Didn't finish up on the post I was hoping to have done tonight, which also kicks off our next series of posts. The next series could last the next few weeks or so, depending on how crazy I get with it. Instead, you are treated to a little preview of what will be coming hopefully tomorrow.
Can someone tell me what these five artists have in common? I'm looking for one particular thing, which is rather easy if you look at it long enough. There is even a hint in one of the videos posted. Winner gets a prize pack from Audible Treats, which includes 5 CDs (Tonya Morgan The Bridge EP and El Michaels Affair to name a couple) a hat and a Doomtree shirt (medium size only). Email me at:
WYDUBLOG@gmail.com BEFORE the next post is posted (sometime Wednesday Morning)
Whodini - Open Sesame, 1987
1 Rock You Again (Again & Again) (5:27)
2 Be Yourself (3:22)
3 Cash Money (5:08)
4 Hooked On You (5:32)
5 Early Mother's Day Card (3:57)
6 Now That Whodini Is In The Joint (5:07)
7 Life Is Like A Dance (3:58)
8 You Brought It On Yourself (3:54)
9 I'm Def (Jump Back And Kiss Myself) (5:17)
10 Remember Where You Came From (3:44)
11 For The Body (2:30)
12 You Take My Breath Away (5:90)
I often forget that Whodini was one of the early groups that got a lot of play from me. In fact, it was this album that a kid in my 8th grade math class by the name of Chris Jones (RIP) would play in his walkmen before class. I would beg to let me listen to it as well, soon he would bring in other Whodini tapes such as Black in Black and Escape. Open Sesame was produced largely by Larry Smith, who should be recognized for his contributions on Run DMC's first two albums. This sound can be heard on the majority of the tracks such as "Rock You Again (Again and Again) and "Cash Money", with his guitar twinged backings, hard kick drums, 808's and hand claps. I quickly went past Whodini, for whatever reason, but they should get more props than they do for their early success.
Mr. Lee - Get Busy 12 Inch Single, 1989
A1 Get Busy (Club Mix) (6:06)
A2 Get Busy (Radio Mix) (3:45)
B1 Get Busy (Chicago Mix) (6:03)
B2 Get Busy (Hit Man's House Mix) (5:25)
Ahhh, some horrible Hip House music, although this single wasn't all that bad. I'm not the biggest house fan, and Mr. Lee was on of the "leaders" in the hip house movement in the late 80's/early 90's. I have this whole album somewhere, but my collection is seriously fucked up as far as trying to find stuff since my move (almost a year ago, guess I gotta stop blaming it on that). The only link I found was a zshare link on Bust The Facts, but zshare is sucking balls right about now.
Steady B - Let The Hustlers Play, 1988
(rapidshare)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D6J3ODLX
1 Let The Hustlers Play (4:22)
2 Certified Dope (3:23)
3 The Undertaker (5:33)
4 I Got Cha (3:17)
5 Turn It Loose (4:07)
6 Ya Know My Rucka (4:20)
7 Serious (3:23)
8 Do What You Wanna Do (3:57)
9 Who's Makin' Ya Dance (4:04)
10 On The Real Tip (2:27)
11 Through Thick-N-Thin (3:04)
I've never hidden the fact that I'm a HUGE Steady B fan, and Let The Hustlers Play is my favorite Stead album. I remember getting this soon after the first Yo! MTV Raps appeared. He wasn't on that first show, but I think he was part of the "Next" group of artists they showcased. Maybe not, I'm not completely sure. I just remember picking up the tape at a Fred Myer's (Kroger's in some areas) electronics department along with Schoolly D's "Smoke Some Kill" and playing those tapes non stop for a good month or so. In 1988 though, you had soon to be classic albums dropping once a month in those days, so you were constantly bombarded with new music, although nothing like these days, although I can't say everything I hear now is "good".
Skinny Boys - Skinny (They Can't Get Enough)
Wee Papa Girl Rappers - Wee Rule
11/11/2008
A Preview of Tomorrow's Post: What Do These Artists Have In Common?
