The Thor Rap

You kids are all excited about your Avengers movie this weekend, are you? Well, how about a rap song to go with it? No, this isn't from the official soundtrack - in fact, there are two: the proper soundtrack by the composer, and a collection of pop rock songs that's actually intended to succeed commercially. And neither have any rap on it. So instead I've dipped into the vaults to find a suitable hip-hop companion, and decided upon this: "God of Thunder" by Virtuoso.

Now, this isn't the first or only rap record to reference a Marvel super hero, or even an Avenger specifically. When Ghostface Killah adopted the alias Tony Starks, he even titled his debut solo album Ironman, just in case we didn't get the reference. But despite using the Ironman cartoon theme song (and getting sued for it), he doesn't ever really rap about being a superhero in a giant robot suit, a la the famous Avenger. I wanted a song that was actually about an Avenger, not just borrowing some names, or slipping a reference or two into a punchline.

And this song fits the bill. Thor, of course, is the god of thunder. But this song doesn't ask the listener connect the dots. The hook consists of the phrase "I'm the mighty Thor" taken from The Beatnuts' "Off the Books," being cut up by producer Panik of The Molemen. And Virtuoso keeps it going with his verses, explicitly rapping about himself being Thor, "Virtuoso and The Molemen, lurking in the Trojan horse bringing the force of the Norse king Odin." I mean, granted, he seems to be confusing the Trojan horse, which is from Greek mythology, with Thor and the Nordic stuff; but he clearly means to be rapping about our Thor when hr refers to himself as the son of Odin and such. He even mentions, "when I swing Mjolnir" (that's his famous hammer).

And before you say it, let me respond. You might argue that Virt's rhyming about the original character from Norse mythology and not the comic book character. But first of all, the comic book is explicitly about the Norse god, from Asgard and the ancient mythology and all the trappings that brings with it. The comic just puts him in modern times,a nd so does this song, as he brags about "shifting the sands of California." Plus, in the song, he raps about "battling prehistoric dinosaurs" and shit that never happened in the old myths, but probably happened in the comics. Hell, maybe Thor even rode around in the Trojan horse at some point in the comics - a lot of randoms hit happened in the many decades Thor has been a super hero, especially in the 60's.

Anyway, let's not get too hung up on the tenuous connection I'm drawing between this record and the Avengers movie. This is a pretty cool, vinyl-only song that I've been meaning to blog about for a while anyway.  I've always felt that Virt never recovered from the time he changed his voice and flow between his Brick Records and Omnipotent Records releases. That's not to say all his later stuff is bunk - I still check for his newer material; but compare anything from the 2000s forward to "Incinerator," "Orion's Belt," "Omnipotence," etc and there's just no comparison.  Like he was replaced by a different guy. But this single is some of the best "second era" Virtuoso, and comes closest to capturing the lightning of his early work.

And The Molemen aren't really one of my favorite production teams. Part of my issue with them is that they seem to have one production sound for whoever they're producing. In other words they make beats that fit EC, but feel flat when it's, say, Grand Daddy IU. But here they've produced a track that's not only pretty good and energetic, but that really firs with the vibe Virtuoso was going for with this more dramatic, epic subject matter. These are the last guys I would've asked to produce this song, but it turns out they had it locked.

"God of Thunder" is the third and final single off his World War One: The Voice of Reason album, following "All We Know" and "Beatdown." But, interestingly, the song itself isn't on the album. The B-side, "Smashtapiece Theater" is, however - it's also one of the strongest album cuts, despite the cringe-worthy pun. So, what we have here is the rare "A-side exclusive."

"God of Thunder" in the full set of Clean, Evil (dirty), Beats (instrumental) and Words (Acapella) versions, and "Smashtapiece Theater" comes in Clean, Beats and Words - you'll have to buy the album if you want to hear the proper, unedited version, which is a bit lame. It also comes in a pretty wicked picture cover with some amusing "crazy credits" on the back.

Lean Invincible

Grand Invincible are back. And if that cover looks familiar, it should - it's the same image as their last single, "Winter 365." That was the limited single off of this, their just-released and even more limited CD EP, also titled Winter 365. "Even more limited?" Yup, the vinyl was limited to 300 copies, and this EP is limited to just 100 hand-numbered copies (mine's #19). It's not often the CD is more limited than the wax!

