Chino XL vs. Kool G Rap

Alrighty.  This 12" has been high on my "to write about" list since I started this blog over ten years ago.  But I just keep putting it off and pushing it back in favor of something else.  Why?  Because I have a lot of conflicting thoughts about this record that I've still never fully settled.  And if you can't tell from the picture, I'm talking about Chino XL's "Let 'Em Live" featuring the great Kool G Rap, a 12" single from 2000 on Warner Bros.  After his time on Ill/ Def American, Chino was very briefly signed to Warner Bros.  There was the white label of "Last Laugh" and this 12", both singles for his upcoming album I Told You So.  But he was already dropped by the time album came out, which wound up being a CD-only release on a little label called Metro Records.  So mainstream audiences that weren't copping promo vinyl wouldn't have even seen it, but there was a hot second when he was on Warners.

So we've basically just got the one version of the one song on here, which is the same as what wound up on the album.  I mean, yeah, we get Instrumental, Acapella (which is why there's so many amateur remixes of this song on Youtube) and all that.  But just the one set of vocals over basic instrumental, produced by Nick Wiz.  And the beat is... ummm... not amazing.  I like Nick Wiz.  Hell, everybody likes Nick Wiz.  And on one hand, I do like this track.  It suits the high energy battle rap style these guys are kicking, and it's got some dark atmosphere I know both of these MCs like.  But it's also that kind of sample-free, stock sound effect, big horn stab track that you expect to hear terrible rappers use in a Youtube battle.  Wiz is talented enough to lay some nice touches underneath it all to hold everything together and blend the vocals to the track.  So it pulls you into the lyrics, which is great.  But this is never a song you'd play because you want to hear that instrumental.  So yeah, I'm a little conflicted about it.  I guess, at the end of the day, it's a track I'd concede in any debate isn't very good, but I still kinda like it.

But that isn't the half of the conflict I feel over the record that's made me keep pushing it off.  It's the lyrics.  Kool G Rap unquestionably kills it on here.  I mean, I know some people are sick of the gangster topic from him, and in that regard, this is absolutely more of the same.  He raps about a mugging, gang warfare and the glittery drug life.  I get it if you've had enough of that.  But if it doesn't matter that he does it spectacularly well, I don't know what to tell ya.  On a technical level, on a delivery level, in terms of cleverness... I could listen to his half of the song all day.

Unfortunately, he's only on half, or even slightly less, of the track.  And that brings be to Chino XL's part.  I've been a fan of his, too; and a hardcore battle rap track over a Nick Wiz beat?  That's his home court right there.  But god, his punchlines can make you cringe.  "keep shit in a bag like a colostomy; I'm pro, you're junior varsity," "you'll retire like Seinfeld, waiting on titles that I've held.  Rock and roll like Dennis Leary, blastin' assassins sent to kill me," "more Colt 45 than Billy D collectin' disability, I'll shoot out with Bill and Hillary, still won't run out of artillery."  Those are just a couple of examples from a single song ("Nunca," also off I Told You So).  I don't even get that last one.  Is there any reason to throw in the Clintons' names besides the fact that they're in the zeitgeist and Hillary rhymes with artillery?  At least Jerry Seinfeld had recently retired from his show at the time.

G Rap's verses are very clever in terms of grammar and construction, but they never get corny like that, full of gags and arbitrary pop culture similes.  To be fair, though, I was grabbing examples from another song because I think Chino realized you don't get that jokey on a duet with Kool G Rap.  And when it comes to sick wordplay, Chino can spit with the best of them.  Here's a little taste of his actual bars on "Let 'Em Live:"

"Universally disperse a cursed verse, controversial;
Illest on earth so,
Out of this world like Captain Kirk's ho.
Get Patty Hearst dough;
Commit you to the dirt slow.
Even worse, though,
High yellow Chino'll leave you needing what a nurse know."

Okay, wait.  There's like three jokes and two celebrity name drops in there, too.  But all those lines at least kinda work, and the fact that they're embedded in a wild rhyme pattern really helps sell them.  But compare that to G Rap's material, where his rhyme scheme is just as mind blowing, coming up with ingenious ways to rephrase ideas we've heard in a million other rap songs to make them fresh, and yet none of the shtick:

"I spit my shit like a flame thrower,
The frame blower.
Came with the brain exploder
Inside the Range Rover.
Load the six-stain holder;
Lay you and your dame over.
Banging your main soldier
'Till my aim strain my shoulder."

And those are just from his quick introductory bars.  Also, just as a fun fact, it's also not his only reference to Range Rovers in the song.  I guess he just likes the way the phrase sounds over this beat, because he also has the line, "one hundred and twenty five grains rearrange your Rover."  And sorry to go off on a tangent mid-point, but that brings me to something else about this song: they're hard to catch.  I looked up the lyrics on OHHLA, and it's chock full of errors, most of which I think I'll be happily able to correct for you today (fairly certain it's not, "one hundred and twenty five grange we arrange the rover").  Rap Genius's take is barely any better (they clearly scraped OHHLA), and the only other version I found was even worse, but I won't link it 'cause I think English wasn't their first language anyway.

So like, Chino's line in his first verse should probably be, "start kneelin' and pissin' in bed" not "start nailing and pissing in bed," and in the chorus, I'm sure he says, "you'd be holding your breath forever tongue kissing a fish," not "your fist."  And I've got some other corrections I'm dropping in the quoted verses.  But it's tough.  For the life of me, I can't figure out what the last line of G Rap's first verse is, though I'm sure it's not, "nigga trade ya rover for the redrum stains you sober."  So if anybody can figure that one out, please post a comment.  It's been driving me nuts for years.  Oh, and the only other line I can't quite figure is Chino's, "blow dinero like Ferrigino?"  There's a reference I'm not getting, but I'm sure it's not "blow Deniro like oregano," as was previously guessed.  I'm certain he's bragging about spending money, not giving sloppy oregano-flavored oral sex to the star of Meet the Fockers.  😂

So where was I?  Oh yeah, so Chino spits pretty hard, but doesn't quite manage to avoid the one-liners.  And to be fair, that's what he's known for, and a lot of his fans would be disappointed if he left them out.  And I'm not mad at all of them.  I'm good with "the best MC's always float to the top unlike the son of John F. Kennedy," because it's just so cold.  I respect that.  His closer, I'm more of two minds about: "catch a L in the circle like a fuckin' Lexus logo."  Like, that's really clever, and I know it's one of his more popular lines.  I wouldn't've ever come up with it.  But it's still pretty contrived.  At the end of the day, I'll take it, but you can see why half the time I could just listen to an edit of this song with just the G Rap parts, right?  You have to be in a certain mood to play a song where the MC suddenly sings, "Dah da na na na - watch me change to Super Niggaro!"  But you don't have to be in any particular mood to be blown away by G Rap's verses:

"Yo, don't fight the heist if you treasure your life,
'cause my trife is measured in ice;
Put your wife at the edge of my knife.
And it'll be my pleasure to slice;
The bitch'll be forever with Christ;
Get hit twice with this real nice
Berretta device,
Nickel plates to your North Face
Put feathers in flight;
Let my lead strike and sever your life,
Leaving you red and wet in the night;
Head bright from infrared sight;
Cock back, squeeze and let it ignite.
Placing your body where the bedbugs bite.
Baby you thug, right?
A slug might open your mug like
I'm checking your blood type.
The drug life,
We hop in the Rolls,
Shoppin' for clothes,
Rockin' our foes,
Put you in a coffin with the top of it closed, you know?
Put a fuckin' glock to your nose!
Run up in your spot for the O's of blow;
Shove cock in your ho.
We 'bout to blow,
Nothing stopping the dough;
Most popular flow;
Like ice, I'm at the top of the globe."

And seeing them typed out doesn't even begin to do justice to the way he says them.  Like, when he comes back to, "put feathers in flight" you're like, holy cow, is he still knocking out that first multi?  He never lets up.  It's almost always a bummer when MCs recycle their own material and spit the same verses on more than one song.  We've heard guys like Common and Krs-One do that, and it's disappointing when you bought a record 'cause they're on it only to realize you already own those raps.  But in this case, I really wish G Rap would take what he wrote for this collaboration and flesh it out into a full song.  Because that shit would be incredible and I'd always be in the mood to hear it.