3/30/2008
Used CD Shopping Trip: March 29th and Amazon
If you read this blog at all, you know one of my favorite things is to go shopping for used CD's. Nothing is more exciting (that is legal and involves keeping your clothes on) than finding that rare diamond in the ruff at some CD store or pawn shop. Denver was a great place for finding used CD's. I had five different stores that I would rotate weekly and I found some great deals for some CHEAP prices. That all changed when I moved back home. There are five stores, but only one is decent, the others are all the Hastings chain, and what used to be a great place to pick up used stuff has turned into a overpriced glut of the same crappy CD's. Needless to say, I haven't even back to a Hastings since my last trip in February. With my new found job, meaning I'm getting money and actually getting my finances somewhat under control, I've had some extra money during the week. I haven't been drinking as much since moving back, so money that was going toward my bad habit of mass quantities of beer have been going to trying to get my CD collection back to its once grand standards before I started losing CD's over the years. With no quality stores to lean, I've been leaning on Amazon.com the past couple weeks. It's not as fun finding stuff. It's kind of like having someone telling you about a great new beer instead of finding yourself (yeah, shitty comparison), it just doesn't have the same satisfaction. Anyone could be buying these albums. But, I've been on a kick lately have buying music again, just like I said I would if I ever got money again to spend.
But there is still that one Mom & Pop record store here in town that I've been going to for the past twenty years, The Record Exchange. I hit that up tonight while doing some things. I was in luck, they were having a sale on used hip hop CD's. There was a lot of.....I won't call them good albums, but stuff that I picked up because they were only $2.99 a piece.
M-Boogie - Laid In Full 2 (Ill Boogie, 2001)
| 1. Intro - M-Boogie |
| 2. A Different Design - Yeshua DapoED/J-Hon |
| 3. Yeshua Representin' - M-Boogie |
| 4. Someone To Hate - Born Allah |
| 5. Buckshot Representin' - M-Boogie |
| 6. The Real - Buckshot |
| 7. Erule Representin' - M-Boogie |
| 8. Mind Wars - ERULE |
| 9. Hot Ya Hot (Remix) - Akbar |
| 10. Triple Seis Representin' - M-Boogie |
| 11. New York, New York - Triple Seis |
| 12. World War I - Mykill Miers |
| 13. Laid In Full - Born Allah |
| 14. Rasco Representin' - M-Boogie |
| 15. Can I? - The Honeydark |
| 16. Jean Grae Representin' - M-Boogie |
| 17. How To Break Up With Your Girlfriend - Jean Grae |
| 18. Tellin' You - Sandman |
| 19. Patience Intro - M-Boogie |
| 20. Patience - Born Alah/DJ Melo-D |
| 21. Patience - Grand Agent/DJ Revolution |
M-Boogie was hot for a brief second around the turn of the century, but quickly fell off with a "Wanna be Primo" label. I didn't mind him, but he did do an excellent imatation of the Gangstarr DJ/Producer. Just not as good of course. This joint has a couple decent songs on it, namely Jean Grae's "How To Break Up With Your Girlfriend".
Wreckx-N-Effect - Rap's New Generation (MCA,
1996)| 1 | Intro: New Generation (2:11) | |
| 2 | Tha Show (5:10) | |
| 3 | Top Billin (5:09) | |
| 4 | Criminal Minded (6:45) | |
| 5 | Harlem (Interlude) (1:42) | |
| 6 | Planet Rock (3:59) | |
| 7 | Move Da Crowd (3:55) | |
| 8 | Funky (Interlude) (0:40) | |
| 9 | Funk Box (4:44) | |
| 10 | Somethin For Da Radio (4:06) | |
| 11 | Da Vapors (5:30) | |
| 12 | Rap Acting School (Interlude) (1:46) | |
| 13 | Boomin System (4:36) | |
| 14 | Grandma (Interlude) (2:09) | |
| 15 | Sucka Mc's (5:25) | |
| 16 | It's Yours (Play On Playa) (4:22) | |
| 17 | Outro (0:19) |
This joint is straight up wack, but I bought it anyway. I have never been big on Wreckx anyway, even if it is for a stupid reason like they gave Q-Tip an eye jammie. But even if that never had have happened, it wouldn't change the fact that this LP sucks. Yet, I still bought it.
