Back in 2005, my man Polarity came to me with the idea of starting our own hip hop blog. It's something I had tossed around in my mind before, but probably would have never done without Po prodding me to do so. Three years later, and the rest as they say, is history. Over that time, I've had the chance to do countless interviews, some with my all-time favorite artists of the game (J-Zone and Milk D). The site has been mentioned in a major market magazine (I just won't let it die, will I...haha), I've hung out and had a beer with the co-owner and manager of one of the biggest rap labels and artists in the game (think about it) and I've even had my work published in some hip hop magazines (Peak Street, issues One & Two, thanks again to Polarity). Hopefully through all this "glitz & glamor", I've accomplished what I really set out to do in the first place; turn people on to music they might not have heard of before, whether it's the old school, obscure shit such as No Face, Red Hot Lover Tone, Frankenstein, or Threat or if it's the flavor of the moment for me, such as Grip Grand, Kooley High, Shawn Jackson, or ScholarMan. Honestly, its still all a shock for me that people actually give a rats ass about what I have to say. I'll be the first to admit, I'm not the best writer, I don't have the slickest looking site, I don't have the most knowledge and I don't have the deepest crates. Yet, the blog is still going strong. Each year, the traffic has risen, all the way from about 25-50 hits a day that we had the first six months or so, to the 35k-40k a month that we've had throughout this year. WYDU isn't the biggest or the baddest, but I hope people continue to dig it as long as I want to keep going.
In fact, that's who I personally want to thank, the people. The people that make it a habit to check this site out everyday, every other day, or even two to three times a week. Hell, even if you only checked it once and thought it sucked, thanks for making the effort. When I started this, I was really only doing it for myself, and if people dug it, so be it. I've tried to keep that mindset over time, although I get lost trying to keep with the "Nah Rights" of the world from time to time. In the end though, I love doing this.
So if you haven't been reading or have a short attention span.....THIS IS THE PART WHERE YOU WANT TO START READING:
As a "Thank You" for the past three years, through the month of October, we here at WYDU will be giving away prizes. CD's, T-Shirts, posters, hats and I'm not sure what else as of yet, but there could be more. Some stuff comes from the generous artists and media outlets that have supported WYDU over time, some is just from me picking up an interesting CD out of the used bins that I thought might be a good give away. I just wanted to give back to those who check the site out......and if you are a label or artist and want to donate merchandise for the giveaways, feel free to contact me (travglave@yahoo.com)
Few Things of Note
-This probably won't be a daily thing (unless we get clogged with prizes toward the end of the month), but it'll be two to three times a week, more if I'm feeling generous. You'll just have to check the site out to see when we do it.
- The give aways will be determined through little trivia questions, or "Name That Tune" kind of thing.
- To Answer, you MUST email me at WYDUBLOG@gmail.com. PLEASE not at the contact email. I have enough to wade through on it without adding more to it. Try to correctly answer it as well...haha.
- The deadline for all answers will be 12 MIDNITE Eastern Standard Time (U.S. EST) of the day AFTER the question is asked.
- I will randomly draw a winner or winners (some will give away more than one prize) from the correct answers I get from the emails.
-I won't be able to post the questions at a set time. My days are a cluster fuck right now, so who knows, but I'd be willing to say they will most likely be between 7am EST and 9am EST during the weekday mornings and anytime between 9pm EST and 2am EST
- International enteries are more than welcomed to participate.
Give AWAY ONE:
To kick off WYDU's Three years of exsistence, we start with one of my favorite all-time CDs:
Audio Two's - I Don't Care The Album
1. "On The Road Again"- 4:31
2. "Get Your Mother Off The Crack"- 4:30
3. "Undercover Hooker"- 2:42
4. "Worse Than A Gremlin"- 2:03
5. "Watcha' Lookin' At?"- 5:01
6. "I Get The Papers"- 2:57
7. "Milk Does The Body Good"- 4:35
8. "Start It Up Y'All"- 5:09 (Featuring MC Lyte, Positive K)
9. "When Milk's On The Mic"- 3:08
10. "Build Up Back Up"- 1:32
11. "The Nasty"- 5:22
12. "6teen"- 3:46 (Featuring MC Lyte)
13. "Step"- 4:00
14. "Many Styles"- 3:57
I've mentioned this album NUMEROUS times over the history of this blog.
http://www.wydublog.com/2007/10/what-more-can-i-say-milk-dee-interview.html
http://www.wydublog.com/2007/04/first-priority-music-familys-greatest.html
http://www.wydublog.com/2006/08/first-priority-part-two-audio-two-i.html
The CD is USED, so if you are a freak about new things, then you might want to skip this one. Good shape though.
If you want a chance to own this CD you must answer TWO questions CORRECTLY.......
QUESTION #1: What Audio Two project did THIS track FIRST (ORIGINALLY) appear on?
QUESTION #2: What was Milk Dee's first record? (Hint: It can be found in one of those three links above)
So remember, get the correct answer to me by MIDNIGHT EST OCT 3rd to WYDUblog@gmail.com
10/01/2008
Three Years and Counting: The Daughter Turns Three
1/25/2008
WTR Meets WYDU Presents: I Love The 90's (1990 Part IV)
Catch Part III Here
The final chapter of covering our favorite albums for the year 1990. As I try to forgive E for trashing the album from which gave this blog it's name, I figured we'd give a quick look at the year's hottest videos for 1990. Video shows were a BIG thing back then, unlike now. There was no internet, so it's how artists got their name out of the respected locales. As I've mentioned numerous times in the past, Yo! MTV Raps and The Source were HUGE in exposing me to music that I would hear no other way. Again, I go to The Source issue of Jan '91 for:
