Supreeme: Church and State (full 2003 album)

Looks like fans are already mourning the sudden demise of Atlanta rap group Supreeme. Someone has posted their hard-to-find sophomore album, Church and State, on YouTube in its entirety. Released independently in 2003, the album’s a rare gem, unavailable on iTunes.

The conceptual release features the Grady High School grads (Negashi Armada, King Self and Dope Pope) casting themselves as a trio of pseudo-international playboys using the theme of globalization, and all its political and socioeconomic baggage, as a metaphor of sorts for their Supreeme takeover. It might seem like heady territory for a group of teenagers (which they were at the time of this release), but Supreeme approaches it with the same laissez faire attitude that came to define the group in later years. MC and group producer Dope Pope (Shaka Girvan) considers it their best album, paralleled only by their recently released final album, God Bless the Child, he said in a recent interview. Church and State is also the album that helped Supreeme capture the attention of L.A. rapper Murs, which led to the their label deal with Record Collection and the 2006 release of Supremacy.