This is an interesting one. Indie Chi-town MC EC Illa is back with some new music, and some old school rarities finally debuting on vinyl. Let's start with that vinyl. Pictured above you see The Grade School Dropout, a brand new limited 7" single featuring production by none other than Kanye West (hence the College Dropout reference in the title). It's a two song single of "Strugglin'" and "Mask & a Pump," both beats by Kanye and verses by EC. They're not entirely previously unreleased. In 2004, EC released an independent CD called Underground Classics which assembled a collection of then unreleased recordings EC had made between the years 1995-2003. And this would've been a fairly rare CD even for its day unless you were really following EC... Like, for instance, Sandbox and HipHopSite didn't carry it.
So getting these tracks on a legit physical release is pretty rare, and this is their definite vinyl debut. And yes, these two songs are the only Kanye-produced tracks from that album or any other EC Illa release. The liner notes for Underground Classics marked them both as being from 2002. That places these songs firmly in the period where he was adopting west coast gangsta rap influences, even changing his recording name to Whitefolks; and where I as a fan had already pretty well checked out. The EC Illa I fondly remember was a scrappy underground Hip-Hop purist representing breaking and graf in his videos with banging production and nice DJ cuts. Like "On Ill" or "Every Hood In the Ill?" Those are the classics to me. This "nigga, neva trust these scandalous hoes" period just struck me as a following of trends that never should've happened.
But with that said, going back to and listening to this material now, it's really the production that lost me more than the MCing. EC always had that street edge to his lyrics, so I'm not really mad at him shifting away from always rapping about having skills. And actually, him adopting a fast, tongue flipping Crucial Conflict element into his flows was kinda slick. It was really the instrumental side that let the later music down for me. And guess what? The two Kanye-produced really stand out as superior to everything else on Underground Classics. Not better than "On Ill," but these songs really do deserve to be singled out and rescued from obscurity by being preserved on vinyl.
Because, I'll be honest. I had mixed emotions when I first saw this release. EC Illa is an important Chicago artist with a legit place in Hip-Hop history. And seeing Kanye's name being bandied about as the selling point certainly makes obvious commercial sense, but also rubbed me the wrong way. As if listeners today should only be interested in these two songs because EC once rubbed shoulders with the celebrity we all know from Keeping Up With the Kardasians and the MAGA hat photo-ops. I don't like the thought of EC getting relegated to a footnote in his shadow. But now that I've taken the time to properly revisit this material, I've relaxed into it. This record should come out now, and people should cop it.
Even if you've never heard these songs, you can probably imagine what to expect. Yes, EC's in Whitefolks mode, but his delivery is definitely nimbler than his early material. And Kanye's early work is a good fit. Yes, we get some chipmunk soul, chopped piano loops, catchy samples and snappy percussion.
"Ya ain't gotta walk fast, sweetie,
I ain't tryin' to steal ya purse;
I'm a home owna,
I just wanna bone on ya.
There's no corna
On any block, in any city,
In any state,
Not bumpin' Whitefolks e'ry day."
This single's limited to 200 hand-numbered copies (mine's #15). As you can see above, it comes in a nice picture cover, pressed on white (white) vinyl. The back covers are personally signed by EC himself, and and for the ultra nerdy vinyl enthusiasts, I feel compelled to point out that even the inner sleeve has a nice, plastic lining inside the paper. It also comes with a neat little Chicago Hip-Hop 45 adapter (since this is a "big hole" 45 7"). And it comes with one more special treat.
Okay, just the one on the right, but I added my copy of Common Sense's (yes, as you see, he still had the "Sense" on this cover) cassingle to show you what that artwork's riffing on. "I Used To Live H.E.R. Pt. 2: Beautiful" by Griffen featuring EC Illa. Who's Griffen? I'll be honest; I had to look him up. He's an up and coming Chicago rapper. A lot of his stuff is slower, definitely not mumblecore, but not entirely free of those modern influences either. I listened to some of his songs online, and I definitely liked some more than others.
Anyway, though, EC's been largely retired; and so the exciting part of this new cassingle is that he's come back to spit a verse on this sequel to Common's classic. Now, this isn't the first time someone's made an unofficial sequel to this song... a couple artists had songs with titles like "I Still Love H.E.R." and "Death Becomes H.E.R.," all continuing the metaphor of addressing their relationship with Hip-Hop as if it was a girlfriend. And I think I would've preferred it if they numbered it correctly as like, "Pt. 7" or whatever it would be. But anyway. this one uses Common's line, "she was fresh, yo, when she was underground" as its hook and jumping off point, talking about it from more of a distinctly underground Hip-Hop angle.
Griffen has a very simple, slow flow that's a little too Future for my tastes, though he's clearly consciously doing that to marry his vocals to the track (he sounds livelier on some of the other songs I heard), which is a smooth, relaxed instrumental that manages to convey a genuine sadness. But EC steals the show when he gets on for the middle verse, "if you hadn't fallen off, I'd probably dick you still; make you take
me down your throat just like a delicious pill. You used to love her,
but me I used to bang it out, up in the studio or when we was just
hangin' out. You once was a down bitch, now you just a clown, bitch.
Can't believe all the phony studs that you get down with." It's just cool to hear something new from EC.
As you can see in the picture, "Beautiful" is a blue tape that comes in a cover styled off of Common's original. The cassette features four versions: the main mix, the instrumental, a slightly extended version and a clean edit ...which kinda sucks because they curse in the hook, so they have to really butcher the song to keep it clean. But the other mixes are uncensored so it's all good. The whole pack, The Grade School Dropout and "I Used To Love H.E.R. Pt. 2," are available directly from ecilla.com. He also has a slightly pricier version that also includes an instrumental LP, called An Old Soul, which comes in a picture cover and is also signed by EC. 200's a pretty slim run, so if you're interested, I'd jump on it. Like I said, I was a little mixed on it when I first saw it; but now I've come down fully in support of this.
Showing posts with label Kanye West. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kanye West. Show all posts
Friday, November 16, 2018
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Saturday, June 27, 2009
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.
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.
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.
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.
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