Captain Video's Top 10 Rap Clips for 1990
1. Public Enemy - 911 Is A Joke
2. Ice Cube - Who's The Mack?
3. LL Cool J - Jingling Baby
4. Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance
5. A Tribe Called Quest - Bonita Applebum
6. Nice & Smooth - Funky For You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei2-4tKHcU4
7. Divine Styler - Ain't Say Nuthin' (Great to see this in the top 10...one of my all-time favorite beats and songs...great to see the video again as well)
8. Poor Righteous Teachers - Rock Dis Funky Joint
9. 3rd Bass - Gas Face
10. Above The Law - Murder Rap
Audio Two - I Don't Care: The Album (First Priority/Atlantic)
Released: April 18th, 1989
If you visited this blog enough, you should know by now that I'm somewhat of an Audio Two junkie. One of my personal highlights of last year was conducting an interview with Milk D, it was like a classical music fan talking to Beethoven. While they were not the most popular group in hip hop history, they have forever left their mark on hip hop history by recording one of the top singles of all-time in "Top Billin'". Audio Two was composed of Milk Dee on vocals and Giz as the DJ. They dropped a hip hop classic in "Top Billin" (my personal favorite all -time favorite hip hop single) in 87' and then their debut album "What More Can I Say" in 88'. It earned enough attention to put them up among top releases in what many describe as one of the best years ever for hip hop. In 1990 they dropped their somewhat underrated album "I Don't Care: The Album".
Despite being a personal favorite of mine, the album did not get much critical praise and the album would not match the success of their debut. I think it was actually to braggadocios for people. The album was slammed for being "to one dimensional" (go figure, now it's okay). Personally for myself, Milk was what MC's used to be all about in the world of hip hop. Milk was all about telling sucka MC's that he is the "baddest mamajamma" on the mic. Tracks like "Milk Does The Body Good", was all about him being the flyest brutha, just cruisin' in his Jetta. It's either party starters or Milk bragging how bad he is. To me hip hop is built on that though, people forget that. Yeah, it's fine to grow, but like the roots of a tree, the roots of hip hop also hold the art form into the ground firmly and thats what Audio Two did. It's in your face bragging rhymes.
Milk and the album caught flack for some of the lyrics on "Whatcha' Lookin' At?" which contained some so called "bigotry" lyrics, with his "gay mutha's should get punched in the face" line along with a few other questionable lines. As a naive high school senior, I loved it. Not saying it was right, but it added to the albums attractiveness. As far as lyrics, there is nothing ground breaking. racks like "Milk Does The Body Good (remix)" are straight badass lyrics. While it's true Milks lyrics are not deep or politically correct, but to me, this is the stuff that drew me to hip hop in the first place. They are also of the first artists to dis MC Hammer on "Start It Up Y'all" with his "(Pos K & others) "So what's up with Hammer? Yo Hammer can't rhyme and 357 is a bunch of Ho's". Straight in your face lyrics and hard core beats. Don't expect to be blown away by lyrics.
Beat wise, it's all done by Milk. It's a bit more musical that "What More Can I Say", but that ain't sayin' much. Lot's of familiar breaks (familiar because of Milk and the other old school cats) and some hard drums. Milk seemed to still favor the 808 approach to things that had started to pass by NY by this time. There is nothing mind blowing as far as beats go, but for a simpler time, this music was great. I remember playing this a lot on the way to my senior year in high school and knowing just about all the words. This is a classic to me, fuck everyone else....
Many Styles (I NEVER knew there was a video for this)
Kid Sensation - Rollin' With Number One (Nastymix)
Released: July 2nd, 1990
Since the 1990 year was in the highlight of my high school years, sometimes I didn't necessarily choose music because it was "quality" music. I chose it because it sounded good in the audio system I had hooked up in my little black '82 Jetta. This was one such album that got play for the "big boom" it supplied. Don't get me wrong, Kid Sensation's debut album "Rollin' With Number" wasn't one of those talent devoid bass albums that were so popular with the white kids in those days. The Kid was more than adequate on the mic and the album's topics ranged from socially and politically conscious (Hype It Up), to mackin' to the females (Skin To Skin), to just straight up battle rhymes (I S.P.I.T.). Of course it didn't hurt that his music packed some wicked 808 to back up the lyrics.
Kid Sensation came up in the Seattle/Tacoma area in the late 80's with the Northwest's main man, Sir Mix-a-Lot. He would appear on Mix's "Swass" album, showing up as an early day Quasimoto, using an altered high pitched voice on tracks like "Square Dance Rap", "Buttermilk Biscuits" and "Rippin'" as he he became Mix-a-Lot's right hand man, "Kid Sensation dropped a 20 and didn't even miss it"..... In late '89/early 1990, Kid would drop his first single "Back To Boom" b/w "I S.P.I.T." (the original version), and since I was a big fan of Sir Mix-a-Lot and the Swass LP, I was all over this release. I quickly snatched up a cassette single of the song and it would be a prized possession of mine for the next six months or so while Nastymix got ready to release a full length project. Coming from an area loosely lumped in the geographical region of the Pacific Northwest, this was as close as I could get to calling an artist "local", so I was supporting mine when "Rollin' With Number One" dropped in the middle of the summer of 1990.
Musically, "Rollin...." sounds very close to the first two Sir Mix-a-Lot albums, Swass and Seminar. I'm sure Mix had a lot of influence on his young protege first release and his fingerprints can be heard all over the album. Mix would also produce four out of the twelve tracks found on the album while Kid did five tracks. Bass is the name of the game as 808 kick drums dominate the albums sound, which makes for some good "bump in the trunk". Lyrically, Kid Sensation was a notch above the average MC, although the lyrics will come off a little dated when listened to today just in flow and delivery (it is almost 18 years old after all). The lyrical flexing found on "Two Minutes" is a prime example that Kid was better on the mic than his rhyme boss, Mix-a-Lot, although you can tell a certain influence in Kids style from Mix's own lyrical style.
This album gets overlooked all the time and there are probably several reasons for that. West coast hip hop was having a problem being taken seriously by the east coast rap fans critics and something coming out of Seattle had it even more rough. The Northwest in general is a place that to this day still doesn't get much recognition for its hip hop artists and contributions. Being associated with Mix-a-Lot might have hindered his ability to be taken seriously as well, which I find rather sad. This was of course before Mix's popularity explosion with "Baby Got Back" (which I like), but it's tied to the whole location thing again. As I've said previously, this album had a lot going for it, variety, boomin' beats and good lyrics, I just wish it would have more of a chance to shine.
LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out (Def Jam)
Released: August 27th, 1990
LL Cool J is like my Kool Herc. It was Run DMC and LL Cool J that really got me into hip hop. While they both kind of fell off in their later years, their early material is stuff that will always be stamped deep in my thoughts and memories. I had "Bigger & Deffer" on constant play in my walkmen back in '86 and '87. I can still recite every lyric on that release. Then I would go back to "Radio" and learn that album as well. In 1989, LL would drop "Walking With A Panther", which got a lot of flack from the hip hop world. Hip Hop was evolving, no more was it just okay to spit battle rhymes about how dope you were, it was talking about Afrocentric in nature. Rhymes were more complex, while "Walking With A Panther" was just straight up braggin' and boastin' over fairly minimalistic beats. Despite all of that, I still loved the album (still do to this day), but LL was faced with his first "hurdle" in his musical career. It is at this point many an artist, whether it is in jazz, rock, or even country, slip up. Not Uncle L though, he came with possibly the greatest comeback in hip hop history with "Mama Said Knock You Out".
"Boomin' System" would be the first true single from the album, which dropped a little before the album would be released. Again, this was more bass for my trunk, although it had a different sound. It wasn't just the straight up 808 kicks that my system was set up to do. "Boomin' System" had some rolling, strung out basslines found on it. It was still an early favorite. When the album dropped right around the start of school, I would snatch it up the day it dropped. For most of that first semester of school, anytime it was my turn to drive to school with my car pooling friends, we would be listening to "Mama Said Knock You Out". The title track would quickly become my favorite track on the album, long before it would be released as a single later that fall. It would became my favorite saying for the year. Corny, but I was also wearing a stolen VW logo on my fake dookie gold rope.
Cool J didn't really change his blueprint for an album as far as topics and lyrics go with this. Of course the title track, "Mama Said Knock You Out", is a straight to ya face lyrical barrage. LL comes after everyone, "towering" over the comp, there was nothing pro-anything on this track, except maybe a pro-lyrical ass whoopin. He also had his jams for the ladies, something that he had been doing since "Radio". This was the part of LL that usually provoked my index finger to hit the "FF" button on the walkmen, but how do you argue with the greatness of "Around The Way Girl"? It's an anthem, plain and simple. Of course LL goes after the "sucka" MC's on "To Da Break Of Dawn", exemplifying why some consider him on of the best record battle rhymers to pick up the mic, as Ice T, MC Hammer and his favorite whippin' boy Kool Moe Dee all catch LL's wrath. Yup, lyrically, there wasn't really anything new here, so what made the "comeback" so successful? The beats.
The first Marley Marl appearance on an LL joint would be the remix for "Jingling Baby", a track found on the "Walking With A Panther" LP. The track was....eh so-so and the Panther LP, but a remix soon followed, done by the (by this time) legendary Marley Marl. The remix was a hit on Yo! and the rap charts. LL being the smart artist that he is, saw that he was on to something and had Marley do the entire "Mama Said Knock You Out" LP. It worked and it worked well. Marley added funky beats behind LL's ferocious rhymes. From the straight up jeep banger of "Boomin' System" where Marley would show early signs of his later sounds found on the Lords of the Underground albums to the almost New Jackish "Illegal Search, Marley made LL relevant again in the hip hop world.
The album has long been a favorite of mine and I would dare to go as far as to say this would still rank as one of the best albums of the 90's. At one time or another, just about every song has been considered my favorite. Even the typically targeted "weak links" such as "Farmer's BLVD", "Six Minutes To Pleasure" (although the remix is MUCH better) or "Cheesy Rat Blues" have things I like about them. LL has long been considered an icon in the hip hop game and this album only cemented his legacy in the hip hop game.
C.P.O. - To Hell & Black (Capitol)
Released: August 7th, 1990
MC Ren always was kind of the redheaded step child when it came to NWA. You had Eazy doing his thing with the label, Dre obviously was the musical brains behind the crew, Ice Cube was seen as the lead vocalist, DJ Yella....yeah, well there was Yella. I've always thought lyrically, Ren was a notch above Cube when it came to spitting straight up lyrics. Ren would also get outshined on the business side of things as well. Ren would get his own label through Capitol records and the first release wouldn't garner much attention. C.P.O. was a southern LA group made up of the large and in charge Lil Nation, Young D, Chip and DJ Train. Nation would be the MC and of course the late DJ Train was the DJ, Young D did most of the production on their "To Hell & Black" release in 1990. Ren though, would be all over the release, from guest appearing on the lead single "Ballad of a Menace" to also showing up on that single's horrible video. He would also drop a verse on the album's closing song, Gangsta Melody, ala Grand Finale type of thing and have a song named after him, with "Ren's Rhythm". 1990 was still before the west coast gangsta phase really took over. Yes, you had NWA and Eazy blowing up along with Ice T doing his thing, but it was still a early in the grand scheme of things. Therefore, while this group definitely had the gangsta culture ties, it wasn't a hardcore "gangster rap" album.
Lil Nation was strong with the rhymes, commanding a booming voice and a tight, Nation was able to hang with Ren on both of the tracks he appeared on. The album almost contains a bi-coastal feel both on the mic and the beats. Tracks like "Flow To The Rhythm" and "Somethin' Like Dis" both use commonly used break beats and samples for it's basis. While not overly creative or original, it's comes off as some party starting jams that the poppers and breakers (the west coast b-boys) could get into. MC Ren is listed as co-producer. One might question just how much production he did on the project, but the production does sound like some of Ren's previous production attempts, "We Want Eazy" remix and "Ruthless Villain", which he is rumored to have produced. Lil Nation just concentrates on rippin' the mic and flexin' his lyrical muscle.
The track "Homicide" is probably the most gangsterish and also Lil Nation's strongest lyrical performance. It is also probably my favorite cut off an album that did get a lot of play from me. As I mentioned, Ren was my favorite member out of NWA, even back in those days. When I first saw the video for "Ballad Of A Menace" on "Yo!", I was all over this release. It's not classic material in the least, but it's a strong release from the west coast that got over looked in those days.
