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

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")

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")

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")

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")

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")

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")

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")

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 !”