What is hip hop without the brew? What is a birthday without the brew? How could I pass by today without including my five favorite drinking songs to get me in the mood for a birthday celebration (going out tomorrow night) and the rest of you in the mood for the weekend? These are tried, true and tested songs that ALWAYS work to get me in the mood to toss a few back...
1. King Tee - Act A Fool
This was always the joint I'd fire up before any night out. It's a high school classic, but it's helped me get in the mood for many many years.
2. DJ Quik - Tonite
This song is good for both getting ready and the day after, especially if your trying to get up for a Saturday night after a long friday night. I've been hung over many a time pumping this trying to get the second wind for Saturday night.
3. Eazy E - 8 Ball
So nothing really relevant to my upbringing, but it was a great song to throw on during the high school party.
4. Beatnuts - Pyscho Dwarf
This was later on in my life, me and my hip hop heads would pump this shit before going out. Isn't it just about everyones goal before heading out?
5. Young Black Teenagers - Tap The Bottle
When this dropped, I was always the hip hop head within my group of friends I was hanging with. I got everyone hooked on this song. We'd have to play at any party we had.
4/17/2009
5x5 Day Five: Trav's Five Favorite Drinking/Friday Night Songs
2/20/2008
WTR Meets WYDU Presents: I Love The 90's (1993 Part II)
Important Events
- Tupac is arrested for shooting two off duty Atlanta police in the ass. The charges are later dropped after the officers are to embarrassed to testify. A legend is born.
- Rev. Calvin Butts attempts to steam roll a pile of rap CDs to protest their violent content. In 2007, the good Reverend attempts to steam roll all the crappy myspace CDs, but cannot find a steamroller big enough.
- Snoop appears on November Newsweek with the headline: When Is Rap 2 Violent. Millions of white suburban kids, confused by the clever marketing strategy of using “2” instead of “to” buy the magazine, thinking it’s the reincarnation of “Word Up”.
Notable Deaths
- Subroc (KMD)
Looking back on '93 and I realize what a fuckin' year it really was. There are so many albums that I would call personal classics and genre classics. You had Wu-Tang, Souls of Mischief, The Pharcyde. You had the classic "Midnight Marauders" from A Tribe Called Quest, which I would personally classify as the greatest "first listen" I've ever had for an album as I listened to the album three times in a row while making out with a little hottie and getting some "stinky pinky". I'm not sure what I was more impressed with, finally getting in the chicks pants or the greatness that was "Midnight Marauders". I had a similar experience with Black Moon's "Enta Da Stage", but that chick was much less impressive than the album itself. Eric has already mentioned the classic of De La's "Buhloone Mindstate", an album which I'm ashamed to say was when I really got into De La Soul for the first time. I can remember picking up Del's "No Need For Alarm" and after the initial shock of it not sounding anything like "I Wish My Brother...." playing it over and over that night after work. I had personal classics such as "Slaughtahouse" that dropped that year. Ace and company released what would become my all-time favorite album to some fan fare, but 15 years later, people give it it's just due. Another personal classic in the form of "Tha Trifflin'" album was dropped by King Tee, which I will discuss in a little more detail in this post. The baldheads invaded when Onyx dropped their classic debut album. Tha Alkaholiks dropped their debut as well and made jams that can still turn any party out. It's years like '93 that I look back at and realize, damn, shit isn't bad now, but it'll never be like that again. It kind of sucks.......
Knucklehedz - Strictly Savage (1993)
Glad we are getting good feedback on the "I Love The 90's" series. Today we come with one of my favorite crews in the history of hip hop, the almighty Hit Squad (circa pre EPMD break-up). As even the most novice hip hop head knows, the Hit Squad consisted of : EPMD, Das EFX, Redman, and K Solo, but what a lot of people don't know there was a group of two white boys that repped the Hit Squad that never got their time in the spotlight, the Knucklehedz.
The Knucklehedz were from L.I. along with E Double and Pee and consisted of Tom J and Steve Austin. For some reason they didn't appear on a lot of the earlier Hit Squad stuff, although it was rumored they were life long friends with Sermon. They first appeared in a small part in EPMD's "Hit Squad Heist", while Tom J also had a small part on K-Solo's first album. They joined PMD's "Shuma Managment" and got signed by East/West recordings....see where this is going? Yeah, like Omniscience, Supernatural and others, they never got the album released, and were eventually dropped by the label that has dropped more balls than a Denver Broncos wide receiver.
