B-Side Wins Again

The Pharcyde : Pork (from Passin' Me By 12")

2009-06-11T19:10:00.006+02:00

The Pharcyde : Pork (Delicious Vinyl, 1993)

Despite a small catalogue The Pharcyde (in their original line-up) was one of the most creative groups of their time. In 1990 Imani, Tre and Romye were three kids known in the LA club scene as 242, they were dancing in music videos and TV shows like In Living Color. Soon they met Fatlip and J-Sw!ft and together they recorded a demo under the name Pharcyde that got them a deal with Delicious Vinyl. The rumor was that a shady manager spent most of their advance before they complete the recording of Bizarre Ride. Broke and homeless they had to stay at their A&R crib for a while until they could rent their own place, the Pharcyde Manor, a two story, four bedroom wood frame house in South Central, known for the wild parties.

The first album was an instant classic among rap fans and they soon attract fans from the rock audience. J-Sw!ft left the group before the first album dropped, allegedly all members were bringing samples and they didn't want him to be the only one getting props for the production. The liner notes on the album reads "Produced by J-Sw!ft. Co-produced by The Pharcyde", but I don't think too many people read past the first line. The second album was disappointing for most of their original fans, but the label always tried hard to promote the group, releasing many 12", shooting many videos, including the best music video ever, they even had a video for the Jiggaboo Time skit ! Delicious Vinyl also came with a remix budget for most of the 12" hiring stars like Kenny Dope or Beatminerz or lesser known producers like Jay Dee or The Angel.

Anyway, Pork was the second track the group did without J-Sw!ft (the first was Otha Fish on Bizarre Ride) and while it sound a bit harder than the earlier material it still has that great freestyle feel with five different choruses that seem unfinished (unless someone has an explanation for the bars left blank in between scratches here and there). Pork and most of their b-side exclusive was later repackaged and rereleased in the Remix And Rarity compilation ironically called Sold My Soul.

T-Love : Butcher's Hook (from Definition Of A Yee-Yee 12")

2009-06-10T17:53:00.003+02:00

T-Love : Butcher's Hook (Brawl/Pickininny, 2007)

You gotta thank the recession for giving me finally giving me time to update this blog, or should I say resurrect it...

So why not start again with some record I know quite well, since I put it out. I know noboby will complain for copyright infringement here.

This 12" came out two years ago as the first single from the Long Way Up [Basement Tapes] album. We pressed up 1000 copies of the single and it's been sold out for a while. The main track Definition of a Yee-Yee is on the album (limited to 500 copies, all vintage material, with full color artwork at a regular price, email me for info/orders), but the track Butcher's Cut is exclusive to the 12". Actually the song was already out before but only on the japanese version of T-Love's first CD, Long Way Back, but as far as I'm concern if a track is not available on vinyl it might as well not exist. This was recorded when she was living in London and it's produced by Herbaliser, hence the british slang in the last verse.

I also want to give props to my man Xcuz for the artwork, even though the final product didn't end up being exactly how we wanted, I think he did a great job in a very short time.

SLurg Lesson 3 mix

2009-01-08T13:34:00.001+01:00

I haven't done an indie rap mix in a long time, so I figured since the genre is so popular in the blog world I could do another one. 75 minutes of indie rap from the mid to late 90's, from LA, New York, Australia and Europe. Enjoy.

> > SLurg Lesson 3 < <

Run DMC : Proud To Be Black (from It's Tricky 12")

2007-08-30T15:41:00.001+02:00

Run DMC : Proud To Be Black (Profile, 1987)

Hidden at the very end of Raising Hell and on the b side of "It's Tricky", "Proud To Be Black" was (one of ?) the first in a trend of black consciousness rap.
While it came out in 86, more than a year before Public Enemy's first record, Proud To Be Black was inspired by Chuck D.

Run DMC were hanging around the Spectrum City posse since their first 12", Run DMC gave their very first interview to Chucky D for the Spectrum Mix Show on Adelphi's WBAU. The legend says that one day of november 1985 Jam Master Jay was with Mike D and MCA in Dr Dre's show on WBAU when Dre played a tape of "Public Enemy Number One" that Chuck and Hank had made. The Beastie Boys left with a new DJ, and Jay left with the tape that he would bring to Rick Rubin and Russel Simmons.

Run DMC : Hit It Run (from You Be Illin 12")

2007-08-25T01:10:00.001+02:00

Run DMC : Hit It Run (Profile, 1986) (DivShare)

I wonder why Run is never mentioned when people talk about the best beatboxers. Oh, sure, he's not very good, but neither are Biz Markie nor Doug E. Fresh. The Biz got props for making a song about beat box where you barely hear him beatboxing, and while Doug E Fresh sold a million copies of "La Di Da Di", his performance on the song is not impressive.

Hit It Run was DMC's solo, like most tracks on Raising Hell ("Peter Piper", "My Adidas", "Is It Live", "Perfection", "Son Of Byford", "Proud To Be Black") it begins with an a cappella intro before Jay drop the beat. DMC's deep voice, Jam Master Jay's cuts and Run's beatbox chorus divert your attention from the simplicity of the lyrics. Here it's mostly the voice that gets you up...

Run DMC : Peter Piper (from My Adidas 12")

2007-08-20T21:41:00.001+02:00

Run DMC : Peter Piper (Profile, 1986) (DivShare)

Contrary to what Glen E. Friedman once said, Walk This Way was not the first Profile 12" with a picture sleeve. Before releasing the lead single off Raising Hell they first came out with this "street single", as we call them now. It's also the very first record which bear their famous logo, very basic design and color scheme put together by Haze. He later used the same idea of stripes and letters for EPMD and then for OBR records' logo.

While My Adidas is a great track, it was immediately overshadowed by the opening track of Raising Hell, the nursery rhyme inspired ode to Jam Master Jay. With so many lines bigging up the DJ, said with the natural authority of Run and DMC, it didn't take long for this one to become a classic, a DJ competition staple. I couldn't name one DJ who didn't used Peter Piper in one of his routines.

Run DMC : Sucker MC's (from It's Like That and You Talk Too Much 12")

2007-08-16T20:56:00.001+02:00

Run DMC : Sucker MC's (Profile, 1983) (DivShare)

24 years after the facts it's easy to say that it was an obvious mistake to put Sucker MC's on the B side of It's Like That. As much as I like it I have to admit it's a little bit corny. Most would think that keeping it on the B side was a label decision and that Run DMC had to fight with Cory Robbins, Manny Bella and Steve Plotnicki to release Sucker MC's, but actually DMC described the classic as a throwaway track. Go Figure...

Now may be someone can enlight me on something : how comes every copy of It's Like That I've seen reads : Sucker MC's (Krush-Groove 1). They had no idea they would do a movie named Krush Groove when their first 12" came out. Does that mean that I've never seen an original copy of the record ? Same question for the LP, the album came out march 1984, long before they though about doing a movie.

The track was released years later also on the B side of the UK pressing of You Talk Too Much, which is actually the first Run DMC 12" with a picture cover.

Peanut Butter Wolf : The Chronicles (I Will Always Love H.E.R.) (from Lunar Props EP)

2007-08-02T21:42:00.003+02:00

Peanut Butter Wolf : The Chronicles (I Will Always Love H.E.R.) (2Kool, 1996)
Peanut Butter Wolf : When You Feel Good, Things Can Turn (2Kool, 1996)
Grand : I Can't Understand (demo)
Encore : Untitled (demo)
Encore & Grand : Story (demo)

Some A&R must be totally death to hide the best track on the B side. In this case I think that the guy who took the decision to put "The Chronicles (I Will Always Love H.E.R.)" on the B side didn't actually listen to the song. That or he thought that everybody knew the song from Return Of The DJ, which kinda make sense (the version here is different though).

I'm not really sure why they call that the Lunar Props EP, since with all due respect to Peanut Butter Wolf, "Lunar Props" (as the name implies) is more like a study on Black Moon's "Who Got The Props". It's a cool variation of Evil Dee's composition, not a track you would spend $6 for. Hate to say it but it's the least interesting of the EP. They could have call it the When You Feel Good, Things Can Turn EP, but that's a bit long for a title.

But really, as a big fan of cut & paste, I have to say that "The Chronicles (I Will Always Love H.E.R.)" is probably the best of it's kind. I bet Cut Chemist, Steinski and Coldcut are actually happy that this track is less known than their Lessons/Beats & Pieces etc... because it's shitting on anything they did in the genre. Opting for a chronological approach Chris Manak is collecting his favorite hip-hop breaks and samples from "Rockin'It" to "I Used To Love H.E.R." and cutting vocals from famous rap tracks. The 12" also include an instrumental, that doesn't have scratches or vocals, a bit like the "Giant Wall Crawling Insect Breaks" 12" by The Herbaliser.

The last part of the song is made up of three beats by the little known Dreas, whose demo was unhearth by the now defunct blog My Fist In Your Face. You can still get some tracks here Grand : I Can't Understand ; Encore demo ; Encore & Grand : Story.

Boss : Drive By (Rollin Slow remix) (from Deeper 12")

2007-07-13T00:15:00.002+02:00

Boss : Drive By (Rollin Slow remix) (Def Jam West, 1993)
Nice & Smooth, Asu, Gangstarr, Bas Blasta, Milo T, Preacher Earl : Down The Line (RAL, 1991)

I'm really a big fan of The Drawing Board work, they shaped what rap records should look like, much like what Reid Miles did with jazz by designing all thoses great Blue Note sleeves. I love their big fonts and how they frame the pictures with letters. For those of you who are not familiar with them, the crew created by Cey Adams and Steve Carr was responsible for almost all the Def Jam artwork until 1999 and countless record sleeves from Cooky Puss to Ready To Die, and many logos for the likes of Hot 97 or Dave Chappelle.

So I had the promo 12" of Deeper for years when I finally bought this retail copy just for the artwork. They both share the same tracklisting, the catalog number is exactly the same but what surprised me it that the credits for the Drive By remix are different. Totally different.

And they're probably both wrong (to some extent).
The promo reads : Produced by MC Serch. Remixed by Jeff Trotter. Recorded at Soundtrack studio, NY.
The retails reads : Produced by Robert Jones. Additional production by Erick Sermon & DJ Premier. Mixed by Jeff Trotter. Recorded at Soundtrack studio, NY.

Strange, don't you think ?

Now what is really surprising is that if you go back to the credits of the original song on the album, the producer of the song is neither Serch, nor Robert Jones. According to the album Drive By was produced and mixed by Stone Tha Lunatic and was recorded in LA.

For those who don't know, Stone Tha Lunatic's real name is Angelo Trotter, also know as Torch and Torcha Chamba. He produced "Wicked" for Ice Cube, "Hounddog" for MC Ren, "Sunbeams" for Volume 10, and if I'm correct he's the uncredited guy who rhymes on Freestyle Fellowship's classic posse cut "Heavyweights" just before Volume 10.

Now, MC Serch as a producer of the song ? Why not, but I've always seen him credited as a co producer, with T-Ray, with Sam Sever, etc.

And could you picture DJ Premier working with Erick Sermon on this remix ? I've seen this remix credited to DJ Premier on some mixtapes and compilations to my surprise. Sorry but I can't picture DJ Premier doing this remix, it doesn't sound like him, at all. Primo sampling the "Humpty Dance" drums ? The saturated bass line ? Those are Erick Sermon trademarks. The only little thing that sound like Primo is the scratch in the intro. Should you get additional production credit for just one scratch ?

One thing that always seems stranged to me is the fact that DJ Premier has produced tracks for every MC on every label from Tommy Boy to Rap-A-Lot but never for Def Jam. I don't know if he has beef with Lyor Cohen or something, but who wouldn't dream of a Redman track produced by Premier or a Primo remix of some PE classic ? What's strange is that he didn't even help his good friends Nice & Smooth when they were working on the trainwreck that was Jewel Of The Nile, even if Gangstarr was credited on Ain't A Damn Thing Changed for Guru’s verse.

UPDATE : Scroll down to the comments to get the facts straight. Thanks to Rob Jones and Angelo Trotter for clearing things up. And thanks to Premier who confirmed to me in an interview that he had nothing to do with this remix.

De La Soul : Freedom Of Speak (from Plug Tunnin 12")

2007-04-20T15:21:00.003+02:00

De La Soul : Freedom Of Speak (We Got More Than Three) (Tommy Boy, 1987)

From day one De La Soul and Prince Paul always had a little bonus or two on each 12". This was their very first record and you could already feel their genius. Sure at first it seems that it's a regular James Brown loop with some scratches, but it's the little additions to it that made the track so dope. Try to recreate the exact same beat in 2007 and you'll understand.

While talking about De La, I just posted the 5 mics review of De La Soul I Dead at Press Rewind If I Haven't.... Go check it.

Why so few updates ?

2007-03-26T18:40:00.003+02:00

Yeah, I know. 3 months and only three updates is my all time low. No need to mention the poor quality of my latest writings... But I don't resign, keep checking once in a while ! I strongly suggest you also check the other blog I do : Press Rewind. If you like hand picked track with interesting writing, you will bookmark it.

But that's really not what's the most time consuming. What keeps me from posting more is this project :

I'm starting a new label, the first 12" should be out in a couple of days. It's a three-song single, you can listen to two of them on our MySpace : http://www.myspace.com/brawlrecords.

This 12" contains material recorded between 1995 and 2000. The organic-hardcore-hip-hop feel of "Definition Of A Yee-Yee" which was produced by a beat maker who used to be know under the moniker of Mudfoot (Whooliganz, Soul Assassin...), coupled with the smooth jazzy side of "Foolish Pride" (an Herbaliser composition), should give the listener an idea of the width of T-Love's repertoire. "Butcher's Hook" is a b-side exclusive where T is having fun, flexing east-London lingo with her version of the cockney accent.

No, you can't download them, I won't put full mp3 of the tracks here. If you want good quality, just buy the record. We'll make sure it's available online, and I'll post the address of the stores who carry it on our myspace.

If I don't lose too much money with the 12", an album is ready to drop before the end of the year.

If you're a store owner who want to carry it, or a writer for a magazine and you want to review it, feel free to drop me an e-mail @ slurgd@hotmail.com.

De La Soul : Skip To My Loop (From Jenifa Taught Me 12")

2007-03-14T20:14:00.001+01:00

De La Soul : Skip To My Loop (Tommy Boy, 1988)

Prince Paul genius has been quite heavily documented, and people always credit him for eing the first to put skits on his albums. But what is never mentioned is that he also was the first to put skits on singles. Musicians were doing concept albums for ages, and that sometimes require to link the songs with interludes. Having skits on singles elevate the 12" to the rank of art. With a skit a 12" is not just a promotional tool anymore, it's a piece of art in itself.

I know that the actual skit presented here is not really great, but at least the record has nice artwork. There was also an EP on tape with the same artwork that got released at the time with both the Jenifa 12" and their first record, Plug Tunin. But that's for later.

Twin Hype : Lyrical Rundown (from For Those Who Like To Groove 12")

2007-02-21T14:52:00.002+01:00

Twin Hype : Lyrical Rundown (Profile, 1989)
Style : What A Brother Know (Select, 1990)

This record is really special, as far as I know this maybe the only rap record wher you could see people wearing old dirty Air Force. Actually Daddy Rich has some fucked up sneakers on the cover of "Derelicts Of Dialect", but then again he's supposed to be homeless. But not a neat looking homeless like Common Sense on "Can I Borrow A Dollar".

This is also one of the hardest work of Twin Hype. Like most of their tracks Lyrical Rundown was produced by Rick Pagan aka Hollywood Impact, best known for his work with King Sun, and a bunch of long forgotten hip-house acts. From what I understand this song was supposed to appear on their never released second album "Double Barrel". But by that time the hip-house trend was over and nobody was interested in them anymore.

Style is the other duo who was working with The Hollywood Impact, much more hardcore, but unfortunately their career was even shorter. If you want to know more aobout Hollywood impact, a year ago Can I Bring My Gat did an entry about him which quickly became a meeting point for his family and friends. I'm sure you can holler at him through this page !

Swollen Members feat Tony Da Skitzo, Mr Brady & Mixmaster Mike : Paradise Lost (from Shatter Proof 12")

2007-01-17T00:32:00.002+01:00

Swollen Members feat Tony Da Skitzo, Mr Brady & Mixmaster Mike : Paradise Lost (Battle Axe, 1997)
Swollen Members feat Aceyalone : Consumption (Battle Axe, 1997)

There are probably more different pressings of Swollen Members' first album Balance than there are of Black Rock & Ron's. I know at least four different ones, and I'm not even a fan. So depending of where and when you bought the album you may or may not have "Consumption" on it. You probably don't have "Paradise Lost" which as far as I know was not on any version of "Balance".

The best thing about those two tracks is the guests. I don't know too many people going crazy over a Madchild or a Prevail verse. On "Consumption" they both try real hard to sound like Acey, but all we really wish is to hear what PEACE and Mikah 9 would have to say instead.

Well the best thing about any Swollen Members song is usually the guest (and obviously they know that since they had the nerve to use other people's logo on the following single) and on "Paradise Lost" it's really Mixmaster Mike who makes the song for me, not to say that Mr Brady or Tony Da Skitzo are boring, but yeah, they are.

Resident Alien : Oooh The Dew Doo Man (From Mr Boops 12")

2006-12-16T02:43:00.003+01:00

Resident Alien : Oooh The Dew Doo Man (Dew Doo Man, 1991)

The Dew Doo Man was only 20 when Russel Simmons gave him the opportunity to run his own label under the Rush associated Labels umbrella.

Having produced the first De La Soul album, and a couple of hit singles for Third Bass, Nikki D, Queen Latifah, Big Daddy Kane and Groove B Chill Prince Paul was happy being just a producer. It was a better status than just being a DJ in Stetsasonic, that's why he turned down the offer at first. But After Lyor Cohen insisted he gave the idea a second thought and finally agreed to do it.

He took the $50 000 advance, called three friends who really didn't rhyme, and proceed to record his first concept album, called "It Takes A Nation Of Suckas To Let Us In". From day one there was a big gap between what Russel had in mind and what Paul was doing. He had to fight with him to let him called the label Dew Doo Man records. Russel wanted him to make pop hits, and he was making a concept album.

When this 12" came out in november 1991, The Choice Is Yours and Scenario where still on rotation everywhere, so you would think it would have been quite easy to push this record, but Def Jam's staff was busy pushing more traditional stuff like Nice & Smooth or LL Cool J. So Paul decide to come together with Downtown Science and Nikki D to go and talk to Lyor, but none of them show up at the meeting but Paul. The tall Israeli decided he didn't want to be bothered by a&r who cared about music and pull the plug on the Resident Alien project and Dew Doo Man records was no more after only one 12".

Blueprint : No Half Smokin (from Print Is Goin Off 7")

2006-12-09T10:57:00.002+01:00

Blueprint : No Half Smokin (RhymeSayers, 2005)
Visioneers : The world is yours (BBE,2005)
Nina Gordon : Straight Outta Compton

I think this rap cover trend has now jumped the shark. It was odd when Snoop first covered Ladi Dadi and then Vapors, but at least it was new. Nobody seemed to be interested in paying hommage to the elders for a long time except for a couple of indie artist, like Blackstar who covered Children Story, at the same time Mad SKillz did Lick The Balls and then Madlib had a parody of Pickin Boogers called "Hittin hookers". But the repertoire was limited to the Biz and Slick Rick then.

In the past few year we've heard covers of everybody in everystyle, from TI paying respect to UGK, to Wu-Tang Clan instrumentals, to ska version of some Outkast hit, to this folk singer doing "Straight Outta Compton" etc...

It was fun while it last, but who in his right mind thought it was cool to cover Kriss Kross' Jump ?!?!!

Do the new generation of rappers idolize Kriss Kross ? I guess that means hip-hop is dead, right ?

Reflection Eternal : 2000 Seasons (from Fortified Live 12")

2006-11-19T23:52:00.001+01:00

Reflection Eternal featuring Home Skillit : 2000 Seasons (Rawkus, 1997)
Mood : Info For The Streets (Blunt, 1997)

Reflection Eternal featuring Mos Def & Mr Man: Fortified Live (Rawkus, 1997) (Bonus)

If you ask me, this 12” contains everything I want to hear from Talib Kweli. When you come up with two powerful songs like Fortified Live and 2000 Seasons it’s quite hard to follow up with something of the same quality.

