The Lost Giancana Story

So, most of you guys know the basic story of Kool G Rap's sixth album; but for those who don't let me catch ya up real quick before we get into the advanced stuff. When G Rap was looking for a post Cold Chillin' label/home, Rawkus Records was at the top of its game. So when they signed him, it seemed like the promise of something great (even if they were already showing signs of having too much corny, controlling influence in their artists' work). So, he recorded his album, The Giancana Story for them, and they released a promo single or two. They started to have conflict about his not being commercial enough, their focusing on other other artists who were popping off... the album kept getting pushed back. G Rap recorded new material to please the label, a few more promo 12"s came out, the album leaked. The album got pushed back again, another version leaked. Eventually the album was shelved, Rawkus fell into financial hardship and eventually collapsed, and Kool G Rap was without a label. A few years later, he signed with Koch, and their first project with him was to release long lost The Giancana Story (with Rawkus, who are also credited on the label).

Ok, so now you're caught up. The Giancana Story, as it was released by Koch, was fourteen tracks long (refer to my Kool G Rap page for the complete track-listing). But the leak(s) were longer, and featured a bunch of songs not on the Koch version. And some of the stuff released on promo 12" also wasn't on the Koch album. In fact, there's more missing from the Koch album than there's included! So, now let's take a look back at all of these "lost" Giancana stories.

Oh wait; before I start, let me just get this out of the way. To add to the confusion of the different Giancana Story albums, there have been some retitlings. For instance, "She's Dressed To Kill" from the original leak did make its way onto the final, retail version; only they called it "Black Widow." "Get 'Em Up Now" became "Fight Club," etc. But the tracks we're about to look at are completely different songs.

1) "First Nigga" - This was released on promo 12" in 2001. It's ok (there's some nice scratching on the hook), but was quickly overshadowed by our next track...

2) "First Nigga (DJ Premiere Remix)" - This was released as the B-side to the 2001 single of "The Streets," and as you'd expect from a remix by DJ Premiere, it totally eclipsed the original, which was promptly forgotten. It's not surprising that "First Nigga" didn't make the album, but very surprising that this remix didn't.

3) "Ride On" featuring Jagged Edge - This was released on 12" in 2002. Jagged Edge is a male R&B group singing the hook... they're ok, but G Rap flowing on the killer beat to The Arsonists' "Venom" is hot. It's worth picking up the 12".

4) "G Rap Is a Villain" featuring Ma Barker - This song was only on the leaked album and has never been properly released. It's a duet with Ma Barker, and a play on "Top Billin'" with a hook that goes, "Ma Barker's chillin', G Rap is a villain, what more can we say to you bitches? We pop steel an' that's what we got, baby, givin' it good. Don't give a fuck if you from the same hood." It's not great, but a fun album track.

5) "This Is My Life" featuring CNN - this song is one of the best on any version of the album, but it was only featured on the leak. It loops an upbeat moment from the Scarface soundtrack, and each MC spits gangster tales and comes off tight (and I'm really not much of a CNN supporter generally). There must have been sample issues or something, 'cause I can't imagine even the most tin-eared label exec thinking this should be left back.

6) "Round and Round (remix)" featuring Jonel - To be fair, this was probably never intended for any version of The Giancana Story, but as always, I'm being completist. This was featured on a 2001 promotional CDsingle of "My Life." It's an R&B song by Jonel that features a couple guest verses by G Rap; he wasn't on the original, and there was even another version featuring Method Man. It's basically just another in a long line of forgettable R&B tracks with guest rappers on the remix, but it's worth tracking down just because the guest happened to be G Rap this time.

7) "Keep Goin'" featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg & Devin the Dude - This team-up must've been some Rawkus guy's idea. It was released as a promo 12" in 2002. Each MC does a good job, but with a slow beat (produced by Hi-Tek) and a sung hook, it's the sort of compromised sound that doesn't wind up satisfying any of these guys' fans. It's really not bad, though.

8) "How It Feel" featuring Havoc - The track for this leak-only joint is really cool, with some nice atmospheric samples; and G Rap kills it. Havoc provides a nice hook (though no verse). This would've been a much better choice than a lot of the generic tracks that made the final album.

