InstaRapFlix #30: P-Star Rising

P-Star Rising (Netflix rating: 3 stars) is a surprisingly good documentary. I was originally just curious to see it because the description mentioned that the documentary's focus, P-Star, was the daughter of an 80's-era "rising star in hip-hop" who had to drop out of the music industry; and I was curious who the unnamed star was. Even when I read his real name in the film's press reviews (Jesse Diaz), that didn't really help. But I did some online research and found it's Jessie Jes, who worked on the Roxanne answer record, "No More Roxanne" by Zelee, and who worked on records by artists like Debbie Deb. Anyway, my curiosity now sated, I noticed that this film had a bunch of really strongly positive reviews... so I decided to check it out.

P-Star is a 9 year-old rap star (the film calls her, in text, "the youngest female rapper ever" - but actually Raven Symoné has her well beat, releasing her first album at age 5). I mean: I've never heard of her, but this documentary presents her as being pretty hugely successful. And I don't really follow childrens' entertainment, so I'll take their word for it.

It's interesting, if unsurprising, to see how much a child star (probably most adult strs, too, for that matter)is packaged: everything from the themes of her lyrics, her look (she's on a pretty rigorous physical training regime). One of her songs is a cover of Special Ed's "I Got It Made," another is Rob Base's "It Takes Two." I'm using the word "cover" politely, 'cause I don't want to accuse a nine-year old of biting, but... the point is, they're clearly being marketed towards kids who won't recognize them as anything other than completely original lyrics.

But what makes this film so compelling isn't so much that it reveals what we pretty much already knew about pop music. It's the surprisingly personal access the family gives to the filmmakers to document their complete lives. We see more about the mother's drug use and older sister's learning disability (the latter a tragic consequence of the prior), than we see backstage or in the studio (though there's a funny see where she bitches about Remy Ma being unprofessional). It's not a glamorous biopic of another pop icon, but a thoughtful look at a family surviving off the incredibly fortunate success of their very young daughter.

It's not a perfect documentary; it's a little staged... and the rap nerd in me is incredibly disappointed they didn't use the opportunity to ask Jesse anything about his past hip-hop career - I want to hear about the making of "No More Roxanne," dammit!. But compare this to my last InstaRapFlix outing, or pretty much 99% of the other hip-hop bio docs out there, and this is a real revelation. This is actually a quality film that's worth watching, even if (like me) you don't know or care about the artist before-hand.

Disecting The Ultra Laboratory

Okay, well, if you haven't been too plugged in lately, you may not've realized that The Ultramagnetic MCs (or, more specifically, TR Love & DJ Moe Love) have released a new compilation of Ultramagnetic songs. Entitled Ultra Laboratory Stores, and credited to the Ultramagnetic Foundation, it's on CD and double LP (nice!) from a label called Black Pegasus Records, and seems to be a confusing jumble of old and new material. And that means it's time for me to throw on my lab coat and get to work.

Making our incision along the right edge of the shrink-wrap so we can access the vinyl without exposing the cover, we see that the CD and LP have the same track-listing, consisting of 22 songs. But some of those are skits. We will now inspect and analyze the inner guts (that's a technical term) track by track:

1. Intro (The Drama) - Just a useless skit.

2. Is It Them (Keith & Ced) - This is some recent-sounding Ultra material. Probably an unused track from their last album on DMAFT. It's better than a lot of the tracks that were released - it's got more of a real, sample-based production style than whatever it is they were doing on the album; but it's nothing special... a kinda cool, spacey duet between Ced & Keith.

3. Ride Wit US - Another like the last one. The beat is like an alternate chop of Gangstarr's "You Know My Steez." This definitely tops anything off of The Best Kept Secret, but the hook's kinda lame and it's of course no Critical Beatdown-level material. I like it, though. Oh, and Tim Dog's on here, too. Update 9/10/10 - it was pointed out to me that this track is also from Tim Dog's BX Warrior album, under the title "Love 4 Us." I just double-checked that, and it is indeed.

4. Cold Crush (Interlude) - A short audio clip of either Ultra performing in the Cold Crush Brothers' style, or just a short clip of the Cold Crush themselves. It doesn't last long enough for us to be able to tell.

