Sing Along With The Jaz

Remember, back in the day, when Jaz used to give interviews and he'd say, well, he was only so invested in this hip-hop thing, because he was also a singer? You know which Jaz I'm talking about, right? Jay-Z's sometimes partner/ sometimes bitter rival, "Hawaiian Sophie," D&D Project, "The Originators," later changed his name to Big Jaz and Jaz-O? Yeah, him. Well, this is that singing record.

This comes well before "Hawaiian Sophie." It's his first solo record, although he did do the High Potent record the year (rapping). But this is the first record flat out by The Jaz. It dropped in 1987 and was actually put out by Tommy Boy Records. And, yeah, he's straight singing through the whole thing... he doesn't even drop in one of those perfunctory Bobby Brown mini-raps during the breakdown.

So, how does he sound? Well, his voice sounds just the same as you've heard on all his hip-hop albums. And he doesn't have great range... plus, he's a little atonal. Or maybe just off-key. I think it's safe to say when he went back to rap he found his true calling.

But wait; I like this record! No, I really like this record. It's co-produced by The Jaz and Fresh Gordon, who's always been hit or miss. And it's straight 80's, no doubt. It's almost freestyle, but not quite. So, don't get me wrong; you might really hate this. But if you like records like Dino's "Summer Girls" or "Barbara's Bedroom" by Whistle, then this is right up your alley, and a really nice example of how this style of record was done. It's a funky bassline, bongo drums, hand claps, keyboards, sound effects played on a synthesizer... There's even a little electric guitar at key points. I guess the word for this one would be "bouncey."

Lyrically, the concept's simple, too. He's in love (natch) and isn't willing to share her with another guy who keeps coming between them.

If you're in your 20's or younger, you should probably just steer clear. Check out "I Believe In Music" instead. But me? I've got this cued up right after DJ Stef's 80's freestyle mix on my ipod. =)

Spare Time for Jokes

This is one that flew under a lot of heads' radars, I think... Of course, I can't imagine anyone reading this blog not having been well aware of Percee P's album on Stones Throw, Perseverance. And I certainly agreed with the common consensus: it was good, but not the fantastic album that heads had been waiting so long for. Why? Because instead of working with Showbiz, Premiere, Beatminerz, Pete Rock, Diamond (they had him rhyme but not produce? what?), Large Pro, Finesse, and all the other producers everybody expected and wanted him to work with (how about a couple tracks with Charlemagne? that would've been cool), the entire album was produced by Madlib. Who isn't bad, but he's A) not quite of the caliber of the producers I just listed and B) with his sensibilities, isn't such a good match-up.

So, hooray for great justice when it was announced that Stones Throw was releasing the entire album remixed, right? They were paying attention to the fans and critics, and were finally giving the people what they'd hoped for, right? No, actually Madlib did this entire album, too. This album was released on CD only (fitting, I guess), and it really just feels like someone bundled up all the versions Madlib decided not to use on Perseverance.

But, let's not be entirely negative... One of the good things is that this album doesn't use any of the 12" remixes that were released on Perseverance's singles. Those "Put It On the Line" remixes, the nice little "Hand That Leads You" 7" remix? Those are all unique to those singles. The remixes here are all new. When I finally broke down and ordered this, I was concerned I was gonna be buying half the songs over again, so I'm glad to report that's not the case.

In fact, there have been some changes to the track-listing since the original version... The sequence has been totally reshuffled, some titles have been arbitrarily changed (for example, "The Lady Behind Me" becomes "The Woman Behind Me"), and most notably, some songs have been dropped. Now, granted, "Intro" and "Outro" were no great losses (although, interestingly, the two "Interludes" have been included and remixed); but songs like "The Man To Praise" was more of a surprise to see left off. "Watch Your Step," "Master Craftsmen" and "Raw Heat" are the other MIA songs.

But, again, we're not being 100% negative here... a new song has been included! "Real Talk" is a fun, new song, with one of the best beats on the album, and a cool vocal sample being cut up for the hook. The lyrics are nice, too, although the first verse is actually lifted entirely from Percee's 1998 single, "The Weekend." As far as I can tell, the other two verses are all new, though (the CD booklet, like the original album, reprints the lyrics; but does not include this song). It's a nice little treat.

But, yeah, unfortunately, the rest is not so rewarding. Almost every version here is just an inferior version of the song on Perseverance. This is not the opportunity to correct mistakes some of us hoped for. "Put It On the Line" has the skeleton of a decent song... the bassline and all, but it's littered with with eclectic random "experimental" noises that just distract, clutter and make the whole experience an annoying listen. You might think "2 Brothers From the Gutter" might be improved upon by swapping out the video game samples for some old school sounds, but nah... it just sounds lazily throw together. The bass sounds awful on "The Hand That Leads You," "Legendary Lyricist" might've somehow managed to make the hook sound wacker than it did the first time, and "Who With Me" actually sounds like an improvement musically, except it doesn't match up with Percee's vocals, so the whole thing sounds off. Should I keep going? "The Dirt and the Filth" sounds weak and tinny, and the same with "Ghetto Rhyme Story" (changed from "Stories") and "Last of the Greats." "Throwback Rap Attack" basically drops his vocals over some non-hip-hop kettle drums and the result just sounds mad sloppy and certainly nothing you'll ever want to revisit.

But, still, there's another silver lining. "The Woman Behind Me" is at least as good as the album, and may even be a slight improvement. Percee's vocals are perhaps a little too overwhelmed by the vocal sample which is mixed very strongly over the track, but sounds dope. I don't know, I'll call it a tie. And "No Time for Jokes," his duet with Charli 2na, is the one remix that actually sounds markedly better than the album version. A headnodding beat and a chopped up flute sample that pulls you in immediately. Funky horns on the hook... a rhythm that matches Percee and 2na's flows perfectly... Hell, this beats the pants off the album version! This is the jewel of the album no doubt.

Now, you'll just have to decide if this CD (again, no vinyl available - just sayin') is worth the purchase for one semi-exclusive song and one banging remix. You may've noticed, but I'm not one to normally advocate downloading, buttt... If you've already got the LP... 0:-)

Magic Mike Will Load the 12's and Hit Ya!

