Spyder-D Interview, part 1: The Early Years

Spyder-D has had a long and varied career. Plus being a huge fan since long before high school, I knew before I went into this interview I was going to have a lot of questions and a lot to talk about. So in order not to cut any of the great stories or to hit you over the head with a TL;DR epic, I'm breaking this one up into segments. Ready? Here we go:

Let's start out at the beginning, with "Big Apple Rappin'" and even how you just got into rap in the first place…

Well, truthfully, I always saw rap as a vehicle. I grew up - and really, the death of Michael Jackson kinda brought out the fact in a lot of people… When Queen Latifah was giving her part of the sermon at the memorial, she talked about how kids would be in the basement, pretending to be the Jackson 5, and we weren't different from anybody else. My cousins and I used to get together and lip sync for our aunts and uncles and mothers and fathers at holiday time. We'd put a 45 on and lip-sync "Who's Loving You" by the Jackson 5 or a Blue Magic ballad. So we all fantasized about being recording artists when we got older. I was a basketball player, and when I messed up my knee - my knee was really bad - and realized that basketball was not gonna be my ticket, I got serious about recording. I was going to school for broadcasting. And I just thought, for a young black male who didn't know anything about recording, hip-hop was the quickest way to break into the industry.

So I remember in college, when Chuck Brown and The Soul Searchers came out with "Bustin' Loose," I recorded all of it on quarter inch reel-to-reel. And one of my friends there let me use the Eastern Michigan University studio, and I'm sitting there trying to splice together Chuck Brown. I'm trying to splice the break together over and over again. I had no idea what the Hell I was doing! I knew nothing about cutting the tape on the beat - none of this stuff had I learned yet - so as I started splicing it back together, it was so off-beat, it was like what the Hell are you doing?!

So I took a different path than a lot of the Harlem and Bronx rappers, which is kinda why I started producing myself right from the beginning, and why I was the first rapper to start a label. Because my in-roads to the hip-hop game were really a means to a more deeper end than just being a rapper or hip-hop recording artist. And, you know, I grew into the culture. I guess you could say I'm a second generation rapper, where the Harlem and Bronx rappers were the originals and first generation. I learned as a second generation from listening to them, but the difference was that I studied more about the craft of making a record than I did about writing rhymes or being a rapper. That was just a way for me to break into the recording industry.

So, at the time, when I started to get into the recording industry - I'd say late '77, early '78 - I started really getting into it. There was a local DJ in Hollis Queens named DJ Reggie Reg, who never really got the notoriety. And he lives here in Atlanta now, and we were talking about this the other day. Because he's one of the best DJs I've ever seen. He used to do little battles with Davey D, Solo Sounds and Infinity Machine and all of those legendary DJ groups from the 70's, but he was a football player. He was a linebacker and that was kinda his thing. I made my very first demo in his basement. I did my very first professional gig with him at Boston University.

So I had a humble beginning in hip-hop. I started off drinking 32oz bottles of OE and getting drunk and saying whatever I could off the top of my head and making it rhyme. It's not easy, especially when you're drunk. So that was kind of my humble beginning. And I'm finishing my book, by the way, called So You Wanna Be a Rapper, and this is one of the points that I talk about that stands out when I think about me starting my career. One day, I was sitting on my room really distressed, because nothing was going right, and I just got through smoking some weed. And I was listening to WBLS and Frankie Crocker comes on. And Frankie Crocker was the man. You always wanted to catch Frankie, because you knew he was going to play something that nobody else had. And sure enough, Frankie throws on "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll," which at the time was an acetate plate that he had. The record hadn't even been signed to a deal yet. Somebody brought him a plate and he listened to it and said, let me throw this on, because that's what I'm known for: breaking records that nobody else had.

So that record came on and I was mesmerized. One, because it eerily sounded like "Good Times," but the tonality on the bass - and I'm a bass freak - the tonality on the bass that they used, which was like a moog type of bass, what I call a rolling bass. And it just intrigued me and I was like, oh man, that's hot. And I'm the kind of person that'll get a vision, and I'll follow through on it. So I said to myself right then and there, I gotta find out who made this cut, and hoped Frankie'd say who it was. And at the end of the cut he said that was Vaugn Mason and The Crew. So when he said that, my intuition told me that's gotta be a New York-based group, because that's a New York term: crew. As funky as they were, they could've been from the Midwest, but sure enough I went to stores trying to find that record. And they didn't have a deal yet, but they struck up a deal based on that one airplay, because everybody was in stores asking for that record. So it might've been two months before that record was actually in stores. But I finally saw it on the Brunswick label, and I'm like ok, the record company's in New York. Cool. I'm gonna find these cats.

So I went to the record company. Me and Reggie Reg brought them our demo. And Ray Daniels was the A&R at the Brunswick who had actually signed that record. They called him Mr. Ears because all he ever signed were hits; he had ears for hits. So, anyway, he turned down my demo, "you're rapping over our beats. So what? Big deal." I was really discouraged, because we made what I thought was a HOT demo.

So I'm one where, if the door is slammed in my face, I'm gonna figure out: is there a back door or a side door. I focused back on meeting Vaugn Mason, and so I had to devise a scheme. So my scheme was: I knew some people in Queens that know some people. So this one cable TV producer that I knew had his own cable TV show they shot once or twice a week on the west side on Manhattan. So I said, ok, this group just came out with a record, so they want exposure. So they're not gonna turn down an invitation to perform on a cable TV show. So I set it. I took the record to his house and said, call this record company and get these guys to come perform on your show.

We set up a date, and I'll never forget it: January 15th, 1980 was when I met Vaugn Mason. And I introduced myself, gave him the demo, and he was flattered. He thought it was nice, gave me his number, and after all of the disappointments I'd had up to that point, it was very encouraging. I'm talking to a bonafide, on his way to being platinum recording artist taking an interest in me. But at this point, it was actually after I had cut "Big Apple Rappin'" on my own.

I took a van to Detroit Michigan, went into an 8-track and took every dime I had. I didn't even pay the band. They were cool they were gonna be on the record. I don't understand if I was that ambitious or that stupid. Because people looked at me like, here's this 18 year-old kid, who the Hell does he think he is? He knows nothing about recording, but here he is booking studio time to produce a record that he's going to press and start his own label with. I was so naive and stupid that I didn't know I couldn't do that! The ignorance of youth can sometimes be your best asset. And I noticed that down the road, when I noticed in my recordings that I was becoming too formulaic, as opposed to when I first started in the business, didn't know what I was doing, and experimenting.

