Showing posts with label Luke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Luke. Show all posts

Thursday, December 24, 2020

Christmas F-ckin' Day

(Sharing one of my personal favorite Christmas rap albums, and even a surprise comeback. Youtube version is here.)

Monday, April 1, 2019

The War On Vanilla Ice!

(1991 was both a great and a terrible year for the ice man...  April Fool's Day!  Youtube version is here.)

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Verb, Luke and Devastator X's Secret Garden

Okay, you've just seen my Verb interview preview, and the full text piece is coming up. And I know Verb's catalog may seem small, though if you look through my past coverage of him you'll see I've been unveiling rare and hidden songs by him for a while. But there's still more generally unknown, obscure Verb cuts to be discovered that I thought I'd take this opportunity to point out. Several are tucked away on Luke's Greatest Hits album from 1996 on Lil Joe Records, one of the earliest releases from that label after they bought up Luke Records' back catalog.

I never picked this up back in the day because I already had his albums (plus it's not like I was ever a huge Luke fan). And the cover pretty strongly suggests that it just groups together songs from his three previous albums. But look at that blurb in the lower right hand corner: "Features 4 New Remixes and 4 New Songs Previously Not Released." That's the interesting stuff. And once I found out it included a heavy dose of Verb, I ordered it online.

Greatest Hits opens with a Special Edit of his biggest hit, "It's Your Birthday." Fortunately, this isn't counted as one of the four exclusive remixes, because it just the same album version minus the annoying intro where Luke sings "Happy Birthday" acapella. This is probably just a way to cheap out and save on publishing, since the "Happy Birthday" song is famously not in the public domain (Lil' Joe would continue to use this shorter edit on their future compilations and reissues); but frankly I'm happy to see it go anyway. It's just like a shitty, irritating skit tacked onto the front of the song.

The other non-new tracks are basically four of his singles up to the point of this album: "Breakdown," "I Wanna Rock" "Where Them Ho's At," and "Work It Out," plus the random In the Nude album track "Whatever." That's it; everything else on this album is new. Shit, if I'd realized that, I would've bought this album back when it came out.

So, let's look at the remixes now. All four remixes were made in 1996 by Mr. Mixx. That's a pretty big win - Mixx's production was definitely the biggest loss Luke Records suffered in the early 90s. Hearing him back on Luke's material now is pretty sweet, although I'm not sure he really put his all into these four mixes.

First up is "Dr. Dre Is a BXXXh AXX." You're probably thinking, wow, I've never heard of that song before! But it's really just a retitled "Cowards In Compton." Well, I mean, it's not just a retitling; it's an all new remix by Mr. Mixx, which is pretty interesting. He slows it down a bit and gives it a pretty minimal instrumental, with just a P-Funk noise sample and a very g-funky bassline and keys. They also add a new chorus with someone saying, "Dr. Dre is a bitch ass nigga... Suge Knight is a bitch ass nigga" in a deep, pitched down voice. It's... okay. The way it's kind of stripped down with the "Atomic Dog" effects is a good idea and should work on paper, but it feels under-cooked. I feel like if Mixx had spent another week toying with this, it could've been really dope; but as it is, it doesn't work. But it is at least cool to hear a song with Luke's real MCs (JT Money and Clayvoisie) on this album instead of just his generic shout and call party jams.

And that quality carries over to the next Mixx remix, "Head, Head and More Head (Pt. 1)," featuring KT Money and Jiggie Gee. It has kind of a similar remix style as "Dr. Dre," with a new bassline, and syrupy keys. The bassline is funkier here, though, and it's all a lot more upbeat and catchy, thanks in large part to the nature of the oiginal song. Still, it feels like Mixx is hung up on keeping up with the times and learning new production styles, as opposed to his earlier 80s work, which he was a deft master at.

The other two of Mixx's mixes are "Come On," another of his shout and call singles, and "The Hop," a random Freak for Life album track, also in the shout and call style. These aren't in the same style, and feel more like genuine alternate takes of these songs. Like, these could easily have been on the 12"s.