So of course later when their album came out (like what, 4 years after this single ?!) they had rave reviews, written by people who either didn’t even know about this single or were giving props to the idea of Reflection E, the idea of an independant scene. Thus missing the point : Train Of Thought was boring.

Regardless of Rawkus unlimited sticker budget, the Fortified Live 12” was a genuine indie record, with two unpolished demos pressed up on an umastered vinyl. The static that was Hi-Tek’s trademark was nowhere to be found on the LP. Most of his loops sounded like they were sampled off of CDs. Check Mood’s Info For The Streets for a good example of a scratchy sample à la Hi-Tek.

Mic Geronimo : Hemmin Heads (from Shit's Real 12")

2006-11-18T08:11:00.002+01:00

Mic Geronimo : Hemmin Heads (Blunt, 1994)

If Marty Mc Fly had come to me in 1994 telling me only one east coast rapper would be still relevant in 2006, I would have put my money on Mic Geronimo.

Or OC. Or Common Sense, or Buckshot, or may be Nas, but never on Jay Z. At that time he was at best considered a has been, and atworst a never-been. Even when he did that song with DMX and Ja Rule on Mic Geronimo’s second 12” I don’t think a lot of people realized he was the same JZ who rhymed with The Jaz a few years before.

Anyway, this is Geronimo’s first 12” on Blunt, produced by DJ Irv later known as Irv Gotti and it’s as good as anything off his Natural album.

Bérurier Noir : Pavillon 36 (from L'Empereur Tomato Ketchup 7")

2006-11-13T23:49:00.001+01:00

Bérurier Noir : Pavillon 36 (Bondage, 1986)
Bérurier Noir : Amputé (Shin/Folklore de la Zone Mondiale, 1983)

Rapide post inspiré par un épisode particulièrement glauque de cold case que j’ai vu ce week-end. L’atrocité des traitements infligés en hôpital psychiatrique et la lobotomie en particulier sont des thèmes chers à Bérurier Noir, probablement parce que Pierrot, membre fondateur de Bérurier, y a fait de fréquents séjours.

Pavillon 36 est en face B de L’Empereur Tomato Ketchup, 45t qui aurait du se classer au Top 50, si le groupe n’avait pas mit son véto pour éviter de se retrouvé à faire la course entre un Francis Cabrel et des Porte Mentaux.

Le second titre est tiré de Nada, premier disque du groupe, récemment réédité en vinyle sur Folklore de la Zone Mondiale. Pour info, le label fera paraître un nouvel album du groupe à nouveau dissout le 4 décembre prochain.

Et, oui, je vais remettre du rap bientôt.

Bomb The Bass : 10 Seconds To Terminate (from Say A Little Prayer 12")

2006-11-09T00:59:00.002+01:00

Bomb The Bass : 10 Seconds To Terminate (Rhythm King, 1988)

I remember back when Tim Simenon's first album dropped a lot of people here were refering to his music as house music, and he was always contesting that, saying that except for may be two tracks on the album, what he was doing was really not house. And he was right. His first album had more to do with hip-hop, but we all know that when it comes to music, image is everything to most people. So since it had a smiley on the cover, Beat Dis had to be house music... And since Say A Little Prayer used computer generated graphics, it couldn't be a soul record.

Regardless, the b-side is the closest he got to house in the early (and most interesting) part of his career. To this day, Bomb The Bass is still an influence on some musicians, just peep dDamage's new album cover and Enter The Dragon's cover. It's a dope album, Go buy it. Thanks.

Big Pun : Wishful Thinking (frrom I'm Not A Player 12")

2006-10-27T01:23:00.001+02:00

Big Pun, Kool G Rap, Fat Joe & B-Real : Wishful Thinking (Loud, 1997)
Big Pun vs Hector Lavoe : Never Was A Player

I never was a big fan of Big Pun.

Of course part of it is because he had a terrible taste in beats and that he always picked the most cheesy loop you can think of. It also probably has to do with the fact that I never heard one memorable line from him, not once I thought "hoo, did he just say that !".

But what really makes most of his music barely listenable was his breath. I'm not picking on him, but really, every other line when he had to breathe he made this terrible noise that not only was annoying back then, but which now stays as a dramatic hint of his bad health. And once I hear his "hrrrra" I can't focus on anything else.

But on his very first 12" he was lucky enough to work with engineers like Chris Conway who took the time to edit these noises from the final mix, because that would be really embarassing for him on a track with Kool G Rap.

Also, my man Benoit who runs http://dustytape.blogspot.com/ just did a documentary on latin legend Hector Lavoe, that may or may not hit a tv screen near you soon. I haven't seen it yet, but that should be a good enough reason to play this mash-up of Pun & Lavoe, from the latino version of the Grey album (=an overrated mc a cappellas awkwardly blended over a pop icon samples).

KRS One : Word Perfect (from The MC 12")

2006-10-18T00:24:00.001+02:00

KRS One : Word Perfect (1996)
KRS One : Neva Hadda Gun (1997)

This is the actual retail copy of KRS One's "The MC" 12" (technically it's the "Can't Stop Won't Stop" single, since that's the first song on the record). This one also had an exclusive track on it, unfortunately not as good as "Throwdown".

This 12" was released way before the "I Got Next" album, which at that time was supposed to be called "Just To Prove A Point", and the track "Word Perfect" didn't make the final cut. The beat was produced by longtime engineer Gordon Williams, also known as Commissioner Gordon, and it was the first beat he did for KRS One even though he had been making music for many year, since he's also the guy responsible for most of the tracks on Jesse West's album from 1989, and some for dancehall gal Shelly Thunder (who later did a 12" on KRS' own Front Page).

This is not exactly the version you would find on the 12". I made an edit, because Commissioner Gordon had the pretty bad idea to let an uncredited girl sing over the scratching which sounds terrible (both the girl and the cuts !).

So I don't know why KRS didn't keep the song on the album, either he didn't like it that much, or didn't feel like having two songs on the same album with cuts off Public Enemy's "Bring The Noise", which were used on "Neva Hadda Gun" as well.

KRS One & Coldcrush Brothers : The Throwdown (from The MC test press)

2006-10-06T21:28:00.002+02:00

KRS One & Cold Crush Brother : The Throwdown (1997)
KRS One : What I Know (1995)

I know this label may look like a joke to some, but it's not. I found this record in 1997, I was randomly listening to a pile of newly released twelve inches when I checked out this one. I was never a fan of the UMC's, but I grab that one because I liked what Essence did when she was with Natural Element, specifically her part on Shine. But instead I was treated with a KRS One track.

I don't know how that happened, but somebody messed up with the DATs at the pressing plant, and somehow, someway the Kool Kim labels end up on this KRS One test press.

Even to this day every time I see the Kool Kim 12" in a dollar bin, I check the etching on the run-out groove, if it reads KRS-001. Unfortunately I haven't found a second copy yet. So, no, I'm not a fan who scratched his name off his record after his recent column in http://www.unkut.com/ (the best blog around these days).

Anyway, so this is the b-side of "The MC" 12", so I assume it was supposed to be on KRS One's last album*. From what i've heard KRS One had a fall out with the Cold Crush Brothers over some royalties he allegedly owed them off of the 12" they did on Front Page two years before. Honnestly, I have a hard time beleving that "Cold Crush Flava" could have generate any profit, so this rumour could be totally untrue.

This is probably the best in the catalog of songs that didn't make the final cut on a KRS album. A lot of tracks that were on the promo copy of his self titled album were not on the retail version. Like What I Know (produced by Diamond D), which was mentioned in the album review in The Source, but was never released officially.

* : yeah, I know about Sneak Attack, Spiritual Minded, Prophets & Profits, Kristyle(s), Keep Right and Life, But I'd rather act like a true fan would : buy them and then pretend none of them ever existed.

Beastie Boys : The Skills To Pay The Bills (from So Wat'cha Want 12")

2006-09-19T21:22:00.004+02:00

Beastie Boys : The Skills To Pay The Bills (Capitol, 1992)

I already wrote, years ago about the Skills To Pay The Bills remix of Pass The Mic. But they like the catchphrase of 1992 so much that they had to make a song out of it. I remember they overused that expression in the interviews at the time, and in the ads for Check Your Head.

I'm probably wrong but I think this is the only one, or one of the very few raps that they did over live instrumentation.

Gotta love the distrorted microphone to appreciate this 12" because the other tracks here shared the same aesthetics.

Update on your Sister's Def

2006-09-05T01:38:00.004+02:00

I met MCA yesterday and I asked him about Your Sister's Def.

Apparently the song is a demo made by a friend of Original Concept's Dr.Dre. So This guy Anthony Davis wrote a song for the Beastie Boys, he recorded these lyrics a cappella and he submitted the tape to them. As you can hear the words are supposed to be told from the point of view of a group member. But they think it was funnier to keep the demo as it was and to press it on was.

And here we are, 17 years later discussing this on the internet.

Beastie Boys : What You Give Is What You Get (from SHadrach 12")

2006-09-05T01:38:00.003+02:00

Beastie Boys : And What You Give Is What You Get (Capitol, 1989)

Beastie Boys : Your Sister's Def (Capitol, 1989)

First I forget last time give repsect where respect is due, namely to the Rickster, also known as Ricky Powell, the creative genius behind the cover of the Love American Style single with the three naked girls. Not only this, but most pictures of the Beastie Boys that you remember were taken by this guy. Oh, and of course he's the one who dicked your mom in Car Thief.

The second 12" taken from Paul's Boutique, Shadrach with its deliciously awkward cover was another thick ep,with 4 non-LP remixes and exclusive tracks. The bonus on this one run from the incredibly good remix to the totally leftfield song. My favourite on the 12" is the instrumental/cut & paste rework of Shadrach, disguise under the name What You See Is What You Get. Using the same method that worked well on 33% God the Dust Brother and/or The Beastie Boys threw dozens of scratches, vocal samples and loop over the Shadrach beat to create a new and improved track.

The other track that I MP3'ed is an a cappella rap written by one time Beasties' DJ Dr Dre, member of the Original Concept, DJ on WBAU and who was at that time hosting Yo MTV Rap, and some other guy, named Anthony Davis (any idea who this is ??).

The other exclusive called Some Dumb Cop Gave Me Two Tickets Already deserve the award of the worst song with a dope name. On this one you just have a slowed down and drunken Mike D talking shit over a Young-Holt Unlimited track. I'm not gonna say it's boring, but, yeah it is.

Beastie Boys : 33 % God (from Hey Ladies 12")

2006-08-29T00:55:00.002+02:00

Beastie Boys : 33% God (Capitol, 1989)
Beastie Boys : Dis Yourself In 89 (Capitol, 1989)

I don't know if I used the phrase "this is my favourite Beasties' B-side already, but if I did, I was obviously lying. This is my favourite Beastie Boys' record. And one of my favourite records ever.This sort of cut and paste remix is like a more coherent version of what Double D & Steinski were doing a few years before. The main difference is that D & Ski were using every record you can think of, while the Beastie Boys tried to break the record of the most different samples you can get from the Car Wash soundtrack in one single.

I don't know actually if this record is a pure Dust Brothers creation or if MCA, Adrock and Mike were involved in this track, but after this album they never really manage to do this type of track again. But then again, may be the fear of copyright infringement lawsuit came into play.

Beastie Boys : Dope Little Song (from Get It Together 12")

2006-07-28T03:42:00.002+02:00

Beastie Boys : Dope Little Song (Capitol, 1994)
Al Tariq : Just A Lil Joint (Correct, 1996)

After Dr Dre's long track I updated earlier, there shouldn't be a lot of room left on the server, so I just kept two short songs this time.

First is my favorite Beastie Boys' b-side. That means a lot, because we all know how deep their b-side catalogue is. Also it doesn't hurt that it's on the same record as one my favorite song, Get It Together. Resolution Time which was on the same record is a rock song, which they probably included for those who bought the record for Sabotage. It's an OK song, that was also on the CD-version of the single, so you can probably find it easily on the net.

And while on the subject of dope short tracks, here is Just A Lil Joint. All that these two songs share is that they are both one minute and 52 seconds. Yeah, that's a good reason to feature them together.

Dr Dre : Puffin On Blunts And Drankin Tanqueray (from Fuck With Dre Day 12")

2006-07-25T23:23:00.001+02:00

Dr Dre, Rage, Kurupt, That Nigga Daz: PuffinOn Blunts And Drankin Tanqueray (Death Row, 1992)

Sorry for the lack of update, blame my ISP, not me !

I'll be short because I can't try to find smart things you don't know about Dre (and you come here for the mp3 anyway)

The 7 things I like the most about this track ?
1-It has Rage on it
2-Nate Dogg is not on it
3-It's produced by LA rap pioneer Chris The Glove Taylor.
4-It's credited to LA rap pioneer ChrisThe Glove Taylor.(Dre always give some credit to his ghostwriter and ghostproducers but people don't read the fine prints)
5-It's 12 minutes long
6-It has no chorus
7-It's the b-side of a 5 minutes hit that doesn't have a chorus.

Come back later this week for other million sellers b-side.

Dr Dre, Rage, Kurupt, That Nigga Daz: PuffinOn Blunts And Drankin Tanqueray (Death Row, 1992)

Désolé pour le peu de mises à jour ces temps ci. Tout ce que je peux vous conseille c'est d'éviter d'aller chez France Télécom/Orange/Wanadoo/PTT.

7 bonnes raisons d'aimer ce titre même si one ne fume pas et ne bois pas :
1-Il y a Rage
2-Il n'y a pas Nate Dogg
3-C'est produit par le légendaire DJ de LA Chris The Glove Taylor
4-Le légendaire DJ de LA Chris The Glove Taylor est créditépour ce morceau. (Dre crédite toujours d'une manière ou d'une autre les gens qui ossent à sa place, il suffit de lire les petits caractères)
5-Le morceau dure 12 minutes
6-Il n'y a pas de refrain
7-C'est la face B d'un tube de 5 minutes qui n'a pas de refrain.

Common Sense : Can I Bust (from Soul By the Pound 12")

2006-06-26T22:51:00.001+02:00

Common Sense & Ynot : Can I Bust (Relativity, 1993)

SLurg : Amis de la poesie (Radio Pomme)

This is a very special record. Sure, that's the record that got me open to Common Sense but that's not the only reason. Ten years ago I had this radio show and I had made a little intro with many different samples. I had a competition where the listeners had to guess all the samples that made up the intro (I upload an old intro, but now that I think of it, it was from another season). The prize for thewinner was they could pick up any record from my collection.

I really didn't think anyone would win, but I really had a few devoted listeners ! So Mrs Aguerguan won and she pick up this 12". Years later I managed to find another copy, and now it's worth 50$ on Ebay !

Fresh Gordon : My Fila (from The Fresh Commandments 12")

2006-06-19T22:07:00.001+02:00

Fresh Gordon : My Fila (Tommy Boy, 1986)

Fresh Force : She’s A Skeezer (Sutra, 1986) (fixed)

You could have been the worst prick in the world, there was something that people just didn’t do in 1986 : diss Run DMC. They were sitting on top of the world with their third album in 3 years, working with the best producer of that time, touring all around the world and yet they still had rspect from the street. Sure, they had a long running beef with Grandmaster Flash, but cared about him in 86 ? So the thing at that time to create a buzz was answer records. A record wasn’t really popular if it didn’t generate an answer record. Sometime answer records were on the same label, like No Show that was on Reality, the same label that put out The Show (but of course Salt & Pepa’s Show Stoppa was on Pop Art). So My Adidas was such a hit at that time that it spawned a few answers.

Fresh Gordon of The Choice MC’s also known as Gordon Pickett was a musician and engineer who had a minor hit with Feelin James in 87, and later hooked up with Salt & Pepa who he help recording Push It. Fresh Gordon was so afraid to be seen as a hater that he had to pout a disclaimer on the record sleeve to say it wasn’t made to disrespect Run DMC. On this B Side he was trading rhymes with The Jazz, later known as The Jaz, later unknown as Jaz O.

Another group who was trying hard to surf on the success of My Adidas was this duet of Chris Martin and Chris Reid who made a song where they had Charlie Casanova making same exact beat, had MaleyMarl cutting the same scratches and their were using the same flow line for line, but with totally different lyrics. I think it was less of an answer record than a simple rip off. Those two rappers really didn’t have much skills, and their later carreer under the moniker Kid & Play proved it.

Bérurier Noir : Sur les toits (from On a Faim 12")

2006-06-14T23:42:00.002+02:00

Bérurier Noir : Sur les toits (Bondage, 1988)

Bon, j'avoue j'ai un peu déconné avec le dernier post sur Bérurier Noir. Balancer un sujet comme ça sans même évoquer Radio Pomme et Asile Rock en particulier, c'était pas correct. Ayant grandit dans les années 80 à 50 km du premier disquaire et de la moindre salle de concert le 101.1, puis 91.6, représentait un petit îlot de culture ET de contre-culture.

Je me souviens notamment avoir écouté pour la première fois Sur les toits dans une émission spéciale, peu de temps avant la sortie du dernier album de Bérurier Noir. A l’époque je m’étais fait la réflexion que bien des gens dans le rap auraient du prendre exemple sur eux, tant pour le réalisme de leurs textes que pour leur attitude intelligemment intransigeante.

Bérurier Noir : Salut à toi (from Joyeux Merdier 12")

2006-05-29T20:46:00.002+02:00

Bérurier Noir : Salut à toi (Bondage, 1985)

La Rumeur : Le hors-piste (Fuas, 1998)

J'ai quasiment terminé mon déménagement, j'ai un nouveau fournisseur d'accès à internet et la plupart de mes disques sont sortis des cartons. Par contre ils sont dans le désordre le plus complet et il va falloir un peu de temps pour que j'y mette de l'ordre. Vu qu'il m'est à peu près impossible de retrouver un disque précis, le post d'aujourd'hui est consacré à un des derniers disques que j'ai acheté.

Pour une raison que j'ignore les disques de noël font partie de la tradition punk/alternative (faudra que je vous ressorte la cassette de René Binamé avec "Jésus, tu es naze arrête" un jour). Même les Bérurier Noir se sont laissé aller à en sortir un pour le noël 1985, et bien leur en prit. Sorti après l'album Concerto pour détraqués ce maxi comporte quatre titres inédits où on retrouve François et Loran au summum de leur créativité. Avec une programmation de boite à rythmes des plus basiques et deux accords de guitare ils parviennent à faire des miracles.

Je ne sais pas pourquoi mais mon esprit torturé veut croire que Salut à toi a inspiré Hamé pour l'intro de son EP. Même structure de morceau sans refrain avec une énumération des démographies qui composent leurs publics et des caractères qui leur inspirent des textes. Même fin de morceau avec un solo de biniou chez les punks et de scratch pour le rappeur. Mais ce qui à mon humble avis fait la force de Salut à toi c'est qu'entre le début et la fin la voix s'énerve et s'intensifie, tandis que celle Hamé reste froide et posée. C'est peut-être aussi parce que Salut à toi est situé en fin du maxi et pas en intro.

Sinon Le hors-piste a aussi beaucoup de points communs avec L'exclu de Casey, mais la le disque est encore dans les bacs, vous croyez pas que je vais vous filer le mp3 gratos !

Stetsasonic : Anytime, Anyplace (from Speaking Of A Girl Named Suzy 12")

2006-04-22T01:19:00.001+02:00

Stetsasonic : Anytime, Anyplace (Tommy Boy, 1991)
Stetsasonic : I Ain't Making It (Warner, 1989)

I'm moving this week end so I packed up almost all my record collection, except for a couple of records that I kept for this blog.

Stetsasonic was one of my favourite groups in the late 80's / early 90's, I remember seeing this record when I was on vacation in Florida, summer 1991. Back then I was buying most albums on tape, because it was more convenient, but also for the numerous bonus cuts that were not on wax. I never had a CD player, records and tape were way cheaper. I know people claim that the sound quality of the CD was better but seriously : when you listen to rap why would you care about the sound quality ? If you're into classical I can understand, but who wants to hear a clean sounding rap record ?

Anyway, so at that time a few records on Tommy Boy had very different tracklistings between the tape, the vinyl and the CD. Not only the sequencing was totally different but sometimes the CD would have tracks that were not on the tape and vice versa. So I remember being in the record store comparing the tracklisting of the tape and the CD. I settled on the tape, and then the next day I saw the 12" with another track that was not on the cassette.