Candyman - I Thought You Knew (Capital, 1993)
01 - skinz on deck
02 - sex it up
03 - wat eva u lyke
04 - do me right
05 - first date
06 - just like candy
07 - life goes on
08 - dont cry dry your eyes
09 - return of the
10 - i thought u knew
11 - get respect
Wow, looking back at these purchases, and I realize I was in a "buying frenzy". This too isn't that great. Candyman gets knocked for being pop rap, but I thought his debut album was much more in depth than alot of those "pop rap" albums from 1989-91. This though, isn't all that great.
Quad City DJ's - Get On Up And Dance (Atlantic, 1996)
| 1 | C'mon N' Ride It (The Train) | |
| 2 | Work Baby Work (The Prep) | |
| 3 | Let's Do It | |
| 4 | Quad City Funk | |
| 5 | Hey DJ | |
| 6 | Stomp-N-Grind | |
| Featuring - 69 Boyz | ||
| 7 | Get On Up And Dance | |
| 8 | Summer Jam | |
| 9 | Party Over Here | |
| 10 | The Bass | |
| 11 | Move To This | |
| 12 | Ride That Bass | |
| Featuring - 69 Boyz | ||
| 13 | C'mon N' Ride It (The Train) (Dance Remix) | |
I told you I liked the bass sound. This joint isn't all that good either, but it did have that damn Train song that was one of my anthems for the summer of '96.
Three Times Dope - Da Sequel (Acknickulous Records, 1998)
| 1. Intro |
| 2. Hell Yeah It's On |
| 3. Off Da Head |
| 4. Gimme Dat Beat |
| 5. Answering Service |
| 6. I Got Da Cash |
| 7. Free Style Mania |
| 8. Est Anthem |
| 9. Da Sequel |
| 10. Kick Dat Style |
| 11. Sadly Missed (Intro, Tribute) |
| 12. Sadly Missed |
| 13. Tryin See You |
| 14. Reel Skillz |
The sadly medicore third release from Three Times Dope. They were hoping to come back to their fame they found on "Original Stylin'", they even apologize for their sophomore album in the liner notes, which wasn't ALL that bad. This has a couple shining moments, but nothing great.
Amazon Purchases
Apache - Apache Ain't Shit (Tommy Boy, 1993)
| 1. THE BEGINNING |
| 2. TONTO |
| 3. DO FA SELF |
| 4. GANGSTA BITCH |
| 5. A FIGHT |
| 6. KILL D'WHITE PEOPLE |
| 7. HEY GIRL |
| 8. APACHE AIN'T SHIT |
| 9. BLUNTED SNAP SESSION |
| 10. WHO FREAKED WHO |
| 11. GET YA WEIGHT UP |
| 12. WOODCHUCK |
| 13. MAKE MONEY |
| 14. WAYZ OF A MURDERAHH - APACHE A |
I always thought Apache was kind of a hack on the mic, but I still liked this album regardless. It has that Flavor Unit style from that era, with a couple dope tracks. Cheap as well.
Rumpletilskinz - What Is A Rumpletilskin? (RCA, 1993)
| 1 | What Is A Rumpletilskin? (1:03) | |
| 2 | Attitudes (4:12) | |
| 3 | Hudz (3:39) | |
| 4 | Mad M.F.'s (3:31) | |
| 5 | I-N-I (3:35) | |
| 6 | Sweet Therapy (3:37) | |
| 7 | Snikslitelpmur (1:07) | |
| 8 | Earthquake (3:49) | |
| 9 | Mushroom Talk (3:58) | |
| 10 | Is It Alright? (3:00) | |
| 11 | Theramixx (3:17) | |
| 12 | Dacumin (0:25) | |
| 13 | Hi Volume (3:33) |
This was one of those things I always meant to buy back in the day, but for some odd reason never did. It's nothing ground breaking, but good quality hip hop from that time period.
