WYDU Has Merged With Bloggerhouse.net Two Blogging Powerhouses Combined Please Bookmark our new site Http://bloggerhouse.net Please Update the Links On Your Websites -The WYDU Team
My man Jason Gloss runs the best hip hop related forums on this here world wide internet. Hands down. I'm far from a big message board junkie, but if I do feel like wasting some time, having a laugh, or hearing something new, Philaflava.com is always the first place I go and one of maybe only three or four message boards I check out on a somewhat regular basis.
Gloss and company have also started up what is now one of the best golden age hip hop blogs going on the net in the T.R.O.Y. blog. Several times I've secretly cursed them under my breath for beating me to the punch on an idea or the such. But I have to admit, I've gotten a shit load of music from them and the T.R.O.Y. forum that can be found on the Philaflava site, so it's all love in my books.
They also have a new blog, Steady Bloggin' which is going to focus on the newer aspects of the hip hop nation. Here is their business manifesto
This week marks the official launch of Philaflava.com'sSteady Bloggin'. Last October we brought you our T.R.O.Y. blog and in less than 7 months we've become one of the most respected blogs covering the Golden Era of hip-hop. Steady Bloggin' will focus on current music that will range from hip-hop, jazz, funk, soul as well as film and books.
Our main aim is to provide you a daily fix that will ultimately make Philaflava your one-stop shop. Whether it's old school, new school or even some discussion, we're hitting you from every angle.
Steady B'sblog squad consists of 5 heads hailing from Harlem, North Cackalacka, T-Dot, Brooklyn and Miami. We all have different tastes and because of that we hope to provide you with an array of content other blogs fail to. We're not taking over the blogosphere or putting the big ones out of business. We're simply offering up an alternative and we can only do this with your support.
If you're an artist, author or film maker and would like for us to cover your project, please don't hesitate to contact us at Steadybloggin@gmail.com. We'll do our best to make sure the unheard, indie or starving artists are no longer inconspicuous. We want to educate, entertain and interact with you guys.
Please take this time out to bookmark the site, register for our message boards, spread the word about STEADYBLOGGIN.COM, follow us on Twitter. and don't forget to check out our big brotherT.R.O.Y. But most importantly be prepared to because we're about to set shit off!
This completely unexpected collabo not only sported the dope Cube sample hook (Da Lynch Mob - Guerillas In Da Mist) but the man himself along with cousin Kam. P.E. might have burned Hollywood with Cube first, but this is a gem that most are either are clueless about or simply forgot. Either way get hip and listen to this shit now!
This only dropped on vinyl to my knowledge due to sample clearances but its remains one of my favorite remixes from the mid-90's. Tragedy was at his peak during this time.
It's time for more "hard-to-find" goodies from my arsenal of tracks that I've managed to find in my visits to records stores, back of magazines, and of course the world wide internet. I honestly didn't intend to do more than 10-20 tracks for the "Bonus" tracks of my "Obscure" Philaflava post, but people seem to dig it plus I haven't had the time to move onto the next project I have in mind, at least not yet. So if you don't like them, tell everyone else to shut up, or if you do like them, keep the comments coming. Easy enough.
Beastie Boys - Scenario (Grand Royal, on the "Drum Machine", "Scenario", "I'm Down" 12 inch, 2002)
At first you might see the Beastie Boys listed and think "Is anything the Beasties done actually "hard to find"? And my answer to that would be, actually, yeah....The Beasties have lots of b-sides, unreleased and remix joints out there. "Scenario" happens to be one such track. I don't know much about the origins of the cut. I'm sure some Beastie aficionados can probably fill in the history better than I can, but I'm venturing out on a limb here and will say it was probably done before "Licensed To Ill", so don't let the year fool you, that would be when it was released to wax by the Beasties. Movie buffs might remember it being in the Christian Slater movie "Pump Up The Volume" about a pirate radio DJ and this would be a track he would play. It was also that movie that sent me on a 15-year search for "Scenario", finally finding it when my man Tommy B from Miscreant Productions hooked it up. Needless to say, it was a great day. Song wise, it's pretty much a rip off of another personal favorite artist in Schoolly D and his classic "PSK". The drum effects are there along with the other sounds present on "PSK", but what the hell, I can look past that in this day in age. If you are fan of the Beasties such as I am, especially their earlier work, then you have to check this track out.
Another example of a song that isn't horribly "obscure", but one that is need of mention just in case some kids are sleeping on it. The remix for the Bush Babee's "Love Song" track has long been one of my favorites, mainly because it contains De La Soul and Mos Def when he was still focused on making music. The remix is actually done by Da Bush Babee's Mr. Man, which is a nice twist on the original beatwise. Mos really does his thing on the hook, reminding us older heads why we thought he would be the next Chuck D or the first Kanye West. Of course since I would probably consider De La Soul my favorite hip hop group of all-time, I'm on this tracks proverbial jock because of their shining appearance that almost makes this song sound like a De La song. In fact when I first heard it, I thought it was a De La track (I didn't fuck with the Bush Babee's back in the day), it's got that De La flavor to it. Nothing wrong with that!
A couple of weeks ago I kind of clowned the whole Indie boom that happened toward the end of the 90's decade. It made many kid go out and buy a Jansport back pack, some big ass Kross headphones and bitch about the mainstream. While they had a point about the mainstream around that time (shiny suits anyone?), the whole genre would soon grind down to boring, monotonous, and straight up garbage type of hip hop and these little hipster nerds would become just as condescending as their mainstream thug counterparts. BUT, some of the early Indie stuff was pretty tight. This is one such little gem that I know next to nothing about, but I LOVE this track. I can't even remember what caused me to download this track from the almighty Audiogalaxy (anyone remember that shit?) back in the day. I'm glad I did, but I've never been able to find much out about them. This track was released in '98 on some small label. The beat is some fly jazz shit with dope piano keys and a nice string rift, horns, shit it's got everything. I couldn't even tell you the name of the MC, but he does a nice job talking about the old days. The hook is nice as well, it's basic but sticks in your mind and it actually has one of those DJ fellas and he is making squiggy squiggy sounds....weird...don't hear those anymore. Anyone have any material by these cats, hit me up.