But that said, I'll always keep this record.  Because sometimes I definitely do want to hear what all three of them - Chino, G Rap and Nick Wiz - created on this record.  And since I Told You So turned into a CD only once it went indie, this 12" is a great way to have it on vinyl.  Comes in a sticker cover to boot, and since Warners made it, you know they pressed a ton and you can cop it dirt cheap.  You can even use the acapella and make your own remix.  Although, after having just gone on a jag listening to about twenty of them on Youtube, I'll advise you right now, don't mix your main sample so loud it overshadows the vocals.  Just about all of those cats did that, and it's wack.  Really, if you want to appreciate Nick Wiz's work a little better, just listen to everybody else fail to make the track work like he did.  Although, admittedly, some of the weirder ones, like the G-Funk remix, were dubious ideas that I think were doomed to fail from the start.

Anyway, that's "Let 'Em Live."

Thoughts On Kool G Rap's Latest Album... Is It Too Late To Return Return Of the Don?

Well, this is disappointing.  I mean, I know a lot of naysayers have been down on Kool G Rap since he left Cold Chillin', talking about how he's only spitting gangsta raps now.  Does it count for nothing that his gangsta raps are incredible?  But tonight, hearing Return Of the Don... Oh jeez.  And it's not that G Rap can't rap anymore or is spitting weak verses.  He still sounds great.  But I knew we were in trouble when they announced his track-listing, and nine out of eleven songs had guest rappers on them.  And one of those two remaining solo songs is an introduction where he just drops one quick verse.  So this is unfortunately one of those guest-on-his-own-album deals like Thy Kingdom Come, only even more so.  He only strings two verses together once on the entire album!

So if you don't know, the vinyl doesn't drop until August 25th, because these NY guys always release the vinyl months later for some reason, but that's another gripe.  The CD's out now, and they've officially put the album up for streaming.  And you guys know, I would blind-buy any G Rap album; but this stream might've just saved me some money.  ...But honestly, I'm still on the fence.  It's not terrible, and I'm not sure I can go through life missing a G Rap album.  Maybe I'll just wait for a sale.

Because this is definitely a wait for a sale record: weak, but still has its moments.  The whole album's produced by Moss, and you could do a lot worse; but man, he just plays it so safe.  Like, he's got that Premier Jr. formula down and he's not gonna stray from it.  Think of all the classic G Rap songs that got you hyped, from "Road To the Riches" to "Letters."  Well, nothing on this album comes close to giving you that feel.  For the most part, it's pretty low energy.  "Mack Lean" almost turns into a spoken word piece.

And yeah, there's far too many guest spots.  On the other hand, that doesn't mean somebody like Raekwon wasn't a worthy inclusion.  I was excited to hear their joint together (though ultimately, it was a little boring).  But yeah, guys like Crooked I sound good.  Or take "Wise Guys;" that's one of the album's highlights with an energetic beat and Kool G Rap and M.O.P. sounding strong together, but they should've just gone: G Rap verse, M.O.P. verse and hook, second G Rap verse.  But instead they also throw Freeway on at the end of the song, and he definitely doesn't live up to everyone that preceded him, with lines that would've been junk even in the 90s like, "you must be a dyke because you've been abroad."  Who let him take up space?  And the same with "Popped Off."  Having G Rap duet with Sean Price (R.I.P.)?  Great!  But why is there also some guy named Ransom on there?

Who decided we needed verses from virtual unknowns like Manolo Rose, Willie the Kid, Pearl Gates (who delivers what is possibly rap's very worst hook to date), Westside Gun, or Conway the Machine?  I mean, to be fair, having those last two dudes on "Rest In Peace" actually kind of worked.  It reminded me of G Rap bringing out Papoose and Jinx da Juvy on a trio track back in the day.  I mean, none of these guys kill it like Jinx used to kill it, but they tread water well enough, and it's one of the few moments where Moss takes a chance production wise.  But yeah, if they really want to put the next generation on, maybe cram them all into one posse cut; but don't give them more collective mic time than G Rap himself.

Not that most of the veterans impress much more.  Saigon attempts to revive the phrase "ba-dunka-dunk," Termanology gets overly dramatic rapping about sluts and Satan and Sheek Louch just adds some filler.  Only Cormega, N.O.R.E., Raekwon, M.O.P. and Sean Price really belong on here.  They're the only ones genuinely enhancing the album with their contributions.  And five artists?  That's enough guests for an album.  Especially when it's not one of those 23-song packed mix CDs.  Everyone else is dead weight.  Again, Kool G Rap only has one full solo song on here.  It's pretty good, though.  And yeah, he does have some nice verses on the other songs.  But there's so much filler, it's like a surprise whenever he gets on the mic again, like oh yeah, this is a G Rap album!

And here's a question.  In several songs (including "Wise Guys" and "Criminal Outfit") he references being part of The Five Family Click.  What?  Are these just fifteen year-old acappellas that Moss patched together to mock up an album?  Is this another Half a Klip situation??  I'll tell you this much, Half a Klip might actually be a more satisfying album.  He wasn't sidelined this much on the Click Of Respect, and he was supposed to be just one guy in a group there.  Again, it's not all bad.  Like listening to him start rapping on "Capitol Hill," I'm getting excited to have the new Kool G Rap album I've been waiting for.  But then this annoying hook comes on and the rest of the song belongs to a bunch of other guys.  Listening to Return Of the Don all the way through is a drag.

Cold Chillin' Terminators, part 1 - Dissing Run DMC

"We're walking tall and we're called The Terminators" is a memorable line from Kool G Rap & DJ Polo's classic "It's a Demo" in part because of G Rap's ill delivery, but also partially because, as far as anybody knew, they weren't called The Terminators. I mean, you could probably take it as simply a general reference to being so bad ass that people consider them to be like Schwarzenegger's robotic hitman character from the 1984 film. And the fact that the line could be taken that way is probably by G Rap left the line in there, sort of like a subliminal diss, but not a diss. Because the line is actually a reference to something more. It's about DJ Polo's first group, The Terminators.

The Terminators had one record, "Forever Dis" in 1986 on Snowflake Records. My copy here is a 2004 repress. You can tell 'em apart 'cause on the original label the big "Snowflake" is written in blue, not white. Anyway, Snowflake Records was a division of Prism, which of course carried all the early Juice Crew records and changed its name to Cold Chillin' Records a couple years later.

The group was really just a duo, like Kool G Rap and DJ Polo, except the MC was Polo's old partner, Frost. I got to ask G Rap how Polo made the switch and why he cited their name on "It's a Demo" in my 2011 interview, "Polo and Frost started together first. They were the team first, before I even got in the picture with Polo. Once I got in the picture, to my understanding, Frost was having differences with Polo. Because Polo wanted to do promotional stuff that Frost didn’t necessarily want to do… things they weren’t getting paid for. So when me and Polo linked up, I was for anything to accomplish my dream. Whether it was something we gotta do for promotion, get ourselves out there or get paid, it didn’t matter to me. I was gonna do it because I was hungry and I wanted it that bad, because I knew what I was capable of doing poetically. When I mention Terminators, it was out of respect for the name Polo had before I even got into the picture. If you notice, I didn’t really use that name anymore other than just using it as a punch line or a metaphor. But I did not affiliate myself and Polo as the Terminators after that. The first time I did it was just out of respect, like, this is your thing you got going before I even got into the picture, I’ma wave that flag."

So how is the actual record? I mean, you could probably predict that Frost isn't the amazing innovator that G Rap turned out to me - almost nobody could be expected to play on that level. But how does it compare to most other '86 rap records, and who are they dissing on "Forever Dis?"

Well, you already know from the title of this blog that they went after Run DMC. Nothing subliminal here, it's a very straight forward attack. It's not clear what their beef with them comes from - quite possibly they just went at them to make a name for themselves - but it's perfectly evident Frost doesn't like 'em:

"You may think I'm cruel, but that's okay;
I've got a job to do, so let me earn my pay.
Run DMC, somebody really don't like
The way you MCs be yellin' on the mic.
...
Both of you are crazy, you've flown the coup.
Wearin' all this sayin' that you're souped.
Now that I say it, it wasn't real groovy
When I saw your face when I went to the movies!
You think you've got something to prove?
The name of the movie was Krush Groove."