6/29/2007
Re-Ups, Requests, Re-Do's, Rehab, Reposts, ReRead...You Get The Picture
**Be sure to vote in the new tourney group posted in the post below**
I finally wrote down all the requests and reups people have been asking for (I hope). I've noticed a lot of the zshare links have been dying rather quickly. I'm not sure if this is due to zshare cracking down on downloading or if it's our resident deliquent fucking with them. None the less, I'm going to go back to Sharebee for these, sorry if it fucks anyone up, but I'm not left with a lot of choices (I'm not sold on Mass Mirror yet).
2. Mad Nigga
3. Record Deal
4. Life
5. Runaway Slave
6. Da Hood
7. What You Say
8. Da Bullet
9. Cold World
10. Me By Myself
11. Have You Ever Heard
12. Last Driveby
13. Kill Whitey
2. An All Out Bash
3. Motivated
4. Intermission
5. Take Heed
6. I Came Back
7. Motivated Reprise
8. My Bass In It
9. Let's Get Physical
10. Make It Funky
11. King Of The Swing
12. I Bring The Funk
13. Meeting Of The Minds
6/13/2007
Total Randomness - A Bloggers Freestyle
Note...I'll try to update the links tomorrow for those of you that have left links for me to check lately.....
Audio Two/ Alliance - The Flip Flip EP (First Priority Music (?), 1986)
1. I like Cherries - Audio Two
2. Chillin' - Audio Two
3. The Freshest Slow Jam - Audio Two
4. Where's The Fellas - Alliance
5. We Got A Beat Pt 2 (Rough Rough) - Alliance
6. Why Oh Girl - Alliance
I think I've established the fact that I'm a big Audio Two/First Priority Music Family fan, so I won't even rehash that out. This is one of my prized joys that I've downloaded in the past year or so. Stagalicious posted it in the cbox this past winter (where you at stag??). If you are like me, you only read basically what is shown in the cbox and rarely look any further (Unless it's Dreads cbox, then the comedy factor is worth looking back at the posts) so this might have gotten passed over
by some people.I can't find jack on this release, I can't even find anything on it on Hip Hop Discogs. I'm guessing this is a rather rare find. It's broke into two sides; Side A belonging to Audio Two and Side B belonging to Alliance. I'm guessing (with no proof) that if this was indeed released in '86, it would be the first recordings of Audio Two and Alliance.
The first song appearing on the Audio Two side is "I Like Cherries", which did show up on "What More Can I Say". I always looked at it as "filler" on the album, but it's fine on an EP, I suppose. The second joint, "Chillin" is not on any other release as far as I know. It's in traditional Audio Two mold, in that it's a party jam with loads of Old School feel to it, complete with Gizmo getting on the tables and behind the mic. If you like Audio Two, you'll like this joint for sure. The third joint "The Freshest Slow Jam" was on one of the "Top Billin'" remix joints that dropped before the album. At first, it sounds like some Uncle L "I Need Love" type bullshit, but after really listening to it, you figure out it's more of a parody to those type of syrupy bullshit songs. It's kind of funny actually.
The Alliance side comes with all material exclusive to this release (as far as I know). "Where's The Fellas" makes me want to question their, ummm, preference in the human race, but whatever. It's ver old schoolish sounding, but just ho-hum, but there is some cool DJ routines on it. The second track is "We Got A Beat" which is better, with King of Chill dropping some old school goodness. The third track comes to us in the form of "Why, Oh Girl", which sounds like some corny 80's R&B joint, but it's humorous, even if it doesn't mean to.
For any one that is a fan of 80's hip hop, needs to pick this up on the quickness.
House of Pain - Unreleased EP (And Other Stuff)
No track order--List of Tracks included
Reachin' Out (from No Doubt Promo Vinyl)
Sick of It All - Just Look Around (House of Pain Remix)
3rd Rock From The Sun
Choose Your Poison Remix
Irish Pride
Same Old
Intro
Womb To The Tomb
I'm not even going to pretend like I know anything about this, because I don't. It's kind of surprising too, because I liked House of Pai
n back in the day, but I've never heard of this. I'm guessing it's legit, but then again, I don't know. I found it in Bust The Facts cbox one day.Judging from Everlasts vocals, I'm guessing this came in the later stages of the groups existence. He sounded like he had a corn cob planted in an unpleasant orifice on the body on the last two albums. It's worth checking out for those of you into unreleased stuff or just a fan of House of Pain. Anyone got any info on this, please feel free to share it.
Punk Barbarians - Sex, Props, Cream ....And The Drama In Between (Lethal Records, 1995)
2. Blast Off
3. Sweets
4. L.I. Zone
5. Prelude To Drama
6. The Drama In Between
7. Hooptie Car
8. The Struggle
9. Magic
10. Eclispin' Niggas
11. Sex Off The Hook
12. Platinum
13. Bubblin'
14. Rest In Peace
I'm not sure what my infatuation was with this group back in '95, but I loved this album. Listening to it now, I realize if it wasn't for the nostaglia factor, I probably wouldn't find this all that special, but I still love throwing it in the phones ever once in awhile and give it a listen. Maybe since they were tied to Public Enemy's Terminator X and I worshipped anything remotely related to PE, I gave this more credit that it deserved.
5/21/2007
Used CD Shopping Trip 5-18-07
Friday, the end of the week, the day you spend the whole week looking forward to. If the Friday happens to fall on payday, ahhh fuck yeah, it’s on. This week was the first week of summer break (I should take summer classes, but fuck that) and the first week of my new work schedule, 5a.m. until noon. It works out good for my storm chasing and while it may suck getting up that early, it’s kind of nice getting off at noon. This past Friday, I got paid a nice FAT check (at least for me it was) and was off by noon. After a stopping at a sports bar for a burger and a beer with a co-worker, I decided I was in the mood to do some used CD shopping.
In my quest to doing this in the most efficient manner, I’ve gotten down a route to fit in the most stores I can without going way out of my way. The route is basically a big loop that starts from my apartment, heading north on Broadway up to 13th where I hit up Wax Trax on 13th and
On this trip, I had more extra money than usual, but as always I had things I need money for as well. I had set aside some cash for my daughters 9th B-day that is coming up early next month. I also need to replace the phone jacks in my apartment as well and I want to finally hook up hi-speed internet as well. I had the target of $50 bucks I wanted to spend. The problem with this though, I’m kind of like a estrogen filled rich chick on a shoe shopping spree when I get going and today would be no different. It was one of the better days I’ve had digging through the used bins. I would walk with 12 CD’s, five of those I was very happy to find and drop a little over $75.00. Here is the trip in words.
