The Forgotten Special Ed Record

Special Ed made big waves during his time on Profile Records. He seemed to change his image with each album, so each time felt like a comeback - but he kept pulling it off. He came back to scoop up more underground cred with his impressive indie 12", "Think T.W.I.C.E.," which got shine on DJ Premier's NY Reality Check. And his last album, Still Got It Made? Most fans are trying to forget it, but they certainly all caught notice of the publicity surrounding that return. ...There's just one little record that Ed dropped in between "Think T.W.I.C.E." and Still Got It Made that somehow managed to avoid receiving any attention at all.

"What Up Love?' dropped on Dolla Cab Ent - the same label as "Think T.W.I.C.E." - in 1999. This is a nice, little two-track 12" that really only exists for the B-side. But let's me thorough and cover the A-side first.

"What Up Love?" is produced by Special Ed himself. The track's kinda dark and definitely subtle. It would make a really dope instrumental for a really lively, out-there collection of MCs, like The Pharcyde, LOTUG or something. But instead, Ed goes it solo with his deep voice, rapping as if he's chatting up a girl after a show. Like I said, the subtle track would be a great counterbalance to a pack of wild, frantic MCs; but instead, with a deeper, slower flow... it just kinda makes you sleepy.

It doesn't help that it turns out Ed doesn't have much to say to this girl. He's not professing a deep love or spitting humorous, excessive game. He's not bragging about having "a frog, a dog with a solid gold bone and an accountant to account the money I spent," he's just saying, "I need a back rub, in the bath tub, what about you, love? Tell me what you want, what you really, really want." It's like he's trying to seduce this hypothetical girl by being the most boring... sorta bragging, but undercutting that with how he's busy and has little to offer, "what you want from me? Only got bubble gum, honey?" And yes, that was a Spice Girls reference earlier, and even in 1999, that song was three years old.

I can kinda see what he's shooting for: a lighthearted look at someone trying to spit over-the-top game tempered with reality. But he fails to make the game extreme or amusing enough, and the reality feels pretty fake, too. Combine that with a beat that begs you not to pay attention to anything he's saying or the song as a whole, and you get a not terrible but thoroughly unengaging misfire.

But now we come to the reason to own this 12", the B-side "We Come Back." Curiously, the production for this one is credited to "Boogie Down Production[sic] and Big Mo." Listening to it kinda clears that up, however. Big Mo, whoever that is, is the producer here. The reason Boogie Down Productions is credited is because they've got Ed essentially rapping over the instrumental to "Poetry." Big Mo's big contribution, then, is playing some soft keys on top of it. I know, playing keyboards over "Poetry" sounds like a terrible idea... but it actually works - it both sounds good and makes Special's Ed smoother flow merge more naturally with the antagonistic beat that would otherwise require a far more aggressive flow.

And he's thankfully off the "concept song" tip (gimmicky nature of the BDP angle aside), and back to straight spitting his creative, wordplay-heavy battle rhymes we love him for. He never quite reaches the heights of his greatest hits or even "Think T.W.I.C.E.," but it could sit quite comfortably on any of his albums as a good, solid Special Ed track that any fan would want to have in their collection. Both songs also come with Instrumental and Accapella versions, which is nice.

Werner's R&B Cassingle Quiz Show Challenge!

(10 possible points... Youtube version is here.)

Go Mad With Madtoons

Here's a fun, random little 45 from 2000, 2001. It involves the Anticon guys (back when the Anticon line-up was interesting), so there's a lot of about this record online. But most of the information out there is wrong, not least for the fact that a lot the info provided is a goof. So let's sort this out... Ostensibly, this is a split 7" by Madtoons Beat Orchestra on side A and Black Light District on side B.

The Madtoons Beat Orchestra is pretty much just one guy: a DJ named Madtoons; and his song, "So Long, Mike Part 1" features Odd Nosdam and Why?. Or you could say they comprise the "orchestra." It breaks down pretty straight-forwardly to beats by Nosdam, vocals by Why? and cuts by Madtoons. Like you'd expect from Odd, the track is an unusual mash-up of disparate samples, which somehow manage to blend into something chunky but coherent. Imagine if Steinski were commisioned to produce a B-side for Al Bowlly in the 1920's and you're close.