Musically, it has a smorgas board of Hit Squad affiliates behind the boards, with Charilie Marotta doing the majority of the album. You might be familiar with Charlie on some of the Das Efx albums along with a couple PMD solo joints, one of the EPMD albums and some joints on Top Quality's "Magnum Opus" LP. Both Parrish and Erick did three tracks apiece with Erick Sermon's "All She Wanted" being the gem of the bunch. Think of the first two Redman albums and Keith Murray's first album and you'll know what I'm talking about. Some funk for the trunk that sounds funkier than three week old socks. Lyrically, they basically sound like EPMD. Slow, methodical rhymes. They fit the tracks good, but are by no means lyrical geniuses. The album jumps off with "Hed Rush" which to me is the best track on the album. Some lazy horn riding a deep bassline. Some songs come off as stuff you've heard one too many times. By no means is the album a lost classic (like say the "Resident Alien" or the "Omniscience") but if you were a fan of the early 90's hip hop scene or better yet, the HIT SQUAD, you should definately check this album out.
tracks 4, 9 & 11 produced by Parrish Smith
tracks 7, 10 & 12 produced by Erick Sermon
tracks 2, 6, 7, 9 & 12 co-produced by Knucklehedz
(thanks to Jaz for the production credits)
King Tee - Tha Trifflin' Album (Capitol)Released: January 26th, 1993
Next up is one of my personal favorite west coast artists, King Tee. Hailing from Compton, California, Tee took the aspects of some of his favorite east coast music and applied them to his own brand of west coast funk. His early attempts were produced by DJ Unknown, who did a lot of Ice T's early stuff, and a young DJ Pooh, who would go on to become a legend in west coast circles. King Tee's first album, "Act A Fool" is a west coast classic in its own right. With tracks like "Bass (remix)" and "Payback's a Mutha", Tee perfected a "crazy drunken style" waaaay before ODB or any others. The video for "Bass" was an staple on early "Yo! MTV Raps" and featured many early west coast artists and exposed the nation to the art of hydraulics and "hittin' switches" way before it caught on in the early 90's. In 1990, King Tee would drop his sophomore LP, "At Your Own Risk", which would further cement him into the West hierarchy. It was that LP's remix of the title track that was produced by Marley Marl that would mark one of the first times the East and West collaborated in such a way. In 1993, Tee would jump back in the scene with his crew, The Likwit Crew, which would would introduce the world to the "Alkaholiks", consisting of J-Ro, E-Swift (who DJ'd on Tee's second album) and Tash, who was absent on "Tha Trifflin' Album", for serving a bid after a DUI arrest.
"Tha Trifflin' Album" features classical west coast production from legendary west coast
producers such as DJ Pooh, DJ Alladin, and a relatively new comer at the time, Broadway. King Tee's subject matter on this, as well as his other efforts, is what sets him apart from the traditional "gangsta" artist. Tee dedicates a lot of his lyrics to the art of drinking, not drive-by's and and traditional west coast fare. The album does contain a lot of the funk samples that were found during the times, but Tee somehow makes it all sound fresh. "Got It Bad Y'all" is our first introduction to J-Ro & E-Swift that leaves the listener singing a long with the fly hook. Sex rhymes are also common subject matter, with the WYDU favorites "Bus Dat Ass", "Blow My Sox Off", and "Where'sa Hoe Sat I & II" dealing with jocking the females. Another sorely overlooked Cali MC, Threat (credited as Deadly Threat on this LP) shows up on another classic, "A Hoe B-4 Tha Homie" telling that pussy whipped homeboy to pull his head out of his ass and realize his bitch is a skeezer.This album has always been one of my favorite west coast LP's that doesn't nearly get the credit it should. King Tee has always been a fun listen that doesn't get to serious and just throws that classic west coast funk at your ears. This album is one of my prized collections. It's one of the few CD's that I haven't lost since originally buying it when it dropped. I don't see it much anymore in the stores, but it can still be found on some of the used music dealers online. While it's not as spendy as "Act A Fool", which is going for over $100, still expect to pay between $20-60 bucks for it. I don't generally condone spending that kind of money on any used CD, but if you can track one down on the low end, it's well worth the price.
