The Outsidaz' Idea of "Radio Friendly"

After The Outsidaz' killer EP, Night Life, they were making moves. their label was behind them, Eminem and Rah Digga were blowing up as solo artists, you used to see the Outsidaz van driving around NYC and even billboards. Now, you could blame the collapse of Ruffhouse Records on their fall from mainstream grace, and that was clearly a big part of the marketing suddenly drying up midstream etc. But really, the Outz were a large, ragtag collective (really, even The Outz themselves might have trouble naming all various members who came and left the group in a short period) of Brick City lyricists with a penchant for hard beats and sick (in all senses of the word) lyrics. Were they really built to compete in the post-Bieber hip-hop world?*

The advance version of The Bricks featured a different track-listing from the final, commercial version. And one song they added was this, their big, commercial single. This is the one they shot a video for. This is the song where they rap about relationships with an R&B singer on the hook with only their three, most recognizable members taking the mic. This is "I'm Leavin'," their radio single.

"I'm Leavin'" was produced by Hotrunner, a guy who's done a few other things before and since... nothing to get too excited about, but all of which sort of fits in that same weird gap of rappers not quite going commercial. The track is basically just a loop from a contemporary flamenco guitarist named Armik with the drums beefed up, which is effectively catchy in an offbeat way. It featured a hook by Kelis, who was just beginning her career, which includes a lot of hooks for a lot of rappers and a lot of terrible dance records (sorry guys, I'm not saying she isn't a good singer, but nobody should have to listen to "Blindfold Me" if they haven't committed some kind of awful crime against society).

But this single doesn't feature Kelis. No, she's been abandoned for the "UK versions," even on the US promo 12". Remember, by the time The Bricks was ready to drop singles, Ruffhouse Rufflife/ Ruff Wax was already dying. So here in the US, The Outz didn't really get any singles except a few promo copies. But Ruff Life UK hung on there a little more and actually marketed The Outsidaz over there, releasing this proper, commercially released single in the nice picture cover and all. And over in the UK, some girl group called All Saints was apparently semi-popular and one of its members, Melanie Blatt, was going solo. So they took Kelis off the track and gave the song a new hook by Melanie.

That may sound like a great injustice, and maybe it was to Kelis personally, and swapping out a black singer for a pretty white girl does reek of crass record label politics; but honestly, musically, the difference is pretty academic. They're both capable vocalists singing the same hook, which is a play on John Denver/ Peter Paul & Mary's "Leaving On a Jet Plane" (infamous in hip-hop circles more for its use in Stetsasonic's "Faye"). If you're not coming into this record as a Kelis fan (or Melanie Blatt fan), you're apt not to even notice the difference, much less care one way or the other. And apart from the hook, the song is the same. It's not remixed or anything... maybe it's mastered a bit differently, but it's the same Armik loop and all.

So this is what they made a video for (which you can see on the bonus disc hat came with Pace Won's debut, Won), sent out to DJs, etc. All upbeat and poppy for the soulless music directors, except... did they actually listen to this song? Young Zee spends his whole verse calling some groupie a nasty skank: "You're a virgin? You know you do this often. You're things so deep it could drown a school of dolphins." And there's a brilliant moment of unintended hilarity when they cut to Blatt vamping to the song, looking all cool, sexy and professionally model-y as Zee rags on the cleanliness of her vagina ("your things more dirty than the 'durty sowf'"). What a perfect music industry example of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.

And it gets worse! Zee at least keeps it to graphic sexuality, which often sneaks under the radar of commercial R&B and hip-hop. But look at Pace's verse:

"Yo, she fell in love with a star, the life, the car,
The Hu-Hu-HAAA!! had her goin'.
Open like: what? With a butt like Kim's.
When I seen it, made we wanna nut right then!
Yo, we got fly, she stopped by,
Spliffed the choc ty and passed it clockwise.
Let me knock the boots 'till I was cock-eyed;
And now she tryin' to act like she ain't got time?
I told her: think of this before you try to be foul:
There's chicks at the bar that could be buying me rounds,
And all type models that be eying me down;
I stay, and you say goodbye to me now?
Fuck that! Diss me, that's what's up here.
You better get yo' fat ass back upstairs!
And if you try to creep, I'ma tie you in the basement,
Catch your little boyfriend and beat is little face in!"