(Youtube version is here.)

Los Harmless

When Haiku De' Tat formed, it seemed like a perfect matched based on unspoken but inherent understanding between the artists and their audiences. We were gonna get the live music and rhythms of Abstract Rude combined with the lyrical wizardry of Aceyalone, and the result would be a west coast mainstay. But in the end, only one half of the pairing held up their end, as we see here on their first single.

See, unfortunately, this was just about the time Acey went from being the wild freestyle MC whose audience was outraged that Book of Human Language only got 2 Mics to the MC who could phone it in because he'd already "proven himself," and whose records immediately found their way to the discount bin. I mean really, the lead track tells the whole, depressing story.

"Los Dangerous." This was their attention-getting 1997 debut. They're rocking over the Dre and Snoop's infamous "Deep Cover" groove... the same infamous bassline, the same drums but weaker drums.* Abstract replaces the piano stabs with a sick saxophone sample and a sing-song hook that blends perfectly with the track - it's like they were originally written together. Ab also kicks the first verse, which is ok... heavy on cliche and sort of exactly what you'd expect from any west coast rapper flowing over "Deep Cover." And finally Acey comes on to drop a quick few, mediocre bars. The hook is sung about fifty more times, and we're done, ball decidedly dropped.

It's not that Ace's verse sucked so much (although it was kinda lame), but that this should've been where they excelled. When you take what's already become one of the most beloved gangsta rap beats in history, you know you're not going to blow anyone's mind with the music - we've already got that single! So taking a beat like that, it's like you're saying, "well, sure, you've heard this before, but wait till you here what WE gon' do with it," and come with something next level. This should have been underground hip-hop's answer to the mainstream, "oh you like your big time Snoop Doggy Dogg, huh? Well, you won't believe how much more talented true, underground MCs are!" But instead they just kinda fart around on the track for a couple minutes, and you're left thinking, "well, ok I guess; but I'd rather hear Snoop's verse now, please." Pretty fucking underwhelming. I wonder if this isn't what inspired Big Pun to record "Twinz" (also 1997), like, "you dummies; this is how you do it!" ...That, or Haiku bit the concept of rhyming over "Deep Cover" from him. Frankly, either is possible.

Oh well, at least they included the instrumental on this single, so you can get "Deep Cover" with the sax sample, and you can rap your own, better version. ;)

That's one of two exclusives on this. The other is the B-side, "Kaya (Extended Version)." On the album, "Kaya" is a short, little 2-minute number with a nice groove, a simple hook, and that's about it. Here, it's extended to a full-length song, mainly by repeating the hook about a thousand more times. They did also add a quick verse from Acey to this mix, but I mean like two to three setences quick. Otherwise, it's all about them saying the word "Kaya" as many times as they possibly can, "got to have Kaya, now, Kaya, Kaya. Got to have Kaya, yeah; Kaya, Kaya. Kaya Kaya kaya kayakayakayakayakayakayakayakayakaya!!!!!"** Ahhh!

Oh yeah, the hook is also a direct lift from Bob Marley. And to be fair, the original album version isn't too bad for a cover. Instrumentally, they do something different with it and create their own little groove. If you just take it as a throw-away tune used as album filler with low expectations attached to it, it's kinda cool. But sadly, this is just another testament to Ab Rude doing something and Acey letting a good opportunity flounder. This beat with some ill rhymes would've been dope. But, sadly I have to report that the shorter album version is actually the more definitive version of this song; because all the extended version has to offer is repetition.

Finally, the single rounds itself out with "Still Rappin'," another album track. Again, there's some decent instrumentation, but generally it's a pretty boring song. And if the title led you to believe "finally, this is where Acey is gonna shine," well, it isn't. It's mostly Ab singing, and he sounds good... And Mikah 9 makes a guest appearance here, but it's basically thrown away, since he and Acey both direct their energies towards singing like Rude. Plus the subject matter is boring (they are underground rappers who stay true to rapping underground), and like with the other tracks, the hook takes up a good 50% of the song. Again, it was okay as album filler, but it really didn't need to be pulled out and highlighted on a single.

And that's it. I don't know. I was thinking about pulling out my copy of the full album and relistening to it after this; but now I don't think I'll bother. That's usually not the effect you want your lead single to have, is it?


*Update 9/14/11 - As has been pointed out in the comments; they're not the same drums. It's not even difficult to notice the difference, so shame on me. These drums are played live and seriously overuse the cymbal. They're softer and more roll-y and just generally aren't as good.

**Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration.

Malcolm X's Daughter's Posse Cut

Gamilah Shabazz, Malcolm X's daughter (one of six!), made her rapping debut on Big Daddy Kane's third LP, Taste of Chocolate. The next year, she followed that up with an appearance on 2 Black 2 Strong's album, and finally the year after that, she came out with her own single on BMG/RCA Records. Now, following up on the rap career of a famous politician's daughter - as opposed to, you know, an actual MC who's dedicated their life to making music - may sound like a job best left to the die-hard collectors with too much time on their hands. But like Shaquille O'Neal, Brian Austin Greene and other celebrities buying their way into hip-hop industry, she knew the secret was to pack her debut with compelling guest artists. And she certainly picked an interesting line-up.

"America's Living In a War Zone" features Ice Cube, 2 Black 2 Strong of MMG, Grand Puba, Mr. Biggs of The Soulsonic Force, Me Phi Me and some singer named Tanya Cooper. Certainly an eclectic mix, but not a bad one at all. The track is co-produced by 2 Black 2 Strong, Shabazz, and the underrated (I blame his name) Epitome of Scratch. It's the same kind of banging hardcore track you'd expect from 2 Black 2 Strong, and it features vocal snippets from Malcolm himself, and alternate sample sets for each MC, giving every verse its own identity.

