The Biz Doc

If you didn't know, Showtime has produced an original documentary feature about Biz Markie, which just debuted this week.  It's directed by Sacha Jenkins who did that Wu-Tang: Of Mics and Men thing (also for Showtime).   Biz Markie absolutely deserves a documentary, so I'm glad he got one.  I was worried going in that this would be a pretty superficial doc that said he made "Just a Friend" and starred in Yo Gabba Gabba and bounced.  Well, it absolutely does begin with a tribute to "Just a Friend" followed quickly by a clip of Gabba.  But thankfully this doc then proceeds to get it right.

And I went in with my arms crossed, ready to be disappointed.  We've been let down enough by these kinds of projects, and I can't say I place a ton of faith in... Showtime.  In the very beginning, I thought it might be leaning too heavily into big name celebrities and some silly animation, but really I have no complaints.  Juice Crew guys get more time than guys like Nick Cannon and Tracey Morgan; there's some great vintage footage.  They speak to his childhood friends and family, from Diamond Shell to the high school crush who inspired "What Comes Around Goes Around."   They dive deep into his earliest history, show us his famous collection, and even use a "Me & the Biz"-style puppet to reenact his final days in the hospital(!).  Then Masta Ace makes a little "Me & the Biz" sequel, his wife shows us his rhyme books, Craig G and Kane perform original tributes to him.  Pete Nice shows us the Biz pieces in his museum, Rakim takes us to his high school cafeteria where they first met, perhaps best of all, Marley Marl plays us a taste of the first demo he ever recorded with Biz.

Even if you feel like you already know all there is to know about Biz, you should check it out.  I was really pleasantly surprised.

Biz Week, Day 5: ...And He Rocks

Let's conclude with a really great single by Biz Markie that isn't featured on any of his albums, "...And I Rock," produced by none other than DJ Premier.  It came out in 2001, on Next Level Recordings.  That's a Japanese label, and they reason they have it is that it was originally recorded for an original compilation they put together called Next Level Vol. 1 (to date, there is no Vol. 2) that features both American and Japanese Hip-Hop artists.  There were some other good songs on there, including the original debut of Lord Finesse's "Down For the Underground," so you might want to track down the whole thing.  But even with stiff competition like that, Biz's song is a highlight.

And that's an important distinction to make, because not every Biz appearance is the joyful masterpiece you might expect.  I was originally planning to make a post about the Biz Markie guest spot disappointments, discussing things like the the feeling I got opening up the latest Beastie Boys album, seeing the Biz's name in the liner notes, only to finally hear the song and discover his contribution is just a vocal snippet of a live performance or some background ad-libs.  You know, depending which Beasties albums with a false-promising Biz appearance we're talking about, because there were several over the years.  You know, it's one thing when it's obviously going to be a skit, like when Biz is just one of many voices who appear on the series of brief "Phone Check"s on MC Lyte's Lytro album which were obviously not going to be actual songs, but it's an entirely different experience when you buy a DJ Riz 12" because the B-side is a track called "Riz Meets Biz," only to find out that it's just another telephone skit.  I decided against it because Biz Week is meant to celebrate, not bum us out further; but suffice it to say there are enough let downs, like Def Squad's "Just Rhyming With Biz" where, no, Biz does not in fact rhyme with the Squad, to bear in mind they're not all good, so we should appreciate them when they are.

And this one's a treasure that belongs in everybody's crates.  There's a decent B-side, too: "Interview" by Sadat X.  And no, it's not a phone conversation masquerading as a song, but a tight production by Da Beatminerz, also from Next Level Vol. 1.  It had actually been previously released on his famous Wild Cowboys album years before, so I don't know why the heck Next Level put it on their thing.  Even the instrumental had been released on 12" before.  So "Interview" is a cool song, but the Biz is why we're here. 

This is really the period where fans and artists alike were sitting by the phone, waiting for Premier to call with a new track.  Each one was a killer, he was pairing up with the hottest artists, and it was before he started spreading himself too thin and started letting some sub-par beats into MCs' hands.  And this is a perfect example of everything we wanted: instantly catchy, funky loops with slick but not too complicated scratch hooks.  Don't let the title fool you, this isn't some electric guitar-laden experiment with Ted Nugent or anything.  Just tight drums, a funky little pager sample and big, big horns.

And Biz is just kicking light, freestyle rhymes, including a story about battling Superman that feels like a throwback to the days of "Rapper's Delight" and "Jam On It."

"Me and Superman, we had a fight;
I punched him in the face with all my might.
Punched him so hard he fell to the floor,
Picked him up and ragged him some more.
Turned around and who did I see?
It was Lois Lane, she was lookin' at me.
She said, 'yo, Biz Markie, you are the best,
'Cause you knocked the S off Superman's chest.'
She took my hand and led me to the room;
We smoked three joints and cracked a quart of brew.
I looked at her and thought she was fine;
I knew the deal: what was on her mind.
We took off our clothes and clicked off the light,
And rocked the bed 'till the sky was bright.
When it came to the break of day,
She said, 'yo, Biz Markie, why don't you stay?'
I cooked her some breakfast and orange juice;
That's one thing I couldn't refuse.
After I ate, I kissed her goodbye.
She said, 'woo, Biz Markie, you're one Hell of a guy!"

But this isn't just a collab between Biz and Preemo; verse two features another MC, someone called Black Indian.  Who's that?  He's a rapper from Washington, probably best known as a member of the jazzy rap crew Opus Akoben. He had a brief solo outing on MCA Records at the time.  And this was when Biz was connected to MCA through his membership of The Flip Squad All Star DJs; so that's probably how they came work together.  Anyway, Black Indian and the Opus guys were pretty dope, but on here, he just feels a little boring and out of place.  I'm sure everybody would've preferred constant Biz from beginning to the end of the song with no one getting in between him and Premier, but oh well.  He doesn't ruin it or anything.