But the compelling aspect of this disc isn't its rarity; it's the fact that the vinyl was a 2-song single, and this is a 9-song CD. It includes both songs from the single, so 7 songs are all new. You might say 9 songs is a lot to be labeling this an EP as opposed to an album; but a lot of the songs are pretty short (five, more than half, are under two minutes long), and two of them are just instrumental. But the brevity works in its favor. It's lean, no filler - a tight, compelling listen straight through, which you'll want to start over again as soon as it ends.

A couple guests are on hand here. Besides the posse cut from the 7", there's "Gigantic," a fun duet between Luke and an MC named M.D. who seems determined to steal the spotlight with clever line after clever line. Then you've got "Eric Isley" by... Eric Isley, given a whole song to himself. I'd never heard of him before, but I felt compelled to check him out - here's his myspace - and he's pretty dope.

But the real stars are Grand Invincible themselves. Eons One's production just seems to be getting better and better with each release. And Luke Sick feels very at home over,, his style blending with Eons' production more naturally than ever. Tracks like "Undertaker of Mics" and "Detachable Hood" are at least as good as the two songs we already heard on the single.

Winter 365 comes in a stickered gatefold sleeve and includes some bonus stickers, a fold-out booklet and a "freight outline mini-zine" (uhh... just google "mini-zine"). They're only $8, including shipping, so I'd definitely move to score one while you can.

Caged Heat: Rappers In Prison

Rhyme and Punishment isn't really a good documentary film. If somebody came up to me asking for a good documentary recommendation, I wouldn't show them this. But, if a hip-hop fan specifically was looking for a quick rap doc to watch, then I might point them in this direction.

Rhyme and Punishment is about rappers who've committed crimes and been sent to jail. Strictly speaking, it may just be about rappers who've been to jail; but while many said they were unfairly prosecuted or excessively sentenced, I don't think anyone said they were strictly innocent. So it winds up being about both. So it's a series of interviews where each rapper - including some big names, so the documentary doesn't come up short in that department - tell their stories of getting locked up.

It's directed by the guy who did the Beef documentaries, and it is very similar in style and presentation to those. Except, where each story of beef usually involved a group (or at least two) artists telling their stories; most of these are solo stories, which make the proceedings less fun and engaging. The piece on Prodigy near the beginning is a little richer than the others... they interview him on more than one occasion, and also interview his wife and 40 Glocc. But most of the rest are quick, single interviews - some just recorded over the phone from the inside, which tend to wind up being the most interesting - propped up by a lot of narration (by Krs-One). A LOT of narration. One entire segment, on the Prison Industrial Complex, consists of nothing but Krs explaining the film's theories on the concept. Not that what he's saying is stupid or anything... but no interviews, no figures or research or footage or experts... the narrator just talks us through the whole chapter, like a lecture except we don't even get to see Krs talking. That's not really the way to do a riveting documentary.

And a lot of the stories are frankly pretty similar. Spoiler alert: a lot of them broke parole, possessed guns they shouldn't've had, felt the judge was unfair, liked getting letters from the outside and hated the food. By the fifth guy making the same observations, it feels a bit redundant. So what winds up happening is whatever rappers you're a bigger fan of probably wind up feeling more interesting. But one or two do wind up being more interesting on their own terms, specifically Shorty and J-Dee of Da Lench Mob, one of whom apparently had a cheerful, fun time in prison, and the other who's mad at his crew for not holding him down (you'll have to watch the doc to find out who is which). And Big Lurch and his mom steal the show simply on virtue of how insane his story is - he ate his girlfriend's lungs while wacked out on PCP. Yeah, that's the bit that sticks with you long after seeing this film.

This isn't completist; in fact, some of the most famously imprisoned MCs aren't featured (Cool C & Steady B, X-Raided, Lifer's Group, etc; and Slick Rick's just here briefly in footage from some old interview seemingly taken from another source)... I suspect the filmmaker is thinking he'll get them in R&P 2, just like with the Beef films. But unlike Beef 2, I'm not sure I'm looking forward to a sequel to this. The stories just aren't as interesting. And in the Beefs, the stories of the battles are the glorious and historic stories of hip-hop art. Here, it's the crap they get into on their off time when they're not representing hip-hop. Like some celebrity gossip junk. So... I don't know. If you're a rap fan, it's worth a quick watch. But it's not worth adding the DVD to your collection or anything.

