Red Guerillaz Fam

Today I want to talk about the Red Guerillaz.  Nobody ever talks about them, but pretty much everybody who was paying attention at the time thinks highly of their record.  They're like an underground one-hit wonder.  They came out hot in 2000, but no follow-up and the question never even gets raised.  To be fair, though, I can see why.  Their record is a 2-song 12" and both songs feature Lord Digga, and one also features Lord Have Mercy.  Everybody bought the record because of them, and it's easier to think of this as a Lord Digga and Friends record.  But it's not, and damn it, I'm curious about the RGZ.

Not that there's a lot of information to be found; this is going to be a fairly shallow dive in that regard.  The Red Guerillaz are from Brooklyn, obviously, and when their record dropped they were marketed as extended family of the Flipmode Squad camp, which would explain the LHM appearance.  Honestly, most of what I've been able to glean about these guys just comes from having the record and a brief mention in his One Leg Up interview, where Digga explained he was an "honorary member" of the group.  Unfortunately, he doesn't elaborate much, because the question wasn't really about them.  So what can we tell from the record itself?

Well, first of all, it's obvious there are two MCs rapping on these songs besides Digga and Mercy, and there's their producer Steamrolla.  This is his only record, so I'm assuming he was a member and not just someone who happened to produce their record.  I'd say I'm surprised he didn't do more, because this again, this is a hot record, but apparently he's had trouble staying on the outside.  He's back now, though, making beats and AI graphic design under the name Menace.  And now, if we look at the writing credits and remove the three names we recognize, we can deduce that the two MCs real names are A. Rose and R. Antonine.  That's about all I got about them (though I did check, and no, they're not in the list of names that went down in Menace's 2018 crack dealing ring), so let's talk about the music.

I like that this 12" comes with two approaches.  The opening track is just a hardcore banger, playing up the homophone of guerillaz vs gorillas.  "King Kong Niggaz" is just boasting how hard they are while working that gorilla metaphor: "cock back biscuits, murder off diskettes, something that you never forget like Joe Nam' in the '69 Jets.  We the best, place ya bets, fuck the rest.  If we ain't steamin' trees, we're beatin' on our chests through our vests; you can't test."  But the best part is heralded by a vocal sample of Roddy McDowell in Conquest Of the Planet Of the Apes (that's Part 4 for you normies) teeing up Lord Have Mercy to drop one of the best appearances of his career.  His deep, gritty voice is just perfect for this track, which is a sharp contrast between high strings and deep, thudding bass notes, not to mention this aggressive gorilla grunting, which I'm pretty sure he's done himself on another track.

So that's the crowd-pleasing introduction, then follows that up with some more serious social commentary.  "Rosewood" is surely inspired by John Singleton's then recent 1997 film, though it actually opens with a vocal sample from Menace II Society.  It has a more orchestral loop and makes a simple metaphor to compare modern day New York to the infamous massacre of the 1920s: "for this paper we thirst, and name brand labels printed on our shirts.  Bitches in short skirts and niggas that don't wanna work.  Life is full of hurt.  If you ain't runnin' from the Ku Klux, niggas'll stick you for two bucks.  In this land, nobody gives a fuck 'cause we killin' over paper, but in God we trust.  And it makes no sense: the root of all evil gave birth to jealousy that has spread throughout my people, divided us in half, and now we not equals."  Come on, how did we not get anymore records from these guys!?

If I was running one of those Hip-Hop Enterprises labels, I would reach out to Menace and see if he's got anymore unreleased Red Guerillaz recordings, or even any other vintage Brooklyn rappers he might've worked with.  But at least we've got this one single.  It comes in a sticker cover, and includes Dirty, Clean and Guerillamental versions of both songs.

The Original Nerdcore Rapper?

(Let's look at a sillier record than usual for April Fool's Day: "What Is Love" by Mac the Rapper.  Youtube version is here.)

Come On, Toots, His Name Is the Prince!

(Why yes, I did call the DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince 900 number as a kid!  Youtube version is here.)