5. Pain & Changes feat. Fred Beanz, Street Ruckus MCs - These new guys (who you'll be coming across a lot on here) aren't bad and the track's nice and street... certainly better than recent Ultramagnetic and Kool Keith releases, but that's said with the understanding that most of that material is complete junk. This isn't junk, you'll nod your head, but I have a feeling this was never recorded for an Ultra album... it's more of a debut by these guys who TR & Moe Love are working with, and they just got Ced to spit a guest verse.

6. Mind Games feat. Fred Beanz, Diabolique - Almost everything I said about track 5 applies here, but one key difference - this song was already released (on Tim Dog's BX Warrior album). Don't really know why it's here, but we'll run into more of that as we go on.

7. Make It Rain - See? I told ya. This is the song they released on Oxygen Music Works back in 2001. It isn't an alternate version or anything; it's the same song. Pfft.

8. Bronx Bombers (Interlude) - A brief instrumental skit.

9. Throw Your Hands Up feat. Fred Beanz - This Fred Beanz guy kicks the hook and the first verse, repping like he's a fully inducted member of The Ultramagnetic MCs. (shrug) Maybe he is. It's another respectable new-ish Ultra song, that sure beats anything Ultra put on their last album.

10. Mix It Down - This was the B-side to "Make It Rain," that 2001 single. Again, there's nothing new about this. But - and I just can't say this enough - it still trumps anything from Best Kept Secret.

11. Sub - The first verse by Tim Dog is kinda promising, but the hook is one of the worst I've ever heard in the genre. I assume this is another Best Kept Secret discard.

12. Plucking Cards (Unreleased Version) - The crown jewel of this album. A very cool, smooth (yet pure East coast, sample heavy)-style alternate mix of "Pluckin' Cards" off of Ultra's Funk Your Head Up album.

13. TR's Verse (Interlude) - A skit, but TR kicks a fast-rap freestyle verse, so it's far cooler than the other skits.

14. The Cipher feat. Fred Beanz, Street Ruckus MCs - This is pretty okay, too. Again, Ced and TR feel more like guests on somebody else's song than vice versa, and most of us probably wouldn't even be paying attention to this stuff if it wasn't sneakily snuck onto an Ultramagnetic album. But if you come in with the expectation of "this is just a compilation of songs by some guys TR & Moe Love are working with," you won't be mad.

15. Baby I'm Mad - This is terrible. So terrible, in fact, that I'm surprised this wasn't actually included on Best Kept Secret. Kool Keith's solo song should have been left in whatever plastic bag they found it in.

16. The Anger, The Extasy (Interlude) - Another short instrumental break.

17. Mechanizim Nice (Unreleased Version) - "Mechanism Nice (Born Twice)" was the lead single (okay, the only single) off of Ultra's last album. This version is sure better than the one they chose to release in 2007. It's still not great, but a huge improvement.

18. TR's Feelin It - This is the bonus verse TR kicked at the end of the "Feelin' It" instrumental on the "Watch Me Now" 12" on Next Plateau. Like with the "Make It Rain" single, there's nothing different or unreleased about this track except that it cuts off the first 2+ minutes of instrumental that originally lead up to TR's part.

19. My Life feat. Fred Beanz - Jeez, now they don't even bother to maintain the pretense. This song doesn't feature anybody from Ultra (not even Tim Dog); it's just a Fred Beanz solo song. It's a lot better than Keith's solo song, though. lol I'm also starting to notice the sound quality is pretty blah, like they just ripped this off his demo cassette, which is probably what they did.

20. Live & Learn feat. Fred Beanz - Another Fred Beanz solo demo song. It's pretty good, though, I have to admit. Die hard Ultra fans are probably feeling pretty ripped off at this point, though.

21. Hard To Understand - This is a cool DJ cut by DJ Moe Love. The sound quality is poor, but this instrumental mix is dope - this is exactly the kinda thing we bought this album for! Why wasn't more of the album like this?

22. Funk Radio - This is taken right off of Ultra's second album. There's no difference between this and what was on Funk Your Head Up. Always a good look to end your album on a note of definitive pointlessness.

So, what's the verdict on this one? Well, Ultra purists will be interested in this album for two songs and two songs only... kinda rough to lay down almost $20 for two songs and a lot of filler. Especially when the sound quality is uneven, and at some points downright poor. More open-minded casual fans will find more to enjoy: some good production, and a bunch of new MCs who dance dangerously close to the line of "mediocre" but consistently outshine their hosts.

