The PreCISE Spot

The PreC.I.S.E. MC is a nice, NY rapper who signed to Luke Records when they made their first efforts to expand beyond Miami bass music. She put out her underrated debut in 1991, which featured a fun follow-up to Super Lover Cee's "Girls I Got 'Em Locked" called "So You Think You Got 'Em Locked," which featured Super Lover Cee himself. Unfortunately, it flew under the radar and she disappeared for a while. But she drew attention in 1995, appearing on Big Kap's hit single, "Da Ladies In da House" as a part of an all-star female MC line-up featuring Bahamadia, Lauryn Hill, Uneek, and someone named Treep. Her verse was nice, but I'm not sure how many people realized who she was.

Well, this is her independent 12" release that followed that up (also her final release to date). "The Spot" came out on Paid Music (this being their first and only venture) in 1997. Well, popular opinion seems to be that it came out in 1997, at least. There's no date on the label. But if it wasn't '97, it was right around there.

The A-side, "The Spot (Radio Mix)," is clearly more of her stab at a club hit. It's produced by Tramp Baby, who's mostly done R&B-type work, and features two R&B singers... a female doing background crooning, and a male who does the hook. But the beat's based around a classic, old school sample and her rhymes are smooth, so there's nothing to complain about. It's on a "Summertime"-type vibe. This is one of those rare examples where an underground MC makes a mainstream song and actually succeeds. And she sounds just like she did on her old records, so PreC.I.S.E. fans from '91 won't be disappointed.

Now, the B-side's a bit mislabeled... they've got the tracks in the wrong order. But basically you get the instrumental for "The Spot" and "Whatever Works," which is clearly designed to be the underground banger of the 12". It's produced by Tramp Baby again, but the R&B singers and soul samples are gone. Instead you get a hard-hitting drum track a deep, speaker-rumbling sample, and a hook based off of T-La Rock's classic, "It's Yours." She doesn't get rough with her delivery, though, and she avoids that straining-to-be-clever, punchline-heavy style that was prevelant in underground NY rap at the time. She's just slick, smooth and engaging.

Unfortunately, like everything else she put out, this got slept on. So track it down and pick it up. It comes with a nice sticker cover and probably won't be too expensive, 'cause most people don't even seem to know who she is.