The Final Odd Quarter

You may remember me blogging about a series of 7" records by Buck 65 back in 2011. To celebrate his 20 or so years as a recording artist, he released them as a lead up to his final 20 Odd Years full-length album. Each EP contained some songs from the upcoming album, and also an exclusive song or two. You may also remember that there was originally meant to be four of those vinyl EPs, but due to pressing plant issues and whatever else, we only got three.

...Until 2014, when surprise - 20 Odd Years Vol. 4: Ostranenie has suddenly (and quietly) appeared on his online store along with the others. It actually came out!  Wow.  And it's even got the 2011 copyright printed on the label.

So, one happy fact I can report with this long-awaited final entry is that there are no songs duplicated from the 20 Odd Years LP.  So unlike the other three in the series, all four songs on this 7" are unique to this release. So let's finish up a piece I started in 2011 by looking at the this final EP, song by song.

Volume 4 - Ostranenie:
1) Days Go By (w/ Jenn Grant) - This entry starts out like the others, in that it's heavy on the collaborations, Jenn Grant, who was also featured on all three of the previous Odd Years EPs, starts things off on her own... to the point where you'll be starting to wonder if Buck is actually going to show up at all. He does, of course; but it does feel more like Buck dropping a guest verse on a Jenn Grant song than the other way around. Presumably he made the music, but the vocals are 75% her, with two quick (but good) verses from Buck. It's a slow, folksy number, which is well made if you like that sort of thing. But hip-hop heads like us will probably not find the experience worth the re-listen just for a pair of brief Buck verses.

2) Dolores (w/ Marnie Herald) - Collabo #2 feels a little more hop-hop. I'm not in love with the percussion, but the rest of the instrumental is really strong. Buck and Marnie (whoever that is) sound really good on it, and the balance between the two feels more 50/50, so fans won't feel like they're getting short changed on their Buck 65. Heads would still probably prefer a Marnie-free song instead of this, but unlike "Days Go By," I wouldn't suggest just skipping past it.

3) Joey Bats - Flip it to side 2 and the collaborations are done with; these last two cuts are solo songs. This particular one is a tribute to Jose Bautista, a baseball player for the Toronto Bluejays. Given the subject matter, it comes off as a more casual entry into Buck's oeuvre, the sort of odd and or/end that's appropriate for an obscure, vinyl EP like this. It's got an electro/ rock kind of instrumental with some really high energy that Buck matches in his vocal performance. It winds up being compelling enough to make you care about baseball, at least for the length of the track.

4) Legendary - This is probably the best song on here. It's back on that Talkin' Honky Blues tip and just feels the most like a proper, full Buck 65 song as opposed to the quick novelty a lot of the 20 Odd songs have exhibited. I'm not in love with the hook, but if you roll with the vibe he's setting up, it works. And otherwise it's both the most interesting and fulfilling of the lot. I'd put this one in regular rotation.

So overall, you're not going to find any greatest hits on here, but it's a nice little EP for the serious Buck 65 who's always hungry for new material. "Legendary" is especially worth your time. So collectors should definitely be happy to finally complete the set (I still can't get over the fact that it actually exists now). And even more causal fans might want to just throw this into their cart as a nicely affordable bonus alongside Buck's newest album, Neverlove, which just dropped this week.

The Almighty Arrogant - What's Out There?

The Almighty Arrogant isn't just one of the most exciting, compelling and respected underground rappers from the 90s, he's also one of the most elusive. He's like a cross between Young Zee and Ras Kass: from the west coast but all about a crazy delivery of ill one-liner-packed battle rhymes mixed with some serious, dark ish. And thanks to industry politics, he's managed to release practically no music. I remember, years ago, getting excited over an online discussion because somebody had found an old article (I think it was in Rap Sheet) that mentioned an Arrogant song I'd never heard of: "Fed Up." Well, being the hardcore completist you guys know me to be, I've finally found "Fed Up;" and in this post I'm assembling everything I've been able to find by this guy for you now.

I don't know a whole lot else about him, really. I know he was signed to Perspective Records... so he doesn't just have a lot in common with Young Zee stylistically, but they were label-mates who recorded together. And I *think* he was briefly a member of The Hobo Junction. He was never (unfortunately) featured on any of their albums, but he did appear more than once alongside Saafir, and I have vague memories of a Hobo Junction t-shirt for sale online back in their heyday which listed all the members on the back, including him. It's a fuzzy memory, though, so I won't swear to it.

Oh, and to make matters more confusing, there's another rapper, who I think is from Chicago, named Arrogant. He's got some underground albums (The Misconception, Darwin's Theory) and has been around for a while now, but is a totally different guy.

So what music is actually out there by the real Arrogant? Well, let's start with the most obvious, the vinyl releases, as I break down everything I know of.

Lay Tight (One For the Money) - This is the only official Arrogant record out there. It's a 12" single on Perspective from 1996, taken from the soundtrack to the 90s movie Kazaam... yes, the movie where Shaq played a genie. It's alright, but probably his weakest song, mostly due to gimmicky, bleepy bloopy-sounding beat and R&B vocals, which makes it all the more frustrating that it's his only record. It's the sort of song you'd expect to find on a label run by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, I guess. You can get it on the soundtrack album, but the 12" also includes the instrumental and acapella.

