(Werner Necro'd) Casual Think He Raw - Interview

Now that Casual is starting to resurface with some new music again, I thought I'd take the time to Necro this is interview I did with Casual in 1999, when he was working on He Think He Raw for Stimulated Records. We took that picture up on the roof.

Well, to start out, you've got a new album coming out on Stimulated/ LOUD, so tell us what's up with that...

Well, I got the single out right now, and that's "V.I.P." And, basically, it's been time for me to come back for a while, but I've just been negotiatin', decidin' what to do or whatever. And they just offered me somethin' cool, so I decided to just roll with that. But, creatively, I've just been workin' all the time. I've been working since my first album, so I've got so much music it's like not really recordin' an album, it's like pickin' it.

Well, you had Meanwhile...

Yeah; that was just something I threw out from my room. Just songs I've been makin' on four-track. Just chillin'. Just happened to put it out 'cause I was goin' on tour.

So, how did you wind up on Stimulated/ LOUD?

Well, Dante Ross founded Stimulated; that's my man. We've been trying to get down for a while. He offered me something cool to do a single with him. Couple singles with an option to do an album if everything works out right. And we got our own label, anyway: Hieroglyphics Imperium, so it really couldn't hurt me no matter what I did, so I was just like, "We can do the deal, no problem."

Have you got a title for the album?

I haven't even titled it yet. I need to actually organize the concept or whatever it is... I've just been recording music for a while, but I haven't really latched down on what songs'll be on the album. But, yeah, the single's out. I've got another single comin' out in a month or two. Then we're gonna drop 'em with the album. I got material, like I said, but I haven't organized it.

So, what's the meaning behind "Turf Dirt," the b-side to your single?

"Turf Dirt." It's like an insult. Turf is just like wherever you hang at, the ghetto, you know. The turf. and turf dirt I the dirt. It's talkin' about worthless women; that's what the song was about, basically, butI didn't really wanna go there. I was just gonna try to beat around the bush...

What other Hieroglyphics projects have y'all got coming out besides you?

Well, Del's got a single out, "Phoney Phranchise." You gotta check that out, 'cause that's hot. And he's got his album comin', he's workin' on his second single. We've got the Souls of Mischief comin'. Pep' s coming with his debut album. He's in the studio right now. And we wanna have a 2000 Hieroglyphics album. So, we're working on that, too.

So, how do you feel now that you've been signed and, basically, successfully unsigned... How do the two experiences compare?

It's not like I'm signed. I'm not looking at it like that. I'm dealing with people who are like at an independent label. It's not like the same thing.

Well, you were signed with Jive...

Yeah, I was signed with Jive, and that was a whole, big, corporate shebang. That's what I'm saying. It's not like that now. It's like a couple cats up at the label workin' the record. It's not like a big company where my stuff can get lost. Material gets lost... But, I'm sayin', I enjoyed being unsigned, I enjoyed being signed. I'm doin' work, and I see the benefit of having a big machine behind my music, other than me and my crew. It's through LOUD, so that's a real good push. They have a lot of good artists. They know what to do with hip-hop; that impressed me.

So, now, what's up between you and Hobo Junction? Of course, you had the battle with Saafir a while ago, and then you were on the Cheapshots, Low Blows and Sucker Punches compilation on South Paw Records...

Low Blows? That had something to do with them?

Well, South Paw is essentially a Hobo Junction label...

Oh, is that right? Well, they bought that song off somebody that I sold it to. That's how that happened. So, I guess they're supportin ' my work. I mean, what can I say? I sold that song to my friend J-Cut; we did it together, and he sold it to them.

So, is that an old song?

That song is kinda old. That was about '86. Oh wait, I said "86." That was about '97.

Also, a lot of people have been wondering, what's up with Extra Pro?

I don't know. He released a few independent tapes in the Bay, but I guess he wasn't really pursuin' it like that.

So, is he still associated with Hiero? Does he ever still do shows with you or anything?

Nah. I mean, we might see him every once in a while, say "What's up," or whatever, but we don't get down like that.

You said you had a new single comin' out, right?

The one I've got comin' I'm actually about to record in twenty minutes. I've gotta finish my second and third verse. So, right now, y'all know when I wrote it, and y'all can be like, "Damn, he wrote it after the interview." But I don't have a title; I just started working on it. I came out here to touch down with probably Alchemist again... Might work with my man Vic.

That's coming out on Stimulated, too, right?

Yup.

How would you say your style's changed since the days of Fear Itself?

I think that probably is a better question for somebody else to answer, actually, because I'm inside my head for all this time. I'm still me, regardless of how I bust. I really can't say how my style's changed. I can say I feel like I'm better than I used to be. I feel more seasoned or experienced. I say certain things for certain reasons instead of havin' to prove myself with just battle raps. I've got a different perspective, possibly, but still it's Cas.

Because, except for some dedicated fans who've really kept up with your stuff on the internet, this is kind of like a comeback for you...

A comeback? Man, I'm twenty-four years old, you feel me? I' ve released one album. And this is a comeback, I guess. Now, figure this out. If the first album flopped, I don't see how I could do a comeback. 'Cause that would mean I never had anything to come back from. I mean, it wasn't a flop, but, it's hard to explain. I could go deep on that, but, I don't know. It could be a comeback. If it is, it's a strong one. I know that. I got heat; I got bump. But, whatever. If it's a comeback, it's a comeback. It's one of the best ones yet.

So, you got any final messages?

Yeah. After you get this site, roll over to hieroglyphics.com and buy that Meanwhile tape we've been talkin' about. Check out the single. Check out Casual.

Wasn't that originally a fan site?

The web-site - by the way, that's www.hieroglyphics.com, where you can getany Hieroglyphics material. You can get underground tapes that havenever reached the stores. You can get merchandise, shirts, sweatshirts,clothing, whatever. But, like you said, it originally started out as afan site. And there was this guy named Stinke out of Boston, and he hadit hooked up. Tajai was on the web and he just typed inHieroglyphics.com and all of a sudden a big site popped up with us onthere. So, we were like, "Whoa, we gotta get in touch with this dude,at least, if not incorporate, you know, get down. Do it together; makeit official." So they hooked up and we got an award-winning site now.We won like all the awards or whatever. A couple things. It's a prettycool site, you should check it out.

So, today, hieroglyphics.com is still the spot to check out anything hiero related. Cas also has a myspace, of course, here. He's working on a new album for '08 called The Return of the Backpack, some of the tracks have already been posted on his myspace. So check it out. Like the man says: check out Casual.

Tags: Casual, Hieroglyphics

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The Foundation

This dude Jayquan runs one of the best hip-hop sites on the 'net, period. Sure, venture capitalists might not be sinking hundreds of thousands of dollars into designing flash-heavy layouts and throwing champagne parties in the city's hot spots to get "buzz." But he's got real content, which the Billionaire Boys Club of today will never touch. It's just him (and fellow writer Troy) doing brilliant, in-depth interviews with old school legend after old school legend. But what a lot of people don't know is that he's an MC, too.

