City Of Trees

City Of Trees is a 1997 cassette album by Tha Almighty Dreadnaughtz, the Detroit and Highland Park rap collective founded by Theron “Alius Pnukkl” Ewing. It was self-released with the catalog number DLP001.

The story

By 1997 the Dreadnaughts had been active for about a decade, with members competing in Detroit rap battles. City Of Trees is the earliest full-length release credited to the group on Discogs, and it was issued without a label, in keeping with the crew’s independent approach. It arrived a year after Guilty Simpson joined the collective.

Sound and production

The tape runs thirteen tracks across two sides. Side A opens with “Intro” and moves through “You Will Be Served,” “Soul Snatcher,” “Solution To Stress,” “Who You Foolin’ Wit,” “Assassination” and “About Life (Phear).” Side B includes “Dreadnaught Party,” “So Alone,” two interludes (“Miss Ebony” and “Friday Jam”), “Earz Open Eyez Wide” and the closing title track, “City Of Treez.” Discogs files the release under hip hop with a gangsta style tag; detailed production credits are not documented.

Legacy

City Of Trees is listed in the Almighty Dreadnaughtz Wikipedia discography as the group’s first album. As a small-run cassette it is scarce: Discogs shows far more users wanting a copy than owning one, and the album is a sought-after artifact of Detroit’s pre-2000 underground.