Independent Records on 
I started my loop and wanted to hit up Wax Trax first. Well, some of the streets leading to it were fucked up and there was a long line of cars backed up, so I quickly said “fuck it” and just drove to Colfax. From there, I drove right past Jerry’s Record Exchange not really finding a parking space. I figured I’d just go up to Independent Records. I had seen the store earlier this winter when I was meeting up for a friends birthday at a bar off of Colfax and had wanted to hit up, but this was the first time both thought about it and had the time. I thought I had never been there before, but once I got in there and looked around, I realized I had been there before. Back in ’97, my roomate and I flew to
As I was walking up to the store I saw an old poster for The Roots in the windows store. This was a good sign. Since it was off of Colfax, it was likely to be more “urban” in nature. For those of you unfamiliar with
I was straight outta work, and funny enough, Friday’s are “Hawaiian Shirt” day at my office (no shit). I was sporting mine as I headed to the hip hop section. The first downfall of the store is they lump all “black music in the same section. All R&B, Hip Hop, Soul, Jazz, Funk, it’s all lumped together, which makes it difficult to dig through. It made for a hell of a section though, taking up probably 60% of the store. I started at the “A’s” and started making my way down the rows. Right off the bat I noticed shit is kind of expensive and the used CD’s are mixed in with all the new ones, making this an even more difficult endeavor. All CD’s were at least $4.99, most being between the $7.99-$9.99 and a few CD’s on the top rack that were between $1.99-$4.99. As a rule, I’ll rarely spend over $7.99 for a used CD, if I’m going to spend more, I might as well by it new if I can.
After spending close to 45 minutes going through everything (and probably not as good as I should have), I took my five CD’s I found and headed up to the counter. Now, before I say what I’m about to say, I have always wanted to work in a record store and if I ever win the lottery, I’m going to open one, but there are always some of the most “eccentric” people working in these stores. At the counter at this store was a chick. She might not have been that bad looking if she didn’t have tats all over (and not pretty ones, I mean the jail yard specials) and more metal on her face than MF Doom has on his. She was wearing a “Twizted” throw back jersey and a hat turned to the side as well and I’m wondering to myself “Wow, is she for real”? She starts ringing me up, and remember, I’m looking whiter than white with my dress shoes, slacks and Hawaiian shirt, the only thing I had on remotely “hip” was the baseball cap that I always keep in my car and my bald head. She starts talk all ebonics on me “Old School stuff huh? That’s funk fresh”! Wow, this is…. interesting. She hold’s up one of the CD’s I’m buying and says “This shit is fly”! Yikes. I try not to laugh, wondering if she realizes she is a caricature of every stereotype I had for record store clerks. I chuckled as I walked out the store into the bright and warm late spring day and toss the panhandler outside a buck.
Here is the bounty from Independent Records:
| 1. Six Bad Brothers |
| 2. Rated R |
| 3. Don't Mess |
| 4. New Funky Nation |
| 5. Once upon a Drive By |
| 6. T.R.I.B.E. |
| 7. Walk the Line |
| 8. R.A.I.D. |
| 9. Psyko Funk |
| 10. Riot Pump |
| 11. Pickin' up Metal |
Before Suge Knight was on the scene, these were the dudes in Hip-Hop you didn’t want to fuck with. Six, big, strong Samoans, they rolled deep and you didn’t want to get on their wrong side. I have a crazy story about trying to stop, unsuccessfully, a group of Samoans from rioting in a bar I was a door man for once, but I’ll leave that for another day. I seem to recall them getting after some rap crew back in the day, but I can’t remember who or the specifics.
This is actually a pretty good record. They incorporated live instruments before it was cool to do so (maybe Digital Underground & Stet were the only groups doing it at the time). They had production from Joe “The Butcher” Nicolo, who is highly underrated from that time period. He is also the executive producer for the album. “The Butcher” had hands in many albums as an engineer and also in production. I think he did a chunk of 7A3’s album, along with Steady B, Schoolly D and many of the Philly MC’s from the time. The Dust Brothers of Paul’s Boutique fame are also on board, producing three tracks including two of the best songs on the album, Rated R and Don’t Mess. West Coast legend, Tony G also does a couple tracks, including the single “Psyko Funk”.
The album sounds like an old 70’s funk album for the most part, and being a big fan of funk, it’s one of the reasons I’ve always liked it. I first heard of Boo-Yaa from “Yo!” when they played the Pysko Funk video quite often. Me being the curious mind I was in those days, I went out and bought the tape. I can’t say it got a lot of play from me, but it did spend a lot of time in my glove box in my black Jetta in those days. I never went and bought it on CD. I hadn’t heard for ages until a couple years ago, someone posted it up on Cocaine Blunts and I realized that this was a pretty good album that I kind of overlooked in it’s time. I had no problem shelling out $4.99 for it. You might be able to find it some baragin bins in certain places, but I hadn’t seen this for awhile, so I wasn’t going to pass it up.
Chubb Rock – The One (Select Records, 1991) $7.99
If Polarity were to do that top 25 list, this album would have been in his top three more than likely (where is that fucker, I haven’t seen him forever, Polarity that is….Where you at
I’ve been meaning to buy this forever. I only had it on tape and Polarity sent me a vinyl ripped version on disc, but the vinyl version is missing a couple songs. Every time I find it, it’s always more money than I really want to spend, but I finally said “Fuck it” and grabbed it this time. For $7.99, it’s on my high-end limit, but this is near classic in my book (if it would shed a couple songs, it would be classic) so I shouldn’t bitch too much about dropping the cash on this.