What makes this release so extremely frustrating, though, is that we know for a fact that there are some great, killer Ultramagnetic classics still in their vaults (radio rips are already floating around the internet of sick, killer alternate versions of "MC Champion" and "Message From the Boss"). Why, why, why, why, why, why, why?! It's not even like they left them off to make room for shitty Best Kept Secret outtakes - they left them off for songs like "Funk Radio" that are exactly the same as the versions on the album! AARRRGGGHHHHH!!!

In an interview with Unkut (a must read if you're interested in this album), TR says they have a part two on deck (followed by a Street Ruckus MCs album), so I guess he's saving the other good tracks for that. But with so much padding on this release, I'm worried they won't see enough sales to bother with the second volume (which I'm sure has much more padding in store for us!). So I want to recommend you guys support this just for that reason, but... all I can say is those are the facts, make up your own minds. :\

The Definitive 2AWK

I think I should talk about The 2AWK (pronounced like "talk")... not because I'm a huge fan of these guys, but they were pretty good, and I don't think anybody else on the 'net's gonna tell about 'em if I don't. It's a big responsibility I carry here at this blog. lol Anyway, as you can see from the logo above, 2AWK stands for 2 Average White Kids, which is odd because there's six of 'em, including three MCs, one DJ and two dancers: Phillip "EFEK" Mueller, Christopher "Cold Chris" Parker, Erick "Hype" Krause, George "Baby-G" Garza, John "Park Place" Meeks and Erick "Boardwalk" Cheatham. They were signed to Luke Records in 1990, and while Luke didn't seem to do the careers of most of their signees any favors, I can't help but think their stupid name has to carry at least half the blame. But they received some positive attention in recent years because apparently Chuck D regards these guys pretty highly (there's a connection we'll get to later) and included one of their songs on his semi-recent Hip Hop Hall of Fame DVD.

Anyway, they recorded an album titled Konflic Uv Interest, but like a lot of albums recorded for Luke around that time (Malignant Graffiti, Malignant Graffiti, Malignant Graffiti), it was never released and remains unheard to this day. The track-listing exists, though, since this album was very close to release before being pulled:

Konflic Uv Interest:
1. 6 A. M.
2. U. S. A. (Static)
3. 2alk About Scheming
4. Hit and Run
5. 2Awk Is Cheap
6. 2Awk on the Town
7. Vacant the Premises
8. High Noon
9. Konflic UV Interest
10. Monopolistic Maneuvers
11. Lyrically Speaking
12. Face the Music
13. Down to the Nitty
14. Whitemares
15. Psychotic
(Luke Records - 1991)

So, the album didn't drop, but several songs did make it out of Luke Records alive. first we have their lead single and sole release, "Psychotic." Probably the most compelling element of 2AWK's music (at least what we've been allowed to hear of it) is their production. "Psychotic" was produced by Kavon Shah and Anthony Mills, of Professor Griff's (there's that connection I promised!) very underrated production team, The Soul Society.

Actually, before the song, we get a skit called "Whitemares," where John's parents awake from a nightmare that he'd joined a rap band only to discover that it's true. It's as corny and unnecessary as all skits, but then the song kicks in. It's a mix of several familiar breaks and horn samples, flipped in a fresh new way. They've got a DJ adding some nice scratches, and they even manage to use "Atomic Dog" on the hook without it being irritating. Lyrically, it gets pretty trite and corny (this was a group that thought it was a good idea to call themselves 2 Average White Kids, after all; and it was 1991), with lines like "dancin' like Charles Manson," but their flows are good enough to ride the hot beats. Overall, it's an okay song... and a downright dope, worth owning song if you don't scrutinize the lyrics too much.

There are no instrumentals (unfortunately!) or anything, but flip this over and you've got a B-side song entitled, "Down To the Nitty." This one's produced by Mr. Mixx, but it's nothing like your typical 2 Live Crew track. Well, lyrically it actually kinda is, 'cause it's a jokey sex rap song ("see more butts than a toilet stool; jack more ass than Francis the Talking Mule"). Unfortunately, unlike the last song, it's really hard to ignore the slow, ultra-cheesy punchline raps on this song ("women, I caught 'em swimmin' in bikinis, and they had no weenies. I don't mean to indulge but they had no bulge in the front"), which means it's not one you'll want to revisit often. And that's a shame, because the instrumental is great! It's got a slow, deep bassline, a protracted flute sample for a hook... it would've fit in perfectly on Kurious's first album (in fact, I'm sure they were trying to duplicate that casual, lyrical vibe). If you can keep from cringing at the freestyle rhymes, I recommend it.