Why?, too, is at his pre-indie rock best, subverting hip-hop's formulaic imagery to the suburban mundane. He alternates between singing about having "two hundred and fifty channels, and I still watch the weather" in a pitched-down voice, and rapping in a crazy foreign accent about how he'll romance us, "you can bet our jet will be the best; and if Finland's on your mind, then to Finland we will fly. Breakfast in Helsinki, lunch in gay Paris; We'll bike the Bering Strait and rowboat the Galilee."

It's all more than a bit silly. They're playing characters, dropping in a bevy of vintage vocal soundbites and even pausing for an Egyptian Lover breakdown. But the music is robust enough to keep things from descending into the realm of a throwaway gag song.

The self-titled B-side by Black Light District is a far more down-to-Earth hip-hop track. It plays less like a showcase for Nosdam's massive sample collection, with a beat by producer Da Proof that stays pretty consistent. There are still a lot of compelling change-ups; it's just not as "all over the place" as the wacky A-side. And the MC, Crest, isn't presenting as a cast of eclectic people from different eras, he's just flowing over a pretty cool, jazzy beat. They're pretty much casual, "not saying much of anything" type of freestyle bars that feel more like an excuse to simply bide the time until their DJ, Quack, gets busy over Proof's smooth breaks.

Unless it's all just another gag... because Crest sounds suspiciously like Why?... And in fact, it's really the same three guys performing on both sides of the record! It's actually impressive how well they pull it off. I could really see people saying, "I can't stand those Anticon guys, but Black Light District on the B-side are real cool."

According to discogs (I'm not really sure, but I'll take their word for it), this was limited to 500 copies. But a dozen years later, this still isn't hard to find at all, at least online. It comes in a cool, picture cover as you see, and also includes three(!) inserts, replete with real and fake bios (I'm assuming the e-mail address for Richard Famous, Black Light District's supposed manager, is as fake as the wacky album covers they show as "also available"), lyrics and a whole, nonsensical back-story about how Madtoons Beat Orchestra formed in the 1940's. Both songs have vocals, but this is really one for the beat junkies... or those just looking for something off the wall.

As for whatever happened to DJ Madtoons? I'm pretty this is his myspace here, which has some newer music on it. But he seems to be more focused on the visual arts. For example, see what you can make of this site of his.

Who Is Cadillac Dee?

Alright, guys. If you want to push the boundaries of exploring rare and obscure hip-hop, today's post is for you. Today's post is about a rapper named Cadillac Dee. Never heard of him? Me either, and I'd love to hear from somebody who has.

All credit goes to TheOldSchoolRapKing for bringing this find to me. He discovered this on a dig in Virginia, so I'm going to assume that's where this project is from, as there are no other hints as to its origins; but of course that's not at all definitive, and should be taken for what it is - an assumption. There's no J-card (it may well've been born with one, but it didn't have one by the time it got to us), so the only information we have is what little's written on the tape itself.

The artist is Cadillac Dee and the title is New School - Vol 2 ...which implies, naturally, that there's a Vol 1 out there, as well, somewhere. It's produced to us by someone named D. Rivers (who isn't Dee, because he says his real name in one of the songs is Donald Bacall) for Light Years Productions on New Style Records, and it's from 1989. That's what we know.

From 1989, but it sounds more like 1986. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of those old Profile 12"s; not the least of which is his use of a synth version of the Dragnet theme on "Court." It's a lot of synths, a lot of big, 80's programmed drums, and some seriously old school raps. I guess it's a throwback (ironic, given the title) because the recording was (presumably) so far removed from the major hip-hop scene.

The track-listing is screwy, too. It promises seven songs, plus one instrumental, but really 2 songs are clearly missing. "Rastaman" and "Cadillac Dee - Battle" are both promised on side B but never materialize.

The songs we do get are "Never Say Never," an inspirational tale with big synth horns and "Court," a story about how getting arrested for selling crack and for some reason he keeps going back to court and getting his sentence increased. That, plus the Instrumental makes up side 1. Then on side 2, we have "Dear President," the message rap about how we have "poor people out there on the welfare. The president knows but he don't care."