The entire song from first to last is very specifically going at Run DMC.  But you might've gotten the feeling, reading the above sample, that the rhymes are a little stilted. They are, and Frost's deliberate, plodding delivery doesn't help. The beat is okay, it's pretty hard and stripped down, but it's a bad match for Frost's style, and Polo doesn't really do much. There isn't really any actual scratching, they've just got "Pee Wee's Dance" vocal sample, "get busy" on a sampler and play it at different pitches. You know, like "(Nothing Serious) Just Buggin'" and all those 80s songs.

Overall, the song's okay. The beat's too simple, but at least it's hard. It's really just the fact that they're dissing Run DMC that anybody would go back and revisit it.

There is a B-side, though, which is a little more lively. Simply titled "Polo," this one actually features some scratching. It's a little rudimentary, but of course it's from '86. They also stutter a sample like on the last song, this time just Frost saying "Polo." It's a similar, hardcore big drum machine beat with horn stabs, and Frost raps about how great his DJ is. Well, except for the last verse, where he digresses to tell us how stylish his girlfriend is, "she'll put you in a trance, make you do a stupid dance. Make you act like a fool, make you wanna go to school seven days a week, ooh the girl is so sweet." The song concludes with somebody doing a cheesy Mexican accent playing the part of Jose, a promoter looking for the great DJ Polo.

Neither song is that great, but they're listenable enough. Both instrumentals are also included on the vinyl, though I doubt many heads would be picking up the wax for those. Their historic value is certainly the most compelling aspect of these songs, and in that regard, they certainly satisfy a lot of curiosity.  Come back tomorrow for another nearly forgotten Cold Chillin' Terminator.

Three New 45s

(Youtube version is here.)

An Epic Curiosity Piece

Here's a random, little curiosity piece I picked up in a recent record haul: a 1995 Epic Street Records sampler EP. It features six songs - well, almost - of some pretty random stuff. I mean, it's all hip-hop material Epic Street had coming out at the time. It's not that random, like an indie heavy metal song and a thirty year-old polka record. But I think it's fair to say they made some pretty unusual choices here. Let's have a look.

It starts out predictably enough. The first song is "I Be," by the Mystidious Misfits, a pretty underrated little group of style-over-substance MCs that who really threw themselves into the gimmicky styles of the 90s and who, as a consequence, couldn't have existed at any other point in time than the short period they were active for. But they had some fun, slept on singles including "Upside Down" and the Buckwild remix of "I Be." The version here, though, is the album version, which is still pretty tight.

Then next is Funkdoobiest with "Rock On." Funkdoobiest is always a little unorthodox to feature on anything, just by virtue of their style. But "Rock On" was just the latest single at the time, taken from their Brothas Doobie album.

But now things get interesting... Next up is "verse" by Kool G Rap. It's not even capitalized like a proper title, because it's not a song called "Verse," but just a random, isolated verse by G Rap. So is it some radio freestyle or something? No, disappointingly, it's actually just a bit snipped out of one of his latest records at the time. Specifically, it's his part of "Take Em To War" (easy to recognize because the leave the hook on the at the ends) from his album 4.5.6. Basically, it's the song he did with B-1 and MF Grimm,  minus their parts, which I guess is kinda neat to have on wax if you're a G Rap fan who was never too impressed with those other two dudes. Turn it into a short Kool G Rap solo song.

But things are stranger still on the flip side, as next we have Mista Grimm's "Situation: Grimm (A Capella)." That's right, not the full song, which isn't included anywhere here at all... just the acapella. By the way, just to clarify since they often get confused, MF Grimm is the wheelchair bound MC who's down with MF Doom, and Mista Grimm is the dude who did "Indo Smoke" with Warren G and Nate Dogg. They're two separate dudes from opposing coasts. I once bought a Mista Grimm single when I was younger because I made that mistake, so I wanna make that clear to be sure no child out there ever falls into the same trap.

Anyway, "Situation: Grimm" was meant to be on Grimm's album, Things Are Looking Grimm; but that never came out (though promo copies exist). It was, however, released as a single. But not even that 12" had the acapella on it; so that makes it an exclusive to this EP.

Next up is Lil Vicious with his big single "Life Of a Shortie" featuring Shyheim and Doug E Fresh. He was a flash in the pan signed briefly to Epic Street and this was his only notable song, so nothing shocking about this inclusion.

And then, finally, another acapella. This one's by Dana Barros, the uhh... basketball player.  Epic Street put out a compilation album around this time called B-Ball's Best Kept Secret, centered around the terrible idea to get a bunch of professional athletes to record rap songs. I guess Epic liked Dana's the best, because they made a video for it and released it as the single, with remixes by guys like DJ Jazzy Jeff and Muggs. But you won't hear any production here, because again, we're given the acapella only. But, as with Mista Grimm, the acapella wasn't featured on the 12" single, making this another EP exclusive.

So, yeah, this is kind of a strange duck. That's partially a result of Epic's eclectic line-up that year, but the decision to include exclusive acapellas on a sampler (were listeners expected to dig the sound of the vocals and think "I bet it'd sound even better with music!" and go buy the albums?) is a bit of a head scratcher. And the idea to turn Kool G Rap's "Take 'Em To War" to just "verse" is weird; the label doesn't even tell you it's a portion of a fuller song, so it's not like a snippet tape. Maybe someone at the label figured G Rap was being weighed down by sub-par guests and thought it would make a better impression as just a quick, two minute song? He might've been right, but it's not like the other two guys were some wack, g-funk dudes who couldn't fit in with their host.

As for how desirable this is? I guess it's kinda neat, and I certainly got it cheap enough (less than a dollar). Some decent stuff on here, but it's not all solid. The exclusive acapellas are exclusive enough, but it's got to be a pretty short list of fans who would care for these particular ones. And the G Rap song, I mean, you could get the same effect by playing 4.5.6 and just pressing the stop button after the first verse. So, I don't know. It has a place in my collection, but I wouldn't pay much for it. It's just one of those random slices of wax that's out there in the universe.

Killer Kool G Rap Cameo #8079

You know, a lot of rappers made some dope records, but didn't necessarily kill it on all their guest verses. Craig G released some classic singles with Marley Marl, but do you really need every record by Snowgoons, Woogie, Kollabo Brothers, Tommy Tee, Track 72, and a billion others who got a few quick bars from Craig on them? We all saw the man on myspace selling verses to every nobody producer who could cough up a small Paypal donation. And call me a philistine, but somehow I don't think we're missing out on some great, life-altering epiphany by not spending month after month filling our hard drives with every single mp3 that made it to nahright.

But there are some artists who are so dynamic, so creative and so dedicated to maintaining a top shelf standard that it really is worth tracking down all of their cameo appearances. Do I want to hear every Money B verse out there? No. But every Saafir verse? Maybe. How about Big L? I mean, if you discount all those records where somebody recycled L's vocals from other peoples' tracks, which is admittedly at least 50% of them. But if there was an authentic Big L verse on a record you hadn't yet heard, you'd damn well want to hear it and stop missing out, right? And Kool G Rap is definitely right up at the top of any list like that. If G Rap is rappin' on it, I gotta have it.

That's why, when I first stumbled upon this record, it didn't matter than I had no idea who UNI was. A white label 12" of a Kool G Rap collaboration is already a necessity regardless. But, okay, now I am curious who this guy is. So let's look into the matter.

This song is a white label carry-over from another 12", a 2001 release on LOUD Records. I thought I knew about every record that came out on LOUD, but apparently not. Ike Jackson was... a producer? I think. And he was briefly signed to LOUD. He released a single called "Dollar Bill" and was set to have a full-length called Hustler drop; but it never got that far. But anyway, "Dollar Bill" was a three-song 12" all featuring some rapper named U.N.I. And the last of those three was "I Know What You Want" featuring Kool G Rap.

This white label 12" blows that LOUD Records single out of the water, though, because the LOUD single only featured the Clean version of this song, which suffers a lot from the editing. This white label dumps the other UNI songs - which were pretty mediocre anyway - and instead gives us Main, Instrumental and even Accapella versions of the song with G Rap. So this white label (which feels more like an official promo than a bootleg) is the essential one for sure.

And how is the song, anyway? It's a pretty solid street track. No production credit is given, but that's presumably because it's by Ike, who got top billing on the LOUD single. Instrumentally it's nothing to freak out over, but it's a solid, well-crafted instrumental that could definitely gotten placement on any credible soundtrack or mixtape at the time. It's a dark but not slow paced, New York gangsta kind of beat a lot of Queens cats were rocking back then. The hook is decent and UNI comes pretty nice. Even without Kool G Rap, I wouldn't be mad at this. But he gets outshined to the millionth degree once G Rap comes on with his complex rhyme patterns and rugged rhymes.