College Boyz – Radio Fusion Radio (Virgin, 1992) $2.99
| 1. Victim of the Ghetto |
| 2. Iinterlude: Radio Fusion Radio |
| 3. Hollywood Paradox |
| 4. Politics of a Gangster |
| 5. Underground Blues |
| 6. Interlude: The Homeless |
| 7. Rigmarole |
| 8. Interlude: After These Messages |
| 9. Interlude: Peter Pump |
| 10. Interlude: I Gotcha |
| 11. Humpin' |
| 12. Interlude: Phone Sex |
| 13. College Boyz in the House |
| 14. Interlude: Concerned Parent |
| 15. Real Man |
| 16. Interlude: Highroller Parade |
| 17. How Ta Act |
| 18. Interlude: Tips of the Day |
| 19. Funky Quartet of the Day |
| 20. Interlude: Who the F... Is This? |
| 21. Politics of a Gangster Dub |
I can’t say I was ever a huge fan of this group. I can’t ever recall owning the CD or tape back in the day. I did like “Victim Of The Ghetto” when “Yo!” played in their regular rotation back in day. Their other single, “Hollywood Paradox” was the first example of the use of “Between The Sheets” from the Isley Brothers, which Masta Ace would use better on the INC Ride a few years later. I seem to remember an interview with them explaining why the groups name was College Boyz, but I can’t recall the details to it. The production is your typical west coast staple during the time, nothing special and I don’t recognize any of the producers in the liner notes.
| 01 | One To Grow On (3:33) | |
| 02 | Kraftworks (3:40) | |
| 03 | Morals (3:27) | |
| 04 | Blue Cheese (3:31) | |
| 05 | Swing It To The Area (3:14) | |
| 06 | Never Never Land (4:12) | |
| 07 | You Got My Back (4:05) | |
| 08 | Jive Talk (3:34) | |
| 09 | Feelings (3:58) | |
| 10 | Any Way The Wind Blows (3:22) | |
| 11 | Pass It On (4:20) | |
| 12 | Woman Be Out (3:36) | |
| 13 | Hey Here We Go (3:20) | |
| 14 | It's Gonna Last (4:00) |
I was pretty stoked to find this CD. For the past six months, there has been a CD single from their second album at one of the stores I go to all the time and every time I think it’s this album until I realize it’s the same ole thing. When I ran across this on Friday, I almost passed it over thinking it was the single until I did a double take and realized it was the actual album. This is the kind thing that makes me LOVE digging through all the crap to find. This is why I’ll never stop going to old beat down records stores and digging for an hour. This is why I don’t do all my shopping on Amazon.com. Finding that gem in the pile of pebbles makes it all good.
In all honesty, I HATED UMC’s back in the day. I wanted nothing to do with this album. I wanted nothing to do with “Blue Cheese” or “One To Grow On”, the two singles, which “Yo!” seem to play at nausea (for me at least) back in the day. Of course I wasn’t a fan of either the first De La album or Tribe effort either. To me, they seemed soft. I was into the “hard” stuff, PE, Rakim, Kane, and LL, all the “in your face” type of hip hop. I didn’t want to hear this soft corny shit.
Fast forward to 2004, Polarity and I traded some MP3 disks through snail mail and after I said I didn’t want or need to hear the UMC’s, he went ahead and sent it to me anyway. “Dammit, what am I going to do with this shit?”, I thought to myself. Well the disk he put it on had some good albums on the disk (I always wondered if he did that purpose) so one time while listening to the MP3 disk, I figured I’d listen to it. Low and behold, I liked it. I listened to it again, and again, and again, you get the picture. Chalk it up to being older and wiser. I threw down $6.99 for it and I would have paid more for it. I don’t remember what it was going for on Amazon.com, but I think there was a reason I didn’t buy it on there sooner. I never really thought I’d see it out on a trip.
Subterraneous Records Presents WaterWorld Too (Subterraneous Records) $3.99
- "Emerge-In-Sea Intro"
- "Substance" feat. Magestik Legend, Malaki, One Be Lo; prod. One Be Lo"Subterraneous" feat. Magestik Legend, One Be Lo; prod. Ironiclee
- "The Saga Continues" feat. Kodac, Decompoze, Illite; prod. One Be Lo
- "Splash" feat. One Be Lo, Decompoze, Kodac, Buff; prod. One Be Lo
- "Rivers Run Wild" feat. One Man Army, Kodac, Illite, Magestik Legend; prod. Decompoze
- "Monsters" feat. Magestik Legend, One Be Lo, Malaki; prod. One Be Lo
- "Mag(nificent) 7" feat. Magestik Legend, Illite, Kodac, Nova Cain, Malaki, One Be Lo, Vital; prod. One Be Lo
- "Waterlude" feat. Illite, Malaki; prod. One Be Lo
- "Player Haters" feat. Magestik Legend, Kodac, One Be Lo, Illite, Octaine; prod. Chic Masters
- "Word Em Up" feat. Boy One Da, Magestik Legend, Illite, Kodac; prod. Phrikshun
- "Life In The Fast Lane" feat. One Be Lo, Illite, Magestik Legend; prod. One Be Lo
- "Pistons" feat. Illite, Kodac, The Anonymous, KLM; prod. Chic Masters
- "Jokes On You" prod. Chic Masters
- "Mental Planes" feat. One Be Lo, Magestik Legend, Malaki; prod. One Be Lo
- "Double Essay's (S.S.A)" feat. One Be Lo; prod. Phrikshun
- "Millipede" feat. One Man Army, Decompoze, Magestik Legend; prod. One Be Lo
- "Beat Break" feat. DJ Virus
- "Waterworld Wide" feat. Nick Speed, Magestik Legend, Illite, Kodac, One Be Lo, Malaki, Octaine; prod. One Be Lo
This is the “newest” album I bought in terms of release dates. I couldn’t find a year on the CD, but I found it on Soulseek back in ’04 and it came out after “Masters Of The Universe” which dropped in ’00 (I think, I’m doing this post off the head, so I can’t verify it exactly). The album, which is a collection of Subterraneous Records artists, is also void of Senim Silla, who was the second half of Binary Star. He left the group, I want to say, in ’02. So I’m guessing this dropped sometime between ’02 and ’04.
For those of you unfamiliar with Subterraneous Records, it’s the home of One Man Army aka One Be Lo who, with Senim Silla, formed Binary Star. They released “Water World” in the late ‘90’s then basically re-released it as “Masters Of The Universe” with a few extra songs. “Masters…” is one of my favorite albums of this decade, it’s a great album that has a certain sound that also encompassed on this compilation as well as well as it should since the “Trackzoids” and Decompoze produce most of this album, and they were also responsible for “Masters..” as well.