Heavenly, The Hip-Hop Joint - I already did a video about this one.  "Heavenly" was a single by Perspective R&B group Solo, and this was a remix where Perspective showed off their hip-hop line-up by getting Arrogant, Young Zee, Pudgee and Mr. Blaq to take over the song, pretty much removing Solo completely (especially the version where they have Zee sing the hook). Dope stuff.

Handle the Truth - This is a long coveted demo I recently blogged about since Dope Folks Records revived it and released it on wax for the first time this year, as part of Ras Kass's Pre-Soul On Ice Demos EP. Arrogant rhymes with not only Ras Kass, but Saafir and the moody track's producer, Vooodu. Very awesome to finally get this one on wax.

Wake Up Show Free Styles vol 2 - Some of Arrogant's most memorable performances and what turned a lot of us heads into fans back in the days, A virtually unknown Arrogant kills it on a couple freestyle rhymes alongside the industry's best, including one recording which pairs him up with Mykill Myers (who was also amazing on that album).

So that's it for the what's on vinyl and the stuff his fans should already know about.  Now let's get into the rare, unreleased stuff from Perspective Records promo tapes.

Arrogant Wayz - Taken from the Perspective Is Everything '96 sampler tape. I also have it titled as "The Almighty Way" on another tape, called The Perspective Experience Vol. 1, but it's the same song. The sample heavy track has a real hot, blaxploitation feel to it - I want to say Big Daddy Kane rocked over this same loop, but I can't think of the specific song [update 10/14/14: I found it; it's "Lyrical Gymnastics" from Daddy's Home, 1994] - which makes for a nice contrast to Arrogant's nontraditional style. It's topped off with an R&B chorus, which gives the song a big production feel.


Come On - Only a snippet was released, unfortunately, on the Perspective Is Everything '96 tape. It's Arrogant getting busy over a traditional funk break. It's nice to see Arrogant showing such versatility, even over just a handful of scattered tracks. It's got another sung hook, this time by a male group, which lends a cool, old school vibe to it all.

Toxic Urb - Like "Come On," I first found this as a snippet on Perspective Is Everything '96. But, fortunately, it was also released in full on another snippet tape, called Perspective Records '96 College Rap Sampler, so fuck a snippet. It's obvious what this song's about from its title, and Arrogant's vocals might be mixed a little too loud over the instrumental, but otherwise it's a nice, liquidy track and Arrogant is refreshingly free of his battle-mode tendencies here. Heads would have liked his album.

Arrogant Wayz (Remix) - There's another version of "Arrogant Wayz," but it's another one I've only been able to track down as a snippet, from the College Sampler tape. The big difference between this and the original is that it's way more smoothed out. with more of a DJ Quik-like sound, and a slick vocoder hook. In fact, now that I say that, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they did hire Quik to do this mix. East coast heads may well prefer the original mix, but this is real cool.

Fed Up - Didn't I say I'd tracked down "Fed Up?" Yeah, I've got it in full on The Perspective Experience Vol. 1. When I first heard this tape, I was disappointed because it's got Big Kap screaming over it in typically obnoxious mixtape DJ fashion. But that's only on side A, flip it over and all the same songs repeat, without Kap over them, so you've "Fed Up" in full and unspoiled. It's more of a jazzy, east coast track with Arrogant flipping the kind of raps you'd expect after hearing his freestyles.

Red Rain - I've found one more full Arrogant song on one of these tapes, this time on one called P-Street Sampler from 1995, a little earlier than all the rest (everything else was 1996). This is deeply atmospheric, almost horrorcore, except his lyrics are horror-themed but still on some rap shit, the title referring to "the bloodshed of MCs."

And, because the status of an underground legend not just to me but a lot of heads, the internet has been on a similar quest and turned up a couple more Arrogant songs, which have been posted online, but I'm not entirely sure where they came from (but I would guess another promo tape or two).

Mindstate Hades - Another track in the vein of "Red Rain," with a choice Masta Ace vocal sample for a hook. I liked "Red Rain" better, and lyrically it might be more interesting if all the dark references weren't just the most obvious "I'm killing bad rappers" similes; but it's nice to have some darkness to off-set the other stuff.

Arrogant SOB - Great samples, Arrogant in top arrogant form, and a properly cut up hook. Maybe the punchline style of his writing feels a little dated, but it's still pretty great. I love it.

Universal Travel - Arrogant was so high when he wrote this, you'll get a contact high just listening to it. He talks about floating through space, being bullet proof, and of course other rappers not measuring up to his greatness (you might say he runs that theme into the ground, but his name is Arrogant after all). It's got a terrifically trippy Redman vocal sample for a hook ("I travel the Milky Way and the stars of the Gods!") and I'm sure would've been a fan favorite had it ever come out.