Because "Big Apple Rappin'" had actually gotten great reviews from music critics. Dance Music Magazine, Tom Silverman himself reviewed that song. All of the critics gave me pretty good reviews. But other than that, I didn't know what the Hell I was doing. And that's when I met Afrika Bambaataa, because Bambaataa had read the review in Dance Music Magazine or like I did when I used to go to record stores to get the names and numbers off of the label, Bambaataa actually called to make an appointment. And my office for Newtroit Records was actually our place on Jamaica Avenue. It was a commercial building, but we also lived there. I had just come home from Detroit, and my mom told me she had gotten a call from some people who wanted to sign to Newtroit Records, and lo and behold, it was Afrika Bambaataa and Jazzy Jay. And I knew who they were; she didn't. Mom, these guys are legends! So I was straight up with Bam. I told him we're just a little label, it was really a Ma and Pa operation - or in this case, a Son and Ma operation - and I have no idea what the Hell I'm doing. I wouldn't even ruin your career. But that was a mistake; I should've signed Bambaataa!

Because we had probably sold 10,000 copies of "Big Apple Rappin'" right away. But then I signed a deal with the pressing plant where they became our partner, and I found out they were selling records out the back door. I wasn't seeing any money.

So, eventually, Vaugn and I did "Smerphies Dance," and that was the one that broke me wide open. That was an absolute smash.

But you also did "Rollerskaterrap" between those two points with Delmar International?

Yeah, the Delmar thing was really funny. He was like this raspy-voiced uptown hustler, and I was fascinated by him, because he was an older cat. And I'm just now finding out that I was his first pressing. The other day, somebody showed me in Freddy Fresh's book - in fact, "Big Apple Rappin'" was on the cover. I was going back and forth between Detroit and New York, and it's a little fuzzy, because, you know, between the alcohol and the weed, all the stuff going on, and it was like thirty years ago! But I know for a fact that I met Vaugn Mason on January 15th, 1980, because that date is etched into my mind. One because I hit the number that day - the illegal numbers in New York, not the lotto. January 15th stood out because I dreamed that I was eating a bowl of cereal, and the date stamped on the quart of milk said January 15th. So when I woke up, I said yo, I'm going to play that number. And in those days, I didn't have much money… I had this much to get on the subway and go and meet Vaugn. So I put two dollars down on 115… actually, I put it on 151, because I wasn't so confident in myself. And I would've hit it for like $600 had I played 115.

So, anyway, I stepped to Delmar, because I figured he knew how to handle everything, because I didn't know what the Hell I was doing with Newtroit… not knowing that he didn't know what the Hell he was doing! The recording was horrible. I listen to that record now and I cringe. And my brother was laughing when I made it, like, yo, who is that singing in the background? Some wet cat? And I don't know where those girls are now, but I didn't have the heart to tell them then, but they can't sing! It's like, they were so bad, just thinking about this is funny!

So anyway, Vaugn got co-production credit on that because he came in and arranged the guitar for it. The guitar player I had for that record was named Jimmy. Jimmy was drunk as Hell. He used to sit in the studio, noddin' out, while Vaugn was trying to tell him where and how to play the line. He got mad and started yelling, who does this guy think he is? I was like, dude, he's platinum. He was like, so what?

But Delmar was an experience because he had no intentions of paying me. I saw Delmar after "Smerphies" came out, he actually came to PowerPlay Studios, like, "yo man, now that you're making hits, you don't know nobody." I was like, dude, I never even seen a statement from you! And he went and licensing deals off of that record with Aaron Fuchs and whoever else he could cut deals with… You know, once you get a hit record, all your other stuff becomes valuable again. And that's what he did. I don't want to talk about him too much because he's dead now, but he had the nerve to look me in the fact at PowerPlay and be like why don't I go to Delmar and deliver some more hit records?

But I kept working with Vaugn, and I think he respected me because I stuck with it and kept learning the craft. So we recorded a demo of what became "Smerphies Dance," but it wasn't called that. It had the same bassline and everything, It was called "Nothing But a Party" at the time, and he said, why don't you come down to my studio and we'll work on this song. He had just bought an 808, and he hadn't even opened it or turned it on, so he told me to go down in the basement, mess around with it, and have fun with it. It was all trial and error, but I ended up recording what was the beat for "Smerphies Dance." And that whole hand-clap thing was basically just because I didn't know what the fuck I was doing… but I liked what I heard.

And that's all you really have to do as a producer. People get down on Puffy because he doesn't really make music, but he's still a producer, because he's saying yay or nay. Whether he's programming the beats or whatever… because I used to criticize him for that, too. How's he gonna be a producer when he's sitting there with a phone in his ear. He's got producers working for him, and he's just telling them, yeah I like that, change this, move that. He's still a producer.

So I made the beat up and Vaugn liked it, but he wanted me to change the lyrics for "Nothing But a Party." He said, save that for another day. He wanted me to rap about the Smurf dance. I said, Vaugn, I'm not rapping about the Smurf dance! Dances are fads, and especially in New York, they come and go. We argued about that, over and over. But eventually, I started to write some lyrics about the dance.

A couple days later, we went to Atlantic City to cut the beat, they put a couple of variations in some of the lines. All I used to do was hum. I used to hum the lines out to the musicians and they would play them, and then I would either give them a little liberty to put their own little flair to it, or I'd tell them nah, that's too far away, go back to it. That's how I worked with all the bands on my early cuts, because obviously I wasn't programming back then, I was using live bands. On "Big Apple Rappin'" they played the tempo a little faster than I would've liked. That's another thing my brother used to tease me about, like, "you sound like you're running out of breath!" And I was producing my own vocals, and it was hard back then to be able to critique your own vocals, so I would lay my vocals in one take and be done with it. But those were the early records.

After we finished cutting, we had a big argument over the hook, "heads, shoulders, feet and toes…" I didn't want it in there, Vaugn wanted it. In fact, that was Vaugn's contribution to writing the song. But he and his partner, who was basically the drummer on "Bounce, Rock, Skate," were all supposed to be co-producers. It was my beat and my lyrics, but we ended up splitting the writers' credit three ways, which pissed me off. Because as naive as I was, I wasn't that naive!

But I said, ok, they're platinum producers, I'm gonna have to pay my dues. So they signed me to a production group, which gave them the rights to shop the record. So they took the record around and they were asking for too much money for back then! Brunswick was gonna sign the record, but Vaugn had already told me that they had robbed him. He signed a contract for 27 cents a 12", which was kinda low, but he sold millions. He sold a million plus "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll." So let's do the math, a million times 27 cents, that's $270,000. They gave him a check for $35,000. Can you believe that shit? Plus, they were getting ready to close their doors… we had heard the rumor. So I said, Vaugn, why don't we take it to Brunswick and he said, yeah, they'll probably sell half a million records, but you'll never see a dime!

Then they went Profile, and Profile was strugglin'. I think Jeckyll and Hyde's record saved them, because they ere running out of money. They had took like 30k to start their label and were running out of money, and then Jeckyll and Hyde had that "Genius Rap" and that saved Profile. So Vaugn took our record to Profile, but I think Vaugn was asking for anything between $7,500 and $10,000 for the single. And that was unheard of in that day for a 12" single. No record company was paying that much money up front. To give you an example, Profile paid $1,500 for "Sucker MCs" and "It's Like That." Fifteen hundred dollars, and that included rerecording it. That was the budget. Larry Smith had to take the 8-track and go into a bigger studio and rerecord it, mix it down, and hand over the master to Profile. And they had to do it within $1,500. So Vaugn and them asking for $7.500 was nuts!

