Lyte + Premier = Bootleg?

In 2006, MC Lyte made a lot of comeback noise with a hot Premier-produced track called "The Wonder Years." There was a fancy, CGI-heavy video for it on YouTube, and a lot of fans were suddenly interested in picking up a new MC Lyte record for probably the first time in a long time.

...But then it never came.

I guess she was hoping for a major label to pick it up, and she didn't get the kind of offer she was expecting? Or maybe the digital age's assault on music sales and the fact that this song was getting spread all over the place just made her give up and say "fuck it, everybody who's interested already has this anyway?" I don't know; but fortunately bootleg label Word of Mouth (who also did that Natural Elements EP I covered recently) were there to scoop up the dropped ball.

This is one of Premier's better recent tracks, and Lyte comes with that unique spin on braggadocios rhyming we hadn't heard much of since her early albums:

"Pull up a chair,
Let me explain how I maintain the youthful glow;
For you that don't know, it's called H2O.
So stop askin' when I walk by,
How I look so young and stay that fly?
It's elementary.
Kick the liquor when you turn dirty thirty;
The rest is a secret, so I keep it for the worthy.
Some of us need to be doin' a bid,
Spittin' lyrics that's worse than Ridlan for kids.
They say, 'Lyte, they ain't ready for nuthin' new, kid,'
So we kick the same stuff, as if they were stupid;
Take the same beat and loop it
50 times - why not? That other group did.
It's idiotic, average and robotic.
I keep it real;
My mental thick like a Harley clique.
I got 'em singing Bob Marley hits (I don't want to wait);
They don't want to wait in vain,
But I'm worth all the joy and the pain.
Come hard when I hit; you know the name."

The hook is the weakest link... It's not bad, but it's by some random guy (Premiere lip-syncs to it in the video; but discogs seems to think it's Shabeeno of the NYG'z, which seems more likely) and it just makes you think, "what's this guy doing talking on the hook?" Also, he calls her "the female G Rap;" and I guess you could say she is, sort of, in the sense that she's the most respected female MC, lyrically, who's been in the game for roughly the same amount of years; but... she doesn't flow or write anything like G Rap. You'd expect a "female G Rap" to come with 50 million quick rhyming syllables and violent mafioso tales, right? So it just stands out as a weird comparison. Still, it's a fine, passable hook, that at least manages not to ruin the greatness established by Lyte and the instrumental.

This song alone makes this a must purchase (and it comes in Clean and Dirty versions), but there's actually a whole lot Premiere-produced goodness on offer here, so let's move on.

Next up is Cormega's "Dirty Game." This isn't unreleased at all: it first appeared on a 2005 12" single, b/w "Dirty New York," and then turned up on his 2006 album with Lake (who's not featured on this particular song), My Brother's Keeper. A few years later, Cormega put it out again, this time on his 2009 album, Born and Raised. It's a dope track, but serious Premier or 'Mega fans probably didn't need it included it here.

Now, on the flip side, we've got some Teflon. First is another exclusive. Well, it's mostly an exclusive... it had turned up on a few mix-tapes back in 2005 under the title "Married 2 tha Game," but "Married To the Game" (as it's spelled here) had never received a proper, unmixed release... much less on vinyl. It's an interesting track, a little outside of Premiere's usual vein, with a dramatic classical violin loop and subtle, un-bouncy bassline. It's helped a lot by a guest verse from Styles P, and comes here in Clean and Dirty versions.

Finally the last song, "Showtime," was released as a 2006 12" on Premiere's label, Works of Mart. That 12" featured clean, dirty and instrumental versions of this song plus a B-side, "Just Rhymin' With Krumb" (featuring, clearly, Krumbsnatcha); but only the dirty version of "Showtime" is included here. It's another hot Premiere track in Teflon's usual, MOP lite style.

So, I guess the idea here is essentially a 2-song 12" with exclusive tracks (the ones in Clean and Dirty versions), and the other two songs (only in Dirty) are just sorta tagged on as bonus tracks (that's the nice thing about being a bootlegger, I suppose... you can tack on anything by anybody as a bonus track, and it doesn't cost you anything)? Well, hey, I guess that's reasonable. The Lyte track alone already made it a must-have for me, and it's good to see that Tef and Styles track get a proper - if not legit - release. And the rest is just gravy. Definitely one for the crates.