Time To Scheme - You might recognize some of these rhymes from his Wake Up Show freestyle. And that's not the only way it sounds like a freestyle rhyme; it feels very low-fi and cheaply produced & recorded. It has a hook and all, so it's a full song, not just a radio freestyle. But I bet this is from a self-made demo tape or something. Make no mistake, though, it's almost more impressive for all that. It's got a real nice, underground vibe, unlike some of the glossier Perspective stuff, hinting that even if he had released his album, he would've still had better stuff hidden away in his vaults.

Real Niggaz - Featuring label-mate Mr. Blaq. I'm not sure the collaboration really flatters either MC; they both feel a little out of their element. It's not as bad as those Too $hort / Def Squad east-should-never-have-met-west deals; but it does come off as a bit of a compromise on both of their parts. On the plus side, though, it does feel like a genuine meeting between two real, credible street artists who've found themselves on a commercial label that doesn't deserve them.

...Plus, "Come On" has also been posted online in full-length form (remember, the version I've located is a snippet only).

So, some of those songs on vinyl (most obviously the freestyles) were probably never meant for Arrogant's album. "Handle the Truth," and "Lay Tight," who knows? But I doubt it. Even "Real Niggaz" sounds like it might be him guesting on a Rufus Blaq project, not the other way around. But if adding together all the songs I've compiled with all the ones you other internet detectives have tracked down, that's probably almost his entire shelved album. One or two tracks might still be missing, but I suspect that's basically it. It would be great to see this on a nice, remastered slab of wax (hint hint, limited labels!), and it would be extra great if we could ever find Arrogant, hear his story and whatever happened to him. You shouldn't be all quiet and shy about your artistic output with a name like Arrogant, after all.

Do 'Em Nazty

When The 2 Live Crew broke up in the early 90s, all the members broke out and released separate projects, basically just making a little side money until they reformed as The New 2 Live Crew soon after. Mr. Mixx started putting out records with his new crew Da Roughneck Posse. Luke of course continued releasing his albums; and he gave Fresh Kid Ice a solo album to keep him happy with the label for another year. And Brother Marquis? He hooked up with DJ Toomp (since everybody was jumping the Luke Records ship, not just The 2 Live Crew) to form the short-lived duo, 2 Nazty.

2 Nazty released one album, Indecent Exposure, on Miami's Attitude Records in 1993. Interestingly, to promote the album, it was heavily billed that this was Brother Marquis "formerly of the 2 Live Crew" and DJ Toomp "formerly of The Poison Clan." It's all even written right on the front of their album cover. I call that interesting, because it was news to me that DJ Toomp was ever "of the Poison Clan." Toomp came up as MC Shy D's DJ, and was on all of his early albums. Now, sure, Toomp produced a little Poison Clan - just like every other in-house producer at Luke Records - but that's sort of like writing, "DJ Premier of Heavy D and The Boyz," just because he produced "Yes Y'all" and "Here Comes the Heavster," isn't it?

Anyway, they actually released several singles off that album. But I picked this one because it has an exclusive remix on the B-side. It's called "Do 'Em Dirty," and it's got Clean, Dirty and Instrumental versions on the A-side, and the same 3 versions of the remix on the flip.

If you couldn't tell from the group name, album title, song title, or their album cover with a model bent over in a thong, 2 Nazty was aiming to play up the dirty-talkin' notoriety of The 2 Live Crew; but this time they've slid over to the sleazy side, away from the 2 Live's happy, party, sex positive vibe. In other words, they're in full on, woman-hating strictly for the streets (read: boys) only mode, "all you bitches are sluts, dick suckin' mutts with fat butts that drive me nuts. And even though I can't trust ya, I guess I got no choice, bitch, but to bust ya. I don't give a fuck about ya, 'cause when you suck my dick, ho, I'ma talk about ya. I rather it be you than it be me; the Brother Marquis is known to do 'em dirty." So, there ya go: the theme of the song, and pretty much their entire catalog, laid bare.

What's more surprising is that Toomp raps, too. You'd expect 2 Nazty to be your typical "He's the DJ, I'm the rapper" set up; but no. They're both the rappers this time. And Toomp comes alright, but Marquis has the better voice and also edges him out slightly in lyrics and flow.

But of course the production credit isn't equally shared; it's all Toomp. And he comes with a nice, understated track that really fits the tougher, more underground 2 Live Crew alternative. This is more gangsta rap than booty shaking music. You know, like Poison Clan's later albums. But with some funky bass that's just catchy enough to pull you in musically. And there's even an unexpected funk guitar solo at the end of the track.

And the remix? Well, it takes out that bassline and replaces it with these higher-pitched sounds, which breaks out into one of those full-blown G-funk slide whistles for the hook. It doesn't sound that great on paper, and it's not amazing on wax either; but there's a quality to the music that you don't hear on most records of its ilk. I'd say they're aiming low (on all fronts), but they're talented enough to raise it a few levels higher than their contemporaries. In other words, it's the kind of record most people who aren't square in these guys' target audience would like to dismiss and be like ah, I'm not into that shit. But if it's playing in the room, they'd have to begrudgingly nod along to the music. It's good and infectious.