A week later I was watching TV and KRS One was performing in Living Color and the host held a copy of the Criminal Minded vinyl album. I thought to myself "hey I have this album, but the artwork sure looks better in this format". This is probably the biggest influence TV had on my behavior.

This is not really relevant, is it ? Anyway here are two tracks that were not on Stet's albums, Anytime, Anyplace from Speaking of A Girl Named Suzy 12" and another song they made in between In Full Gear and Blood Sweat No Tears, called I Ain't Making It .

Paris : Lights, Camera, Revolution (from The Hate That Hate Made 12")

2006-04-14T00:35:00.003+02:00

Paris : Lights, Camera, Revolution (Tommy Boy, 1991)
Paris : The Hate That Hate Made (Power Of God Mix) (Tommy Boy, 1991)

I'll be honest : I totally forgot about that one until last week when Bashir asked me to do a bay area mix on our radio show. The Hate That Hate Made is such a strong cut that it's hard to pay attention to what's on the other side. Paris first album was one of those records directly inspired by Public Enemy at every level, visually, lyrically, musically, concept-wise etc... From the shadow his cap makes on his face to the sequencing of the album, everything is reminiscing of the best rap album ever. He even has a silly play on word in the title, which has been Chuck D's forte since 1991. Lights Camera Revolution is a short track with no chorus, like a lot of tracks from the Devil Made Me Do It album. Actually the A side of the single was also very short on the album. The album version of The Hate That Hate Made is just 64 secondes long but this sort of skit was so catchy that they had to make it the second 12" from the album, so they made an "extended" remix of the song, clocking at 2:54 minutes ! Since it has an extra verse I think people would want to hear it also.

Jazzy Jay & Russel Rush : Cold Chillin In The Spot (from Def Jam 12")

2006-03-08T00:36:00.002+01:00

Jazzy Jay & Russel Rush : Cold Chillin In The Spot (Def Jam, 1985)

I said I wouldn't, but finally I bought Russel Simmons' biography. You know how it is, one day you'll have 9 hours to spend on a flight and you come across the book in a Half Price Books & Records shop. But guess what ? Life & Def is not as bad as I thought. It's actually way better than DMC's autobiography, much more info in it. Did you know Slick Rick was locked in a mental ward when he signed to Def Jam ?

I could have lived without the 20 pages about Russel goes to Hollywood. I mean, the guy made three movies but he really thinks it's essential to give his opinion on every single guy he ever met in the movie industry. But besides that it's interesting, especially the first part of the book, how he grew up, how he started managing Kurtis Blow etc...

It gives an insightful point of view on the business side of Def Jam, but not so much on the artistic side (Rick Rubin and then Lyor Cohen were more in charge of the artists it seems). For example he doesn't name any artist he signed himself. LL Cool J was discovered by Ad Rock, Rick Rubin "forced" Chuck D to sign with the label, Tracy Waples found Method Man, Lyor Cohen is responsible for Warren G being on the label etc

The only problem I have with the book is that he really doesn't give props to the man who created Def Jam with Rick Rubin : Jazzy Jay. I think he only mention his name once : "one night at a club Jazzy Jay asked me if I wanted to meet the guy who made It's Yours". He barely acknowledge the fact that the name and the logo of the company Def Jam existed even before he got into the picture. And there is no mention of Cold Chillin In The Spot, the only song Russel recorded himself ! This odd track is a filler to be found on the b side of Jazzy Jay's "Def Jam" where Russel Simmons talks about... nothing really. While he had writing and producing credits on numerous tracks I think it's the only track where Russel raps.

I guess if I want to know more about Def Jam I'll now have to read Stacy Gueraseva's book.

Def Jam Inc.
Update : I did, and it's really a good read. Lots of information on acts no one cared about like Resident Aliens !

Eazy E : Fat Girl (from The Boyz N The Hood 12")

2006-02-28T00:54:00.002+01:00

Eazy E: Fat Girl (Ruthless, 1986)
Eazy E : Eazy Street (Capitol, 1990)

Probably the last of the beatbox series, and once again it's a nasty song. Boyz In The Hood was Eazy E's very first 12" and turned out to be a huge, huge, HUGE success. It has been said that the record sold half a million copies, keep in mind that it was the first record put out by Ruthless, an indie with no major distribution. The simple fact that the title was used to name a movie and a group, none of them having anything to do with Eazy E or Ruthless, is a good enough indication of the impact this song had on our generation. And do I need to insist on the career of the producer of this 12" ?

About two years later Eazy E put out his album, with the help of MC Ren, Ice Cube and DOC, and by that time the old b side that was Fat Girl would have sound dated on Eazy Duz It. Hip-Hop had changed a lot in two years. Even Boyz In The Hood had to be updated, no matter how classic the OG is. I gotta say that in the meantime both songs had been featured on an odd compilation put out by Macola titled NWA & The Posse (the same record where Mykah 9 got his first writing credit), which explains why they didn't feel the need to include them on the solo album.

Five Deez : Rock Rehab (from Blue Light Special 12")

2006-02-24T23:23:00.002+01:00

Five Deez : Rock Rehab (B.U.K.A., 1999)

Blogger keep messing with me and I couldn't update the site for a few days, sorry about that. In the unfinished beat-box b side series comes the underappreciated b side to Five Deez first 12".

In the wake of the 96-97 indie craze Fat Jon, Pase, Sonic and Kool Kyle came with a 12" which barely could indicate the path that Five Deez would take. They have a new album coming out now on Rapster/K7, which is another installement of their now usual mix of deep house, broken beat and traditional hip-hop.

But this Rock Rehab is the foundation, lunch table cypher, human beatbox and rhymes. Who needs more than that ?

Black Sheep : Here's Another Asshole (from North South East West 12")

2006-02-08T02:34:00.001+01:00

Black Sheep : Here's Another Asshole (Mercury, 1994)
Roxanne Shante : Def Fresh Crew (Pop Art, 1985)

It's crazy how things have changed in hip-hop in a couple of years. In the 90's the worst thing you could say about a rapper was to call him a sell out. Now the ultimate insult is playa hater. Back then the price to pay for selling out was to have KRS One bumrushing you off stage or to have your lookalike getting his ass kicked in a 3rd bass video. If you're a sell out in 2006 you can expect to be on the cover of XXL every other month and to have Busta Rhymes in your remix.

Selling out is the norm now but in the late 80's, when rappers were artists, the sudden change operated by MC Hammer from mediocre rap to pop shocked the rap world. The idea that someone would dumb down his music only to sell ten million records was not very popular among hip hop purists. Well, actually there was no such thing as hip hop purist back then : if you were into hip hop, you had to be a purist.

In the early 90's everyone had a rhyme dissing Hammer from A Tribe Called Quest to Tim Dog and LL Cool J. Shit, even Vanilla Ice dissed him ! Right after the Adams Family soundtrack and before he filed for bankruptcy Hammer managed to release a record that was supposed to take him back to his nitty-gritty roots, with a little help from Suge Knight and the Dogg Pound. "The Funky Headhunter" was his way of responding to some of the people who dropped his name in their rhymes. Nobody bought the album, but rumor says that he was dissing Q-Tip, Warren G, Kriss Kross, Redman, Run DMC, MC Serch, Rodney O and Dres from Black Sheep.

One would wonder if it really makes sense to battle a guy like MC Hammer, especially in 1994, when no one cared about him anymore. But when you grew up on hip hop you know that you can't let a diss record unanswered. So Dres and Mista Lawnge went back to the studio to cut this really nasty dis record called Here's Another Asshole . It appeared on the North South East West, which is also the last Black Sheep record to this day. The beat box on H.A.A. is actually a sampled loop of Biz Markie's only decent beat-box performance on a record.

Boogie Down Production : The P Is Free (from South Bronx 12")

2006-02-03T01:32:00.002+01:00

Boogie Down Productions : The P Is Free (B-Boy, 1986)
(fixed)

Like a lot of people I heard the remix of Pussy Is Free long before the original. The version on "Criminal Minded" had that reggae sample while the first recording of the song was straight hip-hop with noting but beat box and some 808 sounds.

The B side to Boogie Down Productions’ first single, South Bronx, was really on some low fi tip. Recorded in one take for the astronomical budget of $ 25 with D-Nice as the human beat-box, The Pussy Is Free suffers from a terrible mixdown, but regardless is historically important if only for the inclusion of KRS/BDP signature line “Fresh for 86, suckas !”

Just Ice : That Girl Is A Slut (from Latoya 12")

2006-01-28T15:39:00.001+01:00

Just Ice : That Girl Is A Slut (Fresh, 1986)

Another member of the Boogie Down Crew, Just Ice made his first mark in the hiphop community with this single, especially the hit Latoya. When that record was released (twenty years ago...) I just started listening to hip hop and I didn’t hear anything from him until years later, probably 1989 or 1990, way past his prime. Don’t ask me why, but in my mind I thought of him as a harder version of Fresh Prince. My knowledge of hip hop was very limited then. Being young and stupid I dismissed anyone rhyming over some beatbox as being too soft (the Fat Boys didn’t really help to make beatboxing credible).

A rauchy version of Slick Rick would be a more approriate definition of his style. If you thought that Latoya was misogynistic, wait until you hear its b side ! I don’t know why so many beat box tracks are so sexually explicit, it has to do with the idea of a guy making strange noises and spitting saliva. On this track Just Ice is joined by the Original DMX (well not to be confused with Davy DMX aka Davy D who produced Kurtis Blow, Run MC, Spoonie G or Dr Jeckyll & Mister Hyde). Anyway, I'll have a beat box week, with a few other to share later this week.

Just Ice : That Girl Is A Slut (Fresh, 1986)

Membre du Boogie Down Crew, Just Ice s'est fait connaître de la communauté hip hop avec ce single, en particulier grace au tube Latoya. Quand ce disque est sorti il y a vingt ans je commencait juste à découvrir le rap, et il s'est passé plusieurs années avant que je découvre Just-Ice. Betement je m'étais imaginé Just-Ice comme un clone de Fresh Prince en moins inoffensif. Pour moi tous les rappeurs qui avait un beat boxer étaient assimilés aux Fat Boys et à Fresh Prince. Si je devais définir Just-Ice aujourd'hui je dirais qu'il est un mélange de Slick Rick et Schoolly D. Sur ce morceau il est accompagné de son beat boxer DMX, à ne pas confondre avec Davy DMX alias Davy D, producteur de Kurtis Blow, Run MC, Spoonie G ou Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde, et auteur d'un album sur Def Jam.

3rd Eye : 360° (from Reality 12")

2006-01-19T02:14:00.002+01:00

3rd Eye : 360° (Sure Shot, 1997)
Jesse West : Renegade (Motown, 1989)
Heavy D, 3rd Eye, Notorious Big, Rob O, Guru & Busta Rhymes : A Buncha Niggas (Uptown, 1992)
3rd Eye : Ease Up (Uptown, 1993)
Trends Of Culture : Valley Of The Skins (Jes Wes remix) (Mad Sounds, 1993)

The post about Nine just made me think that his rhyming partner in 24/7 really deserved some shine. Jesse West, also known as Third Eye, is one of the most deserving unsung heroes in hip-hop. His sketchy career probably suffered from his constant name changes.

So Jesse West signed with Motown in 1989 for his first album No Prisoners, produced by Commissioner Gordon. Obviously the label didn't know how to promote a rap act at that time (not that they do now) so the record didn't go anywhere. Renegade was a favourite of mine at that time.

He kinda disappeared then for a couple of years and came back hard with a bunch of great tracks like, well, A Buncha Niggas , the posse cut from Heavy D's Blue Funk, with a young and hungry Biggie, INI's Rob O, Guru and Busta Rhymes. You gotta appreciate the credit on the sleeve : rap by Busta Rhymes. I guess the other guys are just singing opera or something.

While hangin around Puffy he also did a remix of Supercat's Dolly My Baby where, according to Jay Smooth, he dropped the very first occurence of the phrase bling bling (yeah, I just googled that one). Around the same time Puff gave him the opportunity to cut his own single on Who's The Man soundtrack, co produced by Lord Finesse. He pulled a Large Profesor on Ease Up with his last words, "you want some more flavor ? Go buy the album !". He didn't put out an album until years after that statement.

He kept producing, doing tracks for PMD, Xzibit, Raw Breed, Nine (of course) and most notably KRS One's antepenultimate Jive single "Step Into A World", and then dropped this dope single on the original Sure Shot Recordings in 1997.

This soulful 12" is one of the best thing that Jesse West has recorded. I'm the first to admit that his first album has not aged really well, but the Reality single is good from the first song to the last instrumental. You should know how this site works : I won't give you mp3 of all the songs from the 12", you wil have to dig the record yourself to hear the rest. Both Reality and Circles are on his second album though. With its Milt Jackson loop and 3rd Eye crooning an old Bobby Caldwell tune over it, 360° is smooth, but not in a sell-out way. As far as I know the album called Planets was only licensed to a french label Declic, and I don't think there is any other pressing.

Strangely this rapper who was kinda obsessed with the new millenium hasn't released much in the past 5 years. The aforementioned 24/7 material is the last decent record he did. There was also a yellow 12" with RZA floating around, but it's less than stellar. But who knows, he may be releasing stuff under another name I haven't heard yet.

REM featuring Q-Tip : The Outsiders (from Wanderlust 7")

2006-01-09T02:22:00.003+01:00

REM & Q-Tip : The Outsiders (Warner, 2005)

I usually don’t post anything that recent. I try to avoid covering records that are still in print for the same reason that I rip in mono : I want you to buy records. The point of B Side Wins Again is not to put another nail in the coffin of the music industry. Seeing major firing people and indie labels folding is not a good sign. My point is to have people realize that there are dope stuff to be found on vinyl. The mp3 are here as teasers only. I don’t want people to go out and play the joint they download here on their Serato or Final Scratch. To quote Bobbito : If you own an iPod or Serato you are contributing to the death of hip-hop. So go buy some vinyl, godamn ! Don’t you think that those 350X350 pixels jpg would look better on 12 X 12 inches ? Buy new releases , or old shit, grab reissues or try to hunt original copies if you’re a fetichist like me, but it’s really not good for your karma to rely on mp3 to get musical knowledge.

So why do I post a song from last year now ? Well, I realize it’s contradictory, but I’m a KRS One fan, so what the hell ! Actually The Outsiders shouldn’t really be on B Side Wins Again because it’s not a B side exclusive, it has been released on CD before. I guess it’s already easy to find it if you use Soulseek, Kazaa, Emule, or any of those illegal programs. But I assume that most visitors to the site are hip-hop heads who don’t regularly check 35-and-over rock group albums. At least I don’t. I hope this post won’t hurt the sales of their album, or of the 7”.

It’s funny how they structure the song, leaving a blank before Tip’s part, so I don’t know if they added his part after the song was finished, or (more likely) they knew most of their fans would want to skip the last verse with the rap guy talking. I turns out that in my case I’m happy to be able to mix the song without having to put up with the old white guy singing for two and a half minute... Anyhow, it's really one for the Q-Tip completists.

Nine : Me, Myself & My Microphone (from Whutcha Want 12")

2005-12-20T01:40:00.001+01:00

Nine : Me, Myself & My Microphone (Profile, 1994)
Run DMC & Living Color : Me, Myself & My Microphone(Immortal, 1993)
Jesse West, Top Quality, Nine, Lord Finesse & Zone 7 : Troopers Represent (Sure Shot, 1998)
24/7: 24/7 (Franchise, 1998)

Bronx native Nine Double M made his first appearance in 1993 on Funkmaster's first single for Nervous "Six Million Ways To Die", back when Flex was an up-and-coming DJ. Soon after he was signed to Priority and released the underground favourite "Whutcha Want" with the horrorcore inspired "Redrum" on the flipside. Two songs you can find on the Nine Livez album, but the 12" also contained a little known track called "Me, Myself & My Microphone" which borrowed a line from "Sucker MC's", by labelmate Run DMC (who also used that name for a song on the horrendous Judgement Night soundtrack). The funny thing is that Nine went on to throw subliminal diss at them on his second album, with the cut Lying King. At least that's what I understood, but may be he was talking about another Born Again christian group who called themselves kings.

When Profile went out of business, he went back to his old friend Funkmaster Flex, who by then was larger than life. Nine hook up with the legendary Jesse West, aka ICU, aka Third Eye (the first rapper to have an album on Motown) to form the group 24/7. Together they released a couple of records on Franchise, (Flex-owned label) including the eponymous track. They even had a song placed on The Final Chapter of the 60 Minutes Of Funk mix series, but the pair wasn't successful. After the new millenium no one really heard of Nine, nor Jesse West.

Encore : Defined By The Dollar (The Essence 12")

2005-12-07T02:27:00.001+01:00

Encore : Defined By The Dollar (Stones Throw, 1997)
Encore : Think Twice (Southpaw, 1995)

It may be hard to believe it, but a few years ago Stones Throw was a good label, before they decide to rely 100% on a weed addicted producer. A long time ago, mind you.

For the first two years their catalog was flawless, it was at the end of the glorious indie takeover and they were releasing the cream of the north californian scene. The first wave of twelve inches was mindblowing but after STH 2013 they started focusing on Madlib and his kin, and they never looked back. I mean, I won't front, I kept buying all their records religiously until that terrible Jaylib album, but it was only out of respect for Jeff Jank, but now even that powerful esthetic is lost. Not only they stopped doing the 45, but their 12" are in semi-generic sleeves.

For some reason (contractual, I guess ?) they don't repress the best part of the back catalog. Rasco reissued his first records on his Pocket Linted label, and Rob Swift's Soulful Fruit has just been repressed by Fat Beats, but this gem by Encore is desesperately out of print.

Shaya Bekele was friend with Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf, his first appearance was on Wolf's Step On Our Egos EP with the incredibly beautiful "Think Twice". This song is one of my all time favourites, that's one of the 5 or ten records I will keep when I sell my whole record collection. Besides I had a radio show named after this track (even though I think that Bachir found the name). With "Think Twice" Encore was showing his story telling skills, describing a tragic high school graduation party that end up with the death of Demond Striplan (a friend of him and Charizma).

That's around the same time that Encore and Grand (Homeliss Derilex) went and recorded demos at the Glue Factory in San Francisco. The owner and engineer, Dan, liked his style so much that he asked him to rhyme on his beats. Encore thought the beats were weak and declined. Instead, it's Kool Keith who went on to record with that Automator guy the "Dr Octagon" album.

But that's another story. So later Encore with his partner G-Luv (also from Homeliss Derilex) released this incredible 12" on Stones Throw. The main song, "The Essence" is a strong but unexceptionnal battle oriented track, but as often B side wins again ! The track which stands out is the concept song about the root of all evils, "Defined By The Dollar". The beat is a pretty straight forward piano and upright bass loop, without too much variation, except for the weird panning during the last bars, but Encore vocal presence is what makes it compelling.

After these great songs, to which I could add "The Undercover", the expectation was high for the album. I mean at least for me. But when his album dropped in 2000, I was not impressed. It was OK to be, but quite disappointing compared to the excellence of his previous output. I know that some people consider themselves fans of Encore, but don't know these songs. I guess it means that I'm a bit too harsh with rappers I like.

Jungle Brothers & Q-Tip : Promo N°2 (Mind Review '89) (from Beyond This World 12")

2005-11-09T01:01:00.001+01:00

Jungle Brothers & Q-Tip : Promo N°2 (Mind Review '89) (Warner, 1989)
Heavy D, Kool G Rap, Grand Puba, CL Smooth, Big Daddy Kane, Pete Rock & Q Tip : Don't Curse (Uptown, 1992)
Cold Chillin Juice Crew : Cold Chillin Christmas (Warner, 1988)
Mix-Her-Hug (homemade edit)

Sorry for the lack of post lately, my internet conncetion was down. I won't be home for the next two weeks so don't expect too many updates this month.

Anyhow I finally managed to find my copy of Beyond This World. It was misplaced in my Expedit, as always. I was talking about this track in my post about If The Papes Come, when I was discussing the different songs Q-Tip did with The Jungle Brother. But honestly Promo N°2 (Mind Review '89) deserved it's own post, just so I can disgress and talk about anything but this song.

This record was probably the first song where I heard Q-Tip, or at least it was the first where I really noticed him. I remember hearing that for the first time on a tape of the Dee Nasty show, it was the week when they had my cousin's friend who rhymed in "chinese" (i guess it was in mandarin, but they simply said Chinese). Dee Nasty opened the show with this record and that's when my obsession with Q-Tip started.