He started out in Virginia as a part of the Too Def Crew in the late 80's, which I'd never heard of and you probably wouldn't've either if you weren't living in VA at the time. But they came back in the 90's as The First Sons, a crew I had heard of... they opened for groups like The Supafriendz (back when they were blowing up), and I used to have one of their 12"'s.

Anyway, he came back in the 2000's not just with his awesome website, but with a mostly self-produced solo album called Urban Legend. And off of that album was this hot and very overlooked 12", "5 Mics" (the only track produced by someone else - a guy called Dr. No). Right away you know it's worth picking up because of the guest MCs - Melle Mel and Grandmaster Caz (who recently did another nice collabo on the Top Shelf 8/8/88 album). They both come off nice (don't worry, this is no Die Hard); and the pleasant surprise is that Jayquan elegantly holds his own with the two giants.

The production's smooth... simple but it kicks. It's the perfect track to support three MC's flexing their skills, which is exactly what each verse is about... wordplay, clever one-liners (without getting to jokey) and representing. It fits right into the late 90's era of indie rap, and MCs like Canibus, Natural Elements and Common (before he went all experimental R&B on us) were getting everyone excited.

The b-side features a nice remix (also produced by Dr. No), which adds another MC to the mix: Devine Mekkah, also of The First Sons. Both mixes are nice, and personally I still prefer the A-side, but the remix has a jazzy DITC-ish kind of sound, with some jazzy samples and a little scratching; and the beat changes for each verse... bottom line, whichever you prefer, you'll want both.

Now, both those mixes were on the album, but then the 12" goes it one better, adding a bonus mix (again by Dr. No). It essentially takes one of the better beats from the remix and applies it to the original lyrical version. Good stuff. In fact, about the only negative thing I can say about this record is that "5 Mics" was a tired, played out Source reference even back in '03. The 12" also features instrumentals (and radio edits, if you care); so definitely track it down.

I say "track" it down, because Jayquan no longer seems to be selling it on his site (where I got mine)... I guess it's sold out. About time, I say, because a 12" like this should've sold out a long time ago.

But before I go, there's an interesting tidbit I have left ot share. Check out this promo comic that came with my order--->

First of all, it's fresh, ain't it? But second of all, it's got Kool Moe Dee in it! If you can't be bothered clicking to enlarge the scan, it's talking about bringing together THREE old school legends, Mel, Caz and Moe Dee. This interview with Jayquan at AftricasGateway.com has the story: "See since the early 80s I felt that Mel, Moe Dee and Caz were 3 of the greats... I obtained contact info for Mel, Caz & Kool Moe Dee, who I really wanted to appear on the song, but he declined." He must've dropped out pretty late if he was in the promo artwork. Ah, well... what might have been. It's still a great record, so it's hard to complain. Your loss, Moe Dee!

Buy This CD At Your Earliest Convenience

You know what? It's nice to be able to shift focus from the old school once in a while and highlight a brand new album that's just really, really good. Mainstream hip-hop may be sinking into an increasingly annoying state, but if you think there're no new albums to pick up in 2008, you need to find yourself a copy of Apt. 227 and cheer yourself up.

Convenience Store is a collaberative effort between Tommy V., EVS and Neila, which they'd been working on since 2000. EVS adds on his myspace blog, "Please believe we put our blood sweat and well, evs' tears into this release......after various songs being lost, re-recorded and finally mixed and mastered, it finally sounds beautiful!" Calling your hip-hop album "beautiful" probably sounds a bit pretentious, but I daresay they've earned it.

It's ten songs, showcasing the three MC's very creative styles and songwriting. The production starts out a little sparse, simple but fresh beats with a few percussive samples, putting the focus on each MC. Then each song gets progressively more richly musical... DJs Drugs and Norm Rocwell provide sone scratches, and Tommy V even plays some instruments like keyboards and trumpets over the track, and they all work perfectly. Fellow LA2theBay MCs Joe Dub, Maleko, Ceshi of Anonymous Inc. and Raj turn up to add some guest verses on the later songs (Ceschi twice).

It all hits a high point at the end with the final song, "Smile," but I'm gonna go ahead and be predictable and declare my favorite song to be "Can't Wait" - a remake of Spyder-D's classic "I Can't Wait (To Rock the Mic)," using the same basic instrumental (right down to the little loop of bells), but with some new, smooth instrumentation by Tommy V laid over the top, which blends in perfectly; like a long lost element from Nu-Shooz's vault. Each MC replaces Spyder's super-fun braggadocio rhymes with more soulful, "next level" verses like "Trying to keep my balance/ Trying to take control/ With only scraps left/ To fill my soul/ Next time/I stand behind my window and wait/ I won't open the door/ I won't try to relate/ Only sit on my floor/ Contemplate/ How the roads of love/ Seal our fate." It just needs a little scratching at the end - which maybe I'm partially missing because I'm used to DJ Doc's cuts on the original - and it could be the song of the year. That's a hint for when you guys to drop a 12" single, which you really ought to do!

The only downside to this album was the misguided inclusion of unofficial fourth member Longmont Potion Castle, who does "artistic" prank phone calls - that is to say regular prank phone calls which are later edited out of sequence, chopped up, and have sound effects added. Check out his site at: www.longmontpotioncastle.com to get an idea. Like any skit on an album, it's not even as entertaining as it was surely meant to be the first time, and after you've listened to this album through a couple more times, you'll really be wishing for a song-only version. There's a long album "intro" (ask Max at Hip Hop Isn't Dead... about the joy of those) and some more segments which randomly appear at the ends of certain songs. There's even a hidden bonus track of additional prank call segments at the end. ...But, still, don't let that discourage you from picking up an otherwise excellent album.

Now, there doesn't seem to be anything for Tommy V, but Neila and EVS have myspaces here and here, respectively. And, finally, Neila has a message she's trying to get out, so I'm gonna post it here to help get the word out:

Education Update from Neila - Please read!!! PLease act!!!
I hate bulletins so I am sorry but i am writing all of you for the sake of the students in California. This community has power and if we all come together we can potentially save our future. Right now our governator is going to cut public education. For those of you that don't know, I teach fourth grade in inner city Los Angeles. This cut he has proposed that has already passed threw the legislature is going to double class size, get rid of all afterschool programs, get rid of all new teachers, cut special education, along withdisplace thousands of employees in every school district. At my school, we have already let people go and they are saying that we have no money for supplies next year. We cannot even buy pencils....Our state ranks 2nd in the nation as the richest state, our state ranks 48th in the nation on student spending. That means we spend $700 less per student than every state except two. These cuts will devastate our children, devastate our futures. I know I am losing my job, but I am writing this to educate those who don't know to urge you to write your legislative representative, write the governer, the mayor, and come join us when it comes time to hit the streets and protest, if not for yourself for the future of our children who will be with little to no support, no where to go afterschool, and little hope. The effects of these cuts are devastating and we should not idly stand by and let these hummer owning officials hurt our children!