Anyway, that's 2AWK's only proper release, but not their only appearance on wax. They had a song called "Vacate the Premises," which was included on Luke Record's Hangin' With the Home Boys soundtrack. As you can see from the track-listing above, it was also intended for their album, and it was also included as the B-side to the single from that soundtrack, 2 Live Crew & Triple XXX's "Hangin' With the Homeboys and Dr. Feelgood." I've got the cassingle, but even the 12" only features the one version of the song (that's right, another instrumental opportunity missed). Again, the production is handled by The Soul Society's Kavon Shah and Anthony Mills, and it's another winner. This one has more of an obvious Bomb Squad influence, with wailing sirens, and blaring horn stabs over the big beats. It's just got that hardcore, noisy feel, and the MCs hold up much better on this track.

Then they popped up one more time in 1992, on the compilation EP, Luke's Hitmen for the 90's (as you might guess, 2AWK aren't the only disappointingly shelved artists to appear on this one). Their song here is called "U.S.A. (United Static Association)," an ode to digging and sampling. This is the one Chuck featured on his DVD, and as you can see, it was intended for the Konflic album as well. Again it's produced by Kavon and Anthony, and again, the track easily outshines the MCs. Like "Psychotic," it utilizes a lot of breaks, samples and sounds you've heard before (they even use the signature loop from JVC Force's "Strong Island" during a break-down), but combines them into a really refreshing blend. But unlike "Vacate the Premises," this one doesn't sound "noixy," each funky horn and guitar sample gets to stand on its own over the head-nodding drums.

So that's the full story of 2AWK. I don't know if they were shelved because Luke Records didn't have faith in the MCs or if it was just because they were struggling financially and shelving great material right and left. Probably a bit of both. But it's a shame Konflic Uv Interest remains on the shelf, because if the production on the rest of the LP is anything like the songs we've heard, it's got some interesting songs and incredible beats going to waste. Who owns Luke's catalog now? Joey Boy - are they still around? Whoever it is, I hope somebody decides to open up those vaults, 'cause there's a lot of quality, under-appreciated hip-hop rotting away in there.

7L Of the Living Dead

When those dudes made a diss rap directed at Byron Crawford, they got clowned on pretty hard. And I kinda felt bad for them because, despite everything else, they were rhyming over a loop from Lucio Fulci's The Beyond soundtrack by Fabio Frizzi. And if you're a serious horror movie fan, you know sampling a classic Fulci soundtrack is the second coolest sample source possible (the first, of course, is peak-period Goblin).

So, lately I've been picking up some 7L & Esoteric stuff I passed over at the time... just whatever I can get cheap (turns out I was right to leave that gimmicky "Herb" 12" alone - whoops!). And it cheered me up when I dropped the needle on this 12" of theirs from 2004 on Babygrande Records, 'cause 7L sampled Fulci's classic theme to City Of the Living Dead (again, all credit going to Fabio Frizzi)! The song is called "This Is War" and features The Army Of the Pharaohs.

Now, The Army Of the Pharaohs is pretty much like The Flavor Unit. At one point ehy were really compelling. And then one of the weakest front-men of the group (in this case, Vinnie Paz would be our Queen Latifah) swapped out almost all of the original members with mediocre replacement acts, ruining their whole shit and spoiling the legacy. I guess that would make Esoteric Apache, the one real hold over from the past period, and Virtuoso could be Lakim Shabazz or Latee... he was allowed to make a few appearances, but basically the crew dropped the ball on his career.

I guess that was a long way to go about saying that this is a posse cut with some underwhelming guest MCs. I don't even really know who's all on here... King Syze, somebody from that group called Outerspace? Anyway, it doesn't matter. They all get that "posse cut" pass, just like those old school songs where rappers would put their dancers, DJs and managers and the record. No one really impresses, but the spirit of a posse cut just makes it all work, and actually whoever it was kicking the first verse came kinda nice. It's all good; just a simple, enjoyable, down-the-line posse cut, just like we like 'em. And it's even got a little bonus scratchin' at the end.

Flip this over, then, and you've got "Rise Of the Rebel," which actually has a similar (but not Frizzi-created as far as I can tell) piano loop driving the music. Esoteric's solo on the mic this time, and the vibe's a little more mellow, as Eso kicks a nice, autobiographical rap about his come-up and his childhood. Nothing incredible, but it's pleasant and listenable.

