The First Appearance of Jay-Z

(Youtube version is here.)

A Great Big Book of Rap Lyrics

Hitting bookstores today is The Anthology of Rap, edited by Adam Bradley and Andrew DuBois from Yale University Press. I hope I won't be accused of over-simplifying when I state that this is a great big ol' book of rap lyrics. Like dictionary big. And it's pretty much nothing but transcribed songs, plain and simple. I mean, there is an introduction, a forward and two "afterwords." Plus the book is divided into chapters, designating eras in hip-hop. Those have little introductory paragraphs. And artists have brief bios for the uninitiated. But you're basically just looking at 700+ of typed-out rap songs. So, is that a good or a bad thing? Well, let's see.

My first thought when I got this is probably what you're all thinking: aren't all of these song lyrics, and bajillions more, already easily available on the internet? Yes, of course. Ten years ago, this project probably would've had much greater commercial prospects, but I'm guessing many of you guys will be thinking it's just plain crazy to plop down $35 (the book's cover price) for a small sampling of what's already available online for free. And... you'd have an excellent point.

But before we dismiss it entirely, let's move on to the second thought that hit me when I received this book: most online lyric transcriptions are riddled with down-right embarrassing errors. Having transcribed a few songs for The OHHLA myself, there's often that one line you can't quite make out, maybe due to a reference you don't get or phrases you're not familiar with, and you're left just trying to sound it out... So, I wondered, did this book just google these songs and lazily cut and paste those transcriptions, ridiculous goofs and all?

I'm happy to report the answer to that seems to to be no. I've flipped through this volume again and again, looking to stumble upon something laughably stupid, and the only errors I could find are debatable and nitpicky. As an example, according to The Anthology, Slick Rick's "I Shouldn't Have Done It" starts out with the lyric:

"Well, I'ma tell you a story and I come out bluntly,
Want a ugly child? Hey, nobody would want me."

But I'm pretty sure he's actually saying:

"Well, I'ma tell you a story and I come out bluntly,
Born an ugly child. Hey, nobody would want me."

But compare that to OHHLA's:

"Well I'ma tell you a story and I come out bluntly
Wanna ugly shot, hey nobody will want me"

Now, that's just clearly wrong. So The Anthology has stepped the game up considerably from the usual transcriptions found online, which goes a good way towards making this a more valuable resource. Even this example song has more errors on OHHLA, which are not carried over to The Anthology (the book and I agree that "I love the wedlock, what up, not going to front/ See the problem that arouses, why on earth did she want me?" should instead read, "I loved her a lot, word up, not going to front, see?/ The problem that arose* is why on earth did she want me?"). And both The Anthology and I concur that the OHHLA is the best of the online sources,** so The Anthology has the best transcriptions you're going to find anywhere.

But of course, where The Anthology is lacking is the natural limitation of the book format. Despite the size of the thing, this book still only includes three Slick Rick songs, whereas OHHLA has about 80. They do an admirable job trying to capture nearly every period of hip-hop (disco era, gangsta, east coast, west coast, underground, pop, the complex and the embarrassingly simple, etc), but in the end, some omissions and choices are a bit suspect. At a guess, for instance, I assume they only included Blackalicious's "Alphabet Aerobics" because they were unaware it was just a simple retread of KMC Kru's "Alphabet Rhyme;" and if they'd been familiar with both, would have included the latter instead.

But my point isn't in playing the "they should've picked this song instead of that song" game. It's just that - because their selection is forced to be so limited (not their fault; it's the nature of the medium) - this book will only serve as a handy reference in those rare instances where the authors just so happened to have coincidentally chosen to include the one song you're interested in looking up. The odds are overwhelming that whatever song you're curious about at any given time won't be in here.

However, if you read the introduction, the authors seem to expect you to not so much use this as a tool to pick through and reference lyrics, but as something to read from cover to cover, more like a book of poetry/ educational tool. As a book of poetry... I think people will (and should) just prefer to listen to the actual songs. And as an educational tool... well, a collection of lyrics with no analysis or commentary is a bit dry, to say the least. Especially 700+ pages worth.