Tags: Convenience Store, Neila, Tommy V, EVS

Vooodu, Runnin' From My Magic

A couple years after Western Hemisfear split apart and Patchwerk closed its doors, Vooodu - who'd been killing it with hot Wake Up Show freestyles, some ill, atmospheric production for Ras Kass and his crew, and putting out a hot EP called Dark Regions, Vooodu seemed to disappear. It was definitely a loss to the underground, west coast scene.

But, actually, Vooodu put out one more project a few years later, though if you live in the US you probably never heard of it (unless you did some internet searching for Vooodu like I did). "Confessions" dropped in 1999... it's got a couple labels credited (Lavish, Epic, Diverse), but they all seem to be subs or at least associated with Sony's German division. To add to the confusion, a label called Superb Records made a webpage (which is still up, all these years later), claiming "Confessions" came out on Superb and Epic in 2002, and that he's working on his 2004 album for Superb, titled Dog Day Afternoon (which never happened). Damn, confusing European releases. :P

I asked Danny Halloway (see my last, also Vooodu-related post, Werner's Back With the True Sound) what happened to Vooodu - maybe his Sony deal tied him up, and kept his album shelved? But no, he said, "vooodu was very unique when he first came out and he worked very hard. then he got 4 girlfriends that did not know about each other and started having kids. soon, he didn't have enough time to concentrate on his music career. it's a shame coz he was spittin' fire in '92/'93."

So, anyway, this "Confessions" single is his last effort; and it's pretty disappointing after his previous releases... gone is the slick, hardcore wordplay. "Southern California Nights" was apparently the direction he was heading in after Patchwerk, and this goes further in that direction. It's got big studio production handled by a guy named Shiro Gutzie (who also does some instrumentation), studio R&B vocalists Al Berry and Niki Carson on the hook, and live strings by Johnny Todd.

The 12" has three mixes and the CD single has six. West coast producer M Boogie handles the "Act:2 - I Confess... Remix" and Vooodu gets behind the boards himself for the "Act:3 - V3 Hypnosis Mix." Two of the other mixes are just radio and TV versions of the main mix, but then the CD single also offers one more remix, the "Revenge Mix," apparently also done by Shiro (I'm assuming, since no other credits are given).

The singing isn't bad, but it's pretty damn cheesy. And the live instrumentation is nice in a way, giving it a little richer... it all sounds like something Nas or any mainstream NY rapper would do while we all wished they'd go back to working with Primo or Buckwild. Wisely, M-Boogie and Vooodu opted to replace the happy dappy singing with a spoken chorus by Vooo, but unfortunately, his delivery is kinda lifeless and flat; which makes the whole venture boring and entirely forgettable. M-Boogie goes for a kind of Alchemist-like beat, with short horn stabs and sounds; but never reaches those heights. And Vooodu loops these short guitar samples, giving the whole thing the atmosphere of a film soundtrack, which works with the narrative style of the lyrics... but it just isn't hot enough to really pop; and again the hook just falls flat. The "Revenge Mix" is pretty close to the original... it's a bit longer, and elements come in and out at different times, but essentially it's the same music, hook and vocals as the original.

The song itself is definitely on some crime story "Good Dwellas" type ish. He doesn't come off as impressively ill as his freestyle HemisFear rhymes, but he's still nice with his wordplay and is clearly a skilled MC who's mastered this kind of criminology material as well:

"We arrive at the compound;
Start the countdown.
You have orders to swiss 'em
If they hostile.
Tag 'em like Wild Style;
You know how it's done.
It's a quarter after one,
Time to tick it.
Six minutes for this mission,
Let's get this shit movin'.
I'm headin' for the safe
And the place they hide the rubies,
Just like the movies,
Tied everybody up.
Any talk, slap 'em with the burner -
'Shut the fuck up!'
We started fillin' the duffel bags,
Cleanin' 'em out;
Stacks and stacks of green,
You should've seen the amount;
After we got
Everything valuable.
Now back to you,
You took my niggas out,
Now take these two
To your think-tank.
Our steps they won't retrace;
Left the scene with the spree,
If you know what I mean;
And scorch the place.
What an expensive price
To pay for treason,
But fuck 'em,
They made it open season."

So, it's a decent song. Vooodu fans should be happy to find at least one more song they can add to their collections. But for all the different versions, even on the CDS, it still just needs one strong remix to get it off the ground. Someone like Nick Wiz could've really given it what it needed to catch on and be a worthwhile addition to anyone's collection. As it is, I'd say it's just for Vooodu fans... although casual fans might dig one or two of the remixes enough to pick it up if they come across it cheap.

Tags: Vooodu, Western HemisFear

Werner's Back With the True Sound

^Video blog!!
(Did I just cheese a blog post my linking some vid I found on Youtube? No waii!! This is all new, original content!)

And here's Meen Green's myspace page I mention in the vid - watch out, it's one of those browser-crashing ones with a bajillion pics and stuff.

Tags: Vooodu, Meen Green, Bird, Western Hemisfear, True Sound, Danny Halloway

Back To the Lab

^Video blog!!
(The return of original content created for this blog rather than linked content by somebody else.)

Tags: Werner von Wallenrod

Smirphies Dance

Keeping it old school after that interview with Romeo JD (here), here we've got a record from 1982. It's "Smirfathon U.S.A." by Jalil... as in Jalil Hutchinson of Whodini, before they started putting out music on Jive. It came out on Charlie Rock Records, the only release on that label. It's produced by a guy named Y. Dah in association with Henry Batts. The only other record I know of them doing is "The Smirf" by Cory, which this is essentially the rap version of. That record came out the same year on a label called The Sound of Brooklyn, who you'll notice if you read the fine print in my scan, also distributed this Charlie Rock record.

Cory's record was a funky, fun disco dance record... but this follow-up is really for "Smirf" fans (and Whodini completists, of course) only. It feels slower - in fact, every time I put on this record, I think "whoops! this is a 45;" but it's not. It's just how Jalil raps in this kind of dull, spoken style, almost one word for each drum beat... And there's little else besides a very sparse keyboard, the signature "Smirf" bassline and handclaps to help it along. This simple track worked for Cory, whose lovely singing voice essentially added to the instrumentation, but replacing her with Jalil's vocals tips the scale towards boring. He's short on flow and the whole exercise is missing the energy he'd soon display with Whodini.

But, still, there's no denying the funky bass groove of "The Smirf" in any incarnation, and for all my criticism, you'll still find yourself disappointed when the record ends way too early, fading out during Jalil's rap after only the five minute mark (hey, this was '82... I expect at least ten more minutes of funk!). His voice is still appealing, and there's an underlying wit to his rhymes - without being jokey - that's the trademark of almost all the best MCs:

"Everybody, smirf down the streets;
Smirf on skates.
For those who can't smirf:
Huh - take that in your face!
Now, you all should know the smirf,
At least by now,
For the nerds out there who don't,
I guess I'll show you how.
Now let your body float,
Like you're on the surf;
Now put a beat to it,
And call it the smirf.
Now just let your arms flow
From your left to your right.
Now get down low,
Now come back to your height.
That's right - smirf outside,
Smirf in your car,
Hold it! Don't move an inch;
Smirf right where you are."
.
The b-side, "Your Smirf" is of course the instrumental (except for looping the opening line, "Ha ha ha! Who wanna smirf wit it?" a couple times), but they remix it, playing with the drums and adding extra keyboards and even some guitar. At one point they break it down to nothing but a synthesizer imitating the bassline... it's still a slow and mellow tune, but this mix is way more jazzed up - it's also a minute and a half longer. It's too bad this mix didn't feature Jalil's vocals, because then we'd have the best of both worlds, but as it is, it's still my preferred version.