Mikah's Lost Love

In 1999, Freestyle Fellowship's Mikah Nine released his solo debut, It's All Love, on Pure Hip Hop, Inc. Like PEACE's debut, it's a very home-made release: a CD-R with Mikah's name sharpie'd on it, and artwork printed on color paper for the case. It was pretty limited, and even marked "ROUGH MIXES FOR PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY." But these Fellowship cats were once major label artists, so again, like with PEACE's album, you know this had to get re-released, right?

And re-released it was! In 2001, Mary Joy Recordings (a Japanese label that specialized in lyrical, underground US artists) finally picked it up and put it out a professional version with a newly subtitled name, It's All Love: American Nightmare.  But Mary Joy albums could be tough to find in the states (most of us just ordered 'em off the internet), so The Goodlife collective's label decided to give it another release in 2002. And since all of these releases were CD-only, Twentyfour Seven Records selected seven choice cuts and pressed them on vinyl in 2003. That's a lot of It's All Loves.

But the Pure Hip Hop version had something none of the others had: a different track-listing and some unique songs.  Again, like PEACE's album, songs got switched around, making the original pretty essential.  Actually, wait... both versions (the Mary Joy and Afterlife versions are identical, content-wise) have 19 tracks.  So that means both versions have unique songs and are essential.  Clever marketing, record labels.

So let's look at what the later, more accessible versions have first.  Most of the songs on are the same across the board, naturally, albeit in a different order.  But two differ (and no, the vinyl EP doesn't feature any of the exclusives from either previous release... it does have an exclusive Bonus Beat, though).  On the American Nightmare version we have:

18. On the Line - This is a pretty fresh song, that's never been released anywhere else, with Mikah kicking a pretty non-stop flow over a really fresh beat by Joseph Leimberg, who produced all of the American Nightmare version, and most of the original version. You may know Leimberg better by another name, Dr. Soose. Yeah, he was the trumped player in Mad Kap! Well, apparently, his talents weren't limited to just that one instrument, because he laid down something nice and perfect for Mikah to flow over.

19. Outro - Yeah, this is a bit of a "who cares?" one. It's essentially a reprise of one of the album tracks, "Come Up Off My Love." Nice to have as a bonus if you're getting both versions, but "On the Line" is the only real reason to score hunt down the a later version.

Okay, so now let's look at the original's two exclusives.

4. Come Up Off My Love (FJ) - There are actually two mixes of this song on the original album, one subtitled "FJ" and on subtitled "JL." The initials stand for the producers - so "JL" is Joseph Leimberg, of course, and "FJ" is for Fat Jack. To be honest, both versions sound a bit different than what we hear on the later versions (remember, after all, these are rough mixes), and none of them stand out. They're all very low-key productions with Mikah doing some not-too-impressive singing.  Still, if you dug the later ones, you'll probably enjoy the Fat Jack one, too; as it captures the same feel.

14. Homegirl - An exclusive song, never released anywhere else. The beat has a really deep, soulful feel - I don't know if any of the music is live instrumentation, or if Joseph just did an excellent job of making it sound that way; but either way it works. Unfortunately, Mikah's singing isn't up to the track (his singing was a problem with a lot of his material at this phase in his career), but the beat manages to carry him.

So, in the end, it's pretty much all good news. Both versions give you some exclusives, so you can be happy owning either or both versions. But the exclusives on the original aren't so great that, if you're not a huge Mikah fan, you'll have to drive yourself crazy trying to hunt down an OG mix. In fact, the newer one easily has the best exclusive.  So casual fans can just pick up the later one and feel satisfied. But for the hardcore, there is more out there to be found; you can even pick apart the variances between the rough and later mixes, and maybe find a new preference among the other album tracks  And Mikah got to sell his album multiple times to many of the same people. Everybody basically wins.