Between the first Promo (see below) and the second one Hip Hop had went through a lot of changes as stated in Tip's rhyme : "Promo No. 1, Q-Tip had a fade, Promo No. 2, Q-Tip rocks braids". yeah back in those days MCs where really innovative in their haircuts. Nowadays it seems everybody is bald, but in 89 between the jheri curl, the afro, the dreadlocks, the cornrow... Hip hop hair were so versatile in those days, I really miss that.

The JB's and Q-Tip were rhyming over a famous Booker T loop, and Tip rhymed over it again a few years later on the Pete Rock-produced posse cut Don't Curse along side Heavy D, Kool G Rap, Puba, CL Smooth and Big Daddy Kane. A few years ago I wrote that bitter-sweet article on Kane for my Strictly Hatred column in Real, where I considered that he jump the shark when he did the video for this song, with the infamous purple silk shirt. It's a shame because his verses where still nice then.

Coincidentially Big Daddy Kane as well had rhymed on a song with the same sample before, the little known Cold Chillin Christmas with MC Shan and Roxanne Shante, from the Winter Warnerland compilation. Now that I think of it, I really should have make fun of this one too. As if having a christmas song wasn't corny enough, someone thought it would be a good idea to have Cold Chillin CEO Fly Ty to drop a verse. Bad executive decision ! Well once you agreed to do a christmas song on a compilation, between Pee Wee Herman and Los Lobos, you can't really expect people to take it seriously, so it's all good I guess.

Oh yeah, and since I had too much time on my hands I just did a little mix with the three tracks.

Extra Prolific : Give It Up (from First Sermon 12")

2005-10-20T23:26:00.001+02:00

Extra Prolific : Give It Up (Jive, 1994)
Souls Of Mischief : That's When You Lost (I Ain't Trippin Remix) (Jive, 1993) (fixed)

Even if they actually had an album out in 1994, Extra Prolific is the group that no one seem to remember when talking about the Hieroglyphics. And when they mention them, a lot of people don’t realize that Extra Prolific was a group. Since Snupe was the only MC of the duo and he also produce a lot of tracks, it’s easy to forget that some producer named Mike G was also in the group, but left shortly after the first album was released, probably to form a supergroup with Jarobi...

Extra Prolific didn’t left an unforgettable mark in the history of the crew. Their track record, besides the four-mics album “Like It Should Be” consist of a remix of That’s When You Lost, two guest spots on Casual’s album, one song on the Low Down Dirty Shame soundtrack and the beat of You’re In Shamble.

Snupe was suddenly kicked out of the crew, the Hiero issued a press release on christmas eve 1996 at 9:40PM (who has time to send a press release on december 24th ?) to officially annouce his departure “due to musical differences” What does that mean ? Did it take two years for them to actually listen to his album ? His music was obviously very different from the rest of them since the beggining. This texas transplant had a west coast feel that made him different from the Oakland natives, as you can hear on the B side of his first single, Give It Up.

But the persistent rumour was that he was fired because he had an affair with Casual’s sister ! He thought the Hieroglyphics was like a big family ! It’s probably not true, but at least it’s funny, like that other rumour about Del shopping his demo around LA claiming to be Ice Cube cousin’s, even thought they didn’t know each other ! From what I heard, Cube had to ask his mom if that kid was really his cousin. Hey, I don’t know if it’s totally bogus or if it actually happened, so don’t be dumb like me and don’t repeate anything you’re told.

Del, Q Tip & Pep Love : The Undisputed Champs (from Wrong Place Wrong Time 12")

2005-10-12T00:02:00.001+02:00

Del, Pep Love & Q-Tip : The Undisputed Champs (Elektra, 1994)
Pep Love & Jay Biz : Days Of Blueness (demo, 1992~3)
Lucien : From A Town Called Paris (Virgin, 1993)(fixed)

Here is another nice Q-Tip guest verse that only appeared on a B side. Hearing Tip sharing the mic with the Hiero is only logical since they share the same love for battle rhymes and soul-jazz infused beats . People don't sweat this song too much, probably because it was on the b side of Wrong Place Wrong Time, which is not really Del's strongest cut, but in my opinon, every song out of "No Need For Alarm" was good enough to be a single.

Also on the song is Pep Love of Pep Love & Jay-Biz also known as The Shamen, also known as The Prose, the only group out of the Hieroglyphics who didn't have the oportunity to release an album. Well they did, but way too late, not when people cared. I mean, I know they have a huge cult following, but seriously who was still checking for their records in 2001 ? Well, too bad for you if you didn't, because the compilation of their demos circa 1992-1993 is mindblowing. Some songs from this album can still be heard from the lost Hiero Sound Vault page : http://www.hieroglyphics.com/sounds/the_prose

Oh ! and the song that flip the sample used later by Del on "No Need For Alarm" is by Q-Tip's old friend Lucien, and to the best of my knowledge it's the only full length song he ever released on his own.

Del, Pep Love & Q-Tip : The Undisputed Champs (Elektra, 1994)
Pep Love & Jay Biz : Days Of Blueness (demo, 1992~3)
Lucien : From A Town Called Paris (Virgin, 1993) (réparé)

Encore un couplet de Q-Tip qui n'est apparu que sur face B. Ce n'est pas très etonnant de retrouver Tip aux cotés des Hieroglyphics puisqu'ils partage la même passion pour les battle rhymes et les samples soul jazz. Bizarrement ce morceau n'est pas très connu, contrairement aux autres faces B de Del (Burnt, Eye Examination). Certes Wrong Place Wrong Time n'est pas son morceau le plus populaire, mais si vous voulez mon avis n'importe quel morceau de "No Need For Alarm" méritait de sortir en single.

Sur le morceau on entend également Pep Love de Pep Love & Jay-Biz alias The Shamen, alias The Prose, le seul groupe du crew qui n'a pas eu la chance de sortir un album. Plus précisément qui a sorti un album bien après la bataille. Les Hieroglyphics sont cultes, ils ont des petits groupes de fans dans le monde entier, mais qui s'intéressait encore à eux en 2001 ? Pas vous ? Eh bien vous auriez du car la compil de leur démos enregistrées vers 1992-93 est fabuleuse. Quand on pense à toutes les perles qui sont passées entre les oreilles des directeurs artistiques de l'époque, on se dit que les places en maisons de disque sont parfois attribuées n'importe comment. Quelques morceaux de l'album ainsi que d'autres vieux titres de Pep Love & Jay Biz sont toujours en écoute sur le site des Hiero : http://www.hieroglyphics.com/sounds/the_prose

Enfin le dernier morceau avec le même sample que Del utilisait sur No Need For Alarm est From A Town Called Paris de Lucien, vieil ami de Q-Tip.

A Tribe Called Quest feat Baby Bam : If The Pape Comes (from Can I Kick It 12")

2005-10-06T00:46:00.001+02:00

A Tribe Called Quest feat Baby Bam : If The Papes Come (Jive, 1989)
Jungle Brothers feat Q-Tip : The Promo (Warlock, 1988)
Jungle Brothers feat Q-Tip : On The Road Again (Warner Bros, 1996)
Lou Donaldson : Pot Belly (Blue Note, 1970)

Not much to say, but a lot of music to share this time.

“If The Papes Come” is a well known track, but for some reason everytime I hear it in a mix or on a compilation it’s always the “remix” version, without Afrika Baby Bam. It’s kind of disrespectfull if you ask me, since the Jungle Brothers were the ones who put Tribe on the map, found them a manager etc... And I could write all day long about how important and innovative the Jungle Brothers were, but I won’t, I’m pissed off because I don’t find my “Beyond This World” 12” right now.

So here is the full version of “If The Papes Come” with a few bonus. First you have the first song Tip appeared on with The Jungle Brothers, called “The Promo” as well as a pop-ish remix of “My Jimmy Weighs A Ton” rechristened "On The Road Again" by Q-Tip. It does not have the ruggedness of the original, but I’m sure it will please more than one Q-Tip fan. And finally there is the Lou Donaldson classic “Pot Belly” which is the main sample in “If The Papes Come”. That tune has been sampled to death, but to this day the Tribe track is still the best use of those drums.

A Tribe Called Quest feat Baby Bam : If The Papes Come (Jive, 1989)
Jungle Brothers feat Q-Tip : The Promo (Warlock, 1988)
Jungle Brothers feat Q-Tip : On The Road Again (Warner Bros, 1996)
Lou Donaldson : Pot Belly (Blue Note, 1970)

Pas grand chose à raconter pour une fois, mais beaucoup de musique.

“If The Papes Come” est relativement connu mais bizarrement chaque fois que j’entends le morceau dans un mix ou sur une compilation c’est toujours le remix sans Baby Bam. C’est navrant car sans les Jungle Brothers je ne suis pas sur qu’il y aurait eu de Tribe Called Quest. Je pourrais passer des heurs à faire l’éloge des JB’s mais ce sera pour une autre fois.

Voici déjà la version longue de “If The Papes Come” avec quelques bonus. Tout d’abord le premier morceau de Jungle Brothers sur lequel est apparu Q-Tip, "The Promo". Ensuite un remix d’un titre des JB’s réalisé par Q-Tip, avec un couplet de Tip, “On The Road Again”, qui est en fait le remix soft de "My Jimmy Weighs A Ton". C’est pas le meilleur titre des Jungle Brothers, loin de là, mais je pense aussi aux fans de Tip. Enfin je termine avec le classique de Lou Donaldson qui sert de base au morceau de Tribe : “Pot Belly”. Cette batterie a été samplée mille fois, mais le morceau est définitivement lié à "If The Papes Come" pour moi.

Grand Puba : Mind Your Business (from Ya Know How It Goes 12")

2005-10-03T01:16:00.001+02:00

Grand Puba : Mind Your Business (Elektra, 1993)
KRS One : Outta Here (Jive, 1993)

Following the Phife song I post last week here is another B side exclusive song about a rapper taking us back down memory lane, and a bonus song on the same topic which was on the A side.

I'm a sucker for this type of nostalgic storyprobably because I'm old and it also remind me about thos proverbial good ol'days. First song is a SD 50's production for Grand Puba which appeared on Ya Know How It Goes 12" which was I think the 3rd single off his Reel 2 Reel album. I guess that judging from the lukewarm response tha album got he was like "I paid my dues way before I met Sadat and Jamar, and now they have more success than me" so it was probably his way of reminding people that he was far from being a new jack.

I also included Outta Here for a few reasons. First it's obviously on the same subject. It's a dope track. I'm a fan of KRS One. But contrary to Puba or Phife, this wasn't his swan lake. Actually he had some of his biggest hits after that, which gave him the opportunity to stay in the business and to go through enough stuff to address the same subject again on the terrible Hiphop Knowledge (no to mention that the lyrics contained mistakes on his own career !).

Phife : Thought U Wuz Nice (from Bend Ova 12")

2005-09-29T01:04:00.001+02:00

Phife Dawg : Thought U Wuz Nice (Groove Attack, 1999)
Phife Dawg : If Men Are Dogs
Phife Dawg & Chip Fu : Rumours

How comes I don't have a retail copy of this single ? I really should, not only because I like this record, but because I actually was doing the promotion for Phife's album in France ! But I was green back then. That was before I understand the importance of keeping 10 copies of every record I promote. I was so young and naive that I really thought it was useful to send out promos to all those mainstream DJs who don't give a fuck about a records unless its distributed by Sony, BMG, Universal, EMI or Warner.

The original artwork has one of those classic Rock Steady Crew pictures circa 1982, I think it's Kuriaki but I wouldn't bet my copy of "Hey You The Rock Steady Crew" on it. "Bend Ova" was Pife's official first solo single, "If Men Are Dogs" had leaked years before, but was never released properly. This 12" was released way before the Ventilation LP, and for some reason they forgot to include "Thought U Wuz Nice" on it. It would have been the best track of the album, despite the fact that it's produced by Jay Dee. Not that I don't like Jay Dee, but I'm still mad at him for destroying A Tribe Called Quest. I mean it's not a coincidence if their career started to go down when they hired him.

Everybody dissed the album at the time, trying to compare it to Tribe's best material. Of course it wasn't as good as Tribe ! But then again who was ? Slum Village ? Please... At least it was better than Q-Tip's first solo.

"Thought U Was Nice" was one of those tracks were the MC takes a look back at his life, which very often means that the best part of his career is behind him ! Phife disappeared from the music scene not long after his album, occasionnally dropping a verse here and a single there, but no one really cares anymore. Most recently I heard him on a very nice track with Chip Fu, courtesy of the "Rappers I Know" website.

Self promotion

2005-09-21T23:38:00.000+02:00

Et pourquoi j'utiliserai pas mon blog pour ma promo ?

Je mixe demain, jeudi 22 septembre, au Boxers, un pub parisien situé 120 rue Montmartre, métro Bourse. L'entrée est gratuite, je serais aux platines entre 20h et minuit.

Je jouerai du rap vieux, récent, "underground", "commercial", de la soul, du funk et de l'electronica.

Désolé pour ceux qui n'habitent pas à Paris ! Allez, pour pas que vous soyiez venus ici pour rien, un lien vers un de mes mixes en ligne avec en vrac du KRS One, Shirley Bassey, Cut Chemist, Chris De Luca, Stezo etc...

http://www.hiphopcore.net/audio/rapcats.php3

A télécharger en zip avec la pochette et tout ! Merci au webzine www.hiphopcore.net

Pete Rock & CL Smooth : It's Not A Game (from Lots Of Lovin 12")

2005-09-18T03:09:00.002+02:00

Pete Rock & CL Smooth : It's Not A Game (Elektra, 1993)
Pete Rock & CL Smooth : One In A Million (Epic, 1993)

I have to admit that Pete Rock is not my favourite producer ever. I know that in some countries you could go to jail for saying that, but sometime a man has to stand for what he believes in. I mean, I like some of his music, but I really don't understand why so many people consider him a demi-god. He has a blind cult-following among beat-makers and wannabe producers. The funny thing is a lot of producers are fans of Pete Rock, while DJ Premier appeals more to MCs (and DJs judging by how many best-of Premo mixtapes are around).

It's almost cliché to try to compare them, but they have a similar career. Both were in a group with an average MC, and surrounded themselves with a crew of terrible MCs. When they had the oportunity to work with great MCs, DJ Premier is the one who pulled the best beats in my humble opinion. Take Rakim, listen to "Remember That" and then listen to "Been a Long Time", or say KRS One : "MC Act Like They Don't Know" compared to "Get Yoursel Up remix" ? "The World Is Yours" vs. "Represent" ? "Juicy remix" vs. "Kick In The Door" ? (by the way I don't consider Biggie to approach anywhere near Nas, KRS or Rakim, it's just to prove my point).

To me, Pete Rock reached his climax with They Reminisce Over You, and he somehow manage to make his entire career out this extraordinary song. Very early he understood the importance of having a signature sound. At first it was the echoing horns, the adlibs, and on The Main Ingredient it was the Biz Markie/Big Daddy Kane scratches (as heard on "I Get Physical", "I Got A Love", "Main Ingredient", "Places I Been", "Check It Out" "In The Flesh" and "Get On The Mic"). "It's Not A Game" was made between their albums, so it still has the adlibs and the horn sounds. The other cut is from the same time period, the horns are still there, but in a jazz style, with a scratch chorus, courtesy of MC Ricky D.

It beats anything on the Main Ingredient album. But that's just my opinion...

Aceyalone : Feet Upon The Table (from Mic Check 12")

2005-09-13T00:03:00.001+02:00

Aceyalone : Feet Upon The Table (Capitol, 1995) (fixed)
Aceyalone : Project Blowed (Ground Control, 2000)

Remember back in the early 90's when the Good Life Cafe was the bomb shit as far as Los Angeles underground goes ? Well, a lot of people (read : nerds) seem to consider the groups that were playing at the "Please Pass The Mic" show as hip hop best kept secret. But actually the Freestyle Fellowship and all their mates had their fair share of exposure in the media. While it's a shame that most of them never got big, they definitely had the opportunity to make their names shine.

I first heard the Freestyle Fellowship in 1993, I was doing my radio show, We Love on Radio Pomme, and some guy who was into pop-rock gave me a sampler tape he had with NME. In between a U2 song, a live version of some Disposable Heroes' track and Ice Cube's U Ain't Gonna Take My Life, I heard Inner City Boundaries. Of course, silly me, I immediatly thought they were some Stetsasonic friends, since the only info I had was the credits on the tape. But soon I learned a lot from them through The Source who between 1993 and 1995 used every opportunity to namecheck them, run review of their records, plug their open mic etc. That's were I first became aware of Volume 10, Nga Fish and Pigeon John.

The b side to Aceyalone's first single (second pressing of his first single to be exact...) is like a Heavyweight 2.1 with a plethora of lyricist. In order of appearance Vic Hop (who also produced the track), Riddler, Acey, Ellay Khule, NGA Fish, Mark The Murderer and Abstract Rude.

Black Sheep : Still In The Ghetto (from Similak Child 12")

2005-09-06T00:00:00.001+02:00

Black Sheep : Still In The Ghetto (Mercury, 1992)
Black Sheep : On The Wall (Sire, 1992) (fixed)

La pochette de Kid Rock que j'ai posté la semaine dernière m'a fait penser à ce maxi de Black Sheep. Certes la personnification du cunnilingus est un peu moins classe que le visuel de Similak Child.

Esthétiquement j'avoue préférer de loin cette dernière pochette, mais je doute que beaucoup de disquaires américains aient osé l'exposer en magasin. J'étais à Oakland quand est sorti ce disque mais je ne l'ai vu dans aucune boutique à l'époque, alors même que le groupe était au sommet de sa popularité puisque The Choice Is Yours était encore sur la playlist de beaucoup de radios.

Autant le maxi de Strobelite Honey avec son remix atroce est trouvable partout, autant ce petit bijou semble beaucoup plus dur à trouver, à croire qu'aucun magazin américain n'a voulu le vendre. Dommage car l'inédit en face B, Still In The Ghetto est du niveau de n'importe quel morceau de "Wolf In Sheep's Clothing". En bonus, un autre inédit de la même époque, présent sur la BO de Trespass ("Les Pilleurs " en Français) intitulé Off the Wall. Typiquement le genre de morceau qui laissait présager un second album exceptionnel. Sauf qu'en l'occurence ça n'a pas vraiment été le cas. Non Fiction a mis très longtemps à suivre et malgré quelques très bons morceaux n'était pas au niveau.

Kid Rock : Wax The Booty (from Yodelin In The Valley 12")

2005-08-27T15:30:00.001+02:00

Kid Rock : Wax The Booty (Jive, 1990)

Wax The Booty appeared on the B Side of Kid Rock's micro-hit single Yo Da Lin In The Valley, but also on his first album. But then again, who bought his first album ? I highlight this song mainly because I was in Switzerland last week-end and this is the only 12" I could find whose artwork reminds me of my week end ! (Well, and I really didn't feel like posting some Silent Majority crap).

This raunchy yet metaphorical artwork is much more subtle that the song it illustrates. At least the FCC thought so when WSUC, a college radio station in New York, was fined $ 23 000 for playing the song. The single contains a censored version of the song where instead of bleeping or using clever sound effect to hide the obscenities, they replaced the sexual references with an annoying voice saying "This is a radio edit".

On Wax The Booty he teamed up with his biggest inspiration at that time, Too $hort. I don't say that because he produced the song, but damn, even on the rest of the record he blatantly bite his style. The similarities are so obvious it's almost embarassing for Kid Rock. From his subject matter, to his delivery, to his use of background voices and so on. Short Dog does not rhyme on this song, he only produced it (with a little help from Al Eaton and Keenan Foster) but he's credited on a sticker on the front cover, even if he didn't produce the main song ! Of course there is also a lot of beastie-boyism thrown in the middle, starting with the Todd James artwork, the same artist who designed the Brooklyn Dust logo, among MANY other things.

Too Short : What Rap ? (from The Ghetto 12")

2005-08-12T00:03:00.001+02:00

Too Short : What Rap ? (Jive, 1990)
Too Short : In The Trunk (Jive, 1992)

First : no, the song What Rap is not on the 12" pictured above. The cover is the european pressing. What Rap was only on the domestic pressing of The Ghetto, which I have but in an ugly Jive promo jacket. I don’t know why but us europeans didn’t have the remix, nor the exclusive B side, as if they wanted to make us focus on one song only.