Other things to note: there's a second, different solo at the end of the remix, which is also quite cool. Overall, I prefer the original mix; but this remix is different and good enough that you'll want to have both. Also, the clean versions are fun because they've been rewritten, not just edited. So they laid down all new vocals. And there's enough cursing in there that it makes the clean ones substantially different. Even the hook has to be totally reworded.

So, I mean, this is no masterpiece and nobody should be shelling out big bucks for one of these 12"s. But if you've got a pang for the kind of dirty, underground rap nobody makes anymore, this will hit the spot. Just make your impressionable, tumblr-posting youngsters cover their ears first.  8)

Anyone Remember Azphault?

(Youtube version is here.)

A Wrong Love Song

There were of course rap songs about girls, relationships and love songs before LL Cool J's "I Need Love," but that song definitely triggered an explosion of copycats for years to come. It introduced the token love rap, usually slowed down with sappy non-hip-hop instrumentation and spoken word flows that had to be hiding on every rapper's album somewhere. This one here, however, I'm not sure if LL is responsible for or not. It came out the same year, 1987, but it doesn't fit the style of the token love rap I described at all. It has traditional, B-boy style flows, with distinction efforts to show off intelligent lyrical skills (by 1987 standards), over a pretty fresh, stripped down beat. They do sing on the hook, but you have to expect that from a (Full) Force Organization, love song or not; and if you pay attention to the lyrics, or even just the title, the traditional love song sentiments are amusingly reversed. It's not "oh baby, I so softly and warmly need to be by your side," it's "Ya Cold Wanna Be With Me." It might actually be UTFO's sardonic, antithetical response to Cool Jame's "I Need Love."

These days, "wrong" love songs are almost the norm in hip-hop. With the glorification of pimps, to the the way rappers like Ja Rule consistently devolve into lines like, "Bitch, you know better; we live M.O.B.: money over bitches, murder I.N.C. I got two or three hoes for every V, and I keep 'em drugged up off that ecstasy" in what are ostensibly their love songs with Ashanti. Romance and juvenile, hyper-masculine posturing tend to conflict. But I dare say, back in 1987, especially in the middle of the "I Need Love" shockwaves, a "wrong" love song - that is, a song that at first glance appears to be a straight-forward, sentimental, but then turned out to be expressing just the opposite emotions, playfully mocking our trite expectations - might have still been a little surprising.

Right from the chorus, it sounds sweet and romantic, with, "hey girl, you wanna be with me? Because I need someone to be with, someone to talk to;" but immediately reverses that by presumptuously telling the girl she wants to be with them. Imagine your marriage vows written from that point of view: you're hot for me, babe; and frankly, you're lucky to get me. And that's practically how The Educated Rapper starts his first full verse: "she wants to be with me, and I know this for sure/ I can tell as soon as she walks through the door/ swings and sways and shakes her stuff like Jell-O/ waiting for EMD to say hello." It's the extra confidence of hip-hop injected into the songs of the previous generation.

But then UTFO run way further with it, going completely off the rails. Beyond simply turning the tables on the old cliches, they fly off in their own directions. First they get overtly sexual (and remember, this is 1987, well long before 2 Live Crew and the like started pushing the envelope), with Kangol wryly saying, "well I'm definitely a lover/ Hard when I'm undercover/ I'll do kinky things to you if you swear not to tell your mother." And EMD immediately raises the stakes even further, "I want a girl with action/ Control like Janet Jackson/ I hate the dark; I want the light so I can see reaction/ Against all relaxin', prepare for steady waxin'/ When you leave, you must pay E. For what? Satisfaction." Again, gangster rap may have taken the outrageous edge off a line like that, but you've gotta imagine a more innocent rap age.

But I don't mean to say the song was shocking. All of this is well post-Blowfly, after all. It's more... playfully subversive. Parents would just see their kids watching a nice video of the fellas doing synchronized dance moves on the waterfront talking about being "in search of love." Meanwhile, we'd be memorizing lines like, "she only talks the talk, never walks the walk/ She must be the most hard up in all New York." Unfortunately, I think a lot of heads have dismissed this as just another run-of-the-mill rap love song, but how can you not get a kick out of Doctor Ice saying his heart desperately longs for someone "like Chi Chi Williams on The Eyewitness News?" Hell, at one point he even admits, "I feel like punchin' her dead in the grill, but that's ill; so Doc just chills." What? Even Ja Rule wouldn't say that! Plus, the way they introduce old school harmonizing into their rhymes or let the DJ have a hardcore breakdown at the end? It's really what UTFO did best: applying their personalities to make an ordinary song a little unique and a lot more fun.

And trust these guys to sneak a little extra fun onto the 12". You've got the main vocal version, a radio edit and another cut from their Lethal album, "Diss," as the B-side. And there's the Rare Dub: a stripped down version of the main song, with a lot of the vocals almost acapella, recited only over the sparse drums and the rest of the instrumentation cutting in and out. It's kind of a cool alternative if you've played out the main version. But don't lift the needle yet, because there's a short, uncredited hidden track at the very end. It's a lyrical remix, with Mixmaster Ice grabbing the mic and going for self. He's right on message with the rest of the guys, asking girls if they "wanna live with me, or live off of me," throwing in a reference to his Zodiac sign and saying how, like the true DJ he is, "there's been many a day that I've been wantin' to date you/ put you on my Technic and rotate you."