The Viper and the Doctor

A couple weeks ago, I got a nice e-mail and a request for a blog post on Vandy C. Then I got distracted by other posts I wanted to make and forgot about it... but look, I've remembered! Yayy, me!

- Now, before I start, I'll point out that Fifth Element has recently gotten through with a terrific series of posts on Vandy C, including a pretty definitive video interview.  Some of the best hip-hop blogging of the year, so be sure and check that out, starting here. - 

So I decided to take a look at Vandy's very first record, "'V' the Viper."  I found out about this record pretty early.  By "early" I mean early for a kid in the suburbs who didn't have access to old school, underground vinyl and was just buying the latest rap tapes at the local Sam Goody's. But word of this record stood out because of one of the featured guests, Doctor Ice.  I was big into that whole Select Records scene, including UTFO and of course Whodini, too - so I was really curious about this obscure, old school record that featured an early appearance by the Doc.

And, not having heard it... I wasn't even sure if it was the same Doctor Ice. After all, there was a Doctor Ice who put out a record on Enjoy Records all the way back in 1981.  In fact, I'd bought that record thinking it was the Doc Ice I became a big fan of by the time he dropped his solo album, The Mic Stalker. So I was pretty disappointed when it turned out to be some other Doctor Ice. I didn't want to get burned again. Over the years, I started to see Vandy C's name come up as a producer on some pretty random projects (Kid Flash, The Don)...

So fast forward a bunch of years when I became older and more learned, and started picking up classic vinyl, etc. I finally got this, and was happy to discover two things. Yes, it was the "real" Doctor Ice like I was hoping it would be, and also this Vandy C had the talent and sensibilities to make a good rest of the record.

This is a two-song 12" from 1986 on Whop Records (and yes, we will be doing the whop before this review is out).  The first song is the song without Doctor Ice on it: "'V' the Viper."  It's an interesting blend of hardcore street and an upbeat dance record.  It's all about rocking the club, but with hardcore horn stabs, rough deliveries ...well, by 1986 standards.  It's not quite "It's Yours," but they were definitely one of the early groups ushering in the new, post-disco rap era. The rhymes are tight, and as super old school and low-tech as the instrumental is, unlike many records of that era, every element of the track holds up today - when you listen to it now, it works just the way it was supposed to back then. And it's not every record you get to here the MC brag about his Centipede score.  =)

So then track two is "Do the Whop." This was the era when everybody had a smurf or whop record, from Jalil to Blaq Poet. And so this is their perfunctory dance track. But they make it more than just another generic entry in a long line by A) just having some tight production chops with a big, infectious beat and some really catchy vocodering and B) turning it into a minor posse cut. You've got Vandy and his partner Bill Blast, plus fun guest verses by none other than the original Doctor Ice (I think I may've mentioned already him already?) - he brings all of his charisma and a sense of fun to the table, even kicking a little chorus of Dr. Pepper commercial.  And lastly T-Funk, who's got a funky deep voice - Vandy C went on to produce his record the following year.

Vandy C was a dope producer, and I can safely recommend pretty much every hip-hop record he laid his hands on (with the possible exception of The Don); and this, their first outing, is definitely right up there. It's a fun, old school party record, but considerably more street than you'd expect... and that's definitely a good thing.

The Devil and Dr. Butcher

(Youtube version is here.)

Tuff and TL Back To Yell

The Tuff Crew's reign ended in the early 90's. They released their fourth album, Still Dangerous, with only three members remaining in 1991 - one of whom was a new addition (Smooth K). And by 1993, Ice Dog (one of the two remaining)'s solo 12" dubbed him "Formerly Of Tuff Crew." Two of the core members conspicuously absent from the Still Dangerous line-up were Tone Love the Teacher and probably the biggest draw of the crew, DJ Too Tuff. It turns out, they were off working n their own project in '1991, as the mostly unreleased Danger Zone Mobb Sqwad.

The Danger Zone Mobb Sqwad were preparing their debut album, TL Back To Yell. It was never finished. But they did release a very rare, cassette only (essentially... I'll come back to that) single on Sure Shot Records. And that single has just been pressed on vinyl and released in 2012 by Dope Folks Records.