Honestly, his verse on this is better than some of his own records he's put out at some stages of his career. And Ike and UNI, whoever they were, at least held up their ends enough to make this a worthwhile G Rap placement.

Half a Klip Worth Half a Krap?

Here we have what is perhaps Kool G Rap's most maligned album (running neck and neck with Click of Respect), Half a Klip. Well, I've found that it's been very worth going back and revisiting his other commonly dismissed albums, so it was only a matter of time until I got to this one, right? And I can definitely promise that there are some interesting things going on with this project to discuss. Plus maybe we're in for another pleasant, underrated surprise.

Like Click of Respect, which can be considered "a posse album and not a proper G Rap album," this album has a built in excuse in case you do find it sub-par. It's an EP. Sort of. Originally, it was meant to be an EP, which is why it's called Half a Klip. Don't take my word for it, though; here's Kool G Rap explaining it in an interview with the now defunct HHNLive.com, "(Why a half a clip not a full clip?) Cuz it's an EP. (laugh) Seven tracks. One track is produced by DJ Premier but the rest of it is from up and coming producers. There is a song on there featuring G Rap and his wife Ma Barker."

Well, obviously some things happened between that interview and the release of the album. About the only thing that's still accurate in G Rap's statement is that one track is produced by DJ Premier. It's not seven songs long, there's eleven. He says all the other producers are "up and coming producers," but one of the credited producers here is Marley Marl - you don't get less "up and coming" than him. And also none of the songs feature Ma Barker. So, hey, it sounds like everything changed for the better (sorry, Ma).

Yeah, it's eleven songs, even though there's only nine on the back cover and inside artwork, so I'd say changes were still being made until the very last moment. But I guess we're supposed to consider the last two as Bonus Tracks, since they're just alternate versions of songs from the first nine. In fact, track 11 is just a clean edit of track 9; so that's not really anything to get excited about.  And there's plenty more to get unexcited about. A lot of the production (including Domingo, MoSS, Dane JA and Ricky Snow) is pretty flat and boring. And some are quite short. One of the songs produced by G Rap's fam, The Five Family Click, fades out in such a way that it sounds like we're just not getting the whole song. Let me guess: they faded out before Click member Ma Barker's verse?

And how about that Marley Marl produced track? That sounds pretty compelling, right? Except, strangely, it's just a remix of "#1 With a Bullet," from Kool G Rap and DJ Polo's 1992 album, Live and Let Die, which was sixteen years old even at the time. And they cut out Big Daddy Kane's part!  What's more, listening to it, I really don't think this new beat is by Marley at all.  It doesn't sound up to his standards or in his style.  I suspect one of their "up and comers" produced this remix, and they're just crediting Marley because they wanted to use his connection to help sell this project (notice how his name's right there on the sticker on the front cover).

...But, it's not all bad. They've replaced Kane with a new verse by KL of Screwball, who must've at least been aware of why he was being recorded, because he mentions Kool G Rap in his bars. So it's a little bit interesting thanks to that addition, but it's really nothing special from KL, and doesn't even come close to Kane's original contribution. Oh, and they also removed G Rap's second verse, so it's only got two verses in total now. Couple all that with the inferior new production and this mix really isn't worthwhile except as a curiosity piece for KL's involvement.

Oh, I guess I also have to talk about Haylie Duff. She's on here, and of course the internet being the internet, that's perhaps become what this album is best known for. Haylie Duff is Hilary Duff's sister, who's an even bigger pop singer and TV actress. But I believe they're both both. I don't know; I don't follow that teeny bopper shit. But apparently they're a really big deal in that circuit. And so, yeah, she's on here (though the liner notes incorrectly credit her for being on "Risin' Up," when she's actually on "On the Rise Again." It's their own fault for putting two songs on the same album with "Rise" as the key word of the title). Anyway, her influence on the song is very small. She sings one or two lines which I think are just then repeated as a vocal sample (rather than her singing the chorus each time), and it's kind of low in the mix. Like, I'm not bashing Ms. Duff; I don't know her and couldn't say if she's a talented singer or not. Maybe she's got an amazing voice; but this track didn't test her at all. She could really be any generic girl voice here. Her appearance here is just a novel footnote.

Curiously, there's a song on here called "100 Rounds (Original Version)." Why do they specify "Original Version?" There's no alternate version on here or anywhere else. As far as I can tell, G Rap never used these rhymes on another song or anything. I mean, it implies that we've all heard "100 Rounds" before somewhere else, but a later version; and now we're getting to hear how it was originally recorded... But I'm pretty sure it only exists in this one form on this album, so what gives?

Well anyway, I think it's time now for me to deeper dig into the vaults for another interesting article on Half a Klip that's unfortunately no longer online to get into more of the story. Producer Eric Vanderslice used to have a blog on Philaflava, and was apparently loosely involved with this project behind the scenes. He wrote some pretty interesting stuff about this album, which I'll quote liberally for you now, since it can no longer be found on the internet otherwise:

"The original idea was for Dan Mack [Dan Herman] (ceo of chinga chang records) to get a verse from G Rap for his artist out of Ohio named Epik. Now Epik has the typical 'new rapper' syndrome, he lives in Ohio, and instead of jumping on a train to go record with a legend on a legends beat, he asks Dan for money JUST to come out. Also keep in mind this is wayyyy before you could just 'get' a G Rap verse, I don't even think he was on Myspace at the time? Now if you're a moderately talented rapper with good connections and you had the opportunity to expand that greatly in one day, wouldn't you just show up? Dj Premier, G Rap, & Epik = instant credability for someone no one really knows beyond his area. He doesn't show, Dan and myself truck to G Raps crib in Jersey, get up with Domingo, chill, record, listen, burn the cd, and bounce. Fast forward well over a year and a half, I hear the Premier track finally leaks, and it's not the beat he recorded on, which wasn't much of a surprise to me. 

...

It was originally scheduled to be merely a collabo 16, in which G graciously blessed 24 bars for.

Dan is pissed Epik thinks he's too cool to come record in Jersey, so Domingo sees Dan throwing THOUSANDS of dollars into this project, only to try and cash in himself. I'm not saying I wouldn't have done the same thing, about 75 - 80% of rap is merely a hustle with a soundtrack behind it. However Dan isn't really rich, he's a real estate scoundrel making money on ebay and pumping that back into his label. Already WAY over budget he put over 10 thousand dollars into a G Rap verse and beat + scratches from Premier. Granted this is much cheaper off the books, it's two unaccessible to the public hip hop ICONS, and Dan talked his way into both spots to be able to do what he did, with what he had. I gotta give em a lot of credit.

The problem lies soley on Dans shoulders for the way this cd came out though. It went from a collabo with Epik, for Epiks project which already hit a few speed bumps. Interscope wouldn't clear the collabo Epik did with The Game for less than a zillion dollars so THAT got shelved, then he did a joint with Lil Flip that never saw the light of day either? Either way you add those 2, and a song with G Rap over a Premier beat you're looking at a tracklist that would interest a lot of people. These problems mount up and Domingo lends a helping hand, all the while trying to reach around into his pockets with the other, I mean a producers gotta eat right? That's why this cd ended up the way it did. Dan ran out of money and couldn't live up to his end of the deal financially or finally didn't want to lose any more of his money. He had no business trying to do this on his own anyway. Drama ensues, Domingo and Dan go back n forth, neither one of em are very stable and i'm almost certain G Rap just stepped aside. The only tracks that were made for this cd were the Premier track, 100 rounds, and Whats more Realer than that."

That's pretty damning stuff, and what you hear on the CD (this was a CD-only release, of course) does a good job of confirming the story above - it sounds like a non-album glued together out of little bits. The only shout-outs in the album liner notes, even, are from Herman, and say simply, "Dedicated to anyone who ever made something out of nothing! Half a Klip is the definition of that." It certainly is. Even when this was going to be just a seven song EP, I think they would've come pretty short. But stretching this out to a full-length album hurts it a lot more.

