Hip-Hop United Behind Mandela

(Youtube version is here.)

A Long Time Coming, Young Zee Interview

Regular readers may have noticed - I mean, I should hope! - that I've been involved with a very exciting upcoming release on Dope Folks Records: Young Zee's long-shelved Musical Meltdown album, originally scheduled to be released in 1996 on Perspective Records. To help celebrate, I interviewed the artist himself, Young Zee.

(Disclaimer: unfortunately, as wonderful as modern technology is, it's still wonky & unreliable, and consequently, much of the audio of this interview was fucked.  The conversation is fresh in my mind, and I took notes, so I've written his answers to those questions as closely as I remember them, but a good deal of paraphrasing was required.  The important thing to me, though, is that I've finally gotten the answers to many of our long held questions, and I can still share that with you guys. So here goes!)

So, with Musical Meltdown finally dropping, like, seventeen years after it was meant to, I wonder if you could talk about that... why it didn't come out in the first place. There was that infamous Source review, but then of course, Perspective also seemed to be closing its doors around that time.

Yeah, it was like a year after. They had the money to keep it open if they wanted, though.  That label was owned by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis; they could've done whatever. But the thing was, they had a lot of acts; they just weren't successful with rap. Do you remember Pudgee?

Yeah, he had "On the Regular" and all.

Yeah. they put out his records and others but it just wasn't doing what they wanted. They had a whole rap department, and when the head of that went elsewhere, the guy who brought me in, when he left, that was basically it. My singles didn't do well... "Problems."  They didn't really sell that big.  They had a lot of R&B, like Mint Condition. They didn't really know what to do with us.

Of course you stayed in the game and went on with The Outsidaz and all... Pudgee went on, Rufus Blaq did. One guy who didn't, though, was Arrogant. Do you know what happened to him? He was tight, and he seemed to totally disappear after Perspective.

Yeah!  Arrogant was nice, real lyrical. I don't know what happened to him. We were like good friends. Perspective would throw parties, they had all this money, and they would take us places, and i'd always get together with Arrogant. I don't know what happened to him.

So after Perspective...

After Perspective, we were shopping deals. We were driving and we just saw Chris Schwartz in the street. We ran up to him like, sign us! He heard a tape and like the next day he signed us. We signed with Ruffhouse because they had all the artists we were fans of: Cypress Hill, The Fugees...

Do you have any of the demo material from back then? Because some of that stuff, there's just these low quality versions floating around, but it's like classic material.

I don't have any of that stuff. My house burnt down in '97, so I don't have any of that Outsidaz archives anymore.

Damn! At least you can keep making new material, though. A lot of artists, you're fans of them in the 90s, but hearing them today and it's just not the same. Even some of the other Outsidaz, they're not on the same level or just different. Pace's stuff kinda changed, or like Azz Izz. His new stuff is like totally different from the MC he was in the Outz.

Well, Azz Izz was a DJ.  A lot of those guys weren't rappers, they were just the guy with the car or whatever, down with the group and we let them rap.  Sometimes you've got to have filler, guys who rap while you're waiting for Meth to come back. They can't all be Method Man. Azz Izz wasn't a rapper, he was a DJ. We had like three DJs.

And he was a producer. I know he did some tracks on the Outsidaz album before doing his own album.

Yeah, he was a producer. And he was a DJ; he was never a rapper.

You've stayed 100%, though. Like stuff you're dropping know, like your album with Mr. Green, you're still on par with your best material. Even a lot of the stronger MCs from the Outz, since you split, it seems like they're not quite as strong as when you were all a group. Is that because you were all writing together, or...?

It was competitive. That's why when the Outz went our separate ways, everybody didn't keep it. When I laid a verse, or Pace, everyone said was sick. So when they did one, they wouldn't pay attention. Or they would cut it off the song. So they knew they had to spit something really ill to keep up. So didn't want to get taken off the album. Now when they're on their own, they just think whatever they're saying is enough.