The music video censored the words "butt," "nut," "ass" and even the drug reference, but for some reason, stations still weren't giving this major rotations? What, they're not big fans of domestic violence? Gee, that really came out of left field. Hell, the music video cuts out Rah Digga's portion entirely, where she writes probably the first song in history about her an untrustworthy man cheating on her while in jail: "time to face the truth, when I really didn't wanna. How the Hell all these hoes keep getting my number? Who was it - a kissing cousin? Came to see you in prison, they sayin' you already had a visit! Leaving with these strangers, how do you explain this? Came this close to lettin' you put it in my anus!" This is meant to be their crossover song?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing these verses. The Outz kill it, keep it creative and edgy (although... Zee is capable of better), and manage to keep their integrity on what would normally be an embarrassing footnote in any other artist's career. I actually love this song! and while the video is censored to pieces (an exercise in futility), the 12"includes the Full Length versions, featuring all the curse words and Rah Digga's material untouched. It's also got the instrumental.

Being a UK 12", though... of course it also features some terrible, terrible dance remixes on the B-side. There's the Grunge Boyz Vocal Dub Remix, which is... well, I just can't believe anybody would choose to listen to this on purpose. Put it that way. Then there's the Oddsmakers Clean Remix, which is okay, but the vocals are drowned out by the overbearing samples. And it's not actually a clean edit at all (all the curses, etc, are present), which is nice. It doesn't compete with the original, but it's a cool extra to fill out our Outsidaz collections.

So I recommend you ignore your impulse to skip right over the blatant radio single and add this one to your collections - despite outward appearances, it's another ill Outsidaz classic. Especially considering their catalog is disappointingly small, we can't afford to sleep on anything.


*The shame of it isn't that they didn't continue to blow up bigger and bigger, but that they didn't dust themselves off and continue ruling the underworld as an unfuckwitable collective after Ruffhouse.

Rappin' Is Cretaceous

Here's one of the jewels of my collection: "Ain't No Smoke Without Fire," the debut single by Rappin' Is Fundamental. This one's certainly rare - I've only ever seen it, or even heard of it, once - and that's when I bought it. This dropped in 1989, two years before they came out on A&M Records with their album, video and widely released single. Interestingly, this came out on Khafra Records, a super obscure west coast label, whose only other release was the debut 12" of Prodeje, before South Central Cartel and Havoc and Prodeje* even came out. That was their second and final release, and this is their first.

Now, the few of you who are as familiar with RIF's catalog as everyone ought to be (they are seriously under-appreciated) are probably saying to yourselves, "Ain't No Smoke Without Fire? I know that song!" Yes, "Ain't No Smoke (Without Fire)" was on their 1991, major label album. But this 12" features a different version. The lyrics and the primary looped riff of the instrumental is the same - plus Big Daddy Kane's uncredited cameo appears on both, though it's a bit shorter on the LP - but the vocals and the music are different.

You notice it instantly. Again, they're rapping the same lyrics over the same break, but the delivery is different and the mastering is different. JR sounds more laid back and the beat feels simpler. Even the ad-libs sound audibly more raw. And as the song progresses, the changes are more obvious - the first mini-hook, where RIF sing, "smoke, smoke, ain't no smoke" after JR's verse is absent, and instead the break is signified just by a subtle vocal sample of Kane going "Mm, mm, mm" from the intro to "Ain't No Half Steppin'." And the freestyle singing at the end of the song is completely different - at that point, they don't even sing the same words.

The album version has a whole just sounds bigger - they seem to have taken another pass at it to make it sound "more professional." The album version features some subtle "lead guitar" by one Shlomo Sonnenfeld. When I first read that in the credits, I thought, "there's guitar in that?" But when I played it back with my ear to the speaker, I was like, "ah, yeah, it's in there." Well, it's not in here, the 12" version.

So, the question becomes, "well, which is better?" It's hard to say, actually; it's going to just come down to the listener's personal taste. There's definitely something to be said for the epic feel of the album version, and the horns sound less chintzy. The 12" version, on the other hand, feels more natural, like you're in the same small jazz club with RIF as they rap and sing over a dope track. When you hear them both, you realize how much the album version's vocals have been processed, and the 12" version has a nice, organic appeal.

I say "12" version," but technically there are two versions on this 12" version. The Club Mix, and a shorter Radio Version, which shaves a couple minutes off the song's running time.

The B-side is another album track, "You Wanna Trip," and as with "Ain't No Smoke," it's another alternate pass at the A&M version, though the differences aren't so distinct. Where "Ain't No Smoke" has a remarkably different feel, the distinction here is more trivial; you mostly notice it in the background ad-libs, plus the extra drums that come in behind the chorus on the album version haven't been added to the 12" take. Again, it's essentially the same deal - the album version sounds more professional and polished, the 12" feels more low-fi and real. The differences just aren't so strong. Also, again, the 12" features two versions: The full-length Club Mix, and the tighter Radio Version.

But it's not just the alternate versions that make this 12" such a treasure (although they'd be enough), it's the fact that this dropped in 1989, showing that the guys who invented and their own musical genre, Doo-Hop, were even more ahead of their time than anybody realized. Heck, they'd still be ahead of their time if they came out today, considering still nobody else has been able to pick up their torch. And on an obscure west coast label? This record is some serious history.