So, what does all this mean? Is this there any value to this album at all? Yeah, the Premier track is dope, musically and lyrically. Domingo and G Rap have three solid numbers on here, "The Life" is a compelling narrative from the master storyteller, and everything else here is at least decent. It's still Kool G Rap, he never comes wack. And most of this album is new and exclusive material. It's definitely his weakest album and probably holds up worse now than it did at the time (googling around, this album actually got a lot of surprisingly uncritical reviews). Ranked against other G Rap albums, this one definitely lives at the bottom; but try and listen to "Typical Nigga" or "What's More Realer Than That" without nodding along. This is still worth having for any G Rap fan - I'm certainly happy to have my copy. But if you don't already consider yourself a fan, this is absolutely not the album to dust off in 2014 (wow, it's only six years old); and even diehards are going to feel some disappointment mixed into their listening experience.

Kool G Rap and Necro Have Arrived

It's out now: Kool G Rap and Necro's collaborative album, The Godfathers: Once Upon a Crime. I've joked a few times that the only prospect I'd look forward to more than a Kool G Rap album with Necro is a Kool G Rap album without Necro. But let's be real - how is this album, really?

Actually, Necro does a pretty decent job of living up to G Rap. I haven't spent the years following his output too closely. I enjoyed his debut 12", "Underground (Rules4Ghouls)," albeit as almost more of a novelty record than a serious hip-hop piece of art. And once he got even jokier, with his parody of LL Cool J's "I Need Love," "I Need Drugs," I was pretty much done with him. I'd catch a video here or there; but it wasn't until I got a mixCD compilation of his stuff (Origins) free a ughh record order that I thought he might even have the lyrical abilities to be taken seriously. And even then, that didn't have be running out to purchase all his albums I'd missed over the years.

Wait. Let me get even more real. I first heard of Necro when he produced Cage's debut 12". They were never actually a proper group, but they'd done radio appearances and freestyles together before that, and it sort of seemed like they had an ideal pairing going on. When they parted ways after, I always thought Cage - though he'd certainly had an impressive list of producers making tracks for him - had lost his ideal producer. And Necro had lost his ideal MC.  "Underground" was fun, but his corny, forced punchlines ("you'll be blinded like Rosie O'Donnell jumped up ten feet in the air and flashed her tits") and obvious reaches for shock value made him look like a cheap Cage knock-off. They were like two Prince Pos with no Pharaoh Monche; they never should've split.

For Necro, it's like he's finally found his Cage again. Both in being top shelf writers, and also in keeping Necro in on the right path. Not too jokey or too juvenile or too trashy.  Necro, with Kool G Rap, is pretty on point.

And I've never been mad at Necro as a producer. He keeps things simple, with pure, raw hardcore hip-hop tracks that are just perfect for a guy like G Rap. I definitely wouldn't've been mad to have seen his name on Riches, Royalty, Respect. It's a good combination, and again, Necro even shows that he can share a mic with G Rap, too. Yeah, you can still see Kool's the stronger lyricist (Necro still has jokes about Dolly Parton's breast size, if you can believe it); but Necro more than treads water with some slick, angry multis and turns in a better performance than most indie guys who've gotten Kool G Rap on their tracks.

One big thing that separates this from Riches, Royalty and Respect besides the additional rapper is the lack of variety. Where Riches had a variety of topics, styles and tones; this album basically has one speed the entire way through: hard spitting. Whether that's a good or a bad thing is just a matter of preference. On the one hand, the album can a bit endless by the time you're at 10 or 11 (there's 18 total, and none of them are skits). The formula is so locked: one indidivual verse apiece from Necro and G Rap per song. They never go line-for-line or spit multiple, shorter verses or anything. Just one verse apiece, plus a hook.

On the other hand, if you're only going to do one type of the song, this is the best type to do. And it's probably a wise move to keep Necro from attempting sad songs about the loss of a relative or heartfelt material about his love life. It's just a perfect machine-gun like delivery of skill flexing and gangster talk, and you can't go wrong with that. And they don't.

The only mistake I think they make is actually a repeat of a misstep from Riches, Royalty, Respect. It front loads all the weakest material. I appreciate that you don't want your album to run out of steam, but the first song is one of the worst - indeed, it opens with a verse from Necro much weaker than pretty much anything else he does on the album. As the goes forward, the momentum increases and you get to the hotter material but it makes me think people who are on the fence about this album - again, like Riches - won't give it a full and proper chance and wind up passing on what's a stronger album than they realize.

This album features only one guest: regular Necro cohort Mr. Hyde, who drops a quick verse near the end of the album. He holds up his end, too. There's also a female R&B vocalist named Mitch Matlock, who sings hooks and back-up vocals on three songs, and she's used very well. It never feels like a tacky crossover moment; it's subtle and effective, and gives the album a richer feel. One track has a pretty awful "what were they thinking?" hook (not by Mitch), but apart from that the album is pretty solid from beginning to end. Especially once you get a few songs deep.

This album's CD only, but it comes with a nice 25-page booklet including all the lyrics and a bunch of art pieces that clearly had care put into them. If you order it direct from Necro's site, you can get various bonuses from signed copies to t-shirts, hats and posters. Personally, none of it did anything for me apart from the basic CD and possibly the sigs, so that's all I went for. But I'm definitely happy with what I've got. I was a little worried how this project would turn out; but I think it came out the best it possibly could. I mean, I was confident we'd at least get some nice, new verses from Kool G Rap, but it's a very pleasant surprise to learn that the whole project holds up. Sure, it's not for everybody; but if you think this duo might be your speed at all, I definitely recommend it. And I'd love to see a Godfathers Part II. Meanwhile, what's Cage doing now? Dubstep? Oy vey.

Truly Yours, Marley's Forgotten Remix

Marley Marl and Cold Chillin' have a history of releasing fantastic, slightly extended, reworked but not totally remade remixes on promo 12"s during the prime Juice Crew era. They're not all new sample sets or your typical "it's an all new version," style remix; it's basically just Marley going back to the lab, pulling it apart, and putting it back together again a little more exciting. A little more of his secret spice, as he'd say now. Think of Big Daddy Kane's "Ain't No Half Steppin'" remix,  Tragedy's "Arrest the President" remix, MC Shan's "Juice Crew Law" remix, the Hot Chillin' extended versions... They've been some of the most compelling reasons for hip-hop lovers to start collecting vinyl over the years. Well, there's another one you don't hear about: Kool G Rap & DJ Polo's "Truly Yours" remix.

I'm not talking about that "Truly Yours '98" thing G Rap did with Pete Rock and Extra P, which had everyone wondering "why the hell is a producer album recycling instrumentals made by other producers?" No, this is a vintage, 1989 12" single, with another recooked-but-not-drastically-remade remix by Marley, on Cold Chillin' Records.

I'm sure very few of you reading this need me to tell you that "Truly Yours" is infamous. It's probably the coldest diss record not directed at another rapper. The beat is crazy, old school funky and G Rap just takes it real slow and direct as he puts his ex-girlfriends on blast over a chunky bassline. The second verse is also certainly the most homophobic rap ever committed to wax. It was the 80's, not the most enlightened times.. And really, the fun of it id that the entire song is just designed to make his targets feel as shitty as possible about their lives. "Yeah, you got a little nine to five; so what? What do you do for a living, slice cold cuts?" Hopefully, they're all hypothetical composite characters, like New York Magazine does.  =)

So, anyway, this remix. Granted, it's not as impressive as most of the others I listed above... not so much because this instrumental doesn't stand on par wit the others, because it does. But it's just not one where the remix was such an improvement, at least compared to "Arrest the President," say. But I'm surprised how under-represented it is. I mean, even when Traffic reissued Road To the Riches as a 2CD, 4LP set with all the 12" remixes and radio freestyles, they somehow missed this one. They threw on all those Dub Mixes and A Capellas, but left this off.

Granted, the remixing this time is really subtle. So much so, in fact, most of it could be written off completely as negligible.  The cuts sound more prominent in the mix, but they're the same cuts. The ending is noticeably different... after Marley says, "word, now you wild females know how G Rap livin'," on the album version it quickly fades out. On this 12" remix, the ending is extended, and the big break beat and "hold up, my man" vocal sample come back for a reprise before the song ends.

Surprisingly, the biggest difference isn't instrumental at all; it's in the words. Marley's words. Before the second verse, Marley prompts Kool G Rap by saying,

"Yo, G, man. Yo, you should diss her man. Yo, I heard he's a homo, anyway!"