What we have here is two versions apiece of two tracks. The rhymes and production are handled by TL and Mac-G (who also produced the TL tracks on the recent Remember? EP on Solid Ground, the label which, interestingly enough, first announced this release), and the cuts are of course by DJ Too Tuff.

"Flp'n Keeloz" is a pretty solid track, with a lot of seriously in-depth talk about the drug trade. Seriously, there have been thousands upon thousands of rap songs about drug dealing, but after having heard them all, you're still gonna feel like you're learning a lot from this one. The hook consists of a lot of well-selected Scarface (the DePalma version, of course) vocal samples, and the beat consists of a nice break, funk guitar riff, and a very effective kettle drum. Still, it definitely fits in a lot better with their less compelling 90's material, than they're seriously banging 80's stuff, where the Crew really excelled. Too Tuff having no scratches on the track is a part of it, but the whole thing just has that less exciting, 90's vibe to it. It's a good song, but disappointing considering the Crew's track record and the reputation the Mobb Sqwad single has.

That reputation is earned much more on the other track, though, which features a lot more energy, freestyle rhymes, banging drums, a fast rolling bassline, and yes, scratches by Too Tuff. I can see why they chose this for their title track, and I suspect, even if the album was finished, this would've been one of the best songs on it. There's no real breakdown or anything where Tuff really gets busy, though - he's just providing very clean, choice cuts on the hook and back-up, making a strong song even stronger. I was way more excited by this song from the opening seconds, but when the horns came in, it totally took me back to the best Tuff Crew moments. "Flip'n Keeloz" is a cool song to have, too; but "TL Back To Yell" is exactly what we're hoping for anytime we fans pick up a Tuff Crew release.

And didn't I mention there were two versions of each song? Yup.

The Montana Mix of "Flip'n Keeloz" isn't too wildly different from the Straight YaYo Mix. It's the same rhymes over the same instrumental with the same vocal samples for the chorus. The Montana runs a few seconds longer, but the main difference is that, on the hook when they play Scarface clips, they also switch to an instrumental piece from the Scarface soundtrack, whereas on the Straight YaYo Mix, they keep the same beat going through it. And during the final breakdown, they take another synth line from the original film and lay it over their track. Personally, I prefer the Montana Mix... the bulk of the instrumental is unchanged, so you don't feel like you're losing anything from the Straight YaYo Mix, and yet the Montana Mix feels richer, and the drama of the narrative is more engrossing, with these other musical elements from the film. This B-side remix raises my opinion of the song a lot and makes it feel like a more worthy companion to "TL Back To Yell."

The differences between the "TL Back To Yell"s are more obvious: The Come Back Mix is a dub/TV version of the Strong Mix.

Now, I said I'd come back to the original release being cassette-only. That's because there is actually a super, incredibly rare promo-only 12" version. If discogs is to be believed, there are only 5 copies in existence. So, realistically, we don't have one and we're not going to get one. Making this Dope Folks release practically the sole vinyl version available. And even if you did own one of those 5 copies, that 12" is missing the Montana Mix of "Flip'n Keeloz" (the better version!) and the Come Back Mix of "TL Back To Yell," so you'll want to pick this up anyway. As always, the Dope Folks 12" is limited to 300 copies, sells for $20, and can be ordered directly from their site.

Return Of the Freeze Force Crew

"Boogie Down Bronx" is one of the real all-time greats. It's by Man Parrish - an early 80's hip-hop and pop producer of the electro/ freestyle variety, also releasing "Hip Hop Be Bop" - featuring The Freeze Force Crew. It's a true classic, and yet the Freeze Force never seemed to get signed or release any records of their own. They seem like the perfect example of a "one hit wonder," except... that's not quite their whole story.

Rama is an electro disco group who had released a record called "Don't Want You To Be" the same year "Boogie Down Bronx" dropped, 1984, and on the same label: Sugarscoop. So the next year, they returned with their second single, "Go Go Get Down" featuring DJ Kool and MC Johnski. Who are they? They're The Freeze Force Crew, back with their second and only other record!