2 Too Many - Chillin' Like A Smut Villain (Jive/RCA, 1992)
| 1. Where's The Party | |
| 2. My Imagination | |
| 3. Me And My Monkey | |
| 4. If I Had | |
| 5. The Way It Really Happened | |
| 6. Life Is | |
| 7. Chumpie On The Flip Side | |
| 8. Pump Ya Fist | |
| 9. Rumors | |
| 10. Call Me | |
| 11. My Imagination (Afrhythmix Remix) |
I don't remember much about this album, I think the cover kind of shied me away from ever giving it a chance. But Bust the Facts posted it up and I kind of liked it after listening to it. Sure it has a couple New Jackish R&B crappy songs on it, but also some dope shit as well.
Future Sound - The Whole Shabang Vol 1 (EastWest Records, 1992)
| 1 | Intro (0:52) | |
| 2 | This Is A Game (3:34) | |
| 3 | The Function (3:20) | |
| 4 | Flashback, Relay & The Whole Shabang (5:07) | |
| 5 | Star Struck (Caterpiller Style) (3:53) | |
| 6 | Thread (1:35) | |
| 7 | The Bop Step (3:01) | |
| 8 | Lady/What's A Bro To Do? (4:08) | |
| 9 | Pixie Groove (4:00) | |
| 10 | Scriptic Cryptic (4:15) | |
| 11 | Primates In Stitches (3:48) | |
| 12 | Flashback, Relay & The Whole Shabang (Wig Out Mix) (3:24) | |
| 13 | Sucka Set (3:50) | |
| 14 | Jungelo (3:37) | |
| 15 | When The Ends Meet (Life Of The Futuristic B-Boy) (4:51) |
Another album that I never got around to getting, although I always liked "What's A Bro To Do" when they played it on Yo! back in the day. Some smooth shit on this, almost Native Tongue sounding. I'm kind of surprised they didn't do better, especially with Dame Dash behind them.
Steady B - V (Jive/RCA, 1991)
| 1. Girl's Gonna Getcha |
| 2. Warpath |
| 3. How I'm Living |
| 4. Journey Through Funky Sound |
| 5. Pay Me Baby |
| 6. Keeper of the Funk |
| 7. Steady and Cool |
| 8. U-Za-Flea |
| 9. And U Don't Stop |
| 10. Licence to Kill |
| 11. Hustler Mac |
| 12. Get on Down |
| 13. I Ain't Goin' Nowhere |
| 14. Funky One |
I'm a Steady B fan, always have been. So I'm on a mission to get all his releases on CD. Now this could be difficult since some of earlier CD's (including the great "Let The Hustlers Play") are going for a pretty damn and I refuse to spend more than $20 bucks on a used CD. This would be Stead's last solo joint, and while it's not as good as some of his earlier ones, if you like Steady B, then you should like this.
Request
Mathematik - Ecology (Beat Factory, 1999)
1. Intro
2.Everyday Movement
3.Formation4.Interlude
5.Industrilized
6.Plastic
7.Interlude
8.My Enemy
9.On My Mind
10.Ta Each Iz Own
11.Interlude
12.Rhyme Trainin' Remix
13.Step Lightly
14.Strive On
15.It Was I
16.Learn To Earn
17.Better By the Letter
18.Interlude
19.Following Goals f/ Bahamadia
20.Space and Time
21.Outro
6/06/2007
Sunday Lite Done Rite
First off, wanted to say thanks to those of you who emailed me or left links in the comments, helping me with those songs I was looking for. I got pretty much everything I was looking for by Monday. Amazing, thanks goes out to everyone who helped.
