Who's On the Payroll?

Roughly five years ago, a little label calling itself Madison Square Garage Recordings put out a nice, double CD set of Payroll Records' (almost) entire catalog of rare 12" singles and even a cassette-only promo tape.  All their great bangers from the late 80's and early 90's by guys like The Bizzie Boyz and Supreme DJ Nyborn are rounded up here, including the Instrumentals and Acapellas. I remember seeing another CD compilation by this label called Random Rap and thinking to myself, "there's no way they tracked down all those artists and rights holders and cleared all this stuff." And, yup, turns out I was right and despite the fact that they got their releases into some respectable outlets, these guys were straight bootlegging. And the real Payroll Records guys came in and put a stop to the shenanigans. So, it was a shame for a couple reasons... One, the right guys weren't getting paid for their music, and two - Payroll stopped MSGR before they could put out the vinyl EP that was supposed to accompany their CD set!

Well, thanks to Dope Folks, both of these injustices have been set to right. Here we have the vinyl EP, Rare Tracks '88-'91 (limited to 300 like all Dope Folks records), that contains the rarest tracks from the CD set (the ones that didn't wind up on the artists' full-length albums and stuff).  And unlike MSGR, Dope Folks' aren't bootlegging.

So we've got eight killer tracks.  Supreme DJ Nyborn is represented the hardest here, with three of his rarest cuts and remixes, including "The Smooveness," "Versatile Extension (Remix)" (a 12"-only remix of his single "Versatility") and "Breathless." Plus there's "It's Time To Get Paid," the Superb DJ K-Nyce 12" he's featured on that, interestingly, was absent from the MSGR CDs.

The Bizzie Boyz just have one song on here, but it's fresh. It's the remix to "Hype Time." Not to be confused with the Club Mix from their "Hype Time" 12" (which really isn't very different from the original mix), this is an even rarer remix, which adds a bunch of energetic scratching to the original instrumental. It's not a huge change - it's basically the same rhymes over the same track, just with some extra bits. But it's better with them than without them, effectively making it new definitive version.

Then you've got a song from The Original MC Spice called "Take It To the Stage," where she's dissing The Real Roxanne.  I'd never heard of this MC Spice (there are other "MC Spices" out there, which I guess is why this one decided to add "The Original") before the CD set; but it turns out this a rare early venture by N-Tyce, who would later sign with Wild Pitch and join the Wu-Tang Clan's girl group, Deadly Venoms!

There's also MC Capone, who only released one song on a split 12" with Nyborn, and this is it - "Smoove Style." And finally there's B.A.D. Rep, a.k.a. DJ Def and Dizzy Dee, with a rare song called "Uphill Peace of Mind." While most of the material here is about just flexing and sounding dope, this one's about kicking knowledge and uplifting.  It features another MC named KSB Fresh, who had a song on the highly sought-after Back To the Lab album on Overdue Records. And DJ Def, meanwhile, went on to greater fame under the name Mark Sparks, producing all kinds of big stuff, including Grand Puba's "I Like It" and Will Smith's Men In Black song.

But nothing here is anything like "Black Suits Comin'." It's all hip-hop in its purist form, which is why Payroll's original 12"s are so expensive and hard to find, making this a pretty handy compilation. Better still, several of the songs here are making their first ever appearance on vinyl, so even the hardcore collector who already has everything will be adding this to their collection.

Terrific Bizzie Boyz record!

(Youtube version is here.)

Mixmasta "D" - Hit Me!

If you don't know who Mixmasta "D" is, that's because you probably think of The Bizzie Boyz as being "Ski and... some other dudes." Well, one of those other dudes is Mixmasta "D." The rest, just for the record, were Fanatic, C.J. Smooth (lol he was the baby on the album cover), Move and Groove. ...Plus, Supreme DJ Nyborn was like an affiliate, down-with-the-crew guy.

So, anyway, after the group went their separate ways, Mixmasta "D" dropped the really tight, underrated Turntable Scientist EP in 1993 with an MC named Flipsyde. Well, now that EP is back in 2010, repressed on Dope Folks Records with three never-before-released extra songs from that same era!

The title of this EP comes from "Turntable Scientist," the CD-only bonus track on The Bizzie Boyz' album, Droppin' It, which was a killer DJ scratch track, showcasing Mixmasta's skills, bringing in a ton of fresh cuts and samples. Bizzie Boyz had a penchant for releasing house tracks, cheesy lonve songs, etc. but when they were on point, they were an example of some of the best hip-hop had to offer. And "Turntable Scientist" was certainly an example of the Boyz' top shelf material.

What's interesting about this is how... like Ski evolved into the Original Flavor crew, who had a pretty unique sound in '93... This EP has almost the same sound. Flipsyde would fit right in on Original Flavor's second album with his swift, tongue-rolling styles here. But where Beyond Flavor started to drag a bit after you got past the terrific single, this EP holds up all the way through... I think it's just a question of more consistent, and perhaps less commercial, production. Had the instrumental for "Lyve," for example, been used on OF's album - with it's funky, buzzing bassline, high-pitched screeching loop and great Onyx vocal sample for a hook - they would've definitely released it as a single. And "Strate Phrum da Krates part II" (what I want to know is: where was part 1 released??) is a massive collection of ever-changing samples and loops combined into one, constantly changing song.

So yeah, this has all four songs from the original, rare '93 EP (and they've remastered them), plus the "Shoutouts," which is set to a def, jazzy beat, so it's worth preserving. The only think they left off is the instrumentals (gotta track down the OG for those. But the price we pay for those instrumentals is, as I said above, three previously unreleased tracks. Can't argue with that!

"Da Weekend" sounds a little older, almost more of a classic Bizzie Boyz'-style song, as opposed to Original Flavor-style. "Scooby Dooby Wah Wah Wah" features a smooth but fun, old school jazz kind of groove with lots of vibes and stuff. Very 90's. And finally there's "Do Whatcha Do Best," which basically takes "Turntable Scientist" from Droppin' It, and turns it into a hype vocal track. This is probably the sickest track on the EP!

So, yes, this is limited. Dope Folks only pressed up 300 copies, but it's fairly reasonably priced at $20 and still available from the label. If you're interested, you can get at them via their blog, dopefolksrecords.blogspot.com. I have a feeling a lot of heads are sleeping on this one, but they're gonna regret it!