I'm not saying I was the nicest. You know who I was worried about was Slang.  I used to go hard because he would show me up. I thought he was the illest, so I had to spit my best because he was on the same track.

One thing that separated The Outz was you had the hardness and the edge but also the humor. Another who really held up is Yah. I always felt like he was the most under appreciated in the group.

Yah's my brother.

Yeah, and he had a style similar to yours. I was wondering if...

Yah used to be in the house, listening to me rap. I'd be spitting verses, he'd be like, "yeah, that was tight!"  He was like me in the way he brought all the syllables.

I think also in his writing style, too; the way he'd pull in these references... but not like jokey or typical 90s punchliney.

Yeah, Yah was dead serious when he spit. That was the difference, he spit the kind of shit I liked, but dead serious.

There's only like 500,000 people in the world that are in this for the lyrics. When you hear songs on the radio you don't even like it but you know all the words because you be hearing it. That's a manager or somebody who could put them there. Most people aren't in it for the lyrics; they're in it for the money. And that's what ruins it. That's how I feel.

You know who I'm feeling right now? What's that dude from The Clipse, you know who I mean? With the braids, signed with GOOD Music... It shows how much I partied last night that I don't remember his name now. [I realized afterwards he's talking about Pusha T] That's who I'm into right now.

I got a son who rhymes. He's got a little group, the NJ Rebels. I go to radio stations and when I get in I get asked about him now. He knows he's gotta bring it with me being his father, he can't just be like these guys, only talking about what they're wearing. These guys always want to bring us to these expensive shopping malls and shit we can't afford. We don't want to hear that! Or you can talk about it, but then at least bring the syllables, say it with some skills. But they're not in it for the lyrics. There's only 500,000 of us.

So, speaking of former Outz, what happened with Eminem? I know he didn't get the Outz on his first album, but he was definitely shouting out the group like crazy on there. It was the hook to one of his songs even. Kids who didn't even know who The Outsidaz were knew he was one of them.

Yeah, we were supposed to be "Amityville." Me, Pace, Bizarre, we were all on there. We left, it was done, and Em called, there was one small part of his verse he didn't like. He asked Pace to change that part. Pace said no, he wouldn't do it. He spit it and he should use it, that's just what it was. I was like man, just change it. It was just that one thing.

Pace knows. If somebody had spit a verse on his album and he wasn't feeling, he wouldn't use it. He would take him  off the song. Or ask them to change it... if he likes you.

Yeah, I've met Em, and I definitely got the impression he was like a loyal guy. When he was just coming off the Slim Shady EP, he brought Royce with him, just to promote him. This was before Em was established himself. He always kept D12, he kept shouting the Outz. Like, even if he didn't get you on his first album, I always felt like he would've gotten you on his second through sixth.

Exactly.

But Pace kept dissing Em. He made like three different records going at him.

That's why Em fell back. He wouldn't answer him.  I told Pace just change your verse!

And what about Bizarre? I interviewed him twice in those days, and he was a hardcore Outsida. He was repping it hard. I remember him saying he'd be all over the Outz album. It kind of went the other way, too. Em was supposed to be on an Outsidaz song called "Mama I Said" that got taken off. He thought he and Em would be all over The Bricks album.

Bizarre's my man. I'm still down with him. i just laid a verse for Bizarre four days ago for his next project.

Oh, nice. Yeah, because when the Outz and Shady separated, you were still on that D12 album... and the 8 Mile soundtrack.

I still fuck with Em. When me and Em talk, we talk big money. And I've always been like just his friend. We would just hang. When they called me in to be on that, they called me and Digga. She drove and I was sleeping in the car. When we got there, she went in, and I was still asleep. I woke up like half an hour later, got out the car to smoke, and I saw Em's bodyguards. I was like what's up? And they said Em was upstairs, go on. So I went up in there. They said it was my track so I spit once through and they said that's it, it was done. I thought I'd come back to redo it, but everyone said that was it. Some people said I had the nicest track on that album. But I don't know about that.