Granted, it gets a little heavy-handed when Tanya stops the thing dead to sing "America the Beautiful" mid-song, and not every MC comes as strong as the one before him... It doesn't sound like Gamilah inherited her father's mastery of eloquent speech with her simple flow that consists of atonally shouting each individual word. But Puba and Cube are in top form (though Puba makes an odd point about black peoples' brains weighing seven and a half pounds, while white peoples' weigh only six... lol what?), and surprisingly Me Phi Me's verse is pretty nice as well ("there ain't a damn thing black in The White House except where/ they keep Clarence Thomas' pubic hairs"). And even the weakest verses are still pure, politically charged anger over a dope beat, so everyone at least earns a pass here.

Now I've got the cassette single up on display, but the 12" features the same picture cover and track-listing: the street mix, a radio edit, and an instrumental on the flip. This is definitely one of those songs that sounds dated... but kind of in a good way. And it can be easily scored for cheap, so to me it's a natural pick-up. Though it's probably just as well that we don't have a whole Gamilah Shabazz album floating around out there.

Horrorcore Potpourri

If you could sum up the entire 90's horrorcore phase in one, tidy album (and you can!), this would be it. It's the soundtrack to The Fear, and with only, like, two omissions that I can think of, offers a thoroughly near-definitive sampling of horrorcore in its heyday. It's an education, and it's fun, which is a lot more than you can say about the movie.

This album is what the Tales From the Hood soundtrack should've been, had they not dropped the ball: a sampling of every horrorcore artist working at the time, except again for those two ommisions. The only people who stand out as missing to me are The Cella Dwellas (who may not've wanted to been associated with the horrorcore fad) and Crustified Dibbs. And two out of every-fuckin'-body ain't bad! So let's jump right in:

1) "The Fear (Morty's Theme)" - Although Esham - like pretty much everybody associated with the horrorcore - has since attempted to distance himself from the subgenre, he may well be the man who started it. At least in the sense of making "horrorcore" a full-time rap career, as opposed to a single novelty song, like "Haunted House of Rock" or Bushwick Bill's "Chucky." And considering he's saddled with actually making a theme song for the goofy movie's villain (a wooden dummy that springs to life whenever you're really scared), Esham acquits himself very well. His style, the hook, the music (which I can only guess is by Esham himself, since this album features no production credits, but he usually produces all his own stuff) are all very effective at evoking the best elements of this movie and just being an engaging little song. Sure, he's done better work on his own... but when you burden the artist with having to make a song about Morty, I don't think you could ask for more.

2) "Black Peter" - Half Pit and Half Dead only managed to release one single, independent 12" in their career; so to see that this album even scooped these guys up is a real treat. What's more, we learn a bit more about their crew, including the fact that they rolled with a reggae guy named Machete, who appears on this song. (Black Peter, by the way, is an in-film reference, so this song must've been specifically written for the movie.)

3) "Here Come the Gravediggaz" - Ok, this is right off their debut album, but it's kinda impressive that this little rinky-dink movie with a Warlock Records soundtrack got The Gravediggaz at all. Remember, this was right at their peak, and everything Wu-related was huge.

4) "Necrophobia" - Not much is known about The Headless Horesemen, except apparently they were signed to Def Jam (we know this from the liner notes of this album), and they did a guest appearance on Def Jam's other horrorcore act, The Flatlinerz', debut album. Like them, I suspect The Horsemen got dropped when Russell Simmons saw horrorcore wasn't going to be the new gangsta rap. I think these guys were doper than the Flatlinerz, though, with more creative "out there" flows.

5) "Better Off Dead" - This is that Half Pit and Half Dead song that they'd put out on their aforementioned 12".

6) "Life After Death" - Esham got popular enough to put out several albums by his weedcarriers, collectively known as Natas. This is the title song off of their debut album. It helps that Esham made himself a member of his own group, and often appeared on their songs.

7) "Fear, Flesh & Blood" - This is Machete from that Half Pit song, going solo this time. This album probably would've been a nice boost to their careers if they'd ever managed to follow up on their first single. He's probably also the first horrorcore reggae artist, like, ever.

8) "Graveyard Tales" - This is a song by a guy named Terror, who I believe is from New York, with a flow that meshes a throaty grimy style with playful "all over the place" enunciation, a la King Just. Not bad.

9) "Dead Body Man" - Yep, The Insane Clown Posse are included here. This is a song right off their 1994 EP, The Terror Wheel, and it's one of their better ones.

10) "Rocks Off" - If you're going to include another Esham song, particularly one that's just lifted from one of his albums (the Helter Skelter EP), you'd think you'd do one of his better horrorcore songs than one of his cheesy sex songs. But the filmmakers actually used this song in the movie to score a "sexy" scene, which both explains the song's inclusion here and the artistic failure of the film.

11) "Infared's Terror" - I don't really know who Infared is either, except the fact that he and all the Half Pit Half Dead acts are all credited as appearing "courtesy of Army From Hell." I guess that makes it pretty clear he was down with them, too. Again, I'm really surprised they didn't muster up an album after this. His flow's really grimey... pretty cool and very 90's.

12) "Run" - Flatlinerz are here being represented, too. This would have just been another "song off their album," but since it got shelved, this song becomes another soundtrack exclusive.

13) "Sweet & Saxxy (A Moment of Calm Before You Die)" - Like its title implies, this is the only non horrorcore (or rap at all) song on here. It's a little easy listening, light jazz number by somebody named Kim Waters. I think you'll find that everybody who owned this back in the day learned to stop the tape at track 12.

So, there you have it. It's a pretty sweet Whitman's Sampler of horrorcore in its prime. Sure, a sizeable chunk of these songs had been previously released, but a lot were exclusive. I'm not sure of there's a vinyl release, but the CD is easily found and worth picking up for a nostalgic trip back to the early 90's.

Masters of Philology - Werner Interviews Awesome Dre

I just interviewed Awesome Dre. He's coming back. And he's got mad unreleased old school material he's putting out now, too. You don't need me to tell you anything else, do you? It's fucking Awesome Dre! Let's jump right into it:

So let’s start maybe by breaking down all the other members of The Hardcore Committee besides yourself?