But before we sign off on Biz Week for good, well, you know here at Werner's we like to dip into the more obscure end of the pool.  And this song made a pretty big splash when it was released.  So let's dig a little deeper.  Did you know Black Indian's MCA solo LP, Get 'Em Psyched!! The Album, also featured Biz Markie?  It actually came out first in 1999, so the story probably goes: MCA got Biz to appear on BI's album, and then Biz turned around and put him on "...And I Rock."

However it came about, this Black Indian song is pretty great, too.  It wasn't released on 12", but the album was released on CD and vinyl, so you can you can get it on any format so long as you're willing to spring for a whole album to add just one song to your collection.  I mean, the rest of the album's alright, too, so it's not like you're buying trash, but it's kinda forgettable overall.  Songs like "Hoe Card" and "3 Strikes" are kinda limp gangsta material, but the lead single/ title track and "Fight Song" perk up when they get a little more energetic.

But the crown jewel is easily "Makin' Cash Money," where Biz is also the co-producer, alongside somebody named Monty.  It loops that unforgettable, bassy Herbie Hankcock riff that Digital Underground used for "Underwater Rhymes," Busy Bee used for "Kiss My Ass," etc.  So you know, it's just a tried and true, classic old school groove, which is exactly the kind of track you'd want for a Biz guest appearance.  You know, some of his other stuff is a little more street, but this is definitely Biz's kind of song ("together we be rockin' most definitely"), and yes he gets a proper verse, not just some background stuff or a silly hook: "I get cheers like Norm but don't drink no beer; soon to be elected MC of the year.  I'm not Billy Dee, or R. Kelly, or Markie Dee, or B.I.G.  I'm a little somethin' like Heavy D, 'cause the girls, the girls, they love me!"

So if you were already hip to "...And I Rock," there's another fresh Biz Markie joint you can track down.  And if you haven't already got it, stop sleeping immediately.  My copy is clearly a promo, but there's also a more widely distributed retail version with a sticker cover and the same track-listing: vocal and instrumental versions of both songs.  It really should be on one of his Greatest Hits albums, but for some reason it's not, so...

R.I.P.

Biz Week, Day 4: Biz Markie & DJ Polo

Imagine if things had gone a bit differently, and instead of Kool G Rap & DJ Polo, the pairing was with another Juice Crew All Star, Biz Markie.  We've been given a quick glimpse into what that reality might've looked like thanks to a 1998 song called "Calander[.sic] Girl."  Of course, this isn't the first time the two collaborated, with Biz famously appearing on Wanted: Dead Or Alive's "Erase Racism."  But here we finally get the two alone, to see what sort of music they might've created if left to their own devices.  Or maybe not, but it's still an interesting curiosity to add to your Biz collection.

The only worse solo breakout than Eric B from Rakim has to be Polo's from the Kool Genius.  At least Eric stuck to trusty soul grooves and Freddie Foxxx as a ghost writer.  DJ Polo decided to hitch his wagon to porn star (and now alleged sex offender) Ron Jeremy?  But actually, listening all the way through his 1998 album, Polo's Playhouse, it's not all bad.  He has a nice scratch intro and does use a few familiar grooves, like Eric B, though this time recycling some of his own hits by reusing the classic beats to "Road To the Riches" and "Talk Like Sex."  And he has some good guests, including Roxanne Shante, Melle Mel, Scorpio and yes, Biz Markie.

Actually, I want to talk some more about this project overall, because it's weird.  First of all, just like when Eric B went solo, Polo also became the lead MC on his project.  If you look at the list of guests, you could be forgiven for thinking he's just the producer/ DJ/ host of his album, but no, he's the lyrical front-man now, too.  One of his most prominent seeming guests is Ice-T, right?  But actually Ice just ad-libs a few words between Polo's verses.  And my god, what is up with that MSPaint album cover?

It also has to be pointed out that there are two versions of this album.  Polo's Playhouse only came out on CD overseas, via the German label Black Jam Records (the same label that put out the alternate version of Big Daddy Kane's Veteranz Day).  In the US, we got a couple singles, with the lead Ron Jeremy track "Freak Of the Week" getting the broadest distribution, plus the music video and everything.  But we didn't get the full album until the early 2000s, via Bunny Ranch Records, when it was reworked, losing a few songs and gaining a few.  These CDs are fairly rare, as you pretty much had to order them via snail mail through the Bunny Ranch website, though CDBaby handled the digital distribution and may have sold physical copies through their website at some point, too?  I'm not 100% sure on that.

Anyway, this one's been retitled Bunny Ranch Volume 1 (there has yet to be a Volume 2), and all this Bunny Ranch stuff is about a Nevada brothel that was featured for a time on an HBO series called Cathouse.  So this album drops a few of the more street-sounding songs from Polo's Playhouse and replaces them with more goofy party sex songs featuring Ron Jeremy, plus some radio guys named Budman and Boomer.  See that woman on the left?  That's Madame Suzette, apparently a prominent feature on the HBO show, and she actually has a solo song on this version of the album.  She's as awful at rapping as you'd expect, but I don't imagine we're meant to take this whole project too terribly seriously.  I mean, I hope not, because Ron Jeremy fucking sucks as an MC.  The only credible addition to the roster is Greg Nice, who appears on "Goin' Down On the Bunny Ranch" along with Polo and Jeremy.  It doesn't appear to be online anymore, but there was actually a music video for that one, too, which I downloaded back in the day.  Anyway, it's the worse version of the album, but it's the rarer, so you might want to snatch it up if you come across a copy in the wild.  But either will net you the Biz, because "Calander Girl" is on both.