Prime Minister Pete Nice & Daddy Rich - Dust To Dust (Def Jam)
Released: April 27th, 1993
If you have been reading this series all the way through, you will know that Pete Nice was my favorite out of the 3rd Bass trio. The dude was my idol as a white wanna be kid, in the way that he was cool, he was down, but he didn't try to be anything he wasn't. Sure, he probably didn't need a cane and that shit, but it just made him that much cooler. He had the "mad snap hats", the big ass cigar, the cool ass goatee (that I still can't grow if you paid me). The dude was the epitome of "cool". Serch was cool in my eyes, but he was a spaz. When 3rd Bass broke up, Serch would release his album first, and in all honesty, it was a let down to us 3rd Bass fans. It wasn't horrible, it just wasn't what we expected from the former 3rd Bass member. Pete and Rich were left to save the solo efforts of the once proud duo. Did he accomplish the feat? Yes and no.
While "Dust To Dust" is somewhat a disappointment when it originally dropped, I place some blame on Def Jam. The album was horribly delayed and in Source article, it mentioned Russell Simmons not being horribly impressed with the album. The lead single, "Kick The Bobo", was probably a poor choice as a first single. The video for "Rat Bastard" was banned from MTV for the violent intro to the video, which featured Pete playing "The Godfather" and beating down a man, who looked eerily familiar, with a baseball bat. With all that being said though, the album did have it's strong moments.
The production comes with some dusty loops provided by both the Prime Minister himself and the Beatnuts as well as a track from KMD and Sam Sever mixed in for good measure. The album version of "Rat Bastard" features a guest appearance from Pyscho Les and is produced by the Beatnuts. It's class 'Nuts as the dusty loop fuels the fury felt on the track from Pete and accompanies some nice scratched in chorus elements. Pete actually comes off stronger on the lyrical tip on this album than he did on the 3rd Bass albums. The album also features a nice track featuring the DJ, Daddy Rich, who does work on "The Lumberjack". It's something missing on today's hip hop albums, a track dedicated to letting the DJ get busy. Pete supplies a nice track for Rich to do his thing. "Outta My Way, Baby" is another classic Beatnuts production as it incorporates a familiar piano loop that has the Beatnuts fingerprints all over it. Other dope tracks include "The Verbal Message", "The Sleeper" and the title track "Dust To Dust".
The only thing really kept this album back aside from Def Jam not giving two squirts of piss about it, it really did lack that "banger", a track that just screamed "CLASSIC". Some people mention that it lacked a lot of diversity as well, which I guess in someways it does. To me though, it's more of a cohesive effort. Funny story goes with this album. The record shop I used to do all my shopping at, had a promo copy of this on tape. As I mentioned, the album was pushed back quite a bit. I saw the promo tape at a listening station they had by the counter. You popped in the tape into the little stereo system they had and let it play. I was DYING to hear the whole album, but I didn't want to sit at the record store to hear the whole damn thing. So I did something I didn't normally do, I swiped it. I'm sure some of you are saying "big fuckin' deal", but I just wasn't one of them dudes to steal shit. Sure, I lifted some candy bars in my days, and I had a hand in jacking some beer in my younger, dumber days (which were probably around this time as well), but I never took shit like tapes or clothes or anything like that. I stuffed the tape in my coat and went out the door. No alarms, nothing. I gave it some listens then started feeling guilty, so I decided I was going to take it back, karma is a bitch after all. So I go strolling through the door and the fuckin' alarm goes off. I have no clue how or why. All I had was the tape and I'm sure there wasn't any theft devices on it. They didn't think much about it, cause I was just coming in. I must have looked like I seen a ghost because as I was trying to put the tape back in the case, the owner of the store (whom I still now and talk to) came up to me and asked if I was alright. Regardless, I've never taken anything again and I kind of look at that as my "get out of jail free card".Tha Alkholiks - 21 & Over (Loud Records)
Released: August 24th, 1993
Some albums are personal classics for certain people. Tha Alkaholiks debut album, "21 & Over", is a personal classic for me, although I'd argue it as a certifiable hip hop classic in general. Tha Liks were familiar, yet one of a kind. They had that fun type of old school flava, but incorporated that funky fresh old school flava with their own style that made the album relevant for the times.