"Go Go Get Down" came out on Sugarscoop Records, just like the all the other records I mentioned above; so everybody was playing on their home turf, so to speak. Now, Rama was a singing group; but this song is pure rap. I mean, Rama are probably on the hook singing "Go! Go!" along with the others, but essentially all the vocals are verses by John Ski and DJ Kool (despite having "MC" in one name and "DJ" in the other, they were both rappers), and it's funky. Like the title implies, there's a lot of go-go in the percussion, and there's also some brilliant horns. They're specifically credited as "The Uptown Horns" on the label, and credited to Michael Rudetsky, a regular Parrish collaborator.

It really ranks right up there with "Boogie Down Bronx." I'm not a huge go-go head, but I appreciate it when it's good; and it's perfect here. The music is really full and alive. It's hard to tell exactly what elements are programmed versus played on proper elements, but this definitely has the feel of a live band, jamming and improvising the whole way through - especially when you flip this over for the seven-minute Dub on the B-side. The SugarHill Band housed a lot of under-appreciated talent; but honestly these guys are funkier.

Now, granted, neither MC are exactly Melle Mels; there's no really impressive lyricism on display. But they have great voices that compliment their instrumentals perfectly. They have some fresh interplay, and especially on display this time around, as this is a go-go infused record after all, they have a lot of contagious energy. Their verses are short and simplistic here ("I'm DJ Kool in the place to be, and next on the mic is my man Johnski." "My name is Johnski and I'ma let you know, that if you wanna get down you got to go go!"), but I really can't imagine anybody not having a good time with this record. Only "Pump It Up" stands alongside this as the a top, quintessential go-go/ rap hybrid.

Unfortunately, this really is the end of the Freeze Force story now. Johnski another appearance or two with other artists; but this was it for the Freeze Force Crew. DJ Kool and MC Johnski only made these two records together - it's a shame no label ever signed them and gave them a chance to show us what else they were capable of. It surely would've been pretty great.

The Soulman, Lost In Time

Let's talk about the one Phill Most Chill record that always gets overlooked... DWG's fantastic excursions into his vaults of course get a ton of props. And then people go back and hold up his early classics like "On Tempo Jack" and his Baritone Tiplove material, and are now sweating his new releases, "Power Man & Iron Fist" and The Fast Rap EP. But there's one release that floats awkwardly in the middle - long after his early bangers, but before he was rediscovered. He dropped it in 2005, under the name Phill Most the Soulman on Puma Strut Records. It's called The Lo-Fi Theory EP.

You've got four songs (one very short!), with all the instrumentals on the flip. The cover is cool; a homage to Phill's other artistic profession, drawing. And it's got a pretty simple but compelling concept: he's taking beats he made back in 1994 and rhyming over them with new (for the time of its release) 2004 lyrics. So you know, not to take anything away from Buckwild and Celph Titled, but Phill Most Chill beat them to the idea they got so much buzz over by about five years.

So, let's take them separately. The instrumentals feel a little less busy than a we're used to from PMC; things are a little more smoothed out. But in all other respects, they sound exactly like Phill Most Chill beats, and all the positive things that implies. Each little sound that goes into the track stands out on their own, yet they come together to form something strong and absolutely hip-hop.

And the vocals? Well, he seems a lot more punchline-oriented in 2004 ("your whole style is fake; you couldn't beat Em back in the days when he made the 'Black Girls' mixtape"), and his delivery seems designed to play up the cleverness of what he's saying. His rhyme pattern often stretches to twisty, labyrinthine lengths to accommodate jokey similes ("Soulman, I bring the heat 'till your hair is wiltin'. A lot of rappers are famous without talent like Paris Hilton"). It's not bad, he still comes off with a solid flow and dexterous wordplay; but I don't like it as much as his earlier material, where he put the flow first, instead of playing to the gallery with easy attention grabbing pop culture references. Ha. I still feel like I'm talking about Nineteen Ninety-Now.

Anyway, the two elements together? It's a good fuckin' fit! Phill sounds damn nice over his vintage tracks. It defintiely should've been regarded as one of the stand-out releases of its year, but unfortunately no one was paying attention to Phill then. But the up side of that is that these aren't rare at all, and you should easily be able to scoop this one up at a standard 12" price, rather than the frightening, inflated numbers his rare material goes for. Not his penultimate masterpiece, but definitely a good, entertaining release to add to your crates while times are tight.

