Green ReDefined

Back in February, Kaimbr and Kev Brown released their digital full-length debut, The Alexander Green Project. A few months later, ReDef Records (Damu's label, and now also the home of none other than K-Def) picked it up to give it a proper physical release. And being ReDef, they've made that physical release as awesome as possible.

First of all, they've released it in whatever format you could want. There's your basic CD, there's limited green vinyl, and even a limited green cassette! And, all three versions include an additional bonus track, "Go Green." Well... strictly speaking, "Go Green" isn't on the LP. but that's because they've gone one better, and included it on a free bonus 7" (also green) that comes with the LP; and that 7" has an exclusive B-side remix of the album track "Army Fatigue Rap," produced by Damu himself.

But let's move past the formatting, because an album could be pressed up on quintuple, extra thick colored vinyl with an autographed bonus boxed set of 12" singles in fancy picture covers, but it doesn't mean jack unless the actual music measures up to its presentation. Happily, it does.

This album is entirely produced by Kev Brown... although, I bet if I told you it was produced by Damu, most of you would buy it, because they have a similar aesthetic. You could see why ReDef picked this up as opposed to, say, Anticon Records. Like Damu, Kev comes with a serious, sample-based sound using rich soul grooves. In fact, in this case, the album is made up entirely of Al Green samples.

See, the concept is that, apparently, Kaimbr's real name is Alexander Green... and so they Kev produced this album using nothing but Al Green records. Gimmicky? Who cares; it sounds great. You'll recognize some samples from past hip-hop records, and others you won't. But even in the case of the familiar loops, they've matched them with samples you haven't heard into unique combinations and all new sound-beds. So you won't be like, "oh, that's the instrumental for so & so." It's all fresh and dope.

Lyrically, the MCs are capable. Think of that EP by K-Def and Da Capo (by the way, ReDef - another one for you to consider putting out on wax!). Nobody on the mic here is going to frighten Big Daddy Kane into finding a new day job, but they both MCs (Kev Brown also raps on this) acquit themselves respectably. Kev Brown seems to lean more towards wordplay, but his delivery is a little stiffer, whereas Kaimbr is simpler lyrically, his delivery is more smooth and natural. The important thing is that neither of them make the typical, indie mistakes of being too punchliney or anything. This is "grown man rap," as they say, you can cool out and enjoy in mixed company.

There are also a number of guest appearances. For the most part, they're not big names, but they do a good job of keeping things variant and energetic. I say "for the most part" because, surprisingly, Asher Roth of all people turns up towards the end. Thankfully, he sticks to flipping a lot of short multi-syllable rhymes as opposed to anything too corny, so he's actually fine on here.

So, to recap: the presentation is excellent. The MCing's good and the production's great. Don't let Asher Roth's name in the credits put you off. This is one of those albums you'll want to flip over and listen to again as soon as it's over. How many 2011 releases can you say that about?

Tour de Force

What we have here is another of Buck 65's exclusive tour CDs. This one's entitled Boy/Girl Fight!, but it's not to be confused with Boy-Girl Fight, his essentially unreleased 2000 album. It's possible, though, that Buck might want us to confuse the two... See, this is purely speculation, but my guess is that he made this little tour CD to satisfy fans who've been asking him for years for a copy of Boy-Girl Fight, an album he perhaps wasn't entirely happy with (hence it getting shelved), and which, after all, has been released piecemeal over the years anyway, with different album tracks winding up on different projects. Sort of like what Chino XL did with Poison Pen.

The difference is, Chino recorded a bunch of new songs and gave us an ultimately poor substitute for the unreleased original. Whereas Buck included a bunch of older songs, and gave us an ultimately better album.

The 2001 Boy-Girl Fight was a short album, just 9 tracks including "Centaur," a song he'd released a few times before (it was, however, going to be the first time this particular version - the one with Steffi playing the cello on it - was included on a full-length album). It almost feels like more of an EP, especially when compared to this version, which has literally double the amount of songs on it.

So, including "Centaur," five songs didn't make it onto this 2005 tour CD. See, so they're totally different albums, with only four tracks in common: "Pack Animal," which was officially released on Tag Of the Times 3, "Style #386" and "Sketch Artist." Now, if "Style #386" sounds like a familiar title to you, that's because it's from Vertex; but like a lot of his songs from that album/era, it's been rerecorded so his voice doesn't sound as young. In fact, on this disc, it's called "Style #386 (Beefed Up)." To be clear... both versions of Boy/Girl feature this "beefed up" version.

"Sketch Artist" has had another incarnation, too. On this version it's labeled "Sketch Artist (Demo)," but it's the same on both Boy/Girl Fights. The non-demo version later found its way onto track three of Square, back when he was unhelpfully releasing his albums in large, unsegmented tracks with all the songs blended together.

And it's basically the same story again for "Wooden Matches (demo)," the stand-out track from the unreleased 2001 album... It's the song I immediately think of when I think of Boy-Girl Fight; and the one that blew my mind when I thought it wasn't ever going to get released when the album was shelved. But, thankfully, Buck re-recorded it and included it as a segment on Square, and Warner Brothers even put it out as a CD single (which I already tackled in a previous blog post).

So, that's those songs out of the way. Now, how about those fifteen songs that weren't transferred from the 2001 Boy-Girl Fight?

Well, they're not all new. The album begins and ends with two fan favorites: "Memories Of the Passed" and "Success Without College," both from the Bassments Of Bad Men compilation album. And "Double Header" is the song he contributed to Omid's Monolith LP. But then we get into some exclusive goodies!

The first is "Stricken," and it's great! It's a little bit more of the Talkin' Honky style, with slow guitars and Buck's raspy voice, but it's just one of those where everything works, from the tone to the lyrics: "I could hear the coyotes when I laid in bed, thoughts of runnin' away would invade my head. I would starve myself, never lose a pound; the pain never goes away, it just moves around." In fact, it's so good, here's a guy on deviantart claiming he wrote it! hehe "Stricken" has never been "properly" released, though it is also known as "January" on one of those mysterious mp3 collections (Climbing Up a Mountain) that float around the internet.

"Highway 101"'s another gem. I remember it running around the blogs last year as a random, unreleased track, but it's actually from this album (and, again, from that random Climbing Up a Mountain comp). It's another slow, honky track - "there's a hex on highway 101" - and again, it's better than a lot of the songs he actually gave proper, official releases.

There's a live version of "Roses and Bluejays," which is just okay. I mean, it's a great song, and it sounds good here, but the album version's a bit better, and there's not much unique to this live version. Still, I'm glad that he err'd on the side of giving us more unreleased stuff than just slapping the old original on here.

Gosh, we're just about halfway through the album... Okay, let's see. There's "Bed Of Nails," with a cool, more modern track to compliment the honkier stuff he'd been doing. "Three Swift Blows" starts with a funky spoken word poem that gradually grows into a full-blown song. "Philevator" is a remix of Buck's old stand-by "Phil," but it's a complete change in tone with grungy guitars and a super slow flow... it's like Buck's idea of chopping and screwing! lol

"Spooked" is another more or less original track that's pretty good, and "The Anthem" is another one of Buck's list songs that I'm really not too impressed by, but what're you gonna do? He just lists things for the whole song, and over the years he's done, like, 10 of these songs at least. "Bike" is an awesome ode to his... bike, with a great instrumental and background vocals that sound like they're taken from an old, French film. Finally, "Lummox" is kind of a wacky, upbeat countrified spacey instrumental, if you can imagine that.