This song isn't for everybody; but for a few of us, it's a shared secret that can still make us smile nearly 30 years later.

Down With the Ruff King

(Youtube version is here.)

Grand Invincible Sessions On Cassingle?

Okay, I know cassettes are coming back in to vogue as collectors' items. And for an old school guy with a huge cassette collection (and players to play 'em) amassed over a lifetime of youth spent in the 80s and 90s, that's pretty sweet. So we've had brand new cassette releases by everybody from Ghostface Killah to MF Doom to Omniscence. But has anybody in this modern era released a classic cassingle, in the cardboard slip sleeve style before? If it's not a first, it's certainly the first I've copped, and damn if there isn't an extra kick of nostalgia in sliding a brand new cassette out of its tight cardboard wrap. It's like I've just walked out of Record Town, amped about a rare, underground find they only had one copy of.

But a novel release isn't worth the crazy materials it's composed of if the music it holds doesn't move ya. Fortunately, in this case we've got two def cuts from the Grand Invincible sessions. According to the back cover, these tracks (which, to be clear, have never been released to the public before now) were recorded in 2011, though this blog by producer/DJ Eons suggests their roots reach back even further.

"Go Fast Boats" has Luke Sick spitting hard over a booming, "Broken Language"-like bassline. just slightly smoothed out by some extra instrumentation (is that a harp in there?) and a guest verse by Brandon B from Arizona's Supermarket (of Dump Koch fame). The only issue is that it's hard to get a handle on the song, lyrically. Did Luke just say, "the new fanny pack is the Blue Tooth?" What does that even mean? And Brandon B is taking random pop culture shots: "shit ain't funny; you're played out like Paula Poundstone." I don't know. Luke's flow sounds great over the track, though; so it's real dope as long as you don't pay real close attention and ask too many questions.

The B-side totally eclipses it anyway. The production's even better, with a funky, orchestral sample (more harp?) and a super funky "lyrics get dropped like napalm" vocal sample for a hook. Brandon B is credited on this song, too; but this time he's just doing supporting back-up vocals - lyrically, Luke is flying solo, and comes off tighter than on "Boats." It's really one of those rare songs where as soon as it's over you'll want to rewind it back and hear it again, repeatedly.

Like most proper cassingles back in the day, this features both songs on the A-side, and the two instrumentals on the flip. The cassette itself is made out of a cool, scrap metal gray plastic. A little labeling might've been cool, but as I said before, it does come in a cool, double-sided cassingle sleeve. And MegaKut is selling these for only $8, including shipping, so there's really nothing to complain about - that's about what you would've paid for a cassette single back in the 90s, and you'd've been hard pressed to find a release as cool as this.

MK says these are limited to a ridiculously tiny amount of 25 copies, but I suspect that's how many they have to allotted to sell online, not how many were actually made, because most of these are being handed out at Luke's shows. But still, that means if you're a Grand Invincible fan and don't live out in Cali, you'd better jump on this fast, unless you look forward to be coaxing this off some local fan on EBay. And if I can ever bring myself to stop rewinding and replaying it, it'll make me smile again just to stick it in my cassingle box right between Grand Daddy IU's "Don't Stress Me" and Grandmaster Melle Mel and Scorpio's "Mr. Big Stuff."  8)

Can He Come Out? Can He Come Out and Slam and Jam?

So you may remember back in 2009, Chubb Rock teamed up with newcomer Wordsmith to release a mixtape called A Crack In the Bridge. It was just a little mp3-only thing that was leading up to their official, real album, Bridging the Gap. But that never came out, except as another bunch of mp3s, because of some problem with the distribution which apparently made the label lose all interest in the project and leave it in limbo. Pre-orders were taken everywhere from ughh to amazon, but were left eternally unavailable. Suncoast/ FYE even took my money for it, sent me a DJ Whoo Kid CD, then had me send it back, and still kept my money. That's because FYE are a bunch of crooks; the second biggest reason you should never do business with them... the first being their prices. Wait. What was this post about again? Oh yeah. heh

Bridging the Gap never came out physically. But lookie what I found! This is a promo-only CD for the lost album's lead single, "Old 2 the New." This came out in 2009 from NU Revolution Entertainment - this is the one they made the Matrix-themed video for - and was apparently initially sent to a radio station. So I'm not sure how many of these were made, but there are probably at least a few more. The only remnants of the Chubb Rock album that almost was.

As you can see in my photo, "Old 2 the New" was produced by Strada, who did a lot of stuff with Wordsmith in 2009, including a lot more of the missing Bridging the Gap, as well as Word's solo album, A Baltimore Martini, which he did put out. The title's rather unimaginatively taken from a 1994 Nice 'N Smooth song that became a hit at the time and lead to a ton of compilation albums and mixtapes being released with the same title.  In the 90s.  I was kind of surprised to see it still popping up in 2009. But don't let the recycled title put you off, it's actually a cool little song.

