Master Fuol's Secret Samurai Clique

You remember Master Fuol, right? He's that guy from all of Thirstin Howl's releases with the crazy flow. Howl had a lot of guys on his record from his Lo-Life gang, but Fuol was the one guy who didn't fit in with the Ralph Lauren gimmick, and the one guy who could really hold his own against Howl, spitting wild, tongue-twisting, punch-line packed lines. "Frogstyle Meets Drunk Fist," "Keep Cluckin'," "Spit Boxers," etc. Then he started hanging around with ODB and became one of the many Wu-Tang Junior Affiliate Friend Associates.  The guy we always wanted to release his solo album, but for some reason never did. Eventually, in 2002, he put out a very indie solo album on Howl's label, but he never really came out like he should've; and he seemed to just completely fall off the map when ODB passed.

At least, I thought he did.  It turns out I totally slept on a 2010 comeback, where Master Fuol brought out a whole new crew called The Fortyseven and released a full-length album called The Day the Sun Bled. The name of the crew is a reference to a legend where leader of samurai was forced to commit seppuku (suicide), and his forty-seven samurai soldiers killed the politician who ordered their leader dead. Then they all committed seppuku themselves for the revenge murder they committed. It's one of those maybe true but probably greatly embellished stories told to illustrate how super loyal and dedicated to their code the samurai are. Supposedly, Keanu Reeves is going to star in a movie about it next year, because nobody screams "authentic historical, Japanese samurai" like Keanu Reeves. Anyway, for the most part the crew just rap as themselves, or some sort of generic "we're hardcore killer samurai tough guy" stuff; but they do actually have a song detailing the events of the tale, which is... actually, not one of the better songs, but it's something different anyway.

There's not a lot different about this album. It's quite long, and essentially unchanging. It's 15 songs and an intro (cut up by Jabba tha Kut). The only guest is a guy named Obtuse on the very last song. Every song pretty much consists of hardcore or clever punchline rhymes over rough, Wu-inspired beats. You can just imagine a major label A&R screaming for club tracks, a love song, a Southern song, variety, variety, variety! Even the Wu have adopted this policy, which is one of the appeals of their junior crews like Killarmy - at least their won't be any crossover stuff on these albums. This is nothing but the pure, rough stuff. And for the most part that's a good thing, though the songs do have a habit of all running together, especially considering the length. You'll hear a line or verse you really like, and then won't be able to find out which song it was on later. But, hey, as long as you keep hearing lines and verses you like, what's to complain?

Fuol is easily the strongest MC on here. Though most of them have also established themselves outside The FortySeven, I'm not really familiar with most of the others (Hochii, Monk Liverfish, DJ Illnaughty, and Swiss Precise, who I actually have heard on another project or two, as one of the HalfwayHouse MCees); so it's hard to say who's better between the rest - one guy seems a bit cornier than his mates - but they all carry their own weight, at least, until Fuol can return and steal the show. It's like Fuol needs an injection of self-confidence; he never comes out unless he's playing support for somebody else... Howl, ODB, FortySeven. The man is easily strong enough to carry his own series of albums and singles.

But regardless, this is a nice album. There's no big, stand-out singles or anything. Just a solid, hardcore hip-hop album, through and through. The kind of thing that's becoming increasingly rare these days. And it's really good to hear Master Fuol again.

All Brooklyn Hard Rocks Go 'Round the Outside

Frog Style is one of six underground/demo tapes that Thirstin Howl III sold me when I met him in '99. Most of the tracks on all six later found their way onto his "official" CD debut, Skillionaire; but each tape has at least one nice exclusive, too.

This one opens with what's still one of my all-time favorite Thirstin songs, "Still Live With My Moms," an anthem for every rapper who's music career isn't paying the bills for an Ice-T-style LA mansion. Surely you remember the interviews with Ice sitting at his home office desk showing off his grenade in front of a giant glass water tank with a shark swimming in it; then cutting to King Tee and the Rhyme Syndicate playing full arcade games in his basement. Well, there's certainly been enough hip-hop songs touting that lifestyle, but this is a song, with a little help from Master Fuol, representing those of us still living a little less glamorously... with Thirstin ripping LL Cool J's classic "Big Ol' Butt" instrumental:

"I always say
I'll move out next year,

But it'll be sooner

If welfare finds out I live here.

Yo, it's cheap by my place...

I ain't scared to open bills,

'Cause ain't none of them in my name.

Got kicked out,

But my mom said I can move back
If I can prove that

I didn't steal my sister's food stamps.

...

So I throw out the garbage,
And wash the dishes;

And I can't go outside

Without my mom's permission.

Even though my flow

Is uncomparable,

I'm an Unsigned Hype

With nowhere else to go."

"Frogstyle," is another banger, a showcase for some of Thirstin's best craziest rhymes and punchlines, with Rack-Lo on the George Clinton-inspired hook. And "Guess On the Mix" is a Thirstin Howl (backed up, as ever, by Unique London) mix-tape freestyle over the infamous (and overused... but this was one of the earlier ones, and Howl really makes it his own) "Tried By 12" beat.

But it's the next track that's the real jewel of this tape. "Brooklyn Hard Rock" - of course a song I'm sure even the most casual Thirstin Howl fan is familiar with... but this is the pre-Rawkus remix that's never since been released. It features DJ Spinna mixing up the "Buffalo Gals" instrumental (though most, if not all, of the dope scratches you hear are just from the original Supreme Team's track) and Thirstin spitting what became his signature record. Don't get me wrong, the remix is definitely nice, with some very cool, period jazz samples that's pretty impossible to resist, but this totally uncleared version is still the way "Brooklyn Hard Rocks" was meant to be heard. Perhaps an even greater, if more subtle, reason this is really the one definitive version is because, though the lyrics are the same, Thirstin redid the vocals for the remix; and clearly the strongest performance is here. It also helps that he didn't give his strongest punchlines to Unique, which you wouldn't realize how much that undercuts them until you hear the way he does them himself.

The tape rounds out with the song "Bad Things" and a "Morning Show Promo" (originally recorded for Hot 97), both of which are the same as would turn up on his Skillionaire disc (on the CD, it's "Morning Show Part 1"). But, yeah. It's all about the O.G. "Brooklyn Hard Rock"... the song that immediately comes to mind anytime Thirstin's name comes up.

And that's the end of this blog entry which means, yes, it's MYSPACE TIME! Of course Thirstin has one, and here it is - there's a crapload of Thirstin Howl CDs and DVDs you can order from there, and some new songs. Pretty much everyone in his crew(s) has their own myspace, too; but they're all linked in his Top Friends, so I'm not going to hurt myself trying to link every single one of them. He also has his own, official website at: thirstinhowlthe3rd.com, which is pretty much just a store. But you won't be disappointed by how much product he's got to offer, that's for sure. ;)

Tags: Thirstin Howl III, Master Fuol, Rack Lo, Lo Lifes