Put Down the Guns

In 1993, a a first-time Chicago rapper called J.G. came out with a single featuring a grip of independent Chicago artists making a call for peace entitled, "Put Down the Guns." Remember that? The video got mad airplay back in the day, though despite its success his label, Gasoline Alley, never put anything else out by him. Guess they just considered it a one-off.

Production-wise it came out at just the right time, using that shamelessly Dre-inspired Ron Isley slide whistle sound before it got hopelessly played out. But even putting that aside, it had a hard, thumping bassline, good drums and just a simple loop to hold it all together. A simple beat to let the variety of MCs carry the weight.

And every MC did carry their weight... and the fact that they were pretty much all unknown made it that much more exciting when the single came out of nowhere, like "H.E.A.L." with the celebrity fluff ripped off. And the label sure didn't help the MCs become less unknown. Not the actual 12" label, or the cassingle insert, which had a full page of credits and thanks, actually tell you who any of the MCs are (though one or two are named in the specual thanks... but not all!). Without actually hearing the song, you'd assume it was a J.G. solo cut.

Thankfully, the video gave little subtitles everytime another MC got on the mic. So we know the line-up.

It starts out with J.G. (naturally), kicking a laid-back flow, "funny feelin' when you're starin' at the ceilin', locked in the pen and pretend you don't grin. And when it's time for parole, you're a pro. You know just where to go to make yourself some dough... say what's up, ain't seen him since we were shorties. Used to be homies and now ya don't even know me because you're rough adn you're tough; I say man, you've grown up. ...He said, 'what happened to that brother I shot?' I said, 'Joe? he's still alive,' thinking: damn, he forgot?"

Next up is Ten-Tray, with a gruff and angry flow. Or more specifically, Crunch, the lead MC of the group Ten-Tray, which also included Blood, Sweat, Tears and DJ X-Ray. They had come out with an album (Realm of Darkness) and single ("I Convey") in 1992 on Smash Records. Smash was a division of Polygram, apparently making them the first Chiacgo rap group with a major label deal. Confusingly, he starts his verse by saying he's "from the Bricks, so you know I'm down;" when he's definitely from Chicago like everybody else on this record. The crew split up after this. X-Ray (who has a myspace here) once made wrote an online post saying, "hey whats up i was the dj in the group ten tray i dont no what happiend all i now i got fucked in the hole deal." Crunch later changed his name to Jitu tha Jugganot (check out his site, jituthajugganot.com or his myspace), and came out with an indie album in 2007 called Necessary Ingredients (which X-Ray also worked on).

Next up is Stevo. I really have no idea who he is. He holds his own, though, with a slower and simple flow, stressing individual words. Sort of like a toned-down, non-growling Tim Dog.

Fourth, "it's time for the Poets." The Rhyme Poets, that is. Their specialty here is the back and forth wordplay, which helps liven things up. The Rhyme Poets were a three-man crew consisting of Deva-D, Triple-S and Pancho, who had an album in 1989 called Nation Within a Nation. The group later split up, and Pancho hooked up with a new group called The Illiniez in the mid-90's, who are apparently still together. Leastways, they still have a myspace page.

Fifth is either Madd Skillz (as it's spelled in the video) or Mad Skillz (as it's spelled in the cassingle's special thanks). In either case, he's definitely not that Mad Skillz. Actually, both his voice and flow sound a lot like some early Fat Joe. As far as I can tell, this song is his only appearance on wax.

Sixth, J.G. comes back for a second verse. That's only fair, I reckon, since it's his record; and after all, Gasoline never showed him the love and let him release an album.

Seventh is Prince Akeem, best known for being the godbrother of the great Chuck D: "Put down my gat? I say never! 'Cause another brother's got a gat without a lever. So I say 'never leave home without one' around my way; I shoot a punk in his goddamn face... Got a glock in ya sock, and a nine in the spine of ya back; and ya target is always black." Akeem has always sounded and flowed like Professor Griff, and this song is definitely no exception; but that's ok, because Griff was always a little underrated as an MC. Akeem started making a name for himself with a couple singles and a hard to find album on Chicago Tip Records in '91. But even with guest appearances by Chuck and Flavor, he never seemed to really take off; and this was pretty much the last song he'd ever do.