So I'm starting to get discouraged again… like two months after we cut the record, we can't get a damn deal. And I find out later on why! So we finally settled on this company that Ray Daniels took us to. He took us to Roy Norman, probably because he was black. Roy Norman's claim to fame was, I'm the only distributing black label with his own distribution," blah blah blah. He had a record company called Telstar Cassettes, which I couldn't understand. I said, yo dude, I don't want to be on any record company called Telstar Cassettes! It's the stupidest thing I ever heard in my life!

Dude, why are you making me relive all of these horrible memories? (Laughs)

We finally sold to Telstar Cassettes for $35,000, which we split three ways. Trust me, by the time we made that deal, I was so happy to have twelve hundred dollars in my pocket, it wasn't funny. I was ghetto fabulous at that point. So it had to be late November of 1982, when Telstar finally pressed up DJ copies, and I mean, everybody jumped on that record! They told me, Flash is playing the Hell out of it! JuneBug is playing the Hell out of it! All of the Uptown DJs were killing that record! But yet I hadn't heard it on the air yet, so I was still discouraged… plus, it wasn't in the stores. So, finally, Mr. Magic played the record one night… and it was the last record before he went off the air. And I'm sitting in my father's basement with the stereo I had bought with the money that we had sold the record for, and again I'm weeded up. And Magic's getting ready to go off, like 7 minutes to 12, and I'm like, yo, Magic's not gonna play this fuckin' record! And then all of a sudden as I'm about to turn it off, I heard that intro. I got on the phone real quick, I called my moms, I called my grandma; I said turn on WBLS right now, right now!

And after Magic played that record, it blew up. It just took off. Frankie Crocker… when Frankie Crocker played it, I was like, ok, I'm good. I am officially validated in the recording industry. Frankie Crocker is where all of this really started, when he played "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll." I had come full circle, and there was nothing you could tell me then. When he programmed my record into his show - in fact, he used to open his show with the instrumental. And at the end of the instrumental was where Vaugn and them let me put some of the lyrics from "Nothin' But a Party." That was the compromise for me making the song about the Smurf; I get my little verse off towards the end. So when he played that, you couldn't tell me nothing! Frankie Crocker played my record. And that was the start of the whole thing.

This is the end of part 1. Click here for when we talk about his hits with Profile Records, his battle with Kool Moe Dee, B-Boy Records, Sparky D, his new material and so much more.

The 10 Rap Commandments

So, seventeen years after "The Ten Laws of Rap" came out, Mad Skillz followed that up with "The Ten Rap Commandments." Of course, this wasn't intended as a sequel to The Showboys' record, but rather a play on Biggie Smalls' 1997 record, "The Ten Crack Commandments." Well, it was an album track in 1997 (from Life After Death), but it came out on 12" with the instrumental etc. in 1999.

That's worth noting because for "The Ten Rap Commandments," Skillz completely jacks Premiere's instrumental, including the scratching etc. He's literally just rapping over the instrumental version. That's why they probably label this specifically as a "Freestyle" on the label... Rawkus' way of asking Bad Boy, "please, don't sue us."

So the concept is pretty obvious from the title, right? Skills changes Biggie's ten commandments about dealing crack and turns it into a ten point manifesto on the rap game. But i thought it'd be fun to see how Skills' ten differ from The Showboys'. How far did the hip-hop scene come between 1985 and 2002? How would the ten most important rules for an MC have changed? Well, again, Skills has a whole (albeit short) song to break it down, so I'll paraphrase:

1) Don't trust your A&R
2) Don't play rough mixes of your songs for your label
3) Don't trust anybody who makes you promises
4) "I know you heard this before: do what your label say. They the pimp; you the whore."
5) Stay true to where you're from
6) Charge everything you can to your label
7) Pay your taxes
8) Don't trust your label mates
9) "You don't work at your label, so don't go there a lot."
10) Keep your publishing

...Now it's debatable how much of this can be attributed to a change in the times, and how much would simply come from personality differences between Skills and The Showboys when they wrote their songs. But it's interesting how much more cynical and business-oriented this new list is compared to the old one. Have rappers gotten more mercenary? Or have they become simply more jaded and aware of the shady side of the music industry? The answer is probably the age-old, "a little bit from Column A..."

So, there's nothing to this pseudo-white label (it looks like a white label; but Rawkus still puts their brand on it and catalogs it) besides the one version of the one song. Side B is exactly the same as side A. Of course, it would've taken some kind of lawsuit-tempting nerve to include the instrumental mix here... If you want that, just get the "Who Shot Ya?" or "Kick In the Door" 12"'s. Maybe you can make up your own "Ten ______ Commandments" rap. ;)

The Ten Laws of Rap

Now, if you know The Showboys, you surely know them for their follow-up record, "Drag Rap," which has nothing to do with cross-dressing, but is actually one of the key precursors to gangsta rap. And despite the fact that these guys were straight out of Queens, the instrumental also turned out to be a very influential record in New Orleans, Memphis and Texas. They also had a fun track on the Profile's classic Christmas Rap album. But for some reason, this, their debut 12", is always slept on.

It's a little less crazy than "Drag Rap," without stuff like the Dragnet theme and Old Spice whistle; but it's a really fresh old school treat. It's got deep bass and piano lines that sounds very 90's for a record made in 1985, with a nice, slow drum track and of course a ton of more dated hand claps. The boys themselves do a lot with their delivery, sometimes rhyming in unison, sometimes passing the mic for short individual verses and sometimes going back and forth, word-for-word. They even harmonize (sorta) for the hook, "We know laws are meant to be broken... but if you break these, you'll be a half-steppin' MC." The scratching's super simple but still sounds fresh.

So, what do the 10 laws, by which all MCs must abide, amount to? Of course, they take a whole song to explain it, but essentially the boil down to:

1) Expand your vocabulary
2) Try to dress debonair
3) "Never curse on the microphone, because it sounds ignorant like you have no home"
4) Don't have too many MCs in your crew
5) Rock a live beat
6) Don't lip-sync ("the words supposed to flow straight from your mouth")
7) "If you use harmony, you gotta use it right, or you'll sound like the Pips without Gladys Knight"
8) Have something to say
9) Keep up the energy when you perform
10) If you forget the lyrics to your songs, "have a live beat to the work for you"

...Sounds like advice many MCs could still stand to hear today.

The next song, "Cold Frontin'" is similar in a lot of ways, but harder, and the piano is replaced with a grinding heavy metal guitar loop (and s slick horn sound they drop in every once in a while). The music doesn't sound as ahead of its time as the last one, and the inclusion of the guitar sound is obviously inspired by Run DMC's "Rock Box," but they were at least at the front of pack of groups throwing in that metal sound that everyone from The Fat Boys to the Beasties were doing a few years later.

