Bart Simpson, Not Yet Free

So I was listening to one of the audio commentaries on the latest Simpsons blu-ray: season sixteen, the episode where Bart becomes a rapper (why not? he'd already released a hit record with DJ Jazzy Jeff in 1990). 50 Cent has a great cameo where he tells Bart to stay in school, then turns to his agent and asks if that counted as community service. Anyway, I was pretty surprised to learn from that commentary that the hip-hop music of that episode was composed by pretty much the last person you'd ever guess to be producing Simpsons rap: Boots Riley of The Coup.

The Coup are one of hip-hop's strongest and most sociopolitical groups in the genre. They were from California but still somehow managed to wind up signed to Wild Pitch for their debut (although strictly speaking, they had an underground indie EP release two years earlier... but Kill My Landlord is the album that really introduced them to the world at large), and really knocked audiences out in a way only Public Enemy, Paris and X-Clan had managed to before. At least since "The Message."

But the problem I've always had with The Coup is that none of their later work quite lived up to their first initial single, "Not Yet Free," "Dig It" was a decent follow-up; it had a great instrumental, in fact better than "Not Yet," but overall the song didn't have nearly the same power. And "Funk" should probably have just remained an album track. I still followed them to their second album and all, and really appreciated "Fat Cats, Bigga Fish," with its clever misdirection and funky track; but they still never reached the heights of this debut.*

It's an interesting, non-coastal kind of song, with a very pure, New York "dusty jazz" horn sample ...though the sax, along with the bass and keyboards are actually played live by original musicians for this record. So you've got this rich, Roots-like music and scratches by their DJ, Pam the Funkstress all it's over a dark, serious yet funky bassline. But the beat's rhythmic slowness and the MCs Oakland voices clearly betray their west coast origins. Finally, add to the mix the backing vocals (credited to a Vilisa Johnson) and ever-shifting instrumental - the song gets a whole second life when it switches as Boots says, "capitalism is like a spider." It gives the Coup a sense of being more important than regionalism or the classical division of hip-hop styles.

And over twenty years later, I can still recite that one verse from memory. You remember when the beat stops dead, and a lone, tapping snare comes back too bring in these new, rudimentary bass notes. Boots says,

"Niggas, thugs, dope dealers and pimps;
Basketball players, rap stars, and simps.
...That's what little black boys are made of.

Sluts, hoes, and press the naps around your neck;
Broads pop that coochie, bitches stay in check.
...That's what little black girls are made of.

But if we're made of that who made us,
And what can we do to change us?
The oppressor tries to tame us,
Here's a foot for his anus.
Well, since the days when I was shittin' in diapers
It was evident the president didn't like us.
Assassination attempts? I'd root for the snipers.
My teacher told me that I didn't know what right was.
Well, she was wrong, 'cause I knew what a right was.
And a left, and an uppercut, too.
I had a hunch a sucker punch is what my people got,
That's why I was constantly red, black, and blue."

Fuck, "root for the snipers?" This was not a group hung up on being PC or what might upset listeners. But it was earnest and serious; not being extreme for the sake of shock value or media attention. You related to the sentiment, even you weren't quite bold enough to say it first. ...I played this single to death back in '93.

The B-side, "I Ain't the Nigga," is a cool, serious twist on the beat used for Masta Ace's crazily fake duet with Biz Markie, "Me and the Biz." It's a rejection of the popularization of the word "nigga" and its adoption in contemporary American and hip-hop culture, ironically using an NWA (since they're the group that effectively blew it up) vocal sample of Cube declaring, "I ain't the nigga."  Also, keeping the Juice Crew connection, they use Big Daddy Kane saying, "if I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm" from Kool G Rap's equally topical, but more uplifting "Erase Racism." In fact, "I Ain't the Nigga" has been carried over from their 1991 EP, but remixed with a completely new instrumental. Instead of the smooth and funky bass-driven track here, the original much rawer, drum and funk guitar-driven track. I could see preferring either version (that chunky "Gasface Refill" piano underneath the hook puts this Wild Pitch version over the top for me), but both are solid and worth having; this was definitely a successful remix.

...Again, not exactly the kind of artists you'd think would be crafting Simpsons raps. I can't imagine Rupert Murdoch had any idea what kind of anti-establishment polemicists he was hiring. I'm sure The Simpsons' writing team loved that.

By the way, be sure to check out the "Instrumental" version of "Not Yet Free." Beyond being the instrumental track, the vocals aren't just removed but replaced with some big sax soloing that's pretty hot.


*I've also listened to bits and pieces of their more contemporary work after E-Roc left the group, and I've got "My Favorite Mutiny" on 12"; but never really got into it. Maybe it's time for a revisit?

Micheal Jackson's Rappers

I was going to stay out of the whole MJ thing, just because I figured you were all already suffering from media overload. And also, I was assuming another rap blog would field this topic, but it seems nobody has. Heck, I don't think anyone's even thrown up a zshare of T-Ski Valley's "Billie Jean" yet. And so it falls to me. 8-)

You couldn't call yourself the king of pop during the 80's and 90's without at least briefly crossing path with hip-hop. Michael Jackson did so, though less often than you might've expected. Here's a look at each of them.