Alright. The original Hardcore Committee was me, Brother Lonzell, Ivan Ill, Mike-T, Tony Tone, X-Man… that was pretty much it. It all started out when me and my stepbrother had the idea. And Ivan Ill was the man behind the dream who put up the money for our first studio effort. And it just started from there. That was back in ’87, when we originally formed and put it together. I was the original lead vocalist. Tony Tone spit rhymes and X-Man spit rhymes; but on the album it was all me. They had background parts and stuff like that. And The Detector, he did the production on the first album. We all worked together, but he was the technical expert. You know, the engineer with the mixing skills. We just had the creative ideas, like whatever loops we wanted to use, and he helped us put it together like that.

Was D.E.D. part of the group too, or just someone separate who you worked with?

Well, DJ D.E.D. was actually Prince Vince’s DJ at the time. So he would come and put work in on the album, but that was officially Prince Vince’s DJ. They came out around the same time, and he had “Gangster Funk” out, where they had looped Parliament’s “Flashlight.” He was just like work-for-hire for us. They did their own thing and got a deal with Polygram. He was always part of the family, but officially he was Prince Vince and the Hip Hop Force’s DJ.

Ok, let me take it back a bit further… were you born and raised in Detroit, or did you move there?

Nah, I was born and raised here.

Ok, so what was the hip-hop scene like when you were growing up, there?

Shit, I’m like 40, man. So me as a kid, there really wasn’t no hip-hop. I mean, there was, but that was up in New York. We had the funk, George Clinton and all that. Then we had the techno music, with Cybotron and all these guys. We had that dance, techno-type going on. Then, of course, I remember the very first time I heard “Rapper’s Delight” on the radio; it blew everybody’s mind. Because other than that, it was just like some club shit or some basement party shit. But in Detroit, it was more a dance music thing we gave the world.

Most of my hip-hop experience came when I was a teenager and we moved to Akron Ohio. My mother got married to my stepfather, Dip (RIP). We went down there, and then my high school is where we really got exposed to all the hip-hop. ‘Cause we were listening to 93 FM, WVAK, was one of the stations from Cleveland, and they used to simul-cast Mr. Magic’s Rap Attack and Red Alert. And it was the shit that was going on in New York, live, real-time shit. So we really jumped on it at that point.

But I didn’t really start out as an MC; I was dancing first. And I still am; I’ve still got a few moves that I might bring out from the reserves and shit. And I tell anyone, I’d trade in my rap career for my dance career anytime. Because we had much more fun back then. More pure, more live. Nowadays, it seems like everyone can rap, but everyone can’t dance.

Even in our crew, we made sure we specialized, where everybody did something better than everybody else. We put together our crew like that and we was killin’ ‘em, takin’ down talent shows like everywhere. It was crazy. I was always going back and forth to Detroit, so I’d go down there and get the moves, then come back with the shit nobody’s seen and be the man! I showed ‘em the Water Wave, the Magnetic Wave, all types of shit. And they were like, “man, you’ve gotta get with The Poppers!” The Poppers? Who were they? They were like the best dance group around, and these dudes were seniors in high school. I was just in seventh grade. I went and tried out for ‘em and got in. My first show was the Easter Show in the Civic Theater, which is like their version of the State Theater downtown. We came out and they went crazy; and it all started from that.

Yeah, I remember you having dancers in your videos… is that something you would still do today? Having dancers in your shows, etc?

Yeah, I would love that. Shit, there’s a group here called Hardcore Detroit. I love that shit, it takes me back to the essence of it. Of course, it depends on the venue and the circumstances and all that. But for me to put on a live show, it would include me MCing, a DJ in the back with two twelves, we’d have B-Boys come out, and at the same time I’d have a fucking graffiti artists painting my backdrop on stage. To me that’s the shit!

Ok, so let's talk about Bentley Records...

Nah, fuck them. Let me tell you about Jorlands Records first. Fuck Bentley Records. Jorlands was the one that put up the money and supported our dream. That’s Ivan Ill and Joint, RIP, he’s not with us no more. But Ivan Ill’s still holding it down.

Me and my stepbrother were together; I was writing rhymes and he was like, “that shit sounds good. You need to try and do something with it.” I was like, I don’t know – what can we do? He called Ivan Ill, and at the time, when I was writing my very first song called “Hard Core,” I was patterning it after “Rebel Without a Pause.” To me, that’s one of the greatest hip-hop songs ever. So he caught me in that mode, and I had the instrumental and I started rhyming over the phone, “Hard core… I’m Awesome Dre, coolest motherfucker since ice trays, I’m havin’ nice days, home is where my hat lays. Ladies praise the ruckus that I raise, I’m the one the suckers never phase.” I was like Baby Chuck D in this motherfucker! So he was like, damn, that sounds sweet, why don’t you try to get in a studio?

I was like, ok! I had never really been in a professional studio environment like that before. I had been in a studio, but never to actually like make a fuckin’ record. So we went to Wonderlove, which was a record store that had a studio in the back. This was on Grand River in Detroit, and that’s where we met The Detector. We put together the first single, which was “Hard Core,” “Dean of Rap” and “My Little Friend,” which is the song where I made all my Scarface references. We were one of the first ones to bring the Scarface talk into hip-hop.

Right, I remember you doing Scarface on the album too.

Yeah, on the intros. But like three years before we came out with the album, we had that 12”. We did three 12”’s first before we came out with an album. We did “Hard Core,” then we came out with “Out of Reach,” which had a song called “(LL Stands For) Lame Loser,” and I had “I Don’t Like You (Kool Moe She).” And the picture cover was the original picture that you see on the album cover. And the reason I came out and dissed them both at the same time was because… I come up on hip-hop, so I’m a Kool Moe Dee fan, a Treacherous Three fan… that was the shit. Then, when we saw Krush Groove, and LL came through the audition scene, we were like what? Who is this motherfucker? He was the baddest motherfucker in hip-hop, period! Young ass LL came out and crushed everybody. You know, it was his time.

So, I was looking at Kool Moe Dee like, “what the Hell this old motherfucker gonna do?” Which I guess is how people look at me until I come and rip ‘em a new asshole! They were giving Kool Moe Dee the same billing as LL, and I was offended! They were on the front page of magazines with boxing gloves on, and I’m like, what the fuck? So I wrote the Kool Moe Dee song first ‘cause I was kinda mad. So I was going off on his glasses, leather pants, and all that.