Alright, so I'm cheating a bit here, this was something I posted up a year ago when I first posted this track. Since then, I've managed to track down all their 12 inch singles and there was also someone close to M.I.C. and DJ Cutt (who produced this track) educated us as well:
"lead rapper M.I.C is now solo and DJ CUTT does remixes and produced a gang of stuff for NORE (In House Production Team for Thugged Out Militainment), RICK ROSS, and he was a former producer for Crazy Cat Catalogue(Derik"D.Dot" Angelettie) - Notorious B.I.G, Black Rob, 50 Cent, Lil Kim..etc, They still grind together with Impact Music Group a multimedia entertainment Co"
Eminem & Royce Da 5'9 - Renagades(Original Version) (Never officially released?) As far as I'm concerned, this version shits all over the one with Jay that appeared on "The Blueprint", and I actually liked that version. Royce and Em share great chemistry on everything I've ever heard them on, so it's only natural that they killed this. Their work as "Bad Meets Evil" and the 12" they dropped made me hope they would release something back when they were both hungry. I've heard multiple reasons for Jay ending up on the final version, all from Royce's label wouldn't allow it, to Jay paying more money for the beat, to it was part of the fall out with Dre and Royce. I'm not going to venture which one is true, although I would go with the label issues. I hope they can work together again in the future, maybe working with Royce will make Em hungry again. Excuse fuckin' Kay Slay screaming all over the damn track.
Ghostface feat Raekwon & Slick Rick - The Sun(Never officially released) This is my favorite Ghostface track. I've seen this on some of those "unofficial" Ghostface releases, but I think it was left off of "Bulletproof Wallets" due to sample clearances. I looked up to see where he got the sample from, but no dice. Ghost is typical Ghost, while Rae comes off and adds to their obvious chemistry. Slick Rick bats cleanup and this sounds like this was made for him, even the chorus sounds like something rick would come up with. This is a great song to wake up to on an early spring morning...who said we didn't have feelings??
I've always liked the remix for Kid Sensation's lead off single, "Ride The Rhythm", so much that I had to include in my "bonus" picks. I can remember picking up this bad boy on the cassette single back in the day. I was shocked that the remix was just as good as the original version. To this day, I'm still not sure which I prefer more, although I think this remix might have a slight edge over the original. I remember this track having a killer bassline in a decent car studio, with it's stuttering drum break laying underneath it, it was something for the trunk 'o funk for sure.
As big of a Masta Ace fan as I am, I was surprisingly never that big of a Digga fan. I thought he made for a decent hype man, but I always kind of cringed when he did full verses on the Inc albums. Yeah, I know, some of you will call me crazy, I just thought he was never that good of a lyricists. I still don't, but this solo single he dropped in '98 did prove to me he could at least carry a song on his own. Even if the track is almost a novelty in its approach. If you haven't heard this track before, Digga flips the "Price Is Right" theme from the legendary game show and makes it his own. I can never argue against the fact that Digga was a extremely talented producer and he does his thing with this track and keeps it from just being a corny disaster, which could have happened rather easily. On the mic, Digga is still Digga, but he is easier to handle in the smaller dose of one track. Also include the fact he is a little more mellow on the track, which also helps me enjoy the track more as well.
Being a big fan of Erick Sermon during those early 90's days, with both his production on the first two Redman albums along with Keith Murray's debut and then combine both his production and mic duties on "No Pressure", I thought E Double could do no wrong. This track came from the "Stay Real" 12 inch which I once again bought as a cassingle back in the day. For some reason, I lost it fairly quick, so I wasn't able to enjoy "Rock Da House" as much as I would have liked back in the day. My man Jaz over at Cold Rock Da Spot went on a hunt to find this, which I think finally popped up at Dr. OK's blog about a year ago. The track is full of the funk, something that I love to this day. It's all about the dirty bottom and only E Double, Redman or Keith can do a track this sloppy justice. Great stuff.
This original version of "No Bones In Ice Cream" took awhile to track down. I've always thought the original version was head and shoulders above the "No Bones" (Remix) that is found on the Jewel of the Nile LP. Nice & Smooth excelled in making non sense rhymes, concepts and ideas sound dope as fuck, probably more so than anyone else. The beat takes a familiar piano loop and lays it over another familiar sample (I'm horrible with naming samples) all over a simple drum break, but in true Nice & Smooth fashion, the shit is nice. It's nothing new from the duo, but true fans of their work should appreciate hearing when they were on top of their game and a track that could have easily been on any of their albums and still been one of the better tracks.
There are always tracks that hold some special memory and this happens to be one of them for me. I bought a DJ Red Alert tape out of the back of the Source magazine back in the day. The Uptown Bounce Mix for Rakin' In The Dough happened to be one that Red played on that show. I never heard the version before and spent the next 15 plus years (yes, again) trying to track down the version. Thankfully for the internet, I once again have it in my collection. I wasn't big on Zhigge back in those days, but I've learned to like them since then. The beat and the bangin' drums, both supplied by Salaam Remi, or the true treat found on this album.
Alright, back on the grind. Damn, here I am on a Saturday night workin' on the fuckin' site? Pathetic eh? I played basketball all afternoon, so my old, fat ass is tired as shit, so I'm chillin' have some rum & cokes and a few beers. Figured I'd better get some Philaflava joints up. Glad y'all enjoying the series.