So, all in all, this is a great collection of exclusives and unreleased songs... and even the non-exclusives are at least good choices. As a straight-through listen, honestly, this compilation is better than a lot of Buck's actual albums. According to Buck, only 200 ("maybe less") copies were made, but it's definitely worth your effort looking for it. Good shit!

The Most Phill

(Youtube version is finally here - 1080p files are no joke.)

Symbolic Two

The story of The Symbolic Three doesn't end with "No Show." They returned the next year on a new label, Public Records, with their new single "Extravagant Girls." And once again, they came with the same producer (Arthur Armstrong), DJ (Dr. Shock) and even the same special guest (MC Mikey D - Public Records was also the home of his singles with The LA Posse).

"Extravagant Girls" starts out with Shock and Mike talking about how materialistic girls are. Could the Symbolic Three be any better? No, actually, they're far worse - they're EXTRAVAGANT GIRLS! The concept here is to mock materialistic girls by playfully upping the absurdity level. While materialistic girls want you to buy them a new dress, the Symbolic Three want you to buy them a house and an airplane. Then Mikey D comes back to give the male counterpoint. It's nothing brilliant, but it's fun.

And like their last record, it's the B-side serious heads will probably prefer. "Bite It If You Wanna" is the fairly self-explanatory, harder flip to the more radio-friendly A-side. No Mikey D this time, just a simple beat with plenty of handclaps and constant scratches by Dr. Shock. As the song progresses, a few other, harder samples blend into the track, as well as a super cheesy xylophone-like riff. Apart from that riff, though, it's all dope and makes for a pretty rough track by '86 standards.

If you consider that these girls were putting out records while The Sequence were still together... these were easily some of the hardest girls in the game and definitely deserve more credit than they get. Okay, granted, they had a team of guys writing all their stuff; but we should at least try to distinguish between them and Super Nature.

By the way, before I sign off, I just heard today that Mikey D has a new 7" coming out on King Of the Beats with Craig G. Between that and Heat Seekers, Mikey D seems to hard on the comeback trail this year. Then again, it seems like he never really leaves, just keeps doing interesting projects slightly out of the spotlight, like these Symbolic Three records.

Symbolizing the Show

You'd have to be forgiven if you confused this record: "No Show" by The Symbolic Three, with Super Nature's "The Showstopper" (or "The Show Stoppa (Is Stupid Fresh)" as it was titled on the original 12"). Both are answer records to Doug E. Fresh & MC Ricky D's "The Show" recorded by all-female trios whose names begin with "S" making their debuts in 1985. Super Nature's the group that went on to become Salt-N-Pepa. The Symbolic Three, on the other hand, consisted of Sha Love, Money Love and Lady Lux.

Interestingly, "No Show" was released on the same label as "The Show:" Reality Records. It's also a closer, more faithful parody of "The Show." Where "Show Stoppa" takes elements of "The Show" as a jumping off point to kick their own verses over some crazy beats and synths copied from the big musical number in Revenge Of the Nerds, "No Show" follows "The Show" almost line-for-line, and beat for beat. Of course, they turn it into a diss, though, mocking the hole's in Doug's shoes ("sorry, Dougie, but your shoes are through. Through, through, throu-throu-through!") and Slick Rick "a gay fruit cake."

But when "The Show" would be over, "No Show" continues on with a second half, consisting of solo verses by the girls and Mikey D - yes, the same Mikey D from The LA Posse (the New York one) and Main Source. I think Mikey also does the human beat-boxing on the song. And DJ Dr. Shock provides some nice, sharp cuts.

The 12" also includes a shorter, Edited Verison, which excises this ending and cuts it down to only the half that apes "The Show," fading out during the human beatbox part. And there's a Dub (instrumental) version of the full-length mix on the B-side.

And "No Show" rounds out with a "Tell Off 'Bonus'," where The Three (and Mikey D) use the same drums but drop the rest of the crazy "Show" music to make a short and simple diss song directed at Doug & Rick with all new rhymes. So where "No Show" gets caught up playing all the crazy interludes and doing the singing and funny voices, "Tell Off" is more of a straight-up diss track.

But there's still more. On the B-side is the song, "We're Treacherous." While "No Show" is certainly more novel - both because it's an answer record, and because "The Show" has a lot of inherent novelty value already - "We're Treacherous" is an otherwise better, more straight-forward rap record. Once again, it features Mikey D and Dr. Shock, and everybody just comes hard on it. I mean, that's "hard" by 1985 standards... and that means the beat, too, is full of hand-claps and big, programmed drums that will probably sound pretty corny to contemporary audiences. But if you dig the 80's stuff, you'll definitely appreciate a dope, overlooked girl group showcasing their skills and coming correct.

Father MC's Doe

Last month, I mentioned a Father MC record I'd been searching for for some time. I've actually been searching for it for YEARS; and it's proven to be absolutely the hardest Father MC record to find (much harder, say, than his 12" with The First Fleet Crew, before he became famous), and one of the hardest records for me to find, period. You wouldn't think so - a 1999 12" with no unique songs or mixes from an easy-to-find album (No Secrets) on a relatively established indie label. But for whatever reason, it took me several years, and there were times I doubted it actually existed. It's still the only Father MC record not on discogs - they even added that obscure test pressing on Luke Records. Anyway, I finally got it (from a webstore in Japan) and can confirm it exists: "We Got Doe" by Father MC on Street Solid Records.

Perhaps the key reason Father MC's later records are so genuinely enjoyable is that he's not afraid to use the classics. Whatever you think about his MCing, his image, whatever else... you can't hate on a record that takes a great, tried and true break and lets it breathe. And while Father doesn't do that on all of his songs, you can be confident he'll do it at least several times of all of his albums, so good times are ensured.

That's certainly the case here. "We Got Doe," co-produced by Father and someone named Richlakes, takes one of the greatest loops in hip-hop's catalog, "Love Is the Message," and bumps it for all it's worth. It certainly doesn't break any new ground - how many times have we used this same sample used in the exact same way? - but that doesn't make it sound any less good. And, like every hip-hop song to use the song, it's still a huge upgrade on the corny vocals of the original MFSB record.

"We Got Doe" features a guest MC named Cat Eyes, who also appears on three other songs on the album... I think they might've been dating at the time. She used to have some pretty choice words for him on her myspace, but she's since cleaned that up. She now goes by the name Jayne Bond 009, and she's actually just dropped an album through Def Jam.

This 12" just has the Clean Radio Mix on the one side and the Club Mix on the flip. In this case, the Club Mix is the same as the album version, so the only difference is a few snipped curse words in Father's second verse. It's fun to note, however, that this 12" is mislabeled, and the Club Mix is on the side labeled Clean Radio Mix, and vice versa.

Lyrically, it's pretty generic. Cat Eyes neither helps nor hurts matters, as they both just spit pretty standard verses about how they've gone platinum on this album (a little 'cart before the horse,' but hey, what rapper hasn't done this?) and how they're super rich and have a lot of stuff. But their flow is fine and they sound alright... the whole track has a lot of energy - thanks to some spastic cutting on the chorus - so it's fun. Sure, other MCs have done it better; it's hard to make a case for this against Cappadonna and Raekwon's "Love Is the Message" or even "Hollywood's Message." But if there's room in your collection for more than one of these, than this one deserves a place. Maybe you'd like to blend 'em all together into one giant monster jam.

Of course, you'll never find it... or maybe I was just strangely unlucky.

A Nightmare On Elm Street rap, part 5

(Youtube version is here.)

Driving From Hollywood To Biz Markie

(Youtube version is here.)

New Music By Spyder-D, Mikey D, Sparky D, and More?