Coming in at a short but sweet ten tracks, "21 & Over" was my "getting ready for a Friday/Saturday night" music for the next five years. I wasn't even 21 yet myself when this dropped, so it got mucho play at house parties and gatherings, especially if I had anything to say about what music got played. My interest in Tha Alkaholiks started with the aforementioned "Tha Trifflin' Album" from King Tee as they made cameos all over that album. I guess it was something about how J-Ro and E-Swift just seemed to have fun on the mic. Neither of them are the most lyrical of cats, but they were the type of MC's that I learned their lyrics and rapped along with them. It was memorable music and lyrics that would also be the main appeal to "21 & Over", making it a party anthem generator. "Make Room", can rock any party with it's horn sample and it's chorus "Make Room.....with tunes hard enough to dent your truck". "Only When I'm Drunk" is a track that any drunk b-boy can relate to. I think I've even done my own drunk performances to this track. J-Ro does his best drunk impersonation (or is it?) during the first verse and drops loads of memorable one liners. While J-Ro drops simplistic but memorable rhymes and E-Swift makes the familiar but party moving beats, such as the familiar sample used on "Only When I'm Drunk", it's Tash that really pushes the group into the mentions of "classic". Tash was absent on the "Tha Trifflin' Album" debut for Tha Liks because of a bid he was serving for, yup, you guessed it, a DUI. He made his name known on "21 & Over". Tash drops more shit than a pigeon with the runs through out the album as he demonstrates why he should be mentioned as one of the best left coast MC's.
Tha Liks bring along friends for the party, which on some albums with only 10 songs might be over doing it, but all the guest fit in nicely and bring their own lyrical fluid to kick. Of course King Tila comes in on a couple joints, such as "Bullshit". The King just seems like one of the members. All the Madlib lovers should know that this would be the debut of the Lootpack and Madlib, as he produces a track and Wildchild appears on "Turn Tha Party Out". Overlooked west coast MC, Deadly Threat shows up on the albums last cut, "Who Dem Niggas". You might think the gangsta MC would throw things off a little, but it adds something a little different to the mix.
Some albums, you just remember the day you bought them. This was one of those albums. It was a Thursday, I just dropped off the big titted blond chick that I had been trying to get on. She lived right by the Hastings store that was close by my place. So I swung in and started going through the albums and saw this album. I think it was somewhat of a surprise, I wasn't expecting to see this yet, but it was something I had be anticipating heavily since their performances on the King Tee joint. I snatched it up with the quickness and proceeded to drive around long enough to bump the whole thing in my Jimmy GMC with the two 12's in the back. Then I went home and played it more while watching the MTV Video awards with the sound muted. It's the personal classics such as this album that will always leave me with the memorable moments in hip hop.
4/10/2007
No Sunday Lite = Tuesday Lite
Since Brian got us on the west coast tip, I figured I'd drop a few more west coast jams, mainly from my man, King Capital T. These are just a handful (if you have three fingers) of King Tee tracks that didn't appear on an album. I'm not going to get to carried away with write ups, because I don't have much time, but I'll give you guys the scoop.
King Tee - Bass (Original Version)
At one time, this was one of my holy grails. When I finally got a hold of it, I was actually kind of disappointed. Not that it's bad, it just doesn't differ much the remix version, which in this case is the album version. It throws some different sampled clips and incorporates a call and response episode toward the end of the track. Other than that it still uses the same Zapp bassline sample and more or less the same lyrics. It doesn't seem to pack the same punch as the remix does, but maybe that's why they remixed it?
King Tee - Can This Be Real
This was the B-side the the "Act A Fool" single produced by the one and only DJ Pooh. I loved the "Act A Fool" joint, so I never paid much attention to this joint, but looking back at it, shits pretty nice though. If you liked stronger songs on the "Act A Fool" LP, you should like this.
King Tee - Cali Expert
I honestly don't know much about this one other than it appeared on a EP called "Organized Rhyme Vol 2" which contained a track from AZ and OC as well that dropped in '99. Other than that, I don't know about the history of it. But hey, it's some King Tee for all of those down with some non album cuts.
Who said east and the west never got along? Primo does remixes for two prominent west coast MC's...
Yeah, the east did generally sleep on the west, but Primo always was bi-coastal for the most part as these two cuts from a couple of the west's finest examplify.
Ice T - Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous (Primo Remix)
Compton's Most Wanted - Def Wish II (feat. Gangstarr) (Primo Remix)
Last but not least, someone requested these to be re-upped, oh, probably 6 months ago. I can't remembered if I do or not, but here they are again in case anyone missed them. They are demo's from D-Nice which are nice little pieces of history, so jump on them. Told you I wasn't going to write much on this shit.