Professor Griff Vs. Cult Jam

Today's record - or in this case, cassingle; but there is a 12" version, too - is "Jail Sale," by Professor Griff from 1991.  It's the lead single off his second album on Luke Records, Kao's II Wiz *7* Dome.  I've always been a fan of Griff as a rapper ever since he was under-utilized in PE.  Chuck had his distinctive, booming vocal tone, and of course Flav was doing whatever it is that he does.  And that combo obviously worked like gangbusters, but sometimes I felt the need for just a regular voice in the mix.  So when they'd briefly slip him onto "Night Of the Living Bassheads" or something, he sounded really dope to me.  Then, when his first album came out, he stepped aside so much for his Last Asiatic Disciples that it felt like the label was signing him for the controversy and association with PE, but were concerned rapping wasn't really his strong suit.  So it was really satisfying when he finally came back with a proper solo album, and nailed it on this single.

"Jail Sale" is a pretty killer record about the prison industrial complex: "Brothers watch ya back; I'm tellin' ya, they after ya.  They sayin' you steal, but who stole you from Africa?  ...Justice has never been definable.  A brother with a mind will be locked up for simple technicalities.  Legality's one thing, justice is another; conflicts and complications always bar a brother.  Captivation, a lack of patience in relations to the Nubian nation; it's time for black legislation.  I'm locked but they still call me free; I got twenty-five to life for being a brother simply living life realistically."  Produced by Griff and his Soul Society, it's got that busy PE-inspired production style where a bunch of samples are mashed together, though that deep bassline is apparently being played live by someone named James Magnolia.  They're also constantly scratching up the phrase "call the cops," which was a recurring motif that ran through the whole album.

Famously, you can always get up Griff for a few of the things he says.  On this record he says "90% of the prison population is black," something he also ran in giant letters across the screen in the music video.  And that wasn't true then or now.  I believe that's what the kids today would call a "vibes-based metric."  The real numbers seem to be more like 46% in 1991 and 33% now.  So he's way off there.  But he's also right in the most crucial sense that 46, and even 33, percent represents a significant over-representation of African Americans relative to the US population, pointing to a serious anti-black bias in our criminal justice system, which is the whole damn point.

Anyway, the B-side is actually what got me thinking about this single again in the first place.  If you follow me on Twitter and/ or Bluesky, you know I recently watched Logic's debut film, Paradise Records.  And there's a scene where - actually 60-70% of the movie is - him and his buddy talking about he yearns to say "the N word" despite only being half-black, or as he puts it "incognegro."  When his buddy asks him what the heck that means, he's like, "it's actually this phrase I coined for a nigga who looks white."  And I was like you coined?  That's actually a whole-ass Professor Griff song!  Googling it, I see it's also the title of a DC Comics' graphic novel and a Ludacris album.  But Griff came first, and that's where I remember it from.  Although he actually spells it "In Cog Negrow," because in the 90s, the whole PE crew steered hard into titling everything in leetspeak (Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age, Disturb N tha Peace, etc). 

The term meant pretty much the same thing back then as it does now, but Griff gives it a much more negative connotation: "ask a brother if his color's of pure mix, he's quick to explain how he's black but born mixed.  'Free Mandela' you yelled on the street blocks, fake ass faggot sportin' apartheid Reebox.  God will take the head of an Oreo.  Y'all snakes in black hidin' incognegro."  So it's tempting to joke about how we shouldn't leave Logic and Griff alone in a room together, but I think it's clear Griff is speaking about being impure on an ideological level, while Logic just means his literal ancestry.  Though Griff's still talking pretty wild on this one, don't get me wrong.  I don't defend everything the man says.

Anyway, "In Cog Negrow"'s kind of a slow track with a catchy but over familiar "Jungle Boogie" loop that ultimately makes it feel more like disposable album filler compared to "Jail Sale."  That makes the other B-side so much more interesting.