Next up, something I've been sitting on since April, for some odd fucking reason. Someone sent me a link for these back then and they've gotten a lot of listening pleasure from me and I think some of you might get some enjoyment out of them. They are a collection of songs for each year. I know it's all been done before with the Ego Trip thing, which you can also find floating around the net as well. They are from Brooklynradio.net, by a group of DJ's consisting of DJ Ayres, DJ Eleven & Cosmo Baker, calling themselves "The Rub" (is this where I use "no homo"?) that did a series of radio shows highliting each year from '79 to '89 and there is some pretty good shit included on them. For example, here's the track list from the '79 Mix
The next book is the second book from Brian Coleman, who wrote "Rakim Told Me", which was an excellent book for album nerd junkies like myself. The new book is called "Check The Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies" and if it's anything like the first, should be required reading for all hip hop nerds, geeks, wannabe's and especially bloggers that think they actually know anything (including myself).Everybody Hates Cool J
Ever since LL Cool J first popped up on the scene as a boom box packin' B-Boy, Uncle L has 
routinely stepped on toes in the hip-hop game. Often his brash and arrogant persona has ruffled a few feathers, this a long with people claiming uncooth practices of borrowing both flows and beats has caused many an artist to drop joints denoucing. His most famous battle was with legendary "old school" artist Kool Moe Dee who first went at Cool J on "How Ya Like Me Now", claiming LL bit his style, which I personally never saw all that much. The two would go back and forth for a few songs, which LL dropped "Jack The Ripper" and "To The Break Of Dawn" and Moe Dee dropping "Let's Go" and "Death Blow". Who won the battle is up for discussion, but it did seem as LL would duck Moe Dee when ever the subject of a live battel would come up.
Even before the beef with Moe Dee dropped, LL was taking shots from all angles and while there might have been a few subliminal disses in some of his rhymes or a direct mentions such as the line he dropped in "I'm Bad" about Queens MC Kamikaze with, "I couldn't shouldn't and it'll stay that way/The best rapper you've heard is L.L. Cool J/Kamikaze take a look at what I've done/Used to rock in my face now I'm number one", LL didn't spend much time answering back. Too many to answer? Or maybe some of them were just not important enough to go after. Here's a little taste of who went at LL....(Sorry, zshare was down when I tried upping these)
In '85, Steady B was an enspiring Philly MC who's uncle was a fairly
important local label owner. Answer records were all the rage during this period with the 5,285 Roxanne answer records as well as Salt 'N Pepa's big break with "Show Stoppa" which was the answer back to Doug E Fresh & Ricky D's "The Show". Young Steady would decide it was a good idea to go after James Todd Smith. Here is a first hand account of how it went down on the "Official Steady B Myspace" page:
November, 1985…..Overbrook High School. I’m sittin’ in class, don’t even remember what class, fuckin’ around as usual. Niggaz beatin’ on the desk, rappin. RunDMC, Whodini, Fatboys, and LL Cool J is runnin shit. I start talking about LL’s new song, “I can’t live without my Radio”, wit this nigga Jimmy….Jimmy the Jaun was his rap name. He said “He should make an answer song to it”. Nobody paid him no mind cause LL was the shit. Plus it was report card day and I was thinkin’ about my mom snappin out on me. I know my shit was fucked up.
In between thoughts of Fila, Calvin Klein jeans and my mom putting her foot up my ass, for all those E’s on my report card, the idea of makin’ an answer record to LL continued to peak my interest. Needless to say, that night when my mom came home from work and saw my report card, she flipped. Yellin’ and screamin’, talking ‘bout “I’m not going to able to get a good job without an education”, the usual shit parents preach,..when she hauled off and slapped the SHIT outta me. I didn’t even blink! The look of surprise on her face almost made me laugh. And it was at that moment, I think she realized I was becoming a man, and she never touched me again…….
I used to baby sit for my aunt Candy sometimes, my pops sister, and she was married to L.G. (Lawrence Goodman), L.G. and his brother Shaheed (Dana Goodman) owned Popular Artist records, better known as Pop Art. Pop Art Records was started a year earlier in 1984 and quickly became a Philly staple because of the success of Roxanne Shante. “Roxanne’s Revenge” put the company on the Hip Hop map, and it was even more impressive because this was a Philly company who signed a New York artist. So, I told my uncle L.G. about this idea, to answer LL Cool J with “Take Your Radio”. He freaked out! He loved the idea! He asked me who’s idea it was, and I told ‘em it was Jimmy’s ( Jimmy the Jaun ) idea. My uncle wanted this song recorded so bad he told me to take him to Jimmy the Jaun’s house. We went to Jimmy’s house about three times, he was never home. I wonder if he ever knew about the opportunity that was literally knockin’ at his front door.