And it's a treasure because, as you see, it comes in such a fantastic picture cover... although the designers went a little conceptually overboard by designing it to look like a picture printed on the cover of a book printed on the cover of another book (look closely - it's a mock, 3-d book cover on top of another mock, 3-D book cover lol). And as a bonus, my copy is signed by the group to a guy named Charlie. I don't know who he is, but i thank him for parting with his copy so it could wind up with me. =)


*No, there's no connection to Mobb Deep; it's just a strange coincidence.

Werner Is Rockin' On the Radiooo

Update: listen to the show here, in mp3; and check out the playlist here.

Well, I will be in a few hours from now. From midnight to 3am, I'll be on the Coffee Break for Heroes and Villains show on WFMU, 91.1 FM. If you don't get the station in your area, you can listen to the show online at coffeebreakradio.com.

But if starting at midnight runs a little too late for you, there'll be an archived recording of the whole show, plus a playlist, which you should check because I'm bringing something a little special for them to play tonight. ;)

The 12" Reader

(Youtube version is here.)

A Dangerous Diss

Rally Ral's debut single first came out on In-A-Minute and No Limit Records in 1993. But it was later picked up by Priority for their Street Fighter soundtrack; and so it was released again as a single in 1994, remixed and smoothed out. The original's better, and it's got three additional songs on it, which all bump harder than this smoothed out remix, so it's generally considered the one to own. Plus, it's just usually a good rule of thumb in hip-hop: when in doubt, get the original, indie version.

But this second version has a couple exclusives itself - specifically 2 songs featuring E-A-Ski. Now, Ski's appearance kinda goes without saying... he also appeared on one of the songs from the original "Something Kinda Funky" single, and E-A-Ski & CMT were Rally Ral's regular producers who featured him on a couple of their other projects as well. He was pretty officially down with Infared.

So, one of those exclusive songs - "I Thought You Knew" - is just okay. The bassline has been used often, and it usually sounds better than this, plus the sung hook is lame. Still, Ski and Rally come pretty hard, and the scratching, which is kept pretty low in the mix, is kinda nice. But you should watch out, because there's one version of this single that only features "Something Kinda Funky" and "I Thought You Knew." Completionists might want it, too, because it's the only version with the "I Thought You Knew" instrumental; but then you wouldn't just be missing out on the picture cover, but a killer Dangerous Dame diss!

Yeah, flip this one over and there's the song "Lost a Few Screws" where E-A-Ski goes hard on Dame. That's a little surprising, considering they were label-mates on No Limit at the time, and it's unclear exactly what the beef's about. They do start out by saying, "what's up with the disrespect," so I guess he said something to start it, intentionally or inadvertently, but who knows? Whatever the reason for it, though, no punches are pulled. While they never quite say his name, if you pay close attention to key lines in the lyrics ("'I Call Your Name' like your wack-ass song, bitch!" or "Make Room 4 Daddy? Nah, nigga, we don't want it!"), there's no possible way they're talking about anybody else:

"Always a has-been nigga on my back 'cause he's wack.
Starvin' for some Ski & CMT tracks. (Nigga, you can't have that!)
So back the fuck up, nigga, 'cause I know,
You lost a few screws from that mickey about a year ago."

That last line, besides justifying the song's title, is a reference to the crazy, but apparently true story Dame told on his Escape From the Mental Ward EP, where somebody slipped him a mickey which literally drove him insane. In fact, this song works just as well as an answer record to that song as a straight-up diss. I blogged about it back in January, including my transcription of the lyrics. It's pretty wild, so if you missed it, check it out here.

"Motherfuckers ain't shit.
Got dropped from Atlantic, now you're lookin' like a bee-itch.
Nigga, you can cup my nuts until they bust;
Lookin' for the Ski and CMT to bring your wack-ass up? (Never!)
I kinda figured you were jealous to the head, hoe,
When we rocked your wack-ass show. (That's right!)
Took niggas off guard with my presence;
An OG fuckin' with these young adolescents."

The whole song is just hard, hostile and personal: "Everyone knows the real scoop; You been rappin' for years, ain't got nothin' to show for it!" They even go on to challenge his authenticity as a ghost-writer. Everyone knows he wrote "Short But Funky" for Too $hort, but nothing else can really be verified, since he's not actually credited as a writer. Or, as they put it, "It ain't a rumor, it's a fact: this nigga's walkin' around sayin' he wrote Ice Cube and D.O.C.'s raps. How the fuck you figure this? A mental block to your skull makes you a walkin' lunatic."