You probably noticed from Biz Week, Day 3 that a lot of peoples' big idea to make use of Biz Markie is to have him sing old songs.  I guess comically.  We'll see more of that in Day 5, too.  And yes, "Calander Girl" is a modern day Hip-Hop remake of the old 60's Neil Sedaka song.  But in a happy surprise, Polo doesn't have Biz sing that song for the hook.  Instead he samples it and mixes it into a funkier Hip-Hop track, reminiscent of the kind of song Mr. Mixx would produce in his prime, and actually lets Biz rap.  But not first.  Polo takes the first verse, doing a seemingly deliberate (since he even name drops him) Fresh Prince impression.  He actually does a decent job capturing that playful kid-friendly style, and then comes back at the end of the song for a more natural, smoother verse.

But Biz steals the show with the central verse, which is by far the best.  The song's got a really cool bassline and catchy sample that anyone could sound good over, but Biz's personality and humor shines doubly through:

"What's your name?
It's Biz, I film my TV shows in Cali;
Still meetin' girls like When Harry Met Sally;
But I never met a freak this fly
As a calendar, calendar girl, who represented in July.
I met her at this club and she couldn't dance,
But her implants made my bulge jump in my pants.
I wanted to take her home and kick it solo,
But she had a friend so I called my man Polo.
Ooh! You shoulda seen how we did it;
Those two freaks of the weeks, they be wit' it.
The lovin' and bonin' and hittin' the skins.
Well, these are a few of my favorite things.
Yo, we took 'em home, you better believe that it was cool;
We did the wild thing, drinkin' Snapple by the pool.
The calendar girls got busy for a while,
As me and Polo did it (How'd ya do it?) New York style."

Even thought his song was recorded for and included on the 1998 version of the album, you can see that Bunny Ranch material was already ingrained in that original version, and Biz was happy to play along.  It's certainly a novel glimpse into the far more playful alternative universe where Biz and Polo had made their albums together.  Their sensibilities seem much more aligned than the mafioso direction G Rap wanted to go in, though maybe Biz would've wanted to keep things a little cleaner than dirty-minded Polo here.  The song even has girls (presumably some of the "bunnies" from the ranch, but who knows?) providing sexy ad-libs throughout the whole thing.  Unfortunately, this song wasn't included on any of the singles, because its one of the few highlights really worth owning.  They should've made a little "street" vinyl EP with the Melle Mel, Shante, scratch intro tracks and this song.  But oh well.  You can usually find the Black Jam CD pretty cheap, and it's still worth it for the highlights, especially this song.

Biz Week, Day 3: The Soundtracks

...Or, more specifically, The Soundtrack Exclusives.  Because plenty of Biz Markie songs have been featured on film soundtracks.  "Nobody Beats the Biz" was on New Jersey Drive, "Make the Music With Your Mouth" was on The Wood, "Just a Friend" was on The Wackness... but these are old, licensed catalog songs that had already been available for years on his albums.  Although the version of "Just a Friend" on The Book of Life soundtrack features an original beat box introduction by Cheech Marin, which makes sense if you've seen the film.  But by and large, these appearances were of no interest to us Biz fans who already owned all these songs for years.  A few songs have been exclusive to the soundtracks,though, and those were... well, mixed.

Space Jam 2 is the big movie of the summer right now, I guess, so let's start with the original film's soundtrack.  1996's Space Jam features a remake of the KC & the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way (I Like It)" by The Spin Doctors feat. Biz Markie.  Another reason I'm starting with this one is it's the most forgettable, so let's get it over with.  The Spin Doctors were a 90's indie rock band who had one big hit on MTV called "Go Ahead Now" or something, and they turned a fun disco song into more of a rock anthem.  It's not terrible, because the original is strong enough to survive any interpretation, and this version has some nice, strong horns on it.  It's produced by Rashad Smith, and the Biz?  He basically just sings the original song.  Yeah, he never raps or comes up with new lyrics.  He does some quick human beat boxing at the start, which leads you to believe he might be providing some cool percussive elements to this remix, but he's immediately replaced with traditional studio drums as soon as the music starts.  It's listenable enough, but only the most die-hard Biz Markie completist would ever put this one on instead of the original.

Speaking of weird collaborative remakes, 1996 also gave us The Great White Hype soundtrack, which brought with it a cover of Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin" by Lou Rawls and Biz Markie.  It's produced by Marcus Miller, who turns Cole's 30's tune into a super smooth, slow groove with a lot of catchy live instrumentation.  Lou Rawls gives Porter's words a much deeper, more soulful feeling, almost making it classier than it has any right to be.  But lest things turn too jazz club lounge roomy, Biz Markie gets on the track and yes, this time he gets to rap, which kind of relegates the original Porter lyrics to just a hook, but that's okay.  When Biz gets to declare, "well, bring in the band, baby," and all the musicians kick in, it's beautiful.  Then Biz starts singing back-up for Lou and Lou even raps!  Finally, Biz slips in a cool, laidback beatbox at the end.  I could've maybe done without the Roger Troutman-style slide whistle (ugh! the 90's!) and the line "she got me open like Fallopian tubes," but overall it's a kick.

1996 was a big year for Biz Markie soundtracks, because here's one more: "I'm Hungry" from the movie Phat Beach.  And what's exciting about this one is that it's not a cover of any old timey non-Hip-Hop song and it's not a collaboration with any non-Hip-Hop artist or anyone.  This one's an original, solo Biz Markie song.  He even produced it himself.  Boom bap beats and a little sample.  The subject matter is exactly what you think it is as he wails, "I'm hunnngry!  Please feed me!  Need something in my belly, 'cause I'm hunnngrryyyyyyyyy!"  Biz's raps are fun and he really sells the anguish in his delivery as he begs for somebody, anybody, to feed him.  It's not a Greatest Hit, but it's just a good, solid Biz song that would've fit in perfectly on any of his 90s albums.