I would say so.

I don't call myself the nicest; I'm just a lyricist.

Some people didn't want me on there. Em came to me saying these guys at the label or managers didn't want me on it. I said man, they work for you. If you want me on it, I'm on it. They work for you. And he was like, you right. So I'm on it. But some people didn't like that.

But at some point you signed with Shady. You had another album that was supposed to come out, which I heard at least most of...

Actually, I signed with Denyne. I thought I was signing with Em. Denyne called me, was like you're gonna be on Shady. He came with his manager, I signed the papers, got the money. Then I see Em and I told him I signed and I'm coming out on Shady, and he didn't know anything about it! It was done without his involvement. But he said okay, do it. Let's see what you do. And I recorded, but it wasn't with Em.

I'm just in it for the music now; I just want to work with whoever's about the music. The money can come, but if it doesn't, it doesn't have to. I'm in it for the lyrics. I already have a nice life.

This interview was a crazy struggle. From the audio dying, to Zee's phone dying on us mid-interview. It turned out to be way harder than it should have been. So big thanks to Zee for his patience. Be sure to follow him on twitter. He told me he's got a new album done, can't wait to hear that. And of course Musical Meltdown Part 1, with Part 2 soon to follow.

The Lone Ranger On the Mic

Did you guys know that the real Long Ranger, like the actual legendarily historical figure, was black? Well, he was. People gave Disney a lot of (not necessarily unwarranted) flack for casting a white celebrity as Tonto, the Ranger's Native American sidekick. But how about how, even after all of the Ranger's incarnations on radio, television and film; Disney still felt the need to cast one of the most white-bread actors they could find to portray the Ranger? Hell, pretty much the only time in mass media we've had the Ranger portrayed properly as a black man is when Q-Tip took on the mantle in 1998.

Yeah, if you missed that little moment in history, it was after Tribe had released their final album, and before any of them had gone solo. Tip was the first to venture onto the market with a little white label 12" and a pseudonym. He probably chose it precisely because the Ranger was a famous secret identity, the masked man... even the real guy was considered a master of disguise. He then went on to release material as Kamaal the Abstract before finally re embracing his popular identity as Q-Tip.

So, there's actually two versions of this 12". One has a credited label: Walis Records, but it's their only release, so it's practically a white label, though they did have a mailing address. I believe the name is a reference to the teachings of Meher Baba, a spiritualist I gather Tip was/ is into. But anyway, then there's this version, which is better because it has both the one song and instrumental from the Walis version, plus a bunch more material unique to this pressing. So this is the one with everything and the one to own. Plus, I believe it came out first. And none of this material ever wound up on Tip's subsequent albums or projects.

So the first track is called "It's Yours" and yes, it's a(nother) remake of T-La Rock's classic.  Now you might be thinking, Q-Tip's a lot of things: a great producer, a smooth rhymer, a multi-talented artist... but he doesn't really have the hardcore punch of a T-La Rock when it comes to his flow. So how Tip hope to touch it? But it's actually because he has such a different vibe that it works. Typically, "It's Yours" remakes come off as close but not quite as compelling as the original, which leaves you ultimately wondering =: well, what was the point of that? But Tip gives it a whole new energy. Although he starts out with the famous opening lines, "commentating, illustrating..." and cuts in the famous horn stab of the original, after that it's completely different. Vocally and lyrically, it's pure Q-Tip. Calm, head bopping, addictive. But it still has tight turntable cuts. It keeps coming back to the original, with its famous moments like, "do you like? (Yeah.) Do you want it? (Yeah!)" or "I don't know... if it's true..." But they're totally transformed. I daresay, it may actually be one of the most successful hip-hop remakes in the genre.

Now comparing the labels, it would appear that only the Walis 12" has the instrumental. But actually, that's not true. Even though it's not printed on the label, this white label version actually has the instrumental, too. Again, this is the definitive of the two.