Finally, Crunch of Ten-Tray comes back for a final hardcore verse, definitely taking the preachiness edge off of this record, "don't you see we have a universal enemy? Yet and still, you point your goddamn gat at me! How much heart does it take to smoke your own? Raise your fist, black, 'cause the war is on!"

So, the video version was cool... but there's a far superior remix on the single. They ditch that "let's appeal to all coasts, guys" vibe on the "Street Mix," which brings a grimier beat, rolling bassline and a DITC-style horn sample. It's straight up ninties New York, b-side wins again style.

There's also the "Stepper's Mix," which goes in the opposite direction, taking the west coast elements and replacing the vocals with a bunch of extra, live instrumentation (piano, funk guitar, keys and a few more samples), like an old "Quik's Groove." It works pretty well as a reprise, though you wouldn't spin it without listening to the original version, too.

This is a quintessential time capsule of 90's hip-hop if ever there was one. If that's what you're into, pick it up; you're sure to get a kick out of this.

Tags: J.G., Rhyme Poets, Madd Skillz, Stevo, Prince Akeem, Ten Tray

Lord Of the Underground Uncovered

You would think any rapper coming out after the 1990's, especially one from New Jersey, would consider the name Lord of the Underground taken. But apparently not.

In a recent article, I wrote about Yah Yah's promo single, "All I Need" on a little label called 5 Lmnt. According to them, he'd also recorded an album called Lord of the Underground, but I'd never ben able to find it, and they've never answered any of my e-mails. And I'd basically started assuming that it was never actually released.

But I was wrong.

After posting that article, I was contacted by a reader[thanks again!] who managed to order a copy off of their site - as I said, by the time I found their site, they weren't replying to e-mails... but I guess he got in early. So, yeahl he got it... it actually exists. Here's a pic of the actual CD:

As you can see (click it to enlarge), it's dated 2004.

The production (possibly by Azizz, who he name drops once or twice... and it sounds like his stuff) on this album is nothing like the CD single I reviewed... it's very low-fi and there's nothing poppy about it at all (and no R&B crooners doing back-up). It's also generally less dynamic... none of the tracks ever really stand out and grab you. They're just solid, respectable underground beats. It's twenty-tracks deep (though the track-listing 5 Lmnt iddused apparnetly named twenty-one), but that includes a couple of skits and two songs not by Yah. Sam Goodie Greene and J-Dot, two artists 5 Lmnt was putting out, both get "Debut" songs randomly in the middle of the album.. They're ok (J-Dot is the better MC of the two), but both tracks are totally skippable.

So, that's the bad news, I guess. But the good news is Yah spits fire on every song (except the twohe's not on, of course). I said it last time, and this album only further solidifies this belief: Yah is easily the most underrated Outz MC; for both his lyrics and delivery. And most of the songs are just about flexing his skills ("I hate cops but got a couple brothers on the force; it pays off because I be havin' trouble in the courts. Fuck fumblin' and loss, we doublin' and floss. Late night, me and Ma cuddle in the Porsch"), but he does sometimes expand into other topics, on songs like "Times Is Hard," "How Couuld You" and "All I Want" (the hook is, "all I want is to survive; all I want's to stay alive. All I want's to not die. That's all I want")... though never at the expense of the crazy, ill wordplay:

"Ay yo, it's sorta like that day when Tobey tried to blow me
in the back from his 'Lac, 'cause I bussed the U slowly;
And just as I ducked, mad shots flew over me,
And totally ripped up this bitch Toyota seats.
They reload and I go to leave and notice three
Old police approachin', all in one motion.
I backed up, ran them;
Cops chased, scramble,
All while this little-ass car is eatin' the ammo.
First, second, hittin' the curb, I can't gamble;
Third, fourth, straight through the alley, they can't handle.
I'ma ditch this car, fix these scars,
Get some firearms 'cause this means war!
And I'm in it 'till I finish y'all ducks;
Make you wish cops sprinted, and prisoned y'all up."

