Anyway, this record is produced by Frank Inglese, who did a bunch of records on Pow Wow and has a few other sporadic credits. I'd say his signature is a raw, hard drum heavy style, and that's definitely what's on the menu here. We're also left to guess how much credit goes to him for this track, Jeff himself who also has co-production credit, and DJ Bass Master Ace, who I've never heard of before or since. I mean... there is a Miami Bass Master A.C.E. who sang freestyle stuff in the 90s, but you wouldn't think he's the same guy. Well, whether he is or isn't, here he's only credited with cuts, but this entire track is made up of samples (a pitched down Ultimate Breaks and Beats drum track with James Brown horns for the hook), so the whole track may've been birthed out of his personal crate. That's certainly the tone of this record, like it's being created and performed live right before your eyes.
Either way, a signature aspect of this song is the scratching and the DJ mixing in various samples throughout the record, so he's a key player no matter how you cut it. There's a big scratch breakdown and everything. It's all to the theme of the song; even the titular line is a Grandmixer D.St. line being chopped up for the hook. Jeff's rapping about bringing the real Hip-Hop (except for the last verse, where he goes off on a tangent about the variety of women he's dated), and then it's being cut into the song, everything from the "Mardi Gras" bells to DJ Hollywood's singing about "that yummy yum yum." At one point they're scratching in Eric B and Rakim ("def with the record"), which always strikes me as too new, but then you remember this record is from 1988. He's even rubbing in James' "brand new funk" line the same year the other Jazzy Jeff famously did. I wonder which came first - could this be an intentional call-out?
In many ways this is an old school throwback, but the stripped down instrumental and Jeff's hardcore delivery gives it a more modern sensibility. I guess his flow isn't really all that different from when he was on Jive (not counting the love songs and all that), but without all that hip electric production behind him, he comes off a lot more raw. You can almost imagine this record was originally written for Just-Ice or somebody rather than a member of the disco era's Funky Four. Jeff does still have a bit of that older radio DJ inflection to his voice, but it just lends that extra authenticity you want when you call up one of the OGs.
There's just the one song on this 12", though in addition to the full Club Mix, there's a shorter Radio Version (which thankfully retains the DJ breakdown), Instrumental and a Dub. This comeback was a one-off for Jeff, and unfortunately he never tried again. "King Heroin" is his most famous solo song, but this is better than that or any of what he put out on Jive. He has stayed in the game as a legend - like he jumped on for a track on Grandmaster Caz's Mid-Life Crisis - but this is the last Jazzy Jeff record, which is a shame, because sure, he sounds "old school" but he's also proven he can hang in Hip-Hop's different eras. Like, I'd argue "The Ghetto" was pretty cutting edge for 1984 and "Real Hip Hop My Man" is a strong record for 1988 even if you had no Funky Four nostalgia or even any idea who he was. Dammit, there should've been a whole Jazzy Jeff and Bass Master Ace album.
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