My version's the promo version, but - I think I may have pointed this out in a previous entry on a Profile record - the only difference is the little "Loaned For Promotional Use Only; Not For Sale" notice, and the fact that the label's in black and white, as opposed to their usual golden brown color. In both instances, you get the vocal versions on side A and the instrumentals for both tracks on the flip. If you enjoy old school rap, you'll definitely be very pleased with this one; and since it's so slept on, it's an easy scoop.

The Lost City of K-Solo

Four years after his last album, K-Solo had fans amped for a comeback after an ill guest verse on former comrade Redman's Muddy Waters album. He followed that up with a verse on one of Stezo's indie singles the next year and finally, in 1998, he came out with his own independent release. It was a two-song 12" titled City of Shaft, that came out in two different pressings (but more on that later).

Now, on first glance, you might be put off by his producers... Golden Child and Figure 4 Music? You would've thought PMD was a given (unless he was able to land a big-shot beat from someone like Pete Rock or Large Professor); but who the heck are these guys? But don't worry about it, because they manage to lay down to perfectly rugged, bumping tracks with wailing horns and relentless basslines that really exceed any of the predictable funk-sampled tunes P or even E would've thrown his way.

Solo kicks nothing but hardcore battle rhymes and lays down his law:

"My era dates back when Harlem was all black,
And the Apollo was packed with folks who knew how to act.
There was one man to fight on, back then,
Before you threw your fists in the air we'd all scream 'right on!'
Shaft was happening back then;
The legacy of all that is mine. I'm back again!"

...and the music's more gruff and street than anything on his albums for Atlantic. It's a perfect example of underground, indie 12" scene that ruled the 90's for everyone who was in the know.

Now, the other pressing (not shown) seems to be a bit more sought after - at least, it usually goes for more loot - possibly because it came first (though I'm not sure... I believe Solo put them both out himself the same year). It certainly has a prettier label with genuinely useful track information and production credits. But I went with this one because it has an additional mix for each of the songs, not featured on the green labeled 12". For "Excalibur," it has a radio edit, which I could really give a fuck about, but the B-side, "System," features an acapella, which is pretty sweet. So the white label's the version I'd recommend... plus this way you'll save a few bucks. ;)

Partnered In Kryme: Keymaster Snow Interview

Last December I managed to find and interview GV, the MC of Partners In Kryme, the group best known for their hit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song, "Turtle Power" (read that interview here). Well, just the other day I was able to finally get the other half of the story, and talk with his partner, DJ/musician/producer Keymaster Snow.

In my GV interview, he talks about how he discovered you DJing at Syracuse University. So, how did you get into hip-hop and DJing back before that point?

Well, I was always into more traditionally black music all through high school and everything; that was just the music that I gravitated to. When we had parties or whatever, I was always the one who picked the music… not necessarily a DJ, but I played the records and that kinda thing. So when I got to University, I fell in with a lot of DJ crews from New York. There's a lot of people from New York City at Syracuse University, basically. So I fell in with these guys because I owned a lot of records, and I started learning DJing from them. Real DJing. And I just picked it up as I went.

Well, let me ask you this, then: GV talked about being impressed by your skills as a DJ, but there's no scratching on any of your records… at least the ones we got to hear.

Exactly! The ones you got to hear. It was part of the direction we were leaning in following our first record. We were following the more pop sound at the time.

Was that your thinking, or did that come from SBK?

It was a combination. If you listen to what would have been our first album, there's scratching on some of the songs. Some of them had much more than others. You know, we tried to bring it along slowly. Once that first single had gone out, and it was so pop, we tried to be smart about developing an audience and that kind of thing and bring them along slowly to more the kind of thing we wanted to do.

But also back then, even real hip-hop artists didn't have so much scratching back then. That was something that started developing later. DJing for most people, unless they were real heavy B-boys, they couldn't take it when you started scratching heavy! They had to learn. So it wasn't until sort of the late 80's that started taking off.

Also, when we started doing our records, I brought more of my musical background, including playing keyboards, putting all of the beats together and that kinda stuff. I was concentrating more on that.

And did you used to DJ under a different name, then? Because "Keymaster" wouldn't've made a lot of sense for that…

It was really just Master Snow; that was always the thing. And then it became Mixmaster Snow when I was DJing more. Then finally Keymaster Snow when I was doing all the music for Partners In Kryme.

And how about the name: Partners In Kryme? When did you come up with that? And was that quote on the back of your single, "Keep Rhythm Your Motivating Energy" always the idea behind the name, or was that a backronym?

Right. We just came up with the name Partners In Crime and we didn't want to spell it like that. Although, when we very first started, that's probably how we spelled it. But almost immediately, we changed it to that. And only after, Rich came up with the whole acronym thing. It just fit the letters.

So tell me about the "Hefty" 12".

Yeah, that was up in Syracuse still, and we went to a guy who was starting a label there. I guess everybody was starting a label then. So this was the guy who owned one of the big records stores in Syracuse… there was only like two stores in Syracuse where you could buy hip-hop records, and this was one of them. So we got to know him because we used to go and buy records there. So we were just like why don't we come up with something? And "Hefty" was something we came up with because that was the huge commercial out there at the time, from what was it? Glad Bags? So we sorta based it off of that. And it was, you know… it came out awful. Because of the pressing, the recording… we didn't have money to buy much equipment back then. We were just artists starting out, so we didn't have the money for real recording and studio time. And it was a studio that had no experience producing hip-hop stuff at all. We were trying to make it sound a certain way, and you know, it wasn't great. It was one of those things that didn't really come out, but it was something we did. I don't even have a copy of it for myself.

Are you happy with the song itself? Like, would you say if it wasn't for the mastering and the recording conditions, you'd like it?

It's really incredibly dated. It was along the lines - because it came out at the same time - of Doug E Fresh's "The Show." It really doesn't hold up now.

Along the lines of "The Show" to the point where you guys were doing crazy voices and things?

No. No, not that part. Just the style of the beat… not that it was a copy of it or anything. But it was just that style, that sound. At the time, it was all about making your beats as huge as possible, if you remember. And the drums were just gigantic, and Phil Collins was a big thing. So it was alright, but definitely out first effort!

So, ok, now moving forward to when you signed with SBK… what were your feelings towards them?

Well, it was interesting. Rich got a job with WBLS and made some connections there, which is what got our music heard by SBK. And they were interested in working with us, and we were tired of going back and forth; but they wanted to sign us with a development deal. I don't even know if they do development deals anymore. But at the time, it was a thing where they'd sign you and give you a little bit of money. Nothing much, a couple of thousand. And if you came up with anything, they would own it. And if not, they hadn't really put any money into you. That's what a lot of labels were doing at that point. And we didn't really wanna do that; we wanted to be signed for real, you know?