Our next noteworthy soundtrack appearance was in 1999, another collab, this time with Canibus; and another remake of a classic non-Hip-Hop song, this time the 1970's country anthem "Take This Job and Shove It" by Johnny Paycheck.  This version's titled "Shove This Jay-Oh-Bee" and it's on the Office Space soundtrack, produced by Salaam Remi.  You can predict the formula for this one: Canibus raps original lyrics and Biz hams up the original country lyrics for the hook.  But the production is kinda funky and catchy (including a creepy vocal sample from the film itself) with no instrumental hints of its country western origins.  And here's the thing about Canibus; I know he's considered to have fallen off and all, but he can do certain kind of records really well: fast-flowing, hard hitting, high-concept, syllable-packed battle raps.  Listen to "Beasts From the East" - his shit still holds up!  He just got into trouble when he tried to branch out into... just about anything else, from "Stan Lives" soliloquies directed at Eminem to all that Fugees folk music stuff.  But this song surprisingly works!  The rhythm works with his staccato flow and his verses are actually a rather smart and relatable take-down of life under capitalism, "about an hour from now, you should be at your place of employment, which is annoyin' because it's so borin'.  Your co-workers keep talkin' too loud for you to ignore them; it effects your occupational performance.  You wonder why your workload is so enormous?  Because your boss just laid off three fourths of your whole office."  I only wish Biz had a verse and wasn't just relegated to hook man.

And that's been about it, until recently.  In 2019, the popular cartoon series Adventure Time released a crazy soundtrack boxed set, with like 3 LPs, a 10", a CD and a cassette.  And somewhere on one of those LPs is a Biz Markie original, entitled "Gooey Gangsta."  Unfortunately, this has no vocals.  Or at least no verbal vocals.  It's Biz Markie beat-boxing over some very synthy, spacey freestyle instrumentation.  Biz puts in an impressive, varied performance, but I can't say it's worth throwing down the $75 they were charging for a massive box of childrens' music just to get one neat but brief Bizstrumental, let along the several hundreds of dollars people are charging for it now that it's out of print.

And if you're looking to shore up your collection efficiently, it's worth noting that there's a fairly common bootleg EP that features two of the best ones: the Phat Beach and Great White Hype songs, plus the previously covered "Odd Couple" and a couple other good Biz songs on one cheap 12" white label.  Just a tip.  ;)

Biz Week, Day 2: Biz North Of the Border

Here's one I bet very few of you guys checked for: Len's third album features not one but two appearances by Biz Markie.  Who?  Len is a Canadian alternative rock band, essentially a brother and sister duo whose first video was this.  That's the sum of the research I'm willing to put into these guys, because I don't care a lick for that type of music.  I first heard of them when everybody else first heard of them, as they're largely known as a one-hit wonder for the song "Steal My Sunshine" that blew up from the soundtrack of 1999's Go.  I don't care about that crap either (though it is kinda catchy thanks to a big disco sample at its core), but it got them signed to Columbia, where they took their newfound celebrity and major label budget to delve into Hip-Hop.

DJ Moves, who's been the DJ for Josh Martinez, Tachichi, Knowself and like a dozen other noteworthy Canadian Hip-Hop artists, joined the group and they released their third album, You Can't Stop the Bum Rush.  Now Len is working with all sorts of credible Hip-Hop guys like Mr. Dibbs, Moka Only and Kurtis flippin' Blow.  The lead singer changed his moniker to D-Rock and started rapping (sometimes).  Edit: slight correction here, thanks to GitMunny on Twitter.  The lead singer took on the alias Burger Pimp, and D-Rock is an MC from Hip Club Groove, another crew Moves was a part of.  Buck 65 was their tour DJ and was asked to officially join the group.  He declined, but he's still depicted on this album cover (that's him lurking behind the lamp post) and does some cuts on the album, which is what drew me to the project.  I wasn't expecting all this other rap stuff to be on it, including not one, but two songs with The Diabolical himself.

The first is a fun, semi-instrumental tribute to classic Electro-Hop, and alternates between Biz doing the human beat box and Mr. Dibbs.  For vocals, it mostly just has very old school vocoder raps about Biz's history with The Juice Crew.  The girl sings a little on the hook, too; but it all sounds fresh with no hints of Len's early 90s alt rock origins.  Usually a problem with a song where an artist you like collaborates with one you don't is that you wind up with a song meshing good and bad qualities together, which still spoils the whole thing.  You know, you might try to appreciate a dope verse, but how often are you realistically going to revisit a song where you hate a good portion of it?  This song doesn't have that problem, it's genuinely good stuff through and through.

Then the next track is "Beautiful Day," a more 90's style Hip-Hop track with some really funky production.  I want to give all the credit to Moves, but from reading the notes and all, I don't know.  The actual Len guys might have some genuine talent for this stuff, too.  Either way, it's surprisingly funky.  D-Rock takes the first verse and it's nothing amazing, but he comes off well enough.  Then Biz sings the hook in his distinct "Just a Friend" way.  But the song really picks up in the second half, which is 100% classic Biz:

"Party people in the place, I'd like to tell you a tale
About a high powered girl, her name is Gail.
She's a funky fresh girly; she ain't stale.
Every time I see her she makes me hard as a nail.
I was chillin' at my house drinkin' ginger ale
Watchin' Monty Python and the Holy Grail
When I got a phone call, it never fails.
It came all the way from a college called Yale.
I said, 'hello, pretty mamma. What's up, female?
Let's go on a cruise, or go on a sail;
But at first let me call my man named Dale.'
I called him, but he was in jail.
We both went down and paid his bail.
It came back three weeks in the mail.
But one thing, I forgot this last detail:
That the Biz Markie will always prevail!"