Werner's R&B Cassingle Quiz Show Challenge Spectacular!! (part 3)

(Youtube version is here.)

Hen-Gee, Evil-E & Krs-One

"Lil Trig" is the lead single (followed only by a forgettable love song - what were these labels thinking?) from Hen-Gee & Evil-E's sole album, Brothers, on Pendulum Records in 1991. You could be forgiven for thinking of them as just one of many forgettable, failed hip-hop acts that came and went with the quickness as labels signed them, released an album, and then dropped them when audiences didn't embrace them. But these guys actually have some history to them. Evil-E was Ice-T's DJ for a long time; and the pair of them were active members of The Rhyme Syndicate. They were putting out records back in the 80's, too; only then they were known as The Spin Masters. They were better back then - their take on "Bustin' Loose" was hot - 'cause along with the name change they adopted pretty much all the big fads of the time, creating a weird new jack swing/ gangsta rap hybrid style.

A quick perusal of their album and it's easy to see why audiences didn't embrace them. There's lots of synth production (all by Carlos Alomar, a regular collaborator of David Bowie's, and Hen himself) and sappy love songs, heavy-handed messages... they even included their old 1985 single, "Brothers" (yes, Hen and Evil are brothers, by the way) and made it the title track of their '91 album. Yeah, they remixed it to update it, but... that just ruined what was originally a fun song.

But, damn it, I liked "Lil Trig" as a kid and looked forward to this video popping up in regular rotation on Yo! MTV Raps. And even today, it's really not that bad. Yeah, the production is all drawn out keyboard notes and an R&B chorus; but this is the song on the album where that formula pays off the best. The notes sound cool over a deep, funky bassline, and the hook's actually damn catchy, yet still soulful. You can see why they picked it as the single.

Lyric-wise, it's a narrative of an inner city youth (Lil Trig) who gets caught up in a life of crime, culminating in his own death. But while many of the messages on this album miss their mark, here he avoids getting preachy and just lays down the tragic story and asks us, "what made Lil Trig that way?" Maybe a little simplistic, but by and large it holds up as a serious song tackling real issues in a meaningful way.

So I bet heads were pleasantly surprised to see the 12", where the commercial production was stripped away in favor of a brand new remix by Krs-One, ey?

But wait. Before we get to that, we have Hen and Carlos's own remix on the A-side, the Funk-U-Up Mix. Well... it is funkier. The bassline and percussion are really funky, and it's got a bunch of hard horns and other tough samples. Instrumental versus instrumental, it's easily superior - in fact, it's quite dope. But it doesn't totally jive with the narrative-style of the vocals, and it especially clashes with the chorus, which the instrumental almost seems intentionally trying to drown out.

Then we come to Krs One's Fat Mix. You sure don't have to read the label to know that this is a BDP remix - it uses the same signature horn stabs as "South Bronx" and then rolls into a bassy reggae groove. The beat keeps changing, which is cool, though that means some of the beats are decidedly better than others. A couple are a little weak, and they all sound like they were stolen from Just-Ice. If the Funk-U-Up Mix clashed with the original song, this one speeds full throttle into a head-on collision with it. There are some nice cuts, beats and horn samples that sound really fresh on on here, but the song as a whole... is wack.

It's like if you're a DJ going up to the decks, picking out two songs you know everyone in the room loves - let's say Gangstarr's "Just To Get a Rep" and Wu-Tang's "Protect Ya Neck" - and decide, "these songs are so good... the only thing that could be better is to play them both at the same time!" I know hip-hop can be tough and abrasive compared to light jazz and shit, but music just doesn't work like that. It just overlaps into obnoxious noise.

Remember last week, in my Jibri Wise One review, where I actually recommended the crossover-attempting new jack swing version by Ear Candy Record's in-house producers rather than The 45 King remix? Well, writing that is what brought this record to mind, because it's really the only other example I can think of where the same principle applies. The remix instrumentals are cool, and thankfully their both presented here as well, albeit with the hook awkwardly left in; but the one to stick with is the original, which remains the best and definitive version despite being the corniest. Because it's the only one that fits the song.