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

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")

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  Stephanie Nash from London Records' art department 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")

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.

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

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.

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

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 !

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.