'Halls of Justice' You Call It

"The Verdict" is the second single off of Professor Griff's debut album, Pawns In the Game. This - along with the first single, the title track - is the best material he ever put out (and they had awesome videos as well). So get it.

Unlike his first single, this is a posse cut featuring his crew, then known as The Last Asiatic Disciples. If you hold a magnifying glass to the liner notes of his first album (at least the CD version, which is the one I'm working with), you'll see that the LAD consists of "SEAN PEACKOCK B.K.A. LIFE, THE IST DISCIPLE. SEAN SMITH B.K.A. PATRICK X, THE IIND DISCIPLE. JASON WICKS B.K.A. JXL, THE IIIRD DISCIPLE. ROBERT HARDING B.K.A. B-WYZE, THE IVTH DISCIPLE. THE DEMANDING JUSTICE, THE ESD 'OBIE'." And they all get a chance to shine on this one.

There's some interesting production personal involved here, as well. It's credited to Griff and Clay D (of "Dazzy Duke Down" and "That Booty In There" fame), with "Re-Education" (referring the remixing, I guess) credited to Griff, The 2 Live Crew's Mr. Mixx(!), Kerwin "Sleek" Young and Kavon Shaw (who would later go on to form The Soul Society with Griff and Tone Control). It adds up to the type of PE-inspired beat that Chuck & Flavor really should've stuck to themselves. When PE got too far out there and cartoony, Griff - the man Russell Simmons once called "a racist stage prop" - was doing beats and delivery styles straight out of the Nation of Millions playbook. Lyrically is where he tends to lose his audience, making extreme race-related claims and divisive religious references. But I don't think any of us who grew up listening to politically-charged rap music in the 90's would be strangers to that, anyway.

Now, you may notice the picture cover proudly proclaims there to be "NO EXPLICIT LYRICS CONTAINED" on this single - an interesting decision since, in 1990, an Explicit Lyrics stickers essentially meant 50% more sales. For "The Verdict" (the b-side, which I'll get to in a minute, didn't feature any language that needed to be removed in the first place), they redo the vocals with new lyrics to substitute the curses. For the most part, it works. Only one instance, where one of the LAD defiantly ends his verse, "I charge you with a count of bullshit, and 'Guilty' is the verdict!" becomes "I charge you on account of being a misfit." …Doesn't quite have the same impact. Or even really the same meaning if you think about it.

Much more importantly, though, this "Radio Edit" features two new verses, all new scratching, all kinds of shit that any fan of the album version will need to have in his collection. Here's a verse one of the LAD kicks that isn't on the LP:

"People of the jury seeking signs of the end,
Matthew: 24 reveals the who, what and when.
Many who were judged were the devil in actuality;
Tried and set free. Your irrationality's a technicality.
But we're free now;
'Cause when we speak the truth, we're merely prosecuted;
Where before, for tellin' the truth, a brother would be executed.
Yeah, I shot the sheriff... knew him by his six-pointed star.
He claimed to be chosen. The righteous: exactly what we are.
If you don't know the truth by now, then you will learn.
There will be no stone left unturned."

The b-side is the third best album cut, "Suzi Wants To Be a Rock Star." Really, if you get the first two singles, the album becomes more of a for-completists-only-type deal. This isn't up to "Pawns In the Game" or "The Verdict;" it's more of a fun song, with rocking heavy metal guitars and even some guy singing heavy metal style on the hook (no credits given say who that is). It's another posse cut, and the cheesy guitars mix with the underlying beat in an enjoyable way. If you can get over a song being "corny" (the ultimate condemnation for those who haven't realized that most of the rap music they take so seriously is actually at least as corny by grown-up standards), you'll dig this anti-drug song, albeit not in the same way as the a-side.

When I first flipped to this over to the b-side I thought, "what the heck? They left off a version," but it turns out the "Heckl-a-pella" version just refers to a very short collection of vocal samples which sounds more like the beginning of the next version. And that next version, "The Supreme Court Instrumental," is the reason tobuy this single. At it's core, it's the instrumental to "The Verdict" but then, throughout the song, the instrumental is flipped and changes to new breakbeats and horn samples. It's like The 45 King snuck into their studio late at night - dope stuff! The one drawback is that it's a little sparse... it's still essentially an instrumental largely meant to support complex lyrics. The change-ups help, but it could use a little more by way of vocal samples, lyrics or something. Really, they should've let Mr. Mixx tear it up on the tables. But that's about the only complaint you can have about it. In the final analysis, hip-hop beats just don't get much better.

