Fresh BusDriver For the End of Summer

BusDriver's back with a new 7" single, released this past Record Store Day. It's a two track single from the Polyvinyl Record Co, a sort of indie hipster label that's taking it's first dip into hip-hop. The title is tastefully abbreviated on the cover as "ATM," but the actual full-length title is revealed on the inside record label: "Ass To Mouth."

Of course, this is BusDriver, so youths expecting a 2 Live Crew-style ditty about their favorite porn move* to shock everyone within hearing range of their school parking lot will be disappointed. But then again, it's still vulgar enough to have the phrase "ass to mouth" be the chorus, so assuming nobody's paying strict attention to the lyrics, it may be close enough.

It's actually a first-person narrative about a celebrity's fickle and ignorant fan-base who never give him a break, with the final twist being that he's as shallow and rotten as anybody in his audience. In other words, the vapid celebrity culture (the mouth) can't stop going on about the stupid shit their dumb stars (the ass) does. At least, that's how I took it.

It's a little harder to pin down the B-side, "Colour Wheel," because he sings on this one (it's as dubious as it sounds), and you can't decipher much of anything he's saying.

Both songs here are produced by Loden, a Belgium producer who 's been putting out spacey electronic music for a while now, and who probably connected with BusDriver through signing with Mush Records. Apparently, Loden will be producing the entirety of Bus's upcoming album (for which this is the opening single), which... after hearing this, I can't say I'm too against. It's all about synths, keyboards and spacey computer sounds - so I definitely suggest heads try before they buy - but I like it. It may not be a preferred style, but I don't think anyone could say that Loden isn't quite expert at playing it. Plus BusDriver's all-over-the-place vocal stylings are able to complement the crazy, rising and falling rhythms like nobody's business. I imagine the catchy chorus (is he doing all the back-up vocals, too? I bet he is) will manage to hook a lot of listeners who don't even generally give hip-hop their ear.

Now, this is limited to 1000 copies, but really... calling any hip-hop vinyl run of 1000 "limited" is a bit of a stretch. I'm sure even the producers behind a Kanye/Outkast split LP wouldn't expect to sell more than a thousand copies of wax to today's audiences. Bit I digress. "ATM" is pressed on a marbleized blue vinyl which matches nicely with the abstract imagery of the picture cover. Polyvinyl must also be commended for the inclusion of a download slip, which allows purchasers to download mp3 versions of both tracks and the cover art from their website when you enter your unique code.

So this is a nice little package, but still pretty much strictly for hardcore collectors rather than general music enthusiasts. For one, because it's a 7" after all; and they just scream novelty collectors' toys - proper releases are 12", damn it. And two, because both of these songs are slated to be on the upcoming album that any fan who's serious enough to consider buying this single will surely be picking up in a month or so when it drops anyway. So hardly essential, but a it's fun, high quality and can be had cheap. Oh, and the actual music's pretty good... at least the A-side.


*Don't bother denying it; I've seen your download history!

Searchin' for Two From the Def Connection

"Searchin' for Love" is often mistaken for a single taken off of Too Def Connection's classic'92 album, Runnin' With the Lyrics, but it's really not. This single, from 1996 on Too Def Music, is "Searchin' for Love," while the song on Savage Records album is "Searching for Love." And I'm not just being pedantic about the title's grammar, they really are completely different songs.

Oh, you've never heard of the Too Def Connection? Let me back up. Too Def Connection are MC Sav and DJ Kid Cut, an ill duo from Delaware. They're a quintessential example of "random rap," in that they're obscure but their stuff is highly sought after by collectors, mainly for the killer title track to their Runnin' With the Lyrics album, a hyperactive freestyle rampage over a hype beat, with some quick cuts and barely any hook.

But this isn't that. This is one of their love songs, which I realize nobody really goes in for. Don't worry, there's a more appealing B-side, and we'll get to that. But first let's take the lead track.