There's nothing too exclusive to this 12" - both songs appeared on their Babygrande album, Bars Of Death, that dropped the same year. You do get Clean, Dirty and Instrumental mixes for each, though, in just a plain label sleeve. And, come on - how many other hip-hop 12"s are you gonna find with a Gates of Hell loop on it?

How Do You Make the Hip-Hop's Greatest Legends Boring?

I decided to take a random chance on a hip-hop DVD today. It didn't look like much, but unlike most of the cheap hip-hop DVDs out there, Hip Hop Legends represents the old school. That's pretty cool. So how bad can it be, right?

Well, this one opens up with a very high-energy song called "Hip-Hop America," which plays over some credits and random driving footage of New York. I had to skip ahead to the closing credits to see that it was by someone named Deadwate featuring Mag. They played the same song again over the closing credits.

My fascination with the song over, I can now commence to watching the movie properly. In an opening crawl, we're told, "For one night only the pioneers of Hip Hop will get together to share the real story of the movement." Considering the name I saw go by in the opening credits (Grandmaster Caz, Bambaataa, Melle Mel, Busy Bee), I'm kinda amped.

Unfortunately, after that, we run into one of the Achilles's Heels of these hip-hop docs: lame, cheesy narration. Some random guy prattles on about the crime rate in The Bronx and how hip-hop came out of it "and channeled it into something positive." Blah, blah, blah. Unfortunately, this guy will keep coming back and back, to drone out about everything we already know. I think more than half of the film might literally be comprised of this guy's voice speaking over title cards.

The rest of this movie, the part we're actually here for, are the interviews. Besides the artists I named above, we've got DMC, DJ Skribble, EK Mike C and others. Unfortunately, they spend most of their time re-saying what the narrator already told us - for example, we're told like four times that grafitti and breakdancing are a part of hip-hop culture, too; it's not just the music. I doubt anyone who picked this DVD up would need to be told that once, really, but okay... maybe some younger viewers decided they wanted to listen to sit-down interviews of middle-aged musicians talk about old music, and this would actually be informative to them ...the first time.

Ok, let's call it like it is. Clearly, this movie is based around the fact that the filmmakers had backstage access to one big hip-hop concert with a lot of old school artists. Some gave them sit-down interviews, and some just gave them a minute or two real quick between numbers. The filmmakers decided, "we can stretch this into a film!" And they set to work adding redundant narration, long credits and some stock photos. But they still didn't even succeed in stretching it to feature length - yup, this is another one of those 60 minute DVDs I keep stumbling upon!

To be fair, if you stick with it, there are a few moments here and there that aren't bad. Busy Bee adds a little humor, and there's a short segment where they actually leave the concert and go film Pow Wow in the Bronx. Someone could edit the highlights out of here and make an okay Youtube video. It still probably wouldn't be that revealing, but it would be cool just to here these guys speaking a bit.

To be honest, I kinda knew this was gonna be another cash-grab DVD... but I figured with all those great old school artists, it would still have to be somewhat worthwhile, right? Nope! Not really... Perhaps if the interviewer talking to these guys could come up with any deeper questions beyond, "tell us how hip-hop started," but there is just nothing compelling in any of this footage. The best thing about this doc is that title song. And it's not that good.

The DVD does have an extra worth noting, titled "The Future Of Hip Hop." It's basically another segment of the film, complete with more narration over another title card and more interview footage with the same guys. I really don't understand why they didn't just leave this in as part of the movie. It would have at least brought them substantially closer to being feature length, and it isn't any less (or more) compelling than the rest of the interview footage. Eh. Oh well, who cares?

So yeah. Don't don't be like me and waste your time just because some great artists are involved. Apparently it takes more than that to make something worth watching. Lessons learned all around, I reckon.

InstaRapFlix #29: Outkast: Dare To Be Different

"The thing that makes Outkast different from everybody else is they wear what the Hell they wanna wear!" That's the opening line. Outkast fans, did you take their music seriously? Sorry, but you'll soon learn their success is entirely due to the vintage clothes they wear. Maybe I just don't appreciate fashion (actually, I know I don't), but that seems a little potentially insulting to me. But then again, you probably won't notice, considering how much more insulting the rest of this film is.