But in the spirit of hip-hop, I didn’t want people to think I was riding LL so hard that I was gonna help him diss Moe Dee or whatever. So I was like, I have to diss this man to balance everything out and make it equal. So fuck you, too, LL. I represent the D. So, I dissed the two biggest figures in hip-hop at the time. And it wasn’t personal or I wanted to kill these guys, like these motherfuckers doing now. It was just real, pure hip-hop and I was stepping up to set a standard.

Then we came out with the third 12”, which is “You Can’t Hold Me Back” and “Committing Rhymes,” and that was like my first hit. We took the “Picking Up Pieces” from the Average White Band and it was just hitting, straight up. We started catching a little buzz and getting contacted by different companies. And Bentley was one of the companies that contacted us. And we knew a guy here, Bernard Carter, who was doing a lot of promotion for a lot of different companies. So we ended up with him and signing a little deal. And they came down and we filmed the first video, “You Can’t Hold Me Back.” We had the album already done, pressed up, everything. But what they did was just take it and put it out there on a bigger scale, as far as distribution.

We had problems with them, as far as money and we ended up parting ways, needless to say. Bentley didn’t do us right at all, but while we were with Bentley, that’s when we signed with Priority. And that was a blessing. Brian Turner knew what he was doing and already had NWA and all them. They even had put out the California Raisins album.

But back then, we didn’t have no label love… we looked at everybody as the competition. We didn’t give a fuck – if you were on our label, you were the first competition! We ain’t come here like hey, we wanna shake everybody’s hand. We were like, man, fuck them. They’re wack! We were hardcore. So we didn’t schmooze, which might’ve been a good thing to do, but it wasn’t us back then. And a lot of shit was going on… NWA was breaking up, Ice Cube saying he didn’t get paid… and a lot of people already know that story.

But our shit was going on at the same time, behind the scenes. People were like, “man, I heard you all ran up on Priority and kicked in the door!” Nah, nah. We did go up in the company, but motherfuckers had to drop the charges because we had evidence to show these motherfuckers were robbing the fuck out of us. And it almost got to physical shit, but it didn’t. That’s hip-hop; it’s a fucked up game. Everybody trying to fuck over everybody. We just weren’t having that shit.

So, Bentley was what got us to Priority, but at the same time they became a middle man between us and fucking shit up. And ultimately, that’s why we didn’t wind up putting out that other album on Priority. There was too much bullshit going on, so they had to put our shit on the shelf. And we got tired of waiting around after a while, so we had to file bankruptcy and all types of shit to get separated.

So was AD’s Revenge that you ultimately came out with the same album that Priority shelved?

Nah, they didn’t ever get that. What they shelved was around when we had “Frankly Speaking,” the second video. That had peaked out at #6 on Billboard, and the album had peaked out at #51 black albums. And Priority did what they do… they had us doing promo shoots and Rap City with Chris Thomas, which is where I met Chuck D. Priority knew what the fuck they were doing, but they had middlemen and other shit in between that wasn’t letting us move forward. We were supposed to come out with a “Sackchasers” video after “Frankly Speaking,” but the timing was kinda fucked up on that one.

So, now what about Strictly Roots Records? Who ran that? Was that you?

That was Babatunde and Kwesi. Babatunde got locked up for some bullshit, some snake shit or whatever; but hopefully he’ll be home soon. When I say snake shit, I mean not something he did, but one of his so-called partners got caught-up in; and in order to get out of it, snitched on Babatunde who didn't have nothing to do with it. Babatunde and Kwesi, who were the two executive producers. Babatunde was an artist, too, he played bass and put a few basslines on our joints. He was an artist. When we first met, it wasn’t like we were gonna do an album. We met in his bookshop, and we found out we were both in music, so he invited me over to do a session and it went on from there.

Man, he put out two videos, the “This Is Babylon” video we shot in LA right after the riots and shit, and “AD’s Revenge” which is a reggae flavor type cut. They pressed up the albums, had mad merchandise and flew us all around the world, and everything was going good. But we were still learning, too. Like, we still had a lot of connections from our time with Priority, but at the same time, we didn’t have the machine that Priority had behind it. We kinda spread ourselves too thin and couldn’t follow up with everybody. We kinda kicked back and said, oh our shit is doing good; we’re number two in LA or whatever. And we didn’t understand that we had to go out there, then, and promote the shit out of it and follow through. And a lot of money went out without it coming back in real quick.

So it just died down. And people were saying I was going in a different direction with different influences I was having. There’s some hardcore shit on there, but with the second album, it’s more political. The production is not the same… the first album we did a lot of sampling and loops. On the second album, I don’t know where we went with it, but the people were saying, ‘you need different beats!” But, hey, it was just a chapter and to me it’s still a classic and I’m glad we hooked up and did that shit. Then Babatunde got locked up, and that kinda put a halt to things we were planning to do.

So did that happen while you were still signed to them?

Yeah, that happened a little bit after the album. The album and videos were done, but we still had plans to do other shit.

And there was a 12” off that album where you’re just credited as The Hardcore Committee (like, without Awesome Dre)… was that for a specific reason…?

I don’t remember…

I think it’s the one with “Babylon” on it?

Oh, yeah. That was a time when we were gonna change the name of the group. It was just a transitional period. I was gonna change my name and everything. But people were like, “are you crazy? People know you as Awesome Dre!” And if you do stuff like that, you gotta do it very carefully, and name the next album as whatever you want your new name to be or whatever.

But now I could never stop being Awesome Dre. I could be anybody else, too. That’s cool. Like Wu-Tang, they all got four or five different names. But I’ll always be Awesome Dre.

So, now, obviously there’s a big leap between then and what you’re doing now… so what happened during all that time you’ve been away.