"You're a Sucker" starts off the most promising, rubbing in what I think are the opening drums to "South Bronx;" but then the same generic drum machine kicks in. It's got actual scratches, but they're so muddy. It's still objectively the best song... "Never Say Never" might be catchier with its fake horns and many synth lines all playing at the same time; but on paper at least, this is the best song. Echoey handclaps at least make for the only attempt to do something different with the percussion, and he changes his flow towards the end to a reggae style... wait a minute. This is "Rastaman" now, isn't it? Yeah, "You're a Sucker," "Cadillac Man - Battle" and "Rastaman" are actually individual titles he gives to each verse of the same song. That's weird, but at least I get it now. I think.

Then, finally, "My Cartoons" is essentially just the instrumental to "Dear President," slightly altered (although you could really say almost all the instrumentals here are essentially the same, just slightly altered); but he occasionally says some popular cartoon phrases like, "yabba dabba doo." A pretty disappointing note to end on.

This is a fun artifact, but not a great album. The simple and repetitive beats can best be described as "plodding." Most of the songs let the beat ride for several minutes after the rapping is done, too; so it feels like every song ends with the Instrumental version. It sucks the energy down a lot when you're just like "when is this going to end?" And the raps aren't bad, but they're pretty flat - imagine someone like Spoonie Gee, minus the wit, wordplay and personality.

But now I'm making it sound worse than it is. The best moments are genuinely enjoyable. This would've worked better as just a 12" with two songs; but it's extended nature at least makes it a more fascinating piece of lost art from hip-hop's past. Who was this guy? Was he from Virginia? How many more of these tapes did he put out? Did he go on to anything else? Somebody must know.

Father - MC = 69

In the early 90's Uptown was going through a big image change. And after two albums of combining R&B love ballads with new jack rap, I guess they felt Father MC was should change along with them. He hung up his sensitive lover persona for a that of a pimp on the Who's the Man soundtrack, and while he sort of walked the line for his third album; Sex Is Law definitely showed a harder, no-more-romance side of him. And, taking a cue from Hammer (never a good idea), Father dropped the MC from his name. This was the new, Notorious B.I.G.'s on his way Uptown, and that wound up spelling bad news for Father.

I remember being heavily disappointed by this album at the time. Just like The UMCs going thug, this was one of the most transparent and unwelcome image changes in hip-hop history. I didn't hate it; and I still picked up the singles as they dropped... but the Father MC we'd become fans of with his surprising break out "Treat Them Like They Want To Be Treated," and in his place was - what? A corporate shill? The fact that he changed his name to be like Hammer's markedly after Hammer's star had already flashed and burned out made a pretty easy case for anybody who wanted to argue "sell out" (in 1993, fans felt that meant something... you younger heads will just have to use your imaginations).

But revisiting it twenty years later, while I still don't hold it in as high regard as his first two albums, it holds up surprisingly well. This was the last of Father's big budget albums, meaning he still had an impressive line-up of the many producers Uptown could provide: Clark Kent, Eddie F, Ski, Pete Rock, Vance Wright and... on this single, the one and only Teddy Riley. And, while there's no Jodeci or Mary J on hand this time, Father still plays it pretty safe, doing what he does best: using classic, old school samples and keeping the raps pretty simple and straight-forward.

For Teddy Riley, this was the time of "Rump Shaker," not his earlier, more signature sound (a la "I Want Her" or "My Prerogative"), and it sounds it. This instrumental could easily have fit right into Wreckx In Effect's Hard Or Smooth line-up; and if it did, it could've been one of their hit singles. It's a pretty perfect blend of the tried and true "Jungle Boogie" break, including the horns and vocal ad-libs, by Kool & the Gang, mixed with the dark, ominous bassline from Hard Knock's "A Dirty Cop Named Harry." Two very different tones combining to make an interesting, new hybrid - the ideal instrumental illustration of the new Father.

Lyrically, it doesn't hold up so well. In fact, actually, even at the time it felt a bit silly. It's all a bit juvenile, like they just found out about a popular new sex term, and they wanted to launch that into a popular song... which is probably exactly how it happened. The chorus - "written and performed by" Buttnaked Tim Dawg, according to the liner notes... not really something I'd brag about, personally - goes, "I wanna hit you with a 69; I gotta hit you with a 69." I mean, y'all know what 69 is, right? Not exactly a position you "hit" somebody with.