So, yeah. If you don't have this, you're not missing an an essential like "Magic's Wand," but it's still a worthwhile piece for true fans of the golden era. And, really, it's impossible to not enjoy the smirf, at least a little bit. :)

Tags: Jalil, Whodini, Cory, Smirf

Werner Interviews Romeo JD of the Boogie Boys! (Part 3)

...Continued from part 2. Or click here for part 1.

So, what did you do during the break between Sweet Sensation and your current projects, which we'll come to?

I actually just started working. I got into telecommunications, man, Telecom. Doing transmission work and with data circuits and stuff like that, which is how I'm really paying the rent right now. It was big back in those days, then kinda fell apart with the dot comers and all of that, but it's starting to come back now. And I'm still working, still doing telecom, and I keep that. I tell young cats now in the business, get something under your belt, man. Don't ever abandon your passion. If you feel like hip-hop is your passion, then learn the business. Learn about publishing, learn production, learn all the aspects of the music industry. You don't have to be a rapper to be in the music. If you're a songwriter, be a songwriter; but there's so many aspects in the entertainment industry where you can be lucrative. But while you're working on that, you gotta hold up your manhood and get a job. Get your degree. I thank god I developed that telecom skill, because that's what helping me eat right now, you know, and take care of my seed, my family. But if music is your passion, you'll never be able to abandon it.

But looking at the scene now, looking at hip-hop, it's kind of distressing to see that everything is about guns, hoes, drugs, cars and whatever. I know there's a lot more avenues and aspects to hip-hop, like the stages where Public Enemy, KRS and people like that were using hip-hop as a tool to reach their people; but all that got put to the wayside when all that gangsta stuff came out. And it's a shame because hip-hop is a tool that we need to use to communicate, because kids'll listen to hip-hop more than their teachers or parents or priests. So if that's the primary channel of communication we've got, how can we not use that to reach out to them and show them that there are other aspects to life that they could pursue? There's nothing wrong with jewelry and having a hot whip or getting money, but it's not all there is. And anybody can make money, but what we need to learn is how to keep money… and how to make money make money. It's just something we don't get trained in, in urban cultures, in terms of finance. And we need to pay more attention to that.

So I decided to get back in. And also, besides the seriousness, I think cats miss being able to party instead of listening to records about murder. There's some stuff like that that I dig, just because I'm digging hip-hop, you know? Like I dig Mobb Deep; they're one of my favorite groups. I don't necessarily aspire to the things they discuss, but I love their approach to hip-hop. Sometimes I get past the lyrics and I get into the flow, but if I want to hear lyricists, there's people like Rakim, Talib Kweli, Black Thought, cats like that. I still aspire to hear lyricists and wordsmiths. Like my favorite from this era would have to be Jadakiss or, um… I even gotta give it up to Eminem. It's all about the wordplay; it ain't about black or white or whatever. If you're sick with words, you're sick with words. So for me, when there was the prospect of working with Melle Mel, I was like, "oh hell yeah."

Somebody got at me and said that he was working on some stuff and wanted to hear some beats. So I let him hear a couple of things, and he was diggin' the production approach. So one song turned into two, and two songs turned into three, which turned into eleven. And we ended up recording pretty much the whole album here in my facilities. And for me, whether you sell records or not, it was just an honor to be a part of that process. You know, just last year, The Furious Five became the first rap group inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That's a big thing, and couldn't've happened to a nicer dude.

So that's how all that jumped off, and after doing that with Mel I was like, I'm not gonna be able to sleep and rest until I put out another record. And that's why I jumped right back in and am working on my joints right now.

But you've done a little more production, too, during that time, right? Like I think there was an artist named KDM?

Yeah, yeah, KDM. Damn, how you know about that? Wow… that's crazy that you know about that. Before or around the same time I started working on the Mele project, I opened up a studio in Queens. And one of the main artists I was working with, her name was Antel. And she was an R&B singer… she was just kind of raw and didn't really have any studio experience. But she made a demo, and I could listen through the demo and hear that she was actually a pretty good songwriter and had a nice voice. So we spent about a year in that facility doing that album, and KDM was a project that came up during that time; and working on his project actually paid the rent while I had that studio open.

He had a real hot joint on that album called "Beach." You know, he was like a reggae artist. I really don't know what happened with that project. I know we finished that album… I think he put it out on the internet or whatever. I didn't really hear anything about it after that. So, yeah, I had artists like him and a couple of other little independent cats that I was trying to work with. I'm trying to work with people who are serious about their art, but it's hard when you're grindin'. Some of them don't have jobs, some of them are going to school, some of them are hustling but they don't really have the money to pay for hundreds of dollars of studio time. So I was working out a deal with them where I wasn't charging them by the hour, I was charging them by the song, and give them the track and the studio time and everything included. Because when you're new, a lot of them have been rapping and writing for years but they've never been in the studio before, and it can be a little bit of pressure. If you're paying $35 an hour, and you've got four hours to get your joint done… when you're in the booth you're like, "damn, I can't mess up!" It's a lot of pressure for an artist. So my approach was to be like, "yo, you pick a day when you're ready to do your track. You just come in, relax, eat, do whatever you do, and just record. You're not on the clock, you just record 'till you get it right." And they appreciate that approach. Sometimes it's harder to make money that way, but like I said: I never got into hip-hop just to be rich. For me, it's important to preserve the culture and if I could - if I was rich - I'd have free studio time and free beats for everybody.

But that started to get a little too expensive… the Antel thing fell apart. She decided to go do her thing after I showed her how to record and make hits and how to write songs… Well, I didn't show her how to write songs, but I showed her the ins and outs of how to make a record professionally. But she got different aspirations and she went on her way and did whatever, and I ended up closing that studio down and bringing everything back home. And that's where I am now. The lab is in Harlem, in my home; I've got a separate bedroom dedicated to it. And I stepped it up. You know, a lot of the stuff I was using was from fifteen years ago... technology changed a lot, so I had to step up. I got, not a whole lot of pieces, but just a few primary and high-end pieces, and it's just a real good sound coming out of that room. I've got cats that come in here that spend money to go in million dollar studios, and they say, "yo, you've got a better sound coming out of there than the million dollar studio I recorded in." And that makes me feel good. So I don't really want to be in the studio business, that's not what I do. But getting people a few beats together and getting a little paper, it's paying the bills.

Are you expecting to do more with Melle Mel at this point? Is he planning a follow-up album to Muscles?

