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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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")

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.

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.

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

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.