The Sugar Bear Demos

Here's a really nice release that probably slid under many of your radars - it certainly did mine - Sugar Bear's Never Lost: My '99 Demos on Spitslam Records,  Spitslam, if you didn't realize, is Chuck D's label, which you might remember for putting out the Chill Rob G comeback album a few years ago.  They've also been putting out the new Stetsasonic material and a bunch of other interesting projects from old school and new artists.  And Sugar Bear's album, which actually came out last summer, but I just discovered recently, is exactly what its title promises: a preservation of Sugar Bear's previously unreleased demo recordings from 1988.

There are essentially six tracks.  These have been remastered and are pretty clean, but listening closely, I'd guess they're from a retail cassette dub, and they do still sound a little thin.  And admittedly, they're not all on par with his most famous single.  The opening "Get It Together" has a catchy sample, but it's a slower track that's more focused on delivering a message than the hyped up delivery on his Next Plateau material.  And lyrically, frankly, it's a little clunky:

"Some people say
That life is not easy.
Some things out there
Are always not pleasing.
Handle it;
Take one step at a time.
And make it slow,
And maybe you will find
What you've been looking for.
That's important,
Not miscellaneous.
What I'm saying is:
There is a better way.
You gotta find it.
Use your brain
Before you bind it."

Like, contriving phrases like "are always not pleasing" from "are not always pleasing" just sounds awkward; and a lot of those rhymes are pretty basic to also be so forced ("easy" and "pleasing?").  It shows that his heart's in the right place, and again, the instrumental will hook you in, so it's a funky little track, but not on the level of what we've heard before.  It's both dope (especially now that we're not getting any more music like this from that era) and easy to see why it's remained a demo.

The next track, however, is the one.  "Violated" comes hard and fast, using some of the same samples as Eric B and Rakim's "Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em," but with its own unique flavor.  Sugar's at his most aggressive, there's a breakdown slicing up Kool G Rap's "Cold Cuts," and they mix in additional unique samples throughout the track.  And had this actually come out in 1988, it would've been first, beating them to the punch by about two years.  I'm not saying it's better than that all-time classic, Rakim is definitely the smoother MC, but it gives it a respectable run for its money.  And again, it's a precursor from the 80s.  It's a real shame this didn't come out at the time; it would've really made a mark.

"Cadence" and "Super Monster" are respectable runners up: two more high energy tracks where the Long Islander comes hard over some strong instrumentals.  I did find myself wishing he was just a little slicker with the wordplay, and it's a bit goofy on the latter track when they do an acapella of the Sugar Crisps theme song.  But overall these are some tight 80's tracks any Hip-Hopper would be delighted to have in their collection.  And "Chillin" is almost on the same level, it's just a little bit slower and looser, with more playful lyrics, a little more MC Rell than Rakim.

And finally there's the token love song, "My Girl" with its sung chorus and cheesy lyrics, "the moment that I laid/ my eyes on you/ for you to be my girl/ it can only be true/ you carry yourself/ with no suspicion/ the thought of you/ makes me wonder why I'm missin'/ you, my girl/ there can never be another/ the patter of my heart/ makes it sound like thunder."  It's a bit silly; but it's still fun to uncover a vintage track like that.

Those six demos are it, but he's also re-recorded a new 2024 version of "Get It Together."  It's the same lyrics and instrumental, just a fresh recording of it.  And comparing the two versions, you can appreciate that even though the remastered demos removed the hiss and any other possible issues, the new version definitely sounds deeper and warmer.  Bear's voice is also a little deeper now that he's older, but he does a good job matching his original delivery.  It sounds a little different, but he basically manages to recapture the magic, and it probably helps that none of us grew up with the originals, so we won't be put off by any slight variation.  I kinda wish he remade "Violated," too.

So that's the meat of the album, I guess you'd say EP.  But besides the demos, Never Lost is packed with bonus tracks, including both cuts from the 1988 12" that made him famous, his 1989 song from Richie Rich's album and some kind of Greek electro-dance remix of "Don't Scandalize Mine" from 2015, which they kindly put at the end of the album so you can just turn it off before that track starts.  The only things they didn't include are his 2018 single "I'm Hot" and some guest spots he recorded for a few R&B artists throughout the years.

The only bummer is it's CD only.  CD-R to be precise, which is how Spitslam releases most of their music.  On the one hand, it's cheap and absolutely 100% worth it.  But it would be sweet if they teamed up with another label, like Chopped Herring, Dope Folks or whoever's more experienced in pressing up this kind of stuff on wax.  I know they've done that once or twice before, like with Schoolly D's new album (which I'm also interested in picking up myself), so maybe there's still hope.  But if not, you can find a whole bunch of CD-R only projects from them that would come to the same price as one LP from a lot of other places.

Guess Who's Made a Comeback? You'll Never Guess, So I'll Just Tell You!