So all told, in addition to "Suzi Wants To Be a Rock Star," you get five versions of "The Verdict:" the new "Radio Edit," the "Speech-A-Pella" (acappella of the new, "Radio Edit" version), LP Version (described in the liner notes as "Curseless At Its Best" - it's the album version with the curses just flipped in the traditional way), the teensy tiny "Heckl-A-Pella" (I don't care what they say, it's the intro to the next mix) and the extra funky "Supreme Court Instrumental." And with his decked out uniforms, the man knows how to make a nice picture cover. Not bad for something you can pick up in a dollar bin.

Tags: Professor Griff, Mr. Mixx

(Werner Necro'd) Top Ten Top Tens

Ok, for a couple years I was asking various MC's for some top ten lists... Some were fun; some were lame... i.e. eight of DJ Rhettmatic's top ten mix-tapes were Beat Junkies tapes and The Wu-Tang Clan's top ten music videos were all their own videos... or some, like asking T-La Rock his Top Ten Oscar picks of the year, just don't quite stand the test of time... and others were kinda lame because they weren't my question, like Fat Joe's top ten holiday gifts, and he just lists various brand name products. So I've gone through them all (well most - a few are missing) and am giving you the best. My Top Ten Top Tens:

Kuttin' Kandi's Top Ten Albums of the Century (in no particular order)
1. BlackStar - Mos Def & Talib Kweli
2. The MisEducation of Lauryn Hill - Lauryn Hill
3. The Moment of Truth - Gangstarr
4. Ready To Die - Biggie Smalls
5. 36 Chambers - WuTang
6. Step Into The Arena - Gangstarr
7. People's Instinctive Travels & The Paths of Rhythm - De La Soul [sic. - dude, I know]
8. Bizarre Ride to the Pharcyde - Pharcyde
9. Criminal Minded - KRS One
10. Raising Hell - Run DMC

Album Of All Time: Future Shock - Herbie Hancock (contains "Rock IT" which was the first non hiphop song to feature a hiphop artist - DJ GrandMaster DST now known as DXT)

Thirstin Howl III's Top Ten Polo Spots in NY
1. Atrium's
2. Albert's on 36th between 5th & 6th
3. The Polo Mansion on 72nd
4. S+D's
5. the Bloomingdale's on 59th and Lexington
6. any Macy's in New York
7. any Filenes' Basement you see on the highways around the suburbs have the best selections; they don't focus on the flashier stuff like we do in the city
8. any T.J. Max's
9. Transit for Polo Sport shoes and accessories
10. that's really all of them; there is no 10th

The Outsidaz' Top Ten Things To Do In Jersey
1. Get the money
2. Do drugs
3. Freestyle
4. Fuck the girls
5. Basketball
6. Video games
7. Wax the stolen cars
8. Fight dogs
9. Hike on each other
10. Battle each other

Professor Griff's Top Ten Under-Addressed Topics in Hip-Hop
1. How drug dealers become record execs and CEOs of labels.
2. How money buys your career. For example, radio and video play or how people straight-up buy DJ's and street promotional teams
3. Positive rappers, especially overseas. I travel a lot, and I meet and see all these positive rappers, but I never read about them.
4. Women in hip-hop, especially behind the scenes.
5. Good records that never get play or press because they aren't the "in thing."
6. Different forms of hip-hop music. For example Chuck D and I put together a group called Confrontation Camp (coming out in a couple of months), that's a combination of rock, hip-hop and spoken word...
7. All of the artists that got jerked and the labels that jerked them. People want to know what happened when an album didn't come out, or when an artist gets dropped.
8. Failures of major producers. For example, when a big-time producer like Premiere or Jermaine Dupri produces a record that isn't a hit.
9. Who really, REALLY, truly writes and produces these hit songs... and what exactly IS a real producer? For example, is Puffy a real producer?
10. What's really happening behind the glitz and the glamour? You read about the cars and the iced gold chains, but never about who got liposuction or breast implants... Not that I really care about it at all, but that's the kind of things people approach me about. For example, people ask me what was the real story behind why I wasn't in the "He Got Game" video, even though I'm officially back in the group.

Biohazard's Top Ten Hip-Hop Albums
1. Eric B and Rakim - Paid in Full
2. Run DMC - King of Rock
3. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions...
4. NWA - Straight Outta Compton
5. Dr. Dre - The Chronic
6. Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle
7. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the 36 Chambers
8. Old Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers
9. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message
10. Ice-T - Power

See you in the pit.