Next we have a track called "Moneymaker." It's similar in tone to "It's Yours" minus the T-La Rock elements. It's got a strong piano riff and some really bassy drums. It doesn't quite have the energy of the first song without the old school hardcore connections, and the "shake your moneymaker" hook isn't exactly inspired conceptually; but it's definitely another smooth head nodder for any Tip fan. And it's not at all sloppy, sing-songy and discordant like his subsequently shelved Abstract album turned out to be. No, this is what that album should've been.

Then on the back, we get an early Consequence solo track. Younger readers may not realize, but long before he was writing for G.O.O.D. Music and dissing Kanye West, Consequence was Tip's protege, having debuted on Midnight Marauders and becoming a much bigger part of Beats, Rhymes and Life, to the point where he was essentially the fifth Tribe member. Or, as one of my fellow bloggers would put it, before he was Kanye's weed carrier, he was Q-Tip's.  Here, I guess he's our Tonto.

In fact, I believe he's Tip's cousin. And so it's thanks to this connection that he gets to share this comeback 12", And yes, his song here is produced by Tip as well. He even provides the hook. It's called "The Consequences," and it's pretty good. The beat is simple and mostly effective, though the lead sample is weak and a little bit annoying. But it's all played low-key to showcase Consequence's rhymes, where he flexes a rawer, more punchline-y flow. Very 90s. The unspoken message is that he's the more lyrical, younger cat of the next generation. But he never really says anything that impressive (and like Necro, falls back on including a Dolly Parton bust size reference straight out of a 1970s kindergarten schoolyard). He's got a nice flow, though, and I wouldn't have minded hearing this remixed on a subsequent album. But as it is, it's mostly just serves as a collector's piece for Q-Tip completists. Oh, and there's an uncredited instrumental version of this song hidden away on the vinyl here, too.

So there you have it, folks. Pretty much the one time in our American, cultural history that the Long Ranger was done right. If anything, it might've set the bar a little too high for Tip's solo career. So it definitely belongs in your crates. Lasso one up and have a happy Thanksgiving.

Hi-Yo Silver, and away!

Nick Wiz Interview

(Fifth in the video interview series conducted by The Custodian of Records and edited by yours truly. Youtube version is here.)

Young Zee's 'Musical Meltdown' Album Finally Dropping!!

(The Youtube version is here, my original blog post is here, and the link to the record is here.)

Kool G Rap and Necro Have Arrived

It's out now: Kool G Rap and Necro's collaborative album, The Godfathers: Once Upon a Crime. I've joked a few times that the only prospect I'd look forward to more than a Kool G Rap album with Necro is a Kool G Rap album without Necro. But let's be real - how is this album, really?

Actually, Necro does a pretty decent job of living up to G Rap. I haven't spent the years following his output too closely. I enjoyed his debut 12", "Underground (Rules4Ghouls)," albeit as almost more of a novelty record than a serious hip-hop piece of art. And once he got even jokier, with his parody of LL Cool J's "I Need Love," "I Need Drugs," I was pretty much done with him. I'd catch a video here or there; but it wasn't until I got a mixCD compilation of his stuff (Origins) free a ughh record order that I thought he might even have the lyrical abilities to be taken seriously. And even then, that didn't have be running out to purchase all his albums I'd missed over the years.

Wait. Let me get even more real. I first heard of Necro when he produced Cage's debut 12". They were never actually a proper group, but they'd done radio appearances and freestyles together before that, and it sort of seemed like they had an ideal pairing going on. When they parted ways after, I always thought Cage - though he'd certainly had an impressive list of producers making tracks for him - had lost his ideal producer. And Necro had lost his ideal MC.  "Underground" was fun, but his corny, forced punchlines ("you'll be blinded like Rosie O'Donnell jumped up ten feet in the air and flashed her tits") and obvious reaches for shock value made him look like a cheap Cage knock-off. They were like two Prince Pos with no Pharaoh Monche; they never should've split.