So, bottom line, this seems more like an interesting, and probably exhaustive, exercise on the editors' part than anything most heads will care to concern themselves with. I guess they intend to foist this over mostly on students who will be required to pick this up for a course (it is, after all, from a University press). But it IS neat to have a decidedly more accurate take on these songs than are available elsewhere.

So whether to recommend it to you guys? I'm actually a bit torn. I'm happily hanging onto mine now that I've got it; but I can't say it's worth the hefty cover price. If you're living a "money is no object" lifestyle, then certainly pick this up. It's a fun addition to your collection. Otherwise, though, I'd say hold off unless you come across it super cheap in a discount bin someday. And students, if a professor assigns you this book, just drop by The Original Hip-Hop Lyrics Archive and save yourself the expense. The education system is milking you for enough cash as it is.


*Actually, The Anthology says "arise," which I think is wrong, too... I suspect they stumbled on Rick's accent there. But the point is: they're a lot closer than the other available sources, and give you a truer representation of the substance of the song.

**No shots intended at Flash at all in pointing out these errors. It's a great and invaluable site I'm proud to have contributed to, at least a tiny bit.

Update 11/5/10: Uh-oh... Have a look in the comments. It looks like actually the answer was yes, they did just lazily cut & paste OHHLA's transcriptions. There's a rather damning article posted about this book on Slate that not only spots some more errors (to be expected)... but the problem is that those errors are all duplicates of OHHLA errors. For example, both OHHLA and The Anthology write this line from Ghostface Killah's "Daytona 5000:" "voice be metal like Von Harper." The actual line is "voice be mellow like Vaughan Harper."

Now, the problem isn't that The Anthology made a transcription mistake... or that the editors didn't research Vaughan Harper's name. The problem is that The Anthology reproduced the same, bizarre alternate word and spelling choices printed on OHHLA's website. And it's not just this Ghostface quote, their other errors also seem to be carry-overs from OHHLA.

What does that mean? Apparently, instead of doing their own research or transcriptions, they just copied OHHLA's work and made some alterations. That's sorta like, yaknow... plagiarism.

Every transcriber is credited on OHHLA for the work they submitted on the actual page of the transcription. But I don't see those credits carried over anywhere in the book. ...I'm glad I don't work in Yale's legal department right now.

Now, on the positive side: they clearly did do some error-correcting. So like I said in my initial write-up, the book's transcripts are more accurate than OHHLA's. But, yeah. Disappointing revelation there.

Is Hip-Hop Not Crazy Enough for You?

If you ever find yourself lamenting how hip-hop just isn't crazy enough for you, you'll probably be wanting this. This 12" is "Live From Death Row" by Memory Man, the first release on his own label, Angry Bee Records, from 2006. It features BusDriver and MC Paul Barman, and that line-up alone is probably giving you several ideas of what to possibly expect. And they're probably all correct.

Probably the best aspect of this is that it isn't the hopelessly juvenile joke track we've all come to expect from Barman. I mean, yeah, it's jokey and downright silly at times; but instead of the "I'm really bad at sex, ha ha ha" content that made him relatively famous, this song tackles serious subject matter. I don't know if there's really much direct connection to Mumia Abu-Jamal besides the fact that they've used it him as a title source, but this song is about capital punishment and all that entails.

In fact, actually, BusDriver's verse sounds jokier than Barman's. He raps in a confessional style of a victim of rape and incest turned murderer facing his last moments on death row... which I realize doesn't sound funny, but it's packed with lines like, "my last meal consists of chopped liver, pop singers and a chocolate chip cookie." Barman's verse is reminiscent actually of Lateef's verse on "The Wreckoning," where he graphically describes the process of decomposition of the human body. Here, Barman spends much of his time graphically detailing the experience of dying via lethal injection, though he carries it farther, following the prisoner all the way to Hell.

All I can say is that both verses are of the sort that reward repeated listenings, which seem to be fewer and fewer these days. This is enhanced because both MCs rap really fast, over a hyper-kinetic, ever-changing musical bed. The loops are constantly changing and in constant cheery defiance of the subject matter, playing circus horns one second and happy bells the next. You could easily listen to this song a dozen times and have no idea what it was about unless you were paying rapt attention.

