Nobody Ever Talks About Warp 9

I used to love Warp 9 as a kid, but these days they seem to have been completely memory-holed.  I guess that's because they made more break dance music than strictly Hip-Hop.  But I dug that stuff, too, and I used to play their tape to death.  And honestly, they did both.  There are songs where they're straight-up rapping, the DJ's cutting... sure, it's electro disco-era stuff.  This is not made from the staple two turntables and a microphone, and you weren't checking for their MC's skills.  Even for 1983, nobody would put them alongside the Grandmasters Caz or Melle Mel.  And they're not delivering a serious "Message."  It's just a fun, "we're chilling the most" good time music, somewhere in between Break Machine and Newcleus.  In fact, if you appreciate Space Is the Place, you'd be totally in It's a Beat Wave.

And we'll get to Fade In, Fade Out, but It's a Beat Wave is what it's all about.  It's so good.  Every song on this album was a single!  These guys were a studio group, put together by their label like Timex Social Club, but their stuff is really well done, and pretty versatile.  Connie Cosmos, Dr. Space and Mr. C (not that Mister Cee) on the turntables.  The production on "Nunk (New Wave Funk)" is a killer, with a little help from Jellybean.  "Beat Wave" and "Master Of the Mix" are my favorites, if only for being the most straight rappy cuts.  I think Connie actually left after "Nunk" and it's a new girl, Ada, on the rest of this album.  But she sounds real cool rapping on "Beat Wave" regardless.  "Master Of the Mix" is all about the DJ skills, and no, the cuts aren't amazing.  But this was the era of "Rockit," well transformer scratches were invented, so this was about all you could hope for.  The fact that they put scratches up front at all was exciting.

"Light Years Away" is low-key pretty fresh, with a spacey vibe, their most Newcleus-y song, even dropping in a vocoder to deliver some words from the future towards the end.  But the songs on side 2 definitely got lighter and a little more mainstream pop.  "No Man Is an Island" is easily my least favorite, basically a flat out disco song, but it's still upbeat and catchy with a zippy little breakdown.  It's all well crafted.  But honestly, half the time I would just rewind side 1 back and give the side 2 stuff a pass.

But yeah, the second album was a disappointment.  They basically pulled a Whistle, who lost their main rapper guy, then later their DJ, and just carried on with the singers.  In this case, Ada left and the other guy took a back seat (he's just credited with Additional Background Vocals along with five other people now) for a new female singer, leaving the new official line-up of Warp 9 to be Katherine & Chuck.  I think you're meant to see those two on the cover with the shadowy drummer figure in the background and assume it's the same trio, but it's all different now.  Three years had passed since their 1983 album and they'd switched labels from Prism to Motown, too.  The older white couple who produced the group (Lottie Golden and Richard Sher) stayed the same across the album, but otherwise Warp 9 was just a totally new beast on a totally different vibe.

It's not bad, mind you.  The music is still well produced (I spotted The Sugarhill Band's Doug Wimbish playing bass in the album credits) and the new pair could still sing.  But they're just aiming for a sappier, duller R&B thing.  Their one single, "Skips a Beat" is probably the best song, that or "Big Fun."  The rest is pretty boring.  "The Cutting Edge" has a cool, little breakdown, but you can tell the musicians are on more of a rock vibe.  "King of Hearts" straight up sucks.  But otherwise, you could totally bop along to this in your car on the commute to work.

Apparently, I wasn't alone in being disappointed.  Fade In, Fade Out was the end of Warp 9.  Everybody went on to other projects in the music industry, though.  After all, it was a studio group.  But nothing else really Hip-Hop.  I wish we could've gotten a couple more "Beat Waves" while they were in that sweet spot, but I can at least hang onto what they did give us.

Saukrates Says Freeze

(Unreleased, unheard Saukrates music from the late 90s, courtesy of a(n admittedly unwitting) rap publication legend!  Check out The Underground Vault here.  And Dig Mag here.  Youtube version is here.)