The concept is pretty simple: Chubb Rock is old school, Wordsmith is new school, and they're working together. That was also the whole concept for Bridging the Gap. Lyrically, it's not gonna split your skull with beams of light or anything, but both MCs come off rather smoothly and pleasantly. The track has two distinct instrumental forms it keeps shifting between, depending on which MC is rapping. Chubb's part is driven more by a cool funk guitar sample, and Word's by some nice keyboard riffs and fake horns. I can see said fake horns limiting this song's appeal to the more serious heads with strict standards, but if you're open-minded, this is a fun, catchy track.

So it's just the one version of the one song on here. It's only a CD, not vinyl, and of course the song's been rotting on the ITunes vine for years. So there's probably only a very small subset of a small subset of heads who'd be excited about this find, but I'm one of 'em.  :)  It's the only physical release from the Chubbster in a decade, though he's been teasing us with online only material like crazy: a bevy of myspace songs and ITunes collabos with mostly R&B types, of course the Wordsmith stuff, an EP dedicated to Obama, an appearance on the latest Unkut mix, and most recently an EP with DJ Mighty Mi. It looks like he's been long retired in the real world, but on the internet, he's been pretty damn prolific... which I guess is pretty "old 2 the new" of him. But he better not ask us to pre-order anything more music through FYE.  :P

Underground Gold

(Youtube version is here.)

Ras Kass Demos Remastered

If there's one thing Ras Kass is consistent at being, it's uneven. For every amazing rhyme, there's a weak beat. For every strong album track there's a generic west coast cliche. Even if you're a strictly east coast head and not a fan, you have to begrudgingly admit he's had some really impressive moments in his catalog. And even if you're a die-hard Stan with "Ras Kass" tattooed across your belly, you have to admit there are a few low points you can't bring yourself to cosign. Every time he releases an album, you can't help feeling you're missing out on something else that could've been tighter and more exciting had it been released differently, like a master chef's immaculate souffle that burnt for being left in the oven too long.

So it's only natural for us to hope that this release of Ras Kass's Pre-Soul On Ice Demos from Dope Folks Records will finally be the answer to our hunger for a flawless masterpiece. But as we should've expected by now, it's not... but still pretty damn compelling.

So where to start? Ras Kass demos have been circulating the tape trading circuit before most of us even knew what the internet was. Complex, of course, included some of them in their famous "Greatest Demos" article in 2011, and back in 2008 Rap Reviews reviewed his demo tape, calling it, "a poorly preserved album-length [tape] that, allegedly, was even better than his official debut, at least lyrically, and certainly better than any of his new stuff. ...a few great tracks, and a lot of mediocrity fabricated into whole-cloth greatness." In short, a potential masterpiece marred by unevenness. The track-listing typically looked like this:

1. Everything I Love
2. Core Audience
3. High IQ
4. Won't Catch Me Running
5. Capital R-A-S
6. Blood Is Thicker Than Water
7. Interlude
8. Take a Deep Breath
9. Remain AnonymouS
10. Take a Deep Breath (Remix)
11. Walk the Walk

A large part of why people might've been nonplussed Ras's demo tape certainly has to be that much of it was turned into Ras's debut album, Soul On Ice. So rather than being a collection of completely unheard songs, it was a collection of a few unheard songs and a lot of rough drafts of songs we already heard. So any given song might be slightly weaker lyrically, but have harder production... or the inverse. And it didn't help that a number of the demo tracks, though not featured on any of his albums, were pressed on vinyl as his earlier singles. "Remain AnonymouS" is great, but any head dedicated enough to track down his demos has already got a much better copy.

So Dope Folks has made the wise move of making more of a "best of" demo EP, which includes the only strongest tracks from that original tape... plus some other stuff.  There's really no better away to explain it any further than to dive right in, track by track, so let's go:

1) Capital R.A.S. - As you can see from the track-list above, this is right from that tape. And what's more, it's one of the tightest tracks, with some of Vooodu's cool, original production. Lyrically, the punchline heavy flow (every other sentence has a "like" line like "so get to steppin' like the Delta Sigma Thetas") does sound dated and wouldn't really fly today. But for all of us fiending for vintage Ras Kass material, it's a welcome artifact of its time. Plus Ras did it better than almost anyone, so no one checking for this release should get hung up on it.