Actually, my copy you see above is the basic cassingle, but the maxi-single version, plus the 12" and CDS include an exclusive non-album B-side: the "Jail Sale (Dance Mix)" by Felix Sama!  Yeah, "Jail Sale" is just about the last song you'd expect to get an up-tempo dance extension, but here it is.  Lyrically, Griff is still going off on the "justified genocide," and he even ads some additional adlibs at the end, concluding with, "I want you all to know, the biggest jail cell is America, the United Snakes of America."  But now it's set to the instrumental of "Let the Beat Hit Em" by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam.  It's got a cool "Looking At the Front Door" vibe, because both of those records use the same sample, but Cult Jam and Sama's usage is more on the club tip.  And maybe that's why this exists.  I'm sure Luke Records had a ton of connections with Miami DJs and promoters; I can just imagine them begging, "come on, Griff, we've gotta give these guys something they can play!"

But I love the fact that this doesn't compromise by cutting out any of verses or anything.  I would've loved hearing them drop that "handcuffs could never contain!" vocal sample in a nightclub in the '90s.  Obviously, I love the strictly hardcore, dirty street level shit, but there can be a real magic when raw Hip-Hip vocals are merged with poppier rap music.  You know, you've got Griff going off, "spendin' time writing appeals ain't nothing but pen strokes, and boot lickin' niggas are immitatin' white folks" over these MTV keyboards.  It's like when Lakim Shabazz made a house song or Yah Yah recorded with those 5th Lmnt dudes.

It's worth noting that the promo version of the 12" also has an exclusive dub and an additional radio edit of the Dance Mix, which edits it down by about two minutes, which is actually probably the ideal length, since the full length version is content to let the beat ride for some pretty long, boring stretches.  On the other hand, it edits out the small number of curse words from Griff's lyrics, so that's annoying.  It also censors the non-dance version.  And only the retail version (plus, as you can see above, the tape) come in the picture cover.  So it's a bit of a trade off.

Father's Deadly Venom

Another new year and time again to cover another exciting point in Father MC's career... but are there any left?  Man, you're ding-dong right there are!!  And today we're going to take it back to 1995, when he was simply going by Father and his Uptown days were a couple years behind him.  This is when he released those weird, dueling Sexual Playground/ This Is 4 the Players albums on different independent labels.  So this was easily the most high profile thing he did at that time: producing, writing and featuring on N-Tyce's single "Sure Ya Right."

So, a quick run-down of N-Tyce's career: she started out as MC Spice, dissing The Real Roxanne in 1989.  Then she changed her name to N-Tyce and released a series of singles on Wild Pitch Records, starting with the tight "Black To the Point" in 1990.  Unfortunately, after that, she softened up.  I remember thinking her single "Walk a Little Closer" sounded like a Monie Love crossover record minus the accent.  She got some attention in 1993 though with an early Wu-Tang collaboration on her single "Hush Hush Tip" which was produced by 4th Disciple, written by RZA and had Method Man on the hook just when everybody was super excited to hear anything from the Wu.

Then this single with Father was her final one for Wild Pitch.  The back cover promised an upcoming album called Single File, but that never came out.  But it turned out she was just transitioning to another phase in her career, because she parlayed that RZA connection into a full on membership to Deadly Venoms, the official Wu-Tang girl group, which struggled to really take off, but released some interesting things throughout the latter half of the 90s.  Nick Wiz later dropped a bunch of unreleased recordings with her from the early 90s.

Unfortunately, this record is still in her soft phase.  Father has looped up "Outstanding" after only a million other rappers had used it: Blvd Mosse, Alliance, Rich Nice, Rob Base, Ice Cube, Paris...  Look, I like that sample, but by the time Shaquille O'Neal had put out his "Outstanding," I don't think you could argue that it wasn't thoroughly played out.  Still, Father's like Rodney O & Joe Cooley, in that they're clearly lovers of the great soul records and love to keep making records out of the classics.  You can't be mad at it; they never fail to sound good even if they're not breaking any new ground.

So yeah, Father does the hook on here, like Meth did on "Hush Hush Tip," but in this case he also drops his own verse, "it's time to ease up, squeeze up, get my game on.  Ain't nothing wrong if we get it on."  And maybe that's the only reason he gets a writing credit on this, but I suspect he had a hand or more in N-Tyce's lyrics, too.  Partially, because they're just his type of bragging/ relationship raps, and because she drops a pretty pointed Father MC reference, "you want a one nite stand (nahh, baby)?"  And his own line about "I've been watching you" is surely a nod to his single with Lady Kazan, so that seems to be his overarching concept here.  Although some of the subject matter, like "I be the chick known to cheat," is also a callback to N-Tyce's own earlier material (that's what "Hush Hush Tip"'s all about).