Len's follow-up single was a throwback posse cut called "Cryptik Souls Crew" that's also better than it has any right to be, but that was the end of their time on Columbia.  Dreamworks almost picked them up for one album, 2002's We Be Who We Be, which was never actually released.  But promo copies exist, and the Biz appears on that album, too!  It eventually got placed on a later album called Diary Of the Madmen.  The song's called "Let It Slide," and it's a singing duet with the sister half of the duo.  It's also awful, so don't worry about tracking this one down unless you're a completist.  But there are enough good parts to You Can't Stop the Bum Rush that it is worth picking up cheap.  In fact the whole first half of the album is full of surprisingly slick, head nodding production.  Then the second half turns to rock junk.  But at least they put all the cool, Hip-Hop songs together so you can easily listen to all the guests and turntablism in one sitting without having to constantly ride the dial.

Now, if you need this on vinyl, you'll have to track down a rare, limited picture disc, which is the only option... but I'd advise against that unless, again, you're a hardcore Biz completist.  The good parts of the album still aren't that amazing.  But the market's flooded with CDs, so you can get it pretty cheap.  And it's surprisingly worth it.

Biz Week, Day 1: The Diabolical Vs. Humpty Hump

Every post in this series is dedicated to the great Biz Markie, who we just lost this weekend.  And instead of just repeating the typical biographical details every news site is busy copy & pasting from wikipedia, I've decided to take a look at some of the many overlooked Biz Markie B-sides and guest appearances that even some of you dedicated fans may've slept on.

This is a tragedy compounded by the recent loss of another Hip-Hop giant, Shock G, who also just passed this April.  So when I was putting together my list of the tracks I wanted to tackle this week, this one jumped out at me right away: "The Odd Couple" from Digital Underground's 1998 album, "Who Got the Gravy?"

I feel like most audiences kind of wrote Digital Underground off when they got dropped by Tommy Boy (sales numbers seem to demonstrate that pretty definitively, anyway).  But Shock's skills never waned, as proved by the number of highlights that pervaded on the later, indie albums.  Albums which, frankly, might outshine the last Tommy Boy LP, despite the absence of some of their secret weapons like DJ Fuze or Saafir.  2Pac, obviously.  In fact, the first thrill of opening any DU album was racing through the credits to see who the collaborators were this time.

So the elevator pitch for "The Odd Couple" is that it's a battle between Biz Markie and Humpty Hump.  Obviously, this is a written together, all in good fun kind of "battle," more along the lines of "The Sugarhill Gang Meets the Furious Five" or "Kid Vs. Play" than anything you'd see in 8 Mile.  But that's exactly what you want in this scenario, a play fight between two of the purist spirits in our genre's history.  They're going back and forth dissing each other, but it's all in fun: "2Pac is the only one that was livin' large, and Humpty, your nose is like a two-car garage.  I know you got soooouull!  I heard you don't eat pussy, you be eatin' bootie hole."

Yeah, it's silly and guileless, but it's not scrubbed clean for the whole family.  There's an Explicit Lyrics sticker on that cover for a reason, and it's sometimes surprising where the two of them take it, "no, my nose be in her bootie; my tongue be in her vertical smile.  I heard your sister had sex with Gomer Pyle."  And the first time you hear a Rodney King line, it comes off as a little edgy, and maybe of questionably dated taste.  But as they keep bringing him back up throughout the song (the chorus even), you start to realize they're slipping in something a little subversive under the radar.  And there's more going on than just a play-fight to keep the kiddies amused, "yeah, that's cool; y'all doin' your thing.  But look what they did to that man Rodney King.  They beat 'im and stomped 'im like a bunch of grapes.  When I seen him he looked like The Planet Of the Apes. / Yeah, you're right, police don't act tight, but in the riots, yo, California niggas wasn't scared to go at po-po."  Like, whoa, they got serious on us all of a sudden!

And the production couldn't be better suited.  It's got that slow, chunky kind of groove that plays right into Biz's delivery like "We Write the Songs," but with sparse horns and a slightly funkier, flusher tone that's, of course, classic D-Flow.  Seriously, I think a lot of heads would be surprised to hear a track this killer on a post-Tommy Boy album, but here it is; Shock and the gang never lost it.  This is some of their best work from both of these guys, and it's on an album people hardly check for.  Well, if there's ever been a time for rediscovery, this is it.  Get the whole album, because while it was released on 12" (as a B-side for "The Mission" with Big Pun), that single's only got the clean versions.  And these two don't keep it clean on this one.

Biz Markie's Lost Weekend

(Youtube version is here.)

Remember Biz Markie's Lost Album?

There was a solid, ten year gap between Biz Markie's fourth (All Samples Cleared, 1993) and fifth (Weekend Warrior, 2003) albums. Of course, part of that had to do with the end of the Juice Crew/ Cold Chillin' pairing; so he was no longer recording and releasing LPs routinely for Warner Bros. But still, nobody expected him to stay away quite so long. Not even Biz himself. See, in the mid 90s, he was due to release an album called Remember Me? Even that was a reference to how it had been a couple years since his last record. But still, a couple years, not a decade.

So it's an unreleased lost album. From the Biz. Sounds like a perfect candidate for Traffic or one of those labels to resurrect for us, right? Except the popular opinion seems to be that we've heard it, and that Weekend Warrior IS Remember Me? after having spent many years on the shelf.

But just how sure are we of that? I mean, we know from press that Puff Daddy was supposed to be on Remember Me? And he is on Weekend Warrior. So that's probably a carry-over. And it doesn't help that there are essentially two Weekend Warrior albums adding to the confusion. But from what I gather, not all of Remember Me? survived into the 2003 release.

