Drippin' Dope

This is the only single by a three-man crew from the boogie down Bronx on Mob Records, a small off-shoot of B-Boy Records.. Collectively, they were known as Reel Deal, and the single is called "Drippin' Dope."

There's only one the song, in four misleadingly labeled versions. "Drippin' Dope," "Drippin' Dope Saxapella," "Drippin' Dope Saxbreak" and "Drippin' Dope Dub." But they all seem to be full vocal versions with the same basic instrumental, just edited slightly different? Oh well, there's no call for a remix to this one, anyway; since the original instrumental is clearly the selling point here.

An air raid siren blares and then - years before Jeru got a huge buzz for doing the same thing on his debut, "Come Clean" (though, admittedly not before Eric B's "Chinese Arithmetic") - the loud, looped sound of dripping water kicks off the main beat. There's phat drums, too (very true to the B-Boy Records sound), and a DJ scratching in some James Brown vocal and horn samples. It winds up at the end with just a touch of fresh, live sax playing over the banging beat.... certainly not as much as you'd expect from titles like "Saxbreak" and "Saxapella," but it's cool. Any more would have been overdone.

But it's not just the great track that makes this song so good - the MCs rip it, too. While they're not especially great lyrics, their delivery is hard and in pace with the rapid-fire beat, with fun lines like: "I'll slice you just like a potato; when I'm through, you'll be lookin' like Play-Doh." For the third verse, they combine, going line for line, finishing off each other's sentences, like a crazy BDP/ Kid 'N' Play hybrid. This is just one of those random rap releases you buy on a whim that turns out to be as satisfyingly.... well, dope as you'd hoped. If you come across this one reasonably priced and you're like, "hmmm..." trust me; pick it up.

Finally, this last part of is mainly in reply to a post in the DWG forums:

The vinyl has no date on the label, but according to the tape artwork and the cassette itself, this was released in 1989.

Tags: Reel Deal