My uncle asked me to do the record, NO….now, lookin’ back, he told me to DO the record. He knew I rhymed but I don’t think he ever heard me. That’s how bad he wanted this record. I knew my chances of recording this song was none, never mind slim, because of my report card. So, when my uncle and I approached my mom with the idea, of course she said “hell no”. I don’t think I can describe the feelin’ that went through me when I heard her rejection. My dream is in the palm of my hand, quickly slippin through my fingers. All because I wanted to do stupid shit in school! But my moms boyfriend, Steve, who stayed wit us, saw the dis-appointment in my face. I think he could relate to me on a different level than my mom because he was only around nine years older than me. I was 15 and he was 24. So, needless to say he had my back. He and my mom went upstairs, and when they came back down, the decision was reversed. I could go to New York and record what would become a landmark record in the history of Philly Hip Hop.
I've always liked Steady and he comes out swinging on this track, saying he is going to jack LL's box. Them's fighting words back in the day. You couldn't take another mans box, that was like touching another mans woman, you just didn't do it. The track worked, Steady had a modest recording career and his legend is forever scribed in Philly hip-hop lore, although probably for all the wrong reasons.
E-Vette Money - Evette's Revenge
On "Radio", LL rips a thought to be ficticious woman named Evette on the track "Dear Evette". He drops some not so nice lyrics on the same name as a garden tool girl. Well some relatively unknown girl named E-Vette Money took this seriously, or maybe was out for the fame, but she came out after Cool J with "Evette's Revenge". The track sounds terribly outdated, but if you are old school like me, you'll enjoy the stripped down beats ala Rick Rubin and the whiney screachy vocals of Evette.
The track is produced by Kydd Fresh, who was from another group (can't remember the name of the group to save my ass) that had made an answer track to "Can't Live Without My Radio" in the form of "It's A Walkman" (anyone has it, lace it up).
Now, if anyone had a right to have beef with LL, it would be T La Rock, who I always thought L straight ripped off as far as style, look, image, and basically winding up with T La Rock's job at Def Jam back in the day.
T La Rock was everything LL was then, except he was it three years earlier. Don't get me wrong, this is coming from someone who at one time proclaimed LL as his favorite artist (until I heard "Hey Lover", then I knew it was over), but T La Rock was the ultimate B-Boy and a vital link in the evolution from "Old School" to "Next School", "New School", "Now School" or whatever you want to call it. T La Rock was using more complicated rhymes than the average MC in those early years and still came out it pretty hard.
He doesn't mention LL by name on this joint, but judging by the title of the song, I think it's pretty obvious who he is coming at. Thanks to Robbie at Unkut.com for this joint.
Shan came at LL with "Beat Biter", which didn't make a lot of noise really and no response ever came from LL. They did supposebly meet up at a concert one night in Syracuse when Shan came out and broke a record of "Rock The Bells" that was being played by the DJ. He proceeded to rip LL, at least that's Shan's account. What really happened isn't as wel known.
Trav's Top Spins1. Blue Scholars - Bayani
It took me a few listens, but when this finally hit me, it hit me pretty hard. Beautiful music and great music to chill to. They get a little too preachy at times, but other than that, a solid release.
2. Big City - City Never Sleeps
It's got that Beatnuts flavor that I like and Problemz is pretty dope on the mic. It's not the greatest album of the year, hell not even of the month, but it's been good for some spins lately.
3. Marco Polo - Port Authority
Staying in rotation.
4. Jazzy Jeff - The Return Of The Magnificent
Still getting my bearings on this album. I have to be in the right mood to play it, but there is some good stuff on it.
5. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
Reading the book made me pull this out and give it several listens over the week. I have even more of an appreciation for it now after reading the books
WHY???
Why are baseball managers flipping out on umpires one of the most entertaining thing in all of sports?
Why do cell phones only last like 6 months anymore? It's a scam I tell ya!
Why did I subject my liver to this Slushy Gutter Challenge? This ain't intramurals brutha!
Why do I not really feel like writing anymore?