For Necro, it's like he's finally found his Cage again. Both in being top shelf writers, and also in keeping Necro in on the right path. Not too jokey or too juvenile or too trashy.  Necro, with Kool G Rap, is pretty on point.

And I've never been mad at Necro as a producer. He keeps things simple, with pure, raw hardcore hip-hop tracks that are just perfect for a guy like G Rap. I definitely wouldn't've been mad to have seen his name on Riches, Royalty, Respect. It's a good combination, and again, Necro even shows that he can share a mic with G Rap, too. Yeah, you can still see Kool's the stronger lyricist (Necro still has jokes about Dolly Parton's breast size, if you can believe it); but Necro more than treads water with some slick, angry multis and turns in a better performance than most indie guys who've gotten Kool G Rap on their tracks.

One big thing that separates this from Riches, Royalty and Respect besides the additional rapper is the lack of variety. Where Riches had a variety of topics, styles and tones; this album basically has one speed the entire way through: hard spitting. Whether that's a good or a bad thing is just a matter of preference. On the one hand, the album can a bit endless by the time you're at 10 or 11 (there's 18 total, and none of them are skits). The formula is so locked: one indidivual verse apiece from Necro and G Rap per song. They never go line-for-line or spit multiple, shorter verses or anything. Just one verse apiece, plus a hook.

On the other hand, if you're only going to do one type of the song, this is the best type to do. And it's probably a wise move to keep Necro from attempting sad songs about the loss of a relative or heartfelt material about his love life. It's just a perfect machine-gun like delivery of skill flexing and gangster talk, and you can't go wrong with that. And they don't.

The only mistake I think they make is actually a repeat of a misstep from Riches, Royalty, Respect. It front loads all the weakest material. I appreciate that you don't want your album to run out of steam, but the first song is one of the worst - indeed, it opens with a verse from Necro much weaker than pretty much anything else he does on the album. As the goes forward, the momentum increases and you get to the hotter material but it makes me think people who are on the fence about this album - again, like Riches - won't give it a full and proper chance and wind up passing on what's a stronger album than they realize.

This album features only one guest: regular Necro cohort Mr. Hyde, who drops a quick verse near the end of the album. He holds up his end, too. There's also a female R&B vocalist named Mitch Matlock, who sings hooks and back-up vocals on three songs, and she's used very well. It never feels like a tacky crossover moment; it's subtle and effective, and gives the album a richer feel. One track has a pretty awful "what were they thinking?" hook (not by Mitch), but apart from that the album is pretty solid from beginning to end. Especially once you get a few songs deep.

This album's CD only, but it comes with a nice 25-page booklet including all the lyrics and a bunch of art pieces that clearly had care put into them. If you order it direct from Necro's site, you can get various bonuses from signed copies to t-shirts, hats and posters. Personally, none of it did anything for me apart from the basic CD and possibly the sigs, so that's all I went for. But I'm definitely happy with what I've got. I was a little worried how this project would turn out; but I think it came out the best it possibly could. I mean, I was confident we'd at least get some nice, new verses from Kool G Rap, but it's a very pleasant surprise to learn that the whole project holds up. Sure, it's not for everybody; but if you think this duo might be your speed at all, I definitely recommend it. And I'd love to see a Godfathers Part II. Meanwhile, what's Cage doing now? Dubstep? Oy vey.

Fierce interview

Another in our series of interviews with some of NJ's rawest underground artists by The Custodian of Records, and edited by myself. Fierce talks about his indie 'Unsigned Hype' roots to working with D-Dot and The Hitmen.

Who Is K-Boss?

(Youtube version is here.)

New. Essential Juice Crew History

Masta Ace's Shelf Life Vol. 2 has just landed from Chopped Herring; and I think it's even better than the first one! There's three more tracks from that second Cold Chillin' album that never happened, a super early demo track, a late 90's joint and another unreleased Take a Look Around instrumental.

