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

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")

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")

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")

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")

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")

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)

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")

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.