"Searching for Love" was kind of a sequel to the other love song on Runnin' With the Lyrics, "Love Is Like a Game" - note the opening lines, "Love is like a game, yeah, that's what I told to you. But at the same time, I didn't even know you. I thought you were the one for me... I musta been dreaming, some kinda fantasy." So, the girl from that last song didn't really work out, but he's not gonna let it keep him down, he's gonna keep on searching for love. Both songs feature a vocalist named Theresa Spruel on the hook, and feature Sav in a slow, spoken-style, definitely influenced by legacy of token love songs started by LL's "I Need Love." "Love" features a lot of (actually effective) keyboards, and "Searching for Love" features a deeper, richer sound... I don't recognize it, but I assume it's mainly a soul sample loop.

"Searchin' for Love," on the other hand, is quite different. For one thing, it features two MCs. Sav comes on second, but first is a somebody who's only named in the writing credits, Jerome Cephas (and no, that's not Kid Cut). Jerome's got a gruffer voice, and they're both kicking more of a flow on this one - not to mention completely new lyrics. The instrumental is also quite different, too, with a loop of bells or chimes. The whole thing feels more like a hip-hop song about love rather than those old "love raps" that felt like a whole different genre. The hook this time is sung by Stacy Savage, who I assume is a sister or cousin of MC Sav (real name: Wayne Savage). So really this song has nothing in common with the original except the basic phrase and concept of searching for love.

The B-side is "Lyrical Cypha," and this time Sav is back to flying solo, and it's much more in-line with the kind of hip-hop Too Def collectors are looking for - lyrical freestyling over a stripped down beat. It's got some keyboard stabs on it, but it's mostly just the drums and a little bass. Stacy's on the hook again here, singing a variation of Rick James' "Mary Jane:" "I'm in love with MC Sav, hip-hop is what he brings..." It's definitely not as tight as the best Too Def songs, it's a little more mellow and unfortunately Kid Cut no longer seemed to be involved; but it's pretty cool, Sav still has some rhymes and fans of mid-90's random rap won't be disappointed.

So, all in all, it's not their masterpiece, but worth picking up if you can find it cheap. Or if you already have their other, better stuff, then this certainly at least makes for another interesting piece of the puzzle.

The Fresh Prince of the United Kingdom

The records by US rappers aren't just released here in the US... They're generally released by different labels in different countries all around the world at the same time. For example, while Spyder-D was released here on Telstar cassettes in the states, it was released on ZYX Records in Germany. Usually, they featured the same trick-listings and are generally just less desirable alterations of their original US counter-parts. Sometimes, they'd be a little different... like Cooltempo used to release all the Kid 'N' Play 12"s with exclusive remixes - however these remixes did little to up their long-term value, as they generally sucked.

But every once in a while, a foreign pressing manages to be preferable. As is the case with today's record: "Will 2K" by Will Smith - the UK version.

Now, like most of his post-Fresh Prince output, "Will 2K" isn't a terribly good or interesting song. It follows the Puffy/Pras formula of taking a dated major label pop hit, sampling it in a heavy-handed, uncreative way, and selling it as a new pop song to kids too young to remember the original. In this case, the TrackMasterz have used "Rock the Casbah" with ex-Jodeci man K-Ci on the hook. Nothing special there. But look on the picture cover (I took a nice, high quality photo so you can enlarge and read it), right under the song title in tiny text...

It says, "COMES WITH SO FRESH (FEATURING SLICK RICK AND BIZ MARKIE)." Your version doesn't say that, because your version just has the same song on both sides.* And, really, "So Fresh" is probably the only song most of us heads care about from Will Smith. I mean, none of the verses are amazing (in fact, when you think of what Slick Rick has shown he's capable of, it's a little disappointing), but it's just a fresh, cool-out vibe produced by Jazzy Jeff (who also provides some nice cuts), and Darren Henson.

Now, don't get too excited about this UK 12" - "So Fresh" is a Willenium album track; it's not some super rare 12" exclusive. And, if you can find a copy, there's a nice, promo-only 12" of "So Fresh" that also features the Instrumental and Acapella. That's the ideal one to won IMHO (unless you're just a "Will2K" fan - maybe you've been waiting decades for a rap version of "Rock the Casbah;" it is kinda fun, after all). But this is a nice 12" to pick up, and an easy and cheap one to order online - if you can't find that. And it's just a nice example of that rare case where the foreign 12" is preferable to the domestic.