There are a few Outsidaz appearances... Axe does a brief skit and Azizz (I thnk!) raps on "All I Want." There're a few others, including a posse cut called "Your Truly;" not sure who all those cats are, but they're all up to par [update 10/9/8: apparently they're a Florida-based crew called Critical Madness.... see the comments].

This is a hot album, and it's really a shame it never got more of a release. But at least there are a few copies out there, apparently, floating around to be found. Are there copies of The Collaberation, too? I don't know. But I'm keeping an eye out.

Tags: Yah Yah, Outsidaz, 5th Lmnt

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Werner's Gonna Need a New Home

I started Werner von Wallenrod's Humble, Little Hip-Hop Site way back in 1997 as an AOL members' page, because that's how I - like almost everybody in '97 - was accessing the net. Over the years, a lot of people moved on to other services, and Werner's grew from a humble, little site to a humble, huge site, full of ancient coding, some low quality graphics, etc. It's a huge monster of pages connected to pages, with all different screennames hosting different sections.

I started this blog in January of 2007 - I decided to make it an AOL Journals blog to commemorate the fact that my site was still an ancient AOL members page after all these years. There've been a few frustrating drawbacks (like people needing to register with AOL to comment), but I've stuck by it.

But I just got an e-mail telling me that on October 31st, AOL will be shutting down their Journals for good. What's more, I went to an article they linked in the e-mail, poked around a "Peoples' Connection" blog they have up; and found a previous announcement saying they're shutting down all of their webhosting (thanks for the no e-mail on that one, guys... I could've just woken up one day and seen it all deleted)! Everything I've created since 1997 has gotta find a new home - it's gonna be a massive, ugly monster to move (for example: "members.aol.com" is in pretty much every image tag on every page of the site!).

That also means the homepage address I've had since '97 (crappy as it was) and this blog address is gonna be gone (oh, and my Todd Solondz website, too)... bookmarks, links to my site: kaput.

On the plus side, it'll finally allow me to make some changes/improvements I could never do on AOL, and force me to finally swap out some of that terrible coding and bad graphics I made way back in the 90's when nobody knew any better. And I won't have to rely on their ...lacking customer service anymore (calling their paid tech support guys to talk to people who didn't know aol even had a journals section LOL). But I'm sure not looking forward to the chore of redoing all that.

I just got this notice tonight; so I don't know where I'm gonna move to yet or anything. So stay tuned and I'll announce whatever new URLs and stuff you guys'll need to know to find this blog and the site as I get it sorted. They say, "We're working on a way to easily move your Journal to another blogging service," so hopefully that turns out to be true, rather than me having to remake every post manually.

In the meantime, I will continue to update this blog here.

TTFN.

Biscuits 'n' Porn

So, following up my recent write up of BHR002, I bring you BHR001: "Me & Him," the debut 12" by Mr. Jason and Nabo Rawk, collectively known as the Porn Theatre Ushers. This came out on Biscuithead Records in 1999.

Biscuithead described PTU and their record, "The Porn Theatre Ushers are Mr. Jason & Nabo Rawk. Their influences are Dj Premier, Ultramagnetics, Large Professor, & De La Soul just to name a few. Nabo & Jason say that they love hip hop with a passion, but felt it wasn't fun anymore. They felt it was time to bring back the fun in hip hop again. Expect to hear alot[sic.] of funny lyrics and dope beats from these guys. Me and Him is the first release from these guys on the Biscuithead Recordings label."

So, yeah, this 12" is BHR001, the label's first release... or at least the first of their rap line. They had two separate lines: house music (BH001-BH005) and rap (BH001-BH004). Biscuithead Records was originally a Boston record store run by house DJ Bruno. Here's an ad they ran on the back cover of Red Eye Magazine in 2000. --->

As soon as you put this on your tables, it's clear that they're serious about bringing the fun back to hip-hop. "Me & Him" starts with some Nabo cutting some vocal samples over a crazy instrumental, which fades out after about 20 seconds to be replaced with the real beat for the song... and man, it bumps! With just that combined with the slick Ladybug/Digable Planets vocal sample ("play me in the winter; play me in the summer... play in the autumn; any order") they use for the hook, it's easy to see why this was a surprise underground hit. And Mr. Jason's no Kool G Rap, but his flow's alright and he manages not to be totally outshined by the track, which is more than most MCs could do.