But if there was any suggestion that maybe Father was using the term without knowing quite what it meant, the graphic lyrics clear him of that charge: "Nibble on my tip, now you got a taste of chocolate; let me lick you up and down... When I'm gonna bust, I put my milkshake on ya tummy." Okay?

To be fair, though, the song is a little more clever than I'm making it out to be. He makes "69" into a double entendre, as he explains that 69 is the code you should beep him with on his pager (he was really into pagers on this album... his other single was "I Beeped You") for an intimate encounter. So it's only a sex song for those hip enough to be in on the term. But the excessively explicit lyrics - not to mention the fact that, in the video, he actually staged a 69 position with his dancer, so we could all see exactly how it's done - kind of spoil the "this song has a secret double message" aspect to it. Obviously it has a double message; he's saying them both outright!

That's the album version, which is here on the single, too; but this release also includes an exclusive remix. The Uptown Swing Remix, by Teddy Riley as well, features the same "Jungle Boogie" elements, and the same chorus and all... but it turns the deep bassline down super low so you can barely make it out. I'm not sure why anybody would want a version of "69" where you can't hear the bassline, but here it is. It feels more like an unfinished version than a proper remix; but I guess it brings some more attention to the snappy percussion, which is cool.

The 12" features those two mixes, and the Instrumental of the Album Version. My cassette maxi-single[pictured above] is a little better, because it features all that plus the Uptown Remix Instrumental. And there's a promo 12" that's even better still - it features all four of those tracks, plus the Acapella... but the caveat is that it doesn't come in a picture cover. At the end of the day, I don't know if I'd recommend this, since the only exclusive remix is so underwhelming. But you might be pleasantly surprised revisiting the Sex Is Law album as a whole - did I mention it has a Pete Rock track?

Werner's R&B Cassingle Quiz Show!

(Play along; there are 13 possible points. Youtube version is here.)

Disco Rick Departs On a Happy Note

A couple months ago, I made a video about what I thought was Disco Rick's last record. I mean, not his final record as a producer, but as a recording artist himself. But even with that caveat, I was still wrong. Sorry! There's one more 12" that post-dates The Bankrupt Boys and all the Vision Records stuff.

It's a white label called "Go Dadee." There's no info on the label; just a single sticker with "Disco Rick" and "Go Dadee" printed on it. But one listen, and there's no question that it's our Disco Rick. And thanks to some references in the song (he talks about doing The Bankhead Bounce and loving Master P's record, "Bout It, Bout It"), I can guess with some confidence that this is from 1996, making this his absolutely final record.

It's just the one song, though you've also got the instrumental and a shorter edit as well. Again, nothing's labeled, but I'd guess it's meant to be a Club Mix on side A and Radio Mix on side B.

It's called "Go Dadee" because he's actually got his kids on the record, cheering him on for the chorus. Actually, the experience isn't much different than some records people did with The Puppies around that time. Disco Rick isn't angry at all here. He actually raps from the perspective of his kids, which is interesting, talking about how, "he be movin' it, movin' it. Matter of fact, I think my daddy's losin' it!"

The instrumental is full of all the Southern elements you'd expect... old school whistles, horn stabs, "Trigger Man" sample. It's high bpm, busy, and really just completely fun and endearing. There's even a breakdown where the little boy says, "hold up, wait a minute, let me put my mama in it!" And while no Mrs. Rick ever actually gets on the record, I think you're supposed to imagine that's the part of the record she dances to as her son enthuses, "go mama, go mama - that's my mama!"

This technically comes in a sticker cover. The exact same sticker that's on the label is also on the sleeve. I don't know how many copies were made; I expect not very many, though I've seen a few for sale online. It's nothing groundbreaking, but if you're just looking for a real, Southern good time, this is a prime choice. And next time you get in a fight, you can play this and make your girlfriend sigh, "awww!"

That's It, Hater

At some point when ughh was having big clearance sales (good times), I noticed an Eminem diss on vinyl for $2 by somebody I didn't know. I google'd the guy and it turned out he was one of those guys from The White Rapper Show. So I passed on it. Then, I noticed the price dropped down to $1, but I still wasn't interested. Then fifty cents. Finally, it hit twenty-five cents[!!], so I decided fine, I'm curious enough to throw it in the cart with some other stuff for a quarter. Now, I could take a cheap shot and say this record still wasn't the price I paid for it, but no. I'd say .25 was a fair price for the value.