Yeah, Melle stays working. He's working on a tour right now which is gonna be him, Sugarhill and I think Kurtis Blow. He just stays busy. In the interim, while working on that album, we also did - there was this lady named Maura Casey who wrote a children's book called The Portal In the Park. And it's a book teaching kids how to deal with their emotions, like anger, frustration, and she incorporates things like bio-fitness; and Melle Mel did the narration of the whole book. He did five or six different characters, and we did six songs. I produced six tracks and we recorded the whole audio book here in Black Solaris Studios, and we just finished that a few months back. It's out there… available at Amazon and all the usual outlets. And we just did a little recording a few weeks ago, because he just did a promotional thing for Dr. Oz, because he's working for a national school program with Dr. Oz. And he mentioned he wanted to get back in the lab and start working on some other stuff.

But that Muscles album - that's not dead yet. We're still working on the marketing campaign for that, because the problem is that album never really got heard.

It must've done well in some circles, though; because I know in some places I check for the album and single've both sold out.

Yeah, yeah. It moved some units, but it should've got more recognition, or… it needs more exposure than it got. They're working with a whole other marketing team now. So before he just throws a whole other album out there, we're not giving up on the Muscles album yet.

So you think another single off of that?

Definitely. I definitely think so. There's one song on that album called "Crossfire" and it's about the gunplay on the streets and all that. It's so deep; it's like classic Melle Mel. It brings tears to your eyes when you hear it, so I hope that's the next single. I mean, it's not for me to call, but there's definitely some singles left. But like I said, he stays working. He's like, yo, throw me some beats, because that's his work ethic. If he can ever get his ass out of the gym, because that's where he lives! So I don't know if I'll be doing the whole next album, but you know, I've gotta get one banger on there.

Well, there were a couple other producers on that album, though, right? Muscles, I mean?

Yeah, there were two other producers actually that did songs.

I think one was Dame Grease.

Yeah, Dame Grease did one and Rsonist did the other one. They were hot tracks.

So, was that something where Melle went off on his own to get those tracks recorded, or were you all in the studio together?

I think he may actually have had those done before he started working with me. I'm not sure. But I never worked with those cats before, nah. I didn't have any contact with them at all.

Ok, and now I know you're working on your solo album as Bliss.

Yeah, Bliss the Illest album is taking a long time because: myself, personally… I don't know. Some days when I come in I'll record a party song, because I feel people just want to get back into partying, and sometimes I'll record something that's just real grimy and angry, depending on what kind of day I had or whatever. And it's real mixed up. On the one hand, I don't want to confuse people, but on the other hand, I am who I am, and I think the best approach is to just stay real with it. So if I record something love and mushy, or if I record grimy, it just is what it is. So I'm recording like fifty songs, and I'm just gonna pick like twelve hot ones.

I would've had it done a long time ago, but when I work on my album, I don't wanna work on anything else. So working with Mel, that pushed me back like a year. And now, to be honest, I'm actually working with another artist, his name is Phase 1. Spanish kid, a rapper, he's nasty. Got half of his album done. So, once I'm done with him, I'm gonna jump on this Bliss album. So, I'm working in between… on the train or whatever, and when I get a chance to cut it, I cut it.

Right now, I'm also in a transition stage because over the last year - on the production end - I've been working with Sonar. But I just recently switched platforms to Logic. So now I'm working on a Mac, which is a whole new beast, but I'm kinda combining it. The new Intel Mac can run Windows programs, so I run Sonar and Logic. And since I've still got a learning curve, if I've got something I wanna get done and I'm feeling it, I just jump into Sonar and get it done. But I'm really liking Logic right now. I invested into a few high-end pieces like pre-amps for my mics, but I'm still old school with my approach to hip-hop. Like everything is in a digital domain, but I can't really get away from that Analog sound; it sounds real good. But at the same time, the digital is really convenient when it comes down to editing the audio and processing. We're at this stage where, if you've got a few grand, you can build a studio in your bedroom that would've cost a good two hundred, three hundred thousand dollars just a few years ago.

Especially with hip-hop, I've stepped back into making my production approach simple. It's not about how much stuff you've got but what you do with it, and I'm walking the line right now with samples… I'm still not that crazy about using samples. Because that's the whole thing right now, people sampling choruses and pitching it up to get that Alvin and the Chipmunks sound. It's cool or whatever, but I've never been one to conform to what everyone's doing, so you're not gonna hear none of those pitched up choruses on my album. Not to knock cats who do it, get your money, man; but that's not what I do. And I'm hoping that people will be able to respect my production because it won't sound like whatever everybody else is doing. And I'm hoping I don't curse myself like that Boogie Boys curse, taking it that one step too far! But I'm not really worried about what nobody feels; I'm just doing what my heart says where my music should be right now.

So what exactly have you got coming out? Like, anticipating the future as much as you can, what can people expect when?

Well, I've got this new artist I'm working with… it's actually a dirty South record coming out next. The artist's name is Tuolles Par, and the record is called "Shugga Mama." That's the next project coming from Black Solaris.

And when can we expect that? And the Bliss stuff?

In like a month; that's the first single. And then, the first Bliss single… a couple months. By the summer.

And is that gonna be on vinyl?

Yeah, I respect vinyl. There's still a lot of DJs that stay scratching vinyl or buying their music on vinyl, so I'll also be putting stuff out on other formats, the internet or whatever. Like there's DJs now, they don't even have to carry crates, they just come in with their laptops, and they've got 300,000 songs on there. But I'm always gonna make sure my music is available on vinyl, too.

So there you have it. Thanks to Romeo/Joey/Bliss for reaching out and then sticking it out through my laundry list of questions. He does have a myspace; where you learns ome more and listen toa couple tracks he did off of Muscles. But he's in the proces of putting his official, proper website together now, so look for BlackSolaris.com to be up soon and then that'll be the official spot to check for everything he's working on. Also keep an eye out for Tuolles Par (I heard "Shugga Mama;" it's a trip), and check out portalinthepark.com if you're interested in that children's book with Melle - you can hear some of the music on there, too.

Tags: Romeo JD, Boogie Boys, Bliss the Illest, Joey Mekkah

Werner Interviews Romeo JD of the Boogie Boys! (Part 2)

...Continued from part 1.

So, going back for a second to cover some little things we kinda skipped over… you guys had some songs on the soundtrack to a movie called Enemy Territory… there was like a four-song EP.

Yeah, that was a Ray Parker Jr. movie that didn't do jack. I think the main song on that was "Dealin' With Life," off our second album, and Lil' Rahiem was actually the creator of that song. I gotta tell you, man: a lot of what happened back then in the 80's is like a big blur to me now. I don't even remember how that happened… back then, I was just kinda drifting. I just wanted to be in the studio, and if something was jumping off, it was cool. And I wasn't even really paying attention to where anything was coming from. If I was paying attention, I would've learned a lot earlier about publishing!

So from there you went on to Romeo Knight, like you said… do you know who did that cover, because that was classic.