There's just one downside. The "funny lyrics" just aren't funny, and that makes them stick out awkwardly like sore thumbs: "How come I'm the number one rhyme getter? How come you're twenty-one and still a bed wetter? I got no time for you fake fraud generics; plus I'm late for my date with Bo Derek." It's punchlines like that Bo Derek thing that made the heads they failed to reach say, "no thanks; I'll stick to my Freddie Foxxx tape." I mean, it never gets as bad as "Sing It Shitface" (which was completely song-ruining); but it would've been better if he just concentrated on sounding fresh instead of trying to prove how terribly witty and much smarter than the typical rappers he is.

The first b-side, "Cat Nip," is essentially the same story as "Me & Him:" crazy samples for an intro, a really catchy, head-nodding beat, a great vocal sample for a hook, and Mr. Jason is adequate. On both the label and back cover, the trac-listing is off, though. They say that "Cat Nip" is the last song, but on the actual vinyl, it actually comes before the second b-side track: "My Imagination."

"My Imagination" is another cool tune, featuring some nice scratching and Mr. Jason's best vocal performance. The beat may not be as immediately catchy as the other two, but after repeated listenings, I think it bears out as the best song on the record.

The 12" comes with instrumentals for "Cat Nip" and "Me & Him," and a clean version of "Me & Him." It's worth noting that the three tracks on this record were later included on the CD version of their debut album, Sloppy Seconds, but not the LP, which instead offered us all the other seven tracks, plus instrumentals on a second record. So, essentially, if you have the 12" and the LP, you have everything.

After Biscuithead Records shut down, PTU came out with one more single and album on Detonator Records (2003 & 2004, respectively); but then they quit. There was a brief video interview on UGHH in early 2007 where Nabo Rawk says he'd been talking to Jason and that there was, "probably a ninety percent chance right now that we'll do another PTU record. That's something I wanna do before I fucking die. It's definitely something that we've been talkin' about; and if we do drop the record, the record's gonna have a certain sound to it throughout the whole thing. And it's something we're really feelin' nobody's tapped into yet." That was almost two years ago, but Nabo still does the occasional guest verse. So I guess we'll see.

Tags: Porn Theatre Ushers

=New Toy

Hey, guys. You might notice a new little feature over to the right: The Best Blog Posts I Didn't Write. I just started it, so there's not much there yet... but basically I'll be highlighting the best/most interesting hip-hop blog posts I come across whenever I come across them. New, hip-hop related posts only - you won't see Obama or Palin's names pop up in anything I link to until they cut a record together. Yeah, it's a Google Reader thing... so there'll be the latest six (I may change that number) featured on the right, and they'll all be archived on my GR page (which you can always get to by clicking the Best Blog Posts heading).

For the bloggers and webmasters who may be concerned/curious, clicking the blog titles will take you to the original posts on their own pages, not my Reader.

I think that's about all there is say about that. Hope you guys enjoy it - it should be updated at least once a day (albeit at odd hours haha), assuming there's enough good stuff for me to find. 8)

More dope content is dope.

Tone Loves the Jiggable Pie, Too

^Video blog!!
(All original, request-fulfilling content! The volume's a bit low, so crank it!)

Tags: Red Hot Lover Tone

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Listen Up, Shitface

This is the debut 12" of Boston's Edan on Biscuithead Records, a label that had just made its name with the Porn Theatre Ushers' debut. The buzz of that 12" got a lot of us to give Edan a listen, and he definitely used that opportunity to grab our attention with "Sing It Shitface."

Biscuithead described Edan and his record, "EDAN has to be the strangest mother fucker I have ever met, which is why I respect his brilliance. This Berklee student is a living embodiment of hip hop. If you listen to Migrain[sic.] you will see that he is all about the old skool. As for Sing It Shitface, well that speaks for itself. Edan is a very unique individual, his production, lyrics, and attitude prove that on this record."