After dabbling with mp3s, Spyder-D's label Newtroit Records has put out it's first physical release... well, technically since "Big Apple Rappin'" in 1980.  But Spyder's last album was in 2000 on Mecca Records, another label he was affiliated with.  So we'll call it eleven years.

But this isn't a new Spyder-D album, it's a compilation album showcasing the acts on his label, entitled Heat Seekers volume 1.  There's a lot of new names you won't recognize on here, but also several old school legends you most certainly will.  It's not a mixCD; none of the songs are blended together or incomplete, but the album is hosted by DJ Red Alert.  In this case, what that means is that he introduces every song, telling us who it's by - handy, because there are a lot of unknowns in the line-up, and you don't want to have to keep looking back at the back of the CD case every 3 minutes.

It opens with one of the strongest tracks, actually by one of the new artists: "Don't Worry About It" by Bobby Seals a.k.a. Doughnuts.  The production and hook - both also by Seals - are upbeat and catchy.  Seals has a lot of energy and he's even making a good point about celebrity gossip and other junk information we assail ourselves with.  Good shit.

Unfortunately, the whole album doesn't reach that high bar.  There's a lot of songs on here (22), and a lot are just boring.  Also, because it's showcasing everyone on his label, and he has a wide variety of acts, the album is kind of all over the place: straight R&B songs, street rap, pop stuff, songs which feel like they're chasing fads.  "My Crush" feels like the slower sequel to that Rebecca Black video that's all over Youtube, several of the artists here crank the autotune up to 11 and one of the female rappers on here sounds like a Kreayshawn knock-off.

But that's why God made the Skip Forward button, and no one is forcing you to include all these songs when you rip this and upload it to your ipod, so let's just talk about the interesting stuff.

Most of the other unknowns are kinda generic, so we'll skip right to the established old school artists (the whole reason any of will be buying this CD, anyway) right after this one last, interesting guy: Blaclite.  Have you ever had the perverse notion to blend horrorcore with Christian rap just to see what you'd get?  Me either, but this guy has and the results are indeed pretty bugged.  His voice and flow would sound completely natural alongside The Flatlinerz and The Headless Horsemen, and the production (by Blaclite himself) consists of strained, high-pitched organ notes over a break.  His hook is half-sung, half-deranged like ODB, but the lyrics, instead of demons killing you, is about demons being burned by his faith in Jesus.

Okay, now let's get to the artists we know...  there's a song on here by Sparky D called "Holla At Ya Girl."  This one features the girl I mentioned before, who I said sounds like a Kreayshawn knock-off (who also has her own song on here).  So, try to imagine Sparky and Kreayshawn doing a song together.  And since she's an evangelist now, Sparky also gives her lyrics a Christian bent: "to my ladies in stilettos, diamonds and pearls, as we walk through the mall, they be like, 'go on, girl!' My bible make my swagger swerve, quotin' scripture, readin' words. Go and buy a bottle of 'Holla At Your Girls!'"  It's... well, it's interesting.

Spyder's got a pretty cool song on here called "Heads Be Noddin."  Surprisingly, it's the only song produced by Spyder himself.  The go-to producer for the bulk of this album is actually Grand Creator K-Wiz, Sparky's DJ from back in the day.  Very cool to see him still around, but - focus! - this track's by Spyder, and it's cool and dark.  He's got a hook sung by Shady Grady of Parliament Funkadelic.  His lyrics are hard, his voice is that classic deep voice he's always had... I like this one.

But while Spyder sounds as good as ever, unfortunately, Mikey D fits the stereotype of an older MC today... sounding slower and tired.  "Dramacide" is a message song, which is cool in a way (I certainly don't disagree that street violence is bad), but it also seems like a que for a lower energy flow and melodramatic production.  It's okay for Mikey D completists, but everyone else can sleep at night knowing they're not missing out if they don't get this.

Of the R&B songs on here, easily the best is the one by Oran "Juice" Jones (though there's also an acapella song by a group called Kazual that shows some noticeable talent).  It's called "I'm a Pimp," and as Red Alert says, "the song you're about to here is self explanatory."  Fun stuff.

This next song must've been on deck for a while, since he passed in 2008, but there's a cool track by MC Breed and someone named Absolute Truth.  Breed sounds dope as ever.  Truth is a little corny, but at least he's enthusiastic.  Breed fans will like it, although they'd probably have preferred a Breed solo song.

Money B (yes, the Digital Underground one) has a new group out called M.A.S.K. and a song on here called "Is U Down," with a hook by Ne-Yo.  It's cool, and the production is nice, though I'd've preferred more of Money B and less of the other guys.

And that about raps up most of the album...  Trey Songz makes a cameo, and there are a couple other forgettable songs by new artists.  The album ends on a high note, however, with the "Heat Seekers Cipher," where all the rappers on this album - and a couple others who weren't on it, including the original Kidd Creole and somebody who sounds like Snaggapuss - get down on a massive, 8 1/2 minute posse cut.  Creole and Sparky come the strongest.

Ultimately, there's some cool stuff on here, but nothing great.  And even the good material gets drowned out by the mediocre stuff surrounding it.  Most people will pass this one by, and they'll be making the right decision for themselves.  I can really only recommend this CD for someone like me, who's a big enough fan of some of these old school artists that just their contributions make this a must-have.  If that's you, though, you won't be disappointed.  This isn't one of those "old school rapper makes hideously awful comeback attempt that's embarrassing to listen to" situations.  It's a respectable outing.

The 50 Ways of MC Shan

I was just trawling through some old Hip-Hop Isn't Dead reviews and learned about an MC Shan song I never knew about before!  It's hard to believe, after all this time, that can still happen, but it just did.  :)  It's from 1993, and granted, once you hear what it is (and the image already gave it away, after all), your enthusiasm might wane a bit... The CD version of Snow's album, 12 Inches of Snow, has two bonus tracks including one with another MC Shan appearance called "50 Ways."

Now, Snow is not untalented.  His record's corny, and while I did enjoy "Informer" in an upbeat, no-brainer kinda way, I wouldn't otherwise listen to his stuff.  But he was cool on "Pee-Nile Reunion" and all, so I don't come out of the box hating on Snow.  There's potential for this.

Like the rest of Snow's album, it's produced by Shan... but while, by 1993, he had put down the pop music style for the more quality hip-hop styles of "Hip-Hop Roughneck" and "Don't Call It a Comeback," he was producing for a big, commercial act.  So it's more pop, yeah.  Like Kool Moe Dee's "50 Ways" before this, and Eminem's "50 Ways" just last month, the hook is a variation of Paul Simon's "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover," but where Moe Dee - and in a more altered way, Emzy - used Simon's break, too; this song just borrows the phrase for the hook.

The beat is actually pretty decent, though nothing you'll get excited about.  It's about them flexing their styles, which are a little unusual, because that's the concept - they have 50 ways to change their style.  They don't do fifty or anything, but Shan does do a different, slightly reggae-tinged style than I've heard him do on any of his own records.

Ultimately, and predictably, it's just mediocre.  But for serious MC Shan fans, hey, it's another Shan song, and he does get kinda nice here.  It's not as nearly as bad as I was prepared for it to be, or as boringly similar to other "50 Ways" (Newcleus also did a "50 Ways To Get Funky;" there've been a couple other rappers taking stabs at it as well).  It's respectably decent... for completists..

Mr. Circus Goes To Washington

(Youtube version is here.)