Erick Sermon - If You Don't Know Like I Know feat. Trigger, Heltah Skeltah & O.G.C. Erick Sermon - The Ill Shit feat. Kam & Ice Cube Fab 5 (Heltah Skeltah + O.G.C.) – Blah Fesu – War With No Mercy Fierce - Crab Funkmaster Flex - Six Million Ways To Die feat. Nine & Tragedy Godfather Don – Burn (Remix) Gova Mattic – Family Day feat. Redman, Tame One, Pace Won, Young Zee, Roz Noble & Runt Dog Grand Puba - Fat Rat Hard 2 Obtain - Ism and Blues
I know NOTHING about this joint. I'd probably be better to let Jaz of Cold Rock The Spot talk on this one, because he is the local E Double expert. I can't even find anything on the net about it. That said, it's not bad, but probably nothing I'd go nuts over. The beat sounds like something I've heard before on a Craig Mack album. E Double handles his own behind the mic, but I've never had a problem with his rhyming skills. Rock is on the hook, which is always cool to hear. You also have Trigga, who is an extremely overlooked MC. He brings his style and flavor. It's not a bad song, just probably something I'd lump into the top 100. - Trav
This is probably another joint I wouldn't consider "obscure", but it's a great cut regardless. E Double was always good with making east coast beats that could very easily be played over on the west coast. Full of funk and flava, E Double hooks up with Cube when he was at the pinnacle of his popularity and hip hop respect. Kam was also an overlooked west coast MC and does an admirable effort hanging with Cube. This track is full of great one liners, at least for me. It wasn't my favorite song from the album, but it might had the honor of having some of my favorite lyrics. - Trav
Rockness Monster is the fucking man. I have to say it. With all the praise of Ruck (Sean P.), Rockness to me was always better. And this track from Heltah Skeltah and OGC sub-sets of the larger Boot Camp Click, explains why I feel that way. Not to take anything way from Starang, Top Dog, Louisville and Ruck who themselves are as proficient as anyone in that era in verbally murdering any beat, with their grandiloquently hardcore raps. With a striking chorus, and laced with a phenomenal beat, both groups trade verses giving their one dose of violence, while exhibiting their personal doctrine of what it is to be hardcore and daring any rivals to "come test" their credentials on or off the M.I.C. - Original Philaflava post
In some ways this entry is kind of surprising, in other ways, it's not. Fesu never made a lot of noise when he was making albums, but his claim to fame would be when he made the Source's "Unsigned Hype" column back in '93 (I think). He dropped an EP, then a full length album, "War With No Mercy". Hailing from the south in those days, you didn't have much of a chance if you weren't on any label not named Rap-A-Lot, No Limit or Sauve House. The album didn't do all that much, but the title track was one of the better tracks from the album (I'd say the best track is "Goosebumps"), but it does have a nice soulful beat, with an ill guitar loop and a sample that I should know. The drums are the same as those used on "Nuthin' But A G Thang". Fesu himself is nice on the mic, recounting tales of the streets. - Trav
Fierce - Crab ****FIXED*****(Hot Wax, found on the 12 inch release "Crab b/w Come Close"
Fierce is a very talented MC who has one 12' to his credit and one appearance on a major label release that includes 50 Cent, Puffy, Mase, and all kinds of representatives of the jiggy-faggot era that was 1997-1999. Fierce gain such notoriety at one point that he was on Rap City with only a 12' to his name and no video to show for it. The 12' in question is "Come Close/Crab" and it's really remarkable. He displays a verbal dexterity unseen in many of the greatest rappers and this is evidenced by amount of rhymes he can pack into the bars without sounding rushed, contrived, or anything less than quite polished. As dope as he comes on "Crab," "Come Close" is even more vicious on the mic. "Crab" is the better song because the lyrics fit the mood of the dark, haunting piano loop better than "Come Close" does on the B-Side. "Crab" is the A-Side to his 1996 Hot Wax 12' release. If you like what you hear you can check for more of Fierce's rhymes on Tha Madd Rapper's 1999 album "Tell 'Em Why You Mad" on "Whateva" and the promo only "For The Love" 12' which is also a Madd Rapper release that is tough to find. - Orginal Philaflava post
Funkmaster Flex feat 9 Double M & Tragedy - Six Million Ways(Wreck Records, found on the "Sad & Blue" b/w Six Million Ways", 1993) We all hit this one on the head getting this on the list as it's one of my personal favorite joints and I believe it was included on the first ever volume of WYDU Classics. For those of you not in the know, 9 Double M would later release two albums as Nine, the gruff voice NY MC that I've always liked. This track is credited as being produced by Funkmaster Flex, but somehow I doubt that claim. The "co-producer" is Salaam Remi, which I'd be more inclined to believe, although it really sounds like some early Buckwild shit. Nine is the main focus on this track, as he drops two ill verses, while already using that "love it or hate it" vocal style that you automatically know who it is. Trag drops an quick little sixteen that you almost miss if you aren't paying attention. He is still sounding more Intelligent Hoodlum that Tragedy Khadafi, which I always thought was better. - Trav
While I really like this song, the sheer amount of Godfather Don 12 inch singles out there, I think there would be something better than this joint to put up for him. Don is one of those MC's loved by the real heads, but has always remained below the radar fro the average hip hop fan. He has a shitload of single only releases out there that should be track down by any fan of the mid 90's sound. It's well worth your time. This joint is a banger, complete with an ill string sample that gives that back alley feel right before a shootout. It's produced by Godfather Don himself, who is even more overlooked as a producer than an MC. Ill joint, if you haven't heard the Diabolique album, this is just a taste of what can be found on it. - Trav
Govna Mattic – Family Day feat. Redman, Tame One, Pace Won, Young Zee, Roz Noble & Runt Dog (Unreleased?1997)
Ok, ok, ok- I know it sounds oxymoronic or even impossible but this song came out in 1997 and still remains obscure and elusive to collectors. I mean, how can a song with a feature by a platinum-selling rapper (Redman), a member of a highly acclaimed group with video play on Rap City and Yo! MTV Raps (Tame One, formerly of The Artifacts), and the hottest underground group of the era (Young Zee and Pacewon of the Outsidaz, who were featured on The Fugees 10-times platinum album The Score) ever be obscure? Well, it remained obscure because it was released by Govna Mattic, a relative of Redman and by proxy Tame One. Govna Mattic himself is a Newark legend and was in a group with Dizzle Don. Much like Redman, these guys love to smoke weed. Red is actually on the cover of the Govna Mattic/Diezzle Don 12'"Ghetto Red Hot" breaking up a brick of weed in front of a map of the world- which they obviously sought to take over via their vinyl sales. Anyway, "Family Day" is basically a laid-back song that reminds me of a mid-summer bar-b-que and to that end a family reunion gets underway over the sweet, melodic beat provided by Govna Mattic himself. Redman, Tame, and I think Govna Mattic are all cousins. Roz Noble, that's likely Reggie Noble's sister. Young Zee and Pace are related as well and Pace I think is related to Tame. This was supposed to be released on Govna's 1998 LP Hell Up In Newark and the album even got great reviews in Rap Pages and The Source but it never got a distribution worthy of the reviews it received. - Original Philaflava post
Trav's Note: ILLLLLLL fuckin' song and it was new to me....Download THIS song Grand Puba - Fat Rat(MCA, on the "Strictly Business" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1991)