9) "Ya'll Niggas" featuring BGF - This wasn't featured on the original leak, so it must've been recorded later to satisfy Rawkus. It was never released, only featured on a second leak. It's an ok posse cut with his crew again, the beat is a little livelier than most. Update 1/28/09: The Japanese issue of the Koch CD actually includes this song as a bonus track, retitled as "Planet Of the Apes." There's no difference between the two.

10) "This Means War" - This is kinda like "Ya'll Niggas" but without his crew. Which makes it a little better. It's upbeat and angry, but the track is kinda lame. It was only featured on the leak.

11) "Holla Back" with Nas, Nawz & AZ - Yeah, this was featured on the album. But the leaked version had Nas kicking the first verse instead of Tito of BGF. Nas seriously came off with one of his tightest, illest verses, too ("Throw niggas off yachts, hold niggas with shots, my bitches ran 'cause I'm stupid - I put the shit on digital cam. Light up an ounce, let my bitches watch it on television, hella relentless. Fifty a pop, sell it like Menace. When I sleep, all I see is a white skeleton image. It's telling me something... I opened up Shakespeare's tomb, stole his remains, grinded his bones and got in the game"); so it's a real loss. This version was only featured on the leak. The Koch version also remixed the beat adding a few extra samples and bits. None of it makes up for the loss of Nas.

12) "Nobody Can't Eat" - In a 2002 interview with HipHopDX, G Rap talked about how he wanted this to be his next single, saying, "that’s a good song to define G Rap." It was featured as the B-side to his "My Life" single, but wasn't featured on any versions of the actual album.

13) "Ordinary Love" featuring Ma Barker - Kool G Rap kills it on this song, though the R&B hook could've turned off the pure hardrock fans. I really like this one, though; the only drawback to me is Ma Barker. Don't get me wrong, she's ok (she usually is), but Kool G Rap raises the bar way over her head with his verses. It's also some (slightly) different material for G Rap. This was only featured on the leak.

14) "Why You Gotta Do It Like That" featuring Ma Barker - Kool G Rap tries something a little different here. The hook drags on a bit, but the beat is interesting and G Rap comes off really nice once he starts spittin'. Ma Barker sounds nice on this track, too; though of course another G Rap verse would've been preferable. If you ask me, the combo of G Rap and this track would've sounded really nice on the album, but again it was only featured on the leak.

Update 1/20/09: I forgot one!
15) "Thug Out" featuring Black Child, Caddillac Tah, Ma Barker & Jinx - this is the original version of what Koch later released as "Spill Blood" (not on the album, but put out as the exclusive B-side to their 12" single of "It's Nothin'"). It features the same hook and verses, but the beat is totally different ...actually, "Spill Blood"'s track by DJ Scratch is better, so this not being included is no great loss. For some reason Ma Barker isn't credited on the 12" with the other MCs, but that's clearly her kicking the third verse.

Of course, there's no telling if there are any other unreleased Giancana stories still locked in Rawkus or Koch's closets. The Koch version did introduce us to a few new tracks: "Gangsta Gangsta," "Drama (Bitch Nigga)" and "It's Nothin'," which they also made as their single. So if there was those, maybe there's more. And even if there isn't, there's still enough here for a Giancana Story Part 2. So how about it, guys? G Rap's Rawkus material is underrated (most of it at least holds up to Live & Let Die, and 4,5,6). I'd buy it.

The Fresh Prince Meets Jazz

"To other DJ's, Jeff is just too much - he doesn't use a line switch as a transformer crutch!"

Yeah, "The Groove (Jazzy's Groove)" is already one of the best, most understated DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince songs - certainly the best off of album #3. It's a hype beat with fun, clever rhymes by Smith hyping up his DJ:

"Look, it's simple;
Just admit it.
Jeff is the deffest;
You wanted to battle? Forget it!
You're a fool,
You're slippin', you're loony, you're crazy;
No if's, no and's,
It'll be just your butt, baby!"

And every hook or breakdown is Jeff using a showcasing his skills on the turntables in a different way. It's also an amusing answer record of sorts to Soul II Soul's "Jazzie's Groove" which was a big hit single at the time. ...But that's just the tip of the iceberg of what makes this second single so dope.