Perhaps because that "Outstanding" loop was so old hat, this single includes a couple of remixes.  There are instrumentals, an accapella and a shorter radio edit, but then two proper remixes with all new instrumentals.  The L.E.S. mix, produced by Queens' DJ L.E.S., is a cool, darker track that harkens more towards her Deadly Venoms sound.  But unfortunately it totally clashes with the pop dating raps N-Tyce is trading with Father, so it really doesn't fit.  They also include the instrumental, so that's a nice little secret to keep in your crates if you're a DJ.  But as a version of "Sure Ya Right," it kinda blows.

Then there's the Eclipse Mix by, obviously, DJ Eclipse, and he shows he understands the nature of the project, delivery a more poppy, smooth track with a slick bassline and some catchy little horns.  Still, the original is better.  There's a reason Father sticks to the tried and true.  Eclipse tries to create something new, but it's hard to compete with giants.  So A-side wins here.  But, frankly, it's not all that in any variation.  N-Tyce was easily at her best when she wasn't writing for the mainstream R&B crowd, and I'm sorry to say it as a lifelong fan of his, but teaming up with Father was probably a mistake.  If she had shown some of that Deadly Venom flavor here, Single File probably would have turned up in stores nationwide.  But oh well, this was still an interesting and pretty high profile project for Father at the time.

Santa Ain't Comin' for Christmas

It's that time of year again...  Yes, the citrus harvest!  This is the peak harvest time for citrus fruits like clementines and tangerines in many subtropical regions around the world, and boy am I excited!  Aren't you?  Oh, and also it's Christmas.  So let's see what Santa's hung in our stocking this year.  ((rummage, rummage))  Ah, this is a weird one.  "Santa Ain't Comin'" by James Stephens III.

This is a 1992ish CD single on Black Orchid Records, a small California label, probably best known for making the OJ Simpson-related novelty record "Don't Squeeze the Juice."  James Stephens III is actually a stand-up comic who bills himself as "the man of 1000 voices."  He's a distinctly Christian comic who incorporates a lot of musical impressions in his act, so it makes sense that he would release a musical comedy single like this.  Except... is this actually intended as comedy?

You can gather from the bright red "DRUGS KILL COMMUNITIES" logo on the front cover that this has a serious message.  The general idea that Santa isn't coming to drug-addled, poverty stricken communities feels like it might have more in common with straight-faced Christmas rap records, like MCM's "X-Maz N-the-Hood."  And there's a message from Stephens on the back cover supporting this, "Drugs have weakened the Nations' Foundation. We must do whatever we can to eradicate the problem.  Through comedy and music I have chosen to be a positive influence in the world."  Well, alright, let's dig in.

The song starts out with some "Jingle Bells" set to a Hip-Hop beat.  And James comes in hard about Santa Claus not coming to town.  "Rudolph jammin' on the mobile phone; he called Santa Claus, but he's not at home!  ...Jingle, jingle, jingle for some change in the street.  Homeless people wantin' food to eat.  Santa Claus ain't comin'!"  So yeah, I guess it's mostly serious, but then they'll arbitrarily stop to sing a bar of "Frost the Snowman" mid-song.  Frankly, it's a weird one.  He doesn't make use of his 1,000 voices until the end of the song, when he suddenly shouts out, "Stevie Wonder!" and breaks out an impression.

There are actually several versions on this single.  But apart from the Instrumental Groove, they're all just minor variations on each other.  On one version, the bass doesn't kick in right away.  On another he sings along with the "Jingle Bells" keyboard opening riff.  And the track itself, apart from the Christmas carol cheese... actually isn't so bad.  Sometimes, with weird novelty and off-brand rap records like these, you're lucky to find someone who knows how to program a drum loop.  But this one's actually reasonably well produced.

Who handled the music?  well, the liner notes alternatively credit "Cory D. Williams," "Cory Dee" and "Cory Dee Williams."  Does Corey Dee Williams sound familiar?  You're probably thinking of cult actor Billy Dee Williams.  And yes, Corey is Billy Dee's son!  He played Klaatu in Return Of the Jedi - they even made an action figure out of him[pictured, right].