Finally, we cone the new songs. All four are produced by Devastator X (who'd worked with Luke even before the Luke/Lil Joe split on an earlier single edit of "I Wanna Rock"), and three of which feature Verb. The first is "Welcome To Club Hell," a busy, hyper track full of sirens and samples, cuts by Devastator and Kool Dee Jay Flex, and Verb doing some fresh fast raps to keep the pace."Dance" is similar, though a little less hectic, and also features Devastator on the mic. He's chiefly a producer, but has rapped on his own records and with MC ADE. He's fun and has an engaging voice, but he sounds a little too old school on these more modern tracks - a little fish out of water.

Anyway, these songs are barely Luke songs; I strongly suspect he never actually had a hand in creating any of them. They basically just sample his voice for hooks and background. That's probably more of a pro than a con; but I think we'd be even better off if they were allowed to drop the pretense of these being Luke songs and just making the best songs they could on their own. But... I guess you can't be mad at a Luke Greatest Hits album holding to every song at least being Luke-related.

So the last two songs are "Bounce/ Rock the Beat," which again features the pair of them and has X more adeptly kicking a fast, modern flow. I think his vocals may've been artificially sped up a bit, but still. The other song, then, is "Lipstick On My DXXk," a Devastator X solo cut, though it actually has the most Luke samples on it and sounds the most like an actual Luke song. It's kinda funny that you can actually make whole Luke songs without Luke's actual involvement. It's just a formula anyone could assemble with the right studio equipment.

Overall, this album is a pretty boring listen with way too much shout and call junk. I mean, it beats the average Luke album in that it's not full of long skits, tedious talking "songs" and other album filler he always padded his album with. And the shout and call songs work instrumentally, as their great showcases for his various producers to make rich and lively megamixes. I mean, listen to "I Wanna Rock" and block out Luke and his frat boys blurting out "doo doo brown" constantly, and it's actually a fantastic hip-hop instrumental mix that just needs a little extra scratching or actual verses to fill in the gaps. But Luke isn't a DJ or a rapper, so he could never hold a whole album, even his greatest hits.

BUT, also like all his other albums, there are enough guest appearances and good producers working overtime to make the albums worth picking up for more serious fans who are willing to skip through 75% of the albums to find the exclusive highlights. Nothing here is as great as the highlights on his official albums were - the new stuff here is definitely the skimpy budget version of those. Mr. Mixx's remixes are alright, but disappointing enough for even Mixx fans to skip over, and the Devastator X and Verb songs are better, but again would've been better off without having to shoe-horn in Luke. This project definitely feels like what it is - a miserly money grab. But I think the new songs are worth it if you can get this cheap, which you definitely can. And it's hard not to want this alternate Dr. Dre diss, even when you know it's going to be underwhelming.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Do You Like Pina Colada?

Have you ever heard that old Rupert Holmes (yes, I looked it up) tune "Escape (The Pina Colada" Song)" and got it stuck in your head? The one that goes, "Do you like Pina Colada? And getting caught in the rain?" You thought it was kinda catchy, but you're too staunch a hip-hop head to spin some corny old 70's lounge record? Well, the music industry was looking out for fans like you in 1997, and came up with the solution "U Like Pina Colada" by Da Real One.

This is a song off of LaFace Records' bass compilation album, And Then There Was Bass, which was then released as a successful single. Da Real One looked like an unknown artist when you checked out the album's track-listing, but once you gave it a listen, it turned out to be the new identity of Dr. Ace, from Young & Restless. His partner had already changed his name and put out a few records as The P.O.D. Prince of Darkness, but this was Ace's first solo outing.