Contemporary Rhythmic American Poetry

Last year, when I had a little technical problem with the Brandon B CD I was reviewing, he was good enough to not just send me a replacement copy, but hit me off with a CD of his first album, Rhythmic American Poetry, from 2018.  Of course, when I say first album, I mean as a solo artist, because of course he's had plenty of albums as a member of different Gurp City groups like The Yole Boys and Official Spill, actually going all the way back to Supermarket with their famous, underground Dump Koch album in 1996.  So the history goes way back.  But lately he's been striking out more on his own as well.

The title of course comes from The D.O.C.'s "The Formula," where he devised the perfect acronym for rap.  And if you're familiar with Brandon, you know he's not just the MC but the producer.  So this album is essentially all him, albeit with a healthy helping of guest spots, from those you'd expect and even someone you wouldn't.  Luke Sick, yeah, he's on here, as well as fellow Trunk Dank member Eddie K.  And Z-Man appears twice.  Official Spill's Dev Rambis is also here, Philo from The Flood, Jaymorg, fellow Gurp MC TopR and DJ Quest.  So those're all the usual crew guys you'd expect.  And Equipto, who's been collaborating a lot with these guys.  And production-wise he's got some help from DJ Eons One, Brycon, Elliot Lanam, Philo and somebody named Uncle Buck.  That's a lot of people to call an album "all him," but Brandon still manages to make this feel like a distinctly personal project.

I mean, nobody bridges the gap from early Electro-Hop to the classic 90's 4-track era like Brandon.  This is the direction Gen Z should've taken Hip-Hop, instead of whatever they've done instead.  Hearing the intro track, "A Little Wine Cooler" on a new record is pretty mind blowing, and damn catchy.  Honestly, this album is a fat collection of highlights.  I was already familiar with the track "The American Riviera," a mellow anthem for his hometown he'd made a music video for.  It's super laid back and inviting.  I mean, hell, it makes me want to go there.  "Rhymes Too Funky (Live At the Pointe)" is a funky, upbeat posse cut, and yes it's a homage to Compton's Most Wanted's classic.  It has a different, more electric track; but if the adlibs didn't already bring the CMW version to mind, the ending where they cut up "man, fuck my neighbors" erases any doubt.

This album is full of vibes.  "Midday Wasted" sounds exactly like you'd expect from the title, "California Livin'" is a fun party record and "Dark Blue Camaro" owes its hook and its spirit to a classic Click joint.  My favorite, which is saying something on a packed project like this, is "It's Like Vegas."  It has a hype, old school dance vibe with big horns and some funky intoxicated vocals by TopR and Z-Man, "fuck a Motley Crew, we're the party crew; we'll sedate you with liquor and barbecue.  I may be on Adderall but I'm all for 'shrooms, and I'll do 'em both at once like some mom would do.  I'm armed with two, placin' all bets with cheaters 'cause I'm full of a lotta liters out in (Gurp City!).  A lotta pre-drinking before the weekend evenings.  Yes, I am recording in my forties drinking a forty, pouring another forty, yeah I'll tell 'em a story: about a culture with low self esteem, American dreams, veteran MCs with liver disease."  It's both celebratory and tragic with serious dance-in-your-chair energy all at the same time.

Oh, and didn't I promise a guest you wouldn't expect that?  Yeah, this album closes out with a banger called "Cash In Advance," which is at once smooth and high energy.  It's got a fast, funky groove that Brandon rides excellently.  And its hook?  Sung by Michael Marshall, the main vocalist of The Timex Social Club!  And damn, he sounds just as good now as he did in '86.  This album is a strong recommend, even if you're not sure about Brandon, give this album a chance and you will be.  And as of this writing there are still exactly 2 copies of the CD available on his bandcamp.  Get 'em!

New Jersey's Own Soul Kingz

First a little history.  The Soul Kings are an indie New Jersey crew fronted by MC Nicky Dee who were featured in The Source's Unsigned Hype column in 1990.  Dee put out a pretty obscure album called Rap So Hot It Will Make You Sweat under the name Soul King on Big City Records, before forming Soul King Productions, which was him and Hasskills.  The pair released an incredibly rare cassette-only album in 1993 called Trace Ya Stepz.  Online bios mention several other members, but it's basically those two on all of this stuff and on the album cover (the two girls on the ends are models).  Anyway, there was also a 12" single from that album in 1994, under the name Soul Kingz, that's been a minor grail for collectors.  For a more extensive history, and an interview with the Soul King himself, I highly recommend you read this blog post on TheGoldenEra.