How can I be confident this is the same Cory, even when he spells his name differently in different places?  Because Stephens self-produced a music video for this song [seriously, click that link], and Billy Dee is in it, reading scripture.  Cuba Gooding Jr's there, too, delivering a big speech rejecting a drug dealer before the song starts.  It's an elaborate production that doubles the length of the song itself, basically playing as a spin on Dickens' Christmas Carol.

If that's not enough, there's a B-side, also by Stephens and producer Williams.  It's even less of a novelty tune, though.  It's a pretty straight-forward R&B holiday ode to Jesus called "Away In a Manger."  The liner notes also credit Stephens with a rap, but it's really a more traditional spoken word interlude about Jesus's birth.  There's really nothing silly or comic about this one at all.

Back For the Disflex.6

I said in my last post that I was compelled to write another one about Disflex 6 and, uh, welcome to it.  The first things to know about the Disflex 6 is that they're an underground San Francisco crew and there isn't six of 'em.  The name comes from a pun.  It's pronounced like "dyslexics" and they flex their skills... get it?  Don't worry; their music isn't as corny and irritating as that.  They're actually quite dope, especially if you appreciate west coast backpacker stuff.

So there's officially two members: Lazerus Jackson and Jason the Argonaut, but it's a little more complicated than that.  Like, discogs lists three members, also including Elon.Is, who's more of (exclusively?) a producer, who's worked on a bunch of their stuff.  You might recall me writing about his albums with Z-Man many moons ago.  Well, all three - Laz, Jason and Elon, that is, not Z - were part of a larger collective called The Sunset Leagues, and they all constantly worked together.  And by the logic of including sometimes producer Elon, their DJ Capsize could arguably be considered a member of D6, too.  Even the particular single we're going to look at today features different iterations of the group.

Yeah, I lamented not collecting their catalog over the years, but I do have something else by them: this nice little "double A side" 7" from 2003.  The first song, "Trunk," is credited to Disflex 6 on this, but technically it's from Jason the Argonaut's solo album, Keyboard To Life.  It's one of two songs on there that feature Lazerus Jackson, though, so you get the logic of calling it a Disflex track.  Then the second song is credited to PBS, because that group is the duo of Lazerus and Mercury, another Sunset Leaguer.  It wound up being included on their 2004 album, War of Art.

"Trunk" starts out by rubbing in a pitched down clip of Freestyle Fellowship's "Physical Form" ("terrorize the localized clockwise politics to unfix six") before kicking off proper.  Both MCs sound great on this, but as with "Electrolights," it's Lazerus's nasal voice and quick rhymes that really steals the show: "bumpin' up rickety blocks on empty locks with a recordable CD skippin' off low shocks."  It's got a herky jerky bassline that sounds like a chopped cello loop with and an Egyptian ney or something playing over it.  I dig it.

The PBS track's even better though.  It's called "Blackhawk Down," and what sets it apart is that its lyrics are really compelling, not just the vocal style and delivery.  The title's not just a tough sounding Ridley Scott reference, the song is literally about the battle of Mogadishu.  Mercury (who also produced this one) vividly sets the stage, "it's all bad, rangers on the ground dying, rounds flying; another puppet dictator stepped outta line and now it's time to take him out.  Call the special ops in.  Faulty facts stormin' through some medical offices.  No General Aidid, just shots of sniper fire, hostile personnel sparkin' live wire, creeping like a spider."  Then Lazerus makes it personal:

"I'm unskilled, untrained and fifteen,
But I'll put your dead body in a Time Magazine.
This is a war, not a police action,
Yet you're the ones thievin'.  What's the reason for the blastin'?
You took a thousand of mine,
I'm sending nineteen back in boxes.
These horsemen hunt foxes.
United Nations?  Nah, fuck 'em,
That's an old puppet construct.  My conduct will duck 'em.
You're not the first, you're not the last neither;
And best believe some of your special force men catch a neck breather."