I mean, first of all, there's "Studda Step." "Studda Step" is a wonderful Biz track (it even made it onto his 2000 Greatest Hits album) that came out as a promo only 12" in 1996. Biz kicks nothing but a long succession of really fun old school style lines like, "check out, check out, check out where I'm coming from. I'm long lasting like chewing gum!" And it's all over a traditional beat crafted by Salaam Remi out of Art of Noise's biggest hit "Moments In Love" (a song Biz is also quite well known for having a made a brilliant human beatbox routine out of).

It was really popular, popping up on every mixtape under the sun, appearing on many bootlegs and dubplate compilations, and got the world excited for the return of the Biz just like it was supposed to. Of course, instead of striking while the iron was hot, nothing came out until 2003; but it's worth noting that "Studda Step" isn't on Weekend Warrior. So that's one missing song... not such a travesty, since it got spread around so much anyway; but it just proves if nothing else that Weekend isn't 100% Remember.

Now let's look at a Biz Markie interview from '96 by none other than Cut Chemist, from the August issue of Rap Pages:

"What's up with your album?
It's done. I'm just waiting for Puffy to finish the last track.
How many tracks?
Going to be 14. I did everything myself. I got different people to program for me, to help me out. Like I got Salaam [Remi], Pete Rock, Large Professor, my man Rashad."

So, okay. First note that it was already completed in 1996. Also note Salaam Remi... He produced "Studda Step" but nothing on Weekend, which just further confirms that "Studda" was supposed to be on Remember. And most glaringly of all, there were certainly no Pete Rock or Large Professor tracks on Weekend!

...Of course, that promo version of Weekend with the different tracks doesn't have production credits on it, so in theory they could be on there, possibly. But nothing on that album sounds like their work, does it?

And listen to this Amsterdam radio interview with the Biz from 1998 (it's a whole radio show, you have to skip to the interview bits). They ask him "when is the new album supposed to drop?" And he replies, "I'm startin' the album now. I'm looking for the records now. Now I'm writing, so..." The host jumps in, "and you're gonna do the whole production?" To which Biz answers, "No. Erick Sermon and, uh, Premier." Well, of course, Erick Sermon did appear on Weekend (albeit as an MC, not a producer) and the Premier reference is surely alluding to the 2000 song he did for Biz "And I Rock," which came out in 2000/2001 on Next Level. Perhaps that was meant for the album, but then when the album sat for another three years after "And I Rock" came out, they left it off Weekend because they felt it was too old by then.

Either way, though, the big take away is that Biz had a finished album in 1996, and was just beginning to write an album in 1998. So, okay, a song or two may have carried over; but by and large there have to be two separate albums.

In fact, the same Amsterdam DJs ask him what took so long for him to drop an album (not even suspecting that Weekend was still five more years away!), and Biz answers, "well, Warner Bros was having a fight with Cold Chillin'... and my album got crushed. But this album, this time, I'm coin' out with the right stuff." So yeah, definitely two different albums. Hell, it's actually quite possible that he's talking about yet another lost album that he recorded for Cold Chillin' immediately after All Samples and before Remember.

So how about it? A whole album on the level of "Studda Step" that the world has never heard? Does it exist? And could be yet be delivered to the people? Maybe that's a little optimistic, but I'd love to find out exactly what there is still sitting on the shelves. There's gotta be at least a sweet 'Unreleased EP' or two to be crafted from that stuff.  But it sounds like, if nothing else, there's pretty much an entire Remember Me? just waiting.

Just Rhymin' Without Biz

(Youtube version is here.)

The Biz Goes Schizo!

So Don Byron is kind of a big time, contemporary jazz guy, I guess. He's on (or been on) Blue Note, which is like the Def Jam of jazz labels, and he's been putting out albums for decades. I think his main instrument is the clarinet. I know hip-hop, not jazz, so that's all I got for ya on him.  Except for this: he released an album in 1998 called Nu Blaxploitation (on Blue Note/Capitol Records). I don't think it got much of a release here in the US (you can only get it from Amazon as in import) like it did overseas, but a promo copy found its way to The Source magazine, where it lived unwanted  But I saw it and asked if I could have it because look who's featured on it - the diabolical Biz Markie!

So, skipping right over the rest of the album (that's not a criticism or saying that it's bad or anything, that's just what I do when presented with non-hip-hop albums), we go right to track #6. It's called "Schizo Jam," and it's over fourteen minutes long, so this is a little more than your typical, negligible "he's only on one song" single verse cameo. It's a fucking jam, a... schizo jam?

To be honest, even being familiar with the long and having listened to it a bunch of times, I can't really figure out why it's called "Schizo Jam." The word is never used, the concept of schizophrenia is never brought up, and Biz isn't acting particularly erratic.  At least, no more than he usually does. At the beginning of the song, the Biz is introduced by saying, "in the whole history of African American entertainment, there is nobody like this cat," which is both absolutely true, and I guess the closest to an explanation for the song title as we're gonna get.

Like the title does suggest, though, the song isn't about anything... Biz just kicks freestyle verse after freestyle verse the way only he can:

"I'm the original,
Eatin' peanut butter and jelly.
Everybody,
Look at my big belly!"

And the audience reacts with perfect enthusiasm. Yeah, there's an audience. Usually, I'd be disappointed to receive a live track as opposed to a proper studio song; but for this jam, it's actually perfect. The live, free-form instrumentation, Biz's equally free-form personality, and the way the audience screams when he rhymes, "on my t-shirt is SCOOBY DOOBY DOO!" just couldn't be recreated in a recording booth.

Oh, and Don Byron raps, too.  Biz does most of the rhyming on this song, but Don gets on at more than one point, and one of his verses is actually really nice. He doesn't have the flow or naturalism of Biz, though, and he sounds like "somebody who shouldn't be rapping," but I actually really dug the lyrics to his second verse. The band is kickin', there's lots of nice horns and shit throughout the full fourteen minute jam, never getting redundant or repetitive. It's really a cool song, and you'll definitely want to track this CD (pretty sure there's no vinyl) if you're a serious Biz Markie fan.