I never really fully stopped. I got unreleased songs… like I got a whole album from like ’96, a whole album from ’99, and then various shit between. Like just songs I’d do with different, various artists. So I had always went with it, but stopping, working regular jobs and thing. But just in the last couple years, enough time has gone by that people are really appreciating what we did twenty years ago. Like, back then, after our second album, people were like, “oh, that old as shit,” you know what I’m saying? But as ten years go by, it’s like, “oh, you remember Awesome Dre? He was the shit!” Now, I get on the internet and see that shit, and my record is on sale for a hundred and something dollars! It’s so fucking rare, they can’t find it. And I’m on some peoples’ list as a favorite MC, with Rakim and Krs-1.

Then they started coming out with old school reunion tours and old school whatever, and it was cool to be old school. Back then, it was like “fuck old school!” But if you become old school now, you’re the shit, because you could withstand the test of time. There’s plenty of people who came out back then with me at the time, and now I forgot their ass existed! If you brought ‘em up, I’d be like: who? So for me to come up and remind people of good experiences and times of their lives, that’s the shit. So I realized you gotta keep doing it.

They try to brainwash us that you gotta be a certain age to rap. But that really wasn’t it. The record labels just wanted young puppets who didn’t question or didn’t know anything. A grown man wouldn’t take that shit.

But there’s still a market for it. People still feel it, and that’s their shit. So I owe the people. Especially since I still got it. And there had been little periods where I stopped, but I never retired like Too $hort or nothing. And the people, now, they motivate me to keep that shit going. Now I realize, no matter how old I get, I’ma always be Awesome Dre.

And I just had my first child like nine months ago. And that’s taking me to a whole 'nother level right now, too. Especially this past year, ‘cause I’ve done a lot of shit with Psychopathic Records. It’s weird, ‘cause way back in the day, when ICP came out with their first album they had love for me. I mean, anyone who came out of the D after ’87 would have to list me as an influence… I don’t care whether you like it or not. And Mike Clark was one of the guys that we influenced, so we were supposed to do a song. And it just so happened that Esham was at the studio before I got there. And Esham was one of their influences, too. So he was like, what chyall doing here? And they were like, “ah, we’re just waiting for Awesome Dre to get up in here and do a song with us.” And he’s like, for real? How much are y’all paying him? “About five hundred.” He was like, “shit, give me that five hundred, I’ll do it right now!”

(Laughs)

He did it, and they called me like, ah, something happened. I was like, whatever. Because at the time, I was trying to have my manager squeeze some more money out of them, but they didn’t have money back then. It was a few years after our reign, so we were on our ego trip back then. That’s another thing: when you’re young and getting promoted and everything like that, it does boost up your ego. So I kinda probably put my foot in my mouth back then. But it’s all sweet now.

Shit, last year I went up there and did the Gathering of the Juggalos thing they do every year, and that was one of the funnest experiences I ever had in my life. It was fucking crazy. And we did The Monster’s Ball, Hallowicked… they did a movie, and I’m in that. We did the “Forever Detroit” track, and we did the “You Can’t Hold Me Back” remix for the Let ‘Em Bleed Volume 2 that came out in November with me, Shaggy from ICP, Merciless Amir, Esham, Big Herk and Boss. I did song with Mike E Clark that’s coming out June 23rd.

So I’m just in the studio, getting production from various guys, and just trying to build this shit up, man. I got a lot of old shit that’s gonna be released, too. I actually have an album from ’97 that was supposed to be the second album. And a couple songs from AD’s Revenge are remixes of the songs we did back then, like “Wreakin’ Havoc” was one. And I got two songs with Grandmaster Melle Mel.

Oh wow.

Yeah, when we released AD’s Revenge we had a release party that Babatunde hooked up, and Melle Mel came, Afrika Islam DJ’d… and Afrika Islam produced the two songs. We had Supercat headlining the show, and during that weekend we recorded these two songs One called, “The Cemetery Started This Way,” which is hardcore as hell, and “You Go Girl,” which was released on a mixtape over in Tokyo or something and it was blowing up, but Luke stole it! He was there and you know, you’re an artist you want people to hear your shit. So we were playing it, and Luke was just in the building; we were playing it for The New Dance Show. Then about two weeks later, somebody called me and said they heard my record on the radio. I said, shit, you’re a damn liar. But we saw the video, and Luke was lip-syncing our hook with a sly grin! And the kicker, man, was who he got dancing in the background at the video? The same bitches that was dancing to it at The New Dance Show! He flew their ass down their and they was in the fucking video! But what can I do? I can’t sue; he’s the court expert. He’s the dude that fought the Supreme Court of the United States! He got all kind of fucking lawyers; I don’t got no money.

I had another experience like that. I had a girl at the time, and she was singing with me. We were down performing at the Renaissance show downtown, a showcase with all the labels, representatives flew in. We did a song then called “You Still Can’t Hold Me Back,” and we took the Davy DMX line, “one for the treble, two for the bass, come on Davy D, let’s rock the place.” And we switched it to “Awesome Dre, let’s rock the place,” and we rocked that shit. And labels were coming over to us, giving us their card. And like two weeks later, Jody Watley mysteriously came out with a remix of a song called “Off the Hook” featuring Rakim, and that shit was like, “one for the treble, two for the bass, come on Rakim, let’s rock the place.” And I look at the label, and sure enough it’s MCA, like, yup. Those motherfuckers were sitting right in the front row.

So, now you’re talking about all this stuff you’ve been doing with ICP and all… are you signed with Psychopathic? Or doing your own thing separately?

I’m doing it all on my own right now, but if the time is right, it’ll happen. They’ve already got a full schedule; but I’d love to get with ‘em, that’s what we’ve been talking about. So right now it’s just a little project here, project there. Do the live shows… I love the live shows more than anything, and the Juggalos are some of the most loyal fans I’ve ever seen. They’ll support you all the way. And if they don’t like you, they’ll let you know that shit, too. But it’s crazy. They have their own world. They tried it all, mainstream, whatever… but they made it all on their own account.

So, first up from you is to put out those old albums on your own?

Yeah, I’m not gonna put out them old albums as a whole. I’ma put out mixtapes and put some new shit, some old shit. Give them a variety.