And while we were going back and forth on that, the Turtles thing came up. And really where this came from is that they had on their album an MC Hammer cut. And that was supposed to be the single. What happened is, when they made the deal to put that on the record, they were sister labels with Capital, who had Hammer. So they had the deal for that single; but by the time it was about to come out, Hammer had blown up huge! He wasn't that big yet when they made the deal, and he blew up really, really huge. So Capital said, hey, we're selling a lot of Hammer records; you can't put this out as a single. Because that'll hurt our sales. They could still have it on the album, but they couldn't put it out as a single. So now they're scrambling.

They immediately said, ok, we'll put out… there was a Ya Kid K song on there as well, you remember, from Technotronic. So they put that out as the first single, and it went nowhere. Technotronic had some big hits, but there was a controversy going on with them because they said that model was their lead rapper. And it turned out, no, it was this other girl, who kinda looked like a boy; not really someone you could set your group around. So that really put the brakes on Technotronic.

So they absolutely knew they needed a single. And again, at the time, soundtracks were huge. Now it's not a big thing anymore; but at the time to have a soundtrack to put out there was a really big deal.

Right. You'd even have half-assed movies that only existed to support a soundtrack album.

Exactly! Remember Above the Rim and all sorts of them where you can't even remember the movies for, but the soundtracks were huge. So they really wanted something and they had actually talked to us earlier about it, before they were really after the single. So we wound up doing the whole thing over the weekend. We came back on Monday, gave it to them, and the label, the movie people, they all loved it.

How much of the music was you guys, then, and how much was Shane Faber responsible for?

We did all the music; that was always us. Shane came… we made the record, everything was in a big hurry. All the deals were made, all the stuff was done, the soundtrack was getting ready to be pressed. So they needed this song super fast. So we recorded the song with all of our equipment. And we were just starting out; nobody had given us any money for new equipment or anything like that. So I didn't have the best equipment in the world, and the drums and everything were very basic sounding. But if you listen to the one that's on the album - the soundtrack album version - that's the version that we put together.

Then, a couple weeks later we got back in the studio with Shane and he had redone the drums with the new equipment. He was pretty much just copying what was there. He redid the bassline…

Well, the keyboards are definitely different.

Yeah. It's all there on the version that's on the album. You just can't hear them as well as you can on the new version, because the older equipment didn't sound as good. He may've also added some additional sound effects.

So, on the Single Edit, did you replay everything, or did you just remix what you had?

Oh yeah, we replayed everything. We had everything on sequencers, so we just ran better sounding equipment on the sequencers. So, the keyboards, the drums… some of the drums. In fact, one of my pet peeves about the song in general - and still, to this day, it's a little hard for me to hear - is if you listen to the original, the drums are straight up swing with 3/4s on the hi-hat. Or maybe 6/8s, I forget; I haven't been in the music business for a while. Anyway, much more of a swing drum sound.

When we were putting together the song, one of the things we looked at - not stolen, or even sampled - but we asked ourselves what's big right now that's a big movie hit? And at the time it was Bobby Brown's song from Ghostbusters 2, "On Our Own." And the drums… I didn't copy the pattern exactly, but I tried to get that swing feel. So it's almost exactly the same tempo and it's got that swing feel to the drums. Now when Shane came in to do the drums on the single version; the hi-hat isn't quite there. I don't know exactly how he did it, but they don't match up. Technically, it has much better drum sounds, but it doesn't have the same feel as my version, and doesn't really groove as well.

Was it your idea, then, that they included the album version on the 12"s (and CD singles)?

Did they really? No, I didn't know that. We had no say in how they put that out. The record didn't care about trying to grow the band or anything like that. In fact, when they put the song on the album, we hadn't even signed our record deal yet. And I was kind of lobbying for us being real hard asses about it, and getting all the concessions that we wanted out of it. But our manager and our lawyer said no, don't do that; it'll piss them off and they won't get behind you or whatever. But how many times do you have a single going out on a record and you haven't signed a deal yet? It seemed to me that we were in a really nice position; but they said no. So we went along and signed the deal with pretty much what they wanted, and we didn't get much of what we wanted. I mean, it was ok for a first deal. But in the end, I guess it wouldn't've helped or hurt one way or another.

Going back, could there have been three versions of "Turtle Power?" Because, comparing the two versions on the single, the keyboards are decidedly different.

Well, no, I don't think so. The elements were all there on both versions… just lamer keyboards or whatever. Our version was less pop. But except for the new percussion, like, I'm sure there were no other music lines or anything that weren't on the original.

And then I assume they didn't give you guys much say on the packaging of the single or anything…

Oh, god no! It got to the point where we were going to shoot the video, and they told us there were going to be guys in turtle suits, a bunch of kids, stuff like that. And when we got there, the guy doing the video didn't even know there were two people in the group. He thought it was just Rich, because all he heard on the record was just Rich. So all of his shots - and you'll notice that I'm just barely, barely in there, and we had to fight for that! - but all his shots were just set up for Rich; that was all he had.

So we had no input on anything like that. And, this is the best part… when we asked if we could have any input on the video or whatever, they told us no, because the movie company was paying for it. So we have to just do what the movie company wants because they're paying for it. But it turns out, the movie company didn't pay for it; it came out of our royalties! And that's what most record companies did at the time - they'd put the money up front and then take it our of the artist's royalties. But the big thing was always, "no, you can't have any input because we're not doing it. The movie company's doing it!" And then they charged us for it.

So we were there, under the Washington Bridge, freezing at 20 below. Although I was in the trailer most of the time, so I never got too cold. But, you know, I wanted to be there for Rich. So you keep a positive outlook, hope the labels do right by you; and generally they never do. Every once in a while they come through; but they were just interested - as all the record companies are - in making money for themselves, especially at the time. That was really the time that record companies started turning. Before that, you know, they would be a little more interested in trying to develop artists and that kinda stuff. But that was the point where it switched, and video became the thing, and performing and what people looked like, and it didn't matter if somebody had talent or not. Then it just became straight up product, and people like Vanilla Ice came in. And it was about how he looked, how he danced, and the music wasn't anything. And sort of "Turtle Power," too! You know, it's a pop song; and that's all it was. We were hoping it would help our careers along the way and get where we wanted to go, but it never lead to anything.

Well, it did lead to a follow-up single; "Undercover."

Yeah… Boy, that was straight down the path we didn't wanna go! It was another one of those tings where we fought it and fought it, and everybody said, go along with this… everyone seems to really want this, and then you can do the stuff that you guys want, and all these promises.

But when we signed with SBK we also signed a publishing deal with EMI. That was one of the things we held strong on. They wanted to sign the publishing, too; but we created a publishing company and did a co-publishing deal with them, which turned out to be very good. Because that's really where you get any kind of money. You never made money off of record sales, but if you wrote your own music and owned the publishing or part of the publishing, you had a much better deal. So we ended up doing ok. EMI ended up getting 25% of the total publishing, and we got 75%.

They asked us what we wanted to do for our next single and we had something, but they weren't knocked out by it. They were like, ok, it can be on the album, but it can't be the next single. So we were like, ok, we'll go back and work.