Even as another year fades away, it marks one last interesting development in Hip-Hop.  You guys'll never guess which old school MC just made a comeback with a brand new record.  Well, except those of you who looked at the picture on the right.  That's right, it's Sugar Bear, the Strong Island MC who only put out one, exciting and highly regarded 12" single back in 1988 on, well... it originally came out on an indie label called Coslit Records, but it's far better known for the more broadly distributed second pressing by Next Plateau Records.  Red Alert blew it up on his classic We Can Do This album.  I wrote about it a bit here, in a post on KC Flightt, as Sugar Bear was the one who actually beat both him and Chuck Chillout to the popular "Once In a Lifetime" break, but at some point, I should give that record its own post, because it has an equally great, "Once In a Lifetime"-less B-side.

But anyway, yeah.  That was a great record, but that's all he ever put out.  He did a couple guest spots, most notably on producer Richie Rich's I Can Make You Dance album, "Coming From London" ("can't you tell, from the way I walk and talk, I'm coming from New York? But what brought me to London: a homeboy that was really somethin'").  Apparently in the 90's he also did some token rap verses on R&B songs, none of which I'd ever heard of before until I checked out Sugar Bear's discogs page.  So I guess he did keep his hand in it for a while.  But even so, it's been a very a long time, and he has to be one of the last guys I was expecting to see jump dramatically back on the record with a brand new single.

And you bet your ass it's on vinyl.  "It's Hot" is the latest release from Hip Hop Be Bop Records, the guys that delivered Silver Fox's comeback last year.  If this becomes their regular schtick, mounting hot comebacks by the genre's most neglected legends, I will remain permanently enthralled.  I am 1000% on board.  Oh, and by the way, you may remember me mentioning in my post about their last record, that their catalog numbers curiously jumped from HHBB-7-001 to HHBB-7-003, which raised the question, what happened to the elusive HHBB-7-002?  Well, this is it - the single that was evidently originally planned to come out between the two Silver Fox 7"s.

Now, getting down to business, The Powerful Powerlord sounds as good as ever.  His distinctive voice sounds just the same, energetic as ever, and he's kicking a style very faithful to his '88 debut.  He hasn't missed a beat in all these twenty years.  "Stop sweatin' me; you're runnin' out of towels.  Who?  Look at you; now you're an owl.  This is the new kind of style, comin' from Strong Isle, so let's get biz.  You think it's a game and I bet that you're havin' fun; but there will only be one Powerful Powerlord Sugar Bear in the atmosphere, so you can't tear up nothin' but a piece of paper. There's no excuse for catchin' the vapors.  Gonna rip up the contract, do my contact and you best believe that I had to come back."

Production is once again provided by Clandestine, who knows just the kind of track to lay down for Sugar Bear's vocals: hardcore, but with a focus on high energy rather than street gruff.  Fresh drums, a heavy classical music-type loop and a deep horn tone reminiscent of The UBC Crew's ominous sounding "UB Style."  There's also a remix which is pretty cool when you focus on it, but overall feels a little flat.  The one thing that keeps this single from quite hitting the heights of the 1988 record is the samples.  This feels more made up of studio-created elements than raw, chunky samples; so it doesn't really have the soul of the original songs.  But the fact that it's still the original Sugar Bear holds it all together.  And of course, one element that really sold Sugar Bear's old school stuff was the tight scratching sequences he included on both songs.  And thankfully, that's just as present here, thanks to DJ Credit One, the same guy who also did Silver Fox's joints.  His cuts are really slick to the point where I don't understand why I'm not coming across him on more records; he should be getting a lot more work.

So this record's a 33 1/3 7" and comes in a colorful picture cover that recalls the logo and artwork from the original Coslit cover (even more rewarding for those of us who only have the Next Plateau version that came in a generic label cover, which is most of us).  I definitely recommend this for anyone everyone who's been bummed for decades that Sugar Bear only ever had the one single.  And Hip Hop Be Bop's got me on the edge of my seat for what they're going to come out with next.

Talking Heads In Flightt

In 1989, Yo! MTV Raps was in love with a sample. An unknown rapper named KC Flightt had sampled a pop, new wave 80's group that was already a long time MTV favorite, The Talking Heads. And unquestionably, the combination of "Once In a Lifetime"'s drums and bassline, plus the loop of bells that sometimes went with it, made an ideal hip-hop break. It had this soft, funky origin, but sounded undeniably tough as a hip-hop beat. The song also had a spacey theme, which suited itself perfectly for a music video, and major label RCA Records was prepared to cough up enough dough to get Talking Heads' lead vocalist David Byrne himself to appear in the video, and give the whole thing a cross-genre co-sign. You could just see the network executives' minds connecting all the dots for "Planet E" to become "Walk This Way part 2."

