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

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")

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"

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")

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

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")

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

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")

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 !