First, you've got the Extended Remix, which adds about a minute's length and features jazz great Grover Washington Jr.! About midway through the song, Smith adds a new verse about how they had trouble finishing the record and until Grover came in to save the day, and then Grover plays an incredible solo over the breakdown. Soon Grover is playing all over the track, and there's some additional keyboards and samples added as well. Jeff changes his final line from, "I made the beat hype, but still kinda smooth" to "I made the beat hype; Grover made it smooth." Finally, the A-side of is rounded out by the Radio version, which is just a shortened edit of the Extended version.

But that's still not the half, 'cause when you flip the record over, instead of "The Groove (Jazzy's Groove)," you have three mixes of "The Groove (Grover's Groove)." The beat starts out the same, with the added instrumentation of the Extended version, but Grover is playing from the first note. Basically, where the A-side was DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince song featuring Grover Washington Jr., this is a Grover Washington Jr. song that features them. The beat is mellowed out, dropping the drums and some other elements for most of the song. Smith starts kicking the verse he added to Extended Version on the A-side, but this is a fuller version, with more (and better) rhymes about working with Grover and music bringing together people from different walks of life. But it's just that verse; most of the song is Grover playing non-stop to the groove.

The B-side also has a Version Without Rap, which is pretty self-explanitory, totally removing The Fresh Prince from the equation. And finally there's a Radio Version - a tighter edit of the "Grover's Groove" mix. All this and a picture cover? And because it's not at all rare and people sleep on their later material, it can be easily found at super cheap prices. This belongs in your crates!

Cocaine Blunts Vs. Werner Von Wallenrod

Woohoo! It has landed - the year-end issue of Hip-Hop Connection magazine (January '09, issue #230 with L'il Wayne on the cover for those on the lookout), that features this very blog you're now reading. :) By the way, I had a devil of a time getting an issue here in New Jersey, so thanks very much again to a nice guy who was generous enough to mail me a copy from Europe.

It's a nice, four-page piece written by Andrew Emery called "Hip-Hop Blog World Cup," which picks the top 16 hip-hop blogs and pits us against each other. There's commentary on each blog by the writer, as well as by the other bloggers (we were all interviewed in advance). So the article writes, "Werner's unique approach to obscure hip-hop and compellingly strange video essays take the blog into new territory" (hehe), and then like Trav of Wake Your Daughter Up says about me, "If all of us old school bloggers held a Jeopardy type tournament, Werner would crush us all." Man, I loves this article.

So, we're then pit up against each other in pairs. As you may've guessed from the title, I was rivaled off with Cocaine Blunts, which is some stiff comp... I said (an unused quote, which makes this like a bonus, unreleased 12" b-side to the full mag article LP), "CB closed down for a minute, but I'm so glad it's back. Noz is one of the best hip-hop writers.” But then, I guess there's not really anyone in the piece that I'd want to have to dual it out with. That's why I'm glad that outside of this article, it's not a competition - I'm honored just to be on the same page as these guys, and every single one of them is in my Reader.

We're also quoted throughout the article talking about each other's blogs like this on Soul Sides, "Werner Von Wallenrod sums it up best: 'Knowledgeable, well-written blog… too much about the music used to make hip-hop than actual hip-hop music for my tastes; but they’re definitely authorities on what they write about.'" Here are a couple more bonus ones of mine that aren't in final the article:

Unkut - "Sometimes gets a little lazy just posting random mp3's, but has done some of the best interviews in any hip-hop blog, ever... getting to the hearts of stories most hip-hop writers aren't knowledgeable enough to even ask about."

Nah Right - "Basically just news aggregation, I guess; but does so much (you can scroll through pages of old posts and they'll still be from today!), that Nah Right's become a pretty definitive source."

Bust the Facts - "When all the other mp3 blogs seem to be reading from the same playbook, ripping and posting the same albums; BtF always finds what all the others have overlooked. And posts a lot."

Dallas Penn - "Does the best video blogs: funny, sincere and smart."

Hip-Hop Isn't Dead... - "Great track-by-track reviews, and lots of them! Respects the greats (esp the Wu), without being blind to their shortcomings."