So, here's what I did when it arrived. First, I skipped straight to the Eminem diss, which is actually track 3 on the 12". Then I went back, and played the other songs through. Then I put it away and forgot about it. But recently I came across it when putting some other records away and thought it might be amusing to revisit it and blog about it. You know, before I put it away for another couple years.

So the guy's name is Dasit, and apparently he was voted off The White Rapper Show in the first episode. Not a good sign. He's also "mentored" by Hammer (another bad sign), and he sounds exactly like Eminem. It's something he addresses (of course) in his first song, "Dasit:"

"'Cause people see my songs and say, 'you sound just like Slim;Your style, your voice, everything sound just like him.'
[At this point, the music turns into a quick reinterpretation of "The Real Slim Shady"]
Got you thinking we bought his first CD
Got as far as the first song and said, 'I'm the real Slim Shady.But all I hear is stereotypes"

...Now, I'd have more sympathy if he just happened to have a voice like Eminem's and yet everyone gave him a hard time about it. But as he even admits in his own bars, it's not just his voice... his flow, his delivery, his structures, the way he does his back-up ad-libs with silly voices, even the production is a complete rip-off of Eminem - he's worse than Asher Roth. He might claim to be "blessed with a curse of Eminem's vocal tone" (seriously, he wrote that in his CDBaby bio), but I don't buy it - this has to be an intentional impersonation.

He even signed to Big Willz Records, his manager's label. Never heard of 'em? Well, that's the personal label of Byron "Big-Naz" Williams, Eminem's former bodyguard who wrote a tell-all book about Em and recorded his own Eminem diss record with his crew, The Wadsquad, called "Shady Bizness." Yeah, that's his label and manager. So this shit's straight out of Eminem Hater City.

So okay, back to the record at hand. The first song, as I said, is called "Dasit." He explains his name ("it's like 'that's it,' but usin' slang") and freestyles on a bunch of random, autobiographical non-sequiturs, which are really just excuses to cram in a bunch of punchlines. It's produced, like the rest of this 12", by somebody named Frankie Biggz; and it all just sounds like low budget Slim Shady records. To be fair, though, there is an aspect of his raps that doesn't sound entirely like Eminem. The way he forces awkward jokes into his flow, and the maybe slightly higher pitch to his voice... he's not so much Eminem as - god help us - Eminem meets Hot Karl*. Check out these bars, for example:

"I told my mom,

I'm gonna marry a black woman when I'm ready.

She said, "if you do that,

Then I ain't coming to your wedding."

"I'll start my own clothes line,

Call it G-Y-A-I-T.

(What's that stand for?)

Get Yo' Ass In These jeans!"

God, he goes so far for these cheap laughs (if the first one is even meant to be funny... I'm not sure). He even changes voices for the roles of himself on the phone and his racist mother. Then he gets somebody else to jump on the record just to ask him what the name of his imaginary clothes line means. I'm sincerely embarrassed for him, listening to this.

I'd feel sorry for bagging on a clearly underdeveloped amateur here, but there's such an ugly side of crass marketing in the way he latches onto Eminem in a cynical attempt to cash in. And we didn't even get to "Hater (Eminem Diss)" yet. He lays it out oddly on the line, asking in his song, "am I really a fake rapper trying to be just like you, comin' from a fake city with a fake ass crew? Tell me it ain't so, Slim; tell me you didn't say this! Do I really join the list of Everlast and Limp Bizkit?" Apparently, though, Dasit has a specific grudge that spurred on this particular diss song:

"I just wanted to do a song on your soundtrack,

Was that so bad?

There's a reason I didn't tell you my manager

Was Big Naz.

Just wanted you to listen

And give my music a chance.

And you listened to it in your trailer,

Turned it up loud,

And the word is

That you don't like me now."

The hook even goes, "Eminem, why you don't like me? Why you so angry - you wanna fight me? Why, I ain't do nothin'. It's like you mad because another white guy is tryin' to steal your light or somethin'." He's literally whining.

