Malcolm X's Daughter's Posse Cut

Gamilah Shabazz, Malcolm X's daughter (one of six!), made her rapping debut on Big Daddy Kane's third LP, Taste of Chocolate. The next year, she followed that up with an appearance on 2 Black 2 Strong's album, and finally the year after that, she came out with her own single on BMG/RCA Records. Now, following up on the rap career of a famous politician's daughter - as opposed to, you know, an actual MC who's dedicated their life to making music - may sound like a job best left to the die-hard collectors with too much time on their hands. But like Shaquille O'Neal, Brian Austin Greene and other celebrities buying their way into hip-hop industry, she knew the secret was to pack her debut with compelling guest artists. And she certainly picked an interesting line-up.

"America's Living In a War Zone" features Ice Cube, 2 Black 2 Strong of MMG, Grand Puba, Mr. Biggs of The Soulsonic Force, Me Phi Me and some singer named Tanya Cooper. Certainly an eclectic mix, but not a bad one at all. The track is co-produced by 2 Black 2 Strong, Shabazz, and the underrated (I blame his name) Epitome of Scratch. It's the same kind of banging hardcore track you'd expect from 2 Black 2 Strong, and it features vocal snippets from Malcolm himself, and alternate sample sets for each MC, giving every verse its own identity.

Granted, it gets a little heavy-handed when Tanya stops the thing dead to sing "America the Beautiful" mid-song, and not every MC comes as strong as the one before him... It doesn't sound like Gamilah inherited her father's mastery of eloquent speech with her simple flow that consists of atonally shouting each individual word. But Puba and Cube are in top form (though Puba makes an odd point about black peoples' brains weighing seven and a half pounds, while white peoples' weigh only six... lol what?), and surprisingly Me Phi Me's verse is pretty nice as well ("there ain't a damn thing black in The White House except where/ they keep Clarence Thomas' pubic hairs"). And even the weakest verses are still pure, politically charged anger over a dope beat, so everyone at least earns a pass here.

Now I've got the cassette single up on display, but the 12" features the same picture cover and track-listing: the street mix, a radio edit, and an instrumental on the flip. This is definitely one of those songs that sounds dated... but kind of in a good way. And it can be easily scored for cheap, so to me it's a natural pick-up. Though it's probably just as well that we don't have a whole Gamilah Shabazz album floating around out there.

4 From the Nubians

This is a compelling, yet confusing, little release on a label that specializes in both compelling and confusing releases: a 4-track 12" by Brand Nubians featuring Grand Puba on Echo International in '99. Now, calling them the Brand Nubians may've been an error, or it may've been a creative attempt to circumvent legal hassles with BN's record label(s)... but in either case, there is historical precedent for use of the name. Their 1989 debut single for Elektra was actually "Brand Nubian" by Brand Nubians ...although that, too, may've been an error on the label's part. But I don't call this record confusing because of a niggling "s," but because of how random the track-listing is.

Two of these songs had previously been released, so let's get those out of the way first. The first song on side A is "Play It Cool." Ok, well "Play It Cool" originally appeared on Grand Puba's second album, 2000 (which, despite its name, was released in 1995). It was noteworthy at the time, because it was the first collaboration between Puba and Brand Nubian after he and Alamo left the group in 1991 - it's a duet with Sadat X, and it's over one of the nicest beats on the album, provided by Minnesota.

Ok, now let's flip this over to the second song on side B: "Kick Styles." This one's a little tricky, because they've changed the name on us, but this song was also previously released. "Kick Styles" is actually "I Flip Styles," a nice, 12" only-cut that was featured as the exclusive B-side to DITC's "All Love" 12". It features Puba, Sadat X and Diamond D over a track that Diamond also produced. Ha - you try to trick me, Echo International, but the Werner is too smart for you! :-D