Anyway, Charles Koppleman, the K in SBK Records, an old music guy from way back in the 50's, wanted us to do this other song. The big thing at the time was that the Dick Tracy movie was coming out. And they didn't own the rights to the soundtrack, but still everybody thought it was going to be huge. It was action, it was comic book-y, it had these big actors: Warren Beatty and Al Pacino. Of course, not we know it wasn't anything.; but not at the time. And Koppleman wanted to ride on the coattails of it. So they wanted us to do this detective song, and he said, you guys are perfect for it, because you'd done one song to fit the mold before, and now you can do it again.

So we tried to make the song a little more… we tried to give the music a little more of the funk stuff and what we wanted to do. And we based the sample of that one off of Eddie Kendricks' "Keep On Truckin'." And sound-wise, it was originally more of a straight-out hip-hop song, but again they told us it needed to be much more pop, so we put in some more stuff. The horn line that's in there, very consciously, we tried to do something similar to the horn line that's in "Turtle Power." So it was much more pop, and from a lyrical standpoint it was very pop; and they loved it.

There's some records I'll go back and listen to and some that I won't. And "Undercover" is definitely one that I won't. Because I don't think it's representative of what we were doing. I mean, I think the sound is pretty good… it's ok for a pop - a really pop sounding record. I like the girl singing on there, I like the samples. But I really can't listen to it.

They said, this is perfect. And then the movie came out and did nothing and the single of course did nothing. And the cover, that was another terrible shoot.

Didn't it match the video?

Yeah, it matched the video. That was another thing that cost us an arm and a leg. They shot it in black and white, and we wanted to shoot part of it in color. But they said no, that was too expensive. But nobody was doing hip-hop videos in black and white in those days. It just wasn't done. But it was what it was. Shooting in black and white was always a problem for us, anyway. Rich is very dark-skinned, and I'm very light-skinned; and I can't tell you how many times the photographers were bitching about the lighting, "we can shoot one or the other!"

Do you remember where those vocal samples came from on that song? The cop stuff.

Yeah, the "Freeze! Don't move, lady?" That came from the J. Geils' Band's album, Love Stinks. There was a little skit they did on that album.

And were you involved musically with "Love 2 Love U?" Because it's credited as being Debbie Cole featuring Partners In Kryme.

Yeah, we wrote and produced that. That was a song where, after tings started to go South with SBK, we started to shop our songs around to other music companies. And one label was getting songs together for a new Samantha Fox record. And they wanted sexy stuff and… she's very limited, always was and everybody knew. So we said, ok, let's see what we can do. And what we wanted to do, sort of, was remake the Donna Summers song. We went back and listened to it, and have you ever went back and listened to her original? There's no song! There's just the chorus; there's no verses at all. So, we sat down and Rich wrote some verses for it. And then we used the original for the hook and we came up with the music and everything for it. And we had our friend Debbie Cole do the demo. She was a friend of ours who we'd worked with before a little bit; she'd done one song that was going to be on our album… she was a really good background singer.

But eventually, they didn't want to use anybody's songs. They wound up going with the whole album produced by Full Force, and that album didn't go anywhere. So we wound up giving it to SBK. And they switched out our music; they had a guy who was a very hot club DJ in New York remix it.

Yeah, I've always felt that was the disappointing song in your catalog, because the music doesn't sound like your kind of stuff.

It wasn't. They completely replaced all of our music, which had more of the funk and the kind of music we were doing. They took all of that out completely and just used Rich's vocals and Debbie's.

Ok, so tell be about Bass Nation now, and KRB Music.

Oh, how did you know about that? Well, that was a thing where after we started producing some other acts, and they never went anywhere, but they made some demos and stuff like that… and we talked to SBK about wanting to produce some of the acts that they had; but we wouldn't do what they wanted; they weren't doing what we wanted. They had a couple of groups doing Boyz II Men-type stuff. They had a band called Riff, they had Fifth Platoon, who were more hip-hop…

Did you ever get in the studio with Fifth Platoon at all?

No, we never did. We always talked about it, but it never happened. And again it was one of those things where you could see that SBK were gonna fuck 'em up. Because they didn't know what they were doing, and they'd try to turn them into some pop act with no basis in reality. So we never really got involved with that.

And they didn't like enlist you to do anything for Vanilla Ice at all?

Oh, no! I don't think we would've been able to work together. Did you ever see his movie? It's one of those movies that's so bad, it's laughably bad. And we got to see it at the premiere, because we had a song on the soundtrack. It was packed with kids who were shouting and getting worked up like kids do. And to make it even worse, the projector kept breaking down. So at three or four points during the movie, it would stop, and the lights would come up. And by about the third time, some kid near the front shouted, "What's up, Iceman?" And instead of laughing it off like you'd do with a kid, I remember he stood up and shouted back, "who said that?" And his whole crew stood up, because he had all of his guys with him, and they went up to the front of the theatre to find this kid!

Eventually, I had to get out of that rat race. I had to raise my daughter and the New York lifestyle just never really worked for me. Which is why I lived in Montclair, but it was still too New York for me. So eventually my wife got a job offer to move to Indianapolis, and we went ahead and made the move.

When I got out there, I cast around and tried to do things here and there, and started to meet people in the music business there. It's definitely not New York! But I found an ad from a company that was trying to hire a music producer into a regular job, which I don't think I'd ever seen before. This was a company that was basically a music distributor; and they would put together music in big lots and sell really cheap CDs like 10 Country Hits. And they'd repackage old songs, put new covers on them and sell CDs for like four dollars at places at Odd Lot. And they were pretty successful at that, but the guy who owned the company thought, hey, if we can make our own music, that would be even cheaper! We wouldn't have to pay the record companies licensing fees. And the guy was an amazing salesman; the type who could sell anything. He was one of those guys. And so he hired to of us to be his on-site producers.

So he put together a studio there, in his offices, up above the warehouse where the guys were packing together the CDs and everything. And our job was to write music. We called it custom music, basically, where we'd put out like a set of10 CDs of nature music, or bass music or relaxation music or whatever. We'd come up with a concept and then just put together the music to fit it. Most of the music didn't have vocals on it, because we didn't have the time! The deal was, they would sell the CDs for $2 or the cassettes for $1. So we would have to sell them to the stores for $1 or 50 cents, which meant that we had to bang out music at unbelievable speed! If we didn't write, record and finish a song in one day, he'd be on us and say we were slackers. And sometimes it got to the point where it had to be a whole CD in one day - from nothing to finished product!

It was an awful job, very tough. You do it because how many jobs are there for music producers? So I did it for as long as I could, which was maybe two years, or about a year; and eventually I had to quit because I couldn't take it anymore. It was too much pressure. And he was making tons of money off this stuff and paying us very, very little.

Now, the good thing was I got to meet someone who was my producer there, Michael Clark, who is a really amazing string player… guitars, mandolin… He was one of the top session guys in Indianapolis. There was like a small community (a lot of those guys wound up being in John Mellencamp's band); and he was one of the top go-to guys. He came originally from a very country background and then got into doing a lot of pop stuff. So he brought in all of that, and I brought in the hip-hop stuff, and we started producing and were able to nail all different styles.

