The left coast has always been somewhat of a step-child to the East Coast. From the beginning when Hip Hop migrated to the West, the west has always been in the shadows of "Big Brother". In the early days, west coast artists spent their time trying to copy their east coast conter-parts. Listen to Ice T's "Dog N' The Wax" for a prime example of just how closely the west was to the east.
Over the mid 80's, while the east coast artists still got love in the west, the west side started forging their own sound. Electro, which can be closely attributed to the Miami Bass sound, became an "in thing" as Uncle Jam's Army and the World Class Wreckin' Cru began taking over the scene. Pop Lockin' and breakin' became a lifestyle for on the Cali coast.
It wasn't until Ice T started doing songs like "6 in The Morning", which was a b-side to "Dog N' The Wax" and dropping Rhyme Pays that the west started carving out it's own niche. N.W.A. and Eazy-E would take it to a whole other level with their crime tales and funk samples.
From then on, the west would be just important in the history of Hip-Hop as the east. Yet, some west coast albums still don't get the credit they deserve. The next few posts will deal with such albums. We'll cover some albums from the west that could be just important in the grand scheme of hip hop as some of the preverbal east coast classics.
First up is one of my personal favorite west coast artists, King Tee. Hailing from Compton,
California, Tee took the aspects of some of his favorite east coast music and applied them to his own brand of west coast funk. His early attempts were produced by DJ Unknown, who did a lot of Ice T's early stuff, and a young DJ Pooh, who would go on to become a legend in west coast circles. King Tee's first album, "Act A Fool" is a west coast classic in its own right. With tracks like "Bass (remix)" and "Payback's a Mutha", Tee perfected a "crazy drunken style" waaaay before ODB or any others. The video for "Bass" was an staple on early "Yo! MTV Raps" and featured many early west coast artists and exposed the nation to the art of hydralics and "hittin' switches" way before it caught on in the early 90's.In 1990, King Tee would drop his sophomore LP, "At Your Own Risk", which would futher cement him into the West heirarchy. It was that LP's remix of the title track that was produced by Marley Marl that would mark one of the first times the East and West colaborated in such a way. In 1993, Tee would jump back in the scene with his crew, The Likwit Crew, which would would introduce the world to the "Alkaholiks", consisting of J-Ro, E-Swift (who DJ'd on Tee's second album) and Tash, who was absent on "Tha Trifflin' Album", for serving a bie after a DUI arrest.
"Tha Trifflin' Album" features classical west coast production from legendary west coast producers such as DJ Pooh, DJ Alladin, and a relatively new comer at the time, Broadway. King Tee's subject matter on this, as well as his other efforts, is what sets him apart from the traditional "Gangsta" artist. Tee dedicates a lot of his lyrics to the art of drinking, not drive-by's and and traditional west coast fare. The album does contain a lot of the funk samples that were found during the times, but Tee somehow makes it all sound fresh. "Got It Bad Y'all" is our first introduction to J-Ro & E-Swift that leaves the listener singing a long with the fly hook. Sex rhymes are also common subject matter, with the WYDU favorites "Bus Dat Ass", "Blow My Sox Off", and "Where'sa Hoe Sat I & II" dealing with jocking the females. Another sorely overlooked Cali MC, Threat (credited as Deadly Threat on this LP) shows up on another classic, "A Hoe B-4 Tha Homie" telling that pussy whipped homeboy to pull his head out of his ass and realize his bitch is a skeezer.
This album has always been one of my favorite west coast LP's that doesn't nearly get the credit it should. King Tee has always been a fun listen that doesn't get to serious and just throws that classic west coast funk at your ears. This album is one of my prized collections. It's one of the few CD's that I haven't lost since originally buying it when it dropped. I don't see it much anymore in the stores, but it can still be found on some of the used music dealers online. While it's not as spendy as "Act A Fool", which is going for over $100, still expect to pay between $20-60 bucks for it. I don't generally condone spending that kind of money on any used CD, but if you can track one down on the low end, it's well worth the price.
King Tee- Tha Triflin' Album (Capital, 1993) http://www.zshare.net/download/king-tee-rar.html
1. Drunk Tekneek
2. I Gotta Call Earl
3. Got It Bad Y'All - King Tee featuring The Alkaholiks
4. On Tha Rox
5. Just Flauntin'
6. At Your Own Risk (Budha Mix)
7. King Tee's Beer Stand
8. We Got Tha Fat Joint - King Tee featuring Nefretitti And Mad Kap
9. Where'sa Hoe Sat
10. A Hoe B-4 Tha Homie - King Tee featuring Deadly Threat And Ice Cube
11. Blow My Sox Off
12. Where'sa Hoe Sat (Cont.)
13. Triflin' Nigga
14. Black Togetha Again
15. Bus Dat Ass - King Tee featuring The Alkaholiks
16. Tha Great
King Tee Myspace (photos from his site) http://www.myspace.com/kingtila
12 comments:
Props for this Trav, have wanted to hear it for ages but as you point out this shit goes for silly money at times. Have got a lot of catching up to do on West Coast stuff as it doesn't appeal to me as instantly as that boom bap sound.