The beat's okay, but pretty subtle. The only thing you're meant to be paying attention to are the vicious rhymes, and that's how it plays out. By the time the song's over, you barely even realize that there was no hook, or that Ski didn't even pass the mic. That's right, Ral doesn't even get on his own song. Ski just grabs the mic, murders Dangerous Dame, and before you know it, the song's over.

So yeah, it's a single worth picking up. I have the cassingle and 12", and both track-listings are the same: the three songs, plus the "Something Kinda Funky" Instrumental. But of course, like I already covered, there's also the earlier No Limit version with different songs and the promo version that's missing "Lost a Few Screws." Plus, there's another 12" which pairs "Something Kinda Funky" with the Hammer and Deion Sanders song from Street Fighter. So you've gotta pay attention to which version you're getting. If you just order "Something Kinda Funky" from some seller on Amazon, there's no telling what'll show up at your door.

Rally Ral might not've been the greatest rapper, or even one of the best gangsta rappers of his style and era, but he was cool because he came harder than most. Unfortunately, most heads were introduced to him by the A-side, this commercially soft "Something Kinda Funky" remix, the least representative of his work or what he was capable of bringing. The back cover says this is from his forthcoming album, Tighter Than a Virgin, but that never dropped. And while Ral put in another guest appearance or two, he never came out with another record after this. So, in the end, I guess Dame got the last laugh.

The First Name In Milwaukee Hip-Hop Returns

When I covered the catalog of Jamille Records, I honestly wasn't sure if they had already run their course in 2010, but I'm happy to report that they have not. They have returned in 2011 with two new 7" singles, definitely on par with their past releases, and even a documentary DVD.

The 7"s are one of each - one's a repress of an obscure, hard to find indie release, and in the case of the other, this music is being released for the first time ever. The repress is by The Ill Chief Rockers, taking two, and presumably the best, songs from their only 1986 single (that 12" also had two other songs, not present here). The Chief Rockers are two guys you'll remember from past Jamille releases: MC Kid Crab, and Strickey Luv, who was one of the guests on the MC Richie Rich & Scratch single, along with Rock La Flow. By 1986 standards, this is as hard as hip-hop got. It's pressed on clear, yellow (yellow) vinyl; and is limited to 100 copies (mine is #74).

Then the next single is two more unreleased joints by Two-Tone. It's my understanding that they'd never put any recordings out back in the day, so these singles singles from Jamille are the first time any of us are getting to hear their stuff. Both songs here are fun, but the B-side wins with its liberal use of The Average White Band's "Pick Up the Pieces" as its instrumental bed. And once again, their wicked DJ Mike T steals the show - his cuts are so clean! This one's produced on clear (clear) vinyl - my scanner makes it look a lot grayer than it really is - and is also limited to 100 copies (mine is #73).

And now the DVD. Red Beans and Rice is a cool little documentary, clocking in at about an hour long, looking at record digging from the collector's perspective. This isn't about the big-name producers like Diamond or Large Professor, like in Beat Diggin' or Deep Crates 1 and 2. This is more just about the regular heads, from places like Milwaukee, Arizona, Chicago... There are some names you might recognize if you're really plugged in, like DJentrification; but essentially this is just a documentary looking at the "you and me"s of the scene.

You probably have to be a major vinyl lover to appreciate this - I could see your average viewer taking the stance, "what do I care what this guy's favorite record is when I don't even know who he is?" But you know what this is? It's record porn. This is an excuse to ogle peoples' huge private collections and get glimpses into record stores that, unless you there, you'd probably never otherwise get to check out. There are some fun stories: one guy who pulled records especially made for a news network's broadcast out of the rubble of a demolished TV station, and another guy who has two copies of the WaxPoetics poster - one kept nice in a frame, and one with covered in X's as he marks off each record he gets from it like a hit list. One guy has his house so full of records that he's got crate shelves in his bathroom now, because he's run out of room.

It's not strictly about hip-hop digging - heads here are just as happy to talk about The Beach Boys or The Beatles - but there's definitely a lot of hip-hop love throughout. This is obviously targetted at a small market, but I think from my description you can probably decide if this is for you. I'm not sure what the plans are for this film - I was just hooked up with a DVD -maybe it'll start popping up for sale soon... But keep an eye out for Red Beans and Rice if it sounds like your thing. It's a nice little doc, and like everything put out by Jamille Records, made with an earnest sincerity.

More Rarities

I wasn't kidding when I said these Buck 65 tour CDs are addicting... so here's another one. This one is called Pole-Axed: More Rarities, released back in 2006, and according to Buck's website, compiled (he says "recorded") in Paris. Since it's labeled "rarities" not "unreleased" or "exclusives," it's not surprising that most of these have been released before. This is mostly a collection of guest spots he did on releases by artists like Stigg of the Dump, the Molemen, Governor Bolts... stuff like that. The compilation's a little uneven, but by and large, all pretty good stuff.