Grand Puba was my dude back in the early 90's. I thought anything he touched was gold. But listening to this track that appeared on a shitty soundtrack isn't really my thing these days. Puba still rips it, but the track is just straight up booty in my opinion. It's almsot New Jack Swing-ish sounding, which isn't automatically bad, but I just wasn't feeling this, even then. The soundtrack itself was rather crappy, and this was back when soundtracks were usually halfway decent. - Trav
It's hard to believe that a "title track" wouldn't be included on the album its named after, but that's the case with Hard 2 Obtain's "Ism & Blues" track that was included as a b-side to "Ghetto Diamond". Produced by the production crew, the Stimulated Dummies, the track would have fit in perfectly on a Black Moon album, with the SD's doing their best Beatminerz imitation. The tight bass line grabs the listener right off the bat then on the chorus the horns come with the smoothness that reminds one of smoking the ism in a dark club. MC's Taste and DL aren't the best lyricists by any means, but fit nicely on the track and remind ones self why you didn't need to be a incredible lyricist to make a great album. The posse chorus that ran prevalent throughout hip hop during the early 90's is found here as well, but as I said, everything just works perfectly with this track. It's unfortunate that this track didn't make the album, not sure if it was sample issues or what the reasoning was, but it would have been one of the best songs on an already good album. - Original Philaflava Post
Despite dropping accolade after accolade towards the "Slaughtahouse" album and proclaiming it my all-time favorite album in a survey last year done by my man Jeff Weiss from Passion of the Weiss and Joey from Straight Bangin', I've never really explained why I love this album so much. In all honesty, I didn't really proclaim it as my favorite album until much later, probably around 2002, 2003. I've always loved it, it's always been an album that I've had to have close to me at allt-times. I could listen to it everyday for the rest of my life and never grow tired of it. Over the years, it my respect and my enjoyment just kept increasing with this album. The sound, the concept, the beats, the lyrics, but it all together, it's just an amazing album in my mind.
I honestly don't remember the day I picked this up for the first time. My first impression with Ace didn't leave any indication that I would be a big-time Masta Ace "stan" later on in life. "Me & The Biz" was somewhat "cute", but it wasn't anything that I particularity went crazy over. I wouldn't even buy "Take A Look Around" until much later. The first thing that Ace would do that grabbed my attention was his verse on "The Symphony 2". His verse and Kool G Rap's verse would come in neck and neck and a virtual toss up as my favorite from that track. It would be a couple more years until I heard of Masta Ace again. The summer of '92, The Brand New Heavies would drop their "Heavy Rhyme Experience Vol. 1", and Ace would have my favorite track on a solid album with "Wake Me When I'm Dead", a cut that had Ace coming harder and more rugged with his lyrics. I would also buy a tape out of the back of The Source that featured some freestyles from certain east coast artists and Ace and Digga would also be on that with a freestyle that I played continuously. There would also be Ace's appearance on the Big Daddy Kane birthday that came on the tape as well. It would show up on "Slaughtahouse" later on, but it just hyped me up even more for this new sound and style I was hearing from Ace. The Source would add more fuel to the fire when it had the albums first single, "Jeep Ass Niguh" (which to this day I prefer SO MUCH more than "Born To Roll") as a Sure Shot Single. Then "Yo! MTV Raps" played "Jeep Ass Niguh" before the album dropped and the first verse from that single would simply mesmerize me:
Braniac dumb-dumbs, bust the scientifical Approach to the course and the force is centrifical Can you find your way through the lyrics that be catchin em? Throw another rhyme across the room, they be fetchin em When they take a loss, take a loss to the master and I throw crazy blows and they nose I be plasterin All across the room, on the ceilings and the walls too Punk muthafuckas didnt know I had the balls to Come around their block with my cock diesel system and Turned it up to ten and then start to dis em and They didn't wanna battle If they did, when they saw me they'da open up the trunk But they tried to ignore me Hey muthafuckas, I know you hear me calling you Thought you wanted some but I see that you all into Frontin.Ain't no future in your frontin, so Let's Get It On Like Marvin Gaye (hey) Take the cash and sit it on The hood of your bullshit, lowriding Cadillac Back up your boys and let's start to battle.Act Like ya know; the Masta Ase don't play when it come to my bass
The beat for "Jeep Ass Niguh" was unlike anything really out at that time as was the production for the whole album. The sound was dusty, with lots of bluesy guitars and Bomb Squad-ish bells and whistles. It was really unorthodox production on "Slaughtahouse" that really drew me in. As I mentioned, I didn't deem this album classic immediately. It has really been something that has gotten better and better over the years. Don't get me wrong, I loved it immediately. As I mentioned previously, I don't remember the exact day I bought it, but I'm sure if it wasn't the day it was released, it was surely that week. My initial reaction was one of amazement, I do remember that.
The album leads off with an intro of sorts, "A Walk Thru The Valley", and immediately you are introduced to what the whole album is going to sound like. It's a sound that is very original and unique as I don't think you can compare it to any other that has ever been released. Gun shots and vocal samples fill your ears over piano keys. A sample comes on saying "Hi boys and girls, it's a wonderful day!", then a horn comes crying in, guitar chords of different varieties rage through out all over a familiar drum break that hits hard than a mac truck. It's chaotic, dark, but extremely interesting all at once. Ace comes and spits more or less a spoken word, not quite a song, but not just talking, talking about the ghetto, or "The Valley". It's an intro that I would know the words for before too long. How often do you learn the words to an intro? This of course leads into a skit of sorts that kind of sets of the loosely tied concept album (the first of Ace's concept albums). Ace is teaching "hard core rap 101", giving the students a low down on how to be "hard", but smoking blunts, drinking 40's and carrying a variety of guns. This leads into the cutting edge track of 1993. Up until the "Slaughtahouse" track, Black Sheep's "U Mean I'm Not" was my favorite gangsta rap "spoof", but when you first hear the Ignorant MC and MC Negro, you have to laugh and it sounds dope as fuck even though it's a parody of itself almost. They are promoting their new LP "Brains On The Sidewalk" and screaming "MURDER MURDER MURDER KILL KILL KILL" and you just have to laugh. Of course this all could have gotten ugly in the whole west coast/east coast thing, but besides Mack 10, Ice Cube, and WC naming a joint "WestSide Slaughtahouse", which obviously was a little jab at Ace and crew, but they never mentioned him by name, for reasons unknown. The "More Bounce To The Ounce" sample dominates the MC Negro & Ignorant MC part of the song. It then switches into more wailing guitars that give it an eerie feeling while Digga chants "Death to the wack MC's", and Paula Perry let's the suckas have it. The boom bap drums usher in Ace over the guitars as he tells the listener it's not about street homicide, basically denouncing the whole played out gangsta movement that had be running rampant in hip hop since the popular success of NWA in the late 80's.