*Or, if you have the 12" from The Netherlands, you actually get these two songs, plus two more ("Miami" and "Just Cruisin' (Remix)")!

Random Rap 3! The CDs

(Youtube version is here.)

The Purple Tape... On No Limit Records

Apparently, when you crazy kids today talk about "the purple tape," you're thinking of some funky ol' Raekwon thing glued together out of left over Cella Dwellas plastic. But I'm an old school cat. When I hear "purple tape," I go back even a little further... to Sonya C's Married To the Mob.

Married To the Mob dropped in 1993 (two years before OB4CL2 if you're keeping score) on In-A-Minute Records. No Limit, at that time, was really more of an imprint that went through In-A-Minute for the distribution, 'cause they could get albums like these out on CD and (purple) tape into stores all across the country when No Limit was just up and coming.

Sonya C, it's worth noting, is really the first female rapper on No Limit. Apparently, Mia X likes to make that claim, but she didn't drop anything on No Limit until much later. And while Mia was a member of TRU for a while, Sonya is a founding member from back in the days when they were still going by their full-length name, The Real Untouchables. This is back when No Limit was representing CA before signing all those New Orleans acts; and Sonya was all over their debut album in 1992, Understanding the Criminal Mind.

And even before the TRU album, she'd appeared on Master P's very first albums, Mama's Bad Boy, Get Away Clean, The Ghetto's Trying To Kill Me... She wasn't just a member of his crew, in fact. She was his wife. Yes, that means she's also the mother of Lil Romeo and Young V. In fact, I'd just like to take a moment to point out that she named her three sons Percy Jr, Vercy and Hercey, which is downright silly.

So, anyway, what about this album? Well, since it's still in No Limit's CA days, the majority of it is produced by EA Ski & CMT, with a few tracks produced by Master P himself.

In fact, the first song (after an intro) is produced by P and it's the strongest. It sounds great because it heavily, heavily samples Betty Wright's "No Pain, No Gain" - not just the break, but the vocals and everything. They use Betty's crooning as an excellent backdrop for Sonya to slow it down and give a somber, autobiographical story about her own life. Unfortunately, on the other hand, Sonya's flow is pretty horrible on this, kicking the kind of rudimentary delivery, struggling to stay on beat, that gave No Limit such a bad name on the east coast. It almost feels like one of those stories you used to see on television where some chintzy producer would got to a halfway house in an inner city and get them all rapping as a exercise in self esteem. But damn if the music isn't effective. Couple that with how earnest Sonya sounds, and you've got an effective song that's managed to stick with me since high school - analytical criticism be damned.

The rest of the album is, thankfully, substantially harder and Sonya's flow - while never amazing - gets stronger along with it. Following a skit where a bunch of guys see Sonya and approach her on the street, "yo, Sonya, what's up?" "This what's up, mother fuckers!" she yells and it ends in machine gun sound effects. And EA Ski and CMT are acknowledged masters of gangsta rap production. There's a host of recognizable, funky samples, which help a lot - the groove of "Bitches Die In the Dope Game" is great, and the clever collection of vocal samples on the hook are really fresh. The Untouchables also drop in a couple appearances, most notably on the posse cut finale, "I Ain't To Be Fucked With," but not so many that they overshadow Sonya's solo endeavor.

Unfortunately, one downside is that this album feels like an EP they stretched out to full LP length. Half the songs on this album are skits, and one of the tightest beats on this album, "Gankers," is just an instrumental. A full-length instrumental song might fit in on a DJ Shadow album or something, but on a gangsta rap tape? It feels like the engineer just lost the vocal track. You also get two versions of the title cut, "Married To the Mob Part 1" and "Married To the Mob Part 2," but really "Part 2" is just a radio edit of "Part 1." You really only get six proper, full songs; the rest is all filler.

Bottom line, this is a dope tape if you like these kinda albums, but if you think all that No Limit-type shit is straight garbage, nothing here's gonna change your mind. These are not the kind of MCs who were ever going to elevate the art form or flex freestyle skills. But if you just want to shed your backpack and listen to some pure early 90's gangsta rap, this tape delivers. And it's purple.