Alright, but now let's get to the reason to actually buy this 12" - the exclusive stuff. First up is "Time To Put It On," a Grand Puba solo joint. It's got a funky, slow beat with deep horns and a hook that goes, "Grand Puba time to bag the dough. Stud Doogie and Alamo; time to put it on." A large chunk of the lyrics are lifted from his single "Amazing" (although it's clearly a different recording, since a few words are different... for instance what was "trippin' MCs up like astroturf" there is "trippin' niggas up like astroturf" here). So it's a new hook and beat with those old rhymes, but then when he reaches what would've been the end of the verse in "Amazing," he keeps rhyming new lyrics we haven't heard before:

"My lingo's like a Thursday night on the church bingo.
My props to Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Ringo.
If I was in South Africa, I'd be a mandingo,
Creepin' through the bush lookin' for a joint single.
So come on, give a nigga his. I'ma earn mine,
But I'll catch ya all on the next time."

And finally is another Grand Puba joint, this time entitled "Don't Change." Interestingly, he date-checks 1994 in the lyrics to this one, so I guess Echo is digging deep in the vaults here. It's a duet with a female R&B singer - essentially another follow-up to "What's the 411?" If you asked me to take a guess, I'd hypothesize that this was meant for 2000, but then they ultimately decided they didn't want another song of this nature for that album and left it off. The lyrics to this one are pretty much all new this time, although he lifts one of his own punchlines from the song "Amazing"... Yes, that line was used in "Time To Put It On," too! "It's the New York shocker representin' like a Knickerbocker; watch me get it cookin' like Betty Crocker," becomes "representin' New York like a Knickerbocker, shuttin' down MCs like a pair of Blue Blockers." It's a nice track with a smooth soul sample. He refers to his partner as "Mariah," and it certainly sounds like Mariah Carey... but it's hard to imagine his label opting to not release a duet with an mega-celebrity like Mariah! But it sure sounds like her to me, and he calls her "Mariah" more than once. So you make the call.

So this is another one of Echo's nice, may-or-may-not-be-a-bootleg releases. It's definitely worth any Puba fan's time to pick this one up for the unreleased joints. And even the two previously released ones are at least good selections. And it goes for cheap, which is nice. But it raises some good questions for anyone ever interviewing Grand Puba...

Ain't No Need for Us To Wait No More

The Diggers With Gratitude label is back! Chr!s has been championing (with good reason) Raw Produce since the Spine Magazine days, so it's only fitting that this time they're hitting us with two great, unreleased Cadence tracks. It's another limited release (200 copies), but this time it's a reasonably-priced(!) 7".

The first song is "Stand Up Tragedy," an almost-sequel to his earlier political ventures "W" (as in George W. Bush) and "W pt. 2." The beat's dominated by fresh old school, playful jazz samples; really sounding like Raw Produce's best singles of the past. The music flourishes, the tone changes; you'll love it. It's from the first week of February '07, so don't expect any Obama vs. McCain talk, but rather a scathing indictment of the US government's standard policies of propaganda covering up the dark side of our nation's military industrial complex ("a comedy of errors that's unfolding as a tragedy") that holds up much better anyway. The only way this joint could be any better is if it were maybe another verse longer.

The B-side, "Wait No More (Cade Money Mix)" (is there a non-Cade Money Mix still in a vault/closet somewhere?), is from 2004, a shelved collaboration with Grand Puba that never saw fruition. The two MCs kick playful, freestyle rhymes over a simple but catchy little groove, sort of in the Shawn J. Period vein (but again, produced by Cadence), with a nice wailing sax sample behind the hook. It's very different from the A-side, but Cade exceeds at both styles: his lyrics and delivery able to slip his verse perfectly between Puba's two without a hitch. And of course Puba is in his stylistic element here, so you know he comes off at his best.

This is a great release; both songs really compliment each other. There's no doubt that I'll be bumping this for a while. It's a must-have (for Puba fans as well), but unfortunately if you didn't pre-order this, you already missed it because it sold out before it shipped. So keep your eyes on discogs for your best chance to find a copy, and next time don't sleep on DWG ((cough cough; they're already taking orders for their next 7", unreleased Main Source demo tracks! cough cough)).