Yeah, that was an artist from New York who was one of the biggest dogs in graffiti, whose name was Phase II. Boogie Knight hooked that up, as a matter of fact. That was crazy, we had a whole Egyptian thing going on with the pyramids and being born on January 13th, 1964 - Phase dug deep on that. Me and Boogie always talked about old R&B who had album covers we used to love, like Earth Wind & Fire. So yeah, that cover was crazy.

Also on that album, in the liner notes, you've got The Awesome Two, Teddy Ted and Special K, credited as "special hip-hop consultants." What does that even mean? What did they do?

Well, the Awesome Two were actually the first cats to interview the Boogie Boys. They ultimately ended up taking us on the road a little bit… As a matter of fact, I talked to Special K yesterday. Those cats are some of the few people I maintain contact with in the industry after all these years. And they are still doing their thing, they're still doing a show on Sirius Satellite radio. So more than likely, if I get this situation going and go on the road, that's probably who I'm gonna have handling things. They're still in my circle, and the circle is small.

So, they were more credited for being involved like promotionally?

Actually, they've been in this hip-hop thing since the beginning. So we would like consult them with beats and concepts we were working on, on the album - and like the show, how we put it together. And they ultimately took us on the radio, like Special K was road manager and Teddy Ted would DJ for us. That's a friendship that I seriously treasure in this music industry. Some people are acquaintances, some people are business acquaintances, some are friends and some are just real cats… and the Awesome Two, they're all of the above, and still are.

And you also had a DJ Dynamite credited on that album?

Yeah, Dynamite was a guy named Daryl who also went to Brooklyn Tech with Boogie and I, and yeah, he did some cuts on that album. Wow. You bring me back… like I said, I lot of the stuff we did in the 80's are like a blur and Dynamite… I don't know where he is these days.

So how did you transition from being an MC and singing into the production end of it?

Well, during the production of all the albums, my favorite part was being in the studio. We used to be in the studio for hours and we recorded most of the Boogie Boys' stuff in a studio called Unique Recording here in New York. It was a real high-end studio here in New York with state of the art equipment… like we were one of the first artists using an instrument called the Fairlight. The only other artist using that instrument was Stevie Wonder. So I really got into being at the boards while we were recording, and I got into using drum machines. And back then we used something called Sequential 440, and the 808 drum machine of course, the classic. And it really wasn't about sampling, we were using the real 808 drum machine. And I just always dug it. So when I started making money, I didn't really buy a whole lot of jewelry - I bought some jewelry, you know - but most of my money went to keyboards and drum machines, and I kept all that stuff at home. And I built a little studio at the crib: a little four-track studio. That's where I wrote "Hooked On You" for Sweet Sensation and where I did production for the Boogie Boys' stuff. You know, we didn't get no production credit, but we did a lot of our own stuff. Like Boogie Knight, on alot of the songs he originated, he did a lot of his own drum programming. I did my own drum programming, keyboard playing and stuff. And I really got into it, man. And when I got back into it, I had to dust off all the stuff I had kept in my closet!

So I kept my focus on keeping things simple. What I learned in the room that they had built in Queens, there was a lot of stuff… there was a bunch of samplers, a bunch of sound modules and just a whole lot of stuff in there. But what I realized when I came home, is that it's not really about what equipment you have. There's a lot of cats out there with million dollar studios producing garbage. I learned it's not about how many things you have… when you had a small system like I had, you just had to make every sample count. So I went from a room that had like twelve samplers to a room that just had one, and I only had enough memory to take like four or five samples. So that meant that every sample I took had to be the bomb. That really taught me how to simplify my production approach, and I kinda still live by that today.

Yeah, when you listen to the Boogie Boys albums… right up to the last, there's a unique, really strong production sound to it. And there's a few recognizable samples, like obviously "Fly Girl," but for the most part it's something different, and really distinct.

Yeah, yeah. It was really kind of a blessing and a curse for us. Because, like with some of the songs I did, the approach was to try to do something different than everybody else was doing. I didn't really have anything against sampling, it's just that that's what everybody was doing, so I was trying to get more into clean instruments and playing sounds and being original with it. The problem was that we would present the songs in a real simple and basic format: like a hot beat, maybe a little sample, and a bassline, keyboard… a little sprinkle hear and there. But then, after we got into the studio, the producer would like bring in other keyboard players and start adding shit… mad strings and all kinds of crazy stuff. So it ended up being a lot more polished than it should've been; and that's something that Boogie always used to beef about. Like, "yo, it's not street enough. You're making it too pretty." Like we had a song called "Always On My Mind;" it was like a slow jam, a ballad. We were actually doing some singing on it, but the original joint was like real raw. And when it came back, it wasreal polished up.

You know, I'm not really criticizing the producer to a degree, because he was just trying to be on the next level. Sometimes you've gotta do that; it's a risk you take. But at that time, we were like the only group that was on a major, major label, and we had to do something to try and separate ourselves. But you have to be careful, taking yourself so far that you take yourself out of your element. That's why on the Romeo Knight album we tried to make sure we reached back and had a couple of joints that were just real basic and raw. We had a song called "This Is Us," that was my favorite joint on that album. It had just this beat, you know? Another joint Boogie wrote was "Pitbull," and that's the kinda joint we really wanted to make sure we had on that album. And then we had a couple joints that were a little more musical or whatever, because some people expected that from us.

But, you know, that's kind of our legacy - we never really got as big as some of the other rap groups did at the time. But people who really listened to the Boogie Boys and got into it, really loved us, you know, for what we did. And I don't regret anything; it was all experience.

So, from what you were saying earlier to sounds like… was there sort of two separate stages of production? Like where you guys would do a rough version of the song, and then where you'd go to like Ted Currier for a second pass?

Yeah, we were presenting them with the basics of what it was. We'd come up with what we were saying, come up with our beats… like I said, we did that programming ourselves. And then Ted would take it in the studio and sometimes yeah, he would call in other keyboard players. Like one guy he always used to use was Gary Henry. Phenomenal keyboard player, but again, some of the stuff just went too far, like with the orchestration. But like I said, I'm not trying to knock Ted, because he was trying to make our album sound different than everybody else's. And even from working on the stuff like "Fly Girl," we used the emulator on that - you know, the "fly- fly- fly- fly," and all that - and a lot of people weren't really using it; we were like one of the first ones to use the emulator and do all that sampling stuff, which was cool. And also, on one of the songs, I think it was "Colorblind World," we had The Funkadelics - the original Parliament Funkadelics - doing backgrounds on the song.

Oh wow; I didn't realize that was them.

Yeah, yeah. That was like phenomenal for me because Parliament and George Clinton was the reason I ever got into it. The first concert I ever went to when I was young the Flashlight Concert. "Star Child" and all that, "The Bop Gun." I was young, man. I was so small, I had to stand up on the back of the chair in The Garden and hold onto the person's shoulder in front of me - I didn't even know them. But back in the days, it was love like that. I was young and my moms let me go to that concert; I couldn't believe it. And when I saw them, I was like, "yeah, that's what I wanna do."