Anyway, The Ghetto is the track that got me hooked up to Too Short music. I bought the album, his back catalogue and all his next albums, at leats all those before his retirement. I know, it's weird, isn't it ? It's like buying "Bigger And Deffer" because you liked I Need Love and end up loving I Need A Beat. I first heard The Ghetto on the radio, which was highly unusual at the time. No radio played rap in 1990. And it was not on an underground radio station, it was not even on a music station, but on a late night talk show on mainstream radio. I guess they had more freedom in that show to play what they loved, and Too Short was on rotation in this show for a while.

I remember back then I used listen to the radio a lot and to cross my finger, whishing that one day they would play some hip hop. Now that hip hop is all over the airwaves my dream is to stop them from playing rap.

Just like The Ghetto, What Rap is one of the few moments when Too Short doesn’t rap only about women. Actually What Rap was the first of a series of songs where Too Short talks about hip hop. But in this song he’s like “I’m proud to be a rapper”, while he later adopted a different attitude. On songs like In The Trunk ou Paystyle his attitude is more like “I don’t care what the rest of the rap world thinks about me”.

There is a rare remix of In The Trunk by DJ Premier, that everybody jocks (you can hear it on this dope tape) but quite honestly I love the OG better. Can't nobody in New-York top that Oakland beat.

Too Short : What Rap ? (Jive, 1990)
Too Short : In The Trunk (Jive, 1992)

Tout d'abord : non, le morceau What Rap ne figure pas sur le maxi dont vous voyez la pochette ci dessus. Ce visuel est celui du pressage européen de The Ghetto. What Rap n'était que sur le pressage original, que j'ai mais dans sa version promo, dans une hideuse pochette Jive bleue. Je ne sais pas pourquoi mais nous autres européens n'avons pas eu droit à la face B, ni aux versions longues du morceau.

The Ghetto est le premier morceau que j'ai entendu de Too Short et c'est grace à lui que je suis devenu fan. A l'époque certains de ses fans de longue date lui ont reproché (à raison) d'avoir une démarche commerciale en sortant The Ghetto. Too Short racontait des histoires de bitches depuis 5 ans et il a du faire du rap conscient pour rencontrer le succès. Incroyable comme les temps changent, non ?

What Rap, comme The Ghetto est un de ces rares titres où Todd Shaw ne parle pas seulement de filles. En fait What Rap est le premier d'une série de morceaux où il parle du hip hop. Dans What Rap il semble être fier d'être un rappeur, tandis que plus tard dans des titres tels que In The Trunk ou Paystyle son attitude est plutôt une attitude de défiance par rapport aux autres rappeurs.

Il existe une version remix de In The Trunk par DJ Premier, qui est recherché par beaucoup (présent sur cette tape fortement recommandée ) mais la version originale garde ma préférence.

Low Profile : Playing For Keeps (from Funky Song 12")

2005-08-01T00:21:00.001+02:00

Low Profile : Playing For Keeps (Priority, 1989)

Back in the days, before there was such a thing as G Funk, Los Angeles was producing some of the best hip hop music ever made, but no one cared. The revolution that happened in New-York in 1988 reflects clearly in california's hip hop from 1989 to 1992. Before that, west coast hip hop was strongly influenced by electro funk but after 1988 everybody bought samplers and started to loop as many funky breakbeats as possible in every song.

In the late eighties hip-hop crates was filled with cheesy dance influenced singles coming from new-yorkers trying to jump on the Rob Base bandwagon. Actually I really feel sorry for those young people who are fooled by that random rap fade, 'cause when you think of it, the average 1989 rap 12" from the east coast sound closer to Twin Hype than Big Daddy Kane. I'm not saying that every LA record at that time was dope, but there are a lot of underestimated records from that time and place.

Since the most visible angelinos were Ice T and NWA, everybody dismissed LA rap as gangsta rap, which not only is not not true but is also dumb. Why do people judge a work of art only for its topic ? You don't see movie critics disrespecting Al Pacino for doing mafia related movies ? OK, gangsta rappers have limited subjects such as dope dealing and drive-by shooting, while New Yorkers were so versatile, talking about partying, crushing other MCs and... well nothing else really.

The most embarassing is that a lot of so-called gangsta rappers were not doing gangsta rap. People were quick to classified gangsta rappers by the clothes that they were wearing or other superficial reasons. If you listen to the debut albums by DOC, King T or Low Profile you would be surprised by how many reference to gangs banging they made : not more that one on each album. Actually the Uzi Bros were way more conscious that Tribe Called Quest.

WC was quite upset to see his record labelled as a gangsta rapper album back then, that's why they made this answer record :"Some idiot tried to claim I was doing some dirt 'cause I wore corduroy's and a sweatshirt / but if you took time to listen to the album / you'd see the W was representing peace". Of course after he went on to do a super group with Ice Cube and Mack 10, where they didn't exactly represent peace, but that's another story.

Low Profile : Playing For Keeps (Priority, 1989)

Il y a longtemps avant l'invention du G Funk, Los Angeles produisait le meilleur hip hop jamais enregistré, mais tout le monde s'en foutait. La révolution qui a secoué New York en 1988 a mis un an pour transformer le son californien. Jusque là le rap west coast était profondément marqué par l'electro funk. C'ets après 1988 que tout le monde a acheté des sampleurs et a commencé à échantillonner les breaks les plus funky possible.

A la fin des années 80 les bacs hip-hop étaient envahis de disques à moitié dance fait par des new-yorkais traumatisés par les disques de Rob Base. Si on achète au hasard n'importe quels maxis east coast de 1989, on tombe plus souvent sur des Twin Hype que sur des Big Daddy Kane. Pour autant tous les disques de LA de l'époque ne sont pas exceptionnels, mais il reste beaucoup de disques mésestimés de cette période .

Les angelinos les plus connus à l'époque étant Ice T et NWA, beaucoup ont voulu croire que tout le rap de Los Angeles était gangsta. Beaucoup de groupes qu'on qualifiait de gangsta rap à l'époque ne parlait que très peu de gangs dans leurs paroles. Les premiers albums de DOC, King T ou Low Profile évoque à peine les gangs. DOC ne parle pas du tout de gang, seul Eazy E évoque un drivez by à pied (un "walk-by") dans The Grand Finale, King T parle vite fait de porter des couleurs neutres pour aller en soirée, et WC dénonce les ravages du crack dans How Ya Livin et condamne l'argent facile dans That's Y They Do It. En fait même un groupe comme Uzi Bros avait plus de lyrics conscients que Tribe Called Quest.

WC était vénère que son disque soit considéré comme un album de gangsta rap, c'est pour celà qu'ils ont rectifié le tir avec cette face B, Playing For Keeps : "Some idiot tried to claim I was doing some dirt 'cause I wore corduroy's and a sweatshirt / but if you took time to listen to the album / you'd see the W was representing peace". Par la suite WC a fait équipe avec Ice Cube et Mack 10, et la bien sur les paroles sont devenues de moins en moins pacifistes, mais c'est une autre histoire.

Redman : I Get Down Like That (from Dat Underground Shit !!!! 12")

2005-07-14T12:46:00.001+02:00

Redman & Roz : I Get Down Like That
Redman : Def Squad Japan Tour

Let's finish this Hit Squad month with this bootleg looking b side by Redman. I have no idea how legit that record was, I doubt that Def Jam released this as a promo. This 12" mysteriously appeared after Dare Iz A Darkside and before Muddy Waters and has an odd tracklisting with a couple of remixes of Can't Wait, a track called Montage which is an edit of various verses from different songs and this incredible track.

Red is freely flowing over an incredible production, with a little guest spot from an MC named Roz, who later rhymed with the funk doctor on Bricks 2 and Close Ya Doorz. If anyone had any doubt that Redman was the best rapper alive, just listen to this long track.

As I said the other track on the 12" is not anything new to any Redman fan, but it reminded me of a mix of some of Redman best cameos that was put together on a Def Squad under the title Def Squad Japan Tour (with the same kind of thing on the other side with Erick Sermon and Keith Murray). It's a 20 minutes mix with a lot of verses that you probably didn't remember.

K Solo : System (from Excalibur 12")

2005-07-07T00:01:00.001+02:00

K-Solo : System (Funkology, 1998)

Kevin Madison also know as K-Solo was an original member of the Squad. Even before there was EPMD Parrish invited him to join his Rock-Squad crew in the early 80's. The professional trained boxer and aspirant MC then got involved in an ugly fight with a couple of motorcyclists and K Solo was sentenced to jail. He got released in time to appear on "Unfinished Business" and Parrish soon signed him on his management company and he fully produced his debut album "Tell The World My Name".

His friendship with Parrish Smith didn't last too long since he was the first to leave the Hit Squad and to sever his ties with Shuma Management. Apparently he was pissed off that Parrish did not took time to produce his second album, and he had very harsh words about his business practices. After EPMD's break-up he started working with Dr Dre, but you how it is when Dre works with a talented rapper (Last Emperor, Rakim, King T)...

Around 1997 he briefly reappeared on the scene, trying to diss DMX who supposedly bit his new style exposed in Redman's "It's Like That". There's nothing more pathetic than an underground MC dissing a mainstream rapper who don't even care to answer.

Last time we heard of K Solo, he was throwing chairs at Keith Murray in a club somewhere in NY.

Hurricane G : Wuteva (from Coast To Coast 12")

2005-06-28T19:59:00.002+02:00

Hurricane G : Wuteva (Hola, 1997)
Hurricane G & Das Efx : Coast To Coast (Hola, 1997)

Hurricane G was a key member of the Hit Squad who unfortunately never blew up. Erick Sermon’s baby mama was Redman’s hype (wo)man during his first tour and expectations were high in 1993, but besides guest verses on We Run NY and Bom Bom Zee, she never released anything notable while she was rolling with the Hit Squad/Def Squad.

Her decision to stay under Parrish Smith management after the Hit Squad demised proved to be a bad one. She had the Funk Doctor Spot himself shopping her demo around in 1993, where she had a song called Milky with Erick Sermon and Redman, and The Bitch produced by Reggie. She was rumored to sign to Capitol in 1994, but nothing made it to retail. She disappeared for a moment, and was spotted kicking a verse every other year, with people from various crews (with Xzibit in 1996, with Organized Konfusion in 1997 or on Cocoa Brovaz’s LP in 1998...)

Her first and only album “All Woman” came out in 1997 on Jellybean’s label Hola, the Home Of Latino Arists. Older B Boys may remember Jellybean’s name from his cover of The Mexican that was a minor electro hit in 84, or for his production credits for Madonna. Anyway, he founded a label in 1995 which signed artists based on their ethnicity rather than their skills. Needless to say that Jellybean had absolutely no idea on how to promote a hip hop record. Unfortunately the album didn’t have any beat by Redman, nor Erick Sermon. The production was handled by another latino artist, Domingo. The album was not available on vinyl, it had very little promotion and bad distribution.

While a lot of people heard Hurricane G on Puff Daddy’s PE 2000 (if you don’t remember that was a Public Enemy cover that Sean Combs did thinking it would stop Chuck D from suing him for not clearing his sample in 10 Crack Commandements) the biggest accomplishment of her career is probably her short appearance in Redman’s Tonight’s Da Night. She will always be remember as the girl who said “Yo yo Redman, what the fuck ! Get with that ruff shit.”

Yeah, I know Wuteva was on "All Woman", but nobody bought that album anyway, so who cares ? Oh, and I also put Coast To Coast, so that I don’t have to waste a post talking about those gimmicky Das Efx...

Redman : How To Roll A Blunt (from Blow Your Mind 12")

2005-06-25T14:50:00.002+02:00

Redman : How To Roll A Blunt (Rush Associated Label, 1991)
Redman : Funkorama (Funk Doctor Mix) (Bandit Record, 1996)
Redman : Tony Touch Freestyle
Redman : Bad Boy Freestyle

The version of How To Roll A Blunt I MP3 today is the original one, found on the B side of Redman's first 12", not to be confused with the album version, co produced by Pete Rock. It's easy to confuse them since there is absolutely no difference between them except for the short intro on the original where producer Reggie Noble directs Redman, the MC, about how he should shout.

This "very interesting" 15 seconds dialog was edited from the LP, which makes you wonder why did Pete Rock get credit on the LP, and not on the 12" ? Do you become a co-producer by suggesting a rapper that his intro is not funny ? Damn, sound like an easy job !

While on the subject of 12" with a slightly different version I also include the Funk Doctor mix of Funkorama, one of my all-time favourite Redman track. This mix is very similar to the one on the Insomnia compilation but Reggie Noble got rid of the useless crooning vocals on the hook. There is also a Double Green Mix of this track with a verse by Erick Sermon, but that's for later...

I know that by now you probably expect more than just alternative mixes of songs you already know, so about a couple of freestyles ? Here's one from the famous Tony Touch tape # 55, and a nice one from the long forgotten Bad Boy mixtape put together by Puff Daddy around 1996. Enjoy

Knucklehedz : 5 Hoods In A 4 Door (from Savages 12")

2005-06-22T02:24:00.003+02:00

Knucklehedz : 5 Hoods In A 4 Door (Eastwest, 1993)
Knucklehedz : All She Wanted (Eastwest, 1993)

The Knucklehedz are the group which was the most affected by the split of EPMD. Tom J & Steve Austin were supposed to be the next offspring of the Hit Squad after K Solo, Das Efx and Redman.

You may not remember them, but the very first time I heard the name Hit Squad was on EPMD's "Hit Squad Heist", which had Tom J saying a couple of words on it. Tom J also had a short apperance on K Solo's first LP. Under Shuma Management (Parrish's company that handled the business of all the Hit Squad) they signed a deal with East West just when Erick & Parrish called it quit, they had two singles out in 1993, with production from Erick Sermon, Parrish Smith, Charlie Marotta and Solid Scheme (Das Efx producers) but the Strickly Savage album was never properly released.

It was the first in a long tradition of dope album not released by East West (Juggaknots, Supernatural, Omniscence...).

Knucklehedz : 5 Hoods In A 4 Door (Eastwest, 1993)
Knucklehedz : All She Wanted (Eastwest, 1993)

The Knucklehedz est le groupe qui a le plus perdu avec la séparation de EPMD. Tom J & Steve Austin devaient être les nouvelles stars de la galaxie Hit Squad à exploser après K Solo, Das Efx et Redman.

Peu de gens se souviennent d'eux, mais la première fois que j'ai entendu le nom Hit Squad c'était sur Hit Squad Heist, un titre d'EPMD sur lequel Tom J posait quelques mots. Un peu avant Tom J avait fait une brève particiaption à l'album de K-Solo. Via Shuma Management (la boite de Parrish qui managait les carrières des membres du Squad) ils ont signé un contrat avec East West juste au moment où Erick & Parrish se sont séparés. Ils ont sorti deux singles en 1993, production par Erick Sermon, Parrish Smith, Charlie Marotta et Solid Scheme (les producteurs de Das Efx) mais l'album Strickly Savage n'a jamais été officiellement distribué.

C'est d'ailleurs le premier d'une longue lignés d'albums mis au placard par East West (Juggaknots, Supernatural, Omniscence...).

Erick Sermon : Rock Da House (from Stay Real 12")

2005-06-21T01:03:00.002+02:00

Erick Sermon : Rock Da House (Def Jam, 1993)

"Stay Real" was the second solo single Erick Sermon put out after EPMD's breakup, and that's when people start to realize how much imput the Green Eyed Bandit had on their final album. When they were doing music together Erick and Parrish simply gave credit to EPMD, so even though you could guess that their engineers DJ Doc and Charlie Marotta were involved in the creative process, people didn't really know who did what. Judging from their post-EPMD career you would bet that Erick was doing most of the production, but actually Parrish was the one bringing most of the samples, at least on the first album (by the way, go buy and read "Rakim Told Me").

I always thought that there was a major change in their sound on "Business Never Personnal". Erick Sermon got more and more into producing by 1992, he produced most of Redman's first album which sound funkier than K Solo's "Tell The World My Name" (an album almost entirely credited to Parrish). On "Rock Da House" you had the same loud crisp drums, almost saturated that EPMD had on "Scratch Bring It Back", "Cumin At Cha" or "Boon Dox". The only problem was that Erick wasn't really able to write three decent verses, the good thing is that "Rock Da House" only had two !

Erick Sermon : Rock Da House (Def Jam, 1993)

"Stay Real" est le second maxi de Erick Sermon en solo après "Hittin Switches", et c'est à partir de ce moment que les gens ont commencé à se rendre compte combien le role du Green Eyed Bandit était crucial sur leur ultime album. Tant qu'ils faisaient de la musique ensemble Erick et Parrish créditaient simplement EPMD, et bien qu'on se doute un peu que leurs ingénieurs Ivan "Doc" Rodriguez et Charlie Marotta devaient être très impliqués, on ne savait pas réellement qui faisait quoi. En écoutant leurs oeuvres post-EPMD respectives on s'imagine que Erick Sermon devait faire l'essentiel de la production, pourtant dans les faits c'est Parrish qui amenait la plupart des samples, au moins sur le premier album (pour en savoir plus allez acheter le livre de Brian Coleman "Rakim Told Me").

J'ai toujours trouvé qu'il y avait une grosse difference entre le son de "Business Never Personnal" et les trois premiers albums d'EPMD. En 1992 Erick Sermon s'était plongé de plus en plus dans la production, réalisant l'essentiel du premier album de Redman, un album carrément plus funky que celui de K Solo (celui là entièrement crédité à Parrish). Sur Rock Da House on retrouve le même type de batterie lourde à la limite de la saturation qu'on avait entendu sur certain titres du dernier EPMD comme "Scratch Bring It Back", "Cumin At Cha" ou "Boon Dox". La grosse différence entre EPMD et Erick Sermon tout seul est qu'Erick a du mal à écrire troiv couplets décents. Ca tombe bien il n'y en a que deux sur Rock Da House !

EPMD : Brothers From Brentwood, L.I. (from Crossover 12")

2005-06-19T13:30:00.002+02:00

EPMD : Brothers From Brentwood, LI (Def Jam, 1992)
EPMD : Crossover (Trunk Remix) (Def Jam, 1992)

Despite what their recent first album may lead to believe, the Hit Squad was one of the strongest crew ever. Who could think of a harder posse cut than "Headbangers" ?

All week long I'll share some underappreciated Hit Squad members B sides. But let's start with a pretty well known gem. "Brothers From Brentwood, LI" is the epitome of hardcore hip hop, but the funny thing is that it was the B side to EPMD's well titled "Crossover". Being their first track with a sung chorus this single was supposed to attract a new audience (and it did), not familiar with underground hip hop who would buy the 12" for the soft slice of funk on side A, and still expose them to one of the hardest rap song you can think of. The beauty of this tactic is that it works both ways.

When you have songs titled "Underground" and "Hardcore" on your album you would expect that some of your die hard fans will have something to say when you come back with a cross over track titled, ahem... "Cross Over". But fans had to buy that single, or else they whould have miss EPMD best track ever. "Brothers From Brentwood, LI" had everything you love in an Erick Sermon production : an overused sample, loud drum, layers and layers of sounds, and dope vocal hook. The kind of vocal sample that would leave you out of breath if you try to sing along with it.

As I said this single was huge in 1992, it was EPMD's first gold single, and it was released as a CD single with a remix of "Crossover (Trunk Remix)" which was also available as a separate promo 12", very poor quality pressing but I include it for those who didn't buy the CD single.

EPMD : Brothers From Brentwood, LI (Def Jam, 1992)
EPMD : Crossover (Trunk Remix) (Def Jam, 1992)

Malgré ce que leur récent premier album laisserait penser, le Hit Squad était un des crews les plus forts à son époque. A ce jour personne n'a fait de posse cut plus hard que "Headbangers".

Toutes la semaine je partagerais des faces B peu connues des membres du hit squad, mais pour commencer un morceau incontournable. "Brothers From Brentwood, LI" est le metre étalon du rap hardcore, mais ce qui est drole c'est que ce morceau se trouvait sur la face B du maxi de EPMD "Crossover". Ce titre, leur premier morceau avec un refrain chanté, était censé attirer un public pas vraiment incliner à écouter des groupes underground (et ça a marché), qui acheterai le maxi pour le coté funky innocent de la face A, et ainsi leur faire découvrir grace à la face B ce que le rap a de plus hardcore. La beauté de cette stratégie est quelle marche dans les deux sens.