I was not expecting things to get that real the first time I played this record.  The one down side is, as you may've noticed if you looked closely at my label scan above, this single gives us the Censored versions.  Makes sense if they were giving it out for radio play or something, but that's still always a bummer.  Still, there's only like one curse on each track, so it doesn't really spoil anything.

On the plus side, both the albums were CD-only, so this single is the only way to get these songs on vinyl.  And it has both Instrumental versions, which are exclusive.  This was a limited edition of 500 copies, but you can still find it cheap to this day.

Who Else Remembers The Persuasion of Art?

"thePERSUASIONofART is a fact of life in an underground artist's lifestyle. They are forever on this quest to persuade these mind mangled public consumers of their art which in today's day and age is manipulated by advertising saturation..."

That's the opening to the liner notes of The Persuasion of Art, a 90s left coast compilation that's never been long out of my mind.  And revisiting it the other has made me realize this is a true, underground classic, on par with Beneath the Surface, Project Blowed and Evil Cow Burger, even if it never received that level of recognition.  I assume the title is a play on the phrase the art of persuasion; it's been the title of a few songs, and a book of that title had just come out the previous year.  The Persuasion's a cassette-only release that came out in 1999 on a label called Toiletworldwide - their only release.  Toiletworldwide was a small t-shirt and hat company based out of Redondo Beach in LA.  I'm not sure who ran it, but presumably somebody associated with the LA scene in order to assemble this impressive roster of artists.

Every song on here is an exclusive except the opening track, "Where the Sidewalk Ends Pt. 1" by Jizzm High Definition, which was also included on his Archives album (where it's subtitled "An Ensenada Story"), which came out the same year.  Honestly, I can't remember anymore which came out first.  But it has a catchy piano loop supported by a phat live bassline (credited to "Alex and Justin"), which, when coupled with Jizzm's deep voice, is instantly addictive.

And indeed, that addictive quality is a strong factor in a number of songs on this album, particularly the second song "ElectroLights" by Disflex 6.  They've got a real ear-worm of a sample, perfectly matched with a funky, staccato flow and scratchy voices that I would just put on repeat over and over again.  And their DJ Capsize really knows how to blend his scratches into the music.  These guys sound incredible and I seriously regret not copping more of their projects back in the days.  I'm gonna have to write a whole 'nother post about 'em very soon.

Who else is on here?  Well, speaking of Project Blowed, Abstract Rude has a track on here called "Our Guide," with a moody, very-live sounding instrumental produced by Fat Jack.  Not to go too far off on a tangent, but it features adlibs by somebody named Lil' Aaron, which discogs links to a house DJ who's been playing since 1993, but the Aaron on here is Rude's little cousin and clearly a very small child.

And speaking of Beneath the Surface and Evil Cow Burger, also on here are the Shape Shifters.  It's essentially a massive seven and a half minute posse cut.  But there are no guests; it's just all the members: the original four, plus later members like LifeRexall and Bleek.  It's as crazy as its title "Appocapalooza" suggests (ending with Circus ranting about alien abduction), with one of those tracks where the instrumental adjusts for each MC.  But it's all underscored by a persistent, live stand-up bass (credited to Regraf-lu-Art) that made for another song I would rock on repeat.

Oh, and also from Beneath the Surface and Project Blowed is the Global Phlowtations crew.  I guess they've been a pretty big collective at times, but this song basically just has main members Adlib and Zagu Brown along with somebody named Phlave.  Their song might be something they had sitting on the shelf for a bit, since they mention '97 at the top.  But it's a tightly produced track (also by Zagu) with some distinctive percussion, and they rock it.

The group that probably sold me the most on buying this compilation is Animal Pharm.  At that time, I was super in love with their Pharmaceuticals and Brink EPs, and was just dying for them to release more content.  Unfortunately, they only released one more single before breaking up.  So it was a big deal that they had a new track on here, even though it's not one of my favorites.  Panda and Statik sound good, but the lyrics aren't particularly interesting, the instrumental's kinda meh and the scratching is so subtle you barely notice it.  I mean, actually listening to it now, it's funkier than I typically remember it as being, but nothing special - just a decent mid-album track.