So it was real deep for me to work with The Funkadelics. Also, there was another cat that played keys on the album; his name is Rob Kilgore. He's a synthesizer genius, and he actually did most of the synthesizer on Shannon's stuff, "Give Me Tonight" and all that. And that Shannon album was the album I used to play… because I used to have a DJ crew, too. So we had big speakers and that whole set-up for outside, and I used to play those big speakers inside, full blast, sitting in the middle of the room listening to the Shannon album. So when I found out we were gonna use Rob Kilgore who played on that shit, I was like blown away.

Things like that - working with Ted and having the budget gave us access to a lot of stuff that other people didn't have. And, like I said, that was a blessing and a curse. Because other people didn't have access to all of that, so they kept it grimy and gutter, and that was part of the sound of hip-hop. We were just a little too polished and a little too far ahead of our time, as far as our production approach went.

That's interesting, though, because if you listen to like Boogie Knight's stuff after he left Capitol, he didn't really take it anymore street. It still had that heavy kind of production sound, plus a lot of dance and love songs… he kept going in that direction.

Yeah, I don't know what that was. I think he did that overseas in Germany, and I think maybe he was trying to appeal a little bit more to what the European hip-hop appeal was. But the original, basic and raw hip-hop, that was in his soul. There ain't no question that's where he came from. But he was also a visionary. He wasn't afraid to try different things and do different things. You know, really nobody would listen to him or us when we would complain about the stuff at Capitol, because the reality,coming off a record as big as "Fly Girl," there was a lot of pressure to try and get another hit. It was like a shot in the dark. Like, damn, do we abandon what we did to begin with, or try to follow the formula and harden it up a little bit, or what? It's hard to know when you're in the middle of it; and you don't know until after whether you made a mistake or not. Even afterwards, if the record didn't get big, that doesn't mean you didn't do the right thing.

We were stuck with Capitol who actually learned on us. They had no idea what to do with hip-hop. They got "Fly Girl" and didn't know what to do with it. We were telling them that "Fly Girl" was the hit, and they disagreed. They wanted to put out "City Life" because it had the singing in it and everything. And we were like, "yeah, that's something that we do, but we gotta hit our market first. Put 'Fly Girl' first, then we can come with the other stuff." So we compromised: we put out "City Life" as the A-side and "Fly Girl" as the B-side; so when it came out, DJs were like, "yeah, 'City Life' is hot," but then when they flipped it over and heard those drums it was like, "oh shit… what's this?" So that's how it jumped off; and the streets is gonna make happen what they want to happen. So "Fly Girl" is the record that popped off and they still didn't do a video for it. People were running in the stores trying to find "Fly Girl" for weeks and weeks, and they didn't have any copies in the stores. So Capitol got caught with their pants down. Doug E Fresh came out with "The Show" and they had mad records in the stores, so he sold crazy records and we got shitted on.

The catch was, by the time they decided they needed to do a video, the record was "You Ain't Fresh," and that's why the video ended up being for "You Ain't Fresh." When really all they had to do was throw out a cheap video of "Fly Girl" and we would have blown up really crazy if they had done that. But it is what it is.

To be continued again, immediately...

Tags: Romeo JD, Boogie Boys, Bliss the Illest, Joey Mekkah

Werner Interviews Romeo JD of the Boogie Boys! (Part 1)

Earlier this week (that's right, this isn't "Necro'd" - it's a brand new interview), I had the chance to speak to a real old school legend who reached out to me. Romeo JD, of the Boogie Boys. And we had a really long, in-depth discussion - we got to cover everything, from the forming of the group, to the production equipment they used, to his production work for Melle Mel and others under his new name, Joey Mekkah. He's also working on a solo album as Bliss the Illest with his production company, Black Solaris Entertainment... but I'll let him tell it:

Well, let me start be asking you: how did you get into the Boogie Boys?

Well, Boogie Knight and I used to rap together on our block, where we lived in the projects, across the street from each other. I met him because I was sitting in one of the little bodegas on our block, and this lady came in and was like, "wow, you remind me of my son, the way you're sitting there thinking. I want to give you his number and I want you to give him a call, because you look like somebody he'd get along with." So, I called the number, we ended up speaking a couple of times, and we actually lost contact. And then about six, seven months later, I ended up going to school in Brooklyn and there were a couple of guys that were in a clique from Uptown. So we all used to ride the train together from Brooklyn back to Manhattan. And we became cool, and I'm talking to this guy and we started talking about hip-hop and blah blah blah and he asked me what project I came from and he was like, "you're the dude I talked to like six months ago! My moms gave me your number!" We actually met again. Through some ironic situation we wound up going to the same school and becoming friends anyway.

I actually had my own crew at that time and he had his own crew. Then he started coming over and asking if I wanted to do some stuff with him. He actually got his deal with Capitol, but he had done some records before he got down with them. The Boogie Boys' first record was "Rappin' Ain't No Thing," and that was with his old partner Keith, who also went to school with us. So, in the context of that situation, before they got signed to Capitol, I actually did a few shows with them as their DJ. We were kind of the only group doing shows at that time where everybody in the show could rap and DJ, so it was kinda special. So I did a couple shows with them at that time, but I wasn't on that first record that they did.

But, then, when he got the deal with Capitol Records, he was still in the Air Force at that time, so he brought me in to the studio to sing the hook on one of those records. And when I went in there to sing the hook, the producer was like, "yo, can you rap also?" And I was like, "well yeah, that's actually my forte." So I did a little rappin'…

Do you remember which record that was that he brought you in on?

Yeah, that was "Runnin' From Your Love." And I sung that hook and then Boogie and I started talking, and he brought in Lil' Rahiem, and it kinda flew from there. We wound up getting signed all to the same production company and we wound up on the album, and yeah… that's actually how I came in to the group situation.

But, like I said, Boogie was still in the Air Force during the time they released the album, and Capitol Records wasn't really aware of that. But they were like: you have to hit the road, the records are heatin' up. And we had to like keep the front up until he could get out without Capitol finding out that he wasn't able to tour. And so that's what we did. So doing the shows was ok, we were able to say, "Boogie Knight's not with us but he'll be back next time we come to your town."

But then we had to shoot the video for "You Ain't Fresh," and that's where the ugliness kinda came in. You know, I've seen an interview where people were saying, "they did the video and he was lip-syncing," like I wasn't really on the record. And I'm like, wow… that's pretty ugly. But we did what we thought we had to do, because the last thing I wanted was for him to come back out of the service, come home, and the deal was gone, he didn't have a deal anymore. Back then, we felt we were doing the right thing; but in hindsight, 20/20 vision, you know…

But you guys stuck together and kept doing records after that…

Yeah, yeah. After he got his release from the service, we began work on the second album. He was home, we were all together, in the videos and the magazines and everything, so he did get his recognition. But the problem, I guess, was that none of the records we did subsequently were as big as "Fly Girl." So he didn't get to see that impact that we had… although we had one record on the Survival of the Freshest that got a little buzz. So he did get to go on the road and see some pretty big situations… we toured with Cameo for a little while. But in the back of his mind he always had a little thing about the very first video.