The Organized Konfusion With the Bonus Tracks

Back in the NY indie heyday of the late 90's/early 2000's, when great vinyl was getting pressed up and sold by the boatload over the internet, I remember Sandbox selling a double LP version of Organized Konfusion's self-titled debut with a whole bunch of bonus tracks on it.  I never bought it at the time, and it's always been sort of sitting in the back of my mind as a minor regret, until just recently when I picked it up from discogs.

Now, even outside of this release (which, by the way, I'm pretty sure is a bootleg, not a legit release... it certainly looks dodgy - that's not a bad scan, the labels are actually much harder to read in real life), there are already several versions of Organized Konfusion.  The original album on Hollywood BASIC was 14 songs spread over a single LP, so already it's a nice upgrade to get this album spread out onto a double LP.  If you got the CD version, it was 15 songs, because it included the original version of "Who Stole My Last Piece of Chicken?" from the single as a bonus track.  Interestingly, while this double LP has a whopping 23 songs on it, it does not include that other version of "Who Stole..."  And furthermore, it makes the curious decision to drop the skit "Jiminez Criqueta."  No big deal, because it's just a skit, but still.

So that means this version has 10 unique songs to it, not found on the other legit or illegitimate pressings.  They are as follows:

1) Freestyle Reality - This is actually not a freestyle, but a discussion on the art of freestyling, by OK and none other than the great Grandmaster Caz.  It's cool, though ultimately really just a skit.

2) Pharoahe Monch Freestyle - Just like the title says... a little short, but long enough for Monch to kill it acapella.

3) Prince Poetry (Written Freestyle) - Also acapella and also nice.

4) Organized Freestyle - A tight radio freestyle session.

5) O.K. Moodswing - This was an exclusive B-side to the "Who Stole My Last Piece of Chicken?" 12".

6) Stray Bullet - This is an odd inclusion, since it's a song off their second album. And this version isn't any different than the one on there. It just makes you wonder what it's doing here... but hey, it's a great song, so why not I guess?

7) Walk Into The Sun (Remix) - This is the remix from the "Walk Into the Sun" 12".

8) Drumstick (Bonus Beats) - The bonus beats from the "Who Stole My Last Piece of Chicken?" 12".  Odd they included this and not the original version.

9) Tender Verses - This is the Organized Konfusion Remix of "Tender" by Attica Blues that was released as a single in 1997 on Mo' Wax.  Good shit, and saves you the trouble of buying an otherwise crappy and expensive import release.

10) Intro Part II aka The Outro - a short instrumental sequel to "The Intro."  This is not the same beat as the "Intro," and I'm not sure where this one came from (maybe a genuine little treat from their unreleased vaults?) or why it wasn't included on past versions.  Still, it is just a short instrumental, so don't get too excited.

Ultimately, this is like a great Traffic reissue long before there were Traffic reissues.  Spreading the album over a proper double LP alone makes it a worthy upgrade over the original vinyl, and the bonus tracks just make it awesome.  Granted, there's no whole new, unheard songs... just freestyles and other rare tracks, but it's still pretty neat.  It is a shame, though, that they decided to leave off the skit and the other "Who Stole," since it kind of prevents this from being 100% definitive.  But really, neither are any great loss, and I imagine they used every inch of space they could get to squeeze all the exclusive bonus tracks, which are preferable.  I mean, if I was in charge of the project, I would've left off "Stray Bullet" to make room for those two songs, since it's readily and naturally available on their second album.  And I would've left off the Bonus Beats to to make room for the remix of "Fudge Pudge."  But, regardless of how I might've made this project even better, this is still the best version of Organized Konfusion, an already great album.

Kool G Rap & Nas "Holla Back" - The Protoype?

I've done a pair of pretty thorough posts on the many, variant tracks left off the commercial release of Kool G Rap's Giancana Story on Koch Records, here and here. But, you know, there's always another little piece of the puzzle to be found. And today's bone fragment that I've linked to the giant, Tyrannosaurus skeleton (really, Giancana Story's a great album if you gather up all the pieces besides what you just get on the 2003 CD) is a neat white label 12" featuring an alternate version of "Holla Back" featuring Nas.

Now, before you cut me off and tell me you already know about the "Holla Back" version with Nas, allow me to point out that this is another version featuring just Nas. Now, I've already talked about the more well-known, unreleased version of "Holla Back" and how it differed from the one on the final Koch album. Here's the break-down of those two versions:

11) "Holla Back" with Nas, Nawz & AZ - Yeah, this was featured on the album. But the leaked version had Nas kicking the first verse instead of Tito of, believe it or not, The Fearless Four. Nas seriously came off with one of his tightest, illest verses, too ("Throw niggas off yachts, hold niggas with shots, my bitches ran 'cause I'm stupid - I put the shit on digital cam. Light up an ounce, let my bitches watch it on television, hella relentless. Fifty a pop, sell it like Menace. When I sleep, all I see is a white skeleton image. It's telling me something... I opened up Shakespeare's tomb, stole his remains, grinded his bones and got in the game"); so it's a real loss. This version was only featured on the leak. The Koch version also remixed the beat adding a few extra samples and bits. None of it makes up for the loss of Nas.

But there's also this white label 12", which features its own, unique version of "Holla Back." The main difference? No AZ or Nawz, and no Tito either. This is strictly a duet, making it a more fitting follow-up to "Fast Life," going right from Nas's killer verse to G Rap's. Now I'm not mad at the other guest verses (especially AZ's) so it's not a "yay! they're gone" situation; but it does turn a sort of awkward posse cut that takes too long to get to G Rap's part into a concise heater with just the two greatest verses from any version of the song.

But that's not the only difference. Where the original version and the Koch version feature someone (I think Nawz?) doing a spoken intro starting out, "yo, it's 2G" etc, this one has its a different intro. This version starts with Nas explaining how Kool G Rap inspired him. Then G Rap gets on to tell us to check out these tracks, and then we're right into Nas's verse. I actually think maybe this intro was recorded specifically for the 12" (which also furthers my suspicion that this white label was a promo release from Rawkus and not a bootleg), but it is blended into the song.

And this 12" has some nice bonuses as well. It features three freestyles which decidedly don't sound like radio or mixtape rips. The sound is clean and professional and I'm guessing they were recorded for this 12". Two feature Ma Barker (natch) and one features him going over the "It's a Demo" instrumental. All three are pretty nice - G Rap kills it on all of them. My favorite is the one titled simply "Unreleased."

Then, the B-side features the Jagged Edge song "Ride On," which features Kool G Rap. Produced by The Trackmasterz, it features them singing over pretty much the same instrumental The Arsonists used for "Venom," so it's pretty hot. Like the more official 12" Rawkus put out of this song, it features Clean, Dirty and Instrumental versions. But only the other, separate "Ride On" 12" has the acapella.

All in all, this is a pretty sweet 12" with a lot of value, considering it has "Ride On" and the three exclusive freestyles. And for me, this is probably the ideal version of "Holla Back" with just the absolute tightest verses on it. But even if you decide you'd rather have the version with the extra AZ and Nawz verses on it (I can't imagine anyone deciding they'd rather have the Koch version which excises one of Nas's illest appearances), this is still an interesting historical artifact. If you see it, pick it up.

Think Of This as a Master Ace and Asher Roth Album Produced Entirely By DJ Premier

So, if you've read some of my recent write-ups on albums by One Block Radius and Pissed Off Wild, you're probably thinking you can anticipate my thoughts on 13 & God's brand new album, Own Your Ghost.  Werner just hates rappers joining forces with bands!  And honestly, that's not a bad rule of thumb.