D-Nice - Call Me D-Nice (demo version)
D-Nice - The TR808 Is Coming
Time constraints won't allow me to do the other good stuff usually associated with a Sunday lite post, such as top spins and "why" and all that junk...instead, I'll actually leave you off with an album.
Tony D - Pound For Pound (Grand Central Records, 1997)
1 Flavour (2:23) Featuring - Funky Fresh Few , Mark Rae , Mark 1* , Mr. Scruff
3/19/2007
Hip Hop 101: The Nas Remixes "Where Are They Now": The West Coast Remix (Part One)
Sorry for the delay. I really wanted to cram this Nas series all in last week, but due to the incredible amount of time these are taking and the extra workload over the weekend, it . I don't want the writing or the quality of the post to suffer from rushing them and doing some half-assed post. I do have spring break this week, but the extra time will only be converted into a 40 hour work week of analyzing weather forecasting software and other fun and exciting stuff. But tomorrow should siginal the beginning of normalness at work. Enough of the boring details, on with the program.
West Remix: Breeze, Kam, King Tee, Candyman, Threat, Ice-T, Sir Mix-A-Lot and the Conscious Daughters (With scratches from DJ Bobcat)
The fact that Nas' came with a west coast version of "Where Are They Now" was remarkable in the fact that NY didn't alway give the west it's respect in the earlier days. Sure Ice T and Donald D might have gotten some spins, but it helped that they had roots back to the east and the almighty Zulu Nation. The second day when this remixed popped up on the scene, I was pretty happy to see MC's like Breeze, King Tee, Threat and even in nogalastic way, Candyman.
Breeze
Discography
Parties At My House EP (?) (1987) Not sure of the legitimacy of this release
The Young Son Of No One (T.Y.S.O.N) (Atlantic, 1989)
Oddly enough, there isn't a lot of info on MC Breeze of L.A. fame. I
say oddly, because while his album "The Young Son Of No One" wasn't a huge hit, it made some noise in the late 80's, was on a major label in Atlantic, and had some top notch prodcution in the form of the L.A. Posse, who consisted of Bobby "Bobcat" Ervin, Dwayne Simon, and Dayrl Pierce and some sources include the west coast legend, DJ Pooh, but I don't recall being much involved in the crew. You might recognize those names as the production team that produced LL Cool J's classic "Bigger & Deffer" a few years earlier.
While there is a rumored EP from 1987 (I've never seen it), he released only the one album which had the single "LA Posse", which made quite a bit of noise in '89, on the video channels such as Yo! and the such. The album itself, despite sounding kind of New Yorkish in the lyrics (it was recorded in NY) did have the P-Funk sounding beats and the "More Bounce To The Ounce" samples that dominated the west at the time. Breeze would pop up on two King Tee albums, "At Your Own Risk" on the posse cut "Played Like A Piano" and on "IV Life" on the track "Free Style Ghetto".
The LA Posse themselves would probably go on to me popular than Breeze was. They would do work on "Walking With A Panther", which recieved a blacklash for it's production (among other things). They released their own album "They Come In All Colors", which was very lack luster IMO.
LA Posse myspace
Breeze - The Young Son Of No One (Atlantic, 1989)
http://sharebee.com/174a14e4
A1 T.Y.S.O.N. (3:42)
A2 Pull A Fast One (3:08)
A3 Steadily Tryin' To Flow Like..... (2:28)
A4 Goin' Through A Phase (3:34)
A5 Loungin' (5:11)
B1 L.A. Posse (4:59)
B2 Girls On My Mind (3:28)
B3 Scene Of The Homicide (3:47)
B4 Great Big Freak (3:02)
B5 Watch The Hook (2:14)
Bobcat: Bobby "Bobcat" Ervin
Discography
As LA Posse
They Come In All Colors (Atlantic, 1991)
Solo Artist
Production Discography
Cat Got Ya Tongue (Arista, 1989)
While Bobcat wasn't neccesarily on Nas' west coast remix, he did do the scratches and I think he is a rather important and often forgotten figure in the whole west lore. Bobcat got his start in "Uncle Jamm's Army", which was a legendary west coast crew that included west coast all-stars such as DJ Pooh and Egyptian Lover. Bob would later go one to form the LA Posse, as I've already mentioned. He would make a major name for himself producing the "Bigger & Deffer" along with the others.