P.s. - If you can't quite make out that message written underneath the Parental Advisory sticker on the album cover, it reads, "This Album is Proof, it's no honeymoon being married To The Mob. Cause Sonya C is quick to get the gat peel your cap, Miss Alcapone."

Mo-Fo Nu-Sounds

(Youtube version - staunch, true and reliable - can, as ever, be found here.)

Come On, Come On and Scream!

Kurtis Mantronik's always been a guy who went back and forth between hip-hop and European-style club music - even when he produced for T-La Rock and Just-Ice, they were more electronic or experimental beats than you'd expect from those guys. So, you have to be prepared to leave your comfort zone a bit, as a hip-hopper, to appreciate Mantronix; and this single is no exception. I mean, is MC Tee wearing a pink scarf there? lol And I won't even show you guys the pic on the back. But not just the superficial image, even musically he walks the line... and eventually he went so far, he left us completely. But I don't think any head who appreciates production and original, innovative hip-hop can front on Mantronix's early material that influenced even the hardest of hardrock records over the decades.

Now, "Scream" was a banger of a dance number off Mantronix's second album, Music Madness. It featured Kurtis's progressive beats, a super funky bassline, distorting breakdown, Tee's loquacious rhymes (seriously... anybody who wasn't impressed with Tee as an MC, just compare him to his replacement, Bryce Luvah) and a simple 80's keyboard melody that'll stick with you for decades. If you gave fans a heads up that you were planning to remix it for the single, they'd've screamed at you to leave it alone. It's perfect as it is; you can't make it better; just remix another track.

But they did in fact make it better.

Firstly, wisely, they kept all the instrumental elements that made "Scream" so appealing on the LP. Same drums, same bassline, and yes, that signature keyboard riff is right here. In fact, for the first twenty or thirty seconds, the differences may sound inconsequential... the funky snare gets to play solo a bit, things are rearranged. But it's all the same elements that sound the same when they finally play together. There's a little extra, almost go-go pattern added to the drums, but you barely hear it with all the other funky percussion going on.

Then a new layer of keyboard horn stabs come in, and they sound fresh. The bass is played a little softer, giving the song a lighter tone... The breakdowns are different, with a funky whistle sample, that then flips backwards. And most importantly, on this one, Kurtis get busy on the turntables! You won't believe this shit is from 1987 - it sounds like some turntablist DMC champion from the 90's got on the record via a time machine, just to spice things up. If you ever assumed his skills were all relegated behind the boards, he shows and proves here.

In fact, I was so impressed with that when I first got this record, it took me multiple listens to realize that this is a lyrical remix, too! Tee's first verse is the same, but on the Radio Version, Tee replaces his second verse with a whole new one. And on the extended Club Version, he kicks both verses from the original and the new one.

Flip it over, and you get a funky Dub Version, which is more than just a barren instrumental, but an excuse for Mantronik to play around and bug out over the beat, bringing in all new cuts and samples, and even a crazy Martian voice effect applied to one of Tee's verses. It holds up just as well to casual listens as the vocal mixes.

And finally, for the purists, this 12" concludes with the original LP Version. Just looking at the track-listing, you might not've expected anything new here at all: Club, Radio, Dub and LP Versions - "who needs it? I already got the album." But actually, this 12" is pretty sweet.

Now the Introduction: It's Kool Chip, Bronxwood Productions

Everybody who was down with hip-hop in the 80's knows Kool Chip from his killer '89 album with DJ Chuck Chillout, Masters Of the Rhythm. And serious collectors also know him for his subsequent, and now super-rare indie follow-up in the 90's, as Dope and a Gun. But while Chuck Chillout had a high profile history, as a member of The B-Boys, and even more-so as a famed hip-hop radio host alongside (or against) Red Alert and Mr. Magic; Kool Chip has a bit of a recorded origin as well.

Before the famous duo was formed, Kool Chip came out on 4th and Broadway with his own 12", "Jazz It Up." If you've seen this and had any question of whether this is the same Kool Chip, just a few short seconds will prove that it undoubtedly is - his unique voice shouting out Bronxwood with his signature, simple but forceful delivery.