So yeah, check out the issue to read the whole thing, including who beat out who, and which blogger ultimately won the Hip-Hop Blog World Cup. I also found some other nice bits in the same issue to sweeten the pot, including a great big piece on The Cookie Crew, a fun interview with Russell Simmons, a cool little editorial piece on Kool G. Rap and a substantial Top Choice Clique interview. ...Why can't we have magazines like this in the US?

The Fresh Prince Meets Doo-Wop

Here's one that's probably for the hardcore collector's only, but it's kinda fun if you're willing to be seen walking out of the record store with this. "When the Radio Is On" is the single off of Paul Shaffer (yes, David Letterman's bandleader... that Paul Shaffer)'s debut album, Coast To Coast. It came out in 1989 and it's of interest because it features Ecstasy of Whodini and The Fresh Prince (who otherwise never dropped guest verses). The album was sort of a compilation, where Shaffer went around the world (or at least different parts of the US) and collaborated with all types of famous musicians; and because it was the 80's, of course his New York song had to be a rap song!

It's not that terrible, though, in a hodge-podge kind of way. It starts out like a doo-wop song, but Ecstasy quickly comes on to kick the first verse, and from then on it's a flat-out rap song with a sung chorus. The Fresh Prince rhymes second, and at first comes off as well as he was doing on his own records, but after a few lines the lyrics stop sounding like they were written by him (indeed, he doesn't get a writing credit; but then rappers often didn't get writing credit for their lyrics back in the 80's), when he says lines like, "my first romance, ooh we used to dance to the man with the blue suede shoes." So, a young Will Smith and his first girlfriend started out dancing to Carl Perkins is what you're asking us to believe? Perhaps that line was originally intended for Shaffer, who actually takes the final verse for himself. That he comes off as the weakest link should go without saying to anybody within a mile of this blog, especially since he shouts every single word of his verse, but at least he's energetic.

And the instrumental is listenable enough. It's co-produced by Whodini's producer Larry Smith, Shaffer of course (Smith and Shaffer both also play the keyboards here), and Russell Simmons. It's got a healthy dose of live instrumentation by genuinely talented musicians and vocalists like singer/songwriters Johnny Maestro, Jay Siegel, Dion, Carole King and Ellie Greenwich. And everyone just sounds so awfully damn enthusiastic singing about how much they enjoy listening to the radio.

Now, I'd actually been half-heartedly looking for this one for a while (not too hard, 'cause you know), but could never remember the title. I just remembered seeing this live on The David Letterman Show, when Paul Shaffer did a big production number to promote his new record (naturally), and it featured The Fresh Prince and Daddy-O of Stetsasonic. Daddy-O was performing because Ecstasy was unable to attend (I still remember Letterman joking that "Ecstasy is in agony"), and a couple of the other vocalists were swapped around, too. But I finally found this 12" in somebody's dollar stock (where it belongs), so I had to pick it up: "that's that's song!" Then, once I got it home and knew what the title was, I did an online search, and found the original Letterman clip is on Youtube (but minus the Ecstasy joke - I guess that came later in the episode).

Now, the 12" features five different mixes: The Big City Beat Mix, the Def & Dum Dub, The GoGo-A-GoGo Instrumental, Acappella and The Single. The one dubbed the single is the one from the album (I think it was also subtitled "The Single" there to showcase that it was, yaknow, the singlem which makes a little more sense). The Big City Beat Mix is an interesting alternative mix... it brings in some different musicians, most notably Jeff Lorber on keyboards (a lot of people with a lot of Grammys worked on this single!) , and goes for a less pop music-y vibe (though, of course, all variations of this song are inherently extremely poppy). The GoGo-A-GoGo instrumental is a bit different than the actual instrumentals to any of the other versions, but it's close to the Big City Beat Mix and features the same credits. The Acappella is self-explanatory.

Finally, there's the Def & Dum Dub, a version mixed by Larry Smith. Despite being called a dub version, it features full vocals; but most of the instruments are stripped away or turned into short sampled loops. This works to make it easily the most hip-hop sounding version of the song, though, in the case of a tune like this, I'm not sure if that's even preferable. Still, all told, the different mixes are varied enough that all five versions in a row hold together as an acceptable little listen when you're in the mood for something upbeat and goofy.