And I’m doing the radio show they gave me, Awesome World, which comes on wfuckoffradio.com. Usually they go two hours. They go on Tuesday night and Thursday night, from nine to eleven and eleven to one. We’ve been doing our thing since December, and it’s fun as Hell, just doing whatever you wanna do, playing all the unreleased music, interviews, call-ins… we got a segment called Repeat It or Delete It, where if you get repeated, you might get put on a promotional CD we’re putting together. We had a hip-hop astrologer, my cousin Doe Dubbla… We have fun.

And I saw you’re on an album, either out or coming out, with Finale?

Oh yeah. Me and my boy Prince Whipper Whip, of The Cold Crush Brothers and The Fantastic Freaks – that’s my homey. He stays out here in Michigan now. So he was like, yeah, some little young guy rapper wants to come on through and get us on there for his album, little intros or something. I haven’t even heard that yet, I forget what the fuck I said. I gotta go check that out; it’s on his album, A Pipe Dream and a Promise. He’s got us on a couple interludes or whatever.

Yeah, that’s actually the project that put me on to the fact that you were coming back. Because I don’t really follow the ICP stuff so much, but I saw that in a promo e-mail, and I Twittered Invincible like, “THE Awesome Dre?”

(Laughs) Right. Yeah, I’ve been doing a lot of little drops here and there. But we’re about to inundate their ass with old and new Awesome Dre. We wanna have that new mixtape out before we go down for the gathering in August. We should have three different mixtapes and merchandise. I’m a packrat. I got the very first version of “Hard Core” we ever did, I got the quarter-inch reel and everything. I got all the behind the scenes footage and all that, so I’m putting together a DVD and some mix CDs. And if you wanna see the original music videos, you can go to my YouTube page, THEREALAWESOMEDRE.

And the best place for people to check out for all that is on your myspace, probably, if they can’t catch you on tour?

Yeah. I got two myspaces, actually. I tell people, add both as friends. But if you go to myspace.com/awesomedrehcc, you can already purchase “Hard Core,” the first twelve-inch, both albums, some new unreleased music… There’s some other songs I’m holding back for the CD, but there’s enough shit on there I’m pretty sure you ain’t heard yet, new and old.

Shout out to all the fans who’ve been following me from day one, and all my new fans. Know that your boy is not giving it up. We got some stuff coming out. In fact, my cousin Doe Dubbla just debuted a double CD; his album is banging. Shout out to Rob Worth, and also look out for a new Awesome Dre project on Worth It Records. Shout out to all my people, my family, Baby Awesome. Free Babatunde! I appreciate the support, for sure. We do it for y’all.

Every Record Label Sucks Dick

You guys are getting two posts today. Why? 'Cause that last post was supposed to be up yesterday or even the day before, but I've been having technical problems with the vid. The aspect ratio is still off (it's closer on the YouTube version, but neither is correct), but I said it was close enough, I'm done. So now time to move on:

When RA the Rugged Man recorded "Every Record Label Sucks Dick" as Crustified Dibbs, I doubt he had any idea just how strongly his own label was going to justify that statement. Jive nixed his album after just one single when horrorcore turned out not to be the cash cow every A&R was hoping for, and "Every Record Label Sucks Dick" was never, even to this day, released. And it's too bad, 'cause it's one of his best songs ever.

But when you have a song featuring The Notorious B.I.G., you don't leave it in a vault. That's like burning money! So thankfully but unsurprisingly, Dibbs' gloriously obscene sex rap duet was white-labelled. And what's more, the 12" was issued some vinyl exclusives. You might think any track off his unreleased album would be exclusive enough, but no - they went the extra mile here.

First of all, instead of including "Every Record Label Sucks Dick" as the B-side, they went and recorded "Every Record Label Sucks Dick part 2." It's not quite as good, but it's still good. It's got a darker, more street instrumental, which would be great for most MCs to ride over... for Dibbs, though, I prefer the lighter original. The lyrics are all-new, too; this isn't just a remix. It is a short song, however, basically consisting of a single verse and the hook. This version is really perfect for what it is: an exclusive B-side; but I do wish the original could be released in some way, shape or form someday (Fun Fact, by the way: the original "Every Record Label Sucks Dick" is the song that features the line, "there's only 50,000 heads that are true to this; the rest are clueless as to what real hip-hop is" that became the hook to the Sadat X duet, "50,000 Heads").

Then, of course, there's the infamous Biggie Smalls feature, "Cunt Renaissance." Right from the title, you know this is gonna be Biggie doing what he does best, and pairing him up with Dibbs (who spits a hook about ripping out cunts with spoons!) takes it even further over the top. I remember HipHopSite was promoting some release in the late 90's that featured "un unreleased verse from Biggie - where do they keep finding them? Amazing!" But it was really just his verse from "Cunt Renaissance."

Anyway, there's no production credits on this 12" (and none were leaked for the unreleased album), so I've no idea who did what. But this is a funky track with some rugged drums and bassline, and a sample reminiscent of Jeru's "Come Clean," but mixed more in the background. It's tight, so it's a nice bonus that they managed to include the instrumental for this as well.

But wait, that's not all. They also made an exclusive "Cunt Renaissance" remix. This features a keyboard riff that sounds like it was lifted off some direct-to-video 80's exploitation flick, and even a girl crooning in the background. The original bumps harder and is probably the one you'll revisit the most often, but this mix is probably truer to RA's sensibilities and fits the zaniness of the song. So, in some ways it might be better, but the original's the one you'd ask the DJ to play when you wanted to freestyle. But it's your choice, because they included the instrumental for this mix as well.

This record is on the Want Lists of, like, everybody on Earth. So when you see it, grab it. And when you see two, grab both. There wasn't a lot of these pressed, and it's dope. And thanks to all the exclusives, it'll still be a must-have, even on that hypothetical day that Traffic grows the balls to issue Night Of the Bloody Apes on CD.

Snippets On Ice

(Youtube link here.)

Mmm... Makeba Mooncycle

Most people, if they've heard of Makeba Mooncycle, know her as an outer sphere Wu-Tang affiliate. But she's actually had a long and varied career... She was originally down with The Blackwatch Movement and sang on X-Clan's first album. She then hooked up with MC Lyte and co-ran her company along with LinQue. I actually didn't realize it until relatively recently, but Makeba and Kink EZ are in fact the same person. And, yes, she's made several appearances on Wu-related projects. She also put out some indie singles like this in the 90's.