So, yeah, this is the hip-hop version (written and produced by Ace) of the 1979 record, and it heavily samples the original, including keeping Rupert's vocals on the chorus (though Ace sings over them and completely overshadows them). Interestingly, it's got a few bottom-dropping bass drops, but they're used very sparingly; it's mostly about the ever-present funk guitar loop, some funky breakdowns and a lot of BPM. And of course it's got all new words. The style and lyrics stay very true to the tone set by your favorite Young & Restless records:

"Now I met another lady...
Check out what she had to say:
I asked her where her man at?
She said, 'baby, I'm gay.'
I said, 'that don't really matter...
As long as you ain't got a sex change.
Because I'm down with a threesome...
But I need to know some thangs."

And the hook is updated from:

"If you like Pina Coladas,
And getting caught in the rain.
If you're not into yoga,
If you have half-a-brain.
If you like making love at midnight,
In the dunes of the cape.
I'm the love that you've looked for,
Write to me, and escape."

to:

"If you like Pina Colada,
Alize or champagne.
If you like juice in your gin;
Me, myself Hennessy.
If you like making love at midnight?
Rolling out on the avenue.
If you like firing up a fat one,
Well, then you're down with my crew."

The only problem I have with this song, is that it's all done in the sing-songy delivery of the original (albeit with a modern twist); and he never quite busts out and raps over the track, which would've really pushed it over the edge. But i guess that's the lack of Prince's influence showing? Remember how I said you feel the loss of Ace in P.O.D.'s solo material? Well, I guess it works the other way 'round, too (not that they were irreparably separated... Young & Restless reunited on two songs from Ace's Southern Conference project). Though, I suppose there was already a precedent set for this, in Young & Restless's debut single "Poison Ivy." But I just wish for a little more of what they did with "Louie Louie," in terms of transforming it further into a proper rap song.

Oh well; it's still a lot of fun, and the 12" comes loaded with with Clean, Dirty, Instrumental and Acappella versions in a sticker cover.

Furthermore, it's b/w another song from the compilation, Luke's "Let's Ride." Most of the songs on And Then There Was Bass were all-new material, but this one's on loan from Luke's Changin' the Game album. I guess that's why LaFace didn't bother to credit the featured artists on this song: Jiggie and No Good But So Good. The song (which is produced by Luke himself) ain't not bad... It's hectically paced, has some nice change-ups, and the guest rappers keep it from being all Luke shouting, like a lot of his records become. And, as with the A-side, the 12" provides the full rationing of Dirty, Clean, Instrumental and Acappella versions for the song.

This is the only record Dr. Ace would put out as Da Real One. After this, he changed his name to Mr. Charlie and released a couple more records. And he's still around doing his thing: check out his myspace.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Poison Clan Appreciation Week, Day 4: The Good Luke Songs

There's a reason most Luke albums are the stuff of dollar bins and rarely even find their way online. They're bloated and about 50% skit. And Luke doesn't even pretend to be a rapper and adopt a rudimentary flow - ever - he just talks on half his songs and does hooks only on the rest. I mean, he's had some short-term successful singles with his shout and call songs, with good reason: he had some great in-house producers (even his biggest detractors can't really front on the instrumental to "Breakdown"). But I could still sleep peacefully at night if all of those songs were wiped from existence tomorrow.

But, there's one reason to own them all: The Poison Clan!

All of his albums before Luke Records self destructed (post label destruction his albums changed and aren't really relevant to the discussion) were worth picking up because, naturally, Luke used his albums to promote his artists (and help deflect the fact that he was putting out rap album after rap album without being able to rap). Each of his albums have some great songs; all featuring The Poison Clan. The rest of the albums you could throw away. So, let's look at all of those now:

From I Got Shit On My Mind:
1) "Fakin' Like Gangstas" - This is essentially a JT solo joint, although Luke adlibs ("I still don't know the fuck nigga that I was shootin' at!") on the hook. It's a solid cut, with JT using a simple flow over a nice beat, speaking out against everyone he thinks is faking being a gangsta. It's the song that made Snoop and Dre turn around and diss Luke on "Dre Day," and would be a solid entry any Poison Clan album.