2009: Year Of the Juice Crew EP

It's here! The Juice Crew E.P. is the sixth vinyl release from DWG (and the third release from Hot Chillin' Records). It's limited to 350 copies, in four different vinyl colors (mine's blue). It features five incredible, vintage unreleased songs by Juice Crew All-Stars straight from Marley Marl's vaults, and all produced by Marley himself.

The first song is "I Declare War" by Kool G Rap & DJ Polo, recorded during the Road To the Riches sessions. The press sheet points out that Marley declared this "iller than 'It's a Demo'" during their listening sessions, and it definitely gives that song a run for it's money. The instrumental sounds a little cluttered with noise, but hits no less hard for it, and DJ Polo is really given a chance to shine on the tables during the hook. And G Rap just spits one vicious line after another:

"Old school is cool,
But I'm better than veterans.
My rhymes are vitamins,
The baddest they ever been.
MCs will freeze;
I make G's go overseas;
Records and movies,
Polo is Cool Breeze.
Ready for war
With a rap knapsack
On my back;
White or black,
G Rap will attack.
To destroy anything
Seen or an unseen,
Like Idi Amin,
You know what I mean.
Helter skelter
With no bomb shelter,
Rhymes will explode;
This beat is a Morse code.
Quiverin', shiverin',
Rappers ran again;
I make 'em panic and
Stand like a mannequin.
It is a fact
My mic'll be an artifact;
You get a heart attack
Any time I start a rap.
You want more
From a man with a high score?
That's what I'm here for;
Yo, I declare war!"

The next track is "Stunt Of the Block" by the Super Kids (as in Tragedy, the Intelligent Hoodlum), recorded the same week as "Eric B. Is President" and "The Bridge." There's a reason he was billed as a super kid, though; if you've never heard his super early recordings, you're familiar with the "Teen Voice Tragedy." But don't get it twisted, his voice works, sounding really raw against the big, old school Marley beat and constant cutting, while he preaches at a young girl, "gettin' in bed while you're punchin' a clock? Don't even try to front 'cause you're the stunt of the block."

Track three is one that Stretch Armstrong revealed to the world last year on his blog: Big Daddy Kane's long lost, "For Your Own Concern." Of course, this - like all the other tracks on this EP - is a clean, top quality pressing taken from Marley's original masters, a nice improvement over the old (but much appreciated!) radio rip. "For Your Own Concern" was intended for Long Live the Kane, "but somehow never made it" according to the press sheet. It's a little slow and features a few rhymes Kane later recycled (though there's a lot of nice unheard material on-hand, too!); so to me this is the weakest song on here, but it's still a great example of early Kane that would easily merit a place on his best albums.

Fourth is another Kool G Rap & Polo cut called "Enter the Dragon." An alternate version of "Enter the Dragon" was released to the public in 1996, when Cold Chillin' put out the Rated XXX/ Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous compilation to finish out their contract with the label. That version was cool. but it sounds like a corny, in-house producer remix that sloppily meshes an old vocal track to a new instrumental, compared to the original included here. This is a totally different instrumental using Joe Tex's "I Gotcha" and some more nice scratching by Polo on the hook. He may even have managed to steal the show from Kool G Rap on this one, which is certainly saying something! You can go ahead and dismiss the Rated XXX version now as a novel curiosity piece for completist fats only; this version is clearly the definitive version of this rap masterpiece.

Last, we have probably the least anticipated - and as such, the sweetest surprise - Craig G's "Drop a Bomb On 'Em." This is really nice. His flow over this beat is Craig at his best; standing right alongside "Droppin' Science." From the line, "a lot of feelings were hurt when I dropped 'Duck Alert," though, we can assume this was made shortly after In Control vol. 1. I'd guess it was recorded for The Kingpin, and then left off because Atlantic needed to make room for the house and love jams, so they excised one of the nicest tracks. But whatever fool was responsible for keeping this gem from the public, DWG has finally corrected that.

Let me end with this drool-worthy quote from the press sheet, "when we were at a loss for a final song to include on this project, Marley came up with five or six different options - each as dope as the next. Which, of course, begs the question, 'when is Juice Crew EP Vol. 2 gonna drop?'" ::shudder::

Cause Marley Can Do It Righter

^^(Video blog!)
(B-side wins again.)

Whata Ya Want fur Nuthin'?