He would use his new found fame to get a solo deal from Arista and drop "Cat Got Ya Tongue" in '89. I'm guessing he didn't have a lot of creative control, because the album sounds like watered down "I Need Love" tracks and a handful of decent ones. They sound more east coast influenced than west and for the longest time, I just assumed Bob was from the east. He would do solo production on fellow Arista members, K-9 Posse during this time period.
Bobcat would also join up with with LA Posse member DJ Pooh and Rashad to form the "Boogiemen", (not the hip hop group) another production crew that was instrumental in producing Del's solo album "I Wish My Brother George Was Here" and also did a handful (10 to be exact) of tracks on Ice Cube's momumental LP, "Death Certificate". They get very little acclaim for having a such a major roll in producing the classic. It seems that Jinx and Cube get most of the credit.
Bobcat would do mostly solo producton then on out along with some DJ work as well. He would produce tracks for Ice Cube's "Predetor" and Tupac's "All Eyez On Me".
Bobcat - Cat Got Ya Tongue (Arista, 1989)
http://sharebee.com/8c9614a8
1 Do It (4:47)
2 I'm Serious (3:37)
3 I'm Cool (5:32)
4 Who's Got The Juice
5 I Need You (6:25)
6 Come With Me (4:36)
7 Best In The West (4:25)
8 Clubbin' (5:05)
9 Linda (2:54)
10 Cat Got Ya Tongue (2:59)
11 West Side Story
12 The Mob (4:36)
13 She Wanted To Share Her Lovin' (5:55)
King Tee
Discography
Act A Fool (Capitol, 1988)
At Your Own Risk (Capitol, 1990)
Tha Trifflin' Album (Capitol, 1993)
IV Life (MCA, 1995)
Ruff Rhymes: Greatest Hits Collection (Capitol, 1998)
(Unreleased) Thy Kingdom Come
King Tee, hailing from Compton, California, should be mentioned among the West Coast pioneers along with Ice T & NWA. Kin Tila took the aspects of some of his favorite east coast music and applied them to his own brand of west coast funk. His early attempts were produced by DJ Unknown, who did a lot of Ice T's early stuff, and a young DJ Pooh, who would go on to become a legend in west coast circles.
King Tee's first album, "Act A Fool" is a west coast classic in its own right. With tracks like "Bass (remix)" and "Payback's a Mutha", Tee perfected a "crazy drunken style" waaaay before ODB or any others. The video for "Bass" was an staple on early "Yo! MTV Raps" and featured many early west coast artists and exposed the nation to the art of hydralics and "hittin' switches" way before it caught on in the early 90's.
In 1990, King Tee would drop his sophomore LP, "At Your Own Risk", which would futher cement him into the West heirarchy. It was that LP's remix of the title track that was produced by Marley Marl that would mark one of the first times the East and West colaborated in such a way. In 1993, Tee would jump back in the scene with his crew, The Likwit Crew, which would would introduce the world to the "Alkaholiks", consisting of J-Ro, E-Swift (who DJ'd on Tee's second album) and Tash, who was absent on "Tha Trifflin' Album", for serving a bie after a DUI arrest. Some argue that "Tha Trifflin' Album" is Tee's best work, and it just might be.
In 1995, King Tipsy would drop his fourth LP, entitled "IV Life". This LP would see production from a variety of producers, including Broadway, DJ Pooh, and the heavily slept on Thayad. The track "Free Style Ghetto" is a west coast classic in my opinion. It features Tha Liks, Xzibit and Breeze. Again, he comes with the west flavor with just a tinge of east coast to appeal to heads all over the US.
King Tee would then sign with Dre's label, Aftermath. Sounds good right
? Well, despite all the hype surrounding the album which most fans thought would be King Tees best work to date, after many album delays and the such, King Tee would leave the album with out so much a single being released. It's not known exactly what happened (sound familiar) and while there doesn't seem to be any ill feelings toward Dre, one has to wonder why Tee can't catch the break he deserves. The album "Kingdom Come", did get released on a German label, but I don't think it was legit. THe album itself is honestly a little disappointing to me, maybe it's the fact of what I think he could have been that makes it not as good. King Tee is still out on the scene and I'm hoping for a big comeback from him.