You want still more noteworthy names?  The Living Legends crew is represented here by 3 Melancholy Gypsies (Eligh, Murs and Scarub).  And you might remember me writing about Gurp City MC TopR.  Well, his original crew The Earthlings have a song on this.  Like basically everybody you used to see on Atak in their heyday: US Pros, The Daysmen Empire, The Cuf and Da Golden Ray, who was a part of the indie Highground super-group The Record Players with people like Young Joseph, Neila, Maleko and Deeskee.  To top it all off, there's a pair of DJ cuts, where it's just sick turntablism over tight beats.  Traditionally, it's been the hallmark of a great Hip-Hop album to have one of these on there; this one has two.

The Persuasion of Art is a yellow (yellow) tape that came in a full color fold-out J-card.  A CD had also been announced, and it was supposed to have additional songs by 2Mex and The Grouch, but unfortunately that never came out.  I wonder if those songs ever wound up on other projects or just exist somewhere in the Toiletworldwide vaults.  Oh well.  You can't really pour through this incredible litany of bangers and ask for any more than what we got.

Halloween In the Krazee House

(We take a look at some early figures in the horrorcore scene on this, the spookiest of days. Have yourselves a Krazee Halloween, gang! Youtube version is here.)

Slick Rick Is Victorious!

(Yes, MC Ricky D has a real, proper, actual new studio album out!  Also a little bit about Young Zee at the top.  Youtube version is here.)

The Mission Is To Find the A.R.A.B.S.!

Today I want to talk about a group I wish I knew more about, the A.R.A.B.S.  If you don't remember, this is the group Special Ed was coming out with after his Profile years.  He had a 12" with them in 1997 called "On Some Next Shit" on Sure Shot Recordings.  That was their only single, so you might think of and dismiss them as a real short-lived project; but Ed was still repping the name in '99 on his last single (to date) "We Come Back."  And when I say I wish I knew more about them, I mean just basic stuff, like who were they and what did A.R.A.B.S. even stand for.  But we do know a little, at least, so let's break it down.

Well, actually, since "On Some Next Shit" is essentially a B-side, let me quickly run through the A-side.  It's a pretty dope Special Ed solo track called "Think Twice," which is kind of a follow-up to his 1989 "Think About It," (the hook, "sucker MCs, please think twice" is a direct vocal sample from it).  It's produced by the original hitman, Howie Tee; and anyone disappointed by Still Magnificent (though I think that was better than many gave it credit for) could hear he had definitely never lost it.  "Think Twice" stands up perfectly alongside all his past career highlights.  It's a hard, not fucking around beat and Ed's pen game is as crazy as it ever was, mixing a no shorts taking hardcore stance with his playful wordplay and delivery.  DJ Akshun is still down; he's credited with the mix I'm not sure if it's him or Howie, but somebody's doing some nice scratches for the hook.

So, okay, flipping it over to the A.R.A.B.S.' side now.  It's a real grimy, subterranean kind of track, with Special Ed rhyming first, before passing it off to his crew.  It's a very street-themed number, but Ed's ingenious wit still comes through, "you believe you can fly?  I give you the window and the endo, and leave you to die.  Please nigga, just stop whining; try rhyming, or go sling krills.  Or take mad pills and don't eat, and go sleep.  First tell me about the money you keep on stash.  We go through trash to have cash."  Nobody gives any hints about their acronym, but they pronounce their name like "Ay-rabs" in the song, and refer to themselves as "Arabian thugs."

Now, just looking this up on discogs will tell us that the A.R.A.B.S. consists of Shills and Forty Love.  So what's the big mystery, you ask?  Well, you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to observe that there are six dudes in the photo on the label, six credited song writers and four rap verses in the song.  So I feel like those two aren't the complete line-up.  But let's start with who we do know.

Shills (T. Lloyd in the credits) came out with a solo single the same year called "Reality" on Dolla Cab Ent (another imprint on this "On Some Next Shit" 12").  That label is named after the Dolla Cal Labs, the production studio Special Ed set up in Brooklyn in the late 90s.  He's credited with adlibs on Ed's Revelations album; and we'll come back to those in a minute.  And later did a song called "Crooklyn" with Ed on a CD called Muskabeatz, which was sort of a weird compilation by some skateboarder guy who assembled a bunch of dope rappers over unimpressive production.  But most notably, Shills is better known today as Shillz da Realz.  You might've seen that name on a bunch of Thirstin Howl III and Rack Lo albums, because Shillz is an original member of the Lo-Lifes.  At one point, he was set to drop with an album called Bullpen Therapy that ultimately never came out.  But he's had a big online presence in the ensuing years.