Let me start off my saying I haven't really been keeping up with the EPMD comeback hype, but what I have heard of their new reunion album, We Mean Business, (the CD is already out now; the vinyl drops later this month) was pretty respectable. So when I saw this second single (following the "Blow" 12", which came out ages ago) being offered as a freebie with any purchase from accesshiphop.com, I threw it in the cart. That single is "Run It (Remix)."

Now, from what I understand (feel free to correct me in the comments if I'm wrong; like I said, I haven't followed too closely), "Run It" was one of several tracks promotionally leaked onto the internet in advance of the album. The beat (self-produced by EPMD like most of the album) was cool, but response was a little underwhelming. So this was later leaked again, as a remix. The beats and rhymes were the same, but they added a new verse by Krs-1 at the end (he also threw in some ad-libs behind Eric and Parrish's vocals). That version was better received, and that's what finally wound up on the album.

Well, this single makes the bizarre choice to go back to the non-Krs 1 version. It's brought to you by Scion, the same car company(?) that put out that kinda cool Big Daddy Kane/Percee-P collabo last year. Supposedly you can hear samples of all their hip-hop promo singles on their website, but I can't get it to do anything but crash my browser.

So anyway, you've got three remixes here: the "Herve's Got His Hands Up Remix" by Joshua Harvey, the "Sinden Remix" by Graeme Sinden and the "Duke Dumont Mix" by Duke Dumont. No, I've never heard of any of those guys, either. And I'll tell you straight off, the first two remixes are crap. Can I just leave it at that? I guess I shouldn't.

Ok, well, any element you liked about the original instrumental is out - the ill piano looop right down to the hip-hop drums. Both remixes use typical club beats instead, and just use a different sample set on top. Harvey's variation is an irritating collage of straight-off-the-laptop sounds. He also rips out all the vocals, and just endlessly drops in a few repeating vocal samples from Sermon's verse. It's sort of a cross between the sounds of a construction site and a dentist's drill.

Sinden's remix, on the other hand, is like you might expect to hear in a London dance club, if you're an American who's never been overseas and has the worst possible opinion of Europeans. He also spends a lot of time looping short snippets of Sermon's verse, but eventually lets P's verse play through, albeit often chopped and juggled. I'm sure you've heard every sound on this mix in other dance club mixes, and you hated them then, too. I was left wanting to break up with my girlfriend for making me experience this, but then I realized I subjected myself to this.

Fortunately, Duke Dumont's remix is on a substantially higher level. I mean, it's not great; but compared to the other two it's like vintage Paul C. For one, it's back to being a hip-hop verse, with real drums and EPMD both actually spitting their verses (though still no Krs). It sounds like something you might randomly catch on Hot 97 in the evening. The hook is reduced to simply the phrase "Hands Up" looped a few times, but it's passable. Dumont adds some cool, Egyptian-sounding musical elements and marries them fairly well to the track - it's even catchy, but it kinda sounds like this track would fit a lot of artists better than EPMD.

In the end, though, the clear winner is the album version - which, for the record, isn't included here - followed by the promotional leak that wound up being rendered obsolete. But Duke Dumont's version isn't terrible, and you might finding yourself revisiting it every couple of years as a curiosity piece, if you've got the single in your collection. At least it's free.

A Nightmare On Elm Street rap, part 3.1

^^(Video blog!)
(I had to go in one last time and finish up the last detail.)

More On Vinyl Sales

The underrated KnowGoodMusic just posted this article (which I linked over in my "Best Blog Posts" section), with more about vinyl sales going up while CD sales continue to decline. I suggest you also read his source articles from Wendy Day and The Associated Press. Let me point a few details out:

First, the non-vinyl (from AP), "Lil Wayne had the year's top-selling album, 'Tha Carter III,' with 2.87 million units sold... The top selling digital artist was Rihanna with 9.94 million tracks sold, followed by Swift and Kayne West." Souljah Boy may've just accused Nas of killing hip-hop, but it still seems to be dominating the sales charts.

Now, let's look at the vinyl (also from AP). First the good news, "Ironically, as digital downloads grew, vinyl album sales also climbed. In 2008, more vinyl albums were purchased (1.88 million) than any other year since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991." Woot! Right? So how come all our hip-hop labels and artists are bypassing vinyl presses now of all times?