The B-side, "Live From Death Row Pt. 2," disappointingly does not feature the MCs from part one. Instead, it's a new beat by Memory Man, covered in vocal samples of various news reports and soundbites about the death penalty. It's interesting, and the music, while decidedly different from the A-side, keeps the notion of pairing energetic, constantly changing up-beat vibes with somber stories of sanctioned death. In fact, Mumia himself is actually sampled at one point, reporting the case of a man convicted in an unjust drug bust. And unlike the first one, this one has a nice breakdown where Memory Man is given a chance to show off his turntable skills. But in the end, it still doesn't have half the appeal of the compelling A-side. Instrumentals for both parts are also included.

There's actually two versions of this 12". It was picked up and rereleased in Europe by Chopped Herring Records, and that 12" includes everything from the original Angry Bee release plus a bonus track. It's an instrumental called "No Smoking In the Gas Chamber," a slower, darker instrumental that still has a catchy upright bass tune and looped vocals telling us "there'll be no smoking in the gas chamber." It's a cool little bonus, but if you've already got the domestic release, this isn't worth going out of your way for. The real gem of this 12" is just the main track - the rest is just extra.

So I wouldn't be too fussed about which version you pick up, but you should definitely pick up some version. Even if you're someone who finds yourself exclaiming, "oh, I HATE Paul Barman" whenever he's brought up, trust me and give this one a chance. It's just a flat-out great, timeless rap song that deserves a lot more recognition than it gets.

The Ultimate In Horror Disco Rap

Okay, my fellow bloggers... Who else is doing a Halloween themed post today? I want to see lots of fun, scary hip-hop posts when I check my reader Halloween evening. Here's mine:

Here's a Halloween, monster-mash-style rap song most people have never heard of... but they really should seek it out, 'cause it's one of the best. It's M C G's "Friday 13th" on United Sound Music from 1985.

So, like the title says, this is a very disco rap-style horror rap. I'm not sure how much of the music is by a live band and how much is programmed and looped, but it all sounds very rich, so I'd guess that at least some of it is live. In either case, it's great. It's got a lot of spooky but up-beat synth notes and crazy sound effects. There's a simple, sung hook that just goes, "Friday the 13th, Friday the 13th." But damned if it isn't catchy as hell the way it meshes with the music.

Lyrically, it's a simple and familiar narrative: M C G is invited to a party to MC, but it turns out it's a party being held by monsters! Of course, the narrative isn't the point, it's just a fun excuse to come up with lots of goofy and fun rhymes about a long list of famous monsters (of Film Land?). And M C G has that great, bassy radio-DJ voice that a lot of the early disco rappers used, and it sounds great. Everything about this song is 100% enjoyable... check a sample of the rhymes:

"I was invited to a party to MC,
Wouldn't exactly say it was the place to be.
I got scared outta my wits
When I seen who was playin' all the hits.
It was the one they call Transylvania D.
He said, 'welcome to the party, M C G.'
It was a hot summer day when he passed away,
But he was at the party, ready to play.
I looked at him with nothing but fear,
He said, 'don't be afraid, get over here.'
Then the beat got vicious and so nutritious,
I rapped so hard I broke all the dishes!"

This record is on the rare side. But it's absolutely worth seeking out if you enjoy the really old school old school stuff. And the fact that this is a great Halloween record only adds to the appeal.

Happy Halloween!

A Couple of Twins

(Youtube version is here.)

Creative Juices Music

More hot new music? How about a whole label's worth? Until pretty recently, I was sleeping on these guys, which gave them a chance to create a whole back catalog of ill music I need to check out. In case you've been missing out, too, I'm talking about Creative Juices Music. They got plenty of new talented artists putting out their first releases, including Alucard, Critical and Ide, who seems to be their centerpiece artist. And they've got some established artists signed to their label, including Jise of The Arsonists and UG of the Cella Dwellas.

The label has a surprisingly unified sound... The production is rich and the lyrics are very late 90's. Think of that era when you first heard The Rebel Alliance or Jedi Mind Tricks, or when Canibus was an exciting new artist. The lyrics are smart and sometimes topical, but they still retain that raw hip-hop freestyle nature. All the MCs come with nice lines without sounding jokey, instead remembering to fall back on creativity and flow. They've got a house DJ, DJ Connect, adding first class scratches to their projects. This label is the epitome of "keeping it real" from a late 90's ethic. Hell, this is the label that got The Outsidaz to reunite ("Still In This" features Pace Won, Young Zee and Yah Yah)!