Already these A.R.A.B.S. guys are sounding more interesting, right?  So okay, let's move onto Forty Love (D. Robinson in the credits).  This guy seems closer to Ed, appearing on more of his projects.  When you listen to "On Some Next Shit," he's the guy who puts on the grimy voice sounding like SuperNat from "Mind Tricks."  Forty actually goes back to the posse cut "5 Men and a Mic" on 1990's Legal.  You can here him with his natural voice back then.  He's still the gruffest dude on the track, the one who starts his verse with, "how many times must I pull the trigger?"  And he raps with his A.R.A.B.S. voice on Ed's next two albums Revelations ("Everyday Iza Gunshot") in 1995 and Still Magnificent ("Dying Young," also with Kurupt's brother Roscoe) in 2004.

So those two and Ed are the main guys we can be confident about.  When Tony Touch featured the A.R.A.B.S. on his Power Cypher, it was those three rapping.  Looking at the photo and the names in the credits, E. Archer is of course Ed, and that's him standing fourth from the left.  I honestly don't know who else is in the photo, but one other name I'm sure of in the writing credits is I. Hardy.  That's a guy named Big I, who produced "Million Dollar Juxes," the B-side to Shills' "Reality" single, and is also credited with some adlibs on Revelations.

Yeah, these Revelations adlibs are looking like a great line-up for likely A.R.A.B.S. suspects, so who else is there?  How about a guy named Big Moe?  40 actually gives him a name check in "On Some Next Shit," ("Big Moe hold me down, back up with the biscuit") so he's at least a close associate.  He also produced on a song on Special Ed's '99 single (un-coincidentally the one where Ed name-drops the A.R.A.B.S.), called "We Come Again."  There, it's spelled as Big Mo, and discogs tells us he's a part of Boogie Down Productions, but that's just a mix-up.  "We Come Again" says it's produced by Big Mo and Boogie Down Productions on the record label, because - it's obvious when you listen to it - the instrumental is lifted from the classic BDP 12" "South Bronx," with some keyboards or whatever played over it.  So they're just crediting BDP for that.  There's no way Big Moe and Big Mo are two different guys.  However, returning to the "On Some Next Shit" writing credits, nobody's name starts with M., so he may just be more of a Killah Priest in an A.R.A.B.S. to Wu-Tang analogy.

So what names are left?  Four are down, so we've just got two left over: K. Brunson and L. Caines.  The producer of this song is somebody named Law, another Revelations ad-libber.  So highly possible.  But here's where we start to run out of steam.  Going back to Revelations credits, we've got three more possibles in the adlibs.  The first name is pretty unlikely though, because we know who he is: Fi-Lo.  He's another member of the Lo-Lifes and even put out an album in 2009 called Keep Out Of the Reach of Children.  So it's possible he did some time as an official member of the A.R.A.B.S. - Shillz did - but I think we would've heard about it.  The only other two suspicious Revelations names are Guess and Ron da Don.  No idea who those guys are, although none of the remaining writing credits start with R, so I'd rule that last guy out.

At the end of the day, I'd say we've got: Special Ed obviously, Shills & 40 certainly, Big I & Law are certainly at least affiliates who worked on their record if not official members, and Big Moe is down.  That leaves maybe one mystery member, I've probably at least touched on above.  I tried looking up old Special Ed interviews, but no luck.  If anybody knows, leave a comment telling us what their name stood for.  And I'm absolutely wondering if there's an unreleased album.  If they had their own studio and Ed was repping them for at least two years, they must've at least recorded a bunch more tracks.  Maybe one of our excellent record label compadres that specialize in recovering unreleased 90's Hip-Hop could reach out to Ed or Akshun and press something up.  I'm sure it would be dope.

Oh, and also we've got to get our hands on the original version of "The Mission!"  💥