Heck, I'm almost tempted to listen to the rest of this album.

Driving From Hollywood To Biz Markie

(Youtube version is here.)

The Ultimate Tribute To Scratching

Let me start with some back story here, for those of you who aren't fully versed in the legend. "A Tribute To Scratching" was a fresh showcase of Cutmaster Cool V's scratching that appeared on Biz Markie's debut album, Goin' Off. Rather famously, another "Tribute To Scratching" was played on the radio back in the day. Dubbed "A Tribute To Scratching Pt. 2," this version has often been heralded as superior to the original. This version features a lot of Jackson 5 records (there'll be more on this as we go along), and it's a common theory that only Tim Westwood has the acetate of this; and other DJs were just playing cassette copies. Low quality - really, I've never heard a version that didn't sound pretty seriously awful! with WBLS promos, radio blends at the ends, and massive amounts of painfully loud hiss - radio rips have been prolifically shared since the days of tape trading, onto file sharing, and even been pressed up on vinyl (as part of the Holy Grail series).

Well, for their third, limited (to 350 hand-numbered copies... as you can see in the pic, mine's #14) 12" release, Hot Chillin' has finally unleashed this from the vaults. And they've done it in style.

We start out on side A with the original Marley Marl-produced "Tribute To Scratching." Actually, even better, we start out with a never-before-released Extended Version of "Tribute To Scratching." You're probably all familiar with this song by now... Biz rocks raps about his DJ, who cuts it up in between verses, over a phat track with the "Peter Piper" bells, the guitar riff from Whistle's "Transformation," etc. You know it, it's dope; and now it's even better in it's extended form (which is a hefty minute and a half longer than the album version).

Next we have the previously unreleased Alternate Mix. This is essentially the same beat as the original version, but features some new cuts, a new breakdown, etc. I'll have to listen to this 12" several more times before I pick a favorite between this and the Extended O.G. mix.

Third, we get the instrumental to the Alternate Mix. To clarify, this instrumental keeps all of Cool V's scratches; just none of Biz's vocals.

Since "Tribute To Scratching" has never seen 12" release before, the above already qualifies this as a dope 12" worthy of Hot Chillin' status. But it's the B-side everyone's been waiting for.

We start off with "A Tribute To Scratching pt. 2," or as we now know it's officially titled,"A Tribute To Scratching (J 5 Mix)!" Here it is, finally, in pristine quality taken from the original masters in Marley's vaults. If you haven't heard this mix before, it doesn't feature Biz's raps... it's just Cool V going off cutting up classic vocal samples and of course Jackson 5 grooves. It's completely different than the album version; and it's a revelation to hear it in pristine quality after all these years.

But then we get a whole new version that nobody but I guess Marley, Biz and Cool even knew existed - a Marvin Gaye mix! Once again, it's completely different - it's essentially "A Tribute To Scratching pt. 3!" It features just a brief appearance by Biz at the start letting us know that this is a tribute to Marvin Gaye, and that Cool V's gonna get funky. Then Cool V proceeds to unleash all new cuts and samples over Marvin records, including a lot of "What's Going On." And thanks to the label's credits, we now know what we pretty much already assumed: that all the remix versions were produced by Marley as well.

Finally, the 12" (more an EP rather than a single) is rounded out with the acapella for Biz's rhymes from the original version. ...Oh, and did I mentioned that the sleeve is signed by Marley Marl? Hot Chillin' outdid themselves with this release.

Now, you may remember one caveat I had to make in my write-up of the previous Hot Chillin' releases... and I'm pleased to say they've fixed that issue, too. No longer mailing their records in bubble envelopes(!); HC shipped these in proper, safe cardboard boxes; and their shipping rates are much more reasonable, too (last time it was $30 for two copies within the US). I also received another nice bonus in my package; but I'm not sure if everybody's getting one or if I just got lucky, so I'll hold off on talking about that. But suffice it to say: Hot Chillin' have topped themselves in more ways than one, and all the rumors have been resolved in the best possible way.

I don't know how long they'll last (it's a bit pricier than previous HC releases, so that might slow 'em down a little), but you can get copies from their site, here. And, hey, wait; there's still one last thing... Tucked away in a tiny nook on their website is a note about an upcoming, extra-limited "special edition," which reads, "As we are celebrating a special release, we have decided to release a further amount of 50 copies accompanied by special artwork. These 50 copies are considered to be a separate release and will be numbered differently. More information on pricing and artwork will follow soon."

Doin' the Mudd Foot

^Video blog!!
(Original content created for this blog; not just linking something by somebody else.)

Update 8/1/09:

^Embedded into Blogger version

C'mon, Get In the Car, Guys. We're Moving To Japan

Look what just came out in Japan only! A full album of lost, never before released tracks from a ton of the best rappers recorded in 1988. What's the deal with this? I'll just let the album's notes speak for themselves:

"Introduction: 17 years ago a small recording studio, TOP SHELF, located in the basement of a brownstone in the East Village section of New York, was looted during the Thompkins Square riots of 1988, displacing the recordings of many soon-to-be Hip Hop stars. The studio had been the meeting place for many rappers, neighborhood kids, and producers that would later be responsible for the greatest period of the Hip Hop age, "The Golden Era." A search commenced soon after the recordings were lost, but nothing was ever found. So sought after were the tapes, they soon acheived Holy Grail status amongst Hip Hop circles. Despite years of searching, and dozens of hopeless crusades, the tapes remained lost. No one was quite sure who took them or where they were... until now.
After an extensive investigation and search that lasted two years, the recordings have finally been recovered by Fab 5 Freddy and myself (Benjy Grinberg). They were found dozenss of miles from the site of TOP SHELF in an abandoned strage faciilty in North Jersey [woot! Jersey represent!]. ...We sought after the lost recordings of TOP SHELF because they were rumored to be among the hottest songs from that era, and we thought it was a tragedy that the world never got to hear them. It turns out that these two-inch tapes are truly a treasure chest--a time capsule of the energy and excitement of 1988 Hip Hop."