I can imagine the reason Eminem never answered this record - I mean, besides the obvious - is because Dasit said what Eminem would've already said back anyway. "Yeah, you lied about your management and gave me a song for my soundtrack. I listened to and didn't like it, so I didn't use it." Is Dasit aware he's supposed to be making the other guy look bad in a diss track? The rest of the track consists of more general disses, and at least directed towards the right party, but it's all so juvenile. Like, check this out:

"Hold on, I gotta mention this.

Your fans won't believe this shit you did, Slim.

(What he do?)

Had sex with a girl in Arizona...

(Oh, that's not so bad.)

But he forgot he had a sex change!

(Oh my god, Eminem's a fag!)"

But that's still not everything. You get one more song on this song, called "C.O.P." At no point during the song does he tell us what C.O.P. is supposed to be an acronym for, but the hook of the song is "cops ain't shit!" So you get the idea. It's another Eminem sound-alike song, with him complaining about how he's unfairly persecuted by the police. Example? He was pulled over for his license plate light being out. Really. That's in the song. It may actually be the first song of this nature that makes you feel bad for the police, having to deal with whiny little punks like this all day. But even if you're going along with the sentiment and shouting, "hell yeah, cops ain't shit!" to the chorus, he undercuts the whole thing by repeatedly stopping to point out, "I just wanna say, I know a lot of good cops and detective put their lives on the line every day. It's just a few bad apples makin' ya all look bad." I mean, that's true and I guess that makes the message of the song a little better, but way to suck the energy out of your own song. It would be like if "Fight For Your Right To Party" had an extra verse saying, "except don't party so hard that you neglect your responsibilities. Work hard and get good grades to the best of your abilities. Don't drink too much, ingest illegal substances or neglect to shower. Treat girls with respect and get to bed by a reasonable hour!"

Anyway, this is a single-sided 12", and comes in a generic white sleeve. For twenty-five cents, it's kinda fun to have a silly footnote in hip-hop history like this on your crates. Apparently, this guy has a bunch of other CDs and even 12" records... I'm not sure how low the price would have to get for me to check out those.

Update 2/27/12: It turns out, five years after this record (so, 2007), Dasit released a "Hater 2" via mp3 only. Instead of going after Em some more (though, amusingly, he bites another of his styles), he goes on about The White Rapper Show... he has some generic disses towards Serch ("mad at me 'cause I can't get no whiter" - what does that even mean?), and some of his fellow contestants who nobody remembers anymore. I had a hard time finding it, because this song's drifted pretty far off into obscurity... which is probably right where it belongs.


*He made a much better podcast host, though.

The Profile Records Rap Anthology

Wow, I remember these! Back in the days, growing up in the suburbs, I didn't have access to many vinyl records. It was all cassettes and CDs. So, if you wanted to own a bunch of Sugarhill Records classics, you didn't go buy all the original 12" singles; you bought a compilation album that featured all their hits on one tape. And there were bajillions of these bad boys, with all different titles and themes. This was great at first, until you had all the big hits, and now wanted some of the less famous tracks... There were multiple times in my youth I'd buy a whole CD full of songs I already owned, because it included one different song I didn't already have. Every Sugarhill compilation had "Rapper's Delight" and "The Message" - I wound up buying those songs like twenty to thirty times - because I had to buy one that featured a West Street Mob or Mean Machine track that wasn't on any of the others. Thankfully, those days ended for me when I was able to go to places like Philly and NY to get the exact records I wanted... and even better when the internet came about, and suddenly everything was (just about) was findable. Now one can just order pretty much every Sugarhill Records 12" for 99 cents and own the originals, which are cooler collectors' items anyway. There's no more need for these crazy compilations... or maybe there is?