Dose One's Top Ten MCs
1. Why
2. Sole
3. Mikah 9
4. Buck 65
5. Nick Feelgoodpill
6. Circus
7. Lyrix Born
8. Pedestrian
9. Sluggo
10. Radio Inactive

Ras Kass' Top Ten Books
1. Mind Control in the US - Steve Jacobson
2. The Art of Persuasion - Wayne C. Minnick
3. Webster's Dictionary
4. The International Jew - Henry Ford Sr.
5. Peoples' History of the United States - Howard Zinn
6. The Holy Bible (King James' version)
7. Stolen Legacy - George G.M. James
8. The autobiography of Malcolm X - Alex Halley
9. The Forty-Eight Laws of Power - Robert Green
10. The Isis Paper - Francis Crest Welsing

[note: The Scribe actually came up with this question]

Tash's Top Ten Albums from High School
1. EPMD's first two albums
2. Ice-T 'Rhyme Pays'
3. Roger Troutman 'Many Faces of Roger'
4. Parliment and all the p-funk
5. Boogie Down Productions 'Criminal Minded'
6. Ice Cube 'Amerikkka's Most Wanted'
7. Tash demo tapes
8. LL Cool J 'Radio'
9. De La Soul '3 Ft. High and Rising'
10. Stezo 'Crazy Noize'

Saafir's Top Ten Annoying Hip-Hop Songs
1. Vanilla Ice - "Ice, Ice Baby"
2. MC Hammer - "Can't Touch This"
3. Will Smith - "Men In Black" or "Getting' Jiggy With It"
4. Puff Daddy - "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down"
5. Arrested Development - "Tennessee"
6. Wrecks N Effect - "Rump Shaker"
7. MC Hammer - "Pumps and the Bumps"
8. Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz - "Deja Vu"
9. Mase - (Anything he does)
10. Skee-Lo - "I Wish I Was a Little Taller"

Shock G's Top Ten Most Memorable Moments In Hip-Hop (to date 10/5/98)
Chronologically:
1. First Time I ever heard "Super-Sperm" scratched and backspinned in 1978 on an underground tape by DJ Prince, a hardly-known basement dj from Queens Village.
2. Hearing about the huge line at Downstairs Records in 42nd St. Station the day "King Tim the Third" came out.

3. Six-months after moving to Florida, and not hearing hip-hop since N.Y., hearing "Rapper's Delight" for the first time on a major Tampa Bay F.M. radio station.

4. The moment the cassette door opened and L.L. appeared out of a giant 20ft. radio at one of the huge hip-hop tour/extravaganzas of the 80's.

5. Hearing EPMD and "You're a Customer" for the first time out of a strangers car at a gas station in Oakland.

6. The phone call in 1988 when our manager told us "Your Life's a Cartoon" (d.u.'s first 12 inch single) was no. 1 in Amsterdam.

7. The phone call in '89 when he told us Tommy Boy Music was interested in us. (Shock: "Could you hold on a minute please?," Drops phone… Whole group: "OOHHHH-SHITTTT!!!!"

8. The adrenaline I felt, laughing at myself in a Berkley California joke store while looking in the mirror with the Humpty-Nose on for the first time, instantly realizing the possibilities.

9. My first step on a real stage opening for the D.O.C. with Third Base in St. Louis, 1989.

10. Hearing Pac pronounced dead over the radio in my car.

Tags: Kuttin Kandi, Thirstin Howl III, The Outsidaz, Professor Griff, Biohazard, Dose One, Ras Kass, Tash, Saafir, Shock G

Where the Hell Is My Wise Intelligent?!

"Blackdraft" is an okay track off of Professor Griff's third album, notable for its deep, slow bassline and catchy sax sample over the hook. Like the picture cover suggests, Society and Griff share equal time on the mic here. Society was somewhat involved with the previous album, getting a co-production credit on one or two tracks, but by Disturb N tha Peace, he was as much a part of things as Griff himself, essentially joining the Professor's production crew The Soul Society (Griff, Tone Control and Kavon Shah), appearing on most of the songs, including this and the lead single, "Sista Sista;" and even getting "mix," "illustration" and "album concept" credits in the album's liner notes (and there weren't even any illustrations!). And after this, Society went solo (though Griff and co. were still down and involved with his project). ...But back to this 12". It also includes the instrumental, "blaccapella" and two remix* versions of the title track, both by Griff and Society. For my money, the Blacksteel Pineal Gland Mix is gonna be your "Blackdraft" of choice.