"Late Model Sedan" has a jazzy/bluesy soundtrack backing it as Ace tells a story about a black sedan that has been taking out brothers on the block. The story takes a surprising twist as he sees some cats that he knows drive by in a stolen car, low and behold, he knows the kids in the black sedan. Some people say Ace isn't very diverse, but tracks like this are examples why I disagree. His story telling is something that is often overlooked. "Jeep Ass Niguh" follows, which I think I've already covered well enough. It is a true story though that someone took Ace's jeep back in the day while he left it running to grab something.
"The Big East" is next and one of my personal favorites from the album. Ace's delivery and flow is different on this album than any of his other albums, which I guess is why I tend to pick this as my favorite Ace album and he really shines on this cut. A simple, yet banging beat is used, with a nice guitar lick and some more boom bap drums rule the musical goodies. We get our first exposure to Lord Digga, who I've always found kind of dull lyrically, but he killed the beats as one half of the Blues Brothers on this album. "Jack B. Nimble" is another story that Ace kicks out the listeners. Again, in what might be a rather simple beat is spiced up with a little sax sample. It's little production pieces like such as this that make the album's production incredible. Ace takes on crooked cops as the central figure of his story is chased by cop's looking to do him in. "Boom Bashin" is another favorite of mine, an album defining jam in all reality. I'm sounding like a rerun saying this, but more unique production makes what would be a simple beat into a quagmire audible noises as little snippets of noise are pieced together to make the boom bap beat a head nodder. The next two tracks, "Mad Wunz" and "Style Wars" are the two tracks I don't care for on the album. Not really sure, but they were both fast forward material for me. Listening to "Mad Wunz" now and I'm not really sure why it was skipping fodder for me. It's not a bad song or an easily inferior song compared to the rest of the album. "Style Wars", was too slow for me back in the day. It's not a bad song, but I always found the remix of this song that appeared on what is possibly my favorite single of all-time, "Slaughtahouse" cassingle, which also featured the extended versions of the title track as well as "Born To Roll", which despite what you may read on Wikipedia, was NOT originally included on the "Slaughtahouse" LP. It would show up in later pressing, but it wasn't originally a "hidden track".
The Paula Perry and Ace duet comes on the tenth track with "Who U Jackin'". Paula Perry could easily be considered my all-time favorite female MC, probably because of this album, but she comes off as a real hardrock on this track as she plays the "vic", who happens to be the wrong girl to mess with. Ace is the stick up kid who rolls up on Paula demanding her to give up the goods. The end result is Ace gets cut but the nasty female. The crew decides to roll to the club in another stand out cut, "Rollin' Wit Umdada", who was the extended crew at the time, that consisted of all the Inc. members along with Kid Dynamite, Euceyrok, Witch Doctor, and some other cats. We trounce along with Ace he hits up a club. It's a jam that has many memorable lines for me and used to be one of my jams I would use to get me pumped before heading out for a night of liver damage. "Ain't U Da Masta", graces the listeners ears as Ace drops some of his best lyrical performance over a dope James Brown piano loop. Ace comes at everyone from wack MC's to bullshit rap critics:
Here come the jams, yo punks, guard your domes It's the man with the mad new styles and funky poems So strike one, strike two, strike three, you're out Of luck, Jack, fuck that, grab your nuts and shout (Ain't you the Masta?) Yep, I've always been And then, I'm a stab a fucking critic with his pen So write that, put that in your magazine and stick it
Some lyrical intoxicates show up in the form of "Crazy Drunken Style" as Lord Digga and Masta Ace drop some memorable one liners and a dope chorus. The production is....yup you guessed it, dope. A nice piano loop with drums that dominate the whole album, boom bap in it's finest. Digga was far from a great MC, but as a hype man, he did his thing proper. After the "interlude" of sorts in the form of "Don't Fuck Around", we are blessed with the proper way to close out an album, with the posse cut "Saturday Night Live". This joint was a favorite on "Yo!" back in the day and with good reason. All the MC's do their thing right and the energy that it brings is up there with some of the more adrenaline producing jams of all time.
I could probably write a book on "Slaughtahouse", the greatness that it is. It's just one of those albums that everything just sounds "right" to me. It appeals to my tastes, the beats, the lyrics, the concepts and everything else just tie together to make an album that is just so damn complete and caters to my tastes that I don't think there will ever be another album quite as perfect in my own hip hop. Now let me get back to my "President of the Masta Ace" fan club duties.
The break up of EPMD was a big b-boy heart crusher for many of us back when it happened. One of the greatest hip hop groups to grace the music was simply no more. Then the arguments came, which member was the more talented? While I liked PMD, the E-Double was always my personal favorite and I expected big things from his debut album. During the fall of '93, Sermon would drop "No Pressure", an album that is my personal favorite from the Green Eyed Bandit.
I was a funky junky in those days and Erick Sermon was the numero uno funk producer at the time, and still the best to ever do it in my opinion. What he did on Redman's "Whut? The Album" was simply amazing to me. Funk tracks that would make Parliament Funkadelic proud. It was sloppy, stankin' funk. We would get our first listen to what the E Double had in store for us on the "Who's The Man" motion picture sound track when he contributed the track "Hittin' Switches". The track was most definitely "funkalicious", incorporating the Skull Snaps drum loop over a George Clinton sample and tying in a catchy hook. It was enough to get me looking forward to his debut. The albums second single would be in the form of "Stay Real", another banger that incorporated a funky Zapp loop. It would kind of remind me of "Crossover" from the Business Never Personal LP, but it didn't matter, the funk was all I needed.
