The Cellar Is Back Open, People!

Unlike my last post, I had absolutely nothing to do with this release, but I sure am excited for it!  No Sleep/ Gentleman's Relief Records long running Cellar Sounds series of rare and unreleased Nick Wiz productions is back, with the first new volume in over seven years.  Yeah, we recently had that mix CD, but now the series is really restarting, because to be clear, this is not another reissue or anything; Cellar Sounds Volume 6 is another 2-CD collection of 43 full, rare and unreleased tracks from 1992-2000 (with one 2010 bonus track I was quite happy about).

Let's run through the rarities before we get into the truly unreleased.  The first one I clocked was that both sides of UG's 2000 "Do U Know" 12" on Bronx Science are on here.  We get some more tracks from the very hard to find Lyricist Lounge tapes, including two of the "Cypha Sessions" (it's actually a real treat to get these remastered now), two songs from Pudgee's Angel Dust EP, F.O.D.'s "No More" and "Frontline," Main One's collaborative singles "Main Event" "Droppin' Gramma" & "Bring the Drama" 12"s, Gauge's "Insane," and so on.  The biggest surprise was seeing Shabaam Sahdeeq's Rawkus singles on here, "Arabian Nights" and "Every Rhyme I Write," oh and Mad Skillz' "Nod Factor" Remix, because those were relatively major releases.

Even if your collection is 100% thorough, and dismiss all of those as duplicates (color me impressed!), that still leaves 24 unreleased tracks by my count.  Some of these are remixes or "original versions" of released songs, like alternate mixes of N-Tyce's "Sure Ya Right" and Emskee's "Black Boys, Baseball Caps & Beepers."  There's an extended version of Pudgee's indie single "U Ain't Know" with DMX with a verse by Hostyle (of Screwball) that was cut off the release version.  Then a most of the rest are demos or songs recorded for unfinished projects, like a Moonie D (of FOD) solo joint or a fun promo song Madhouse recorded for the Wendy Williams Show.  Some of these demos are by guys who never came out, but Nick Wiz is a reliably consistent producer, so they're all tight.

A couple of my personal favorites was a particularly hardcore duet between UG and Main One called "Got Luv" and a hype cut called "Bring It" by the Native Assassins, who you should remember from previous Cellar Sounds.  What will surely be the biggest deal for many fans, and yes also one of my favorites, is an unreleased Rakim track, recorded his Seventh Seal album, but criminally left on the cutting room floor.  And that bonus track I mentioned?  Remember when The Cella Dwellas announced they were reuniting and recording with Nick Wiz again?  I guess nothing more ever came of that, sadly, but that one song is on here, and it's so great to finally have it in our collections.

And once again, Nick Wiz writes liner notes for every single song on the booklet.  This release is limited to 400 copies and is already out now.  GRR has also repressed the long out of print Ran Reed compilation, Nick Wiz Presents: Respect the Architect 1992-1998.  It has all the same tracks as the original 2012 release, so you've got another shot if you missed it the first time.  There's a double-LP on black or blue & orange vinyl coming soon; and the CD with the bonus track, which is out as of this writing.