http://www.myspace.com/kingtila
King Tee Interview
King Tee - IV Life (MCA, 1995)
http://sharebee.com/03a166ce
1. YOU CAN'T SEE ME
2. SUPER NI--A featuring D.J. Pooh & Rashad
3. DUCK featuring E-Swift
4. DIPPIN'
5. 3 STRIKES YA OUT
6. DOWN ASS LOC
7. FREE STYLE GHETTO featuring Xzibit, M.C. Breeze & The Alkaholics
8. WAY OUT THERE
9. LET'S GET IT ON featuring Nikke Nicole
10. CHECK THE FLOW
11. ADVERTISEMENT
12. DIPPIN' REMIX
Threat
Discography
Sickinnahead (Mercury/Polygram, 1993)
I'm just copying and pasting an old write up about Threat....for obvious reasons
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 experianced 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 repeatitious, 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 westcoast beatmakers, 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 first
Livin 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 harrassing 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 last year's "Street Music" by Defari, which I have yet to hear.
Threat - Sickinnahead (Polygram/Mercury, 1993)
http://www.zshare.net/download/threat-rar.html
1. PDK
2. Sucka Free
3. Niggas Like You
4. 4 Deep
5. Let the Dogs Loose
6. When It Rains
7. Get Ghost
8. 24-7
9. Shuta Fuck Up
10. Ass Out
11. Zuu
12. Whore Said It's Yours
13. Give It Up
14. Shote (Threw Wit Money)
15. Bust One fa Me
16. So Now You Know
Part Two coming.....soon (Wednesday Hopefully)
2/11/2007
Requests & Re-Ups & the Week that was.....
I've been kind of lazy this week, well not completely lazy, but I haven't posted as much as I would like. Been a busy week, I have some other writing projects going on, school and calculus is kicking my ass (as usual), and one too many proverbial "sticks in the fire". Hopefully everything will pan out the way I want it to. I've also had a case of "blogger block" (is that a word?) and not really knowing what I want to do with this blog. I did line up WYDU's first interview ever, so be on the look out for that in the next couple of weeks. I won't say who it is just yet, I don't want to let the cat out of the bag, but I'm excited to talk to these dudes (there's your hint, it's a group). That is hopefully a step in the right direction of where I want to go.
Lately, I've been on a big Soul/Funk/classic R&B/Jazz kick. I'm proud of my hip hop knowledge, but one area I'm solely lacking in is sample sources and the such. I've never DJ'ed and I toy around with production, but nothing very serious, so I've never gotten into some of the old classics. Growing up, my mom played some Coltrane, Gene Harris, Chuck Manigone and several others, so I do know some about them, but I just never got into the classics all that much. I'm slowly starting to change my ways.
Sites like ..And You Don't Stop and Souled On have helped immensely in helping me get my learn on. I've also been heavy in a couple albums Dan Love posted up on his blog "From Da Bricks", Ahmad Jamal's "The Awakening" and John Coltrane's "Blue Train". Not that I don't have enough to listen to already, but it's great putting on some of these songs/albums while doing some homework, or just while I'm chilling with my thoughts.
While going through Ohwords "This Week In Blogs", I ran across a link from the Crate Diggers, which we do have linked, but the link isn't working. Semantik posted up his list for the top 30 Greatest Hip Hop drum breaks and samples. If you have listened to Hip Hop for any amount of time, they should all be familiar to you, but personally, I didn't know the name to some of them, so I found this very useful. I do know enough to know there is a couple things missing that I would personally put in the list ("Apache" anyone?, "Today" by Tom Scott?), but still good for us amateur crate diggers. Fun to check out.
If anyone wants to share some albums or compilations that they think I would enjoy, by all means, I'm all ears, lace 'em up! I don't have a lot so more than likely I don't have it.
If you haven't checked out Bob James myspace page, it's a pretty good one, with a nice blog of artists that have sampled him. He doesn't always seem the most open to sampling, but still a nice read and nice to see some of the old farts stay up on the technology.
Trav's Top 5 Spins Of The Week
1. Juggaknots - Use Your Confusion
The love affair continues with this album. Every new week, I have a new favorite song from it. This week "Leon Phelps" is getting the spins. Only song I'm not really crazy about is "Strip Joint" and even that is growing on me. I really haven't enjoyed a new album as much as this one since Cunninlynguists "A Piece Of Strange" from last year about this time. If you haven't bought this album, you need to do so.
An interesting interview with the crew here.