But on this Remix Vocal, his line has been completely removed and replaced. Marley's still here, though, with a new prompt:

"Oooohhh woooh!  'Ey yo, 'ey yo. Yo, G Rap! Why don't you kick it about her man. He be dressin' funny, anyway! Ha HAA!"

Did Marley have second thoughts? Maybe he wanted to dial back his participation in the vicious verbal onslaught to follow. More likely in my opinion, this change was just made to make for radio. Somebody at Warner Bros probably told them they shouldn't say "homo" on the air. But in context of the rest of the record, which admittedly doesn't feature any actual curse words, that one line seems like a pretty soft spot. In fact, we know that even with the change, this record still wound up causing a controversy and boycotted off the radio. As Kool G Rap told it in his Unkut interview, "That 'other community' got a little sensitive behind it and I heard that they boycotted one of the stations in California that added the record into rotation. They snatched my record off the air, they snatched my album off the shelves at a real crucial point in my career. I might’ve had a Gold record with Road To the Riches if it wasn’t ‘cos of that."

 So, I really can't say this remix is essential. The instrumental changes are too slight to probably even ping most listeners' radar, and some people might consider the vocal switch to make this a censored, radio mix. It's certainly an interesting little 12", though. It also has a Dub Mix and the album track "Cold Cuts" on the B-side, so it's not a bad crate filler. There's also a second, promo version of this 12" that has the same A-side, but a Remix Vocal - Fade version on the B-side instead of the other stuff, which I presume is the same as the A-side, but fades out like the LP mix.

The Retail Ginacana Story

So, I've done a couple posts on Kool G Rap's somewhat infamous sixth album... The Unreleased Giancana Story, about all the mp3 leaks, The Other Giancana Story, about the bootlegged Rawkus version, and a post about "Holla Back," one of the best and most important tracks from the album. Well, today I'd like to touch on the actual, official, final version that was released by Koch in 2003. Because, while I can't exactly say it gets an unfair rap - most of the criticisms leveled against it are valid - it does have some under-appreciated qualities. And, much like pizza, sex and Ingmar Bergman films... even "bad" Kool G Rap albums are good.

The important thing to remember about this album is the position Koch was in when they released it. This was an album Rawkus had already dropped the ball on. They'd been dangling it in front of fans' faces for years, and then collapsed before they could actually release it. But not before, as my previous posts have detailed, it could leak online. In fact, it leaked more than once, with alternate track-listings as the album was still being worked on, and then re-worked on to address its commercial viability after the initial leaks. The hardcore Kool G Rap fans already had the bootleg double LP on wax. So what did they do?

They actually went about it exactly the way I would've hoped a label would.  Instead of just repressing the bootleg and calling it official, they went back through all of the G Rap's vaulted and focused on the as-yet unheard and unreleased material. Most labels would've just tried to sell us the same material we already had.  I know I wouldn't have bothered getting that. But no, Koch really took the right, commendable approach in my eyes, and dug up what we didn't already have. Sure, they kept the signature Giancana tracks... the biggest single, the amazing "Black Widow" track, his awesome Jinx duet and "Holla Back" (minus Nas, but I'm sure that's because they couldn't afford him, not because they somehow imagined the song would be better without him). You just couldn't call it The Giancana Story without those. But so much on the album, after being booted and leaked to high heaven, was new to our ears. They actually managed to put together another record that belonged in the collections of a G Rap fan in 2003.

Just think of it a Bootlegs and B-Sides compilation, a la Ice Cube. Yeah, the Rawkus version is easily the better of the two Giancana Story's... it's got the Premiere remix, the awesome track with CNN... If you only get one version of Giancana story, absolutely get that one. In fact, if you've heard the Koch version back in the days and were unimpressed, I recommend you go back and find the bootleg album; I think you'll be impressed.

...But if you really appreciate KGR, there's no reason to limit yourself to just one Giancana. This version features a couple of the earlier singles, like "Streets" and "My Life," which the Rawkus version for some reason left off, and eschews the lame Snoop collabo in favor of a far grittier team-up with Havoc called "Thug Chronicles," which features some amazing bars from the Kool Genius. It's got "It's Nothin'" with Joel Ortiz, though he only gets to do the hook because G Rap just can't stop spitting amazing lines long enough to pass the mic.

And yeah, there's some weaker stuff, too... "Fight Club" has G Rap and Ma Barker catering to some club styles of the time, and the production on "Drama" really doesn't live up to the MC. Even tracks with a more traditional NY-style, like "Thug for Life," are still pretty weak in the production department compared to the jewels he'd been blessed with from guys like Marley, Extra P and Sir Jinx throughout his career. But they're still preferable to songs we already owned, and like I was saying above... G Rap at his worst still easily outshines music recorded by most MCs at their best. And for every no-name produced track, there's another by Rockwilder, Mike Heron or Buckwild. I'll still take this out of my crates and spin it any day of the week.

Koch gave this a nice, double LP treatment, so there's not much to complain about. No, I wouldn't rate most of the material here alongside his classics, but I still wouldn't want to be without it. And I'm grateful Koch rescued some stuff from the vaults that otherwise surely would've gone forever unheard otherwise, second tier or not.

Top mp3-Only Albums I Wish Came Out On CD

The title says it all... these are the mp3-only albums would press up on wax... or more realistically, at least CD! It's great that the artists released all these (with one exception) for free... but the material is so damn good, I would definitely pay to have a more permanent copy. Hell, I'd go to Hot Topic to pick any of these up Kreayshawn-style. Surely, at least a small number could've been made as some kind of promotion? Maybe a label like DWG, Dope Folks or Fat Beats could start a budget CD label, where they're limited pressings in cardboard sleeves?  Make it happen, somebody!

Grand Daddy IU: Self Made Man - You can download this album for free off his site... It consists af all the incredible bangers he'd been posting on twitter for like a year and a half, plus some brand new stuff. A couple the tracks come up a little short, but for the most part this is all incredible material. All told, I'd say this is better than his last couple albums (which did get CDs). So give us this one! He also seems to have another mp3-only full-length already, but it ain't free. Oh, and there's a lost EP called Long Island's Finest that he had up on ITunes a while back.  Never heard it, and I doubt hardly anybody caught it... Now that IU's got more of an online presence, maybe it needs a second chance to find its audience.

Buck 65: Dirtbike 1-3 - Great, triple mega album, which again were just released as mp3 freebies.  But they were some of the best work of his life.  Granted, it was three very long albums, so I can't say it's all 100% the very top shelf, but overall, I (and most Buck fans, I believe) would rank this higher than many of his official albums of more recent years. Realisitcally, it's probably too much music to even consider for wax, but a couple CDs? This is some of his best work, so it would be nice if it was a "real" album.

Chubb Rock & Wordsmith: Bridging the Gap - Alright, I might just want this one 'cause I'm mad. This was SUPPOSED to come out on CD. You might remember me blogging about it. And holy crap, a new Chubb Rock album? If it exists, I need it! But then, apparently the distributors stuffed up and there was a long delay, and Wordsmith said fuck it, the mp3 release was enough (after all, I think he just made Bridging the Gap to promote his solo album that was coming out at the time). I even lost $15 ordering this from FYE, who to this day have refused to send me a refund (#BoycottFYE). Being honest with myself, a new Chubb Rock album that's only half a Chubb Rock album, and watered down with Wordsmith's lesser material probably wouldn't have been too exciting. I never did bother getting the mp3 version. I want that CD or nuthin', bro!

Snagglepuss: Legendary Throwbackz - The only mixtape on this list, because usually I don't have time for mixtapes. Crappy DJs messing up songs with useless radio blends, material we've already got elsewhere... Sure, there are the rare stellar mixtapes: created by the great DJs to actually showcase their amazing DJ talent. But 99% of mixtapes are the lowest quality bootlegs or cheap, half-assed mini albums. Pass. But not this time. First of all, it's suited to be a mixtape - it's a collection of freestyles (mostly) originated on and for mixtapes. And it's all killer material that's (mostly) never seen a more official release. It's the classic Snaggapuss freestyles from the old Doo Wop mixtapes (and a couple tracks from his last CD)! I mean, Hell, this collection was my idea, so of course I'm all behind it! The only thing that could be better? Press these babies up for posterity!

Kool G Rap: Offer You Can't Refuse - I almost like this better than Riches, Royalty and Respect. There are definitely some tracks on here that are better than some tracks on there. This would've made a great EP exclusive, which you could only get if you ordered the album direct from Fat Beats' website or something. Now the EP's mostly been forgotten as a freebie advertisement for the album. But only one song was repeated ("American Nightmare"), the rest were some really nice, exclusive KGR tracks. I still have it on my phone; but this would make a sweet collector's item.