After all, let's face it: you're a rap producer, digging for samples or playing around in pro-tools, and it occurs to you, "hey, my little brother plays drums!  That fan I met at my show said he plays guitar!  Why am I sitting here making beats this way when I can have my own, live musical ensemble?"  But here's the thing - is your fan really going to come up with a loop tighter "Nautilus?"  Is your little brother gonna bash out out something tighter than "Funky Drummer?"  Probably not.  Instead, you're probably going to wind up rhyming with a half-assed garage band that wouldn't even be getting gigs at your local bar without your hip-hop co-sign.  There's a bajillion mediocre to terrible rappers out there, so when we find one with some real talent and stand-out quality, it's exciting... and disappointing when they keep passing the microphone back to some inferior collaborator for half their songs.  I'd probably love a dope MC rhyming with The J.B.'s, but most rappers seem to be going for the bands in shortest reach, not auditioning for the best in the world.

And I said all that just to say, I actually don't feel that way about 13 & God.  This is one of those instances where the band and the MC are both talented and interesting enough to deserve our attention, and the music of The Notwist (the part of 13 & God that isn't Themselves) are a really good fit for Dose.  This doesn't feel like Dose compromised or "find the good Dose contributions amid a sea of substandard music."  This is original and compelling work from the whole crew (the fact that Jel is still involves has to be a large part of how it all manages to work, I'm sure).

But, unfortunately, there is one large caveat.  Marcus Archer, the lead singer of Fog and the other vocalist of 13 & God.  I admit, when they've all got the lyrics, the music and the groove working 100% just right, like on the chorus to "Men Of Station," he can sound fine.  But otherwise, I'm not trying to make the guy feel bad or anything, but I just don't think he should be singing.  He works in that one instance where literally anybody - your grandmother, even - would sound good singing that segment, and that's it.  He's not even a good hook man, let alone somebody who should be singing whole verses and taking songs on solo.

As such, and as will always be the case I suppose with 13 & God releases, you're going to find yourself skipping the Marcus parts.  And, unfortunately, the Marcus-to-Dose ratio is pretty heavy on the Marcus this time around.  So if you're not in a situation where you can easily skip around songs and parts of songs while listening to your music, you'll just wind up having to listen to something else.  Which is a shame, because when they're cooking, like on "Sure As Debt" or "Death Major," they kick ass.

The vinyl presentation is pretty kick ass, too.  It's a single LP, but that's alright since it's kind of a short album anyway, and comes in a cool picture cover.  It comes with a fold-out insert with all the lyrics and some additional artwork (printed lyrics are always welcome, but especially on any project that Dose One raps on!), and also a download card for a free mp3 version of this album.  Anticon continues to get that right.  =)

So, think of this as a Master Ace and Asher Roth album produced entirely by DJ Premier.  The one MC is great, and the musical backing is safely on point.  Does the other vocalist keep you away?  Your answer to that question will determine whether or not this album is for you.  If it helps you decide, there are one or two songs which are essentially Dose solo songs.  For my part, I'm quite happy with the purchase.

The Dopplegangaz

I just caught on to The Dopplegangaz, thanks to a well-placed Youtube link... though in retrospect, I realized Robbie included them on his Unkut mixtape; so I should've started following them last year.  Oh well; better late than never.  Coming out of New York, it's a two man team of Matter ov Fact (MC) and EP (MC and producer), and I timed my discovery pretty well, because I was able to pre-order their latest album, Lone Sharks just a few days before it dropped, and here they are already in today's mail.

The Dopplegangaz remind me of The Beatnuts, in the best possible sense.  At first, they might seem a bit silly and gimmicky - they wear hooded robes and the titles to some of their songs sound like straight-up horrorcore tracks.  But just like The Beatnuts, no matter how tempted you might be to just write them off, you can't because, while they're not the best lyricists in the game, their rhymes are pretty smart and their beats are beyond reproach.  The juvenile subject matter and robust sounds of "Like What Like Me," for example, is a seriously bugged combination.  They might not crack the mainstream market, but heads who appreciate the real talent will have to give it up.

Heck, let me just throw up that Youtube vid real quick.  They actually have a bunch of good videos, so go ahead and dig around their channel after this; but this is the one that led me to them earlier in the week:

And while I was scoring Lone Sharks, I also picked up their first album*, Beats for Brothels vol. 1.  Like its title suggests, it's essentially an instrumental album, with the only words being a handful of well-chosen vocal samples over the beats.  It actually takes me back to my old days listening to Dynamix II tapes (Holy cow! Was this my first Dynamix II reference on this blog?  Yee-ha!  And it only took me four years!  hehe).  Some of the tracks are pretty dope, and others are great!  "Chants" is a killer, at times reminding me of Mr. Green's "Children Sing" but without getting too similar that it feels derivative.

And it's not strictly an instrumental endeavor, which is great if you're like me and are quickly bored with hip-hop instrumental releases.  The album rounds out with two fully-fleshed out songs with vocals and all, "Digging" and "Dopplegang Affiliation."  This album's a great collection of instrumental production that aficionados with an ear for hot beats and samples will definitely want to check for.  But honestly, I pretty much just bought it for these two songs... and I was not disappointed.  By the way, the instrumental versions of both of these songs are included here, too.

My only complaint is probably one most of their fans will share, considering who their target audience must surely consist largely of diggers and purists - no vinyl.  Both their albums are CD only, though you have to expect that from up and coming artists who're just breaking and putting out their music themselves.  But, maybe if they're reading this, I could tempt them on the idea of a limited run EP of their best six or so tracks?  Because, as you've probably noticed, I love all kinds of hip-hop... but this is really the kind of gritty, sample-driven stuff you want to have on vinyl.  I love my Madball & Uzi albums; but honestly, the CDs are enough for me.  But this stuff would sound heavy on wax.

In the meantime, though, I urge you all to check them out online and support their new CD release.

*I say "first," but they do have a pair of previous, mp3-only releases that you can download for free from their website, thedopplegangaz.com (that's where you can order their albums from, too), and another mp3-only instrumental compilation called Rhyme Over Beats, which you can still download if you google around a bit.

Pissed Off Mild

In 2004, Josh Martinez debuted the title track to his upcoming, self-titled album with his new live band, Pissed Off Wild.  And just seven years later, as off like a week ago, the album's finally come out.

The initial "Pissed Off Wild" appearance was on a label compilation album called New Recruits, and the band consisted of Josh on vocals, Peter Schmitt on bass and Kenten Loewen on drums.  In a 2009 interview with AWMusic, Josh concisely explained the impetus and concept behind this new group, "A live band that wasn’t like a cheesy Roots knock-off, that had it’s own sound and really widened my ability to tour and gain more festivals or bigger venues and play with rock bands. I just wanted to be able to have more looks and I listen to a lot more music than underground hip hop and that’s what was inspiring me. Having a live band was important to me to show I was really musically inclined and not just a rapper, it was a personal thing to not be pigeon holed because I could see that the window was narrowing."

Well, so like I said, that original "Pissed Off Wild" song does appear as the title track to this, their 2011 self-titled album, though some things have changed since then.

Firstly, the band is now a 4-man ensemble, with guitarist Jesse Waldman added to the mix.  And second, the band is actually no longer an ensemble at all anymore.  As the liner notes inform us, "By the time the Pissed Off Wild record was done, so was the band. Jimmy quit. Joey got married."  Yup, Pissed Off Wild is finished, and this album is their legacy.

Oh, and one more thing has changed since New Recruits - the song itself.  Lyrically, it's the same, but musically it's been quite revamped.  The original had that live band feel, sure, but it was smooth and laid back.  Here it's rocking, and all the good and bad things that term entails, with grinding guitars and Martinez shouting into a distorted microphone.

