Affiliation is a key gateway to recognition and respect from fellow artists, critics, and fans of hip hop music. This gateway doesn’t always ensure success for associates and affiliates of famed or hot crews of the moment. Although they may not exceed or live up to the expectations based on the success of the crew’s leading members or flagship artist, some record slept-on hidden gems that become lost in time, or remain timeless classic material (a la Gangstarr Foundation-affiliated duo Group Home’s debut album Living Proof, Native Tongue crew Black Sheep’s A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing, or Boot Camp Clik trio OGC’s Da Storm).

In 1994, the Oakland, CA-based collective Hieroglyphics had reached a tipping point for their musical acclaim, and emerged as one of rap’s most admired crews. Along with groups like Freestyle Fellowship, The Pharcyde, and the Bay Area crew Solesides (aka Quannum with DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, and Latryrx), Hiero helped pioneer the “alternative” image and sound of the underground hip hop music and subgenre as we know it today. The collective released seminal albums from founding member Del The Funkee Homosapien (No Need For Alarm), debuts from Souls of Mischief (93 ‘Til Infinity) and Casual (Fear Itself), and frequent featured verses and 12’’ stellar singles from Pep Love of The Prose. The production on these albums defined the crew’s sound of 70s funk and R&B loops, smooth brass-laden jazz samples for the song’s choruses, and hard-hitting drumbeats and basslines. The last affiliate of Hiero, Extra Prolific, put the cherry on top of their campaign that year with their debut release Like It Should Be.

The duo was comprised of Houston transplant emcee Snupe and in-house crew producer Mike G. Compared to the previous albums, Like It Should Be was as closely influenced and oriented to the prototypical drum machine snare-and-clap, 808 bassline-driven G-Funk sounds of West Coast hardcore hip hop. Snupe’s high-pitched, pimp smooth sounding vocals and speed-switching delivery was a perfect match for Mike G’s hybrid production of the Bay Area gangsta rap beats tinged with Hiero’s signature boom-bap sound. The group only released only dropped this album under the Hieroglyphics umbrella, being that Snupe departed from the crew in 1996 cited as creative differences. Their debut album is a widely slept-on classic, and is rare to find in stores since it has been out of print for almost 10 years now. The funky, barbecue-on-a-sunny-Saturday feel of the album’s single “First Sermon” will take you to church.