And this really is the wet dream it sounds like - everybody comes tight on this. It starts off (well, after a brief mic check intro by Fab Five Freddy) with Black Sheep kicking a short, fast rap track, which is tight... and believe me, I've never been a huge Black Sheep fan. Special Ed's song is just the perfect raps over the perfect beat... it could easily have appeared on his first or second album. Big Daddy Kane kills it, Biz Markie's song is just great fun, and Melle Mel and Grandmaster Caz duet showing impressive skills considering even '88 would generally be considered well past their prime. MC Lyte rocks the same loop her rhyming partner Positive K did on his classic "The Nightshift," only with faster drums for more of a freestyle/battle rhyme-type flow. There's no production credits on this album besides the phrase "Anonymous Top Shelf producers,", which is a shame, because I'd love to know who did what on this. There's a crapload of nice scratching on Chubb Rock's song. The Jungle Brothers' is nice, though their rhyme style gets a little redundant. The only kinda disappointing song is Smooth B's solo venture, "I Want My Money Back" (he needs to give that hook back to Mixmaster Spade, who knew how to use it), and even this number's not bad. But Craig G (here spelt Graig G... heh) Doug E Fresh (using the same "Go Stetsa" vocal sample Groove B. Chill would go on to make a hit out of a couple years later), Grand Puba and Just-Ice all come with dope songs. It all ends with a serious track from Master Ace, "Revolution's 'Bout To Start," which is a great narrative and uses the type of scratched up speeches on the hook like I haven't heard since "Black Is Back" or "Dirty Cop Named Harry."

100% must-have. Manhattan Records, the Japanese label that put this album out, has a site at: store.mmagg.com, and yes, they have a myspace page, too. Go get it.

Update 09/15/07: So, any of you who've joined me in any of the many message board or blog discussions of the legitimacy of this album will have already determined that it is quite definitely a hoax. But, surprisingly, The New York Times has actually picked up the story and gotten some real answers - read the whole thing here (brought to my attention by Jaz, who runs the Cold Rock da Spot blog, on the DWG forums). Still, it does leave a few questions unanswered... like who actually produced each track, and when can we get a volume two?

The REAL Weekend Warrior

After releasing a series of really dope, indie 12"s ("...And I Rock," "Turn tha Party Out," "It's da Biz," and "Something For the People"), heads' anticipation for the Diabolical's full-length comeback was really high - high enough to wait the incredibly long amount of time (we're talking years and years) since Remember Me? was first announced in the back pages of The Source).

Finally, in 2003, Tommy Boy managed to push Biz Markie's fifth LP, Weekend Warrior, out into the stores. And, man was it a disappointment. I mean, for the really desperate (read: all of us) Biz fans, there were elements to pick out and enjoy. The first single, "Tear Sh_t Up" with DJ Jazzy Jeff was pretty hot, and "Chinese Food," produced by J-Zone, was a good song. But the bulk of the generic production, primarily handled by, umm... no one I'd ever heard of before, unappealing guest spots by Elephant Man, P. Diddy and Erick Sermon (actually, he came off kinda OK), and god awful, song-ruining hooks, often sung by some cat named Lil' Kal, really makes panning for the gold a chore.

But the secret turned out to be the bonus "Promo Exclusive" disc that came free with the CD when you ordered it from a site called Rap and Soul Mail Order online. It's a whole 'nother full length album (13 tracks with no skits); and it's soooo much better!

I think I remember reading (though I can't find it now to confirm, so it's possible I made this up in my subconscious... but it certainly sounds true) that this is essentially the album Biz wanted to release; but it's loaded with samples Tommy Boy couldn't or wouldn't clear. So, instead they got a bunch of their in-studio producers (though, to be fair, they did spring for The 45 King on one song... and it's a dope track. Too bad about that horrible, horrible chorus) to make cheap beats, and you all know the results.

This album is full of samples, some fairly familiar; but that definitely doesn't detract from the appeal. In fact, probably the best track on this LP (though it's really hard to pick), features the Biz ripping it over Cheryl Lynn's "Got To Be Real" - I mean, come on... just TRY not to enjoy that cut. And you've gotta check "Imma Do It" and hear how he flips the Austin Powers soundtrack into a fat hip-hop track, the perfect match for Markie's style. Basically every track on here is at least as good as the very best moments of the retail CD.

There's only two missteps on this album, really. First and mainly are the three alternate remixes of songs featured on the commercial release. While it's cool to have them just for the sake of completion (and, hell, the whole thing was free after all), I don't know if we really need a version of "Tear S**t Up" without Jeff's scratches... his scratches are the best part! And "Games" and "Let Me See You Bounce" both just rate "eh" no matter which version you spin.

The second is the fact that one song: "Dance Party Scream and Shout," fades out after a minute and a half, mid-verse! I guess something went wrong with the recording, the second half of the master is screwed up, or something. If that's the case, it's cool that they included it anyway. If they just screwed up, then that's pretty sorry as. But yeah. It's not a whole song in any case.

But these two drawbacks don't keep it from being a HELL of a lot better than the commercial version of Weekend Warrior, and basically being the fifth Biz album we all wanted. And the good news is that rapandsoulmailorder.com still has this available, free with purchase of the official Weekend Warrior CD.

(P.s. - Sorry it's been so long since my last update... my harddrive died on me. Had to go to a "data recovery" place and get it replaced. Ugh. Fun fun.)