Netflix lists Outkast: Dare To Be Different as 60 minutes, but when you start to play it, you'll see it's really only 41. That should be your first indication that this movie (Netflix rating: a very generous 2 out of 5 stars) is not what you might hope.

It starts us out with an anonymous narrator who confuses the definition of "irony" with "coincidental." She gives us Outkast's basic back-story over a series of press photos. The narration's sometimes pretty funny - I love the way she matter-of-factly states, "Dre often got high while waiting to rob people." Or "Dre's style of dress had people wondering if he had lost his mind, was on hard drugs, or they even thought he was a homosexual." She doesn't even have her facts right (stating Aquemini dropped in 1996, etc).

We get some sloppily-edited EPK footage of Andre talking about his latest album: "it's inspired by the hats - I love the hats! - and the boots the polo players wear." And we get some really horrible green-screen footage of random people - I guess they're just fans - talking about Outkast:

...It actually looks a lot better in that still than it does when he's moving - click to enlarge it. That diagonal line in the bottom left is the wall behind him that they didn't key out, and his arm (his left, our right) doesn't even reach the bottom of the screen.

Anyway, after that we come back to the narrator. That's really the bulk of this film: one woman reading Outkast's bio over some album covers and press photos. We do occasionally go back to the video footage for a few seconds here and there, but it ain't much... In fact, they go back and play the same interview clips multiple times - I can only assume this was a mistake and nobody involved with the production even bothered to watch the movie all the way through!

I did learn a little bit though, I have to admit. I have a bunch of Outkast albums and singles, but I didn't realize "what they became famous for: wearing large caps and dressing in white linen." Once again, I guess it's my fashion cluelessness coming through. White linen was it.

Seriously, I really can't express how much of a non-movie this even is. When the narrator says Big Boi started his own pitbull kennels, the photo isn't even of his kennels - just generic pitbull photos I guess they Googled. I was expecting some unexceptional little collection of interviews edited into a simple little life story, but what I discovered was something exceptionally bad. This is just what they mean when they use the phrase "hot mess." I am actually stunned by what a hunk of junk this is. Only the most desperate, content-starved Outkast fan will want to seek this one out. But at least the user reviews trashing this on the site were kinda amusing.

Sampling for Beginners

Copyright Criminals is a recent documentary, now available on DVD, about sampling and copyright. It's a bit of a short movie, clocking in at just over an hour, but it was getting some positive attention at the beginning of the year. Now that it's officially available on DVD, I figured it was time I give it a proper review.

On the positive end, it presents good points from both sides, letting those both for and against sampling make their case intelligently. It interviews some interesting people from different walks who are affected by sampling and copyright law, from industry employees to DJs to artists who sample to artists who've been sampled. A segment on Clyde Stubblefield, former drummer for James Brown who's been sampled a bajillion times since he performed the percussion solo heard on 1970's "Funky Drummer," one of the most used breakbeats ever. And it leaves you with a pretty solid understanding of the sampling situation.

On the negative end, well, first of all, like I said, it's short. It's short and spends so much time explaining the fundamentals (in case you've been living under a rock since the 80s), that odds are, you won't come away having learned much of anything. This is really a brief, beginners' course on a complex and compelling issue - I was feeling there should be a sequel to get into the more advanced issues and much richer, more detailed stories of real cases made for those of us who already pretty well understand how sampling works. And I'm not even saying this is basic stuff just for us advanced hardcore heads who collect obscure records to read the run-out grooves... even your grandmother who couldn't name a single rapper to save her life will be bored with this rehashed old turf.

The other negative is the constant mash-ups played throughout the movie, performed by some group called Eclectic Method. For about the first fifteen seconds, it's an interesting illustration of how sampling works (in case that you the rock you lived under was so thick you needed to be shown as well as told). They sample old musical clips and chop them into new beats, the way a hip-hop producer would... a corny hip-hop producer, but still you get the point. And for the visual aspect, they show the performance footage of the music they sample. So, again, it's pandering to a pretty ignorant audience, but it's pretty nicely done.

But it doesn't last for just fifteen seconds. It goes on and recurs. And it just keeps coming back, over and over. Soon, a really large percent of this already short film has been given over to this annoying, stuttering video and examples of sampling that really aren't all that impressive on a musical level, either. It's like they knew they had a super short doc, and in order to pad it out into something resembling feature length (which they didn't reach anyway), they let the editor shamelessly indulge himself by looping this footage over and over. When we were discussing this over on the DWG forums back in January, Bob Disaster put it aptly, "those mash up fannies Eclectic Method made me want to stab my eyes out." ...That really says it all.