Quand un groupe fait des morceaux intitulés "Underground" et "Hardcore" sur son album, on peut s'attendre à ce que les fans de longue date soient surpris quand le groupe revient avec un single cross over, justement nommé "Crossover". Pourtant les fans ont bien du acheter le single pour ne pas rater l'inédit en face B, probablement le meilleur morceau de toute la carrière d'EPMD. "Brothers From Brentwood, LI" a tout ce qu'on aime dans une production de Erick Sermon : un sample grillé, une batterie bien lourde, des couches et des couches de sons et une voix samplée. Le genre de voix en boucle qui vous laisse essouflé à la fin du refrain.

"Crossover" a été le premier et je crois le seul disque d'or décroché par EPMD pour un single. Il est également sorti en CD single avec en bonus un remix de "Crossover (Trunk Remix)", disponible en vinyle sur un autre maxi promo, très mal pressé mais le voici pour ceux qui n'ont pas acheté le CD à l'époque.

Boogie Down Production : Live Medley (from Ya Know The Rules 12")

2005-06-11T12:40:00.001+02:00

Boogie Down Productions : Live Medley (Jive, 1990)

Busy B : Live At The Harlem World, 1981

The embodiement of hiphop played in Paris with Busy Bee as his hype man last thursday. Best damn rap show ever, period.

Diamond, Sadat X & Lord Finesse : You Can't Front (...It Is Real) from Fuck What U Heard 12"

2005-05-24T00:08:00.002+02:00

Diamond, Sadat x & Lord Finesse : Shit Is Real (Mercury, 1992)
Dana Barros & Ced Ceballos feat AG, Sadat X, Grand Puba : Ya Don't Stop (Immortal, 1994)

There is something with the Diggin In The Crates albums. I mean those guys became the most solid crew of the 90's mostly on the strength of their dope name, and they motivate thousands of people who didn't care about the northern soul scene or rare groove movement to go and look for old records wherever possible. So one would think that when they had the opportunity to sign a record deal they would make sure that a clause mention that their work would be available on vinyl. But no.

Their vinyl catalogue is one big joke, Diamond's first album was promo only, Showbiz & AG's "Runaway Slaves" skipped, Lord Finesse's "Funky Technician" is virtually non-existent and "Return Of The Funky Man" never made it to retail. I mean they probably lost sales by not releasing they albums on wax, most of these guys had songs about breaks, diggin, and buyin old records, but the people who would have feel close to them were more likely to buy vinyl. At least I know I didn't buy their CDs ! The younger generation of DITC did the same mistake. Well, Fat Joe's "Represent" was available on vinyl, and it was awarded the world lowest album pressing ever. He held this title only a couple of month, until the release of Big L's first album. I don't even know if OC's "Word... Life" was pressed on vinyl when it was first released, I just never saw an original copy. His second LP "Jewels" was widely available, but the vinyl had the strange property of deleted itself after a couple scratches.

Now that I think of it I think they could have just find it funny to make their own vinyls hard to get.

Anyway, you would think that the 12 inches would be the medium of choice for their fans, but some of them were still very hard to get, especially Diamond D's 12". The fact is that he was on a label that wanted to make it clear that his album was nothing more than a tax write off. The type of label who would print on your album cover a bio with wrong dates (Diamond started as a DJ for Jazzy Jay in 1979 ? Ahahah !), or would shoot a video without him.

Fuck What You Heard was the last single from "Stunts Blunts & Hip Hop", so by that time he had to deliver new material, which he did on Shit Is Real with a little help from Sadat X and Lord Finesse. The combination of Sadat X and Diamond gave birth to so many dope songs that you would wish that they didn't ruin it with that Omen shit. One of the lousiest project the collaborated on was the infamous B-Ball Best Kept Secret, and they manage to pull out a decent song together. Lord Finesse's been down with the self proclaimed best producer on the mic (to be fair, he said that before Finesse start producing, and after Showbiz stopped outshining AG) since day one, but of all the project they did together this is my favourite one.

Diamond, Sadat x & Lord Finesse : Shit Is Real (Mercury, 1992)
Dana Barros & Ced Ceballos feat AG, Sadat X, Grand Puba Ya Don't Stop (Immortal, 1994)

Il y a un problème avec les albums de Diggin In The Crates. Je veux dire, ces gens là se sont imposé comme le crew le plus fort des années 90 grâce à ce nom magique. Il motivé des milliers des gens qui se foutaient du rare à groove et de la northern soul à aller fouiller les bacs de vieux disque juste pour pouvoir se dire crate digger. Logiquement on aurait pu penser que quand ils ont eu l’occasion de sortir des disques ils se seraient assuré que leurs contrats stipulent que les œuvres devaient sortir en vinyle. Mais non.

L’histoire de leur sorties vinyles est un long sketch, le premier album de Diamond n’existe qu’en promo, "Runaway Slaves" de Showbiz & AG saute, "Funky Technician" de Lord Finesse est pour ainsi dire inexistant et "Return Of The Funky Man" n’est jamais sorti commercialement. Ils ont du perdre un nombre considérable de ventes à cause de ça, étant donné qu’ils parlent dans leurs morceaux de leur dépendance aux vieux disques, de breaks, et du diggin, les gens comme eux n’allaient pas acheter leurs disques en CD ! La seconde génération du DITC a répété les mêmes erreurs. "Represent" de Fat Joe est sorti en vinyle, il a même reçu le prix du disque le plus mal pressé de tous les temps, un honneur qui lui a été repris quelques mois plus tard par le premier album de Big L. Quand au "Word... Life" je sais pas s’il est sorti en 33t à l’époque, je n’en ai jamais vu une copie. Heureusement son second album a été pressé en double vinyle, ou plus probablement en double styrène vu la propension qu’a le disque à s’autodétruire un peu plus à chaque scratch.

En y repensant je me dis qu’ils ont peut être fait exprès de rendre leurs disques introuvables.

Bref, avec un tel catalogue on aurait pu croire que leurs maxi allaient être largement disponibles pour satisfaire les fans, pourtant beaucoup sont maintenant assez durs à trouver, notamment ceux de Diamond D. Il faut dire qu’il était à l’époque sur un label qui n’a jamais fait semblant de s'interesser à lui.

"Fuck What You Heard" était le dernier single tiré de "Stunts Blunts & Hip Hop", Diamond devait donc amener quelquechose de neuf, et c'est ce qu'il a fait avec "Shit Is Real" aidé de Sadat X et Lord Finesse, et Buckwild à la prod.

La combinaison Sadat X / Diamond D a donné lieu à beaucoup de grands moments, presqu'un sans faute jusqu'à l'horrible maxi de leur groupe The Omen. Parmi les projet foireux sur lesquels on retrouve Diamond et Sadat on se souvient de la pitoyable compilation B-Ball Best Kept Secret, sur laquelle ils sont parvenu à réaliser un titre correct. Lord Finesse est pote avec le soit-disant meilleur producteur au micro (à sa décharge Diamond a proféré cette énormité avant que Finesse commence à produire et après que Showbiz ai arreté de rapper) depuis toujours, mais "Shit Is Real" reste pour moi un des meilleurs morceaux qu'ils aient fait ensemble.

Mad Skillz : Skillz in '95 (from The Nod Factor 12")

2005-05-03T22:00:00.003+02:00

Mad Skillz : Skillz In '95 (Big Beat, 1995)
Mad Skillz : Live Freestyle from the Stretch Armstrong Show (Big Beat, 1995)
Mad Skillz : Freestyle (Stretch Armstrong & Bobbito show, 89.9 WKCR, 1994)
Bedroom Wizard featuring Mad Skillz : Skillz In '98 (Unsigned Wrecordings, 1998)

Most of us probably first heard of Mad Skillz first via his spotlight in the Unsigned Hype column of the late Source Magazine. While the column usually reviewed demo, Mad Skillz won his feature in the mag just on the strength of his freestyles in the Stretch Armstrong & Bobbito show. The story was that Q-Tip heard this guy from Virginia battling Supernatural at the New Music Seminar, and took him on a thursday night to the WKCR studio in october 1994. Soon after Stretch signed him to Big Beat, and they released his first single on the summer of 1995.

"Nod Factor" was an underground classic produced by the Beatnut Psycho Les (recently covered by Quasimoto), but the real gem was the B side. His Hip-Hop vs. Rap inspired freestyle was pressed on the dark side of this vynil but the real treat was Skillz In '95.
This song with the L.P. shitting on the SP (or if you prefer : Large Professor working the SP 12000) was excluded from the album because From Where ? was delayed and didn't hit the stores before 96 ! Extra P once said to Q-Tip "don't say the years, it's for eternity", but Skillz didn't listen to this advice, and made it his trademark, he made Skillz In '98, and for the past three years he just released one song a year : 2002 Year End Rap Up, 2003 Wrap Up, 2004 Rap Up, 2004 Rap Up etc.

Nowadays he spends his time writing and ghostwriting for less talented and talentless rappers (most recently for Will Smith's Lost And Found), and was recently seen touring with DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Roots. He was supposed to do an album on Decon/Okayplayer, but I doubt it will happen anytime soon.

Mad Skillz : Skillz In '95 (Big Beat, 1995)
Mad Skillz : Live Freestyle from the Stretch Armstrong Show (Big Beat, 1995)
Mad Skillz : Freestyle (Stretch Armstrong & Bobbito show, 89.9 WKCR, 1994)
Bedroom Wizard featuring Mad Skillz : Skillz In '98 (Unsigned Wrecordings, 1998)

Beaucoup d'entre nous ont probablement découvert Mad Skillz via la rubrique Unsigned Hype de feu The Source Magazine. D'habitude la colomne de Matty C était une chronique d'une démo, mais Mad Skillz s'est retrouvé là uniquement grace à ses passages en freestyle dans l'émission de Stretch Armstrong & Bobbito. L'histoire veut que Q-Tip ai entendu ce type débarqué de Virginie lors de la battle du New Music Seminar contre Supernatural, et qu'il l'ai emlmené avec lui un jeudi soir aux studios de WKCR en octobre 1994. Peu après Stretch le signait chez Big Beat, et son premier single sorti au début de l'été 1995.

"Nod Factor" était un classique underground produit par Psycho Les (et récemment repris par Quasimoto), mais trésor enfoui en face B était du même niveau. Son freestyle inspiré de Hip-Hop vs Rap est aussi sur la face B du maxi. Skillz In '95, produit par Large Professor n'a pas été retenu pour figurer sur l'album, pour la simple raison que la sortie de From Where ? avait été repoussée et que le disque n'est finalement sorti qu'en 1996 ! Extra P avait prévenu Q-Tip "don't say the years, it's for eternity", mais Skillz n'a pas suivit ce bon conseil, au contraire même citer l'année est devenu sa spécialité, il a enregistré un morceau intitulé Skillz In '98, et depuis trois ans il se contente même de sortir un morceau par an : 2002 Year End Rap Up, 2003 Wrap Up, 2004 Rap Up, 2004 Rap Up etc.

Le reste de son temps il le passe désormais à écrire des textes pour des rappeurs moins talentueux que lui (recemment on lui doit le texte de Lost And FOund de Will Smith), et on l'a aperçu en tourné avec DJ Jazzy Jeff et The Roots. Un album avait été annoncé il y a un an chez Decon/Okayplayer, mais depuis plus de nouvelles.

Tribe freestyle

2005-04-27T23:56:00.000+02:00

A Tribe Called Quest feat Black Thought, Pete Rock, Consequence

Sorry, but my place is such a mess right now, I can't even find the records I want to talk about. I spent more than a week looking for that Tribe Called Quest freestyle in Future Flavas radio show, I wanted to use it to prove how weak Consequence is compared to Phife. For some reason I couldn't find it, so I was like, fuck it, let's do the post on The Chase anyway. But this morning the record just resurfaced miraculously, so here it is.

I don't know if I'll do another post until I buy another Expedit, because I always seems to miss the record I want to write about.

Also, yousendit was very helpful, but it's time to step my game up. The mp3 are now online for real ! Thanks Erwin ! Peep his website :

Edutainment.
Edutainment.

A Tribe Called Quest : The Chase Part 2 (from Award tour 12")

2005-04-21T00:33:00.002+02:00

Consequence : The Chase Part II (Jive, 1993)
Know Naim : Oh My God (Jive, 1994)

The song I mp3 tonight might be available nowadays, since it's Consequence first effort on wax. With the surprising popularity he seems to have lately I'm sure the song has popped up on one of his mixtape or something. Anyway, this exclusive version of The Chase Part II dropped, a month or two before Midnight Marauder, and ten years later I still havent figure out what was the part one ! This song was like a job interview, or a sort of casting to see if Q-Tip talentless cousin was ready to become A Tribe Called Quest fifth member. Obviously he was not, and if you ask me, he still wasn't when Tip virtually gave him the job two years later. To me, Consequence is one of the main reason why A Tribe Called Quest splitted. The inclusion of Consequence during the Beats, Rhymes And Life era ruined the friendship between Phife and Tip, and quite honnestly, none of his rhyme were really memorable. Even if he was rapping, he was more useless than Jarobi. Jay Dee's poor production was the number one cause though. The more he got involved in the production, the more Tribe fell off.

A few months after The Chase Part II, not convinced by the skills of Consequence, they had a second job interview, or if you will they used the same idea of showcasing a bunch of no name rappers on one of their beats, on the B side to Oh My God, except that Snag, Lo and Bay, collectively known as Know Naim, rhymed on the remix of the song, and not the classic OG version. This was probably a way to help some of their young friends to make it big in the rap game, but it failed miserably.

Positive K : A Good Combination

2005-04-08T00:01:00.002+02:00

Positive K : A Good Combination (First Priority, 1989)
MC Lyte : Rhyme Hangover (First Priority, 1988)
Positive K : One To The Head (Island, 1992)

OK, so today's b-side is not a b-side. But I guess you all understand that my main concern is to highlight stuff that you don't find on albums.

"A Good Combination" was released as the main track of a sort of split 12", that also included an MC Lyte song from First Priority's compilation. As far as I know the song was never on any album, and as strange at it seems (to me anyway) Positive K never had any album during his days at First Priority. He got credit for writting lyrics for Alliance, MC Lyte and Audio II, shined as the only guest rapper on Brand Nubian's classic first album, but Nat Robinson never cared to give him a chance to make an album on his own. His first (and i think only) album was released on Island in 1992, and of course "The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills" did not include any of the First Priority material. I love that album, I used to listen to it all the time. The record had nice production by both LG's (Easy LG & LG Experience), Silver D etc, but I can't help to dream about how dope his album could have been with circa 1988 productions.

I first heard "A Good Combination" on Babu's mixtape "Comprehension", where Kan Kick did a remix. His version was aight, but it only made me want to find the original 12". The bare drum beat and the low b-boy chant in the background make you think about "Top Billin", But that song is a classic as well, the title has been re-used many times, it's now part of the hip hop lingo. DJ Eli had a song by that name a year ago.

Soon after his first album, Positive K kinda disappeared. It seems that he was supposed to work with Puffy, but things turned bad. Never heard of him since. I guess he's ghostwriting for some bad rapper nowadays.

Positive K : A Good Combination (First Priority, 1989)
MC Lyte : Rhyme Hangover (First Priority, 1988)
Positive K : One To The Head (Island, 1992)

OK, ce n'est pas une face B dont je parle ce soir. Peu importe, je crois que tout le monde a compris que le but du site est juste de faire redécouvrir des morceaux qui ne sont pas disponibles en album.

"A Good Combination" était sur la face A d'un split single, sur lequel figurait aussi le titre de MC Lyte qui était sur la compilation de First Priority "Basement Flavor". Autant que je sache, ce titre n'était sur aucun album, et aussi bizarre que ça puisse sembler (à mes yeux du moins), Positive K n'a jamais sorti d'album durant toute la période où il collaborait avec First Priority. Il a écrit des textes pour Alliance, MC Lyte et Audio II, il s'est fait remarquer en étant le seul invité sur le premier album de Brand Nubian, et pourtant Nat Robinson n'a jamais daigné lui donner sa chance de faire un album. Son premier album (et seul à ce jour) est sorti chez Island en 1992, "The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills", mais il ne contenait bien sur aucun des titres enregistrés à l'époque First Priority. J'adorais ce disque, je l'ai joué des dizaines de fois à la radio, pourtant je ne peux m'empecher de fantasmer sur ce qu'aurait donné un album de Positive K avec des productions aux standard de 1988.

La première fois que j'ai entendu "A Good Combination" c'était sur la mixtape de DJ Babu, "Comprehension", dans une version remixée par Kan Kick. Le beat était pas mal, mais ça m'a surtout donné envie d'acheter le maxi. L'instru réduit à l'essence d'un breakbeat fait forcément penser à "Top Billin", mais "A Good Combination" est un classique de la même trempe. Le titre a été ré-utilisé plein de fois, récemment par DJ Eli, c'est devenu une expression officiellement hip hop.

Peu après la sortie de son premier album, Positive K a disparu. Il semble qu'il ait travaillé avec Puffy, mais l'histoire a mal tourné. On n'a plus entendu parler de lui depuis. J'espère qu'au moins il ghostwrite pour des mauvais rappeurs aujourd'hui.

Artifacts & Mad Skillz : Dynamite Soul II (Lip Service remix) (from Dynamite Soul 12")

2005-04-01T00:32:00.002+02:00

Artifacts & Mad Skillz : Dynamite Soul II (Big Beat, 1994)
Mad Skillz : Freestyle (Stretch Armstrong & Bobbito show, 89.9 WKCR, 1994)
Artifacts : Who Am I ? (Big Beat, 1994)
Hard 2 Obtain, Artifacts & Raquel : A Lil Sumthing (Atlantic, 1994)

The collaboration between Artifacts and Mad Skillz on Dynamite Soul II didn't happen as a big surprise to anyone. The group from New Jeru and the MC from Virginia shared the same hip hop aesthetic and both had their first demo selected in The Source's Unsigned Hype column, back when that meant your music would also be played in the Wake Up Show and The Stretch Armstrong Show. Coincidencially they all got signed by the same Mr Armstrong who was then A&R at Big Beat. Also Artifacts were managed by Bobbito through Hit U Off, a short lived management company he co-owned with Pete Nice, who also handled Hard 2 Obtain ’s career.

Noz from Cocaine Blunts & Hip Hop Tapes has a theory that rap music at that period was specifically mastered to be listened to on tape. judging from the crappy vinyl pressing It's clear that labels didn't pay attention to DJs who had a late night hip hop radio show. We always had to turn up the gain to the max whenever we wanted to play any Black Moon, Common Sense, Beatnuts, Del or OC album track.

Being signed by a DJ had at least one good consequence : their albums were pressed on loud double LPs. But since DJs could play any song from "Between A Rock And A Hard Place", you know the 12" had to offer some exclusive material. They had Busta "Mr Cameo" Rhymes on "C'Mon Wit Da Get Down", and on this third 12" labelmate Mad Skillz came with his usual ton of punchlines. The beat was produced by EZ Elpee, with some nice cuts by Roc Raida.

The 12" includes another unreleased b side, Who Am I ?, which could have been a dope song without the chorus. They try to harmonize on the hook, but unfortunately they're no Nice & Smooth or anything.

Artifacts & Mad Skillz : Dynamite Soul II (Big Beat, 1994)
Mad Skillz : Freestyle (Stretch Armstrong & Bobbito show, 89.9 WKCR, 1994)
Artifacts : Who Am I ? (Big Beat, 1994)
Hard 2 Obtain, Artifacts & Raquel : A Lil Sumthing (Atlantic, 1994)

La collaboration entre Artifacts et Mad Skillz sur Dynamite Soul II n'avait rien de surprenant. Le groupe de New Jeru et le MC de Virginie partagent la même vision du hip hop et ont tous deux vu leur première demo selectionnée par The Source dans la rubrique Unsigned Hype, à l'époque où les maquettes sélectionnées par Matt Life étaient diffusées dans le Wake Up Show et le Stretch Armstrong Show. A la suite de ça Artifacts et Skillz ont été signés par Monsieur Armstrong, alors directeur artistique pour Big Beat. Par ailleur Artifacts étaient managés par Bobbito via Hit U Off, une compagnie de management montée par l'animateur et Pete Nice, sur laquelle on trouvait aussi Hard 2 Obtain .