2. Masta Ace's discography
My mp3 disk playing diskman is my ghetto Ipod. I recently made a disk with most of Ace's discography, including those Hits U Missed Volumes 3 & 4. That's been getting a lot of play. Getting amped up for the eMC release, hopefully this summer, be sure to be on the look out for that.
3. The Golden Era Of Hip Hop DJ K-Prince Disk 2
I found this little ditty on ..And You Don't Stop. A lot of the material on here is new to me, but this is the type of Hip Hop I LOVE. It does contain some early, early Keith Murray (Keefy Keef on here) and Craig Mack (when he was known as MC EZ) and a personal favorite of mine, "The Bronx Is Back", by Tall Dark & Handsome, which I had tracked down on Cocaine Blunts a couple of years ago. I highly suggest anyone who loves the first era of the Golden Age to go over and pick this up. The first disk contains a little more well known joints, but still pretty good as well
4. Supreme Nyborn - Style
Polarity told me to check it out if I could find it, so I went to the one source I was pretty sure would have it, Dread over at Bust The Facts. Sure enough, he came through for me. I've been playing this on a regular basis the past few weeks. Sounds like some early Ski production, who is a personal favorite of mine. I don't know how I slept on this album back in the day. It was on Next Plateau, so it should have been easy enough to find I would think.
5. J-Zone - In The Zone (A Schooklyn Zoo Compliation)
I'm a big J-Zone fan, always have been since I first heard him. Lord Vas over at Schooklyn Zoo laced up a bunch of his production from other artists and it put it in a nice little compilation that got some headphone time this week. I had some of this, but a few joints were new to me, plus it's nice to have it all in one place
WHY.....
Why does this new Blogger suck balls?
Why can't I stop playing Nas' "Can't Forget About You"?
Why is the rest of the album just so-so? (oh yeah, it's a Nas album)
Why can't everyone just shut up about Anna Nicole?
Why can't dudes just remind me about something on this blog instead of being dicks?
Why do I totally disagree with Jeff Weiss' 10 Best White MC's list?
Why have I never heard of "The Streets" on said list?
Why do I think Passion Of The Weiss is the best blog of it's type? (I've enjoyed reading all the past posts while being slow at work, probably another reason I haven't posted as much this week)
Why did it take me this long to get Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas?
Why didn't that game cause more of a social uproar. I'm not even black and I'm offended by some of the stereotypes presented in the game.
Album Time......
Grand Daddy I.U. - Smooth Assasian (Cold Chillin', 1991)
http://www.zshare.net/download/grand-daddy-i-u-rar.html
| 1. The U Is Smooth |
| 2. Pick Up The Pace |
| 3. Something New |
| 4. I Kick Ass |
| 5. Mass Destruction |
| 6. Gals Dem So Hot |
| 7. Girl In The Mall |
| 8. Kay Cee Is Nasty |
| 9. Nobody Move |
| 10. Dominos |
| 11. Behind Bars |
| 12. Soul Touch |
| 13. This Is A Recording |
| 14. Sugar Free |
| 15. Phuck 'em Up U |
| 16. Shout Outs |
Grand Daddy I.U. was part of the Cold Chillin' label roster back in the early 90's. This album is produced by Biz Markie, who a lot people sleep on as a producer. I have read some interviews though where I.U. said him and his brother did the majority of the production, but Biz got the credit for it. The album itself is on some smooth shit, which was recieved kind of luke warm when it dropped. He got a lot of comparision to Kane back in the day, which you can kind of see. His image on this first album was kind of the Smooth Gangster. He looked like a bad ass in the suit in tie, kind of the mafiaso flavor before it became big.
He did a track with Large Pro a couple of years ago and there was talk of him dropping another album, but I've never seen it.
King Tee - Act A Fool (Capitol, 1988)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=18UAAZV6
| 1. Act A Fool |
| 2. Ko Rock Stuff |
| 3. The Coolest |
| 4. Flirt |
| 5. Baggin' On Moms |
| 6. Bass (Remix) |
| 7. Let's Dance |
| 8. Guitar Playin' |
| 9. Payback's A Mutha |
| 10. Just Clowning |
| 11. I Got A Cold |
King Tee's classic debut album, complete with some of DJ Pooh's finest work.
Money Boss Players - Ghetto Chronicle Daily & Cop N Go EP (ALL ZIPPED TOGETHER, MISSING TWO INSTRUMENTALS FROM GCD)
http://sharebee.com/1ccb3396