So, bottom line? It's worth a watch if you can see it for free. It's short, and there are a few bits in there that are worth your time. But it's all been discussed before, and there are much better discussions on the topic to be found, so I really can't recommend paying to see it or purchasing the DVD. There's just not enough to depth to 95% of the interviews that you'll feel compelled to go back to them; and even if you do feel compelled to have a second look, the memory of those awful mash-ups will drive you away.

Mixmasta "D" - Hit Me!

If you don't know who Mixmasta "D" is, that's because you probably think of The Bizzie Boyz as being "Ski and... some other dudes." Well, one of those other dudes is Mixmasta "D." The rest, just for the record, were Fanatic, C.J. Smooth (lol he was the baby on the album cover), Move and Groove. ...Plus, Supreme DJ Nyborn was like an affiliate, down-with-the-crew guy.

So, anyway, after the group went their separate ways, Mixmasta "D" dropped the really tight, underrated Turntable Scientist EP in 1993 with an MC named Flipsyde. Well, now that EP is back in 2010, repressed on Dope Folks Records with three never-before-released extra songs from that same era!

The title of this EP comes from "Turntable Scientist," the CD-only bonus track on The Bizzie Boyz' album, Droppin' It, which was a killer DJ scratch track, showcasing Mixmasta's skills, bringing in a ton of fresh cuts and samples. Bizzie Boyz had a penchant for releasing house tracks, cheesy lonve songs, etc. but when they were on point, they were an example of some of the best hip-hop had to offer. And "Turntable Scientist" was certainly an example of the Boyz' top shelf material.

What's interesting about this is how... like Ski evolved into the Original Flavor crew, who had a pretty unique sound in '93... This EP has almost the same sound. Flipsyde would fit right in on Original Flavor's second album with his swift, tongue-rolling styles here. But where Beyond Flavor started to drag a bit after you got past the terrific single, this EP holds up all the way through... I think it's just a question of more consistent, and perhaps less commercial, production. Had the instrumental for "Lyve," for example, been used on OF's album - with it's funky, buzzing bassline, high-pitched screeching loop and great Onyx vocal sample for a hook - they would've definitely released it as a single. And "Strate Phrum da Krates part II" (what I want to know is: where was part 1 released??) is a massive collection of ever-changing samples and loops combined into one, constantly changing song.

So yeah, this has all four songs from the original, rare '93 EP (and they've remastered them), plus the "Shoutouts," which is set to a def, jazzy beat, so it's worth preserving. The only think they left off is the instrumentals (gotta track down the OG for those. But the price we pay for those instrumentals is, as I said above, three previously unreleased tracks. Can't argue with that!

"Da Weekend" sounds a little older, almost more of a classic Bizzie Boyz'-style song, as opposed to Original Flavor-style. "Scooby Dooby Wah Wah Wah" features a smooth but fun, old school jazz kind of groove with lots of vibes and stuff. Very 90's. And finally there's "Do Whatcha Do Best," which basically takes "Turntable Scientist" from Droppin' It, and turns it into a hype vocal track. This is probably the sickest track on the EP!

So, yes, this is limited. Dope Folks only pressed up 300 copies, but it's fairly reasonably priced at $20 and still available from the label. If you're interested, you can get at them via their blog, dopefolksrecords.blogspot.com. I have a feeling a lot of heads are sleeping on this one, but they're gonna regret it!

Laugh Tracks On Rap Songs

I was just listening to 7L & Esoteric's latest mp3 "leak" that flips "Drag Rap" (I forget what it's called already, sorry), and I was immediately annoyed by a stupid gimmick. Now, it's a contemporary trend in hip-hop, so it would really be wrong of me to single out 7L & Esoteric for doing what bajillions of battle rappers have been doing to their singles for years. I guess it just annoyed me a bit more because I was hearing an artist I like and respect doing it, as opposed to just hearing it on some generic Copywrite song. Anyway, the gimmick I'm talking about is adding a laugh track to your rap song.