I've recently picked up a bunch of their projects - if you want a good place to start, try Ide and DJ Connect's incredible Ideology and Ide & Alucard's For Fuck Sake album, an ill ode to liquor - but still have a bunch more to score. And if it's still all a little too overwhelming, fortunately they've got a a nice (unmixed) sampler CD (pictured... and better yet, ughh has it in their freebie section, cop it quick!).

The one and only Mista Sinista cuts up a quality introduction, and then we're thrown right into it. New and as-yet-unreleased cuts by their full roster. There are some nice cameos, too, including Thirstin Howl III, Shabaam Sahdeeq, Casual, Steele (of Cocoa Brovas), and Hell Heaven Razah. But the guys you don't know will impress you at least as much as the big names. It helps a lot that the production is some serious, consistently quality stuff. Think of like The Snowgoons or Marco Polo.

There are new songs by UG - and oh shit, he's kicking his "mystic" style material for the first time in at least a decade! Those songs are advanced tracks from his upcoming album for Creative Juices called Portals. Damn, I can't wait!

Seriously, I got a bunch of their discs (yeah, unfortunately they're all CD and no vinyl... the one downside to this outfit) all at once, and I'm just putting one in after the other, and each song is as impressive and exciting as the last. Fuck, why didn't anybody tell me about these guys earlier? They've got a website, so you can check it out here for more info. Or maybe all you guys reading this are already completely up on them, and I was the only jerk sleeping. Heh

More Great, New Music

It's tempting to say J-Live is back, but he never really left. He's been putting out a lot of music, actually, over the years. There was a little gap between 1996 and 1999, but really since then, he's put out a ton of albums and 12"s. However, I don't know about you guys, but... after being initially excited about his early 12"s, I've let a lot of these fly under the radar.

But I'm damn glad I didn't let this one fly under. Based on an online recommendation or twenty, I held off for a bit but finally picked it up, and damn it's nice. "The Way That I Rhyme" is the latest single on his own label, Triple Threat Productions. Now J-Live has come out on a whole bunch of different labels; but throughout the years, he's always maintained Triple Threat, and even in 2010, he's still putting out wax.

Now, this track isn't produced by anybody I've ever heard of before... his name is Korede. And if this track is any indication, he's definitely somebody to watch out for in future (here's his myspace; I just looked it up). Simply, this beat is niiice. The drums and bass are subtle, but strong and really drive the rhythm. More superficially you've got some hot string samples and a smooth vocal sample. And the hook, when the DJ starts cutting up Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock's "It Takes Two" is perfect! It's like two mixed vibes: one upbeat and energetic and one cool and calming, but somehow they both manage to function at the same time, and even compliment each other. Meanwhile, J-Live's vocals sound like they're taken off some late '97 single that was lost in the vaults or something, with a fun narrative style and some dialogue interplay between himself and a female fan. All these elements working together, add up to an easy must-have.

The B-side doesn't stand out quite as much as the A-side - how could it? - but it's still pretty fresh. It's called "Poetry In Motion" and produced by Locsmif, who's been around the underground for a minute and did some tracks for OC. The beat's got a nice, choppy jazz vibe, and J-Live comes off cool and confident on the mic. This could actually pass pretty well for an OC song, actually - and that's certainly a compliment.

So this is the lead single off of J-Live's upcoming EP, Undivided Attention, with the B-side remaining exclusive to this 12". You also get instrumentals for both tracks here, and a clean version of the A-side. There's nothing limited or pricey about this one, so you really can't go wrong... another terrific hip-hop record in 2010.

Back To Burn?

More new music today. In fact, I'm going to be doing a bunch of new music posts all in a row. And for today, I'm going to look at one I've mentioned a couple of times, but just finally got my hands on: Themselves' Crownsdown and Company. If you missed it, Themselves dropped their "comeback" album, Crownsdown, last year. And this is a limited (1000 copies - mine is #0979) CD-only remix album of that.