He had some great guest appreances, which I guess you would expect from someone that was used to performing as a group. "The Payback II" would introduce an MC that I have always wanted to hear more from, but unfortunately, that wouldn't be. Joe Sinistr is one of those cats that just sounded so freaking completely ill on E Double's funk beats that a whole album from those two would have easily rivaled a Redman/Erick Sermon combination, but it wasn't meant to be. Joe Sinistr's last verse would garner him a "Rhyme of the Month" in the Source back in '93:
My secret recipe put Pepsi on Diet's, uh-huh The funk dog as I come low to piss on hydrants and howl at half moons and White Owls and mad tunes Live quite fowl, leavin Lifestyles in bitches bathrooms I crack granite, and pack a mass transit it's so weird My style is more Fear-ed than Black Planets And I fuck your shit, suck my dick for explicit I let clips at your name, pay rent in your brain And I gets wicked, wick-wick-wicked And keeps a full clip in case the bullets get evicted And now to twirl up the fat nigga, seek psychiatric I devour worlds and Galactus I gets mean troop, grabbin Christine around the block at sixteen, spittin the green pea soup And cock nines, when niggaz got slime, the only men puffin Nick Nick Nick's- with -elodeon It's Joe no diss cause the funk mist flow Make a mess like Aunt Tess when she leaped off the sixth flo' So straighten it out if your knock-kneed 'fore they draw chalk around the body
Joe would show up a year later with a track ("Under The Sun") on Terminator X's "Super Bad" LP, but would never be heard from again. It's something I consider a great travesty for hip hop cause this kid has immense skills and could have been a great one. If anyone knows anything about him, let him know, it's one of my great mysteries in the hip hop kingdom. Joe Sinistr wouldn't be the only one to make his official debut on "No Pressure", nor the only one to make you say "holy shit"! The albums third single, would be "Hostile" and feature the verbal dexterity of the one Keith Murray. Yes, Keith appeared earlier on wax, but for all intended purposes, this would be the first time he made much noise. Keith's verse on "Hostile" was amazing in it's own right and personally was up there with AZ's verse on "Life's A Bitch" as best debut verses ever. The Shadz of Lingo would make their debut also on "Lil Crazy", the came strong enough that it got me fiendin' for a Shadz album that would drop in the year of '94. A fuzzy bassline from Erick Sermon drives this track and makes it perfect for the two MC's Kolorado and Rocco to rip over, especially Kolorado's verse. Another basically never to be heard again MC would be Soup who appeared on "All In The Mind". It's a track I'm sure is probably looked at as one of the weaker tracks on the album, but my weird tastes have lead me to like this track a lot and I thought Soup was pretty damn good, but once again, the only time you would see him would be on this track. Newbies weren't the only ones gracing the album as guests, "The Ill Shit" would bring the west coast over in the form of Ice Cube & Kam and drop one of the strongest tracks on the album.
The rest of the album is full of the trademark funk Sermon had going on around this time. It would be found on the second Redman album and the debut for Keith Murray along with some occasional tracks he produced for the likes of Illegal and Shadz of Lingo (be on the look out for them in '94). I personally thought E Double would start declining production wise on his second album "Double Or Nothing", which I'm sure will get some heads in an uproar. "No Pressure" isn't a classic by any means, but it had some solid tracks and will always be in the "Trav Classics Treasure Chest".
Released: August 3rd, 1993 Before the westside turned into the land of G-Funk, DJ Pooh, Bobcat, Battlecat, and even Sir Jinx were the producers of choice. Coming with hard funk tracks, that were hard enough to drive down the Boulevard in the six-trey, yet soulful enough to make the listener really feel the pain and restlessness that was experienced in the west in the early 90's. True, one can only hear "Funky Worm" and "More Bounce To The Ounce" so many times before it gets repetitious, but something about those old funk beats that just screams "good times".
One of the better pre G-Funk albums was L.A. MC, Threat's "Sickinnahead". Threat had been in the LA scene for most of the early 90's, appearing on Yo-Yo's "Black Pearl" album, 2 pac's "Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z", Tha Alkaholik's "21 & Over", our last feature, King Tee's "Tha Triflin' Album", Ice Cube's "Death Certificate" along with the "Get The Fist Movement" and some other features. In 93' Threat dropped is solo release, "Sickinnahead", which featured production from west coast beat makers, DJ Pooh & Bobcat. The album is severely over looked, even in the west coast. Threat comes with a strong delivery and dope lyrics. There are many verses on the album the stick in the listeners head. I was a fan of his verses on the Lik's track "Who Dem N---a's" and Pac's "Peep Game", so picking this album up when dropped was a must. The album jumps off into one of the best intro tracks there is. "PDK" comes with an opening verse that just sets the whole mood for the albums
"I’m here to let you know that no ho plays me I don’t do crack cause I’m already crazy And we don’t need no mo’, psycho people Guns don’t kill people, people kill people Haven’t you heard, there’s a new sheriff in to-own But one black chief can’t calm us do-own We floss ‘em out wide, the nigga ain’t from our tribe Not +Tribe Called Quest+, the tribe called West Too legit to quit so tell the cops they can kiss my young black ass cause I’m out to get mine (you’re gonna get yours) Let it be known, to all, men, that roam the planet earth that Allah come firstLivin in the L.A. Zoo you gotta be a warrior Make sure you got a good lawyer Get caught with a spear that’s fifteen years I hit the fence with my khakis and still they shootin at me Tryin to kill us off like buffalo Po-po can’t have my life, or my soul, so….."
I always had problems getting pass the first track, once I did, the whole album is like a trip through South Central, from harassing the pan handlers, to getting faded in the 6-4, it's a like a day in the life of Deadly Threat. The single and video for "Let The Dog's Loose" got some play on Yo! as well. Tracks like "Sucka Free", "When it Rains", "24-7" tie the album nicely together in a very cohesive effort. The first half of the album is nearly flawless, while the second half slips a bit, but not enough to over shadow any progress he made early on.
Threat unfortunately pretty much vanished after Polygram went tits up. He recently showed up on 2006's "Street Music" by Defari, which I have yet to hear.