But let's face it, unless you're a hardcore Griff fan (and why not; his albums were all pretty underrated after all), the real reason you're buying this 12" is because the sticker promises, "The Pre-Released Remix of Verbal Intercourse Featuring Brand Nu-Bians [their hyphenation and pluralization, not mine] & Poor Righteous Teachers." Now, the original "Verbal Intercourse" isn't actually on Disturb N tha Peace, but his previous album, Kao's II Wiz *7* Dome; and except for a brief vocal sample of the phrase "Verbal Intercourse" that turns up at the very end of the tune, the two versions are completely unrelated to each other. The original was a subtle and expertly produced track (again by The Soul Society), that followed a fun, back & forth, question and answer flow like, "why does the devil keep callin' our people Africans? To keep the people divided and not knowin' who's your brother man."

On the other hand, this "pre-release remix" (whatever that means... it certainly wasn't released before the original version, like the name would imply) dumps the original lyrics, dumps the instrumental, and dumps the whole concept. Suddenly, it's a posse cut that uses a very familiar, hardcore piano loop [damn, I wish I could remember where it was originally from; I can hear it in my head... it's become a staple for freestyles now, like the "Tried By 12" beat] for the hook, and swaps that out with a toned down, catchy bass and occassional blaring horn sample underneath the verses. Griff takes the mic first, followed by an MC I can't name (the 12"'s credits aren't too helpful here; they just say, "featuring Brand Nubians, Wise Intelligent of Poor Righteous Teachers"), then after the hook, Lord Jamar and Sadat X each take a verse. After the third hook, Society gets on the mic, and then Griff comes back to round out the show. It's tight, but... wait a minute. Where was Wise Intelligent?

Now, admittedly, I couldn't identify that first MC after Griff, but there's no way that was Wise Intelligent. Actually, I'm guessing that Wise Intelligent was the voice we sort of hear at the beginning of the song... there's an intro where someone is talking (it sounds like an answering machine message in low, static quality), but we can't hear what's being said because vocal samples of "understand, man" "check this out" and "verbal intercourse" are being repeated over and over at a much higher volume. I have had my ear to the speaker and the volume turned way up and it is IMPOSSIBLE to tell what he's saying, or even if that's Wise Intelligent. I don't particularly recognize his usually distinctive voice; I'm just assuming it must be him because he sure isn't anywhere else on the record. What a frikkin' rip-off.

And there's one more piece to this puzzle that actually just confuses matters more. The liner notes for Disturb N tha Peace, specifically the track "Respect tha Art-Kill-Tech," say, "additional voice by Lord Jamar of 'Verbal Intercourse.'" Now there's absolutely no one saying anything on that track except Professor Griff, but there are two vocal samples being cut up during the hook. One is clearly taken from the opening of Naughty By Nature's "OPP" ("drop a load on 'em"), but the other one COULD be Lord Jamar's voice, saying something like "educate the youth." It's hard to make out just what he's saying or if that's Jamar, but comparing the two back to back I can tell you it's definitely NOT a line from his verse on "Verbal Intercourse." ...Griff's albums are frustrating in that they have extensive, detailed liner notes, but it's still impossible to tell who's contributing what to each song. >:[

Anyway, this 12" also features one more number - the album track, "107. Point Live (At the Slave Theater)," a surprisingly grimy, east coast sounding track, featuring members of his posse Nappy Ness, Buda, Tech "G" and Studdah, again produced by The Soul Society and with constant scratching by DJ Toomp (a DJ who worked with MC Shy D, Poison Clan, and went on to form 2 Nazty with Brother Marquis). It's kinda like a Rumpletilskinz track, but rougher than anything they managed to release. Griff gets on at the end, and doesn't come as ill/ hardcore as his crew before him, but still manages to hold his own.

So, yeah. It's definitely a 12" worth having, even if you're not otherwise a Griff fan. Just don't go into it like I did, expecting to hear Wise Intelligent, and you won't be disappointed. Besides, the awkwardly homoerotic overtones of the picture cover (not just that they both have their shirts off, but the way that Society is positioned just behind Griff like that...) demand a place in any hip-hop lover's collection.

As to where they are now, well... I already posted Griff's myspace in my last entry. Society, meanwhile, signed to Slip-N-Slide records in the late 90's, even appearing on Trick Daddy's album, www.thug.com. Society's album never came out, and he pretty much disappeared from the scene. He did drop one or two verses on Griff's fourth album, but no longer seemed to be involved in the production and as far as I know he hasn't had anything to do with Griff's new stuff.

*Fun fact: according to the notes on this 12", the word "remix" is actually an acronym for "Rule Equality Master Islam X." If you missed it, kids, ridiculous acronyms were all the rage in hip-hop from the late 80's straight into the early 2000's, when Killah Priest finally took it too far and killed the whole thing.

Tags: Professor Griff, Society, Wise Intelligent, Brand Nubian, Lord Jamar, Sadat X, Poor Righteous Teachers