Well, it didn't turn into a phenomenon like that, but it was successful enough. I liked it enough as a kid that I wanted it, and when I couldn't find the single, wound up buying the whole album [pictured, right]. It turned out not to be very good... for reasons which would've been obvious right from the single if I'd be a more astute listener back then. But I was young, so I wound up just listening to "Planet E," which was wisely positioned as the first track, and never really venturing into the rest of the tape again.

So, this had an appealing track And the song had a very clear sociopolitical message to ward off the critics... although frankly, a little more subtlety would've gone a very long way. So what wasn't to like about this record? Well, this is a house track, for one; so even with a perfect sample like this (which gets billing as big as the guest artists on the album's liner notes), it really lacks the delicious, crunchy percussion of a real hip-hop track.

And what's up with the MCing? He's not even rhyming.  Well, okay, sometimes he rhymes, but it's inconsistent and very strained. Even the lyrics on the back cover are printed in paragraph form, as opposed to line by line. So while he sort of has a hip-hop flow, this song has to be considered at least a partial cross between spoken word and rap. His delivery actually winds up being pretty similar to the Talking Heads' own spoken verses. Perhaps that was intentional, but then it begs the question... why do we need this second version if he's duplicating the original so closely?

And for "spoken word," it's not even compelling poetry - while again it's a good, timely message, it's far too heavy-handed and simplistic. It's a little narrative about a planet where the people are divided "we'll call one Group A, and the other.... Group B"). They're separated by culture and class, and SPOILERS: racism is bad. I will give him credit for one small detail, though - he at least never comes out on the last line and says, "and the 'E' stands for 'Earth.' I'm talking about Planet Earth!"

So it's all just about The Talking Heads, but just how original was this sample selection even? This could almost be another Chill Rob G Vs. Snap situation. Because most heads today who treasure "Same As It Ever Was" as a break aren't going back fondly to this KC Flightt 12"... they're replaying DJ Chuck Chillout & Kool Chip's killer "Rhythm Is the Master," which transforms the same break into a killer "fuck that house shit" hip-hop jam with real tough MCing and some really fun and creative samples on the chorus. It was on a major, too (Polygram), so they also had a video and managed to score their own hit. And historically, it's pretty much the version that won out. The only thing is, neither of these artists actually had it first.

In 1988, the year before "Planet E" and "Rhythm Is the Master," somebody else had this sample. Long Island's Sugar Bear only released one 12" in his career, a single on the obscure label Coslit Records (later picked up and reissued by Next Plateau, which still wasn't really a major). And like Chuck and Chip, his version trounces all over the KC Flightt version, while using the same loop in the same way. It never really got the love back in the day, though, because it was independent. There was no music video, and so never got to duke it out on MTV with the others. RCA could stick David Byrne in their video like there never had been a "Same As It Ever Was" rap before, and the overwhelming majority of their audience were none the wiser. And that's a shame, because it may actually be the best version of all (though it's a close call).

But let's not write off KC Flightt entirely; he was a legit house guy. He's not just the vocalist; he produced and wrote his whole album. Today he's mostly known (again, because of that video) for being the guy who rapped with The Talking Heads; but his earlier single "Let's Get Jazzy" was an important, early record in establishing the subgenre of hip-house (and what got him signed to RCA in the first place). And while In Flightt was his only album on his own terms, he's stayed in the music business, recording with other jazz fusion/club whatever acts and is still around to this day.

And perhaps best of all, the 12" has a Hip Hop Mix of "Planet E" (also by Flightt) that's hip-hop purists will surely prefer. It's got a real breakbeat (I think from the same Bobby Byrd joint "Raw" came from) and a little bass riff from "White Lines." It doesn't have the mainstream appeal, since the original House Mix takes so liberally from "Once In a Lifetime." I mean, even the chorus and breakdown consist of vocal samples from there. Byrne might be lip-syncing to them in the music video, but make no mistake, it's all just lifted off that one record. So mainstream audiences will prefer the House mix just for essentially being a Talking Heads song; but the Hip Hop version has to at least get more respectability points for being original. If the rhyming was better, it could stand up alongside the Chuck Chillout record.

So, both the House and Hip Hop versions are on this 12". There's an Acid Drop Mix as well, which goes in the opposite direction, making the song more awful and clubby. And finally, there's another song on the B-side, "Dancin' Machine (Acid House Mix)." The original version of "Dancin' Machine" isn't from his album; it's an exclusive B-side to one of his other singles, "She's Sexxxy." Anyway, some of the production elements (by remixer Hudson "Hot Mix" Beauday) are interesting, but the MCing is just terrible, and turning it into acid house sure doesn't help.

Today, you're more likely to sell this to a Talking Heads fan than anybody. And I'll take Sugar Bear and Chuck Chillout over this any day - I think Byrne picked the wrong rapper guys to co-sign. If he was in the other guys' video, he could've been an animated superhero. But I can't front, every couple of years I still get the urge to put this one on the turntables and revisit "Planet E."