It's got a fun, unique beat and a deliriously catchy hook: a freaked sample of a small child singing in Japanese while Edan eggs him on with hostility, "yeah! Sing it, Shitface!" It created almosta s much of a buzz in the underground as his fellow Bostonians 7L and Esoteric did, using that Transformers sample on "Be Alert" the year before.

That's the plus side. The downside is this: I've seen a lot of Edan dretractors call him "gimmicky;" and it's clear to me, especially here, exactly what they're talking about.

...Well, actually, they could be talking about two things. They could be referring to his constant homages to the old school ("Schoolly D Knew the Time," "Ultra '88," etc) as an insincere facade to appeal to a jaded rap audience and a cheap bid for "street bid." Well, I don't know the guy personally to say just how sincere he is about all that offstage - but his efforts in that regard are good enough that I don't care. It works for me.

But there's another gimmick on display here that doesn't wash so well with me: his attempt at comic rhymes on songs like this one. Sometimes he can be pretty nice on the mic, but here (and other songs... but "Sing It Shitface" has to be the epitome) he's way too hackneyed: "I fart at family functions, landing punches in the face of life... I made 'em feel uncomfortable by talking about my hemorrhoids and how my parakeet's unemployed." That shit just sounds like a really lame attempt to make gradeschool kids snigger on the playground. I don't know if he's ever denied it or not, but it's clear to me that he was trying to immitate Eminem's "Hi, My Name Is" success. And he's actually done multiple songs with lines about farting in them - what is he five? That kinda lyric just makes me wince and hope nobody else can hear the music I'm listening to. And it's a real shame here, because like I said, the beat and hook are a blast. And he's shown on plenty of other songs that he has the skill to elevate way above this material.

His voice also sounds a bit "put on" here... like Chubb Rock on his debut album, before he relaxed into his natural cadence. While still not ideal, this is easier to ignore on some of his other early work; but coupled with his forced delivery, contrived rhymes and juvenille subject matter; it just lands square in the middle of "bad."

This song comes in three versions on this 12": Dirty, Clean and instrumental. The instrumental is a blessing (put any other acapella to this... even if it's totally off beat, it will be an improvement); but the notion of a clean "Shitface" is absurd and should never be listened to.

Now, the exclusive b-sides ("Sing It Shitface" eventually found its way onto his 2002 album, Primitive Plus, but not the other tracks on this 12"), while lacking the stand-out catchy elements of "Shitface"'s strong points, are much better. The first song is "The E's Have It," featuring Skillz Ferguson. This is the first of three collaberations Edan has done with Ferguson, and while it's not quite as impressive as "Clinical Rhymes" in '02 - neither MC's seem quite as fully developed yet - they're definitely on their way. They just flex fun, back and forth wordplay over a gruff beat with some cool piano samples, with some great scratching (cutting up vocal samples by Rakim and Erick Sermon) for the hook. Yeah, it's not his best; but this is the kind of timeless hip-hop song that holds up perfectly today as it would've in any era: hip-hop in its purest form.

The other b-side is even further in the right direction. "Migraine" features Edan back on the solo tip, just ripping it fast and furious over a quick, slick rhythm. Again, he's not really saying anything (a plus in his case, as we've seen), just freestyle rhymes for the sake of rhyming. His voice even sounds normal here. And while the scratching was nice on "The E's Have It;" the DJ (also Edan) really goes off on this one, murdering a Percee-P sample and downright stealing the show from himself. This cut would be top drawer random rap, you know, except for the fact that Edan went on to release a whole bunch more records and make an established name for himself in the indieand college circuits.

So, even though he really, frustratingly dropped the ball on his debut song (I'd really like to hear him take another stab at this cut, with the same beat and hook but all new lyrics), this is a great, must-have 12". Oh yeah, and this record also features an instrumental for "The E's Have It."

Edan hasn't done much in the last couple of years except for a couple of guest verses for Cut Chemist... hopefully that means he's cooking up his illest shit yet; and not that he's quit the rap game or been by a bus or something. :/ He has a website at: humblemagnificent.com, and of course a myspace; but there's nothing by of news at either one except for an out-of-date tour listing.