So, interestingly, they keep the sequencing the same. "Back II Burn" was the first song on Crownsdown, the "Back II Burn" remix is the first song on Crownsdown and Company, and so on. This might not be a good thing in this case, because it causes them to lead with some of their weakest material. Themselves handled their own remix of "Back II Burn" and the metal guitars and such they add certainly don't improve over the original. Then Dalek's remix of "Oversleeping" is even worse - just a weird, distorted mix.

Now, I have to be honest. I haven't listened to Crownsdown too much since I got it... it was kind of a disappointment. So I'm not going to talk too much about how the remixes stack up to the originals, because I don't even really remember all of the originals; most of them didn't leave much of an impression on me. I went into this remix album hoping it would breath some more life into the material and make matters a little more compelling.

And sometimes I think they succeed. Buck 65's remix of "The Mark" relies a little too heavily on arbitrary noise and distortion (possibly to cater to the non-hip-hop contingency of second generation Anticon fans), but despite that, it's still pretty gripping, and it's certainly not lacking in energy. I don't care for the hook anymore than I did the first time around, but I guess it's asking too much to hope he'd've scrapped it?

Alias's remix of "Gangster of Disbelief" at least brings attention back to the lyrics, which is an area where a lot of Dose's projects unfortunately wind up having issues. I don't really care for the drums, but at this point I guess they've become Alias's inescapable signature sound. The rest of the production works well with it, though.

13 & God's remix of "Dax Strong" is nice; I think it really manages to capture that natural cohesion of wildly disparate styles (live instrumentation, computer sounds, simple and bugged out vocals) the band is always after, but doesn't always secure. If I wanted to give someone a good example of "what 13 & God are like" and what they're capable of, I'd play this song.

The sound of Lazersword (whoever that is)'s "You Ain't It" remix is like an Egyptian Lover tune updated for the youth of 2010. It's certainly interesting, but the vocals are practically an after-thought, included only out of obligation to the project... it really wants to be a slow and spacey club beat that maybe should've been saved for a different project.

By contrast, the remix of "Roman Is As Roman Does" by Our Brother the Native (whoever THAT is) plays equally trippy - in fact more - but it really makes excellent use of the vocals and original song to make something completely bugged out, but also fitting. It's insane, and I don't think you could qualify it as hip-hop anymore; but if you're open and a fan of Themselves, you should appreciate this crazy mix.

"Skinning the Drum" on the other hand, is as hip-hop as it gets. On the one hand it uses plenty of old school vocal samples, classic drums and familiar breaks, but it's by Odd Nosdam, so you know it's also wildly original at the same time. At this point in the album, it's almost hard to believe I'm still listening to the same album that opened with those crappy opening mixes, 'cause this is great!

The remix of "Deadcatclear II" by Baths (the third producer here I've never heard of, but that's okay) is as heavy on the computery distortions and effects as anything else on here, but it's good. And when it strips down a bit, playing one of Dose's verses almost acapella, it gets really effective. Practically each sample element or loop is given a chance to breathe on its own and really draw you in, and like "Dax Strong" and "Roman Is," really manages to capture the better vibes of Dose One's recent projects.

The last remix, Bracken's spin on "Gold Teeth Will Roll," is another good 'un. It's moody and atmospheric. There's some very cool, subtle use of scratching at the end, too. I don't remember anything on the original Crownsdown feeling like this, but it should've.

Finally, we're given one extra bonus track: a brand new Themselves song called "Antarctica." It's pretty good, too. The music's low-key but but subtly busy and vibrant. Dose flow blends with it perfectly as he kicks a pretty simple but nice message to the struggling artists out there, and there's a quite clever use of a Saafir vocal sample during the breakdown.

So, in the end, I really have to recommend this, at least for fans who are already predisposed towards Themselves' style(s) of making music. I started out thinking, "man, i can't believe I got suckered into blind-buying another..." but by the end, I was really quite pleased with it. There's a couple of songs I'll always skip, but the good material to be found here is certainly worthwhile and plentiful enough. Heck, it's even got me thinking of breaking out the original Crownsdown again and giving that another spin.

How About Just a Cool, New Record?

Not too long ago, I tweeted something to the effective how it was nice that - for the first time in a long time - there was so much good music coming out, it was getting a little hard to keep up with. Robbie from Unkut twittered back, "Really?! I must have missed it all, then." LOL But seriously, there's a lot, and I've been covering some of it, but there's still a lot more for me to get to. Like, for instance, this little 12" that just dropped.