2) "Pussy Ass Kid and Hoe Ass Play (Payback Is a Mutha Fucker)" - This is great. A raw, hardcore beat with JT and the underrated Bustdown just trading verses dissing the hell out of Kid & Play. The beat switches around and there's some nice scratching on the hook; but Bustdown really steals the show. JT is as dope as ever, too. Luke riffs a bit at the end, but he doesn't really add anything.

3) "Head, Head and More Head" - At first this sounds like just another of Luke's shout and call songs, with him shouting out various dirty phrases to an audience that enthusiastically shouts back over a hype track with an ill guitar lick. But then JT Money and Jiggie Gee get on the track, spitting sexual diss verses at each other. It's a fun battle-of-the-sexes joint, though Luke's parts feel a little protracted.

From In the Nude:
1) "Bad Land Boogie" - I forgot about this when it was new, so it was a really nice surprise when I went back to my old Luke tapes in the 2000's (even more surprising, Luke included this on his greatest hits CD years later). This is a Home Team joint (just in case anybody's joining us late, both Home Team members were down with Poison Clan; Deb Rock was a founding member), and in classic HT tradition takes a well-loved old school beat and adds some deep bass and samples, and the duo take turns kicking ill, bugged verses. This is really the only proper Home Team song besides what's on their album, so fans should definitely snag this - you won't be disappointed!

2) "Cowards In Compton" - I just did a video blog about this yesterday, so refer to that. Suffice to say: it's dope, and the only noteworthy Luke track that he released as a single.

3) "Head, Head and More Head part 2" - This is pretty self-explanatory; Luke clearly wanted to recapture the success of the first one by barely varying from the first one at all. JT and Jiggie are back over the same beat and Luke is doing the same thing over the hook. The only change is that JT and Jiggie have some new verses... but, really, what more do you want? These are definitely the least of the songs I'm highlighting, but they're still fun.

4) "Freestyle Joint" - Now this is what it's all about. JT, Deboinaire, Clayvoisie and Fresh Kid Ice of the 2 Live Crew make a posse cut over a really nice track. Everything about this song is just right, the beat is fresh, the samples are cool and everybody sounds good with their verse... like when Deb gets on the track, his voice sounds perfect. Even Fresh Kid Ice's hardcore boasts ("fuck with Chinaman and ya die!") work when they shouldn't. I don't think you can even be a hip-hop fan and not enjoy a song like this. The two concepts just can't occupy a human brain at the same time.

From Freak for Life 6996:
1) "That's How I Feel" - This is a cool, Mike McCray produced solo joint for JT, with a fresh MC Lyte sample cut up for the hook. Luke adlibs a bit on the breakdown but again, his input is irrelevant; it's just about JT, the beat and the DJ. Good shit.

2) "Represent" - This is sort of like "Freestyle Joint" part 2. The beat is different but still tight... it's rawer (there's even a Big Daddy Kane sample saying "get raw" on the hook) with whining horns, and the MCs on this posse cut get a little more lyrical. There's even a human beatbox on the track! This one features JT, Verb (of The New 2 Live Crew who tried to bring an east coast lyrical vibe to the group), Fresh Kid Ice and Drugz.

3) "Movin' Along" - We end with a nice track but an unkept promise - a Poison Clan reunion track! It's just credited as being PC, but it's JT and Deb as a pair again. It's a slow, smooth cool-out rhythm and features Luke's in-house reggae artist Likkle Wikked (who sounds dope) on the hook, along with a soulful, vintage vocal sample. It's all about hearing each of them ride the groove, with a collection of old school funky guitar samples, including one which is clearly a deliberate call back to the Poison Clan's first album. It's painful to imagine all the nice material we'd've had if Luke Records didn't have financial problems... damn.

So, anyway, that's it. After that, Luke lost all his good acts and his subsequent guest stars were all lame or outside his camp (a la his stuff with Doug E Fresh and Biggie). It's probably hard to justify picking up crap albums for an average of three good songs; but considering how cheap you can get them now, it's like buying three sweet singles of just the tight songs (and, like I said, at least the rest has some good production). So to me it's worth it: classic Poison Clan material.