It's a nostalgia trip for me just seeing this release. Doubly so, I guess. Because on the one hand, it's a bunch of classic rap records getting re-released; but more so for me, just seeing one of these compilations again. Even a collection like this from Profile, specifically, is a return to the old days. From the original Rap albums of 1984, where Profile first assembled all their big rap singles of the time onto a two volume collection, to Diggin' In the Crates: Profile Rap Classics in 1994 and Profilin' the Hits and Profile: The Singles, both in 1999, this has been done before. But 1999 was 13 years ago; evidently it's time to do it again. 8)

So, first let's compare this to the past incarnations... it fairs quite well indeed on that score. While you might prefer certain past Profile comps for being on vinyl (this is a CD only release); if you put aside the format, this is easily the best in terms of content. Because this is a 2 disc set, it simply has more tracks than any of the past iterations... And since Profile has no shortage of brilliant rap releases in their vaults (they could easily release dozens of compilations like this, with no repeats), there's no question that the all the songs are top notch. Most of the songs from all those past releases I named are on this set, with only one or two exceptions per release (although Profile: The Singles has the advantage of also including instrumentals).

This set also goes the extra mile by including a substantial booklet. It starts out with quotes from various, major DJs praising Profile Records collectively or specific singles. I'm not going to give it all away - you'll have to buy the set - but here's one example: DJ Rob Swift on "Fresh" by The Fresh 3 MCs, "F-R-E-S-H FRESH, FRESH, FRESH, Yo, that's FRESH! That hook will forever remind me of the year 1983. I entered the 6th grade in the fall of 1983 as a 12 year-old kid from Queens. It was the year I got my first kiss! It was the year I decided to become a DJ. It was the year that changed my life. Now that's FRESH!"

You've also got several pages of photos, and several pages of liner notes by Dan Charnas, author of The Big Payback, a massive tome I still plan to review here on this blog, assuming I live long enough to finish it. ...Plus pages of the proper production credits for each song. Also, according to the sticker on the shrink-wrap, everything in this compilation has been remastered... but I'm not sure anything on Profile has ever really sounded poor in the first place; so I can't say I notice a big difference.

Disc 1 feels like a really strong, cohesive rap album; all early to mid 80's hits featuring fun raps and giant, programmed drums. The label had a huge, varied roster, but it all managed to have a cohesive, recognizable "Profile sound." That's out the window for Disc 2, which covers the late 80s to the mid 90s. Imagine Nine, Run DMC & Aerosmith, 2nd II None, King Sun's love song (seriously, of all King Sun singles, why this one?), Camp Lo, Onyx, Special Ed and DJ Quik all on the same disc - it's chaos! It's still all good material; but none of it fits together... now the fact that it's all on the same label feels like an arbitrary reason to compile all these songs together. In future, I can see myself reaching for the first disc to play a bunch of dope, related songs together in a go. But I doubt I'd ever do that for Disc 2.

The real question, though, is whether people will be interested in a compilation like this in 2012. As these albums go, it's quite a well-made one with a lot going for it. Care was put into assembling this, and it shows. But is there an audience for this anymore, or is this a doomed dinosaur, misguidedly resurrected in the modern age? I'd be quite interested to see the numbers on this in the next couple months.

The Beatnuts Meet da Lench Mob

Ice Cube's official "weed carrier" group, Da Lench Mob, actually date all the way back to his very pre-NWA beginnings as The CIA Crew. And, just like Ice Cube himself; they were pretty dope when they were on the raw hardcore tip... you know, before smoothed-out, watered-down cross-over g-funk[send more hyphens!] became the order of the day. You could be forgiven for sleeping on their debut album, 1992's Guerillas In the Mist, at the time (especially if you were from NY). We were spoiled then; Who knew that twenty years later, we'd be begging for unreleased scraps from groups that came as hard as everybody we took for granted in the 90's? And, anyway, these guys still lacked the punch of a classic Ice Cube solo track. They just needed a little something extra to make that truly hot, enduring record - maybe a hot remix?

Well, this remix 12" brought it. Dropping in 1993, it was their third and final single off their debut album, and their last release before they swapped J-Dee with Maulkie, and generally softened up. You've got four mixes, including the LP Mix, and a green or red sticker cover, depending on whether you have a promo or commercial copy [mine, pictured, is the latter].

So, let's start with the album version. Even though it's actually the last to come up on the single, it's the one we were all already familiar with from the previous year. Like all versions, it features Cypress Hill's own B-Real, who lends his voice for the hook and back-up ad-libs, but - thankfully - not a verse. And you know who else doesn't rap on here? Ice Cube. Or K-Dee, or any of the Lench Mob except J-Dee. Yup, this is actually a solo song. It's one of those message songs that only hardcore hip-hop could do... because in the twentieth century, kids weren't falling for corny message raps like "Don't Talk To Strangers" by Mr. T. But a group like Da Lench Mob were expert in making a song so hard, raw and vulgar that they could actually impart some pretty seriously heavy-handed social commentary and guides for proper behavior and have them go over with their audience. And J-Dee is lyricist enough to make it a genuinely artistic endeavor, too. It's some serious shit.