As I said, I’d never seen a real copy of this, so when I saw sitting there for $3.99, I had no problem grabbing it. All fans of One Be Lo and Binary Star should pick this up. It does have some second rate MC’s on it, but for the most part, it will satisfy your hunger for that Subterraneous sound.
Twist & Shout on
I won’t get much into the specifics of the store because I’ve posted
them before for this place. It’s basically one of the larger independent record stores in
Audio Two – I Don’t Care: The Album (First Priority Music/Atlantic, 1990) $7.99
1. On The Road AgainInterlude One
2. Get Your Mother Off The Crack
3. Undercover Hooker
4. Worse Than A Gremlin
5. Whatcha' Lookin' At
Interlude Two
6. I Get The Papers
7. Milk Does The Body Good (Remix)
8. Start It Up Y'all
9. When Milk's On The Mic
Interlude Three
10. Build Up Back Up
11. The Nasty
12. 6Teen
13. Step
14. Many Styles
You would think as big of an Audio Two and FPM fan that I am, I would already have this album. Nope, I had it on tape, but never could track done the fucking CD….until now. This is my crowning moment of the day. Again, that feeling of elated joy hit when I ran across it. I could have done cartwheels across the store and I’ve never been able to do cartwheels before. I love this album, always have. I’ve always had the tape close by until I tracked it down on MP3.
I can’t say anything that I haven’t already said on the other two or three times I’ve posted up this album, I just love these guys. I was thumbing through the liner notes and ran into something interesting in there that got me thinking:
“Every once in a while there comes an album with lyrics and music that can create controversy and discussion coast to coast. Audio Two’s new album “I Don’t Care” is such an album. Audio Two a.k.a. Milk and Gizmo are responsible for some of Hip-Hop’s finest productions, remixes and lyrics and with “I Don’t Care” they continue the tradition and take a brassy no-nonsense approach to the music they create. It is certainly a breath of fresh air in this age of R&B and commercialized Hip-Hop.
- Jamie Christian
The album did create some controversy in its time for Milks homophobic lyrics on a couple songs and at the time, I loved them, since I was a bit homophobe at the time myself. I can’t say it was a HUGE uproar, but it did get some mention in magazines and the such. Milk was also one of the first MC’s to dis MC Hammer as well with “Yo Hammer can’t rhyme and .357 is a bunch of hooooo’s” line. This was when Hammer was reigning hard. What really caught my attention is the last line. Doesn’t that sound familiar? Isn’t that basically what we are saying in our present? This was in 1990 remind you. I always thought out of the expanding “Golden Age” of hip hop that can arguably be classified from ’86-’96, that 1990 was by far the weakest year. There was an over running of commercialized garbage with Hammer, Gerardo, Young MC, Tone Loc, Vanilla Ice, Wreckx N Effex and other artists trying to capitalized on Hip-Hop’s rising popularity at the time. Are us “old-timers” just forgetting that some of the same things were happening then that is happening now? True, I’d much listen to almost any of those fore mentioned artists (okay, maybe not Gerardo) than most of the radio crap now a days, but a lot of that music got hated on for it’s commercialized origin. This is heading into a whoooooole other post, so I’ll step off the philosopher’s box for now. Needless to say, I would have paid new price for this album, so $7.99? No problem!
| 1. Wake Up People |
| 2. Trip 2 The Suburbs |
| 3. Get Em Now Bad Influence |
| 4. Crack Ya Back |
| 5. Flavor Wit The Neighbors |
| 6. Girls Like We Know |
| 7. Warning Flammable |
| 8. GTO And The Funky Horns |
| 9. Skull Funkin |
| 10. Talk That Talk |
| 11. Ki Ki Bobo |
| 12. Hot Summer Days |
| 13. Understand Me Vanessa |
| 14. To The Climax |
| 15. As The World Turns |
| 16. Dedicate |
| 17. Oh Olivia |
This is one of those albums I discovered on Cocaine Blunts message boards during its height in popularity. Before that, I knew nothing of Anttex and still don’t know much about him and since I’m doing this from off the top of my head, I’m not going to try to get to fancy with this. After I downloaded it off of Cocaine Blunts, I gave it some listens and really liked it. It’s not a great-lost treasure or anything, but it’s that hard, early 90’s hip-hop that I was into at the time. Don’t make the mistake and think this is some soft bubble gum music from its title, cause it’s not, its pretty hard. If I remember right, he is from the outskirts of NY,
This was recently issued the re-release treatment, oddly enough, so when I ran across this, I expected it to be the re-release version, but much to my surprise, it’s got a copyright from 1991 and I don’t see anything that would lead me to believe it’s the re-release version. Not that I’m one of those nerds that wants the original versions if the re-release version is the same thing. Some re-releases have different samples because of clearance problems, such as some of Mix-A-Lot’s early records and Geto Boys (Gangsta Of Love had the Steve Miller sample on the original). The original release of NWA’s “NWA & The Posse” had a Doctor Funkenstien track instead of Cube’s “A Bitch Is A Bitch” track (I still need that original NWA, so someone hook a brother up). What I’m trying to say, for $4.99, I think this was a good purchase and something I was happy to have.
Doctor Ice – The Mic Stalker (Jive/RCA, 1989) $8.99
| 1 | Bass Up - Bass Down (4:09) | |
| 2 | Everybody Git Funky (3:14) | |
| 3 | Nobody Move (3:21) | |
| 4 | Love Jones (5:05) | |
| 5 | Sue Me! (4:10) | |
| 6 | Brooklyn To L.A. (3:41) | |
| 7 | Fever (3:51) | |
| 8 | Feelin' Irie (5:12) | |
| 9 | The Mic Stalker (2:56) | |
| 10 | Word To The Wise (3:21) | |
| 11 | The Chillologist (4:39) | |
| 12 | Word Up Doc! (3:21) | |
| 13 | I Ain't Goin' (4:07) | |
| 14 | Just A Little Bit (Oh Doctor, Doctor) (3:02) | |
| 15 | True Confessions (5:44) |
I know, I know, what the fuck is Trav smoking now, paying $8.99 for this trash? This album might not have aged all that well, but this was one of my favorite albums my Soph/Junior year in High School in ’89. My Alpine deck in my little Jetta played this tape many times. Even my non-rap friends started liking this tape before it was all said and done, so it has a lot of sentimental value to me. I enjoy listening to this album still to this day and was really excited to run across it on CD.