A couple of tracks are confusingly listed in the track-listing, but nothing actually new, so let's just clear those up real quick. "Styles of Smiles" (helpfully credited "from Granelli album"), is actually the song "Richie's Secret World" from the Jerry Granelli album, Music Has Its Way With Me, which Buck collaborated on as DJ Stinkin' Rich. And while I thought "Centaur (Gordski Rmx)" might actually by an unheard take on the song, it's actually the remix from the Anticon 12" B-side. Gordski's name appears nowhere on that record's label or cover, so I never realized it wasn't by Buck himself... but regardless, it's not version.

So, blah blah blah, that's enough about the previously released songs that us fans all already have. Let's talk exclusives. Now, even if you didn't pay attention to the dates, it's obvious this album closely followed Secret House Against the World, because all the exclusive remixes are from that album.

First up is "Rough House Blues (Masculine Fantasy Rmx)." "Rough House Blues" was always one of the better tracks on the original album, and this remix does a nice job of making it fresh again without taking away what worked about the first version. It features the same (or similar) guitar riff for the body of the instrumental, and the cuts are the same. But the piano has been changed up, and the whole thing sounds down-pitched and darker. And where the short, original mix (it's less than two and a half minutes) ends, this new mix builds into a crescendo with new instruments and non-verbal vocals.

Unlike "Rough House Blues," "Drawing Curtains" really wasn't so appealing. It was interesting, and the production (except maybe for the drums) was effective. But the fact that he shared the vocal duties with Claire Benes (who, to the album's detriment, was all over Secret House Against the World), where they constantly go back and forth, alternating words or phrases in a single sentence, is really abrasive and annoying. It was just the sort of thing that plagued Secret House - it's like he thought, "I'll put a woman speaking with a French accent all over this album and it'll sound really avant-garde, regardless of the fact that her cadence is dull and her delivery's sleepy, lifeless and sucks all the energy out of the songs like a vacuum cleaner." ...Okay, he probably didn't think that second part.

Anyway, Pole-Axed introduces us to the "Crude Version" of "Drawing Curtains." But if you were hoping for an early, temp track Buck recorded all by himself before he laid in Claire's vocals or anything, forget it. In fact, there's barely any perceivable difference at all. This version was just mastered slightly different, maybe? I dunno, every vocal and instrumental bit from this version seems to be on that version, and vice versa. Oh well.

The third and final Secret House exclusive is "The Suffering Machine (Raw Demo Instrumental)." The titling here is a bit odd, since this sounds 100% nothing like "The Suffering Machine" from Secret House... instead, it seems to be the "Raw Demo Instrumental" to another song off that album: "Drunk Without Drinking." I don't know if it's a stupid mistake, or maybe an indication that he was originally planning to record the "Suffering Machine" lyrics to this beat, or what. Anyway, unlike the two versions of "Drawing Curtains," the differences here are easy to identify; there's whole instrumental riffs and elements that are unique to this "Raw Demo" version. It's exclusive just by way of it being an instrumental for a song that was only released as a full, vocal version, anyway; but here we also get to hear a different take on the music and how "Drunk Without Drinking" might've otherwise sounded.

And then the last song on this album is probably it's biggest selling point, because it's a song that is entirely exclusive to this album, and hasn't been otherwise released in any mix or capacity. It's called "Be Careful" and features a big rolling piano loop that could almost have been taken from "Drag Rap/ Trigger Man." The lyrics are a bit lazy, but fun, starting out "be careful, werewolf, the smiling snake still slithers. Pennies in the well, I wanna sing like Bill Withers. Card carrying member: Neighborhood Task Watch, keepin' our children safe from the Sasquatch. Any last thoughts? Some spare change? A little bit? If I live to be a hundred, I will always be illiterate." It's not one of his best, but still good and enjoyable. You definitely get the sense of how this is something he recorded and couldn't find a home for, so a tour CD was a fitting place to make it a little exclusive.

At the end of the day, this is about what you'd expect from a tour CD. Not worthy of being a proper album or suitable for wide release, but as a little scrappy little bonus for the more devoted fans, it's a nice little score. Though, for the fans who have everything (i.e. when all those non-exclusives are already in our collections), it doesn't have all that much to offer... The "Drawing Curtains (Crude Mix)" is pointless, and while "The Suffering Machine (Raw Demo Instrumental)" is interesting, it's not something you'll be going back to for repeat listens. So you have to figure: you'd basically just be tracking this down for one cool remix and one new song which is good but not great. And since only 200 were made, that won't be too easy. So, more of a collector's thing, I guess.