Beneficence is a New Jersey MC who's been flying under the radar for a long time now. He put his first 12" out in 1994, and he's been quietly putting out stuff ever since then. This is his latest 12" single, which just came out on Undisputed Entertainment.

"Heavy Hitters" might get your attention because of who's on production - Diamond D (who he's worked with before). And this is a really nice effort from him, too. It's a simple, mellow track with matching piano and bell loops that are instant head-nodders; and Beneficence compliments it with a relaxed, confident flow and autobiographical raps. Ben's not an immediately impressive MC - there's no tongue-twisting flows, brilliant rhyme patterns or novelty-value punchlines. But he's the right kinda guy from a beat like this.

The B-side, "Royal Dynasty," isn't quite as compelling, but it's another solid track, produced by DJ LKB. The beat's a little harder, faster and definitely respectable, but it doesn't grab you like the A-side. And when the track isn't stealing the show, it does leave Ben feeling a little, well... boring.

So, pick this one up for the A-side, you'll definitely be feeling it... and just take the B-side as a little bonus. Both tracks come in vocal (they're labeled as "Clean," but I don't think there are any curses in the first place - in fact, he takes a stand against cursing in "Heavy Hitters"), instrumental and acapella versions. This is the lead single off his upcoming fourth album, which will presumably be CD and mp3 only. And this isn't one of those pricey limited deals, so if you're still buying hip-hop vinyl, it's an easy choice.

Update/correction 11/3/10 - I'm told that actually the full-length album will be released on vinyl, and we can expect it to drop around January, February 2011.

The First The Last Shall Be First

The Cella Dwellas first dropped a single on LOUD Records in 1994. After a long wait while the label held their album in limbo, it finally dropped in 1996. Then LOUD kinda stuck them back in limbo. That probably would've been the end of, except in 1997, they had a song featured on the Soul In Hole soundtrack called "Main Aim," which was a big hit, commercially and critically. So begrudgingly, LOUD (now in conjunction with Stimulated Records) started putting out their records again - and probably pressured them to drop the "Cella" from their name, too, as they were now only known as The Dwellas starting with the 1998 single "Stand Up." Then it was another long, two year wait from the first single to their sophmore album, 2000's The Last Shall Be First.

So, it's not surprising through all that time and label politics, that the album would've went through some behind-the-scenes changes. And I guess it's not even all that surprising that promo copies exist of an earlier, alternate version of the album with a different track-listing. And here it is.

This promo version differs from the final, commercial release by a total of seven songs (the sequencing has also changed, which you can check out in the photo above). Firstly, it's missing four songs that were eventually included on the final version. Those songs are:

1. "Game Of Death" produced by Ayatollah
2. "Da Ruckus" - produced by Mel and Majesty
3. "Frontline" - produced by Nick Wiz, and featuring Cocoa Brovaz

4. "The Last Shall Be First" produced by - and featuring a guest verse from - Large Professor

Yes, that's right: the title cut of the album was a last minute addition that almost wasn't on the album. But more interesting about this pre-release version isn't the songs that are absent, but the songs that are only present on this rare, unreleased version:

1. "Main Aim" produced by Nick Wiz

I get why they left "Main Aim" off.  By the time this album rolled around, it was already four years old. And it had been released both on the soundtrack album and as a 12" single. Everybody who wanted it had it. There was really no point in including it by that point, except I assume the label figured it was their "money track." But I'm happy to see it go to make room for one of the newer tracks.

2. "Launch a Rocket" produced by Nick Wiz

These missing tracks get increasingly more interesting... what's striking about this one is that LOUD released this as a single in 1999. So they thought it was good enough to be a single, but not good enough to make the album? Very odd choice, and I remember being quite surprised when I picked up the album and found this song absent. So it makes a little more sense to see it here. But the really interesting extra track, the one that justifies this whole blog post, is this last one:

3. "BQE" produced by - and featuring verses by - Large Professor and an unnamed fourth MC

Now, this is tight - a super cool beat by the Professor! It's a great combo of rough and smooth. It's got hard, banging drums and some ill scratches. But they're paired with a light wind instrument loop and various atmospheric samples, from birds chirping to the "ki ki ki, ma ma ma" refrain from the Friday the 13th films. Extra P, some MC who isn't credited on the label but who comes nice, and the Dwellas give some of their best, high energy vocal performances on the album:

"Go check Extra P

Hook up the recipe

On the MP;

Let me MC,

It's destiny.
On top, we next to be.
See us on MTV,
But don't think I won't empty three,

Speedin' in my MPV.