Tags: Edan

Literally Literary Literature

Let me start by saying that, yes, this is an actual, real comic book. Landspeed Records put this out in '99 to promote Freddie Foxxx's upcoming (at the time) album, Industry Shakedown. You'll notice the cover image is virtually the same as his "A Part Of My Life" 12", but with a different background. He's depicted in the same style on his other 12" singles off of this album, and with this comic, you can learn the story behind it all.

It's written by Foxxx himself (illustrations by Dino Cerillo), and starts out in a nightclub called The Turntable. Foxxx is am "outcast... an outsider, an enemy to the major league, Cristal-poppin' playa' party goin' Benz rentin' keep up with the Joneses type suckas that make up and listen to the sound we know as rap music today." He robs some guy and makes him dance with his friend "like he was your broad" at gunpoint... a weird scene by anyone's standards, I'm sure.

Foxxx tries to break out but, just then, as we learn it's midnight on New Year's Eve 1999: "A numb screeching noise breaks the sound barrier. Bottles of booze shatter, confetti mizes with plaster as the ceiling slowly caves in; the dj's turntables explode; human flesh begins to melt. Thirty seconds into the New Millenium and the world reknowned 'city that never sleeps'... ...Manhattan - is destroyed." Damn, this is some heavy shit!

A mad scientist named Dr. Personality comes and takes Foxxx's body to The Lab, where he's been storing the dead body of every black gangster of the 50's and 60's (you never know what you're going to need if the city blows up, I guess). He uses all those parts to resurrect Freddie and transform him into his alter-ego, Bumpy Knuckles. There's also Knocko, a victim of an old African witch doctor who transformed him into "an ugly small man with a huge head and even huger heart," unable to speak.

I don't think there's too many of these around as it was just given out promotionally. You should be able to sleep at nights without it; but it's a fun addition to the collection of a Foxxx fan. My copy came with a Bumpy Knuckles sticker, postcard and bumper sticker as well.



Good times. :)

Update 7/30/09: I just recently picked up the Industry Shakedown CD (late pass lol), and found out it comes with a miniaturized version of this comic. Pretty cool! Just to clarify, though, the comic book I'm talking about above is full-sized (meaning: the size of a standard comic book).

Tags: Freddie Foxxx

The Death Of the Album!!! well, lah dee dah

It's been a while since I've done a "mini-post," huh? Well - apologies to all you bloggers with writers block, struggling to come up with content and all - but I just have too much to blog about. Post ideas come and at least half get away. But I just read another blog post[sorry, lost the link - it wasn't that good anyway], reminding me of a post I meant to write the last time I read a blog on the subject. It was talking about how the mp3 age, along with all the other crappy things it's doing, is going kill the album.

No, I'm not talking about vinyl[for once!], but how, with the way the music industry is headed, we'll soon see most musicians giving up on releasing ten to twenty songs all in one go and calling it an album. And instead every artist will record, market and release an individual song at a time. It's been debated back and forth, but let's assume for the sake of assuming things that they're right.

Now, I know most of the heads active on the internet are in their early- to mid-twenties and think hip-hop started with A Tribe Called Quest. But really, hip-hop started with the single. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Busy Bee, Treacherous Three, Spyder-D, etc etc all released just one single after another. Each song had to be hit-worthy to make any noise. Only years later did most of the artists start compiling these singles into little albums; an it really wasn't until the major labels got involved in the 80's that hip-hop joined the other musical genres in recording bunches of songs at a time, filled with half-assed... album filler.

Being the first rapper signed to a major label (Mercury), Kurtis Blow pretty much got a head start on everybody else. And look at his debut album: "Throughout Your Years," "All I Want Is This Girl," "Taking Care of Business?" The only songs worth a damn are the ones that were released as singles. How about the Sugarhill Gang? Can you tell me you'd really miss them if "Bad News" and "Passion Play" were never packaged and released with "Rapper's Delight?" And the trend hasn't changed from then to now, except today we also throw in a crap-ton of skits and bad rap intros (ask Max if he'd be sorry to see the back of those) into the mix.