Another Digital Underground album? You best believe it. Staying true to my funk roots, DU has always been one of my favorite groups as well. They were consistent when they came to dropping their brand of hip hop. You knew what you were getting when you bought a new Digital Underground album. You either loved it or hated it.
DU's third full length release, "The Body-Hat Syndrome" found itself using all the familiar ingredients. Funk samples, crazy concepts and a bunch of different participants. Something about this album has always captured my interests and I would rate this as my second favorite DU album, barely clipping "The Sons of The P" for that honor. "Body-Hat..." would get a lot of plays from me as well, as I picked it up soon after it dropped on the strength of the lead single "Return of the Crazy One". The beat was freakin' amazing and the Humpty Hump concept never grew old with me as I thought this was probably the second best Humpty solo jam. That first listen I had of this album, I was very impressed with a few songs, but somewhat disappointed. It wouldn't be long though that I was playing this album quite frequently. You have to remember that back in '93, quality music was dropping quite often in those days. Sure, it's nothing like these days when you can download 10 new albums a day and maybe listen to 3 of those that week, but for what it was, there was a lot of stuff coming out those days. "The Body-Hat Syndrome" held it's own for me though.
Tracks such as "Holly Wantstaho", which featured a Saucee Nomad by the name of Saafir would easily stand out. "Brand Nu Swetta" featured a wicked bassline that sounded nice on the two 12's I had in those days and featured a pretty humorous concept that only a group like Digital Underground could pull off and the Arrested Development rip off is humorous enough alone to listen to...."Yo Humpty, I challenge you to a game of dominoes.....a game of dominooooooes" (you'd have to watch the "Tennessee" video to get it). The "Jerkit Circus" is another goofy concept that Digital Underground does so well. Judging by the song title, if you haven't heard it before, I'm sure you can figure it out what it's about. All three parts of "The Body-Hats" joints are also very enjoyable.
I know a lot of cats were starting to give up on DU by this time, but I always enjoyed the variety this album offered. It was DU in all it's grandiose and they just had fun.
Another weekend in the books and another weekend without a post. Oh well, you all should be getting used to that. So be it, I guess. It'd be okay if I was actually getting work done even without a post, but I can't say that's happening either. One of these weeks, hopefully, I'll become a wild man unleashed and get everything done that I keep telling myself that I'm going to get done...until then, we'll keep on winging it.
While I continue to get in order (read: start on) the next big series I have planned, I thought I'd do something I haven't done in a while and that's take requests and do re-ups. Instead of doing it all in one day like I did last fall, we'll spread it over the week. THE RULES: Request anything that I have posted up in the past that is no longer working (MAKE SURE IT'S NOT WORKING check first, because I will) or if there is something you are looking for that you can't find (meaning do a blog search first), drop me a line in one of three ways: 1. The comments 2. The C-box 3. An email. Each day I'll post up 3-5 requests/re-ups. Try to keep the requests in the "rare" and out of print realm of things. Easiest way to check if something is out of print is to go to Amazon.com and see if they are selling new copies of said album or not. If they do not have it in stock, it's more than likely out of print. I'll make a few exceptions, there are a few things out there in print but are just a bitch to find regardless. I'd be open to sharing those, but I'm not going to post up the new Brother Ali album or something like that, there is more than enough places to download that type of stuff if you must. Stick to the albums, I've never been a DJ, so any 12 inch releases I have are stuff I've gotten from other blogs. Polarity is the 12 inch genius, but it would be a while for him to get any of that kind of stuff up.
There won't be in system on how I'll do it, basically whatever I can find the easiest in my collection will get posted up first. Also if you are a fellow blogger or a "preferred" visitor, you'll more than likely have your stuff up a bit faster as well (I do play favorites). Feel free to help each other as well. That was the beautiful thing about doing the requests last year, people would help each other with requests. Get to requesting........
Songs-----------
In the vein of a traditional "Sunday Lite" posts, we're sticking to single tracks, because, well, I want to.
I meantioned the whole Dr. Dre/Royce ordeal that went down during the making of "The Chronic 2001" last week when I posted up the Royce Aftermath demo. The track contains the same sample/beat (I should know the sample, but can't think of it), but with different lyrics from Dre, that were ghost written by Royce with the hook done by Royce. After the fall out between the supposed "big headed' Royce and Dre, Dre went back to the lab and cranked out the album version of the song, which would become "Xxplosive".
I can't say which I prefer more really. I'm more used to the album version, so I suppose I would go with that creation, but it just shows what could have been, if Royce would have kept his head on straight. To give Royce some credit, he did seem to learn his lesson. On "Death Is Certain", he produced a much more personal and humble album that I thought was highly overlooked.
This is one 12 inch release I wouldn't mind having, Itzsoweezee(Hot) b/w Stakes Is High (Remix). The A-Side was possibly one of my favorite tracks on my seventh all-time favorite Hip Hop album (the dorkiness continues) and any remix that has a Jay Dee beat and Mos Def added to it, you know it has to be fairly decent.
The beat itself is basically the same but switched up from the original. It's still got that early Jay Dee/J Dilla feel to it in the same vein as "Runnin'" or some of his other earlier works. The lyrics are also different as well, but sticking with the original meaning of the song. Mos Def, who at this time was fairly new to the game (I can't remember if the UTD stuff came out before this or not). De La's weed carrier at the time was also featured on this track, Truth Enola. Enola never really impressed me and I can't say I heard his album from a couple years ago, but he doesn't ruin the song, which is all you want.
I realized when started to do a write up on this joint that it isn't as rare as it once was. Originally, you could only find this track as the unreleased B-Side to "Passing Me By", but it was recently included on the "Sold My Soul" compilation released last year, but whatever, for those of you that slept on that, you need to get with this track. You know what to expect if it was recorded in the "Bizarre Ride..." era, some off the wall, silly, fun to listen to joint, it is called "Pork" after all.
Produced by La Jay, the horns on this track are lovely and all four MC's (wouldn't that be great again?) are in rare form, coming with their trademarked goofiness that made everyone love "Bizzare Ride..". If you haven't heard this, get up on it.
