Tragedy's LA Drive-By with Str8-G

Now here's a rapper I haven't thought about in a super long time: Str8-G.  I copped his album on cassette in '94, played it some back then, and then that's kinda been it.  But just this week Ben on Twitter suggested I talk about his stuff with Tragedy, and it all flashed back for me: oh yeah, Tragedy was on that album!

Str8-G, for those who missed out, was an LA/ Compton rapper very much in the vein of the early DJ Quik crew, which is what sold me on him back in the day.  He had a high pitched voice, laying in the cut between more traditional gangsta rap and light-hearted sex rap stuff with plenty of post-Chronic G-Funk influence.  His first record was a shameless knock-off of AMG's "Jiggable Pie," with a couple more serious B-sides.  And that's what got him signed to a major for his one album.  He even got Quik to do a remix of his single, "Bring the Funk," which turned out to be his career peak.  You could tell he was really patterning himself off these guys and aspired to roll with them, and honestly, he had a nice flow that would've sound really good on Quik's albums if that had ever blossomed.  But he was a little let down by slightly flatter production by Dazzie Dee and some generic studio house producers.

So with all this west coast talk, who's the last guy you'd expect to turn up in the album credits?  The man who dubbed Queensbridge the new Kuwait, Tragedy.  But yeah, he's got two songs on Str8's album, as a producer, writer and vocals, including the original version of "Bring the Funk" that Quik remixed for the single and video.  It's actually pretty interesting, with a dark, East coast sounding core vibe, including deep bass and "Skull Snap" drums.  They also make great use of a Humpty Hump vocal sample.  But then they lay this syrupy Troutman/ Dre G-funk electronic whistle thing over it, which really hasn't aged well.  But yeah, it's produced and written by Trag, and just in case you might be thinking this might be some other random dude calling himself Tragedy, he speaks on the intro of the song.  This is definitely our Juice Crew Allstar.

And their other collaboration is even more interesting.  Once again, it's written and produced by Tragedy, and vocally he contributes a bit more, though he never kicks a proper verse.  No, this one's called "Drama" and it's a pure East coast sounding-track with squealing horns, a screeching Prince vocal sample (the same one Esham used to use) and a dark street vibe.  Sonically, this would've sounded right at home on Black Rage.  But lyrically it's a narrative on some LA Boyz N da Hood shit, except instead of a proper gang it's Str8-G and his boys, and Trag.

"Three oh-motherfuckin' clock in the mornin';
I'm lookin' at my nigga Tragedy and he's yawnin'.
I'm puttin' on my dickies and yo Trag, it's on.
(Went into the drawer and got the motherfuckin' chrome!)"

...The parenthetical bits being performed by Trag himself.  In the song, they get in their Caddy, pick up their boys and do a drive-by.  "I said 'oh shit, what you doin'?"  And Trag says, "man, that's some nigga my bitch was screwin'!"  And it's all about this gun fight that's gotten out of control.  "And now I'm lookin' for Trag 'cause he's not on my ass, thinkin' about the niggas that's blast - in' on me.  No, it's not me, 'cause the niggas never can see Str8-G.  And no I'm not from they set, and now them niggas don't look at me in a 'vette, 'cause I'm creepin' like a motherfucker.  And I don't give a fuck because I'm not a fuckin' sucker."  This is definitely not the kind of song you expect to hear The Intelligent Hoodlum on, though I guess it ends with his kind of moral, since Str8's character gets shot, and I think we're supposed to conclude that they never should've gotten involved in that drama.  But even for Str8-G, this is pretty hardcore, as a guy who seemed much more comfortable doing songs like "Pussy Time" and "Everything's Fine (In the Summertime)."

And of course it's all the more ironic because the very next record Tragedy would release is "LA, LA," where he rallied his Queens based against the west.  But if you're wondering how these two got together, I think the answer's disappointingly simple.  Str8-G was signed to Tuff Break Records, which was a short-lived division of A&M Records, which was Tragedy's label.  In fact, this was the last thing he did before splitting with them and going indie.  And Str8's only other single was a remix (that leaned much further into the G-funk sound) of his title track with Barry White singing the chorus... Barry was also briefly signed to A&M at that time; so clearly they were just shoving all their artists into studios together.  In fact, that big sticker you see on the cassette case is advertising Barry's appearance, because A&M didn't know enough to be putting DJ Quik's name in big letters on the front instead, even though that's who we were really excited to hear in '94.

But yeah, that was about it for Trag and Str8-G's involvement with A&M, a label which never seemed comfortable with the Hip-Hop genre.  Str8-G pretty well disappeared after that one album.  There's a new guy calling himself Str8 G, but it's a totally different person.  Poking around discogs, I noticed that the real Str8-G did come back to do one song with B-Low O of The Mackadelics in 2007, and he actually came off really nice on there.  It's a shame he didn't get to do a little more with Quik and those guys, but oh well.