Vincent Price: This one might feel like a bit of a stretch, but Vincent Price's contribution to "Thriller" are labeled as a rap in the album's liner notes, and I guess technically they are. And, considering "Thriller" predates "Haunted House of Rock" by a good year, you could make a pretty solid case that Vincent Price started horrorcore (lol)! Every DJ in the land also owes a debt of gratitude for that maniacal laugh, which has possibly appeared on more records than Jackson himself.

Heavy D: Janet Jackson and Heavy D already scored a hit with their collaboration "Alright" in 1989. And just in case you'd forgot, he brags about it in his verse for "Jam," his first collaboration with Michael, in 1991. He worked with Michael again in 1995, appearing on the Masters At Work remix of "Rock With You."

Nancy Cartwright: Also in 1991, Michael wrote and produced (uncredited) the Bart Simpson (voiced as always by Nancy Cartwright) rap single, "Do the Bartman," which became a huge hit. It spawned the sequel, "Deep, Deep Trouble," which didn't have Micheal's involvement, but was produced by DJ Jazzy Jeff.

Aqil Davidson: Still in 1991, Teddy Riley produced the Dangerous album track "She Drives Me Wild." So unsurprisingly, he put his Wrecks-N-Effect boy Aqil on for a quick verse in the middle of the song. He raps to the girl whose look is driving Michael wild ("far from Medusa"), and says, "you've got me lookin' like Buckwheat." Whatever that means.

L.T.B.: Most people remember the rap verse from "Black Or White" as it was lip-synced by Macaulay Culkin in the video. But anyone with ears could tell it was a grown man doing the actual rapping. That man is credited as L.T.B. in the album's liner notes. I don't know anything else about him; that name may well be an alias.

Naughty By Nature: In 1995, the second version of the "Scream" single dropped, featuring two remixes, including one by Naughty By Nature on the "Street" side, with raps by Treach, and a couple vocal drops by Vinnie. The bulk of the remix sounds like a clumsy, half-assed mess; but the part where Treach drops his verse sounds alright.

Notorious B.I.G.: On the HIStory compilation album, The Notorious B.I.G. is featured on "This Time Around," one of the new songs recorded for this largely "greatest hits" release. Oddly, his verse is about his friend who he thinks is stealing from him... I wonder if Michael realized what Biggie was gonna rap about on his record: "I'ma kill a nigga; I ain't jokin'. Endo smoke got me chokin'; I'm hopin' the fool comes slippin' so I can blow him open." Still, the working relationship must've been good, because Biggie returned to drop a verse on "Unbreakable" off of his Invincible album in 2001. ...Despite dying in 1997. That's a little ghoulish of whoever decided to assemble that, isn't it?

Shaq: When you look at Mike's list of chosen hip-hop collaborators, I think one word will spring to mind before all others: "integrity." And when you're all about the art, putting aside the publicity and the image to only work with the most talented, best of the best, there's one man you go to before all others. If you're organizing a basketball game. But for some reason, Mike got confused and asked Shaquille O'Neal ("the man of steel organism") to rap for him instead. So he kicks a little verse at the end of "2 Bad" from HIStory, including his signature fake laugh.

Will.i.Am: Recently, on his 25th anniversary album (there was also a single), he remade "The Girl Is Mine" (off the Thriller album) with Will.i.Am in Paul McCartney's role. Or, more accurately, I think they just remixed Paul out, because Micheal's vocals sound the same as the original. In any case, they called it "The Girl Is Mine 2008," and it was a bad idea. He also did the same thing with "Pretty Young Thing," calling it "(P.Y.T.) Pretty Young Thing 2008."

Kanye West: Kanye West did the same as Will.I.Am, producing a remix, featuring a verse from himself, called "Billie Jean 2008 (Kanye West Mix)." I could be wrong, but I don't think Michael was involved in recording these cash-ins.

...And unless I missed someone (hit me up in the comments, but remember, unofficial mash-ups don't count), that's it. Of course, that's not to say that more producers won't take more old Jackson vocal tracks, and edit together more collaborations in the future. We'll just have to wait and see.

Update 7/1/09: I KNEW I'd forget a couple! Here are three more of MJ's rappers:

Eve: The Trackmasters remixed Jackson's 2001 single "Butterflies," featuring a some traditional old school samples, giving it laid-back, soulful feel. It also features two verses from Eve, who manages not to disrupt the mood.

Jay-Z: "You Rock My World" was the debut single off of Invincible. A separate single was later issued featuring the Trackmasters' remix containing a lot of Biz Markie vocal samples and two verses from Jay-Z.

John Forte: In 1997, Micheal's people put out a remix EP called Blood On The Dance Floor - HIStory In The Mix. One of the featured tracks was the Refugee Camp Remix of "2 Bad" (which was on the original version of HIStory), which now included vocals by John Forte.

Update 12/4/15: Hey, I noticed this post is riding up the "Most Popular Posts," column, and I thought I should update it with what came out since this was written back in 2009. They've put out more posthumous releases, with guest appearances by guys like Akon and Justin Beiber. But just one more with a rapper...

50 Cent: The album Michael, released in 2010, featured all unheard Jackson songs including one called "Monster," with raps by 50 Cent. It's clearly an unfinished song and filled with vocals from other Jackson songs to flesh it out, and there are rumors that other parts were sung by an impersonator. But nobody had to fake the verse from 50, who comes in with an odd mishmash of bragging about how hard he is, scary monster movie imagery to stay on theme, and just generally heralding the return of MJ. There was even a single for "Monster" in 2011 with a terrible house remix.