The Ill Funk Freaker Has Landed!

Woohoo! Thank you, Skim!

The Ill Funk Freaker EP is the latest release from One Leg Up Records. In fact, it's even more limited than the rest of their limited releases (200 pressed of each), because this is their special (OLU-LT01) bonus record, that was only made available for people who ordered one of every record One Leg Up Records has produced so far. Our man Haj tells us that only about 100 were pressed, which puts this right next to DWG001 as possibly the rarest of the contemporary limited releases.

And it's fantastic! It's eight songs (which practically makes it an LP rather than an EP) by Godfather Don, all recorded from 1993-1995. To quote OLU, they're "unreleased songs found on Godfather Don’s original half-inch studio reels. Stored away for years, OLU and Don transported, baked, and dumped these last few remnants of his early 90’s home studio to find these treasures. What was uncovered was truly special!" Boy, I'll say!

The production on most of these cuts leans towards being a little more subtler/atmospheric than, say, The Slave of New York EP (which I blogged about here), although "Shoot the Two" has a nice early Showbiz feel. Two of the beats you may've heard before from the instrumental EP series Hydra Beats - now we can finally hear the finished tracks and with their intended vocals. Most of these are solo jawns, but "Shoot the Two" features Mic L of Da Funky Orphanz, and "Slaves (Straight Jacket Mix)" is a remix of a Cenobites track featuring Kool Keith in top, completely-bugged-the-fuck-out form, which was released on OLU's earlier Cenobites EP, Demented Thoughts (which I blogged about here). The title cut is probably my favorite, but his lyrics on "Yeah" are especially tight and really the whole EP is great from beginning to end.

So One Leg Up's first series five-part (plus bonus) series is up... but they'=ve announced another 5-part of limited releases coming soon! Can it be as dope as the first five? I have high hopes. 8)