The first track is called "Scared Of the Dark," and it just seems unbelievable to me that a song this well written could ever have been shelved in the first place. Granted, even back when this track would've come out initially, I think that break and bassline had been heard before. But it sounds fresh, and Ace specially sounds incredible on it. And lyrically, it's a concept I'm actually surprised ahs turned up in hip-hop more often than it has: "I often wonder when I sit up on the train, what makes a white man so scared of me?" And it's done in the style of a classic Ace internal narrative, where we hear it through the thoughts of a black man taking the train home after work one night.

Interestingly, it's produced by The Young Disciples. an R&B, new jack swing kinda group from the UK. The connection makes sense, though, when you realize Ace also appeared on their album in 1991. And anyway, "Scared Of the Dark" sounds nothing their stuff; I'm almost tempted to think CH got the credits wrong, switching their production credit with Outloud's, who's credited with the next song.

Outloud's the guy from Blahzay Blahzay, of course. And his track, "Younger Generation" starts out with a deep, kicking breakbeat. But then over that is more upbeat singing and instrumentation, including a scratched in reggae chorus. This really stands out as something different in Ace's catalog, but it's undeniably dope regardless. And Ace comes off as strong as ever, "trying to hold me back is gonna take more than just a nation."

What else is on here? There's a DJ cut by Steady Pace. DJ cuts have been much too few and far between in our generation. You know, those songs like "Touch of Jazz" or "DJ Premier In Deep Concentration," where the DJ is given a track all to himself to show and prove. If this had come out, I think Pace would've gotten a little more recognition than he has in his career. It's not a total instrumental, though; Ace does come on for a real short verse towards the end of the song. But since when is an extra Ace verse a bad thing?

Masta Ace self-produces a slower groove called "One Two, One Two." This is the late 90s tracks. 1997 places it in the stretch between Sittin' On Chrome and Disposable Arts. That "Top Ten List" period. It's really a shame he didn't drop a full-length then, because he seemed in a great, darker lyrically inclined mode at the time.

The Take a Look Around instrumental this time is for the "Brooklyn Battles," definitely an impressive production. PreCISE MC also flipped it on her album for the song "Don't Even." "Brooklyn Battles" had been released as a single (the B-side to "Letter To the Better"), but it only featured the same album version. Unfortunately, the version here is a Dub mix, not a true instrumental (which the label does accurately stipulate), where every other line of Ace's verse is on the track, and then the next is absent. So I don't know how much people will get out of that, definitely the weak spot of the EP for me; but here it is for those who want it.

However, I've saved the most exciting song for last: "Sold Out." This is an unreleased demo by Ace from 1987; making it Ace's oldest known recording. And hell yes, it is a Marley Marl production. It's a pretty hype, fast paced number - it sounds like, after the song was completely finished, they might've gone back and sped things up a bit more. It's got a nice, deep bassline and the kind of wonderful sparse horn stabs we love Marley for. It's also got an interesting use of skit-style dialogue mid-song, which you really wouldn't expect in a song as old as this. The whole EP is pretty great, but this song
flat out makes it essential, serious Juice Crew history right here.

Once again, this is limited to 300 and comes in a cool sticker cover. Actually, most Herring releases these days are pressed at 350; but for some reason this one's back to 300. And again, some of those 300 were also pressed on colored vinyl, which you only stood a chance at getting if you pre-ordered this literally within the first 15-20 minutes it was listed on the Herring website. Specifically, the first 75 were pressed on clear (clear) and purple vinyl, the second 75 are black and purple; and the other 150 are on your basic black wax. Whatever version you wind up copping, though, you should be thrilled to own this.

And to end on an even higher note, I'll just point out that Chopped Herring's site says, "Next Volume 3..........."

Darc Mind

The 90's fucked up when they didn't put out Darc Mind. They were a serious NY duo; with the ultra-deep voiced Kev Rock dropping hard but intelligent rhymes over dark, ominous boom bap production by GM Web D. Together, their style smoothly bridged the gaps between backpacker, thugs and Dead Prez. Unfortunately, we barely heard them.