And with the same thumping, programmed drum style, this could easily have taken off Masters Of the Rhythm. That follows, as it's produced by David Burnett, who'd also worked with Chuck Chillout before - it's likely that Chuck and Chip got a lot of their production chops from this man.

Now, granted, this isn't as straight-up a hardcore anthem as most of the tracks on Masters were. It's an ode to smooth, jazzy rhythms with a female singer (Toni Smith, who's had an interesting career of collaborations - even The Fat Boys' Crushin'! - and 12" singles herself, well worth looking into) on the hook. It's certainly more in line with "No Holding Back" and "The Mic I Grip;" but it really doesn't betray Kool Chip's later established sound. It's got a little more instrumentation, which is actually pretty cool, and parts of this record actually manage to echo "Buffalo Gals," but it's still not that far removed. I could understand anyone being hesitant to pick this one up - just looking at the label, it reads like a dangerously misguided crossover attempt or something painfully cheesy - but if you're a fan, you won't be disappointed.

Now, interestingly, the label actually credits a remix by Dancin' Danny D. But that remix is not in fact on here. It's only on some UK pressings (and actually, Danny is best known for his exclusive UK remixes, from everybody to Kid 'N Play to DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince) - but the remix credit is for some reason on all pressings. This original US pressing just features the main version on side A, and the dub on side B. But really, that's all you need. It's a funky little precursor to a great album.

Pick It Up Pick It Up

(Youtube version is here.)

The D.O.C. Gets Busy In the House

Have you ever been listening to The D.O.C.'s fierce, hardcore masterpiece, No One Can Do It Better, and think to yourself: the only thing that could make this better is some upbeat, poppy house rhythms? Of course not, no one in the whole country has ever thought that. But over there in England, it's a different story. UK remixer extraordinaire CJ Mackintosh not only had that thought, but convinced the gang back home at Ruthless Records that they needed to come together to make this idea a reality!

That's right, arguably Dr. Dre's best hip-hop production work of his career got the hip-house make-over, not just in Europe, but on the domestic US single as well.

What I have here is a promo (obviously originally sent to a radio station run by somebody who likes to write on records), but there's also a commercial version with a regular Ruthless labels, a picture cover and the whole nine. But the track-listing is the same regardless: a pair of remixes of two of The D.O.C.'s hardest tracks from the album. No instrumentals, LP versions, etc... just one song per side.

The D.O.C.'s fast-paced lyrical slaughter "Portrait Of a Masterpiece" is now a house song. And a happy, cheerful one at that. The light piano riff sounds like something Mr. Lee would play, and are more than a little bit reminiscent of Kid 'N' Play's "Energy." The bassline would match perfectly with a kiddie rap about ninja turtles. The keyboard flare sounds like something Tiffany would take off her record for sounding too soft, and the drums... well, all house drums are pretty much exactly the same: "Emph, pop!, Emph, pop!" ad infinitum. His fast flow actually matches perfectly with the flow, and The D.O.C.'s enthusiastic ad-libs sound as if they were recorded specifically for this mix (they weren't though; they can be heard on the original).

It actually... kind of works, in a crazy way, if you can get over the sacrilege. It's even fruitier than regular hip-house records. But if you can appreciate hip-house at all, and if you're the kind of person who can get open to a L'Trimm record, then I daresay you should actually enjoy this.

That's the B-side. The A-side is actually remixed by Dr. Dre himself. He takes his dark and atmospheric "Mind Blowin'" and kinda smooths it out. It's interesting - it has a fresh siren sound loop and some "Buffalo Gal" vocal samples. The bassline is cool; not smoothed all the way into G-funk territory, but it definitely plays more relaxed than the original. I still prefer the first version, but both are funky and worth having in your collection.

As for the house mix? Well, I guess it depends how open-minded and eccentric a hip-hop head you are.

Let's Not Wake the Hurricane

So, now that I'm back online following Hurricane Irene, I thought I'd do a post on Hurricane G, because I'm a simple sort of blogger, and basic word associations rule my life. But, looking through my collection, I found out I actually don't have that much Hurricane G (and, let's face it, all DJ Hurricane records are boring), so my selection was limited. I could just find this one cassingle of "Somebody Else," her attempt at a crossover single.