Noz de Cocaine Blunts & Hip Hop Tapes a une théorie comme quoi les disques de rap à cette période étaient spécifiquement masterisés pour être écoutés en cassette. C'est clair quand on écoute en vinyle les albums de Black Moon, Common Sense, Beatnuts, Del ou OC que les labels n'accordaient pas grande importance aux DJs qui jouaient leurs disques tard le soir en radio. Chaque fois qu'on voulait passer un titre pas sorti en maxi il fallait pousser le gain au maximum.

Le fait d'être signé par un DJ a au moins un bon coté : leurs albums ont été pressés en double vinyle bien fort. Mais comme les DJs pouvaient jouer n'importe quel titre de "Between A Rock And A Hard Place", il fallait que les maxis apportent à chaque fois quelquechose d'exclusif. Ils avaient Busta Rhymes sur "C'Mon Wit Da Get Down", et pour le troisième extrait de l'album c'est leur camarade de label Mad Skillz qui est venu les accompagner. Le beat était produit par EZ Elpee, avec des cuts de Roc Raida.

En plus du remix il y a une autre exclu sur ce maxi, Who Am I ?, qui aurait pu être un bon morceau, si seulement il n'y avait pas ce refrain. Tame One et El The Sensei essaient de faire des harmonies, mais n'est pas Nice & Smooth qui veut !

The Nonce : Who Falls Apart ? (from Bus Stop 12")

2005-03-25T01:31:00.004+01:00

The Nonce : Who Falls Apart ? (American, 1995)
Aceyalone : Mr Outsider (Capitol, 1995)
Sach : Miracle (Mary Joy, 2002)

Dave Tompkins once wrote that Who Falls Apart ? was "one of the most somber tracks to come out of L.A.". As a big fan of depressing hip hop I co-sign his statement. If you don't trust my opinion you should at least believe someone who wrote a 16 pages feature on Paul C. Anyway, let's go back to The Nonce, a highly slept on duet, from the first generation of Blowedians. Not to take anything from Ahmad, Volume 10 or whoever else from the Good Life who had an album back then, but The Nonce were by far the best of the bunch, besides Freestyle Fellowship. The Nonce not only had rhymes but they also crafted nice jazzy beats for Aceyalone's first solo effort. In an ideal world they should have had the mainstream recognition that A Tribe Called Quest had. Far from being commercial they had songs for the ladies (the A-side "Bus Stop"), they had the catchy choruses ("I used to sell mixtapes, but now I'm an MC") and all. Despite major push from their label, they never made it. But now that I think about it American never had any successful hip hop artist : Chino XL, Milk, Kwest ? Sir Mix A Lot may be... Well, when your most successful artist is a one-hit-wonder like Sir Mix A Lot there really is something wrong with your label !

Who Falls Apart is about how many groups split up. The Nonce never split, Nouka & Yusef stayed together til death did them part. In may 2000 Yusef Afloat committed suicide and was found dead alongside a freeway. He was said to be a very melancolic guy, and had problems to assum fatherhood. The first line of his verse is saying a lot : "there's much stress in the life I live".

Sach kept doing music, he had a nice EP on the japanese based label Mary-Joy, and he just released an incredible album with Omid last year on his own imprint Afflatus. Go buy it. And the 12" has an unreleased b side, but don't expect me to give it to you for free. The record is still in stores so show some support.

The Nonce : Who Falls Apart ? (American, 1995)
Aceyalone : Mr Outsider (Capitol, 1995)
Sach : Miracle (Mary Joy, 2002)

Dave Tompkins a écrit un jour que Who Falls Apart ? est "un des morceaux les plus sombres venu de L.A.". En tant que gros fan de hip hop déprimant je confirme ses propos. Issu de¨Project Blowed, The Nonce, est un duo qui n'a jamais rencontré le succès qu'il méritait. Sans manque de respect à Ahmad, Volume 10 etc aucun des rappeurs du Good Life Café de l'époque ne les surpassait. The Nonce étaient non seulement des MCs, mais aussi des producteurs à qui on doit quelques beats jazzy sur le premier album solo de Aceyalone. Dans un monde parfait ils auraient du obtenir la même reconnaissance qu'avait A Tribe Called Quest. Sans être un groupe commercial ils savaient faire des morceaux pour les filles (la face A "Bus Stop"), ils savaient faire des refrains catchy ("I used to sell mixtapes, but now I'm an MC") etc. Malgré le soutien de leur label American ils n'ont jamais décollé. En y repenssant aucun des rappeurs signé sur le label n'a eu de succès : Chino XL, Milk, Kwest ? Sir Mix A Lot à la limite...

Who Falls Apart parle des problèmes d'ego qui finissent souvent par détruire les groupes. The Nonce ne s'est jamais séparé. Nouka et Yusef sont restés ensemble jusqu'à ce que la mort les sépare. En may 2000 Yusef Afloat s'est suicidé et a été retrouvé mort sur le bord d'une autoroute à L.A. Ses amis le décrivait comme un garçon mélancolique, et il semblait avoir du mal à assumer l'image que ses enfants avaient de lui. La première phrase de son couplet est claire : "there's much stress in the life I live".

Nouka alias Sach a continué la musique seul, il a sorti il y a quelques années un superbe EP sur le label japonais Mary-Joy, et il vient de sortir son nouvel album sur son propre label Afflatus, 5th Avenue, un chef d'oeuvre produit par Omid. En plus il ya une face B inédite sur le maxi. Le disque est toujours dans les bacs, alors achetez le .

Bahamadia : Paper Thin (from Biggest Part Of Me 12")

2005-03-22T23:40:00.002+01:00

Bahamadia : Paper Thin (Chrysalis, 1996)
Royce Da 5'9" 52 Bars (Traffic, 2004)
MC Lyte : Paper Thin (First Priority, 1988)

My brother Bachir pointed to me the other day that I used the word gay one too many time in my last post. Don't get it wrong, I'm not gay bashing at all. I just think it's ironic how NWA desperately tried to look hard while their two producers were wearing make up and questionable shiny suits a few month before. It's funny that journalists nowadays still portray hip hop as a sexist and anti-gay culture, while a quasi-homosexual (as Mos Def would say) is controlling the most successful rap label. OK, maybe it's a coincidence that two of his artists allegedly appeared in gay porn, but having male rappers posing half naked on their record cover is clearly a way to touch the gay audience.

Anyway, to show my love for gay hip hop here is a cover of MC Lyte's classic Paper Thin by Bahamadia. Can you get gayer than that ?

Royce Da 9"5 also used this dope beat on the 1st single off his official mixtape, but that doesn't make him gay. But who knows ?

Bahamadia : Paper Thin (Chrysalis, 1996)
Royce Da 5'9" 52 Bars (Traffic, 2004)
MC Lyte : Paper Thin (First Priority, 1988)

L'autre soir Bachir m'a fait remarqué que j'avais utilisé 3 fois le mot gay dans le dernier article sur NWA. Que les choses soient claires, je n'ai rien contre les rappeurs gays. Simplement je trouve ça ironique à quel point NWA essayaient de se donner une image de gros durs alors que leurs producteurs posaient avec des chemises douteuses et portaient du maquillage quelques mois seulement avant d'intégrer le groupe. C'est marrant que les journalistes persistent à dépeindre le hip hop comme un milieu sexiste et anti-gay, alors que label le plus populaire du moment est controllé par un quasi-homosexuel (comme l'appelle Mos Def). OK, on peut croire que c'est une coïncidence si deux des artistes de Dre ont été soupçonnés d'avoir fait du porno gay, mais faire systematiquement poser des rappeurs a moitié nus sur les pochettes des disques est clairement un moyen de toucher le public gay.

Bref, pour montrer que j'aime le hip hop gay voici la reprise du classique de MC Lyte Paper Thin par Bahamadia. On ne peut pas faire plus gay que ça !

Royce Da 9"5 a lui aussi utilisé ce beat en face B du premier single extrait de sa mixtape officiellle, pour autant je ne crois pas qu'il soit gay.

NWA : Something Like That (from Gangsta Gangsta 12")

2005-03-15T20:28:00.002+01:00

NWA : Something Like That (Ruthless, 1988)
Nina Gordon : Straight Outta Compton
France Copland : Dopeman (white label, 2003)

The cover of NWA's Gangsta Gansta 12" is saying a lot. Released in 1988, it is shocking to imagine that the group or the label could have thought that this picture could shock anyone. The photo itself is not particulary beautiful or anything, if the US weren't obsessed with the racial thing this 12" wouldn't have been chosen as one of the 25 greatest 12" artwork by the staff of Ego Trip. America has a very serious problem.

Anyway the main interest of this 12", as record nerds should know, is that it is the only way to get Something Like That on vinyl, as the song was omitted from the tracklisting of Straight Outta Compton. So was Something 2 Dance 2, but who cares about that one ? MC Ren and Dr Dre are trading rhymes, or more probably MC Ren shares his rhymes with Dre. Anyone who knows the time knows that MC Ren is the most underated MC ever, or at least the most underated MC in NWA. Dre was also one of the top producers of that time, along the lines of DJ Doc, Ced Gee, Prince Paul, Daddy O, Milk D, Marley Marl, The Bomb Squad, Sam Sever, Rick Rubin, Afrika Islam, Mantronix or 45 King. But, wait a minute : wasn't that song produced by Yella ? Who knows, Ren probably just name checked him because he pushed play on the tape deck.

The record also gives us a sneak peak at what could have been the artwork to gangsta's rap holy scripture, and I think they took the right decision, cause even by 1988 standards Dre sweatsuit looks gay. And don't get me started on Arabian Prince's mustache.

The following album turned out to be one of the top 5 hip hop album of all time, a personnal favourite of many conscious rappers and influenced french booty producers as well as white female folk singers. And if you think you know the album by heart, try to answer the ultimate Straight Outta Compton quiz

NWA : Something Like That (Ruthless, 1988)
Nina Gordon : Straight Outta Compton
France Copland : Dopeman (white label, 2003)

La pochette du maxi de Gangsta Gansta 12" sorti en 1988 en dit beaucoup. Il est choquant de penser que le groupe ou la maison de disque ait pu trouver cette pochette choquante. La photo en elle même n'est pas particulièrement esthétique, et si les Etats Unis n'étaient pas aussi obsédés par la question raciale, ce maxi n'aurait aucune raison de figurer dans la liste des 25 meilleures pochettes selon Ego Trip. L'Amérique a décidément un gros problème.

Bref, l'autre chose interessante sur ce maxi est que c'est le seul moyen d'obtenir Something Like That en vinyle, puisque le morceau a été écarté du tracklisting de l'album "Straight Outta Compton". Pareil pour Something 2 Dance 2, un des pires morceaux de l'histoire de la hip-house. Comment peut-on se prétendre gangster et faire de la musique pour gays ? MC Ren et Dr Dre s'échangent des rimes tout au long du morceau, ou plutôt MC Ren prête ses rimes à Dre. MC Ren est de loin le MC le plus sous estimé de l'histoire, enfin au moins le MC le plus sous estimé de NWA. Dre était à l'époque un des meilleurs producteurs, du niveau de DJ Doc, Ced Gee, Prince Paul, Daddy O, Milk D, Marley Marl, The Bomb Squad, Sam Sever, Rick Rubin, Afrika Islam, Mantronix ou 45 King. Mais, une seconde... C'est pas plutôt Yella qui a produit ce morceau en particulier ? Qui sait, si ça se trouve Ren a juste balancé son nom dans le morceau parce que c'est lui qui a appuyé sur play quand ils ont enregistré.

Au dos de la pochette du maxi on a un apercu de ce qui aurait pu être le visuel du premier chef d'oeuvre du gangsta rap, et sinceremnt je crois qu'ils ont bien fait de changer de photo, parce que même en 1988 il fallait être gay pour oser porter le survetement que porte Dré, et je préfère même pas parler de la moustache d'Arabian Prince !

L'album qui a suivit ce maxi est sans contestation possible un des 5 meilleurs albums de rap de tous les temps, même les rappeurs conscients l'adorent, et il a influencé aussi bien les producteurs de booty français aussi bien que les chanteuses folk. Si vous pensez connaitre les paroles par coeur faites donc ce test.

Run DMC : Together Forever (from Can You Rock It Like This 7")

2005-03-10T16:02:00.003+01:00

Run DMC : Together Forever (Live At Hollis Park '84) (Profile, 1985)
Aerosmith : Walk This Way (CBS, 1975)
Run DMC : My Adidas (Live at Madison Square Garden, 1986)
Run DMC : Here We Go (Live At The Funhouse, 1983)

In a conscious effort to cover old stuff (no, really, I don't consider that songs from 1991 or 1994 are old) I dug up this Run DMC from 1985. I just read King Of Rock last week, the autobiography of DMC, ghostwritten by Bruce Haring. I was really disapointed, and since I didn't expect much, that's saying a lot !

I'm not really used to read celebrity biographies so I naively thought that this was a book about music, little stories about how they did such and such song.

It is not.

Out of the 200 pages there are a total of less than 5 dealing with music. Considering that two are devoted to the recording of Walk This Way, there's not much left. There are like two lines about the Madison Square Garden gig : "After the show the Adidas representative came backstage and vowed to get us a deal." Wah, you're so good at telling stories ! The book is all about how much he was addicted to drinking, smoking weed and sniffing cocaine, how god helped him to get straight and how he likes to eat chicken and collar green.

Boring.

I wanted to know interesting facts like how many people were actually at the Funhouse on august 5th, 1983 when they recorded Here We Go, how many copies of Hollis Rock were manufactured, was Together Forever really recorded live ? You know, useful information for the real nerdiest fans. I was tempted to buy Nelson George's "autobiography" of Russel Simmons, but with a title like "Life & Def : Sex, Drugs, Money + God" I bet he won't talk too much about why Resident Alien's album was not released.

Run DMC : Together Forever (Live At Hollis Park '84) (Profile, 1985)
Aerosmith : Walk This Way (CBS, 1975)
Run DMC : My Adidas (Live at Madison Square Garden, 1986)
Run DMC : Here We Go (Live At The Funhouse, 1983)

Dans un effort délibéré pour poster des vieux morceaux (car je ne considère pas que les sons de 1991 ou 1994 soient vieux) j'ai ressorti ce 45t de Run DMC sorti en 1985. J'ai lu la semaine dernière King Of Rock, la biographie de DMC écrite par Bruce Haring. Une enorme déception, et pourtant je ne m'attendais pas à grand chose.

Je ne lis pas beaucoup de bio écrites par des célébrités, et naïvement je m'attendais à un livre sur la musique, plein d'anecdotes sur l'enregistrement de leurs morceaux.

Rien de tout ça.

Sur 200 pages, pas plus de 5 sont consacrées à la musique, dont déjà deux sur leur rencontre avec Aerosmith. Sur le légendaire concert au Madison Square Garden de 1986 il y a à peine plus de deux lignes : "Un représentant de Adidas est venu nous voir dans notre loge après le concert et nous a proposé un deal". Wahou, comme tu racontes bien les histoires DMC ! Tout le reste du bouquin est sur sa dépendance à l'alcool et la dogue, sur dieu et sur la cuisine de sa mère.

Chiant.

Je pensais apprendre des choses interessantes comme combien de personnes étaient au Funhouse le 5 aout 1985 quand a été enregistré Here We Go, combien de copies de Hollis Rock ont été pressées, Together Forever a-t'il réellement été enregistré en live, etc ? Des vrais questions pour faire plaisir aux nerds quoi ! J'ai failli acheter le livre de Russel Simmons écrit par Nelson George, mais avec un titre comme "Life & Def : Sex, Drugs, Money + God" je me suis dit qu'il n'allait pas beaucoup parler de l'album de Resident Alien.

Ice T : Our Most Requested Record (from Pimpin Ain't Easy 12")

2005-03-01T02:19:00.002+01:00

Ice T : Our Most Requested Record (Sire, 1987)
Rock Master Scott & The Dynamic Three : Request Line (Reality, 1984)
The World Famous Supreme Team : D'Ya Like Scratching (Charisma, 1983)
Eazy E : Radio (Ruthless, 1988)

I know people will soon dismiss B Side Wins Again as just another mid 90's New York-centric audioblog, so I have to show some diversity now. Back in the eighties I didn't have enough money to buy albums and 12", I was mainly dubbing tapes and occasionaly buying LPs. I had most west coast classics (Above The Law, Donald D, Divine Styler, Too Short...) on poor quality C 90 tapes bought from Monoprix. Back when I was in junior high a friend gave me a tape he had from his british pen pal becaus I probably was the only person he knew who liked hip hop then. It had Ice T's Rhyme Pays on one side, and a group called Face One on the other. I never heard of this group ever since, I wonder if that was just a demo or a local group from West Bubblefuck...

-Enough with your ranting about your own life, just post some music.

-OK, right. Our Most Requested Record was on the B side of Ice T's ode to modern-day slavemasters, Pimpin Ain't Easy. This song was inspired by the first all hip hop AM station, the now defunct KDAY (not defunct anymore since it's back for a couple of month now on 93.5 FM), broadcasting from Crenshaw Bld in Los Angeles. While kids in New York had to wait till saturday night to hear Mr Magic playing at 2:00 am on the radio, people in LA were blessed with a a radio station which would play nothing but rap !

Well, you can also consider that Ice T was in a long tradition of raps dedicated to radio, and say that it's just his own version of Rock Master Scott's Request Line, which itself is a rip off of The World Famous Supreme Team's D'Ya Like Scratching. Well if anything, Ice T's concept was jacked by Eazy E on Radio that came out a few month after. Hey Eazy : just don't bite it !

The picture on the cover is the work of one of my favourite photographer, Glen E. Friedman, who went on to shoot the pictures of most releases on Rhyme Syndicate Records.

Ice T : Our Most Requested Record (Sire, 1987)
Rock Master Scott & The Dynamic Three : Request Line (Reality, 1984)
The World Famous Supreme Team : D'Ya Like Scratching (Charisma, 1983)
Eazy E : Radio (Ruthless, 1988)

Je sens que beaucoup vont commencer à considerer B Side Wins Again comme un vulgaire audioblog obsédé par le rap new yorkais du milieu des années 90, il est grand temps de se diversifier un peu. Dans les années 80 je n'avais pas assez d'argent pour acheter des albums et des maxis, je copiais surtout des cassettes, et exceptionnelement des albums. J'avais plein de classiques californiens (Above The Law, Donald D, Divine Styler, Too Short...) sur des pauvres cassettes C 90 achetées au Monoprix du coin.

Quand j'étais au collège un mec de ma classe m'a refilé une cassette que lui avait laissé son correspondant anglais, je devais être la seule personne qu'il connaissait qui écoutait du rap. Sur une face il y avait Rhyme Pays d'Ice T, et sur l'autre un groupe appelé Face One. Je n'ai jamais entendu parler de ce groupe depuis, ça devait être la démo d'un petit groupe...

-C'est bon, raconte pas ta vie, balance juste des Mp3

-Ok, d'accord. Our Most Requested Record est la face B du maxi d'Ice T dédié aux esclavagistes modernes, Pimpin Ain't Easy. Ce morceau était inspiré par la toute première station au monde entièrement dédiée au hip hop, la défunte KDAY (qui a récemment ressucité), légendaire radio qui émettait depuis Crenshaw Boulevard à Los Angeles. Pendant que les new-yorkais qui voulaient avoir du rap à la radio devaient attendre le samedi soir pour entendre Mr Magic à 2h du matin, les gens de LA avaient la chance d'avoir une radio qui ne jouait que du rap !

Certes, on peut aussi penser que ce titre d'Ice T est dans la longue tradition de morceaux dediés à ce média formidable qu'est la radio, et considéré qu'il a simplement donné une suite au Request Line de Rock Master Scott & The Dynamic Three, qui lui même était une ressucé de D'Ya Like Scratching de The World Famous Supreme Team. Unbe chose est sur : Eazy E a pompé le "concept" d'Ice T avec Radio, qui est sorti quelques mois après. Hey Eazy : just don't bite it !

La pochette est l'oeuvre d'un de mes photographes préférés, Glen E. Friedman, qui par la suite a réalisé quasiment toutes les photos des disques de Rhyme Syndicate Records.

Beastie Boys feat Biz Markie : Drunken Praying Mantis Style (from Pass The Mic 12")

2005-02-27T16:09:00.002+01:00

The last post about De La Soul reminded me of this other collab the Biz did. Drunken Praying Mantis Style is one of many tracks Biz Markie did with the Beasties, two of which were included on the Sound Of Science compilation, but this one is only on the B side of Pass The Mic 12". As always with the Beastie Boys records, there are a dozen different pressings of the 12", all with different tracklistings.