They had a song called "Visions Of a Blur" on LOUD Records' flagship soundtrack album, Soul In the Hole with a killer bassline that definitely managed to get heads attention despite being placed between many NY giants in their prime, including The Wu-Tang Clan and the solo debut of Big Pun. LOUD also released a promo-only single of theirs called "Outside Looking In," produced by Nick Wiz. But that was it. Darc Mind was on their roster, and they even recorded a full album for them called Symptomatic of a Greater Ill; but it never came out.

Until 2006, when an indie label got in touch with Kev Rock, recovered the masters, and pressed them up as a proper double LP for the first time. Which label? An early venture by Diggers With Gratitude? Or maybe Freestyle Records sounds like a better guess? No, believe it or not, it was Anticon. Pedestrian was actually - like most of us who had the Soul In the Hole tape - a fan since the 90s. He made it happen, and the rest of the album turned out to be exactly what we'd all hoped it would be: just as dope as "Visions of a Blur."  Dark and heady. Smooth yet hard. The album's still available on their site, by the way. I absolutely recommend it.

This isn't the only time Anticon's ventured into this arena, by the way. You know those Grimm Teachaz EPs that Chopped Herring's been putting out? You know, with Son Doobie and all? Well, if you're digging those EPs, you should definitely check out the cassette full-length album Anticon put out of theirs in 2011, also still available on their site.

Anyway, that's only half of this Darc Mind story. Thanks to the buzz around Anticon's release, plus the credibility GM Web D earned under the aliases of X-Ray and King Ceasar (yeah, they're both actually the same guy) producing for MF Doom and the Monster Island Czars, of which he's also a member, Darc Mind reunited and started putting out limited CD-only releases through their website (I think one also came free if you bought their album off of Sandbox or something). And in 2013, Dope Folks pressed up some more of their lost music on vinyl.

Now remember, Symptomatic of a Greater Ill, Soul In the Hole and all that was 1996-1997 era. This six-song EP, called Antediluvian vol. 1 [I assume that means there's a part 2 coming!], is all from 1990-1992. I mean, holy crap, who knew the pair went back that far?!

Well, we sorta had a hint that they went back at least a few years earlier than Soul In the Hole. A couple years ago, Dope Folks released another GM Web D production: the Legion of D.U.M.E. '94 EP. That EP was a sweet combo of the rare Legion of D.U.M.E. 2-song 12" on Darc Mind Records[!], plus six more never-before-released other D.U.M.E. recordings. In fact, Legion of D.U.M.E. consists of both Web D and Kev; the difference is just that it also includes two other members: Prime Time and Scott Free.

But still, Darc Mind material from as far back as 1990 is kind of a mind blower. Two of the songs - "Smooth Wit the Roughness" and "Fine Brown Frame" - are actually from those self-released CDs Darc Mind put out on their own. But this is still their debut on vinyl and the first a lot of us are really getting to hear them. And the other four, as far as I know, have never been released in any capacity.

Anyway, you'll be pleased to know that this material, even though it's way older, still has the same ethos as Symptomatic. Dark, smooth, hard. Kev's younger but basically sounds the same, and GM's production sounds pretty much the same, too; albeit with more recognizable samples than his later work. And "Fine Brown Frame." That song has a lighter, bouncier, more old school feel. It's still good, but it doesn't sound like the rest of their material. Overall, it's just different enough to be fun in a "isn't it fun to hear how they used to sound" kind of way; but similar enough not to disappoint any of their fans.

Like all Dope Folks releases, it's limited to 300 copies, and comes with a cool sticker cover. However, in this instance, there's also a cheaper, limited CD option available only through Darc Mind's Mindbenda site. So the 90's dropped the ball, but the 2000s and 2010s have once again swooped to catch it and score a slam dunk... or something. I'm not good at sports metaphors. All this Darc Mind material is quality stuff.

Hit Squad Lyricist: Nocturnal interview

(Youtube version is here.)