This dropped in 1997 on H.O.L.A. Records, a small label devoted strictly to Latino (the "L" in H.O.L.A. - can you guess the rest?) acts. It's the main single off her limited release, CD-only album, All Woman. I believe she'd already split from the Def Squad at this point (though she did a song with Hit Squadians Das EFX for her album, probably as a final "fuck you"), so she wasn't in the best place career-wise. And this was her bid at a broader audience. She actually put out a couple singles for All Woman, but this is the only one that got mainstream distribution (i.e. you could buy the cassingle in NJ shopping malls when I was a kid). And it wasn't a good look.

First of all, let's examine this cover, shall we? It's a pair of eyes - her eyes, presumably - floating over a wing, some coins, a wooden X... what? This cover must've been made using the free stock images that came with PaintShop 2 or something. What is all that random, monochrome junk? I think there might be part of a model train and some bottle caps on the back. You guys click on that image, blow it up to 100%, and see if you can figure out what it all is.

This song uses a very familiar bassline from an old Jones Girls record you've heard on dozens of records; but this time they go whole hog, using pretty much the whole record including the hook and just making a rap version of it. This bassline works well on an upbeat, freestyle track, but here it feels slow, harder and murky on a poppy relationship track. It's produced by D-Moet, as in "King Sun and _-____," who was mounting a bit of a comeback as an indie producer in the 90's.

But it's not so much that this is a bad track, so much as it was a bad choice. Hurricane G came pretty tight, as a super hardcore, shrill, angry battle rhymer who patterned her sound pretty blatantly on the rest of the Def Squad, and did a damn fine job of it. Check out her single "Underground Lockdown" - she was one of the hardest female rappers out there. Thanks to her cameos on Redman's and Murray's albums, she was building a big buzz and people were curious about her - and this was the single with the distribution push that people would here.

Now, I can understand the logic at work here: get the most mainstream song out to the mainstream audience, and put out the underground gritty stuff on the underground level. Makes sense. Except, since this was her first outing and people were curious but uncertain, they wound up being presented with a really bland, generic song. This is like "Female Rap" taken out of any major label's home-starter kit for soundalike female rappers of the time. People heard this and were like, "oh, this is Hurricane G? I thought she was supposed to be some ill, crazy MC? I guess I must've been confusing her with Roz Noble." And close book, end of the Hurricane G story.

I mean, there are touches of her credibility trying to be hinted at in this song... she curses a lot (rendering the Clean Version confusing and unlistenable). But it's so generic and uninspired. She loves a guy, but he doesn't treat her well enough, so she's gonna go love somebody else. It doesn't even feel sincere, like she's experienced this. It's like she just listened to the song they were sampling and said, "I'll just some curses to those lyrics."

More than that, it doesn't feel quite finished. After her last verse, there's a long instrumental portion where she just ad-libs "ooh. Uh. Yeah. Uh-huh." for a minute or so. It feels like there was meant to be another verse in there and they cut it out at the last minute or something. The story - such as it is - feels incomplete. She loves the guy... he treats her bad... the end. It feels like there should be some sort of "punchline" verse, where she wraps up, telling him she found a new guy who's super awesome, or "ha ha, I'm a lesbian now!" or something, anything. Maybe she did say that and her managers panicked and had the label erase the final verse (lol there's an unusually high degree of speculation going on in this post).

I mean... there's sort of a punchline at the end. She says, "you're gonna make me turn into supe-supe-Supa Bitch!" ...Which would be funny if she sold it. But her delivery is so flat, you don't even realize that's what she's saying unless you're paying dogged attention. It's the kind of line Redman could say (and he almost did, with those Soopaman Lova songs) and make everyone crack up over. But Hurricane just sleepwalks through the whole song, and the beat is like, "shh! let's not wake her."

So, yeah, this is just the cassingle. It's got the useless Clean Version on the A-side, and the LP Version on the flip. The 12" adds an instrumental and acapella, and comes in a sticker cover. Give it a miss. But some of her other singles are worth picking up when you come across 'em cheap.