And you niggas don't wanna be
Temptin' me
To waste rounds,
And make you lay face down
And taste ground."

Why on Earth would they leave this one off? They felt there was only room enough for one Large Professor song on the album? Maybe it was a contractual thing? In any case, it was a poor choice, because "The Last Shall Be First" was a decent, worthwhile song... but "BQE" blows it away. "BQE" is - along with the fantastic "Ill Collabo" - one of the best songs on any version of the album. It's some of Large Professor's best post-Main Source work; it's simply crazy that this was never legitimately released.

The whole thing's pretty interesting to me, but "BQE" makes this more than just rap trivia. Unfortunately, unless you luck out and stumble upon it in a used bin somewhere, this isn't the kind of thing you can just pick up. Fortunately though, I think this song was eventually stuck on a bootleg compilation of unreleased Large Pro beats sometime in the 2000s. So look out for that, and at least I was able to give you this glimpse behind the Dwellas/ LOUD Records curtain.

Odd Years Indeed

Buck 65's EPs are finally here! And they're... good, but somewhat disappointing. For those who don't know, Buck 65 has just released three 7" EPs of four new songs apiece to celebrate his 20th year as a recording artist. They're available exclusively through his site, buck65.com, as vinyl EPs or mp3 downloads, except for the first volume, which is also available as a bonus CD packaged with his DVD, The Lost Tapes.

But if, like me, you were essentially expecting a new album sliced into three parts, you're in for a bit of a let-down. This is more a collection of scraps, like his tour CDs, pressed on wax. There are cover songs, material that sounds like it didn't make past albums, at least one song that you've heard before and lots of awkward collaborations. In fact, every single song here is a collaboration (and none with actual rappers), which just opens the door for a lot of mish-mash: hooks that don't fit, indulgent instrumentation, and silly ideas which shouldn't have been fully realized into commercially released songs.

So, it's kind of a mess. But as any serious Buck 65 fan - who should be used to this by now - knows, that doesn't mean there still isn't a lot of quality to be found if you're willing to sift through the chaos. So let's break it all down and really see what we've got here.

Volume 1 - Avant:
1) Gee Wiz (w/ Nick Thornburn and Buddy Peace) - At least we start off strong, with one of the best songs in the series. The music is really good, Buck's in top form. It's also got a fantastic scratch chorus. This is a great song all around, and unfortunately raises the bar way too high for the rest of the songs coming up.

2) Who By Fire (w/ Jenn Grant) - We follow the best song up with the worst. I mean, what the fuck is this folk music shit? I think it's another non-hip-hop cover, which a segment of his audience must eat up, because he keeps making them. Buck 65 whispers along to Jenn singing over a bland instrumental about... whatever; I don't care. It's like being at a party and some friend of a friend says, "hey, my girlfriend and I are learning guitar. Wanna hear us sing?" and before you can make an excuse... Blech. This is one song I'll never be revisiting.

3) Superstars Don't Love (w/ Jorun) - This one features some very 80's drum machine beats, which is kinda cool and surely Jorun's influence, but it does feel a bit gimmicky. That gimmicky nature is quadrupled by the lyrics, which is just a long list of pop culture references. I guess all the name-dropping is meant to be hipster bait ("wow, Buck 65 has heard of ____? I'm a fan of ____, too! Amazing!"). Also Michael Jackson's name comes up about twenty times, because I think this is actually supposed to be about his life as a media icon, in a tenuous sort of way.

4) Red-Eyed Son (w/ Coral Osborne) - Another good one, and one of the few examples where the guest singer on the hook actually works. She's got a compelling voice, which is echoed and played softly in the mix with a really nice instrumental. And as good as she sounds with the music, Buck sounds even better.

