A Shaped Slice of Real Live

(Youtube version is here.)

Tech(Nology) Of the Flexis

(Youtube version is here.)

The Year Of the Hip-Hop

(Youtube version is here.)

Some Not Quite As Old Sah-B Shit

This 12" is the flagship for the comeback of Sah-B that never quite got off the ground. You'll note she's changed her name to Sakinah "Sah-B" Britton... she'd later drop the "Sah-B" completely. Anyway, this came out in 1998 on Born Hustlers... it's kinda rare now, but probably not all that expensive, because I don't think it's been all that sought after. I reckon this cassette version, which comes in a plain white cardboard sleeve, is even rarer:



The first song is called "The Freestyle" and lives up to its name. Sah-B rocks over a number of crowd-pleasing beats from that period, like Camron's "357" with the Magnum PI loop, MOP & Jay-Z's "4 Alarm Blaze" that took the "Eye Of the Tiger" beat and the "Ruff Ryders' Anthem". .. You know: "Stop! Drop! Shut 'em down; open up shop." Ha ha This is a real artifact of its day. There's no producer credited, presumably because the "guest DJ," DJ A.P. - who does some really nice cutting throughout this record, including a few points where he gets to do solos on the tables - is just flipping instrumentals on the spot. Sah-B's pretty dope here, kicking fairly hardcore freestyle rhymes over each beat - not up to her classic, "Some Ol' Sah-B Shit," but you'll definitely have a good time - as much thanks to the DJ as the MC. Plus, it's impressive how she just keeps on flowing and flowing on this long track.

"There's a lotta corny people
In this industry
Tryin' to get me to sell my soul
In exchange for going gold
Five hundred thousand units sold
I call them the devil
Operatin' on the corporate level
I speak against them
They call me a rebel
Whatever, man
I'm doin' it properly
There's no stoppin' me
I'm God's property
I've got the remedy
For those who wanna be an enemy
You ain't offendin' me
When you pretend to be
Less than my fan
Left me dead and strand
When I was reachin' out to you
You wouldn't grab my hand
Damn!
Shit...
I'm not supposed to be bitter?
I watched you like a babysitter
Become a bullshitter
If bullshit was power
You could rule the world
Try to play me like a girl
I'm every woman
It's all in me
Until infinity
Keep my head high,
Walk with dignity
I was tailor-made
To get paid, true indeed
In high school
I was voted most likely to succeed
Sweat and bleed
You gotta control ya greed
Be hungry
For what you want ain't always what you need
Watch where you be
A flower in bloom
Could soon become a weed
As I take the lead
These cats can't hurt me
Sah-B signing out
Arrivederci
And it don't stop
One, two, and it don't stop
Sah-Bdee
Up in this piece with DJ APdee
Doin' this Born Hustlers style"

...And that's just one verse.

The first of the two b-sides is produced by Lord Jazz, and its very much like his work for LOTUG's Undaground Buttas 12"s: simple, even a bit under-produced, but solid enough to support some really dope rhymes. But these rhymes are just i-ight, so all in all, it's an underwhelming effort. There's a cool violin sample that they sneak in every so often, and we get some nice cuts from Lord Jazz, though nothing as exciting as the A-side. Sah-B sounds a little more subdued (I guess she'd say "mature") on this record, which is definitely to her detriment.

The second b-side, "Tonight," sounds like some typical studio-fare, with familiar samples and an R&B chorus... it's a slow song and a bit dated, even for '98. It almost sounds like it could be a leftover from her unreleased Epic album. That said, it's not that bad. If you can tolerate this style of song, it's well done - producer DJ Backspin sounds at home handling this kind of production work, and Sah swaps the freestyling for some smart, semi-narrative rhymes... this is essentially her "Summa Day" part two.

Now, this is my third Sah-B post (see here and here), so we've covered all that "where is she now"-type stuff. I'd still very much like to know if she ever recorded her full Some Ol' Sah-B Shit album (if so, who's got them in their vault?), or even if there are just a couple other tracks from that era waiting to someday be released. Maybe if we pester K-Def enough,he'll give us a definitive answer. But until then, stay tuned... there'll definitely be some more posts on Sah-B's comeback material down the road right here.

Tags: Sah-B, Sakinah Britton, Lord Jazz, DJ Backspin, DJ AP, K-Def

Day One

^Video blog!!
(Once again - this is original content created for this blog, not me linking some random Youtube vids created by somebody else.)

Tags: De'1, K-Def

Just a Summa Day

Here's another nice summer jam. Coming straight out of the House of Hits in '94, Sah-B put out her first single on Reprise Records on the strength of her cameo on The Lords Of the Underground's hit, "Flow On." With a distinctively high-pitched voice, hardcore flow and clever punchline-style rhymes, Sah-B was definitely creating a buzz, and this attempt at a mainstream crossover release may've been a poor choice for a debut to an audience who would've been hoping for a reprise (no pun intended, but it's there and we're all just going to have to live with it) from just that sort of thing at that time... but it's still pretty nice.

Like you'd expect from a summer jam, this Marley Marl produced song is a relaxed, take-it-easy type record with a brief flute sample, keyboard, light bassline and slow drums. A hook by Avery Moore that goes: "It's just a summer day... come out and parlay. Come out and parlay," sets up Sah-B easy listening rhymes (written by Mawiyah Britton. Sah-B's real name is Sakinah Britton, so who's this? Her sister? Mother?):

"People fake sick just to get the day off,
'Cause it's too hot to work; the heat'll make your head hurt.
The heat sometimes'll make you aggravated;
And those without ACs are really frustrated.
Mosquito bites just gettin' to ya,
And the sweat got your PJs stickin' to ya;
So you jump into the shower,
Stay about an hour,
And throw on the Johnson's Baby Powder."

Here's the cover of the cassingle, so you can see the kind of vibe they were goin' for:

But it's the b-side, "Some Ol' Sah-B Shit" that's the star of this show. Produced by K-Def, with nasty horn samples, intense scratching, a banging piano loop and Sah-B (this time writing her own material) ripping it ill and hardcore, this is Sah-B living up to everything her burgeoning fans were hoping for, and then some. There's a warning on the label, "Attention: Track B1 may not be suitable for on-air/in-store play." Yeah, it sure ain't. And it's better than anything the Lords or any of Marley's other acts managed to come out with at the time; she really just kills it over one of K-Def's best tracks.

Now, here's an ad that ran in a summer issue of Rap Sheet:

...Note (if you can... AOL seems to've shrunken it a bit) that it mentions her "forthcoming debut album on Reprise." Sadly, this never materialized. The cassingle credits go a bit further, mentioning, "the Reprise album Some Ol' Sah-B Shit, available on cassette and compact disc (4/2 - 45716)." Now I'm no marketing guru, but surely that title was shooting themselves in the foot. Sah-B did attempt an independent comeback a few years later (of course, as always, you can see all the specifics on my Sah-B page), and continued to appear on the subsequent LOTUG albums, but her increasing attempts to sound more conventional (read: boring) really worked against her.

As far as I can tell, Sah-B's no longer recording (though maybe when LOTUG comes out with another album, she'll return), and I can't find a myspace or anything... Here's K-Def's myspace page, though. And here's Marley's (not to be confused with this, unofficial Marley Marl myspace page).

Tags: Sah-B, Sakinah Britton, K-Def, Marley Marl