It starts out with J-Dee just dissing on some girl for being an easy slut. All us rotten little preteens could get into that. Then it gets more serious as it turns out she's a drug addict and stealing money to pay her rent. Turns out she's a single mom, "so you can sell his shit, and go get you a hit, when you need to be at home with your goddamn children. That's why your landlord wants you out the buildin'." Oh shit, this got serious fast. "Went into my pockets, and got a twenty dollar bill. I said, 'go buy your motherfuckin' kids a Happy Meal;' and followed her to Mickey D's and made sure she bought the shit. And if she wouldn'ta, man, I swear to God I woulda hurt the bitch." Real talk, but edgy and excessive enough that his audience isn't dismissing a corny moral but hanging on every word. And by the end of the song, it turns out this girl he started out dissing and wound up physically threatening and planning to kill ("now I gotta do her with a slug!") was his own mom. Damn.

The beat's pretty rugged but busy and sorta fast, kept up with some jazzy elements mixed with dirty beats and a rugged bassline. It's produced by Ice Cube himself, and I've gotta say I'm pretty impressed. I didn't know he was capable of creating stuff like this - it's very reminiscent of Eric B & Rakim's fourth album. Still, though, the mix is pretty muddy and no individual parts of the instrumental really stand out and grab the listener. As dope as it is, I can still see why they felt the need to remix it for the single.

So we come to the first remix on the single, the one they used for the music video and everything. By The Beatnuts, right? I know, you read the title of this blog; but don't get ahead of me. No, this is actually a remix by Da Lench Mob's own T-Bone. Surprisingly, they didn't use the 'Nuts mix. Still, you can see why they did choose this one. It's got a catchy, old blues guitar riff and choice vocal sample in the loop. The backwater blues vibe makes the proceedings feel slower, but if nothing in the LP Mix grabbed the listener, something sure does here. You could play this song, nodding your head to the beat and feeling the soulful loop and realize by the end of it that you didn't even notice the lyrics. It's that gripping. Of course, an audience missing the lyrics isn't really a good thing, especially on a song like this with a lot to say; but that's what repeat listenings are for. And this mix surely inspired a lot of repeat listenings.

Okay, so now we come to The Beatnuts mix? No, not quite. next we get Night Stawka's Remix. Who's that? Ya got me - I've never seen his name pop up anywhere else. But if he only has one credit to his name, at least it's a good one. It's dark and got lots of deep, ominous bass and wailing guitar stabs. It's not gonna be anybody's favorite anything - the elements all sound a little overly familiar - but it's a good, solid mix and a good listen. This is one of those singles where you can just play it end to end, like an album.

Finally, the Beatnuts Remix is pure, Beatnuts funk. They add their own ad-libs on top of the pre-existing ones, so that gets a bit crowded. But who cares? It's all about the funky beat with the groovy bassline and snazzy horns. And they add a killer breakdown; smooth but with personality - this is what you hire the Beatnuts for. And unlike the other mixes, it doesn't distract from the rhymes. In fact, the opposite - it really brings attention to the narrative. I could see someone who was listening to Guerillas for a full year and just realizing when he heard the Beatnuts version that he was rapping about his mom.

If you only own on Lench Mob record... well, it should probably be "Freedom Got an AK" or something that showcases more than just one member. But this is pretty must have, too. And try and pick up the promo version if you can. Partially because you also get two instrumentals - Beatnuts and the T-Bone (video) ones, exactly the two most desirable instrumentals. And more importantly, because - even though the label doesn't say so - all four versions on the main (green) label 12" are radio edits! Gah! And there's a lot of cursing integral to the lyrics, so it's a little more obscure, but promo all the way if you can do it. Even if you can't, though, the commercial's worth picking up, because the remixes are hot in any condition.

The SupaFriendz Meet the Wizard

(Youtube version is here.)