LOTUG's Nas Bootleg

Ok, I covered all the other Undaground Butta releases, so I guess I might as do the final one. =) Although there's no artist credited on the label, this is Kamakazee's "On the Real," featuring Nas and Cormega. In an interview with Unkut.com, Blaq Poet of Screwball talked about how that song originally came about, "[w]ith that 'On The Real' shit, Marley had the DAT at his crib and Nas came up there one day and laid down shit first, to the beat. Then KL and Solo went up there and Marley was like 'Yo, I got some shit with Nas. Y'all cool with Nas, right?' 'Oh yeah, yeah. Nas is our man.' They jumped on the track, then Marley played it and motherfuckers was loving it." It was originally pressed up as the b-side to Kamakazee (the group Kamakazee was the duo of Screwball members KL and Solo, later known as Kyron)'s "The Bridge '95" 12". As an indie release from a then unknown group, it was a very small run; so when the B-side started turning up on mixtapes and playing on Marley Marl's Future Flavas show, a bootleg was inevitable.

The track's produced by Marley Marl, where he essentially just loops the very opening of The Soul Children's "Move Over" (listen to it; the first six seconds are pretty much the entire instrumental of "On the Real"). Well, Marley's name is on it, anyway. As to who actually produced it, K-Def had something to say, in his interview with Unkut, "I was on the radio one day, cause I used to the radio with Marley on pirate, I played that break for the first time and Marley had recorded that radio show and looped it up and then put Nas' vocals on it, and then claimed the fame for that track."

Now, a few of you reading this might be thinking, "hey; wait a second; I've got Nas's 'On the Real,' but it doesn't have KL and Solo on it." Yeah, there's actually been a couple versions of this song, though the beat never changes on any of 'em. First you have the original mix featured on this 12". But then, in 2000, Screwball included it as the final track on their Tommy Boy album, Y2K. But since Nas, as Hydra Records co-founder Jerry Famolari explained in his Unkut interview, "wanted a certain amount of money, so they took him off and they put Havoc and Mega on there." So, that's mix #2, with a new, alternate verse from Cormega and one from Mobb Deep's Havoc. Then there's mix #3 that came out in 2004. Nas included an "On the Real (Remix)" on his Illmatic 10th Anniversary reissue on Columbia, featuring his original verse from the first mix, and replacing any other MC's verses with two new ones of his own. Columbia and Ill WIll (Nas's imprint label) also put this version out on 12" that same year with clean, explicit and instrumental versions; b/w the other "unreleased" song from the reissue, the Large Professor produced, "Star Wars." According to The Record Inspector, however, some copies of this record (or at least one) are misprinted, featuring only the "Star Wars" b-side on both sides of the record. So listen to it in the store before you take it home. ;)

So, the Marley Marl/ Future Flavas connection sort of explains why this wound up being booted on The Lords Of the Underground's indie label, which otherwise stuck to putting out legit releases of their own music. DJ Mike Nice clarified on the DWG boards that the "[s]tory behind it was someone from the group left with a dat after a Marly session, their was some Real Live and Kamakazie joints on it as well." So, this was the second release on their label, and they gave the b-side over to Jac Swinga, DoItAll's little brother, to make his debut with his only released solo cut to date, "Coast II Coast."

Well, I say "solo," but actually the second verse is shared by two uncredited MCs Jac apparently met on the West coast. Anyway, they keep it short, and the weight of this song is all on Jac Swinga's shoulders, who carries it well. The production - which doesn't sound like Lord Jazz's more low-key approach during this era… could it be Marley? bounces along, with a nice little horn loop for the hook, as Jac Swinga, sounding kind of like UG using Masta Ace's Slaughtahouse flow, shines, narrating his trip "to LA, around the time of OJ." This song alone more than makes this 12" worth nabbing. Really, it's a shame those cats didn't use him a bit more.

All in all, a nice little 12", even if it is 50% boot.

Tags: Kamakazee, Nas, Screwball, Cormega, Jac Swinga, LOTUG, Lords Of the Underground