Doctor Ice was from UTFO, who ironically, I wasn’t a big fan of in the day. I’m not sure what even got me to buy this, probably like usual, there was a video they played, but I can’t say which song it would have been, maybe “Everybody Git Funky”. The album has some great one-liners that I remember my buddies and I saying back then. The album itself is a hodge podge of all different styles. The album contains some reggae-influenced tracks (he had an alter ego named Dread Doc on the album) like “Feelin’ Irie”. There is some gangsta shit with lots of cussing such as the track “Sue Me!”, which as a 15-16 year old, I liked. There are some tracks with heavy bass that I liked for the two 12’s I had in the trunk and there are some HORRIBLE love songs as well. Do I feel bad about spending $8.99 for this? Hell no!
Dana Dane – Dana Dane 4 Ever (Profile, 1990) $5.99
| 1 | Dedication 2 (0:46) | |
| 2 | Dana Dane To It (3:52) | |
| 3 | A Little Bit Of Dane Tonight (5:12) | |
| 4 | Tales From The Dane Side (5:16) | |
| 5 | What Dirty Minds U Have (3:50) | |
| 6 | Makes Me Wanna Sing (4:39) | |
| 7 | Dana Dane 4-Ever (3:25) | |
| 8 | Lonely Man (5:05) | |
| 9 | Johhny The Dipper (4:15) | |
| 10 | Something Special (4:50) | |
| 11 | Bedie Boo (2:22) | |
| 12 | Just Here To Have Fun (4:18) |
I think this was about the point in the shopping spree that I didn’t care about the price or what it was, if it was something remotely interesting, I grabbed it. Maybe it was the fact I didn’t actually have any hard copies of any Dana Danes ablum (I had his last album, but it’s been missing for awhile now). How can you be an “Ol Skool” hip-hop head without any Dana Dane in your collection? I wish it was his first album, which is going for a steep price, but as I said, at this point, nothing mattered. Would I spend $5.99 on this again if I had to redo it? Hmmmm, probably not, I think I’ve past this up before, but at least I have a Dana Dane album in my collection…hahaha.
D.J. Magic Mike – This Is How It Should Be Done (Magic Records, 1993) $4.99
| 1. It's Star Time |
| 2. Last Person To F--k With |
| 3. Magic's Funky Jeep Beats |
| 4. Keep It Goin Now |
| 5. Fury Who? |
| 6. Magic & Bartell |
| 7. Feel The Beat |
| 8. Rhyme After Rhyme |
| 9. Past And Present Times Of A Black Man |
| 10. Magic's Cuttin Up! |
| 11. To The Fans II |
| 12. Do You Like The Bass II |
| 13. 20 Degrees Of Bass |
| 14. Get Wicked |
| 15. Bass Check I |
| 16. Magic's Machine #3 |
| 17. Prelude To The Years |
| 18. Through The Years |
| 19. This Is How It Should Be Done |
| 20. 2 For The Bass |
| 21. Royal Brothers In The House |
“Is that a Magic Mike CD I don’t have?!?!?!! I must have it!” that was the thought that was going through my head when I saw this. In my ultimate quest to have every worthwhile DJ Magic Mike CD there is, I grabbed this. Don’t ask me why I feel I have to have his catalog, I just do, no one understands it, not even myself. One of these days, I’m going to write up a post on the brillance that was Magic Mike, but not tonight. For $4.99, I’ll take this, even those its mostly instrumentals with wicked bass that I really don’t have a way to play to its full potential.
De La Soul – Ego Trippin’ (Part Two) (Tommy Boy, 1993) $3.99
| 1 | Ego Trippin' (Part Two) (Original Version) (3:52) | |
| 2 | Ego Trippin' (Part Two) (LA Jay Remix) (4:13) | |
| 3 | Ego Trippin' (Part Two) (Gumbo Funk Remix) (5:46) | |
| 4 | Lovely How I Let My Mind Float (4:02) | |
| 5 | Ego Trippin' (Part Three) (4:40) |
If I had to pick a favorite group in all of hip-hop, it would probably be De La Soul, so I try to pick up anything out of the ordinary they are on. I usually don't bother with CD singles, but this contained two remixes (the Gumbo mix is kind of cool) I had never heard before plus two of my favorite “b-sides” in “Lovely How I Let My Mind Float” and “Ego Trippin’ (Part Three)” so I had to grab it and $3.99 was a cheap price to pay. If you have never heard Part Three (it’s a totally different song), and like De La, you MUST download this NOW!
Eric B & Rakim – Let The Rhythm Hit ‘Em (MCA, 1990) $6.99
I know, I know, there most definitely has to be some kind of hip-hop law against not owning all of Eric B & Rakim’s albums. For some reason, I have the damnedest time holding on to their albums. I’ve had all of them at one time or another, but they always seem to disappear over the years. I have all on them on tape, but CD’s just don’t hang around much. The only other Eric B & Rakim CD I had was “Follow The Leader”, which means, damn, I don’t have “Paid In Full” on CD. I’m going to have to change that.
This one is probably my least favorite of their discography, meaning I like it a lot, just not as much as the others, with “Don’t Sweat The Technique” barely beating this out. $6.99 is probably the cheapest you are going to find their albums used, unless you find them in the pawnshops, so I had didn’t have any qualms about the price.
Needless to say after dropping nearly $50 bucks at Twist & Shout, I decide to skip the last two stores, even though I was driving right by them. I’d dropped enough cash for the day. Funny enough though, on the way home, I bought a coke and $5 bucks worth of scratch tickets and won $25 dollars, so it’s kind like I was close to my target allowance anyway.
That’s another shopping trip in the books. May all your CD’s be rare and prices be cheap…..