All those wild, early Anticon projects that never quite made it out the gate - I know North American Adonis was never finished and the sound quality sucked because the original DATs got damaged or whatever. But I'd still love a CD of the best I could get, and I know from the old Lunchroom forums that I'm not alone! Also Stuffed Animals, Pick me for President... even "Digital Lydias"... All that stuff Anticon knows they've got rotting away in their vaults. Run that shit, bitches! 

Father MC: Fambody - It's a sickness, I'll admit it. But if there were a physical release, I would buy this in a heartbeat. And then blog about it. Which reminds me, I have other Father MC records waiting to be blogged about...

Edit 1/12/2013: Whoops! Can't believe I forgot this one!

Earl Sweatshirt: Earl - Can't believe this isn't purchasable. Somebody missed out on a lot of money there. I'd love to see a legit, physical release of this one. I'd even happily trade any of the other Odd Future releases that did get nice, physical releases for this one. Even better than a CD, though... I want this on cassette! If you forget that this came out in 2010, it fits in so perfectly with the those great, ultra-underground 4-track tapes from the 90s. You might consider that a lost era now (though those Gurp City guys are keeping it alive), but actually Tyler and co. have brought it to a whole new audience without even realizing it... no wonder 2Mex dissed 'em! Couldn't you just picture this as an Atak exclusive?

Restoring Honor To the Fam

The internet can be an excessively snarky place. I'm all for taking the air out of the ridiculousness that increasingly pervades hip-hop... but the tide shifts from completely undue reverence to an utter lack of appreciation of real talent with dizzying abandon. Blogs will hail every teenager with a glossy Youtube video as the Second Coming the first week, and then a few months down the line, they're just the punchline to a joke, "ha ha, remember him?" This isn't about old school artists who can't equal their 80's and 90's material anymore; it's just about trendy trends and the culture letting clueless teens with no analytical ear determine what's "relevant."

Kool G Rap has definitely fallen victim to this... I think his insistence on plumbing the depths of gangster rap after it stopped being a fad because he still mining great art from it cost him a lot of fair-weather fans who really need to go back and rediscover what they've been missing. But while the scales may be tipped unfairly towards his older material versus anything he's done after the mid 90s, he still gets his respect. But what really gets maligned? His 5 Family Click album.

Back when this dropped, it was a pretty under-the-radar little gem, which Jay-Z famously called his favorite album of the year on the radio. Now it's regarded the way Ramones fans regard Dee Dee King's rap album. Granted, Click of Respect isn't G Rap's best long player - it's probably in the running with Half a Klip for his worst - but there is no wack G Rap album. Mediocre artists today get so much praise for going back and recapturing the spirit of material like this, when their bars aren't half as viciously, multi-syllabically ingenious as the ones on this album:

"Giacana gambino wit it.
Rollin' with gorillas 'n' chrome
Ballers stand tall like the pillars in Rome
Still a stone, still prone to kill alone
Still in zone, chest stuck out like they filled it with silicone
Killer, it's on
Retaliate like Italiano
Leave a hollow slug lost in your head like the Econo
Too live Five Family shit, clique of black Sopranos
You get the money, roll through your hood
You ain't thug cause you dress grimey, nigga; I'll put a hole in your hood
Wanna cop somethin'? I'm holdin' the goods
Pop a shotty, drop a body, snatch my hottie and lay low in the woods
Somebody violate my premises, some shells spit off
Pitbulls in the yard, nigga get his tail bit off"

And yes, I admit that a song with a verse by G Rap and two of his friends isn't as desirable as a song with three verses by G Rap on his own. But let's be real... you know G Rap had to have had a big hand in the writing of everybody's stuff on here. And G Rap is all over this album; it's not like one of those projects where you're starved for the real artist and given nothing but inferior weed carriers. There's tons of great G Rap material on here... and when he passes the mic, everybody holds their own. Again, that's presumably because he's carrying them in the writing department, just like he's done for so many artists he's worked with in the past; but 40 Cal and Hammerz carry their weight better than a lot of bigger name collaborations have in the past, that's for sure.

But maybe the production is really to blame for the reception this album got? Granted, this isn't Wanted: Dead Or Alive; but what's so disappointing here? Tracks by Buckwild and DR Period? Hard drums and sped up soul that everybody still sweats Kanye for (when did we stop crediting RZA for this style, by the way?), even though these guys sound infinitely fiercer spitting over it?

Again, I'll acknowledge the flaws... some of the instrumentals do feel a little undercooked, and the less compelling songs can sound too similar. There's also a track or two that try to emulate the poppy, in vogue club styles of the time that should've been cut. And a little less Ma Barker would've gone a long way. Every G Rap fan, including myself, was starting to get pretty sick of Ma Barker jumping onto every single record by the end there. She was never a bad MC, and with G Rap behind her, she even managed to spit some crazy impressive bars.  Yeah, she really over-saturated his records with herself, and indeed, "no Ma Barker" might've been the biggest selling point of Riches, Royalty and Respect. But at least a couple of her (probably ghostwritten) verses here are fucking killer, and you're seriously missing out if you let her online media image get between you and the material.

So it's not his penultimate masterpiece; but this album still belongs in your crates, or at least a cheap copy of the CD. I'd much rather replay this than the latest, half-as-skilled knock-off just because his mixtape is on the front page of datpiff this week. You don't impress me when you take cheap shots at this. Albums this good are too rare, no joke.

Juice Crew Greatness

This is one of those records I didn't find out about until years and years later, when it was quite old. Growing up, I was a huge Juice Crew junkie. I was a big fan of a lot of artists, but pressed to pick an all-time favorite, it would have to be The Juice Crew (and a favorite within the Juice Crew? Unpossible!). And, man, was I missing out back then. This record is one I'd dream about - literally! Sometime after "The Symphony II," when it seemed like the crew was winding down as a cohesive unit, I can still picture a dream I had of turning the TV to BET late at night to catch a music video for a huge, brand new posse cut from the whole line-up: MC Shan, Kool G Rap, Shanté...  Come to find out decades later, thanks to the internet, such a record actually existed!

The Juice Crew Allstars, collectively, put out a record back in 1987 on - of course - Cold Chillin' Warner Bros. And it's not just one Juice Crew super posse cut, it's two!

The A side is called "Evolution," and it's not just your typical braggadocio skill flexing. It's actually a serious song with a message, where each MC takes the role of a key figure in black American history. MC Shan is Martin Luther King, Kool G Rap is Malcolm X, Glamorous of The Glamour Girls is Maya Angelou and Debby Dee is Harriet Tubman. TJ Swan sings the hook, and it's produced, of course, by Marley Marl.

What? You don't remember any Debby Dee in the Juice Crew? Well, it doesn't help that they've spelled her name differently here; she usually put out records as Debbie D. No, I don't mean Dimples D. Debbie D was an MC who Marley was working with in the 80's. She probably didn't leave much of an impression because she went pretty poppy; but if nothing else, you should know her as one of the original Us Girls from Beat Street!  So yeah, she's an original Juice Crew member; now you know.

And, boy, does it sound like a classic Juice Crew track - it's got all the elements. Rough, echoed drums, a simple but funky bassline, just a hint of synths, Shan's distinctive voice and Swan's singing: it is pure, undistilled Juice Crew history. You might wince when you hear Glamorous mispronounce her alter ego's name (she pronounces the last syllable of Angelou like Lou Grant), and some of the early deliveries feel a bit stilted (especially compared to the later work of guys like G Rap), but it's still a treasure.

If you think that comes up lacking at all, though, the self-titled "Juice Crew All Stars" on the flipside fills in all the gaps. If the line-up to "Evolution" felt like it came up just a tad short, how about we keep Shan, G Rap and Glamorous, but also add Craig G, Tragedy and Roxanne Shanté? And this time we cut the shit and just have everybody go for theirs and flex skills. All over another traditional Marley beat with even bigger, "Kill That Noise" style drums and his trusty "Oh my goodness!" vocal sample.