2) "Core Audience" - Also from the original tape and probably the strongest one. It's got a dark, rugged track by Bird and some serious, compelling rhymes from Ras:

"We all lick shots with unregistered burners,
And at one time or another played Ike Turner.
Ain't shit to be braggin' for,
Ass backwards actors pack gats for show and tell
So they can sell and certify gold,
Chart billboard claimin' they killed more niggas.
Underground hardcore.
But far more mainstream than Hammer.
Poppin' trunks, stuffin' pumps and smokin' blunts
Sells more records than 'Pumps and a Bump.'
Violence is a new platinum gimmick.
Call it the double-cross crossover;
A rose by any other name is Seal.
You claimin' that you represent the real niggas' life,
But only represent it for a price.
'Cause if next week the new fad was hip-hop fags,
You'd find a lot of hardcore niggas in drag.
Shit is bad; and we acknowledge this,
But after a certain point, you only perpetuate it.
So next time you rhyme about physically buckin' somebody.
Instead of 'nigga' say 'white boy'
And see how quick the devil protest it.
Wanna see your ass arrested?
Your label wouldn't suggest it.
They say it's best if you're stickin' niggas,
So some 10 year-old can claim he pimps hoes.
Find his daddy's glock nine and give his sister a 2 inch hole
Between the eyes. The influence is obvious.
Music ain't supposed to be raisin' your kids,
But in nineteen ninety-five it is."

See? That's the kind of must-have shit we've been needing on wax!  ...If only we could surgically excise that contrived line about Seal and "Kiss From a Rose." But it'a still a fantastic verse on a fantastic song, and it's flat-out crazy to think that this has lived only as a revered, unreleased dub until now.

3) "Handle the Truth" - This is not from the same demo album, but an equally legendary unreleased track that's been a jewel in tape trader's collections for just as long. You don't need production credits to tell it's produced by the same man (Vooodu) who produced "Nature Of a Threat" and other greats. It's a sick posse cut featuring Saafir, Vooodu and The Almighty Arrogant that's been in desperate need of a legit release for decades. As a matter of fact, I'm proud to say I suggested this one to Dope Folks when they were still conceiving this project. Another 100% absolute must have.

4) "Blood Is Thicker Than Water" - Back to the O.G. tape, this is the song where he kicks the punchline "like Jeru's enema, I come clean," which he later re-purposed for his Chino XL guest spot, "Riiiot!" as "I come cleaner than Jeru's enema." Actually, it's unfair that silly lines like this overshadow what's otherwise a killer song with some nice, rare production by Bird, with a phat piano riff and Marley Marl-style echoed horns. It's also got a pair of R&B chicks crooning on the hook and background, one of whom, from her last name, I'm guessing is a close relative of Ras Kass. That, of course, would fit in perfectly with the song's theme.

5) "H20 Mash-Up" - Now we veer off into oddball territory here. This isn't really a proper Ras Kass song, and certainly not a demo song circa or pre- Soul On Ice. As its title suggests, it's a mash up, presumably taken from a mix-tape by Ras V, since he's credited as a featured guest. The first half is just "H20 Proof," a single off of Ras Kass's Rasassination album, then mid-way through, it cuts to an old Big L freestyle. It's the Kay Slay one that's been featured on several of L's unauthorized albums. I'm not exactly mad at having this as long as you think of it as a sort of random bonus; but it's crazy to think one of the many other demo songs - even if they aren't quite as good as the ones we do get - was left off for this. The two aren't even artfully blended, though at least the cut between the two pieces is timed so that it remains on beat. It's a pretty big WTF moment for this EP, but oh well... it doesn't take away from the rest of it.

6) "Deep Breathe" - Finally, we're back on track with one last cut from the original tape. Personally, this is one of the most exciting inclusions for me, simply because it features some of the other Western Hemisfear guys who sadly never got enough material out in their prime. It's a little posse cut with Vooodu, Meen Green and another beat by Bird. I'm not sure why they altered the title, especially since the vocal sample they use for the hook clearly says "take a deep breath," but this is the song known as "Take A Deep Breath" - #8 on the track-list above, not the remix below it. I actually kind of preferred that remix, but both are dope and I"m happy to get either one on wax. This is exactly the kind of song I was pining for back in the 90s.

Unfortunately, now I must address one more point before I can wrap this up with a 100% recommendation. Right in Dope Folks' item description, it says, "We've cleaned up the demos as much as possible, to give you the best versions of these rare tracks. Taken from Ras Kass' own personal archives." So yeah, these are not crisp new masters taken from original DATs or reels. These are remastered by their guy (Justin Perkins, who always does impressive work for DF) forced to work with the same kind of crappy recordings we've all been stuck with for decades. Now I've got the vinyl right here and have compared it with my old tape from the 90s, older Youtube uploads and an old folder of mp3s I downloaded from SoulSeek years ago. I invite you to compare along with me by checking out Dope Folks' Youtube uploads (which, now having the wax on hand, I will say are highly accurate representations of what you get on the EP) directly to past Youtube uploads from previous sources.

On the one hand, I am pleased to report that this new EP sounds buttloads better (to use a technical term) than anything we've heard before. It tramples the worst sounding copies and even exceeds the best. But on the other hand, even if you just placed this record on your turntable and knew nothing of the history or what was sourced from where, it's immediately apparent these are taken from old tape and digital recordings. They do not sound perfect or even great. They sound like old demos pressed on wax, so if you're expecting the usual limited on vinyl, top notch sound quality, buyer beware. But again, there is a definite, substantial improvement. And what can you do? Dope Folks was working with Ras Kass himself on this release, and even he didn't have anything better.