That's the backstory.  Now, in 2016, Dope Folks put together an LP of tracks from Trace Ya Stepz, which they titled Guess Whooz Back, after one of the highlights from the album.  The Dope Folks release is meant to act as a companion piece - in addition to, rather than instead of - to the original 12", so they left those songs off.  That leaves us with nine hot tracks only previously available on that original '93 tape.

The first track is "Word To Ya Mutha," which features a funky guitar loop and a DJ cutting up Big Daddy Kane on the hook, but then it cuts out for a deeper, darker bassline driven track for the verses.  And it sets the tone for how these guys are coming right off the bat, "hittin' hard like a hammer, but not the Hammer that dance, though.  'Cause all that dancin' shit is for them niggaz that can't flow."  "Kick a Verse" is just a cool freestyle rhyme joint over the same basic instrumental as Master Ace's "Brooklyn Battles," but "Lovezs Runaway" is more than your typical token rap love song but a serious, socially conscious track about broken families.  "I'm Feelin' It" starts with the same sample as the Jazzy 5's "Jazzy Sensation," but slows it way down, then throws it out for a hardcore NWA-style beat.  They make up for what the lack in nuance by coming hard over great sample choices, though they cut loose a little on "Xtacsie," which uses that wacky little guitar loop from Roxanne Shante's "Knockin' Hiney" as they kick stories about their girls and clumsily sing on the hook.  Overall, it's a pretty rich, varied experience but with a consistent vibe from the duo.

Still, Dope Folks had to shave off a couple album tracks to fit everything they could onto a single record.  Four of those were just little intro skits, which add to the experience but are no great loss.  But that also means another hot, full-length song was left exclusive to the original tape.  "Grab the Mic" is a wild, hardcore track full of high pitch whistles and constant scratching as Hasskills lays down a challenge to his fellow producers, "reppin' beats from the 60s and the 70s, too.  Too smooth for words so you can't compare or get near, so why even dare come out your face with your played out breaks?  Why don't you try a little originality?  Everybody knows your beats come from Music Factory.  It's no mystery, check your rap history, some beats are classic like 'Impeach the President' and 'Substitution.'  But that's no excuse for you to keep usin' em.  But that's another lesson, so I'ma cut this short.  Too smooth for words and I'ma tear shit up."  I'm surprised Dope Folks chose this one to forgo, because it's tighter than a bunch of the ones they chose.  I mean, the instrumentals tend to outshine the MCing on all these joints, but these guys always come tough enough to hang in there (I guess it should be no surprise that the production is the star of the show on an album by Soul King Productions).  And they really shine when they're angry and have something to say, like on this one, where the beats and rhymes are both batting a thousand.

And I say it "was left exclusive" because now Hip-Hop Enterprise has come out with a Trace Ya Stepz CD, with everything from the original tape: "Grab the Mic," the intros and all four 12" tracks, including the B-sides that weren't even on the original tape.  One is a remix, the Jeep Mix (Beat Squad Jointe) of the title track "Trace Ya Stepz," which is a cool alternative with a groovier bassline.  But the other is a bigger deal: the angry music biz salvo "The -N-tertainer" the Nicky describes in his interview.  The way it's written on the 12" label and how it's listed on discogs makes it seem like it's another version of "Catch Wreck," but it's not.  It's a completely separate, dope ass song, based on his frustrations with the Rap So Hot release.

So vinyl heads can combine the Dope Folks with the original 12" to get most of this.  But the Hip-Hop Enterprises release is the only truly definitive collection with all the Soul King Production songs, though of course it's CD only.  But at least we have options.  The Dope Folks is limited to 300 copies (50 on red wax and 250 on standard black) and the CD is limited to 350; but both are still available from their labels as of this writing.

Now it might be fun if somebody reissues that Rap So Hot album.  Apparently it includes the songs that got them into Unsigned Hype in the first place.