Biscuits 'n' Porn

So, following up my recent write up of BHR002, I bring you BHR001: "Me & Him," the debut 12" by Mr. Jason and Nabo Rawk, collectively known as the Porn Theatre Ushers. This came out on Biscuithead Records in 1999.

Biscuithead described PTU and their record, "The Porn Theatre Ushers are Mr. Jason & Nabo Rawk. Their influences are Dj Premier, Ultramagnetics, Large Professor, & De La Soul just to name a few. Nabo & Jason say that they love hip hop with a passion, but felt it wasn't fun anymore. They felt it was time to bring back the fun in hip hop again. Expect to hear alot[sic.] of funny lyrics and dope beats from these guys. Me and Him is the first release from these guys on the Biscuithead Recordings label."

So, yeah, this 12" is BHR001, the label's first release... or at least the first of their rap line. They had two separate lines: house music (BH001-BH005) and rap (BH001-BH004). Biscuithead Records was originally a Boston record store run by house DJ Bruno. Here's an ad they ran on the back cover of Red Eye Magazine in 2000. --->

As soon as you put this on your tables, it's clear that they're serious about bringing the fun back to hip-hop. "Me & Him" starts with some Nabo cutting some vocal samples over a crazy instrumental, which fades out after about 20 seconds to be replaced with the real beat for the song... and man, it bumps! With just that combined with the slick Ladybug/Digable Planets vocal sample ("play me in the winter; play me in the summer... play in the autumn; any order") they use for the hook, it's easy to see why this was a surprise underground hit. And Mr. Jason's no Kool G Rap, but his flow's alright and he manages not to be totally outshined by the track, which is more than most MCs could do.

There's just one downside. The "funny lyrics" just aren't funny, and that makes them stick out awkwardly like sore thumbs: "How come I'm the number one rhyme getter? How come you're twenty-one and still a bed wetter? I got no time for you fake fraud generics; plus I'm late for my date with Bo Derek." It's punchlines like that Bo Derek thing that made the heads they failed to reach say, "no thanks; I'll stick to my Freddie Foxxx tape." I mean, it never gets as bad as "Sing It Shitface" (which was completely song-ruining); but it would've been better if he just concentrated on sounding fresh instead of trying to prove how terribly witty and much smarter than the typical rappers he is.

The first b-side, "Cat Nip," is essentially the same story as "Me & Him:" crazy samples for an intro, a really catchy, head-nodding beat, a great vocal sample for a hook, and Mr. Jason is adequate. On both the label and back cover, the trac-listing is off, though. They say that "Cat Nip" is the last song, but on the actual vinyl, it actually comes before the second b-side track: "My Imagination."

"My Imagination" is another cool tune, featuring some nice scratching and Mr. Jason's best vocal performance. The beat may not be as immediately catchy as the other two, but after repeated listenings, I think it bears out as the best song on the record.

The 12" comes with instrumentals for "Cat Nip" and "Me & Him," and a clean version of "Me & Him." It's worth noting that the three tracks on this record were later included on the CD version of their debut album, Sloppy Seconds, but not the LP, which instead offered us all the other seven tracks, plus instrumentals on a second record. So, essentially, if you have the 12" and the LP, you have everything.

After Biscuithead Records shut down, PTU came out with one more single and album on Detonator Records (2003 & 2004, respectively); but then they quit. There was a brief video interview on UGHH in early 2007 where Nabo Rawk says he'd been talking to Jason and that there was, "probably a ninety percent chance right now that we'll do another PTU record. That's something I wanna do before I fucking die. It's definitely something that we've been talkin' about; and if we do drop the record, the record's gonna have a certain sound to it throughout the whole thing. And it's something we're really feelin' nobody's tapped into yet." That was almost two years ago, but Nabo still does the occasional guest verse. So I guess we'll see.

Tags: Porn Theatre Ushers