Well, let's read a bit further, "More than two of every three vinyl albums were purchased at an independent music store during the year, the company reported. The top selling vinyl albums were Radiohead's 'In Rainbows' (26,000 units), the Beatles' 'Abbey Road' (16,500) and Guns 'N Roses' 'Chinese Democracy' (13,600)." This really just seems to confirm my theory I've been building for a while now, based on my armchair research and discussions with artists and indie label owners online. For whatever reason - whether you blame the mp3 blogs, the urban economic demographic or whatever - wax is on the rise in every genre except hip-hop, the one genre that used to be the only ones holding it down.

Why is that? I don't know. The theories have certainly been tossed around and around, and it won't amount to much than that until somebody grows the balls to test a few of them. But it certainly seems to be true that none of the major hip-hop players are marketing/ advertising towards the vinyl side of things, or even acknowledging that it exists (you'd think at least Vestax or somebody would spring for a few XXL ads, right?). Instead, they seem to be deadset focused on chasing those dwindling CD sales down the tubes and becoming ringtone rappers. And that feels like everybody's loss.

Update 1/12/09: I'm refraining from making a whole new blog post on the subject, but here are a couple more links with some very interesting info on the rise of (apparently non-hip-hop) vinyl:
Will Merriweather Post Pavilion Vinyl Sales Land It On Billboard Charts? - Click through that article to a write-up on the same subject on MTV.com, too - a vinyl-only double album hitting the Billboard charts in '09!
Radiohead, Neutral Milk Hotel Help Vinyl Sales Almost Double In 2008 - The title says "almost double," but in the article, they go on to specify "89 percent more LPs were sold last year than in ‘07." Again, click through that article to another of theirs called "Vinyl Returns!"

The Mini Chandelier

Today we have Canadian producer Factor's The Chandelier EP, from his full-length album, also dubbed The Chandelier, that came out this August on his own label, Side Road Records. This EP conveniently collects the best vocal tracks with the most notable MCs, and leaves off all the boring instrumental stuff.

As you can see, it's a 7" picture disc on Ooohh That's Heavy Recordings, a label that specializes in limited 7" edition picture discs. And, yeah, this is limited, too. 500 copies were made; but that's beginning to feel like an appropriate, regular run on hip-hop vinyl these days. So, it's six solo songs by an eclectic collection of guests: "More Rude Than Handsome" by Awol One (California), "Time Of the Year" by Sadat X (New York), "The Leen" by Josh Martinez (Canada), "Good Old Smokey (My Kanine)" by Mykah Nine (California), "Pray" by Ceschi (Connecticut) and "Out Of the Same Thing" by The Gaff (Canada).

Like you'd expect from a Freestyle Fellowship veteran, Mykah gets creative with his flow, this time using a quick staccato delivery to contrast with the slow beat. Each sylable is deliberately pronounced, fitting in between rather than over each piano note, chopped vocal sample and drum hit. I get the impression both the MC and the producer were making a showcase track here.

Awol One, on the other-hand, goes for a sing-songy hook and a very relaxed flow for his verses/ The beat features driving power chords, rolling piano riffs, and a snare-heavy drum. The production is amazingly effective at making Awol's verses sound distinct and important, and he's written his unique brand of lyrics and dramatic pauses for the tune: "People and passion die inside. Your friends are just dorks and losers; my friends are incredible people that change peoples' lives. And my friends they influence the world. Your friends are just little drunk boys and girls with big dreams that they'll never carry out." He doesn't quite bring his A-game in the writing, which is a shame because the track is going all out for him, but the combination of the music and his delivery still make this a worthwhile Awol One venture.

Ceschi and Josh Martinez also go for sing-songy hooks. I don't know if Factor's beats just naturally inspire that type of hook, or if he specifically requests it. It doesn't sound out of place at all for Josh, who's upbeat number sounds like it could be lifted right off any of his recent albums, but Ceschi sounds like he's auditioning for The Eurythmics or something. It's certainly interesting, with a simple guitar loop, strong bassline and keyboards that sound like they're straight out of a Lucio Fulci film - but he leaves hip-hop a little too far behind for my tastes.

