Unreleased Slick Rick, Chapter One

Note: if you haven't already, please read my intro post first. :)

Ok. The first unreleased Slick Rick song we're going to look at really isn't so "unreleased." Don't get me wrong, most of the tracks marked unreleased are some real hard-to-find or genuinely never-before-released tracks that'll give any digger a struggle scratching off their want lists. But not this one.

"Why You Doing That" is straight off of Mix Master G-Flexx's We Shine album. It's a compilation album of all new collaborations with him producing tracks for various hip-hop artists (the single was a track with Mad Lion), that received a very wide commercial release. Out here in Jersey, it was in every store at both my local malls (Sam Goody's, The Wiz, etc). You can buy it off Amazon for a penny.

This song was released again, in 2003, on Mix Master G-Flexx's Platinum Sounds album, on the admittedly pretty obscure label, LoveCat Music. That album's more of a career retrospective for G-Flexx, I guess, and features many of the same songs as We Shine. Eight, in fact. You might feel a bit jerked buying one if you already have the other, but anyway, you can get Platinum Sounds directly from the label's site, lovecatmusic.com or from CDBaby.com.

I'm guessing what happened here is that J-Love stumbled onto this white label 12" single (pictured), and not knowing about the G-Flexx album(s), thought this was otherwise unreleased. The label is certainly bereft of useful information, not even telling you the name of the artists featured. In any case, it's a really great song. It's got a pretty mellow, understated track with a nice horn sample on the chorus, and Slick Rick, in full earnest-examination-of-his-relationships-slash-storytelling mode, is at the top of his game, lyrically:

"Up against the wall, minding my biz at the Roxies',
Then I hear a reggae joint - nice jingle,
Slow grindin' on me like a motherfucker's single...
A model! That's all she wrote.
I was this close to shoving my tongue down the bitch' throat:
'Luh luh luh luh!'
Anyway, actin' like we screwin',
And her sis come, askin' how my girl doin'.
(You know) we broke up, sorta, and ignored her."

I mean, how many rappers will drop lines like, "My girl stayed home; what a bummer! Now when the phone bill come, I gotta hide that shit from her." That right there is why Slick Rick needs to come out with a new album! And not overload it with high profile guest stars and irritating skits this time. ...But I digress.

The B-side to this 12" is Brand Nubian - "Comming [sic.] Thru (Main Mix)." Don't get too, "oh wow; I never heard of that one before!" though (like I did when I first picked this up), because it's actually just a mis-titling of "Straight Outta Now Rule" from their Foundation album (that's the one where Grand Puba reunited with the group).

If you want the 12" (the sound quality is good, but there's only "Main Mix"es included for each), it can still be found pretty easily... I guess a lot of copies were pressed up. As of this writing, there's at least one copy for sale at gemm.com.

Ok, that's it for today. Next time, will be a more fun and obscure one. :)