Now who knows? It's possible someone will track down Bird for an interview and it will turn out he's got a closest full of original recordings. More likely, if they still exist at all, they're dissolving into a puddle in Priority Records' basement, never to be shared with the public. So basically, this is likely to be the best we'll ever hear them. And they are mostly (I don't know what to say about "H20 Mash-Up") terrific, must-have songs that are finally making their debut on wax. And Dope Folks doesn't exactly charge One Leg Up prices. So while the sound quality issues have necessarily diffused much of the excitement that would've otherwise surrounded this release, it's up to you to decide if it's still worth the purchase. For me it certainly was, despite being traditionally uneven.

An Epic Curiosity Piece

Here's a random, little curiosity piece I picked up in a recent record haul: a 1995 Epic Street Records sampler EP. It features six songs - well, almost - of some pretty random stuff. I mean, it's all hip-hop material Epic Street had coming out at the time. It's not that random, like an indie heavy metal song and a thirty year-old polka record. But I think it's fair to say they made some pretty unusual choices here. Let's have a look.

It starts out predictably enough. The first song is "I Be," by the Mystidious Misfits, a pretty underrated little group of style-over-substance MCs that who really threw themselves into the gimmicky styles of the 90s and who, as a consequence, couldn't have existed at any other point in time than the short period they were active for. But they had some fun, slept on singles including "Upside Down" and the Buckwild remix of "I Be." The version here, though, is the album version, which is still pretty tight.

Then next is Funkdoobiest with "Rock On." Funkdoobiest is always a little unorthodox to feature on anything, just by virtue of their style. But "Rock On" was just the latest single at the time, taken from their Brothas Doobie album.

But now things get interesting... Next up is "verse" by Kool G Rap. It's not even capitalized like a proper title, because it's not a song called "Verse," but just a random, isolated verse by G Rap. So is it some radio freestyle or something? No, disappointingly, it's actually just a bit snipped out of one of his latest records at the time. Specifically, it's his part of "Take Em To War" (easy to recognize because the leave the hook on the at the ends) from his album 4.5.6. Basically, it's the song he did with B-1 and MF Grimm,  minus their parts, which I guess is kinda neat to have on wax if you're a G Rap fan who was never too impressed with those other two dudes. Turn it into a short Kool G Rap solo song.

But things are stranger still on the flip side, as next we have Mista Grimm's "Situation: Grimm (A Capella)." That's right, not the full song, which isn't included anywhere here at all... just the acapella. By the way, just to clarify since they often get confused, MF Grimm is the wheelchair bound MC who's down with MF Doom, and Mista Grimm is the dude who did "Indo Smoke" with Warren G and Nate Dogg. They're two separate dudes from opposing coasts. I once bought a Mista Grimm single when I was younger because I made that mistake, so I wanna make that clear to be sure no child out there ever falls into the same trap.

Anyway, "Situation: Grimm" was meant to be on Grimm's album, Things Are Looking Grimm; but that never came out (though promo copies exist). It was, however, released as a single. But not even that 12" had the acapella on it; so that makes it an exclusive to this EP.

Next up is Lil Vicious with his big single "Life Of a Shortie" featuring Shyheim and Doug E Fresh. He was a flash in the pan signed briefly to Epic Street and this was his only notable song, so nothing shocking about this inclusion.

And then, finally, another acapella. This one's by Dana Barros, the uhh... basketball player.  Epic Street put out a compilation album around this time called B-Ball's Best Kept Secret, centered around the terrible idea to get a bunch of professional athletes to record rap songs. I guess Epic liked Dana's the best, because they made a video for it and released it as the single, with remixes by guys like DJ Jazzy Jeff and Muggs. But you won't hear any production here, because again, we're given the acapella only. But, as with Mista Grimm, the acapella wasn't featured on the 12" single, making this another EP exclusive.

So, yeah, this is kind of a strange duck. That's partially a result of Epic's eclectic line-up that year, but the decision to include exclusive acapellas on a sampler (were listeners expected to dig the sound of the vocals and think "I bet it'd sound even better with music!" and go buy the albums?) is a bit of a head scratcher. And the idea to turn Kool G Rap's "Take 'Em To War" to just "verse" is weird; the label doesn't even tell you it's a portion of a fuller song, so it's not like a snippet tape. Maybe someone at the label figured G Rap was being weighed down by sub-par guests and thought it would make a better impression as just a quick, two minute song? He might've been right, but it's not like the other two guys were some wack, g-funk dudes who couldn't fit in with their host.

As for how desirable this is? I guess it's kinda neat, and I certainly got it cheap enough (less than a dollar). Some decent stuff on here, but it's not all solid. The exclusive acapellas are exclusive enough, but it's got to be a pretty short list of fans who would care for these particular ones. And the G Rap song, I mean, you could get the same effect by playing 4.5.6 and just pressing the stop button after the first verse. So, I don't know. It has a place in my collection, but I wouldn't pay much for it. It's just one of those random slices of wax that's out there in the universe.