Snagglepuss Week, Day 5

^Video blog!!
(More original content created for this blog, as opposed to linking some random Youtube vids created by somebody else.)

Tags: Snagglepuss, Red Bandit, Hurricane Holla Mackwell, Raggedy Man, Positive K, Grand Puba, Notorious B.I.G., Grand Daddy I.U., Pudgee the Phat Bastard

C'mon, Get In the Car, Guys. We're Moving To Japan

Look what just came out in Japan only! A full album of lost, never before released tracks from a ton of the best rappers recorded in 1988. What's the deal with this? I'll just let the album's notes speak for themselves:

"Introduction: 17 years ago a small recording studio, TOP SHELF, located in the basement of a brownstone in the East Village section of New York, was looted during the Thompkins Square riots of 1988, displacing the recordings of many soon-to-be Hip Hop stars. The studio had been the meeting place for many rappers, neighborhood kids, and producers that would later be responsible for the greatest period of the Hip Hop age, "The Golden Era." A search commenced soon after the recordings were lost, but nothing was ever found. So sought after were the tapes, they soon acheived Holy Grail status amongst Hip Hop circles. Despite years of searching, and dozens of hopeless crusades, the tapes remained lost. No one was quite sure who took them or where they were... until now.
After an extensive investigation and search that lasted two years, the recordings have finally been recovered by Fab 5 Freddy and myself (Benjy Grinberg). They were found dozenss of miles from the site of TOP SHELF in an abandoned strage faciilty in North Jersey [woot! Jersey represent!]. ...We sought after the lost recordings of TOP SHELF because they were rumored to be among the hottest songs from that era, and we thought it was a tragedy that the world never got to hear them. It turns out that these two-inch tapes are truly a treasure chest--a time capsule of the energy and excitement of 1988 Hip Hop."

And this really is the wet dream it sounds like - everybody comes tight on this. It starts off (well, after a brief mic check intro by Fab Five Freddy) with Black Sheep kicking a short, fast rap track, which is tight... and believe me, I've never been a huge Black Sheep fan. Special Ed's song is just the perfect raps over the perfect beat... it could easily have appeared on his first or second album. Big Daddy Kane kills it, Biz Markie's song is just great fun, and Melle Mel and Grandmaster Caz duet showing impressive skills considering even '88 would generally be considered well past their prime. MC Lyte rocks the same loop her rhyming partner Positive K did on his classic "The Nightshift," only with faster drums for more of a freestyle/battle rhyme-type flow. There's no production credits on this album besides the phrase "Anonymous Top Shelf producers,", which is a shame, because I'd love to know who did what on this. There's a crapload of nice scratching on Chubb Rock's song. The Jungle Brothers' is nice, though their rhyme style gets a little redundant. The only kinda disappointing song is Smooth B's solo venture, "I Want My Money Back" (he needs to give that hook back to Mixmaster Spade, who knew how to use it), and even this number's not bad. But Craig G (here spelt Graig G... heh) Doug E Fresh (using the same "Go Stetsa" vocal sample Groove B. Chill would go on to make a hit out of a couple years later), Grand Puba and Just-Ice all come with dope songs. It all ends with a serious track from Master Ace, "Revolution's 'Bout To Start," which is a great narrative and uses the type of scratched up speeches on the hook like I haven't heard since "Black Is Back" or "Dirty Cop Named Harry."

100% must-have. Manhattan Records, the Japanese label that put this album out, has a site at: store.mmagg.com, and yes, they have a myspace page, too. Go get it.

Update 09/15/07: So, any of you who've joined me in any of the many message board or blog discussions of the legitimacy of this album will have already determined that it is quite definitely a hoax. But, surprisingly, The New York Times has actually picked up the story and gotten some real answers - read the whole thing here (brought to my attention by Jaz, who runs the Cold Rock da Spot blog, on the DWG forums). Still, it does leave a few questions unanswered... like who actually produced each track, and when can we get a volume two?