Marley Marl Meets Kurtis Blow

In 1988, Marley Marl made history with by assembling one of the greatest collective of hip-hop artists ever, The Juice Crew, and releasing perhaps the most legendary posse cut of all time, "The Symphony" off his debut album. And on practically the complete opposite end of the hip-hop spectrum, that same year, Kurtis Blow put out his eighth and final album, Back By Popular Demand. But for a brief moment, those diverse paths crossed, as the lead single and title cut of Blow's album featured none other than Marley Marl.

To be clear, Marley didn't produce this "Back By Popular Demand;" it was co-produced by Blow and Van Gibbs and Eddison Electrik, with "Music By" credit going to Kurtis himself. Also, interestingly, big-shot producer Salaam Remi gets "Concept By" credit ...which is odd because "hey, I'm back" isn't really the sort of clever or complicated concept you'd think you'd need to bring in another guy to come up with. I'm sure it has more to do with the fact that Salaam is Van Gibbs' son.

Now, let's talk about the production for a minute. Like many, many hip-hop records, this one is based on a slamming James Brown sample, specifically "Give It Up Or Turn It Loose." But where a lot of hip-hop tracks will base their entire on instrumental on that record ("Give It Up" is a cornucopia of fantastic samples), Blow and co. (heh) just take their drums from the breakdown at the end of the song. And making that loop seems to be the majority of the work Electrik, Gibbs and Blow really did here.

The bulk of the rest of the music, certainly the stuff that really stands out here, is the "Scratch Production," done by none other than our man Marley Marl. The hook is all vocal samples being cut up: "Kuh-Kuh-Kuh-Kurtis Bluh-Bluh-Bluh-Blow!" mixed with a little "Al-Naaflysh" and a few brief distorted samples taken right out of the Marley catalog. It's certainly possible that any of the other producers added the "Back! By popular demand!" vocal sample or something, but it's sure got that classic Marley Marl sound. One really cool element is that the song has looped crowd cheers throughout... you know, like those early Run-DMC records where they're faking like the song was recorded live? But then at the end, the crowd sounds get cut up, and it sounds fresh!

Unfortunately, Blow the MC isn't up to the track. Gibbs and Blow share credit for the lyrics (the album just says "Written by: K. Blow/V. Gibbs/E. Sainsbury," but the 12" specifies credit to those two for the lyrics. It's a bit mind boggling that it took two men to come up with such simplistic, corny stuff as, "I know you missed me, so don't diss me; be down with the history... of rap! So let your fingers snap. Or whatever makes you move... to the groove," or one-liners like, "I'm sure to deliver... like US mail!" And before you say, "oh, it was the 80's, all raps were corny," bear in mind, not only was Marley bringing Kane, Tragedy, Master Ace and G Rap at the same time as this; but this was cornball even for the oldest of old school. Caz, Kool Moe Dee and Melle Mel wouldn't ever have spit silliness like that; and even Blow himself was capable of much smoother rhymes on earlier stuff like "Rappin' Blow." I really don't know what Blow was thinking putting those bars over this track; it's like he wanted to be written off as hopelessly old school. And that wish that came true with this album's reception.

So, this 12" has the 12" Version, which seems to be exactly the same as the album version, and the 7" version, which is just a shorter edit. But there are some more interesting mixes on the B-side.

If you read the credits of the album, you'll see a "Trumpet Solo" credited to Marc Leford on this song. I was quite baffled by this as a kid, because there is no trumpet or anything resembling a trumpet anywhere to be heard. But they must be crediting the work recorded exclusively for this 12", because here there are two instrumental mixes called "Black[as opposed to Back] By Popular Demand," the first of which is the Trumpet Mix. While there is absolutely zero trumpet on the 12"/album version, there is a ton here. Blow's entire vocal track has been replaced by a trumpet. Then there's also an Organ Version, where his vocals are replaced by a plectrum banjo. ...I'm just kidding, it was replaced by an organ, of course. Nobody is given credit for an "Organ Solo," so I'm guessing it was played by Blow or Electrik, who share that "Music By" credit.

By the way, this isn't the only work Marley did for Blow. Also on the Back By Popular Demand album, Marley is credited with "Keyboard/Horn Arrangements" on the light-hearted tune, "Love Don't Love Nobody." It's also the only other song on the album also produced by Gibbs and Electrik (Blow produced most of the LP by himself). But unlike "Back By Popular Demand," you would never recognize "Love" as Marley's work if you didn't read the liner notes. In fact, the soft keyboard tones sound a lot like the stuff Blow put on a ton of records he produced back in the early 80s.

So, to wrap things up, this single is like the whole album. Sure, on one level it's wack and easy to dismiss. But it's all strangely endearing and catchy. And it's certainly got a unique mixture of musical sounds that nobody else was brave or goofy enough to match. This is a time capsule not only of the wild, unrepeatable 80s, but a brief period when rap albums were starting to get big budgets and no idea what to do with them. I mean, seriously, where was the Organ Mix of "Back By Popular Demand" supposed to play, exactly? And some of the stuff on the album ("Blue Iguana," anybody?) is even weirder. And, hey, it comes in an awesome picture cover! What's not to like?