Just like in awful sitcoms from the 70s and 80s, rappers are adding cheesy, canned laughter to their songs, presumably by their producer, DJ, hype man or weed carrier who's ostensibly, for some reason or other, standing in the vocal booth alongside the MC. Every time the MC drops a lazy, generic pop culture reference super-sick, killer punchline, the other guy emits a loud, "Ha ha!" "Wooo!" or "Damn!" I mean, really... if you need to tell the listener that your last lyric was supposed to be witty, your punchlines ain't killin' 'em, dun.

I have a theory about this. I think the trend came out of the late 90's proliferation of radio freestyles. With the release of the many volumes of Wake Up Show Freestyle LPs, combined with taped radio freestyles being dispersed and collected in mp3-form over the internet, these freestyles sometimes became more enjoyed and respected than the artists' actual songs ("Nas's verse on that record is alright, but he kicked it better in rare this Stretch & Bob session over the 'Tried By 12' beat, check it!"). And on almost all those recordings, you'd hear the shows' hosts laughing along and amiably applauding and encouraging the MC, clapping, cackling, and falling out of their chairs if the artist said something critical about a hacky celebrity.

But whatever natural, off-the-cuff charm those recordings had is completely lost when you're clearly deliberately editing it into your song in a sad, self-serving attempt to sell us on how funny you are. I mean, it's bad enough when mixtape DJs edit in their own corny voices over the songs they play, we don't need you doing it for them in advance.

Even the actual sitcoms have learned to stop prodding their audiences when to laugh: look at The Office, 3rd Rock, Sports Night, The Simpsons, etc. They've hung it up and respect their audiences at least to be competent to recognize what's funny. Songwriters, seriously, don't allow yourselves to be outclassed by My Name Is Earl. Leave the canned laughter on the dusty shelf where it belongs.

Godfather Donnie

(Youtube version is here.)

Grandgood Caz

Before Grandgood was one of tour leading hip-hop newsfeeds it's become today, they were putting out music on vinyl. And this is their debut release*: a 7" record, recorded in 2003 and released in 2004, by DJ Signify and Grandmaster Caz. That's a heck of a combination right there, so let's repeat it: that's DJ Signify of one of the greatest underground contemporary turntablist crews, the 12oo Hobos, and Grandmaster Caz, the old school master MC from the legendary Cold Crush Brothers.

And if Signify and Caz aren't enough star power for ya, just get a load of the credits: It features a spoken interlude by Waterbed Kev of The Fantastic Five, it's co-mixed and arranged (with Signify, of course) by Stenski and was mastered by SixToo of The Sebutones! That's a pretty damn auspicious (and ambitious) line-up for a debut single from an indie company.

There's no title, but it's just the one song (with the instrumental on the flip), with some almost dark, ominous samples over a funky old school-style congo drum break beat. The hook sings the praises of the four elements of hip-hop: "B-boys make some noise, and all the graf heads, let's tag it up. DJs get busy on the 1s and 2s, and MCs just do your stuff!" And Caz kicks two verses sharing his history:

"I was one of the first DJs to put in work,
After seeing Clark Kent, Coke la Rock and Herc.
I kept the name Casanova, before it was Caz,
And tried to battle Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash.
Me and Disco Wiz, my partner in crime;
He used to cut up the breaks, I used to mix and rhyme;
I used to practice 'till my cuts were right on time.
Then Theodore started scratchin'; that's when I said I'm
Gonna take it to another level. And I did, B:
First cat to cut and rhyme simultaneously!"

Then, just when you think the song's nearing its end, Kev gets on the mic and demands we give them some of that "old to the new school shit." The beat changes, kicking in some banging hard drums and DJ Signify provides a sick scratch interlude (you knew we had to get one of those at some point, right?). Then Caz comes back, kicking a high energy, hardcore verse (pretty much every line ends with "nigga" for one thing). And it ends with one more scratch session. Neither half of the song has that light, bounce, rock style to grab the casual, bouncy fans, and the last verse certainly wasn't opening any doors to radio play; this is strictly for the heads.

And it was marketed strictly for the heads, too - limited to 1000 copies (which was considered a little more "limited" back then), vinyl only. It came in a cool picture cover (above), and is relatively easy and inexpensive to find used today if you dig around a bit. Or, if you're not a vinyl head (what're you doing here, sir?), you can cop it digitally from Grandgood for just $2 ($1 if you don't care about the instrumental) here.


*More or less... apparently there was a DJ Signify mix-CD called Teach the Children released before this, if you count that. But this is catalog number GG 001. ;)