We started working with all the guys I met through him, and we formed a company called New York Music Works, where we did background work for films, commercials, TV, things like that. He eventually quit KRB as well. He lasted longer than I did, but he had to get out of there, too. I don't know what became of them, but I know he sold billions of those records at $2 a piece.

Well, you know there's a fan page dedicated to the bass CDs you guys did as Bass Nation.

Oh really? Yeah, we did like eleven or twelve CDs of that, and I did pretty much all the music on there, which was the sampling and putting it together and stuff like that. They didn't sound too good, also, because he would press them up at the cheapest places he could find. Because as long as he could sell it, that's all that mattered. I understood at the time that Miami bass was a genre that mostly wasn't very good. You could put out almost anything; you didn't have to be a real artist. You know, 69 Boyz and all that stuff is junk. So it was very easy to do. Just make a couple good drum and bass sounds and basically a lot of repetition.

I think he even kinda points out that the tracks you're credited with have more of an East coast vibe.

Yeah, I'm always gonna have that. There was one other guy we worked with for a couple tracks, who was local there; but he couldn't do it cheap enough! Nobody could do it cheap enough. So there are a couple, his, that had more of a west coast sound. And mine were always east.

Anyway, eventually, I moved to Austin. And you'd think the music scene in Austin would be a lot easier than Indianapolis. Austin, oh yeah, everybody talks about Austin and music! But strangely enough, that made it tougher. Because in Indianapolis, you can find everyone who's doing it very quickly. But out here, everybody's doing it. Everyone you meet, walking down the street, plays guitar in a band or plays bass, whatever. And I'm not talking about cover bands, but people who write and perform their own music, too. Plus all the emphasis there is on live music, and that's not what I do; I'm a recorder. So I looked around for a while but never got anywhere with it and I've been out of the music business for a while, sold all my equipment, don't have anything left.

I wound up getting a job with the IRS as a tax examiner, and really enjoyed that. Now I work for a company that's based out of North Carolina. The music thing was great for a while, I'm glad I did it, but now I'm glad I'm out of it; it's an awful business. Especially now, it's probably a billion times worse. I haven't bought a record in I don't know how long; I just download it off the internet. And there's not much left of the real hip-hop. The last album I got was an old Jurassic 5 album. That was like the last of the real hip-hop. There's one or two guys… Q-Tip's still around, but that's about it.

One last question before we end this… There's another group out there called The Partners in Kryme…

Oh, that's right! The calypso group. They were a couple years after we had really started working. We talked about getting them to stop using the name, but that was right about the time I was moving to Indianapolis, and it wasn't worth it. It turns out they never really went anywhere. Some people think it's the same group and get confused. If we were still out there and trying to use it, obviously we would have done something, but we let it go. But we had a platinum record out and everything. How they could go with that name without paying to clear it is beyond me.

But did you know there was also a rock band called Partners In Kryme? They were some local rock band in the 80's in Ohio or I don't know where they were… that really surprised me. So I guess we paid it forward!

Snow is setting up a Facebook fanpage for Partners In Kryme now. It's already got a bunch of photos and articles, and he promises music and lyrics soon. So if you have fond memories of the duo like I do, definitely drop by and check it out.

Werner's New Music Seminar 2009!

Werner presents his second annual New Music Seminar, where I round up some of my top recommended albums that I've been rocking this lately. I think I'm gonna make this a regular summer tradition - and if you missed last summer's, it's right here.

Blaq Poet - Tha Blaqprint
This is so obvious, I figured I oughta lead with it, just to get it out of the way. I've read the criticisms of this album, and don't really disagree: Premiere is feeling more and more like recycled formula lately; and Poet isn't exactly a mind expanding lyricist. But, still, two dope hip-hoppers came together to make a really good, consistent hip-hop album and they succeeded. Some tracks are high-energy Premo, and others are slower and darker, so it doesn't feel repetitive.

Neila - Better Late Than Never
"Late" is right! At least we had The Convenience Store to tide us over; because it has been far to long since we've had a Neila album. So now, this is not the EP with Vrse Murphy that was talked about some time ago (I guess that's scrapped? I just heard from Vrse; and it's still on! He's been away for a while; but he's back, working on it now); instead this album is produced in its entirety by a new guy named Avatar (except one song, which is co-produced by LifeRexall). But it's as dope as you'd expect from Neila... the album definitely isn't front-loaded with the best material; it gets better as you go on. And Avatar's beats sound more appropriate for when Neila sings (the occasional hook) rather than when raps (when it can get a little flat). But once it gets going, it takes off.

Pace Won - Presents Team Won
Last year Pace was in my NMS and he's back again this year. Every fresh MC should be this prolific. So, yeah, like the title suggests, this is kinda his "weed carriers" album; but fortunately Pace rocks the mic on every single song save one. His crew ain't bad either, the beats are a little more rugged than on his last album (not sure if that means they're better or not - you'll have to call that one yourselves), and there're guest appearances by El da Sensai and fellow former Outsida, DU. Not his masterpiece; but fans won't be disappointed.

Bike for Three - More Heart Than Brains
I have to admit I wasn't too keen on this album before I heard it. This was definitely a low priority pick-up - Buck 65, who I'm a definite fan but who has a poor track record when it comes to collaborating with other producers (Situation, anyone?), links up with some lady from Belgium who calls herself Greetings From Tuskan? Oh, and their lead "single" (in quotes 'cause it was just put an advance mp3; there's no actual single for it) was a remake of MC Shan's "MC Space" that - guess what? - was not good as the original and offered nothing new. I was prepared to go in with the lowest expectations and still have them crushed and come out annoyed. But no! This is one of those instances where it's better not to listen to reason! It turns out this is a seriously good, surprisingly consistent (except for "MC Space;" but at least it's tolerable album filler) album. Really.

Busdriver - Jhelli Beam
Man, BusDriver really kills it on this one. He can rap (both in terms of delivery and content) like almost no one can; and he's got the production (mostly by his usual cohorts, including himself) to back it up on this album. Every once in a while, a beat will pop up that's a little too "experimental;" but most of the time it's a killer combination. Maybe at times it feels like he's trying a little too hard to be clever? But, really; I'm reaching to find a criticism; because it's just hot.

Chubb Rock & Wordsmith - Bridging the Gap
Finally, I was hoping to end with this album; but it didn't come out. I had this pre-ordered from ughh, and they eventually canceled it saying they don't know if or when it's coming. If you've been following me on Twitter, though; you'll know I looked into this and finally got some answers. According to Wordsmith, the distributors screwed up the date and he's now expecting this to drop on September 1st. Well, we'll see. I hope so.

The Ain't No Half Steppin' Remixes

(And the Youtube version is here.)