Ok, sure; I can name the same classic albums you can, with nothing but really good songs from back to front (or, at least, only one or two weaker links in the bunch). Do you think that accounts for even 1% of hip-hop albums, though? And even those artists who did record those 1% have all since gone on to record albums filled with junk later in their careers, pressured by industry expectations to just keep putting out pounds and pounds of material, most of which we'll never listen to more than once.
Do we want quantity or quality? Promising underground artists (like, oh say... Living Legends, Ras Kass, Atmosphere, Hieroglyphics, everybody on Def Jux, etc) have all spread themselves way too thin, releasing tons of material. All those guys have proven they're capable of releasing great songs... but instead we get album after album full of songs where it's like, "ok, this song has a nice beat but the writing is clearly half-assed... this one has a few good lines, but a lot of corny verses in between... this one has good lyrics, but the beat sucks." Kool Keith bragged in an interview about writing an entire album in 24 hours (I think it was either Matthew or Sex Style)... And people ask why he hasn't managed another Critical Beatdown.

So, should we really be sad to usher in an era where there's no longer a safe market for bad songs? Where artists won't release a song unless it can stand on its own? Where the rhymes are worth saying and the beats actually catch your attention? Where we can sit down and listen to music without or fingers on the Fast Forward button?

Krs-One once rapped on "We In There," "my people died so I could rhyme! Do you think I'm gonna get on the mic and waste my nation's time?" To me, returning to an era where an MC will only pick up a mic when he has something to say is no tragedy. And let that >1% of artists who really feel artistically compelled to complete a full album at a time do it... just when they feel up to it.
I still say support vinyl... but only when it's worth supporting.

Yah Yah'll Stomp Out Ya Endocrine System

Sometimes some dope shit just falls through the cracks. Yah Yah, Young Zee's little brother, was probably the most under-appreciated MCs in the Outsidaz crew. Everyone knew Zee going in from his Perspective stuff, Pace Won was really given the chance to showcase himself, and of course Rah Digga and Eminem were blowing up on their own. Slang Ton was starting to get some shine, winning the Blaze battle, etc. and Yah was never really recognized as more than just another of the guys in the large crew. But go back even as far as "Rain Or Shine," and he's that MC who you didn't know that had us trippin' on the Outz MCs.

After the Outsidaz fumbled on their major label release, The Bricks and tragically split up, Yah Yah moved to Florida where he hooked up with a small production outfit called 5th Lmnt Productions. They don't seem to be around anymore; but their site used to tell the story, "Through a series of events, THE 5TH met up with Yahyah, formerly of the Outsidaz and recorded two albums... Sage [one of their in-house producers] and Yah got together on a collaboration effort and after crankin out some of the hottest tracks you'll ever hear, started bumping heads in the production process. This creative control issue is what eventually lead to Yah's departure."

Those two albums: Yah Yah's Lord of the Underground and Yah Yah and Sage Lee's The Collaboration, don't seem to have ever come out[found one? Let me know!]. But what did come out was this 2005 promo-only CD single from that Collaboration album: "All I Need Is Some Love" b/w "Time 2 Party." Now, I know what you're thinking. Years after The Outz split, a lesser known member solo with some unknown, indie producer... and look at those titles! That's gotta be pure garbage. But, no; don't let the evidence fool you.

First of all, "All I Need Is Some Love" is not the sappy, desperate attempt at radio-friendly love song crossover it looks like. Yeah, it's about relationships; but this is from the crew that once rhymed, "Ya bitch said aliens raped her and her four friends; but it was all the Outz... we dressed up as Martians" on a Redman album. Yah Yah doesn't go quite that far this time around, but he kills it on the mic, flipping one crazy multi-syllable rhyme after another. The production is quality, but would definitely be considered corny if any other MC was on it, without Yah's off-kilter, grimy flow. it's a weird marriage of underground spitting and mainstream beats that just really works.