The song is like one of those moody funk jam that the Beastie Boys start doing after they build their own studio. Quite honestly the song is not anything special, and if Biz Markie was not in the studio at that moment I bet that Mario C. wouldn't have push Rec. on the DAT. For some reason they put a snippet from an old school Busy Bee tape at the beginning of the song. I don't know why people always bring Biz Markie's name when talking about beat box, because he never really impressed me, and this song probably captured one of his worst drum machine impersonation. Well, as the name of the song implies, the Biz was not really himself when they did that so we forgive him. It's funny to notice that Biz Markie is not credited on the cover, even if he is on the label but as the Grand lmperial Dr Marcel Hall.

The 12" also includes an untitled song (those who know better calls it Netty's Girl ) which is in the same vibe as the previous one, except that this time it's Mike D who tries to prove us he can sing worse than Biz Markie.

OK, I know these are two weird tracks, so I also included the Skills To Pay The Bills remix of Pass The Mic, because it's really dope and it's technically a B side only release as well ! Just like the original version the remix has a million samples in it but not all playing at the same time, but they got rid of the big rock guitar (a Bad Brains sample I think). The remix kept the infamous James Newton flute loop which, ten years after they release the song, got them into a strange legal battle that they won.

Drunken Praying Mantis Style

Netty's Girl

Pass The Mic - Skills To Pay The Bills remix

Le post de la semaine dernière sur De La Soul m'a rappelé cette autre collaboration de Biz Markie. Drunken Praying Mantis Style est un des nombreux morceaux que le Biz a enregistré avec les Beastie Boys, dont deux sont disponibles sur la compilation Sound Of Science, et celui ci uniquement disponible sur la face B du maxi Pass The Mic. Comme souvent avec les maxi des Beasties, il existe plein de pressages différents de Pass The Mic, chacun avec un tracklisting un peu différent.

Le morceaux est une des impros funky molles dont les Beastie Boys sont coutumiers. Honnetement ce n'est pas la meilleure qu'ils aient faite dans le style, et si Biz Markie n'avait pas été au micro à ce moment là, je ne crois pas que Mario C. aurait jugé nécessaire d'appuyer sur Rec. En guise d'intro ils ont collé un passage d'une cassette de Busy B, sans qu'on comprenne vraiment pourquoi. Sur ce titre Biz Markie prouve une fois de plus que s'il est le beat boxer le plus célèbre, il n'est vraiment pas le meilleur ! En même temps on est prévenus au départ grace au titre, le Biz ne devait pas être très frais quand ils ont enregistré ça. D'ailleurs il n'ets pas crédité sur la pochette du disque, même si son nom apparait sur le macaron, sous le sobriquet de Grand lmperial Dr Marcel Hall

Sur le même maxi on découvre un morceau inintitulé (même si les connaisseurs savent qu'il s'appele en réalité Netty's Girl ) dans le même esprit que le précédent, avec cette fois ci Mike D dans le rôle du mec bourré qui chante encore plus mal que Biz Markie.

Bon, comme les deux chansons au dessus sont bizarres j'ai rajouté un remix, le Skills To Pay The Bills remix de Pass The Mic, d'une part parce que c'est un excellent morceau et en plus c'est une face B, donc il a sa place ici. Comme l'original, le remix est bourré de samples qui ne tournet pas en même temps mais qui arrivent les uns à la suite des autres, mais le sample de guitare (des Bad Brains ?) a disparu. Par contre ils ont gardé la fameuse boucle de James Newton, qui 10 ans après la sortie leur a valu un procés, qu'ils ont gagné.

De La Soul & Biz Markie : Lovely How I Let My Mind Float (from Ego Trippin' Part two 12")

2005-02-20T23:29:00.002+01:00

De La Soul & Biz Markie : Lovely How I Let My Mind Float (Tommy Boy, 1993)
De La Soul : Ego Trippin (part 3) (Tommy Boy, 1993)

De La Soul is hands down the group with the best B Side catalog. I can't think of any other artist who is that generous with his fans. They gave us so much goodies that I almost forgive them for the numerous appaling european remixes that went with it. Even the Beastie Boys who were always willing to drop new songs whenever possible couldn't compete with De La. They could have made a triple album full of their unreleased B sides instead of the disastrous aborted AOI trilogy. They simply have more B sides than A sides, almost all their singles were blessed with at least two new songs and/or remixes.

Moreover they always wrapped them in dope artwork. That may seem a frivolous detail, but quite honestly it's half of the reason I'm doing this weblog. Shit, whatever happened to the pic-cover 12" ? Except for Sony all the major label nowadays sell their rap 12" in generic sleeves. How comes Arista and Aftermath would rather do expensive picture-discs for promo than retail copies with artwork ?

But let's go back to Lovely How I Let My Mind Float a first class b side from an overall dope 12". As I said once a B side is always better with a guest star on it, and in this case the diabolical Biz is making a welcome appearance. This was 1993, when Biz decided to give up his recording artist career and go full time DJ, so any feature slot was highly appreciate by fan of stupid def simple rhymes. In the tradition of unreleased B sides no one bothers to mention the name of the song before Dove last line. I'm lovin it !

Besides this gem Plug One, Two and Three had another new song hiden behind the deceptive title Ego Trippin (part 3), which is not a remix of the main track but a totally different song dedicated to old timers.

The dope cover was one of a long line of Phase II inspired artworks. But don't let the flyer fool you : Shortie No Mass is not dropping a verse anywhere on the record. They put her picture here but she only says a few words on Ego Trippin 2. And by the way, Biz Markie is not beatboxing at all on the song !

Lovely How I Let My Mind Float

Ego Trippin (part 3)

De La Soul est de loin le groupe qui possède le meilleur répertoire de faces B. Je ne connais pas d’autres artistes dans le hip hop qui soit aussi généreux avec ses fans. Même les Beastie Boys qui sont toujours partants pour sortir des inédits dès que l’occasion se présente font pale figure à coté. Au lieu de leur désastreuse trilogie inachevée AIO, De La auraient pu sortir un triple album regroupant leurs meilleures faces B. La plupart des leurs maxis contiennent au moins deux inédits et/ou remixes.

En plus de ça ils prennent toujours soin de les couvrir dans de superbes pochettes. C’est certes un détail, mais qui est une des raisons d’être de ce blog. Pourquoi les maxis n’ont plus de pochette de nos jours ? A part Sony, toutes les majors vendent leurs maxis dans des pochettes génériques. Comment se fait-il qu’Arista ou Aftermath fabriquent des picture-disc pour la promo mais ne sont pas foutu de sortir dans le commerce des maxis avec pochette ?

Bref revenons à ce Lovely How I Let My Mind Float un inédit terrible sur un excellent maxi. Comme je l’avais déjà dit, c’est toujours une bonne chose d’avoir un invité sur une face B, et dans le cas présent la guest star est Biz Markie. Ce maxi est sorti en 1993, à l’époque ou le Biz décida de laisser de coté sa carrière de MC pour gagner sa vie en étant DJ uniquement, ce petit couplet stupid fresh était donc fortement apprécié, et particulièrement bien placé sur ce maxi old school.

En plus de cette petite perle le trio a « caché » un autre inédit sur le maxi puisque derrière le titre trompeur de Ego Trippin (part 3) ne se trouve pas un remix mais un tout nouveau morceau. La pochette est inspirée par les visuels des vieux flyers de Phase II, très souvent repris.

Attention, contrairement à ce que le flyer laisse comprendre Shortie No Mass ne rappe sur aucun morceau. Ils ont mis sa photo mais elle ne dit que quelques mots sur Ego Trippin (Part 2). Et d’ailleurs Biz Markie ne beatbox pas du tout sur ce maxi !

KMD : What A Nigga Know remix

2005-02-10T02:26:00.002+01:00

KMD & Grim Reaper : What A Nigga Know Remix (Elektra, 1994)

The main focus of this blog is not really remixes, but sometimes you may wonder what's the definition of a remix after all ? Literally a remix is supposed to be a different mix of a song, you turn the bass up, add some percussion and flip the sample differently. Back in the 80s it was closer to arrangement than composition. Then in the early 90's most hip hop remixers started to do beats out of scratch and just blended a cappellas over it. Then Sean Combs came and "invented" the remix, very usefull when you know your rapper won’t be around next year but you have a dope beat and you want to extended the longevity of the song. You just cast a bunch of free lance MCs to spit rhymes over the original music. But nowadays you hear remixes with different beat AND different lyrics, so I guess a remix can be anything.

This song is listed as the remix to What A Nigga Know. The beat has nothing in common with the original, the lyrics are totally different, and MF Grimm appears as an uncredited guest on the song. I used to think that it was a typo, or a type of mistake on the 12” artwork, but it seems that this was not a song per se, but really another version of What A Nigga Know. OK, they don’t even say the words What A Nigga Know in the remix, but whatever... That particular song was one of the very first time we heard The Grim Reaper. If memory serves me correct this 12” dropped in april 1994, just a few weeks after Kurious’ album where Grim made his debut on “Baby Bust It”. The remix pitches a strong line from Gil Scott-Heron’s ballad “Pieces Of A Man” as a hook, not a surprise since the Black Bastard album was strongly influenced by spoken word.
I remember buying the record when it came out, and loved it so much that I used the instrumental to open my radio show for a whole year in 94/95, and from 95 I used a beat I made sampling the Constipated Monkey bassline. I was really expecting the album and I was really sad when someone told me they got dropped from Elektra over some artwork argument. I guess artwork was a very sensitive subject for WEA back then because they used the same reason to refuse to distribute more than a few records that same year.

I found a bootleg copy of the album during the summer of 1994 in London, and of course the so-called “remix” was not on it. However it was included as a bonus on the original official pressing of the album, released years later on Subverse. Bobbito also had re-release the 12” on Fondle’em in 1998.

KMD & Grim Reaper : What A Nigga Know Remix (Elektra, 1994)

Le thème de ce blog n’est pas vraiment les remixes, pourtant on doit parfois se poser la question : quelle est la différence entre un remix et un morceau original ? Etymologiquement un remix est un mix alternatif, on remonte un peu la basse, on ajoute des percu, et éventuellement on triture le sample... Dans les années 80 les remixes tenaient plus de l’arrangement que de la composition. Ensuite au début des années 90 les remixeurs hip hop ont commencé à refaire totalement des beats qui n’avaient rien à voir, et à coller les a capella dessus. Et puis Puff Daddy est arrivé et il a inventé le remix… Très pratique quand on a un rappeur non charismatique mais un instru mortel et qu’on veut prolonger un peu la durée de vie du morceau. Il suffit de payer quelques mercenaires de la rime pour leur faire enregistrer un couplet sur le beat existant. De nos jours on a franchit la dernière étape puisqu’on entend des remixes où les beats ET les rappeurs différents, à croire que n’importe quel titre est un remix à partir du moment où on a décidé de l’appeler remix.

Le morceau que voici est censé être le remix de What A Nigga Know. Le beat n’a rien à voir avec celui de la version originale, les paroles du morceau sont différentes, et il y a un invité non crédité, le Grim Reaper connu maintenant sous le nom de MF Grimm. A l ‘époque je pensais qu’il y avait eu une erreur sur la pochette est que le titre de ce morceau avait été oublié, mais il semble que c’était vraiment un remix de What A Nigga Know, même si ni Zev Lov X, ni Grim ne prononcent les mots What A Nigga Know dans leurs textes… C’était une des toutes premières fois qu’on entendait Grim Reaper, il avait seulement posé un couplet sur l’album de Kurious sorti quelques semaines auparavant.

Je me souviens avoir tellement aimé le maxi à l’époque au point que je l’avais utilisé deux ans de suite pour le générique de mon émission Amis De La Poesie Bonsoir, en 94/95 j’avais pris l’instru de What A Nigga Know, et l’année d’après j’avais composé un générique qui samplait la basse de Constipated Monkey. J’attendais l’album avec impatience, et j’étais réélement triste quand j’ai appris que le groupe avait perdu son contrat avec Elektra à cause de leur pochette. Il faut croire que les pochettes de disques de rap étaient un sujet sensible pour WEA en ce temps là, puisqu’il avaient utilisé la même excuse pour se séparer de plusieurs groupes la même année...

A l’été 1994 j’ai trouvé une version bootleg de l’album à Londres qui ne contenait pas alors le soit disant remix. Il n’était pas non plus sur la version sortie en autoproduction par MF Doom en 2000, mais a été ajouté en bonus sur le pressage SubVerse en 2001. Le remix est également trouvable sur la réédition du maxi sorti chez Fondle’em en 19998.

Kurious, Sadat X & Mike G : Mansion And A Yacht (from I'm Kurious 12")

2005-01-31T01:03:00.002+01:00

Kurious featuring Mike G & Sadat X : A Mansion And A Yacht (Hoppoh, 1994)
Kurious & Leaders Of The New School : Freestyle in the Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito show
Brand Nubian : Freestyle in the Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito show

Having guest on your previously unreleased B side is always a plus, especially if he’s not your hype man (or you're not his hype man !) or part of your crew.

For his third single (but the only one released after the Constipated Monkey LP), Kurious had to offer something fresh. The puerto-rican MC got his start by co-hosting the Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito show in it's early days, hence his fan base consisted of some the most underground heads, but with it's Blackbyrd played out sample I'm Kurious was his most commercial song (OK, I admit I didn't know where the sample came from back in 1994, but I knew it had been used one too many time).

A Mansion And A Yacht was an unlikely posse cut produced by VIC, where Kurious teamed up with Sadat X and Mike G. You could have imagined him trading rhymes with his CM fam friend Zev Love X, or his Hit-U-Off management mates Artifacts or Hard To Obtain, but instead he decided to randomly pushed to the studio a couple of rappers at the lowest in their carreer. I don't know the story behind the song, but they probably just met while working in the same recording studios (part of All Or Nothing was actually recorded in the same studio as this song) or freestyling on the radio. And quite honestly the result sounds more sincere than a lot of posse cuts where each verse is written diplomatically, everybody kicks one verse, and no one has more bars than the other. Also you can bet that most times the host has his verse in the middle of the song, or if it's a group the guest verses will be intertwined with the host verses. Here we have a feel-good song where they all pass the mic back and forth, kick two different chorus, and don't even bother to repeat the title twice.

The album seems to be in high demand nowadays, despite the fact that Hoppoh vinyles were manufactured by Sony, which means very bad pressing. This LP and Big L's Lifestyle Ov Da Poor And Dangerous can be qualified as some of the lowest hip hop vinyl ever, along the line of the whole Relativity catalogue. Anyway, the 12" sound was correct and had two mixes (the Baja Panties an the Merchantz mixes), this is the horn-less Baja Panties one.

Kurious featuring Mike G & Sadat X : A Mansion And A Yacht (Hoppoh, 1994)
Kurious & Leaders Of The New School : Freestyle in the Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito show
Brand Nubian : Freestyle in the Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito show

Le fait d'avoir un invité sur sa face B est toujours un plus, en particulier quand il ne s'agit pas d'un membre du crew.

Pour son troisième single (le seul sorti après l'album A Constipated Monkey), Kurious se devait de proposer quelque chose de nouveau. Etant donné qu'il a débuté comme co-présentateur du Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito show au début des années 90, la plupart des fans de Kurious étaient des fans de rap underground, mais avec son sample grillé des Blackbyrds I'm Kurious était son morceau le plus commercial.

A Mansion And A Yacht était un posse cut improbable produit par VIC, sur lequel Kurious rencontrait Sadat X et Mike G. On l'aurait plutôt imaginer rapper aux cotés de son pote du CM Crew Zev Love X ou bien ses camarades d'Artifacts ou Hard to Obtain (deux groupes managés alors par Bobbito), mais au lieu de ça il semblait avoir coincé dans le studio deux rappers choisis au hasard parmi les MCs les moins cotés du moment. Il y a surement une histoire derrière ce morceau, mais on peut imaginer que Kurious les a tout bêtement rencontrés dans le studio d'enregistrement (Alladat de Brand Nubian a d'ailleurs été enregistré dans le même studio) ou lors d'une émission de radio. Honnetement, peu importe le contexte, le résultat semble plus sincère que beaucoup de posse cuts où chacun à exactement seize mesures pour son poser couplet. Et dans la plupart des cas on peut parier que le MC principal pose au milieu. Ici l'ambiance est décontractée, le micro semble passer de main en main, les deux refrains sont totalement différents, et le titre n'est mentionné qu'une seule fois dans tout le morceau.

KRS One : Hip Hop Vs Rap (from Sound Of The Police 12")

2005-01-26T22:06:00.003+01:00

Hip-Hop Vs Rap has to be my favourite KRS One track ever (expect to read that again). This joint is a killer from beginning to end. From the fake crowd participation intro you know this won't be a normal song, then KRS makes it an interactive record by talking directly to the MCs and DJs listening, in a way no one ever did ! He then goes on by kicking one of his most memorable verse (sampled many times) that ends up with the famous part made of various lines borrowed from classic rap joints.

A few years later used the same trick on Bring It Back but the song just did not have the same magic.

The fact that the song does not have a chorus is characteristic of the general superiority of a B side (I don't know why, but usually I think that I'm wasting my time when I listen to a chorus). He gets a bonus point from including the accapella of Hip-Hop Vs Rap on the 12". This track was the B side of "Sound Of The Police" and was never made available officially anywhere else (not that I know of at least). Since the record was one of his most popular under his own name it should not be very difficult to find a copy.

KRS One : Hip-Hop Vs Rap

Hip-Hop Vs Rap est probablement un de mes morceaux préférés de KRS One (ce n'est pas la dernière fois que je vais écrire ça !). Ce titre est incroyable de bout en bout. Dès l'intro on comprend que ce morceaux sort de l'ordinaire, KRS démarre avec une fausse crowd participation, puis s'adresse directement aux DJ et aux MC en train d'écouter le disque en leur laissant quelques mesures pour rapper et pour scratcher : c'est un peu le premier disque interactif au monde ! Puis enfin un couplet mémorable qui se termine avec ces rimes empruntées à de nombreux classiques.

Deux ou trois ans plus tard il utilisera la même technique sur Bring It Back mais ce second morceau est loin d'être aussi remarquable.

Comme pour beaucoup de bonne faces B, ce morceau n'a pas de refrain (je ne sais pas pourquoi mais j'ai souvent l'impression de perdre mon temps quand on me répète huit fois un refrain). En plus on a droit à l'accapella de Hip-Hop Vs Rap sur le maxi. Ce morceau est trouvable sur la face B de "Sound Of The Police" sorti début 1994.

Public Enemy : B-Side Wins Again (from Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos 12")

2005-01-22T21:26:00.002+01:00

Public Enemy : B-Side Wins Again (Def Jam, 1989)

With this blog I intend to share some of my favourite non-album dope hip-hop tracks, obscure or not.

Of course I have to start with Public Enemy. B-Side Wins Again was first release in 1989 as a B side, before they included it to Fear Of A Black Planet. There are only a few differences between the two versions, they added a couple voices and pitched up the song. According to the back of the cover the song was recorded on January 15th, 1987.

The weird thing is that the Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos 12" is a melting pot of tracks from their first, second and third albums. While the single was release after It Takes A Nation Of Million To Hold Us Back, they included Too Much Posse from the first album.

Of course the B side is now widely known, the 12" is valuable for its nice artwork, with press clippings claiming the group belongs to a genre known as "Gangster Rap" !

Enjoy, and expect more (and rarer !) soon...

Public Enemy : B-Side Wins Again (Def Jam, 1989)

Je ne pouvais pas commencer ce blog sans ce morceau de Public Enemy. B-Side Wins Again est d'abord sorti sur la face B de Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos avant d'être inclus sur Fear Of A Black Planet. Il n'y a pas beaucoup de différences entre les deux versions, ils ont juste ajouté quelques cris et acceléré légèrement le morceau pour la version album. Si on en croit la pochette du maxi ce titre aurait été enregistré le 15 janvier 1987.

Ce qui est surprenant sur ce maxi fourre-tout est qu'on y retrouve des titres des trois premiers albums de Public Enemy. Bien que le single soit sorti après It Takes A Nation Of Million To Hold Us Back ils ont remis Too Much Posse, tiré du premier album.

Même si le morceau n'est plus vraiment une rareté, ce maxi est notable pour sa pochette, avec ces vieilles coupures de presse où PE est présenté comme un groupe de "Gangster Rap" !