The enthusiastically entitled "Ahhh!!!" dropped on Mmm... Records in 1998, very possibly the only release on that label. And the first thing to establish, I guess, is that she's rapping here, not singing. Well, she sings a bit at the end (and it sounds good!), but essentially this is a straight-up hip-hop single. It's a simple track, with some slow drums lead by a deep bass guitar loop, meant to showcase the MCs' skills. This is quintessential indie 90's stuff right here, produced by a couple known as Kevin "The Dungeon Master" & Amelia Moore. It features a group called Coins sharing mic duty with her. The first MC kicks some straight space rap, "Came with dead-ass swords to the galaxian wars. Space shuttle, one accord; back to Earth before I'm bored," and then Makeba gets on to follow suit:

"Ride with the Coins in a lunar eclipse;
Took a ride on the starship; then we flipped.
Saw MC's in the Milky Way taking a bath;
Jump aboard the sunship, still doing the math,
Keep Coins by my side, 'cause United's my Kingdom.
Revolution is over, and acknowledge my freedom.
The new holy renegade, my lyrics cut like old blades,
Riding on shooting stars, politicking with the Gods.
The holy land to the stars, vacations on Mars;
The battle has been won, from the moon to the sun."

The B-side is called "High Plains Drifter" and features cuts by Chops of The Mountain Brothers. A brief intro featuring a clip of her introducing the song recorded live at some venue establishes that this is her battle song, where she's battling "against the beat." The beat again is pretty simple (and again produced by the Moores): another slow drum track, an unassuming bassline and a Spanish guitar sample, though of course the scratching stands out during the choruses. She basically just spits four verses of hard battle rhymes ("Crushing your mental like a blow to the temple. A-rat-a-tat-tat! Here's some blows to your central"), pausing briefly to drop a brief hook. Good stuff, no doubt. Probably not the easiest to find, but worth tracking down.

The Missed Step

This has to be Freddie Foxxx's (or, "Freddy Fox"'s, as it's spelled here) second rarest record, after this one. And they both have some key elements in common: they're both white labels of tracks Freddie did for his Flavor Unit period, which he put out himself when the label dropped him, and they're both different mixes than what ultimately wound up appearing on Traffic's Crazy Like a Foxxx restoration. By the way, I did a pretty detailed, comprehensive post already comparing the many differences between the Traffic version and the version of the album that leaked back in the 90's, so you might want to catch up there if you missed it the first time (The Real Crazy Like a Foxxx), and then rejoin us. Basically, between that post and the "Do What You Gotta Do" write-up, this 12" is the last piece in the puzzle. And I finally got it, so let's rock. 8)

"Step" dropped in 1996, making it the last in the series of Crazy Like a Foxxx singles, even counting "Do What I Gotta Do," which wasn't on the original Crazy tape, but was included on the Traffic mix. Oh, and interestingly, this 12" plays at 45 rpm. Anyway, this is pretty similar to the version you heard on the Traffic album in a lot of ways... lyrically, it's exactly the same, Chuck D's part is the same, the samples used are the same, etc. But you'll hear the difference instantly - there's a DJ doing some wicked cutting throughout Chuck D's introduction on this 12" version that's sadly absent from the Traffic version. The scratches come back on the 12" for each hook, and are definitely a strong factor to the song. Both versions are also mixed differently... the Traffic version is a slower (you can even see it in the running time!) and places more emphasis on the bassline, while the 12" mix puts more on the drums. What's more, the 12" version also features a tight horn sample, that sounds sort of like a cross between something The 45 King and Showbiz would use. I don't know why Traffic chose the mix they did, because hands down, this one is the winner.

And for the record, this 12" mix is the version that was on the old tape, too.

Oh, but it ain't over. Because unlike the "Do What You Gotta Do" record, this is no single-sided 12"; this has a B-side: "Pressure On the Brain." And it's different, too. And just to make things a little bit more complicated, Traffic released two versions of "Pressure On the Brain" in their 2-disc set, giving us another version to compare. So let's jump right in:

Straight up, I almost wonder if Traffic didn't make a mistake. The two versions of "Pressure On the Brain," they released sound kinda similar. Don't get me wrong... they're different; you can tell just from listening to 'em. But they're much more alike than the 12" version to either of them. So, let's see, where to start? Well, first of all, like "Step," the 12" mix has some nice scratching on it that's missing from both Traffic mixes. Also, both Traffic mixes have essentially the same bassline. The 12" mix has a different bassline and, yes, it's better. One difference between the two Traffic versions is that the Jailhouse version has these keyboard tones in them, which makes the whole thing sound more like a polished studio product, as opposed to the grimier demo mix. The 12" here is in line with the demo mix, it doesn't have those keyboards (and just to be clear: I don't miss 'em).

Finally, I'll say that the 12" mix and the promo tape are essentially the same. They do sound like they're mixed differently (and the 12" is a tiny bit faster), but it's hard to tell how much of that is an inherent difference in the source material, and how much of that is just the format difference between a copy of promo cassette and an original 12" pressing. They're certainly "close enough," I think, even for a really serious fan not to care.

So, in the end, I don't know whether to scold Traffic for a dumb move or praise them for a good one. On the one hand, they clearly released the inferior of their options, so my first instinct was to say, "well, Traffic sure screwed up here!" But on the other hand, as rare as it is, this 12" is out there, available to the public (they just have to be die-hard enough fans to track it down). In putting out these (admittedly weaker) versions, Traffic has released versions that have never ever been released before, not even on the leaked promo tape. So their shit's 100% exclusive. So, ultimately it's a win for the serious collector/fan, who will ultimately get all versions, and the more casual fans or are missing out on the better versions of the songs wouldn't know what they were missing anyway. So, I'm leaning in favor of Traffic and giving 'em props. Now, if they really wanna make me happy, all they gotta do is press up this awesome 2-disc set of theirs on to vinyl! =)