I always kind of chuckle/vomit in my mouth at the same time when someone says the Beasties were a bunch of sell outs. Is that why everyone from Q-tip to Redman to Biz Markie has worked with them? Give me a break. The Beasties are just as much as a part of Hip Hop as any of the Golden Age greats. And don't even get me started on the two white dudes dressing up in business suits questioning the music store clerk because the Beasties are filed underneath Hip Hop and not Rock, which I was a witness to last week which made me want to take an used White Lion CD and beat them upon the upper torso region for being stupid.
All 80's rock violence aside, the Beasties come at us with another posse cut similar to Soul Assasians remix of "So Whatcha Want" from the "Check Your Head" LP. This time Redman, E Double and Biz Markie join the Beasties and basically steal the show. You don't hear a lot from the Beasties on this one, basically some adlibs and the such. Biz, a long time Beasties cohort, drops a verse as well that will please any Diabocal fan. (Excuse the quality of the track, it was copied to one of the first CD-R's I ever did, making it probably 8 years old or so, so the CD has received a beat down of epic porportions)
On the topic of shunned white MC's, we'll piss everyone off and go to some Eminem. I know, I know, whats a 30 something, self proclamied Hip Hop purists posting up some Eminem for? I ain't going to lie, I like me some early Eminem (no homo). The Rawkus stuff? That track was an example of all that's right in Hip Hop, humor, clever rhymes and just fun to listen to. His apperance on Sway & King Tech's album was just as good as that was and the joint on Funk Flex's "The Tunnel" could be grouped in this class as well. His first two albums were, yes, some what mainstream, but also catered to the underground head as well. I know his whiteness has helped him for than hurt him, but I believe if he was black, he might not have sold 70 zillion copies of his albums to every 12-15 white surbuban kid, but he'd be more appreciated for what he really is(was) and that's a talented MC.
The first track is from the straight to video (okay, it should have been) Arnold "Da Govenator" flick "The Last Days". It come out right after Em's first album (I get the names of the LP's mixed up and am in a hurry, so I won't bother looking it up) and sounds like a cast off or a different version of "Role Model" from said album, but there is some pissed off Em, doing what he does best, bitching, but he sounds good doing it. Since the Soundtrack probably sold less than the actual movie, I'm trusting not too many people have heard this. I (blushing) bought the OST just for this song (it was before I was too into downloading music off the internet).
The second track is kind of mystery to me. I believe I found it on Audio Galaxy or Napster back in the day. I think it was supposed to be included on DJ Jazzy Jeff's "The Magnificant", but I can't find much as a name, let alone it's orgins. I've always called it "Go To Hell" from the sample from South Park it uses (Mr. Garrison screaming "You Go To Hell"). Pauly Yams from Jeff's camp also appears on the track, which is the reasoning I use that It didn't make the "The Magnificant" cut or something. Maybe someone down with Em's crew reading this will fill us in...(yeah right, like Paul Rosenberg reads this, or any blog).
Trav's Top 5 Spins Of The Week...... 1. Stricklin - The Resume Mixtape Big Strick! I'll be the first to admit that when I'm listening to something new, the first few listens I will concern myself with the beat, if the beat doesn't grab me, I won't usually give it enough time to listen to the lyrics. Not so with Strick, which to me, is a sign of a good MC. Eminem, Redman and a few others are MC's that have that effect on me. Some of the stuff Strick kicks lyric wise is nothing short of amazing.
2. Senim Silla - The Name...The Motto...The Outcome I was pretty big on Binary Star's "Master's Of The Universe", which would probably be in the top 10 albums of this decade in my book. They split and One Man Army aka One Be Lo went on the solol tip and dropped a top 5 album in '04. His partner Senim Silla comes with his own project, which is just as good as One Be Lo's effort. All Binary Star fans should check this out.
3. Evidence - The Weatherman Still pumping the Ev album, one of the better albums of the first third of the year.
4. 10 Bass T - Do You Know The Way Every now and then, I'll pull out an album I haven't heard in awhile and give it a listen, that was the case with this album. I love this album, but know next to nothing about the group except they were from San Fransico....I think. Despite my lack of knowledge on the group, the album is a solid effort from the mid 90's. Good luck trying to find a copy, I still haven't seen it except for a couple times on Amazon for two President Jacksons.
5. Joel Ortiz - The Brick: The Bodega Chronicles
After a close friend of mine told me I NEEDED to hear this joint, I finally gave into my recent fear of the sound a like/rhyme a like/ look a like NY artists such as Tru Papoose or Dip Life or any of those other artists that have 15 million mixtapes out, yet not one album amoung them. This pains me to say that about NY artists, because NY is the Mecca of hip hop, the birthplace, it's where my love for hip hop started....but they are just as guilty of bringing stale music to the table as the south. Back to the actual album, this was better than I expected, which wasn't much (the same friend told me I had to listen to Serius Jones and Tru Life and I fell asleep and/or stopped half way through both of them). I'll give it more listens than the 3-4 I gave it last week. It has potential and is much better than any of the PapdipsetoosetruJonesLifeSerius that I've heard lately.
WHY?????
I recieved emails from both David Icke and Condoleeza Rice about me not doing a "Why???" during my Sunday Lite posts, so due to such high requests, I figured I'd better throw of the more mind questioning thins I've been pondering recentely.
Why will the Cleveland Browns still suck even after their "A+" graded draft? (edit: Because they are still the Browns and Tim Couch errr Brady Quinn won't save them....hahaha)
Why did the Steelers draft a TE in round three when they already have Heath Miller?
Why did they trade up to draft a punter in the forth round....yes, A PUNTER??????
Why are some of my early CD-R's starting to fall to pieces, I thought CD's were supposed to last "forever"?
Why does going out anymore on the weekends result in dropping no less than 60 bucks?
Why am I not excited about the new Beastie Boys album? (probably because their last one was their worst)
Why did watching MTV's original "Rapumentary" this past weekend almost bring tears to my eyes? (in a good way)
Why are there not more songs like "Nostaglia" by Masta Ace these days?
This week marks the official launch of Philaflava.com's Steady Bloggin'. Last October we brought you our T.R.O.Y. blog and in less than 7 months we've become one of the most respected blogs covering the Golden Era of hip-hop. Steady Bloggin' will focus on current music that will range from hip-hop, jazz, funk, soul as well as film and books.