This is nice and hardcore. G Rap opens up with some, "Kool G Rap terrorist, metaphor analyst, fans I enlist, foes I dismiss" shit, Shan brags about not only having a come prepared with a bullet proof vest, but "bullet proof sneakers," and Trag is in full teen-voiced Percy mode, but still coming vicious with a slick echo effect when he says, "my brain is the bomb, my mouth is the detonator!" Even the girls come tough. And how many other times do we get to hear Kool G Rap and Tragedy on the same track together? None! This is the only one in history; can you believe it?

These joints were never released on any albums, just this sweet, sweet 12". If you missed it like I did, it's pure Juice Crew wish fulfillment.  And if you were hip to it back in the day, it's still a great record to go back and revisit.

Writing E Money Bags Back Into History

Early in 50 Cent's career, he wrote a song called "Ghetto Qu'ran (Forgive Me)." It's probably best remembered for being the song got him shot, because in it, he breaks down all the players, killers and victims of The Supreme Team drug dealing operation. So many names are dropped in that song, and so many of his fans probably had no idea who or what the Hell he was talking about - Hell, I don't pretend to know who all these people are myself. But one name I recognize comes up in the final lines of the last verse, "And if you watch the news, you see players in this game that lose. I'm forgetting Lefty and Jazz, Pretty Tony and Lance, Head Lou, Mel Son, Troy and E Money Bags." I only know who the last name on that list is: E Money Bags.

E Money Bags was the rap alias of Eric Smith, who released his self-titled album in 1999 on the indie Grand Imperial label. He was from Hollis, Queens, and worked with the biggest Queens cats, including Nas and Mobb Deep. He was also down with The Live Squad, who you should remember from the BQ In Full Effect EP that started off Percee-P's career. They became affiliated with 2Pac (though let's not confuse them with The Outlawz); and they even put out a final record with him and 'Pac after his murder.  Now, I'm not referring to 2Pac's murder, I mean E Money's.

E Money Bags was gunned down in July of 2001. This article from NYMinute details, "Law enforcement officials contend that Kenneth 'Supreme' McGriff ordered Eric Smith's murder to avenge the December 1999 killing of a friend, Colbert Johnson." Definitely one of those cases where a rapper's criminolgy lyrics turned out to be all too real and cost him his life.

Which brings me to this white label 12" I randomly came across: Nature featuring "Kool G" (Kool G Rap, of course). Every Kool G Rap record is worth having, so just seeing his name was enough for me to pick this one up, But... I know Nature did a couple things with G Rap, but I didn't remember this song. Of course, I didn't follow every tiny step of Nature's career... turns out G Rap was on Nature's 2008 album, Pain Killer, for example. But that's not what this is. This is some killer 90's shit. I even recognize G Rap's verse.

Remember when Sway and Tech had blown up to such a point that they had a label deal with Interscope even though they'd stopped being recording artists themselves? [Let's have a brief pause for their great, Flynamic beginnings.] They essentially commercially released a mixtape (This or That) of classics and new, original songs featuring some of the hottest artists in the game. One highlight was a little freestyle joint called "3 To the Dome" which had Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane and Chino XL spitting together, Now, Kane's verse was some dope but recycled rhymes he'd used elsewhere... makes sense, since it was just a quick freestyle for him. In fact, I was surprised Kool G hadn't recycled a verse for that song, too. But now I realize he had - it comes from this song, "Friends of Ours."

"Friends of Ours" claims to sport a Main Mix on one side and a Clean Version, but both sides are actually identical, dirty versions. And there's no production credits, which is a shame, because whoever made it did a fantastic job, flipping a killer soul sample Mood used a couple years earlier ("Karma") but speeding it up and re-doing the percussion. There's also no mention on the label of a third rapper who can be clearly heard kicking the first verse of this song. ...Well, if you read the first three paragraphs of this post, you're probably way ahead of me: the "mystery" MC is E Money Bags. This  is actually his song, a brilliant track taken from his album (which, no, doesn't seem to have any production credits either).

All the MCs come tight, with Kool G Rap of course stealing the show at the end with a brilliant verse. E Money's the weakest, with some solid bars overall, but a couple questionable lines... "who you gonna call? Toast busters" would've never made it past G Rap's quality control checks. And speaking of the Kool Genius, he came off on This Or That, but one listen to this one and you'll know this is the true home of that verse, where it sounds the best - pure killer Queens.

You know how I used to post myspace pages of rappers here, back when rappers were on myspace? Well, here's E Money Bag's. I'm not sure why E Money Bags' name was taken off this record... it could be because he has his fair share of detractors (check out this review on Amazon calling his album "snitch rap"). But history is history - it's his record no doubt, and you've got to honor the art of a great 12" like this.

The Lyrical One

Papoose gets a lot of shit on the internet. Mostly because he tries to walk that fine line between backpacker and thugged out gangster, resulting in a lot of tough talk and attention-getting punchlines which are sometimes clever ("I serve my beef with shells like a fuckin' taco"), sometimes silly ("set fire to y'all ass like heated car seats") and sometimes.... just trying too hard ("If Kay give me the nine, then I'ma go squeeze off. That means I had K9 like a police dog").* ...Also because he gets in the news for doing stupid shit like this. Through it all, though, he maintains a consistent fanbase. After all, he has a mean flow if you don't scrutinize his lines too hard, and he can probably out rap most of his critics.

Plus, a lot of us heads still have this memory of the young, lyrical cat who made his debut on Kool G. Rap's underrated Roots of Evil album (to clear things up; there's no relation to the west coast Papoose who was down with Chunk years earlier). Unlike the 5 Family Click, who you knew G Rap put on only because he married into the family; Papoose and Jinx da Juvy were these two hardcore but lyrical younger cats who G Rap was bringing out like the next generation. Not that he was ever in any danger of them taking the crown, but they at least earned the right to sit by the throne. And it's that tiny place in history I go back to every time I revisit the only Papoose record I own, his debut.

"Thug Connection" dropped on Select Records in 1999 (this was right around the end of Select, when they signed one last small circle of underground MCs). At the time, he was going by the longer name, Papoose the Lyrical One, sort of like how AZ went by AZ the Visualiza on his first single. Maybe sharing that connection is what convinced AZ to appear on this track. Not really, I'm sure it was the fact that he and G Rap were working a lot together around that time, and he was appearing because he was also on this. So, you've got a hardcore, lyric flexing showcase track featuring Kool G Rap, AZ and produced by DR Period (for some reason, under the alias The Lab Kats)? Hell, even if Papoose was complete garbage, I'd own this record. But this is 90's Papoose; when he was a seriously respected MC, so this was a crate essential.

One gimmick came dangerously close to ruining the whole outing, though. And no, it's nothing corny Papoose says on the mic (in fact, he doesn't spit any bad punchlines and manages to show and prove here). The instrumental is a synth-heavy reworking of the theme song to that crazy 80's show, The A-Team. But you know what? It make be a little bit cheesy, but works. It's high energy, it hits pretty hard (despite being all synthy... a testament to whoever composed the original theme song), and it feels like an anthem - perfect for three MCs spitting with the specific intent to impress. And the cuts definitely help.

Considering Papoose's album never came out on Select (and, in fact, while he's still an active musician putting out music; he's yet to drop a debut album), it's great to these tracks on vinyl, and not just tucked away on a crappy mix-tape blended into other shit. You get Clean, TV Track (instrumental with ad-libs) and most importantly the untampered with Dirty Version.

Then, flip it over, and you've got Main and TV Tracks of "Alphabetical Slaughter," also produced by DR, er... The Lab Kats. This one doesn't hold up so well for me, but it seems to be generally considered his masterpiece amongst his fans. It's reasonably clever; he raps his way through the alphabet, using words that start with A for a few lines, then B, and so on... Naturally, he skimps on letters like Q, X, Y and Z. His flow is nice, but when you look past the gimmick, the lyrics are empty, plus we've all seen this alphabet schtick done several times before, and it's nowhere near as smart as "Vowel Movement," or even as catchy as KMC Kru's "Alphabet Rhyme." The beat just feels like a heavily watered down version of "Broken Language" ... those Nexx Level cats tried to recapture that lightning in a bottle a bunch of times, but they should have just let it go. Still, though, it's not bad - Papoose's flow saves it. But I'd rather just lift the needle up and restart the A-side again than flip this over to the B-side.

So, I don't know if I'd go so far as to fuck with his other records, or his seemingly never-ending saga of mixtapes; but I definitely recommend going back and giving this one a listen. It's a fun one.


*I just grabbed all those lines from his "Otis" remix.