So after that, he decided he didn't really want Lil' Rahiem in the group anymore. So the last album we did wound up just being he and I, Romeo Knight. And that was the last thing we recorded together, because there was still little relationship issues and he wound up just leaving the situation. I stayed with the production company, but I knew I wasn't going to try to record as Boogie Boys anymore. So then I got a solo deal, but that album never got to come out because they cleaned house there, and the A&R people that actually signed me got fired. So that project got dropped and that was like the end of that deal.

But during that time I also started a Latin Freestyle group called Sweet Sensation. I wrote their first hit, "Hooked On You;" and that blew up. Then I wound up doing like 70% of the album. And I was making money doing the Latin hip-hop thing for a minute. And also with that production company was a guy named Tony Terry - his biggest record was, "When I'm With You," this R&B ballad - had a couple of songs on his album. And the long and the short of it is that, after being with this production company for ten years, I found out they were robbing me for all of the publishing, 100% of the publishing. So yeah, they got me. I never really calculated it all, but somewhere in the area of a million dollars they robbed me. So, needless to say, my spirit was broken after that; because you work with these people for ten years, you think that they're your family, you know?

So, coming from the streets, I was battling the decision to handle it like street-wise, like go in the studio with guns like, "yo, you owe me money," or just let it go. And I wasn't gonna screw up my whole future doing something stupid, so I just ended up coming out of music. It was a crashing period for a couple of years, but then I decided to get back into it and do some production… Because I actually did all of the production for the songs that I wrote on the Sweet Sensation album. All of the production was me, but I got noproduction credit at all. Let alone the money. You know, even if I hadn't gotten paid, if I had gotten the production credit, that could've generated more work for me. "Hooked On You" was a pretty big record.

They're back together, as a matter of fact, working on a new album right now. They contacted me, but I'm not gonna be interested until we get the financial issues resolved from twenty years ago. You know? It's nothing with the group, I love the group to death. I love them, I'd do anything for the group. But they're fucking with the same management, so I really can't have anything to do with it.

And during that time, were you involved at all with the projects…? Like Boogie Knight had a solo album…

No, he just did his own thing. I think he might've done something not even in the United States… I think it was in Germany, because he actually wound up going back into the military; he reenlisted. He did do some music and he wound up doing an album there, but no. To answer the question, I wasn't involved in any of that.

Ok, because there was like a couple singles, and then the album. And the album is just credited to Boogie Knight, but a couple of the singles say The Boogie Boys.

Yeah, yeah… I don't know. I don't know what his situation was over there, if he was confused if he wanted to present it as The Boogie Boys or just him. But I saw a picture once of an album he put out with a whole group of people, like four or five different people… there was like a chick in the group, almost like it was a band or something.



No idea who any of those people are?

Nah, that was totally separate from my situation.

He does shout you guys out in the liner notes, though.

Really?

Yeah, on the album.

Wow… that's deep. I didn't even know about that. Wow. Around that time we didn't talk a whole lot. But we did talk after that; we were able to resolve our differences. In the end, we were friends.

We actually tried to do music and get together, after all the drama, all three of us - me, him and Lil' Rahiem. We did a couple tracks, but the blood was still… little emotional issues kept coming up. And it just wasn't worth it. Because my mindset is that I'm only doing music and hip-hop now because I enjoy it. If we get paid, we get paid. If we get some hits, we get some hits. But all the drama and the bickering over twenty year ago shit, I don't need to have around me. I was like, "let's just stay at peace with each other and stay cool. Obviously the music thing right now is not working, and let's try again in a couple years." But other than that, let's just be able to get together and enjoy each other's company. And at the end, that's what ended up happening. We weren't able to do any music together.

And are you still in touch with Lil' Rahiem?

Oh yeah, definitely. I hung out with Lil' Rahiem last week.

So, do you think there's any chance of you two working together anymore? Or is it still too caught up in the old drama?

Ummm… I don't know, man. I actually got a call from a guy from France who found me on the internet, I guess, and asked if I was interested in doing a show. And you know, I was like… you can't do a show as the Boogie Boys without Boogie Knight, because he's not here. But in retrospect, I was thinking maybe if I brought Lil' Rahiem on the road with me and do "Fly Girl" with he and I doing Boogie Knight's verses and have like, I don't know, a big screen shot of Boogie Knight and kinda pay homage to him. I'm thinking about that, but I haven't even talked to Rahiem about it yet. But the promoter was saying he was booking a show with Melle Mel and Sugarhill Gang, and just a whole old school tour type of thing, and I told him, you know, let me sleep on it…

Rahiem would probably be down, he's doing a lot of singing now. He's doing a gospel thing. So I'm trying to see about working with him, but not doing a gospel album, but doing a hip-hop album. But I'm not really looking to be in a group right now, like my hip-hop career right now is a solo thing.

To be continued immediately...

Tags: Romeo JD, Boogie Boys, Bliss the Illest, Joey Mekkah

Back To Valentine's Day

I know it's long past, but we've got to turn the clocks back to this past Valentine's Day and return to my holiday post, "A Fila Fresh Valentine." Why? Because I've just come across a cassette version release of the "Fear Of the Rap" single that features another exclusive, unreleased Fila Fresh Crew song!

It's called "Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody," and despite what you might gather from the title, it's not a precursor to Kid 'N' Play's final dance hit. It's much more in the veign of Toddy Tee's "This Beat Be Smooth" (and might even have you at the bus stop woppin' to Parliament). It's got a slow beat and bassline, cool out guitar sample, a little scratching and a silly drunken-style sung chorus handled by the guys themselves. But unlike the love song, its value isnt just kitsch novelty; it's a genuinely good song with a lost sound from a sadly too short West Coast era.

The lyrics mention Tito again (and if you note: the kick-ass cover photo features the four of them). They say, "don't forget about Tito; he's a part of the Fila Fresh Crew show." Just his luck to join the group just as it was breaking up. Doc T isn't present on this song either - it sounds like just Dr. Rock (or Tito; I don't know - they sound alike) and Fresh K handling the raps on this one.

Dr. Rock gets full production credit for all three songs, but interestingly the writing credits are a bit different on the cassingle than on the 12", saying, "Written by Dr. Rock, S. Thomas, Fresh K. & B. Edwards, except 'Fear of the Rap' written by Dr. Rock." So apparently Dr. Rock still wrote all of The DOC's lyrics for the lead track, but now a couple extra writers are credited for "I Wanna Know What Love Is" and this new cut.

Oh and yes, by the way: this version of "I Wanna Know What Love Is" is also the "Hug Mixx" (albeit this time spelled with two x's). So there's still only the one version. Perhaps there's an unreleased version that used more of the Foreigner record which they couldn't clear?

Anyway, now there's onemore song for you Fila Fresh fans to track down and add to your collections... Instrumentals for all three songs are on the B-side. Oh, and sorry for the delay since my last post... I'm working on a big interview that I'll be posting in seperate parts any day now. Plus I got a bad cold. 'Till next time: <3

Tags: The Fila Fresh Crew