Volume 2 - Distance:

1) BCC (w/ John Southworth) -This is silly but catchy one. It's got kid-friendly music and a weirdly sung hook that sounds like it's taken off an old children's song. Buck's flow kinda reminds me of MC 900 Ft Jesus here, as he kicks lyrics that are just arbitrary non-sequitors. This is like one of those crazy records Prince Paul would stick on somebody's album. Amusing, but probably not one you'll want to play too often.

2) Paper Airplane (w/ Jenn Grant) -After "Who By Fire," I winced when I saw Jenn Grant's name pop up again. But this song is a lot better. It's actually taken from one of the DirtBike albums, but since those were mp3-only releases, it's good to get this on vinyl. The music's great, Buck's rhymes are thoughtful and Jenn's hook sounds nice. Simply put, this is one of the good ones.

3) The Niceness (w/ Colin Linden) - This is a bemusing, but overly simple song that pounds a little too hard on its concept like your typical pop record. It's a series of boasts of how nice Buck is, taken to ridiculous extremes ("I'll tell you the truth; my questions are never loaded. I'm so nice, my girlfriend's mother exploded"). The music feels a little undercooked, like a jam session turned into a studio outtake, but here's a nice scratch break-down two-thirds of the way through. It's essentially a comedy record, and like "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" or any other comedy record, it doesn't hold up to repeated listens unless you're easily amused.

4) Tears In Space (w/ Meaghan Smith) - This is one of the best examples of why forcing every song in this collection to be a collaboration hurts the finished product. Buck sounds alright on this, and the music, which takes the basic track from The World Famous Supreme Team and adds a bunch of new layers on top of it, mostly works (there may be a few too many layers here; it's a bit cluttered). The main thing that drags this down is the awkward hook, sung my Meahgan Smith. She doesn't seem to have a good voice and I can't even make out half the words she's saying. A remix of this song at some point might be welcome, because it feels like I'm listening to a work in progress here.

Volume 3 - Albuquerque:
1) Final Approach (w/ Marie-Pierre Arthur) -This is pretty good... the music is really effective, and Buck's lyrics are a little phoned-in, but not bad. Marie-Pierre sounds great, but she's singing in French, so I can't understand a word she's saying. That detracts from the experience, which is a shame, because otherwise it's good stuff. Maybe Buck will do an interview someplace and tell us what she's saying, but I shouldn't have to track down obscure interviews online to appreciate a record I just bought.

2) Cold Steel Drum (w/ Jenn Grant) -A little less Jenn Grant would go a long way here. Buck's kicks a nice verse at the end of this, and the music's really rolling along with him, but unfortunately, it takes a long time to get there. Before that we have an annoying repetitious chorus by Buck, singing by Jenn that never feels like it's going anywhere, and a loop that sounds like someone in the studio accidentally recorded the sounds of a broken modem over part of the song.

3) Lights Out (w/ Buddy Peace) -It's like he designed this song just to be annoying. Half of his lyrics are censored by loud beeps or ridiculous cartoon noises. The music features some discordant guitars and samples of alarms and stuff. It's like he came up with a song concept and took it way too far.

4) Zombie Delight (w/ Afie Jurvanen) - In many ways, this is one of the best songs in this collection. The music's effective (listen for the subtle use of "UFO"), Buck's delivery is tight. But ultimately, this is a silly song that's literally about a zombie apocalypse. It reminds me when Josh Martinez did a rap song about Snakes On a Plane; the subject just doesn't deserve music of this caliber. Again, the music was good, Josh was sounding good... but Snakes On a Plane? It's just stupid. And in this case, humorous takes on zombies have been done to death, the concept is no longer novel, and the content of this song is about three years behind Leslie and the Ly's, who didn't just do it years before Buck, but did it better. The vocoder hook doesn't work either, because it's way too high-pitched and light.

...So, to bottom line all of this? Well, on the one hand, it's too bad there isn't just an EP of "Gee Wiz," "Red-Eyed Son," "Paper Airplanes" and "Final Approach," because that would easily be a must-have release I'd strenuously recommend. But no, those songs are spread out over a series of EPs that includes a lot of filler and outtakes. Like I already said, this is really like one of his tour CDs, except on vinyl... so if you're a big enough fan that you collect his tour CDs, you'll want this one too, and you'll be happy with the set. But less dedicated enthusiasts may want to just let these go by and possibly catch the next album.