” from 2000’s Warriorz album.

The anthemic song, powered by producer DR Period and also spawning a successful remix, is brash, violent, ignorant, and utterly brilliant. Essentially a song about robbing people for their valuable jewelry—long before Run The Jewels built a cottage industry around merchandising their stick-up-kid gun/chain logo—"Ante Up (Robbing-Hoodz Theory)” was rowdy enough to cross over into the clubs and onto radio the world over, and was a surefire mosh pit starter.

M.O.P. replicated the formula with the next single from Warriorz, “Cold as Ice,” but to a lesser degree. Personally, as much as I love M.O.P., I very much dislike “Cold as Ice” thanks to the cheesy, speed-up sample of the original song by Foreigner.

My personal opinion on “Cold as Ice” aside, Warriorz is an excellent album and one of M.O.P.’s very best. DJ Premier—a champion of M.O.P. throughout their career, producing extensively for them and making the group honorary members of the famed Gang Starr Foundation—kicks things off with “Premier Intro,” setting the fiery tone for what’s about to come.

M.O.P. then dive straight into “Welcome to Brownsville.” One of many highlights on the album, “Welcome to Brownsville” is about the pitfalls and dangers of their Brooklyn neighborhood, but also about how fiercely proud they are to be from there. It’s a theme that runs through all of M.O.P.’s music and has made the group almost as synonymous with Brooklyn as The Notorious B.IG., Jay-Z and Smif-N-Wessun.

“Welcome to Brownsville” is produced by Fizzy Womack who also provides the beats for several other Warriorz cuts. The name was not widely known at the time, but Fizzy Womack is actually just the alter-ego of M.O.P.’s own Lil’ Fame. His production on Warriorz is impressive, clearly influenced by DJ Premier and other producers Lil’ Fame had spent time around. Fizzy Womack has appeared in the credits of several albums outside of M.O.P.’s own since Warriorz and Lil’ Fame definitely deserves his props as a producer.

Next up is the DJ Premier produced “Everyday,” and if you ever wanted to know what a hardcore rap and R&B crossover song sounds like, look no further than this track. Soulful crooners The Product G&B—at the time fresh off their appearance on Santana’s hit single “Maria Maria”—provide a smooth chorus that contrasts perfectly with the heavy DJ Premier beat and baseline. After a lengthy intro, Billy Danze launches into a blistering verse that destroys any notion M.O.P. may have gone soft, spitting: “I'm from where a lot of soldiers are found / And the hearse seem to be the illest whip in the town / When the gangsters decide to put it down I'll be around / With my hat broke down, grippin’ a pound, now / Please send them cats; I'll get up in 'em / With venom bend 'em and send 'em the fuck back!” Even The Product G&B get tough with an aggressive hook complete with threats and expletives.

"Ante Up (Robbing-Hoodz Theory)” then follows, literally upping the stakes and setting a hectic pace that doesn’t let up for the remainder of the album. Billy Danze and Lil’ Fame simply do what they do best, dropping quotable bars about street life, pride and distain for their home city, and a sinister and worrying bloodlust for guns and violence. By the time you get to the ever-so-slightly mellower final track, “Foundation,” produced by Curt Cazal, it feels as though you’ve survived the wildest of rides through the mean streets of Brooklyn.

M.O.P. have made a handful of albums and EPs since 2000, moving from one record label to the next, but Warriorz is still their biggest success. For me, 1996’s Firing Squad is their finest album, but Warriorz is a close second.

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