The song "Outlaws" that they recorded for the 2006 compilation album, Hue and Laugh and Cry is also on here.  But, curiously, the song from Camobear's 2007 label sampler, "The Pirhana" is absent.

Anyway, I don't know much I even like this album... it's another in an increasingly long list of cases where a talented, noteworthy MC reaches out to other indie artists who aren't nearly so outstanding to band together and for an uneven, mediocre project with more crossover appeal.  It's like Buck 65's last album, or those Z-Man albums I just reviewed a couple weeks ago...  Hell, Josh has even done this before with his other group, The Chicarones.  Yeah, Josh and Sleep have made some decent songs together; but you know who makes better ones?  Josh without Sleep.

So yeah, this is all kinds of garage band rockish.  It mostly sounds noisy and kind of annoying, and while Josh can still be a compelling writer/vocalist, you really have to strain to appreciate the good in a lot of these songs.  He also uses this album to experiment a lot, which sometimes results in some interesting twists on his vocal styles, and sometimes it just sounds like somebody who can't sing taking over the karaoke mic at your local bar.  Some songs are better than others, but at the end of the day, I just wanna hear Josh over some dope beats by Moves and Jel and those guys.

This album isn't terrible.  And if you're a serious Josh Martinez fan and you go in with tempered expectations that this won't be the next Buck Up Princess or World Famous Sex Buffet, you won't be disappointed.  But it was really more comforting than sad to read that this album is the closing of a chapter and not the beginning of one.  I know Josh said he wanted to branch out in ways like this to have more looks, but this... just isn't a good look.

Return Of the Funky Cassette

(Youtube version is here.)

Recognize & Realize

In 1995, Bay area legend JT the Bigga Figga was starting to take off nationwide. He'd been putting out albums for a couple years, but by 1995 his album featured by stars like E-40 and Master P when they were at the pinnacles of their careers. Dwellin' In the Labb was the first JT album I picked up, and that was 1995, too. And '95 was the year he put out his first Get Low Playaz album, where he spotlighted whoever he was working with at the time on his label, Get Low Recordz. Really, the distinction between a JT album and a GLP album was pretty thin, since they were both largely compilation albums featuring different MCs over his production interspersed with multiple JT solo tracks.

Anyway, it was the final song on this GLP album (Straight Out the Labb) that featured the debut of one Black Nate, with his song "Recognize Me." That appearance was quickly followed up by Nate putting out his first EP, Recognize Me, on his own label, 4 tha Geez Records. I say EP, but it's sort of borderline... It's 9 songs, but one is a 20-second skit, and most of the songs are on the short side. So, maybe it's more of an LP, but it's a very concise listen either way.

My version's the cassette, but there are also vinyl and CD copies floating around out there.

The original "Recognize Me" isn't on here - that's exclusive to Straight Out the Labb. This E/LP features a new remix, not produced by JT this time around, but by Les G, who's done a lot of work with Bay-area artists over the years. Here, he speeds up the vocals just a smidgen and makes the whole thing a lot more high-energy.

Les handles pretty all of the production duty, and has gone on to work with Nate on future projects, too. Reggie Smith, another CA producer who stays working, and JT also get in a track each, however. The production is pretty much that Dre-inspired, studio-created, sample free sound you'd expect from a project like this. I mean, there are samples: "So Much Drama" samples a signature line from Marvin Gaye, for example; and "What Would You Do If You Had Mail"[featuring D-Moe tha Youngsta, fresh off his tough debut, Do You Feel Me?] uses a classic, filtered bassline that sounds great in the intro, but then is quickly drowned out by synths. "Black Nate Don't Playa Hate" also takes a classic soul sample and then drowns it out in other gangsta rap sounds... that's really the worst song on here; a failed fusion, like an experiment gone wrong; but it's also an anomaly, so I won't harp on it. Ultimately, though, you don't notice many samples and it all sounds like keyboards, slide-whistles and programmed sounds. So if you looked at this cover and immediately thought, "I hate that type of music," you're right - it's exactly that kind of rap music and you probably won't like it.

But if you enjoy the genre, it's a pretty dope example. Imagine a No Limit album, but without all the cheesy "Dear Mama"-sappy songs, crossover attempts, awkward collaborations, and embarrassing appearances by Master P exclaiming "UUGGHH!!" that ruined so many of their projects. Imagine instead what those albums should've been. Black Nate isn't the most attention-grabbing lyricist. He doesn't have a lot of stand-out punch lines or rap terribly fast or anything. Even JT has a much slicker flow. But he manages to do entire albums without saying anything corny and ridiculous, which is a lot more than most rappers seem to be able to say, including the biggest names of today. He just comes real with it, often autobiographical and earnest, no BS. There's a reason he stood out on the GLP album, even without any gimmicks. He's simple and straight-forward, but compelling.

And the production is solid, too. Yeah, it's all in that style I talked about above... but you can do that style poorly or you can do it well, and these guys know how to do it right. Plus the drums are nice and hard. I don't think very many heads could front on "Sticky Green & Vodka," with it's dark, cool vibes, and no hook. Even the staunchest New York purist might say the style doesn't suit them and would pass on buying the album, but they couldn't diss it.

So now you might be surprised to hear that Black Nate is still around. He's been putting out albums completely independently over the years: Debiase, The Natrix, Fully Resurrected, Time To Eat... He's done a few appearances and compilations, and he's pretty active now online: here's his twitter and facebook. He's still putting in work & releasing music, so, like, you know... recognize him.

Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest

I've certainly been interested to see Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest since I first heard of it, but I can't say I've been as anxious as a lot of heads seem to be. For one, I've always liked A Tribe Called Quest, but they've never been a personal favorite. Like, if you told me there was a collection of never before heard, vintage Tribe Called Quest tracks behind Door #1, and never before heard vintage Juice Crew tracks behind Door #2... you would have to remind me next week what the heck was behind Door #1 again. That's just where I'm coming from as a fan.

And the other thing is that: we've been hearing about this movie for ages, but every blog or article everywhere has been on the drama between the members. Either they're calling each other out in the press, or they're holding the film back or boycotting the screenings, or half of them are calling the other half out for holding the film back and boycotting the screenings. I love hip-hop music. Celebrity gossip, on the other hand, I'm not into. And it's not so much that I couldn't separate the hype from the actual film, so much as I was worried that the actual film would just be more of the hype: two hours of each member sniping at the others. Turns out that fear was somewhat justified.

It's not a good sign that the film starts out, even before the opening credits, with dramatic pull quotes of the members arguing about each other and the break-up, and then cutting to a frustrated Q-Tip talking about how they'd never perform together again. But then, once the credits roll, that was all but forgotten. For the next 45 minutes or so, we had nothing but a fresh retrospective of the career of Tribe, with in-depth interviews with members, managers and other artists. All their highlights are covered, their early lives, behind-the-scenes introspection so even the biggest Tribe fans will find themselves learning new insights into the group. We get into Phife's health problems and Jarobe's life outside the group when he "boated" after the first album. This is easily one of the best hip-hop documentaries I've seen, and I highly recommend it.

But then, yeah, the film gets too side-tracked by the drama. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the film shouldn't have covered the break-up or the animosity the members (mainly Tip and Phife) felt for each other at different times... If all of that was skipped over, I would've accused this film of white-washing and being just a shallow press piece. But the film just lingers on it, and we watch so much footage of them just arguing over absolutely nothing and calling each other out over and over. It just feels like the filmmakers thought, "this is where the money is" and included every ounce of footage they could squeeze out of the drama, whether it was worthy of inclusion or not.