Infinity and Grandmixer D.St.

(Youtube version is here.)

This Is By the Convicts

There's a couple reasons you might know of The Convicts. You might've read Unkut's king-making post some years back, dubbing the Rap-A-Lot duo "a testament to the genius of ignorant rap." Or you might know Convicts member Big Money Mike for going on to become an official Geto Boy when Willie Dee dropped out. But if you don't actually know them for their music, you're missing out.

The Convicts, who have an odd habit of contradictorily referring to themselves as The Ex-Convicts in their songs, consists of just Big Mike and 3-2 (later of The Blac Monks). They only dropped one album on Rap-A-Lot Records in 1991 before going their separate ways. And this is the one single off of that album.

Depending on your attitude, you might be pleasantly surprised or heartily disappointed that there's nothing particularly ignorant about "This Is For the Convicts" at all. Big Mike and 3-2 are both really just flexing their spitting skills, kicking your basic, "we're the toughest on the block" rhymes. Mike impresses more, coming off as a seasoned vet even though he wasn't yet one at that stage, but 3-2 comes nice as well. It certainly helps that they're blowing over the dark bassline Paris used for "The Devil Made Me Do It," but laid over a cracking, classic break that really ups the energy of the groove, but keeps it nice and hard. None of that later-year keyboard sound of later Rap-A-Lot releases, this is pure hip-hop.

The one drawback to the song is the minute long intro, where they sign a humorous song about life in prison. What you might find amusing the first time is a torturous minute to get through after you've heard it a few times. Fortunately, the music changes drastically enough that you can see on the vinyl where the song changes and you can needle drop right to the good stuff.

The B-side is another dope beat, slower and chunkier. It runs a bit dangerously close to the intro of the last song, however, in that, while it's not badly sung, it's still a jokey song that can wear out its novelty value with regular rotations. It's called "Wash Your Ass" and it's a collection of amusing anecdotes and complaints about people with poor hygiene.

Both songs are straight off the album, but the 12" does also include both instrumentals. That's nice for "This Is for the Convicts" just because it's a dope track, but even better for "Wash Your Ass," because at this point, it's the preferable way for me to listen to this song. If any of the less original producers out there would like to jack this beat and repurpose it for a more straight-forward acappella, I wouldn't be adverse. Either way, though, this is a nice, underrated 12" that deserves a little appreciation.

Better Late Than Never, Right?

There's only one reason I wasn't right on top of this album with a blog post the minute it dropped - I wasn't blogging back than. But really, this is the kind of album this blog was made for. Mikey D and the LA Posse released several kick-ass singles in the late 80's. They're highly regarded now for their production by the late, great Paul C; but Mikey himself was killing it, too. But label politics saw them switching labels even between 12" releases; and the full-length album they recorded for Sleeping Bag Records never got to see the light of day. Until, finally, in 2006, MicSic Recordings finally gave it a new title, Better Late Than Never (In Memory of Paul C), and a proper CD release; and man, the wait was sure worth it.

[A quick aside: the LA Posse is not actually named for Los Angeles, but Laurelton, where Mikey is from in Queens, NY. There's no relation to the LA Posse from Cali, though interestingly, both had strong ties to LL Cool J in the late 80's - Mikey dissed him as a rival, and Big Dad and Muffla, the west coast LA Posse, produced LL's second album.]

So, yes, pretty much all the songs from the three well-known 12"s are here, B-sides included... The one exception is "Out Of Control." The B-side, "Comin' In the House," is here, but not the main track. I believe that's because "Out Of Control" is the one Mikey D and the LA Posse track not produced by Paul C. Remember, after all, Paul C wasn't just a producer on this like he was for many of hip-hop's strongest albums, this was actually his group. The LA Posse is Paul C and their DJ, Johnny Quest. Still though, that means six of the album's thirteen tracks have been released before; and the last one is more of a "shout outs" joint, though it's still pretty fresh musically. So only half the album will be "new" to listeners. But that's to be expected, because after all, this is the long-lost album those singles were meant to be from... and anyway, those songs are classics - can you ever really be mad at "My Telephone?"

This is a great album - heads would've loved it if it came out at the time, and they should love it just as much now. The production is banging, and Mikey D walks an amazingly thin line of being hard and fun at the same time ("AIDS is in effect; you ain't on my jock, you're on my rubber"). The only possible concern for this album is that maybe, with all the singles, we'd heard the all the best and the rest would just be filler. But that's definitely not the case; the "new" songs live up tot he impossible standards of the 12"s. In fact, the opening track, "Taking No Shorts," might just replace all previously released material as your favorite song from the crew.

