Like The Kristyle, this album exists in 2 versions: the retail version released by Koch & the CD-R street version under the title Prophets vs. Profits, which I bought from Kris directly. The two versions are different, but both are very slight releases, clocking in at 25 & 34 minutes respectively, & can more accurately be thought of as EPs (but despite the title, not a mixtape, at least by what that term meant in 2002). I've always suspected 2 things about this release: (1) that it really only existed to give a home to the Nelly diss "Ova Here," & (2) that the Nelly diss wasn't actually serious. At the time, pretty much everybody agreed Nelly vs. KRS was the most baffling beef since Common vs. Ice Cube. I've heard Kris say in interviews things along the lines of "I used to battle seriously, nowadays I just play with it." Kris knew he had absolutely no control over the commercial juggernaut of Nellyville, so when he mentions the release date in the song ("don't buy Nelly's album on June 25th") it feels more like free advertising for Nelly than calling for a boycott. (Kris even admits the non-overlap of fanbases on the followup diss, "He Don't Really Want It," that appears on Prophets vs. Profits: "it don't take me to say don't buy your album, street cats ain't buying it anyway.")
Kris framed the beef, though, as a broadside against the watered-down corporatization of hiphop, which is one of his battle cries. I've noted before that Kris's commentary seems to switch between 2 modes: literate pro-Black sociopolitical invective (this includes his more preachy religious material) & complaining about the commercialization of the industry & wack rappers who allow themselves to be exploited. This release is pretty much entirely preoccupied with the latter at the expense of the former. Despite the noble intentions of the crusade against "hip-pop" that doesn't respect the roots, I find myself becoming less interested in it as I get older. I mean, let's be real: mainstream gonna mainstream.
"Ova Here" leads the pack in terms of production, with the Beatminerz cooking up a stomping march on a big brassy orchestral chop. ("He Don't Really Want It," while overall a more savage diss, uses a much inferior synthy beat by Jim Bean.) Kris's frequent collaborators Inebriated Beats contribute a handful of other tracks in the same style--big drums & moody orchestra--but conspicuously absent are any beats by the Blastmaster himself. The only track he produces is the Mad Lion feature "Stop It," which ended up on the street version of The Kristyle & was a highlight there as well as here.
Even on a release so slight, Kris still manages to get some verbal haymakers in. On "Splash" he declares "You don't know me son/My facial features matches the Sphinx with its nose redone," in oblique reference to Nelly's comments making fun of his nose. "My People," which only appears on Prophets vs. Profits, has some excellent wordplay as well, although it always feels a little weird to hear Kris rap about shooting people. (At least since "9mm Goes Bang" anyway.) You can't really ask for much from a 25-ish-minute album that is expressly meant as a stopgap ("Something to hold you over," Kris says repeatedly). But a few bangers plus a few thinkers plus no real duds makes for a perfectly pleasant listen--even though I probably won't pull it back out for another several years.
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