The Reservoir Dogs Across the Pond

Hijack's a curious group: the UK crew that somehow signed up to Ice-T's Rhyme Syndicate in their heyday.  Most of us in the US probably first heard their "Style Wars" track on the Hard As Hell album; and the hardcore but high energy style of their early tracks gave off some appealing Bomb Squad-type vibes.  But, like most Rhyme Syndicate artists if we're being honest, they kept dipping into other, weaker styles.  They came out with a corny anti-crime music video; and lyrically, they could be a bit stilted.  I suppose coming from the UK might've made it harder to accept them as authentic in '91, too.  I copped their album at the time, but found it mostly disappointing and wishing they'd maybe just given their beats to other RS members, who all would've stood to gain from Hijack's style of production.

Anyway, they kind of came and went pretty quick to those of us on the states.  Warner Brothers didn't make their album too easy to find over here, though that may've added a little cache to their status with those of us who liked to dig deeper.  So I remember being pretty excited in 1996 when I found what first appeared to be another "random rap" 12" by Mr. Pink and Mr. Blonde on Reservoir Records actually bore the Hijack logo on its sticker and label.  Mr. Pink and Mr. Blonde were two of the codenames the robbers adopted in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (Steve Buscemi and Michael Madsen's characters, respectively); and the artwork they use for the label is straight from the film's promotional materials.  That was an intriguing enough mix of suggestive promises that I copped it unheard.  It turns out Mr. Pink is really Kamanchi Sly and Mr. Blonde is DJ Undercover, both of course from Hijack.

The way it's laid out is that each member gets a side of the record for himself with a solo track... although in 1997 they'd do a follow-up where they collaborated on the song together.  But here, they're separate.  The A-side starts us off with Kamanchi, in this case the less compelling of the two.  It's kind of another slow, anti-crime message song in the vein of their big US single.  Each verse is a different little narrative about somebody who lived outside the law only to eventually wind up "Payin' the Price."  And he's still running into the same lyrical issues, kicking awkward lines like "Mr. Pink, a Reservoir Dog, so it's ironic: I return to the scene like a dog to his own vomit."  To his credit, though, he did beat Ras Kass by about a year to his "Anything Goes (Rmx)" sample, and it sounds as smooth here as it does there.

But it's Undercover's song that's really worth your time.  Both tracks have a distinct west coast, 90s gangsta rap influence (this one is very close to "Deep Cover"), but at least "Death Before Dishonor" is substantially harder, hearkening back to what we actually want from Hijack with an ill Onyx vocal sample for a hook.  And subject-wise: it delivers all the hot gos' about the tribulations the group faced after they dropped off the map.

"I close my eyes,
The world just passes me by.
You ask me no questions,
Niggas, I tell you no lies.
I hooked up with Ice-T
When already on tour;
My relationship with Warner B
Had left me feeling sore.
How could I be so blind?
I guess that it was loyalty;
Ah, I never heard no word
About my royalties.
Heard my record
On the next man's track.
For those that know, the track was
'I Had To Serve You' by Hijack.
It was about that time
Supreme got dropped from the team;
And I couldn't believe
[?? WEA, maybe?] was makin' all the cream.
My attitude was like 'fuck it,
I'll make it as a soloist.
The dopest vocalist,
Now I gots to cope with this!'
Pen to paper
When I make no mistake;
When I shape (produce a track),
I never have to wait.
People all over the world
Send me letters of support
And show me love.
I'm showing them love back; I'm Hijack."

And so the Hijack guys have continued to release indie projects over the years, together and apart.  They even released a new music video with Ice-T about this Covid lockdown.  But the real jewels in their catalog, the ones that keep me keep chasing the Hijack logo, are their earliest singles, before Warner Bros even tried to introduce them to the states.  Their "Hold No Hostage" 12" is incredible and beats the pants off of most any Rhyme Syndicate record you can find.  This Pink/ Blonde record isn't on that level, but it's still an interesting little pick-up that showed these guys had more to offer even after the mainstream music industry had seemingly finished with them.

Party, Party!

What's not to love about this record? This is Ice-T's epic Rhyme Syndicate posse cut from his album, Freedom Of Speech... Just Watch What You Say that dropped in 1990 on Warner Bros/ Sire Records. It's got an exclusive B-side remix, and as you can see it comes in a spiffy picture cover.

So yeah, the song is called "What Ya Wanna Do?" It's produced by Ice-T and Afrika Islam and is, as the back cover puts it, "CUT THE !&*!&%!! UP" by DJ Evil E. It features the full-length LP Version (a whopping 9 minutes) and the shorter Edit (the one they used for the video etc.). There's also an instrumental, which is a little bit longer than the radio edit, but shorter than the LP version.

It's a super fun joint, with a cracking break with hand-claps and a little Miami-style percussion, a deep groovy bassline and a funky guitar loop. It's a pretty simple but entirely effective beat that plays the background for a plethora of MCs to just drop freestyle rhymes. The entire line-up is: Randy Mac, Nat the Cat (with a sick fast rap style), The Syndicate sniper Donald D, who kicks the infamously fun rap about his rodent problem:

"There's a mouse in my house, so I bought a cat.
The cat ran away, 'cause now there's a rat.
I'm on the attack with my baseball bat...
That one rat brought many others back.
All through my house I set up traps;
It seem like the rats have a map.
But nowadays I don't know how to act,
So now I feed the rats crack."

...Bronx Style Bob ("Life ain't nothin' but a piece of existence"), Hen Gee, Shakell Shabazz, old school legend Toddy Tee, Everlast (who lazily recycles a verse from his single, "I Got the Knack"), MC Taste and Divine Styler. In the Edit, each MC kicks 1 verse (except Ice, who kicks 2), but in the full-length version, everyone comes back for a second verse (third in Ice's case). What's interesting is that the Edit doesn't just play the first "round" of verses or the second, but selectively picks what I guess they consider to be the best verse from each MC, so you get, for example, Randy Mac's first verse, then Nat the Cat's second and then Bronx Style Bob's first verse again.

Finally, we hit the exclusive remix, a Radio Remix of "The Girl Tried To Kill Me." Remember the over-the-top rock & roll style sex anthem Ice ended his album with? Well, this is that, but this remix was clearly made for the heads who thought the original wasn't hip-hop enough. This one still has some of the same guitar riffs (and a big solo finish), but the emphasis is much more on the drums and all than the album version, which was a pretty substantial genre cross-over. Which version you'll prefer will probably depend on how tolerant you are of rock music... the original probably lends itself more to the subject matter and Ice's yelly style, but this is definitely on a more head-nodding B-Boy tip. So I gotta go with the remix.

So, you know, if you've already got the album, then getting "What Ya Wanna Do?" isn't such a coup... the Instrumental is nice, but the Edit doesn't add much value, except maybe for historical purposes. But it's also got the remix of "Girl" and the pic cover and all, so it's a worthwhile crate staple considering it can usually be had for peanuts.