That's not a problem for Sadat's track, though. With sharp, horn-like keyboard stabs and a chopped vocal sample, care was clearly taken here to make Sadat sound at home on this track. But there's still enough piano and guitar here to make this exercise stand out from your typical Sadat X album filler. My only disappointment here is that it's too short - just 2:04... Sadat really only kicks one (nice) verse. If he'd just added one more, this could've be a successful single for Sadat to coincide with his new album.

Finally, The Gaff's contribution is a short DJ track. He cuts up various vocal samples as Factor adds and subtracts one musical element after another. The actual cutting is unexceptional, but it all adds up to a nice little interlude, anyway.

So, all in all, it's a solid EP. The best moments, the ones you'll find yourself going back to, are when the guests really manage to keep up with the producer. The rest is definitely passable, and will easily keep your head nodding if you've got it playing in the background. Bottom lime: they've made an affordable EP (and as a bonus, they've made it a cool picture disc) so you can skip the clunkier full-length. Definitely worth picking up for the highlights.

Hogs Leicht

So, we're nearing the end of another year, here... my last couple posts have been about newer releases (even if some are new releases of older music), and I'm gonna stick with that 'till the end of the year. There's still plenty of new stuff that needs to get some shine. And since last post was Grand Invincible, I'm gonna stick with the theme and do talk a bit about a sorely overlooked release from Sacred Hoop.

"Hogs of Rap" is a 12" release limited to 500 copies, but not "collector's priced" like the other limited edition I was writing about before. It's "handmade, stamped and screen-printed," and comes in the unusual picture cover shown above. This is the first release on Smooth Triumph Records... I'm not sure who runs that, exactly; but their press-sheet does say to "be on the look out for more 'vinyl only' releases from your favorite label: Smooth Triumph," so apparently they have more in store. Their motto is "breakin' even in this rap game."

"Hogs of Rap" is the first single off of Sacred Hoop's totally underrated Go Hogwild album, which I called possibly the best album of the year in '07. It's an epic posse cut, clocking in at over 11 minutes. It features Jihad, Eddie K, Brandon B, Conceit, TopR, Z-Man and of course Luke Sick over a series of Vrse Murphy's beats. Yeah, the track changes for each MC's verse. It's practically 7 separate songs with all different vocal and musical samples and distinct breaks between segments (Jihad's features a nice, altered use of the sample from Atmosphere's "Jackpot" and Eddie K's features guest scratching by DJ Quest), but somehow they all come together to make one ill cut of MC's representing both their collective crew and their own distinctive selves. Each instrumental effectively pulls you into the MC's world, who uses his unique style; and everyone involved brings their A game. It's damn fresh.

This 12" also features the full instrumental and two collections of "Acapella Scratch Phrases," where various lines from every MC are dropped acapella for DJing purposes. It actually came out at the tail end of '07 but was mostly just available at their shows. I don't know how many are left, but as of this writing, you can get it online direct off of Sacred Hoop's myspace.

While you're there, you can pick up Vrse's new instrumental album, Sport Leicht. It includes the instrumentals for all of Go Hogwild, plus a few new instrumentals ("Matador," "Cantana" and "Perfect Game"), unique to this album. And besides the new single and upcoming album from Grand Invincible mentioned in my last post, Sacred Hoop have a couple other projects in the work. Their next album they're working on now is tentatively titled Coffins In the Fourier; and Vrse is still talking about releasing The Bachelors album with Z-Man (in a semi-recent interview he said they were recording new tracks for it to keep it fresh), plus his EP with Neila. Then, Luke Sick and Z-Man have another project coming called The Motel Crew, which is them working with more "experimental" producers Mike 2600 and Doug Surreal (personally, I'd take some Vrse or Eons One beats any day; but the handful of Motel Crew tracks that've floated out onto the internet have been pretty cool - I mean, you can't front on the MCs). Oh, and Luke has mentioned another possible Disturbers album, and some unreleased Brougham stuff, too. Now, usually when artists talk about a grip of upcoming releases like that, they don't all wind up coming out, but even if only one or two of them do, it's gonna be hot.

So, yeah, that's it for tonight. We'll look at another contemporary vinyl release next time. Don't give up on new hip-hop music, old school heads. ;)