And that's all the more frustrating because of what was left out. Only one of Tribe's managers is given one single sentence to bring up how J Dilla was brought into the production team for the final album, and fans were curious what Consequence was doing there. No one answers that question or addresses these topics, or how that changed the dynamics of the group. There's a super-short, maybe 30 second, clip referencing Tip's solo career (he mentions he was surprised to be getting 5 mics), and from watching this documentary you would never even know that Phife put out solo records. Tip's solo album that was unreleased for so long and was such a controversial mystery in hip-hop? Unmentioned. Ali's album on Penalty Records? Unmentioned ...though there is a single sentence where he mentions his group Lucy Pearl. But a single name-dropping sentence is hardly deep documentary filmmaking. And all the great hip-hop nerd stuff we'd love to see answered, like the many versions of "Scenario," with different MCs on them? Unmentioned.

It seems like the second half of this documentary was discarded in favor of celebrity gossip. And maybe commercially that was the right decision. It's certainly giving the film tons and tons of press and message board action. But artistically, it's a let down. Of course the break-up had to be in there. The war of personalities was, in some ways, the heart of the story. But when we get into a drawn-out segment of them arguing over how Phife nudged Tip while walking on-stage but it might've been too much like a push... I feel like the great documentary has been switched off, and somebody's changed the channel to a trashy reality TV show made for the E! channel instead.

At the end of the day, though, this is still the most substantive documentary on Tribe we'll ever get, and one of the best hip-hop documentaries the film world has produced so far. And I'm betting/hoping, when the DVD finally comes out, there'll be plenty of bonus footage that covers most of the subjects they trimmed away in order to make room for the drama; and then we'll really have a definitively rewarding Tribe documentary on our hands.

Royce da 5th Wheel

In 2004, Royce da 5'9" released a 12" - on Koch no less - produced by DJ Premier. It was the lead single off his Death Is Certain album, released that same year. The 12" was pretty loaded - it had the instrumental, tv mix, clean and dirty versions, and even clean and dirty versions of the acapella. But it was just that one track, no b-sides or remixes.

But in 2005, another 12" appeared... on a label called Major Threats with an exclusive remix. It was one a posse cut remix, a la "Flava In Ya Ear" or "I Got Five On It," with some high profile guests. I mean, really high profile guests. Would you believe Big Pun, Notorious B.I.G., Big L and 2Pac? And of course, if you're any kind of hip-hop fan, you've probably already noticed one other thing all those artists have in common.

You might think it's awfully presumptuous for Royce to retroactively put himself alongside hip-hop's most revered and honored legends, and I wouldn't disagree. But mostly I just find the endeavor kind of morbid. Of course, none of the guests' contributions are anything new to their fans... Even by 2005, pretty much everything they'd recorded while they were alive had already been released and sold to the public. So we get a bunch of recycled acapellas kind of sloppily slapped onto a new piano-heavy beat, this time produced by Statik Selektah (though Premier's scratching is still used at the finale).

Pun's verse comes from "Leather Face," L's verse comes from "Flamboyant," Biggie's verse comes from "Party & Bullshit" and 2Pac's verse comes from "Homeboyz." Royce's verses (one opening verse, and a mini-one in the middle) are at least all-new (which shows, by the way, he was 100% involved with this conceptual remix); and to be fair, Selektah's beat is pretty nice... But honestly, this song just makes me think how I'd rather be listening to "Leather Face," "Flamboyant" or "Party & Bullshit." There, the verses fit in better with the music, and having Royce on the record to introduce MCs like Biggie really isn't an improvement for me.

Now, I think Major Threats may've been Statik Selektah's label, because in addition to producing this and the B-side (we'll come back to that in a minute), the only other release I know of from this label was another 12" with more of his exclusive remixes. But what's interesting is it also featured another contemporary (for its time) song remixed to include recycled verses from Biggie and 'Pac. This was apparently Major Threats' "thing."

But anyway, getting back to this release, we flip it over to find another Statik Selektah remix, this time of Method Man's "What's Happening" featuring Busta Rhymes. It basically just lays that acapella down over the instrumental for "Know the Ledge." It feels a bit like a cheap mash-up, but I have to admit the combination of Meth's flow over that epic running bassline is pretty hot. The original version of "What's Happenin'" (as it was spelled there) was on Tical 0: The Prequel; and yes, Busta was on that version as well.

This record features Clean, Dirty and Instrumental versions for both tracks. This Royce remix was also featured on one of his mixCDs, The King Is Back, mixed by Statik Selektah. Now that CD just barely features any mixing really (yeah, it was another one of those), so you're not actually getting much extra with the complete version on this 12". But, still, if you think "Hip Hop (Inspiration Remix)" is worth owning on vinyl, this 12" is the ideal presentation. But, now that time's passed and we evaluate what does and doesn't warrant a place in our collections, I think whatever merit this record has basically just rests in its value as a curiosity piece.

Father MC Presents: Learn Along With Werner, part 4

While searching for another record (which you can expect a post on in the very near future), I stumbled across an odd listing on gemm... besides your usual plethora of listings for Father MC and Father, there was one or two for "Father M.c. Presents Bishop." Whoza whatza? Well, once I learned that there was a record billed as "Father M.c. Presents Bishop," I poked around and discovered there's a whole album by "Father M.c. Presents Bishop," hereafter just Bishop; and so of course I had to have it!

The album is called The Missing Link, and it came out in 1998 on Bi-Law Entertainment/ (unsurprisingly) Echo International. Echo was apparently the home for a lot of Father's projects around that time. And for you Father MC completists, you'll be happy to know that it can be had for basically just the price of shipping from Amazon and anyplace else.

Inside, the album gives us a helpful little bio of Bishaop a.k.a. Carlos Lewis "the 25 year old R&B sensation." He's from Florida, which makes sense, since this is also about the time Father was down there working with Luke Records and Teez. Most of the bio's pretty generic ("he had dreams of becoming a superstar, but knew he had a long way to go, blah blah blah") but it ends with a short paragraph on the Father MC connection: "Bishop knew if he wanted to get discovered he had to get his sound out, so he started sending out demos and doing talent shows in different cities. His demo tape ended up in the hands of Father MC, thus the beginning of his professional career."

So this is a full-length album, but there is also a 12" single that's on Echo as well - in fact, that's the listing I first stumbled upon. It's three songs, "Call Me," "Lovely" and "So Hot," all of which are featured on this album. There are no instrumentals, alternate mixes or anything like that; but some copies do at least come in a picture cover.

Ultimately, however, this all boils down to one great, big fat disappointment: Father MC is nowhere on this album! There are no guest verses or writing credits like the other albums he did with R&B groups - Gamin' by Teez (for the story there, see: Learn Along With Werner, part 1) and I Love You Like You Are by Ray Parker Jr. (see: Learn Along With Werner, part 2). Those albums were chock full of Father MC's contributions; but here, Father is only the executive producer. Bishop's not a bad singer, but this entire CD is pretty generic and un-engrossing by R&B standards, much less by the standards of a Father MC fan looking for raps.

So I will be putting this album away, probably to never listen to again. But, hey, it cost practically nothing and we all got to learn about another interesting side-note in Father MC's career (one might even dub it... The Missing Link! ha ha ha). So it was worth it for me.

Remember the Tuff Crew Band?

(Youtube version is here.)