I wonder, though, how different this album would've been had it been released when it was supposed to've come out. I mean, it obviously would've had a different title and cover, but more importantly... I'm not so sure if those singles put out on Public Records would've made it onto a Sleeping Bag album. Would it possibly have had a few more non-Paul C produced cuts instead? Was it ever fully completed, and could there be more songs recorded for this album that still haven't come out, left out for the same reason "Out Of Control" was? Sure Paul C tracks > non-Paul C tracks, but I dog "Out Of Control" and would love to find out if there was anything else left that could be released in 2011.

Regardless, did ya notice back in the first paragraph how I called this a "proper CD release?" Yeah, that's because, tragically, this was never put out on wax. But MicSic did at least meet us halfway, by putting out a 12" vinyl single of two of the exclusive album tracks, "Taking No Shorts" and "Party Time," which includes the instrumentals. So, vinyl heads had to just suck it up and buy the CD... but I bet it's one of their favorite CDs they got. And if didn't pick it up at the time, hey, better late than never. :)

Buck 65, Live and In Private

These Buck 65 tour CDs are downright addictive. This one, 2008's I Dream of Love: Live and In Private, is, as its name already makes pretty clear, a live album. It's one of several tour-only CDs he sold on the road promoting his Situation album, including two I've already written about here and here*. It wasn't recorded on the road, though; it's a set played in a recording studio (hence the "in private") specifically for this disc.

So, it features a nice selection of tracks, like "Bandits," "Heather Nights" and "Roses & Bluejays." No, this is not the same live version of "Roses and Bluejays" that was on his Boy/Girl Fight! CD I wrote about earlier in the week... but you'd have to be a hardcore fan with your ear to the speaker to notice the difference. The most noticeable distinction is he ad-libs a bit at the end, singing, "Johnny, why don't you come on home;" but apart from that, they're both pretty similar and neither really stray from the original album version.

And that note there pretty much summarizes the whole album... live recordings of songs he's released before that sound very similar to - but just not quite as good as - the original album versions. When I popped this in for the first time, I was beginning to think I'd wasted my money - only the most die-hard fan, the collector who has to have every bit of memorabilia with Buck's name attached to it, would have much use for this. At least Porch featured Buck's songs filtered through another artist's style, giving us something new. This, while entirely listenable taken out of context of the rest of his catalog - they are good songs performed by a talented artist, after all - is just like a weak knock-off of the originals; a collection you'd buy from some shady street vendor if you couldn't afford the proper albums.

You might point out, hey, a few of these mixes sound pretty different from the originals - like "Pants On Fire." Sure, but fans more intimately familiar with his catalog will recognize that this is different from the version he made the video for, but it's essentially just a replay of the "countrier" version he put on This Right Here Is Buck 65. The "Phil Remix" is just a live replay of the "Philevator" remix on Boy/Girl Fight!

The only real addition is a few spoken ad-libs between songs ("alright, lovers, I got one more and I'm going to bed"). These are very brief, though, so you're really not missing anything. What's more, on one song he warns us, "I gotta be careful; this one makes me cry sometimes." As a die-hard, life-long dedicated hip-hop lover, I hate to downplay the potential emotional impact of a really good rap song, but bullshit! What phony, ostentatious drivel. It's not even the one he wrote for his mother or anything; it's just "Out of Focus." So he's saying "I go under the blouse and grope for the breast" (that's the hook) makes him cry? Honestly, these exclusive, little soundbites don't do anything for the album.

It's only when you get to the very end of the album that you get anything worth the trouble of scoring this disc. One is a medley, titled simply "Medley," of a bunch of Buck songs (including, of course, "Centaur") blended into something you at least haven't heard before. It's short (three and a half minutes), and basically takes verses and hooks from several of his hits and plays them to one, new instrumental. Unfortunately, it's not one of his better instrumentals, and the various bits and pieces don't really fit together into anything too cohesive, or match will with the new beat. It's interesting, though, and hey - at least it's new.

Finally, there's a remix of "'65 Buick," which I don't think has been released before in any capacity. It's a fun, autobiographical tune, and it sounds very different than the original version from Synesthia. Not just different, but better. Now, this is more like it! But unfortunately, it's also the last song on the album.

Now, this CD has been restocked in some online shops recently (Strange Famous, Fifth Element), so it's available if you want it. The thing you have to decide for yourself is whether you're a big enough fan to order it for just one song (and possibly the curiosity value of "Medley"). At least you're going in with more information now than I had when I paid a bit more for a second-hand copy. :/

*The fourth one is Cretin Hip-Hop, which I probably won't be bothering with, since it's just a mixCD (by Skratch Bastid). Apparently it does feature a few exclusive bits, however.

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.)