Cheers
Dan
This album is a classic but if you listen to the production you hear the beginning of the LA Underground movement of the mid 90s.
There are quite a few jazz and soul samples on the album.
This album also pretty much flows into Tha Alkoholiks albums and we all know the impact they had on the LA underground and the sound that developed Freestyle Fellowship notwithstanding.
always liked this album. it reminds me of death certificate.
It's good to see King Tee get some recognition. Good work.
It should also be noted that the Bay Area had a parallel development with LA when it came to artists. Most notably is Too Short, who was already putting out home-made releases in 83 - 84. Short obviously is still strong in the game.
Calvin T (from Richmond my hometown) was a Bay rapper who served as a major influence to E-40 as well. Calvin was rapping in the mid 80's as well.
The LA and Bay underground scenes were forming at the same time as well. Del, Saafir, Souls of Mischief were coming along at the same time as the Fellowship, J5, and Pharcyde.
I hope I didn't ruin any future posts by mentioning this. Thanks again for the post.
This albums dope!! Haven't heard Tee rep the Rhyme Syndicate since this album.
over here in dirty (the og) jerzee i thought i was the only one up on king tee cuz of that AT YOUR OWN RISK rmx.. man, i remember feeling like i was hot shit cuz atcq came out to it @ some concert and the crowd went wild, but everyone around me was asking what beat that was..
conversely, i just threw up RHYME SYNDICATE's everlast: FOREVER EVERLASTING, and dj aladdin & wc to form LOW PROFILE- another lost gem.
Dan, even though I'm basically from the West, I've always been more into the East coast stuff. I think though, you should like this.
GO, I agree with you 100%. It did mirror the start of the LA Underground Movement w/ Pharcyde and Freestyle Fellowship.
R, nice addition to the post. Unfortunately, besides Too Short & Heiro, my knowledge of the Bay area history is limited. So thanks for adding to it.
Bullant, thats true, I hadnt thought about that.
Alley I always thought Tee was one of the few that got a little bit of east coast love. I thought about putting that Everlast up as a "So Corny It's Good" post, but never did. WC is actually the next artist I was going to put up, but not that album
man, travis, that was the early 90s, and most of the west got zer0 love (as far as radio), with the exception of snoop & dre & lady of rage & later on pac. i mean, really, there was/is only 2 stations that woulda bumped king tee and others. cypress got love, but kids didn't know that was cali. that wasn't an issue when cypress first popped off. also, dudes like souls of mischief and the liks and pharcyde got on the radio, but just with their 1st hits- and for a short time- when their new projects/singles dropped, they got even less love.
on the other hand, i learned later on that the radio climate here is very different from other east coast markets.
there was even a time that funk flex was clowning ice cube on the radio, cuz cube called or complained about the radio politics. how ironic that they wouldn't play a political concious artist like cube, and now we got all this nonsensical wack shit on our airwaves. I THINK dudes like master p and juvenile and mystikal broke those barriers over here towards the late 90s. i suppose their stuff got video spins that led to club spins, and it was a wrap!! radio embraced it. i don't ever remember dancing to any ice cube or ice tea at any of the good big clubs.
sure underground cali dudes got love, but that was on the college stations or the weird ones. even stretch and bobbito grabbed a sunday latenight to do their 1-2 hours on one of the majors here. eye know sway & tech did wonders for the scene out in cali, and they were on a major, but nothing like that existed here on that level.
come to think of it, there was a definite shift in how music came to be viewed- whereas, in the past, artists needed the club djs to spin their shit, and if it was a hit, radio considered putting it in rotation; nowadays, it feels like whatever they throw on the radio gets embedded into the audience, and those are mandatory joints for the clubs. plus, those major djs also spin at a lot of those clubs. they got dj crews and pools and they run that shit.
Any track that introduces Tha Liks is alright with me. King Tee's Beer Stand is a great track too.
Triflin Album is the sh*t, but don't sleep on King T's first two CDs, Act A Fool and At Your Own Risk. "Diss You" from the latter is a banging track over the Rolling Stones track "Miss You".
Continuing my line of thought Trav:
The West Coast Hip Hop movement initially meant LA, The Bay Area, and Seattle. Eventually it widdled down to just LA + Bay.
The first wave of Bay Area artists to go nationwide were Too Short, Digital Underground, Del, and as a tangent Tony Tone Toni and En Vogue.
The second wave was Tupac (via Digital Underground), Hiero (via Del), E-40, Spice 1, and Saafir (via Digital Underground).
The third wave most notably had the Luniz and Richie Rich (whom would have been in the first wave if he didn't get locked up).
After those three waves of artists the Bay stopped getting nationwide attention until recently with the Hyphy movement.
I hope this helps you further get an understanding of the history of the Bay Area's Rap scene and how it relates to the West Coast as a whole.
The Triflin' album is classic!!!!!!
Drunk technique, bust dat ass and ho B4 the homies are bangers
And Got it bad yall was also the official introduction of the Liks.
Great post
Post a Comment