Siah and Yeshua DapoED

Siah and Yeshua DapoED were a rare combination of West coast MCing styles, along the lines of The Good Life guys, and East coast production styles, with a sample-heavy, jazzy aesthetic. In 1996, they dropped a serious bomb on the underground scene with their underground debut EP on Fondle 'Em that took us all by surprise.

The cool-out vibes of "The Visualz" stand up right alongside the most beloved Digable Planets cuts, but the MCs maintain a more lyrical, street credibility. And the hook for "No Soles Dopest Opus," which samples a killer Pharaoh Monch line, "I leave no footprints in the sands of time so these wack MCs can't follow me," over Akinyele's "In the World" beat, actually taken from an obscure radio freestyle on The Stretch & Bobbito Show, still sticks in the memory as one of the great hip-hop hooks. It conflicts completely with the soft jazzy feel of the rest of the track, but that just makes it sound even more awesome every time the song stops to interject it. But the really famous song is the epic eleven+ minute narrative, "A Day Like Any Other," where the beat changes completely each time the MCs change locations in the tale. It was absolutely the mind blower of the year.

Unfortunately, however, they were a pairing doomed to split just as heads were catching on to them. By 1998, Siah had already released his first solo 12" (also on Fondle 'Em) and Yeshua had moved over to Raw Shack. While they were compelled to do a guest appearance or two together, Siah and Yeshua DaEP never released another record as a group; and the magic of their combined efforts was never fully captured again. Not that their solo efforts haven't had merit over the years, but that pinnacle of time they recorded together was a one-off in hip-hop history.

But in 2008, we got the next best thing. No, not a disappointing reunion... Instead Head Bop Music and Traffic put out The Visualz Anthology. Now, first of all, it's just a nice compilation... it includes the entire original EP, plus one of the songs from Siah's 12" on Fondle 'Em and both songs from Yeshua's first 12" on Raw Shack. And it includes some of those aforementioned guests spots they recorded together: "The Cure for Stagnation" and "Transatlantic." So that's a nice little package for those who slept the first time around.

That's just half the album, though. And this is where the Anthology really takes off. Next up is a song called "Victim of My Own Imagination." Now, Yeshua had a song called "Victim" on his 2002 album, IntoFreshThings, that used the phrase "victim of my own imagination" on the hook, but this is a completely different song, musically and lyrically.

You've got three radio freestyles, which shows off a bit more of their gritty, NYC lyricist sides. And then you've got a three random, I-don't-know-what-the-heck-they-are tracks: "Hairy Bird Intro," "Hairy Bird Reprise" and "Untitled," which, despite their titles, seem to be pretty much full and distinct songs, that are fresh and lush enough to hold up against anything else on this album (there's some awesome flute work on "Untitled"). And finally, you've got a killer demo song that'd been floating around the internet for ages in the form of a radio rip, "It's Good for Your Health." But here it's clean and unmixed.

The presentation is nice, too, with a phat booklet containing vintage photos, labelscans, notes from Bobbito, and pretty much every article ever written about Siah and Yeshua back in the days... The Vinyl Exchange is even in there! It's a mild disappointment that this was originally meant to be a double-disc set, with instrumentals from the original EP, longer freestyles and other tracks, but the artists were against it(?!). Still, it feels pretty full and complete as it is. The only real disappointment was that it was CD only, a move Traffic pulled with a bunch of really promising double LPs they announced. But, for a CD, it's pretty essential.

Cube In Stereo

The previous video I'm referring to/ correcting: Cube In Action

(Youtube version is here.)

Science Officer Mr. Spock Vs. Professor X of the X-Men

If there was one thing Macola Records knew how to do, it was repackage songs. If a song was released through them once, you can bet it was released at least ten subsequent times in a short amount of time. In just the span of two or three years, they issued many represses and dozens of compilation albums, all with the same 15-20 songs reshuffled over and over again. And one crew that Macola repackaged quite often was The X-Men.

The X-Men was a west coast DJ group headed by the Unknown DJ (years later, the NY DJ crew consisting of Roc Raida, Mista Sinista, etc, would claim the name... but these guys came first). There were two major X-Men 12" singles, recorded by Unknown and DJ Slip (who also went by the name The Juggernaut to fit the theme), "The X-Men" and "Revenge Of the X-Men," both in 1988. Unknown and Slip were the core, but there were also affiliate members, who either contributed or were shouted out, including DJ Battery Brain, Battlecat, and Arabian Prince, who released the third X-Men 12", "Professor X (Saga)" under the alias Professor X, in 1989.

Now, because Macola has re-released the "X-Men" and "Professor X (Saga)" tracks so many times, it's become two of their best known songs. Both have made more recent appearances, too, on budget Dr. Dre compilation albums, even though Dre had nothing to do with these records besides being in the same west coast scene at the same time. But what most people probably don't know is that "Professor X (Saga)" is actually a competing version of another, more obscure X-Men song using the same instrumental.

"Revenge Of the X-Men" is already a far less exposed song than "X-Men" and "Professor X (Saga)," but it has a very interesting B-side that you hardly ever hear about called "It's More Fun To Sample." Now "Professor X (Saga)" says it's produced by The Professor (Arabian Prince), but he's really just recycling the instrumental of "It's More Fun To Sample" from the year before.

It's More Fun To Sample" features Unknown using another alias, Spock, which, yes, fails to properly fit the X-Men theme. Perhaps that's why they remade it. But anyway, "It's More Fun To Sample"'s production credit is given to Unknown and Slip, so they must've really created the beat.

The songs are very similar in other aspects as well. Arabian Prince's raps as the Professor are absent, of course.

"Professor X! I'm here, coming from my creator,
D 2 D, D A T, Master M emulator[or something close to that];
Conceived in data planet by DJ Unknown.
DJ Slip was on the mix when I came to be known.
Professor X is a scientist who studies all the music;If a guy grabs a girl, he can surely get into this.
'Cause computers that we use are so simple to create!One, two, three, four, five, six...
Working in my laboratory, making mutant tests;Strange reactions came upon you while sitting at my desk.Clearency[sic] must be achieved before I can tell the rest...The result is a creation of the great Professor X. Professor X!"

But instead we have verses by Spock/Unknown, using the same kind of bass-heavy voice modification for his rhymes.

"Soulsonic rocked the planet, but we're here to take control.Super beings sent to rock: he's DJ Slip, I'm called Unknown.
We have heard techno attempted; and yet sadly, you have failed;
You should stick to vice, Miami. Leave the techno to LA.
DJ Slip the beat programmer of this psychedelic groove;We'll scratch the beat while syncopated samples put you in the mood.You can't resist the X-Men posse, or the dope hypnotic beat;Clap your hands to what he's doing and I'm sure you'll move your feet.You must dance or be forgotten. If you can't, then you must try.
This is X-Men law, no need to front - perpetrate and die!

Techno music's here, so use it. Hear the groove and hit the floor.While the X-Men rock the planet like Soulsonic did before.Unleash the beat like it was fire, burn your speaker cones to shreds;Cerwin Vega rocks the house, X-Men bass upside the head!"

Perhaps more importantly, the signature vocal samples from the X-Men cartoons, like "the X-Men train to improve their mutant skills," aren't here. In there place are Star Trek samples like, "analysis, Mr. Spock" and "science officer Spock, transmit now!" The other signifigant difference is that "Professor X (Saga)," strangely, ended with a keyboard solo reprising the tune of Arabian Prince's previous record, "Take You Home Girl." "It's More Fun To Sample" ends more abruptly.

So I urge any fan of that late 80's west coast style to seek out both versions and see which is your favorite. Who best rocks this beat, Spock or Professor X?

Gangstarr Without Premier

(Youtube version is here.)