And the exact same formula works a second time on "Time 2 Party:" poppy production, a classic Outsidaz flow and crazy lyrics:

"Who gets the party rockin'? Thugs with shotties droppin',
Ladies hoppin', body rockin', lollipop Baccardi shots and
You oughta know it's Lova; all the flows is gutta;
Word to mutha, all the brutha knows is butta;
And I'm gonna spread it for ya; that's why I'm hittin' chords,
Spittin' raw, rippin' tours and practicin' my magic like The Gryphondors
It's the lord - he done blessed the kid
To make heads spin around without the exorcist.
I don't need necklaces and sex with fifths;
I'm rich like the soil in Texas is.
The party ain't the place for all ya plans with handguns;
I buy out the bar and get everybody dancin'.
Cops come checkin' to arrest the camp,
But we're VIP sippin' on breast implants.
Test them plants, I roll up some weed and pull it;
Let you play Superman and stop a speedin' bullet."

He's even paired up with some Will Downing/ Alexander O'Neal/ whoever-style R&B singer doing back-ups and the chrous (on both songs). But I tell you it works. Hearing him echo phrases like "breast implants" is bugged; and Yah Yah brings enough attitude ("if they shut down this club, then I'll shut down your block!") to keep it street like Puff or Timba just dream they could do. It ends with Yah leading a drunken chorus, "somebody say: light that weed (light that weed!), say spike that drink (spike that drink!); fight outside; y'all niggas better fight outside!"

So Yah Yah hs split with 5th Lmnt (and I believe moved back from Florida), but he's still doing music. He has a myspace here where you can hear some tracks he's working on now. Someone really needs to give this guy an Eminem-size budget and just let him do whatever the hell he wants with all the best producers for a heavily marketed album. It would be ill.

Update 9/20/08: There's some kind of error which makes the first song, "All I Need Is Some Love," break up near the end. By "break up," I mean cutting out to silence and back in again, very quickly, for about the last 20 seconds or so. This is true of every copy released (I know; I now have more than one). It's not horrendous (it's after all the MCing is done with, anyway), but it sure is annoying and probably killed any chance this promo single had of actually getting any promo plays. But, yeah... there is no version without this defect out there, so us fans've just gotta live with it.

Tags: Yah Yah, Outsidaz, Sage Lee

Drippin' Dope

This is the only single by a three-man crew from the boogie down Bronx on Mob Records, a small off-shoot of B-Boy Records.. Collectively, they were known as Reel Deal, and the single is called "Drippin' Dope."

There's only one the song, in four misleadingly labeled versions. "Drippin' Dope," "Drippin' Dope Saxapella," "Drippin' Dope Saxbreak" and "Drippin' Dope Dub." But they all seem to be full vocal versions with the same basic instrumental, just edited slightly different? Oh well, there's no call for a remix to this one, anyway; since the original instrumental is clearly the selling point here.

An air raid siren blares and then - years before Jeru got a huge buzz for doing the same thing on his debut, "Come Clean" (though, admittedly not before Eric B's "Chinese Arithmetic") - the loud, looped sound of dripping water kicks off the main beat. There's phat drums, too (very true to the B-Boy Records sound), and a DJ scratching in some James Brown vocal and horn samples. It winds up at the end with just a touch of fresh, live sax playing over the banging beat.... certainly not as much as you'd expect from titles like "Saxbreak" and "Saxapella," but it's cool. Any more would have been overdone.

But it's not just the great track that makes this song so good - the MCs rip it, too. While they're not especially great lyrics, their delivery is hard and in pace with the rapid-fire beat, with fun lines like: "I'll slice you just like a potato; when I'm through, you'll be lookin' like Play-Doh." For the third verse, they combine, going line for line, finishing off each other's sentences, like a crazy BDP/ Kid 'N' Play hybrid. This is just one of those random rap releases you buy on a whim that turns out to be as satisfyingly.... well, dope as you'd hoped. If you come across this one reasonably priced and you're like, "hmmm..." trust me; pick it up.

Finally, this last part of is mainly in reply to a post in the DWG forums:

The vinyl has no date on the label, but according to the tape artwork and the cassette itself, this was released in 1989.

Tags: Reel Deal