The Ultimate Tribute To Scratching

Let me start with some back story here, for those of you who aren't fully versed in the legend. "A Tribute To Scratching" was a fresh showcase of Cutmaster Cool V's scratching that appeared on Biz Markie's debut album, Goin' Off. Rather famously, another "Tribute To Scratching" was played on the radio back in the day. Dubbed "A Tribute To Scratching Pt. 2," this version has often been heralded as superior to the original. This version features a lot of Jackson 5 records (there'll be more on this as we go along), and it's a common theory that only Tim Westwood has the acetate of this; and other DJs were just playing cassette copies. Low quality - really, I've never heard a version that didn't sound pretty seriously awful! with WBLS promos, radio blends at the ends, and massive amounts of painfully loud hiss - radio rips have been prolifically shared since the days of tape trading, onto file sharing, and even been pressed up on vinyl (as part of the Holy Grail series).

Well, for their third, limited (to 350 hand-numbered copies... as you can see in the pic, mine's #14) 12" release, Hot Chillin' has finally unleashed this from the vaults. And they've done it in style.

We start out on side A with the original Marley Marl-produced "Tribute To Scratching." Actually, even better, we start out with a never-before-released Extended Version of "Tribute To Scratching." You're probably all familiar with this song by now... Biz rocks raps about his DJ, who cuts it up in between verses, over a phat track with the "Peter Piper" bells, the guitar riff from Whistle's "Transformation," etc. You know it, it's dope; and now it's even better in it's extended form (which is a hefty minute and a half longer than the album version).

Next we have the previously unreleased Alternate Mix. This is essentially the same beat as the original version, but features some new cuts, a new breakdown, etc. I'll have to listen to this 12" several more times before I pick a favorite between this and the Extended O.G. mix.

Third, we get the instrumental to the Alternate Mix. To clarify, this instrumental keeps all of Cool V's scratches; just none of Biz's vocals.

Since "Tribute To Scratching" has never seen 12" release before, the above already qualifies this as a dope 12" worthy of Hot Chillin' status. But it's the B-side everyone's been waiting for.

We start off with "A Tribute To Scratching pt. 2," or as we now know it's officially titled,"A Tribute To Scratching (J 5 Mix)!" Here it is, finally, in pristine quality taken from the original masters in Marley's vaults. If you haven't heard this mix before, it doesn't feature Biz's raps... it's just Cool V going off cutting up classic vocal samples and of course Jackson 5 grooves. It's completely different than the album version; and it's a revelation to hear it in pristine quality after all these years.

But then we get a whole new version that nobody but I guess Marley, Biz and Cool even knew existed - a Marvin Gaye mix! Once again, it's completely different - it's essentially "A Tribute To Scratching pt. 3!" It features just a brief appearance by Biz at the start letting us know that this is a tribute to Marvin Gaye, and that Cool V's gonna get funky. Then Cool V proceeds to unleash all new cuts and samples over Marvin records, including a lot of "What's Going On." And thanks to the label's credits, we now know what we pretty much already assumed: that all the remix versions were produced by Marley as well.

Finally, the 12" (more an EP rather than a single) is rounded out with the acapella for Biz's rhymes from the original version. ...Oh, and did I mentioned that the sleeve is signed by Marley Marl? Hot Chillin' outdid themselves with this release.

Now, you may remember one caveat I had to make in my write-up of the previous Hot Chillin' releases... and I'm pleased to say they've fixed that issue, too. No longer mailing their records in bubble envelopes(!); HC shipped these in proper, safe cardboard boxes; and their shipping rates are much more reasonable, too (last time it was $30 for two copies within the US). I also received another nice bonus in my package; but I'm not sure if everybody's getting one or if I just got lucky, so I'll hold off on talking about that. But suffice it to say: Hot Chillin' have topped themselves in more ways than one, and all the rumors have been resolved in the best possible way.

I don't know how long they'll last (it's a bit pricier than previous HC releases, so that might slow 'em down a little), but you can get copies from their site, here. And, hey, wait; there's still one last thing... Tucked away in a tiny nook on their website is a note about an upcoming, extra-limited "special edition," which reads, "As we are celebrating a special release, we have decided to release a further amount of 50 copies accompanied by special artwork. These 50 copies are considered to be a separate release and will be numbered differently. More information on pricing and artwork will follow soon."

Young Zee, Arrogant, Pudgee & Mr. Blaq

(Youtube version is here.)

The PreCISE Spot

The PreC.I.S.E. MC is a nice, NY rapper who signed to Luke Records when they made their first efforts to expand beyond Miami bass music. She put out her underrated debut in 1991, which featured a fun follow-up to Super Lover Cee's "Girls I Got 'Em Locked" called "So You Think You Got 'Em Locked," which featured Super Lover Cee himself. Unfortunately, it flew under the radar and she disappeared for a while. But she drew attention in 1995, appearing on Big Kap's hit single, "Da Ladies In da House" as a part of an all-star female MC line-up featuring Bahamadia, Lauryn Hill, Uneek, and someone named Treep. Her verse was nice, but I'm not sure how many people realized who she was.

Well, this is her independent 12" release that followed that up (also her final release to date). "The Spot" came out on Paid Music (this being their first and only venture) in 1997. Well, popular opinion seems to be that it came out in 1997, at least. There's no date on the label. But if it wasn't '97, it was right around there.

The A-side, "The Spot (Radio Mix)," is clearly more of her stab at a club hit. It's produced by Tramp Baby, who's mostly done R&B-type work, and features two R&B singers... a female doing background crooning, and a male who does the hook. But the beat's based around a classic, old school sample and her rhymes are smooth, so there's nothing to complain about. It's on a "Summertime"-type vibe. This is one of those rare examples where an underground MC makes a mainstream song and actually succeeds. And she sounds just like she did on her old records, so PreC.I.S.E. fans from '91 won't be disappointed.

Now, the B-side's a bit mislabeled... they've got the tracks in the wrong order. But basically you get the instrumental for "The Spot" and "Whatever Works," which is clearly designed to be the underground banger of the 12". It's produced by Tramp Baby again, but the R&B singers and soul samples are gone. Instead you get a hard-hitting drum track a deep, speaker-rumbling sample, and a hook based off of T-La Rock's classic, "It's Yours." She doesn't get rough with her delivery, though, and she avoids that straining-to-be-clever, punchline-heavy style that was prevelant in underground NY rap at the time. She's just slick, smooth and engaging.

Unfortunately, like everything else she put out, this got slept on. So track it down and pick it up. It comes with a nice sticker cover and probably won't be too expensive, 'cause most people don't even seem to know who she is.

This Is How It Should Be Done

This Golden Ticket (not actually golden, but "Black & White Ticket" doesn't sound as fun and Willy Wonka-ish) came inside the sleeve of the new BusDriver album (which I wrote about here). I know he's not the first to do this; but he's still one of the select few, so props to him... Honestly, everybody should be selling music this way, now. It's win/win. Forget CDs, Forget itunes or any other way of selling music. Just vinyl coupled with an mp3 download. Perfection. 8)