Remember the Tuff Crew Band?

(Youtube version is here.)

Siah and Yeshua DapoED

Siah and Yeshua DapoED were a rare combination of West coast MCing styles, along the lines of The Good Life guys, and East coast production styles, with a sample-heavy, jazzy aesthetic. In 1996, they dropped a serious bomb on the underground scene with their underground debut EP on Fondle 'Em that took us all by surprise.

The cool-out vibes of "The Visualz" stand up right alongside the most beloved Digable Planets cuts, but the MCs maintain a more lyrical, street credibility. And the hook for "No Soles Dopest Opus," which samples a killer Pharaoh Monch line, "I leave no footprints in the sands of time so these wack MCs can't follow me," over Akinyele's "In the World" beat, actually taken from an obscure radio freestyle on The Stretch & Bobbito Show, still sticks in the memory as one of the great hip-hop hooks. It conflicts completely with the soft jazzy feel of the rest of the track, but that just makes it sound even more awesome every time the song stops to interject it. But the really famous song is the epic eleven+ minute narrative, "A Day Like Any Other," where the beat changes completely each time the MCs change locations in the tale. It was absolutely the mind blower of the year.

Unfortunately, however, they were a pairing doomed to split just as heads were catching on to them. By 1998, Siah had already released his first solo 12" (also on Fondle 'Em) and Yeshua had moved over to Raw Shack. While they were compelled to do a guest appearance or two together, Siah and Yeshua DaEP never released another record as a group; and the magic of their combined efforts was never fully captured again. Not that their solo efforts haven't had merit over the years, but that pinnacle of time they recorded together was a one-off in hip-hop history.

But in 2008, we got the next best thing. No, not a disappointing reunion... Instead Head Bop Music and Traffic put out The Visualz Anthology. Now, first of all, it's just a nice compilation... it includes the entire original EP, plus one of the songs from Siah's 12" on Fondle 'Em and both songs from Yeshua's first 12" on Raw Shack. And it includes some of those aforementioned guests spots they recorded together: "The Cure for Stagnation" and "Transatlantic." So that's a nice little package for those who slept the first time around.

That's just half the album, though. And this is where the Anthology really takes off. Next up is a song called "Victim of My Own Imagination." Now, Yeshua had a song called "Victim" on his 2002 album, IntoFreshThings, that used the phrase "victim of my own imagination" on the hook, but this is a completely different song, musically and lyrically.

You've got three radio freestyles, which shows off a bit more of their gritty, NYC lyricist sides. And then you've got a three random, I-don't-know-what-the-heck-they-are tracks: "Hairy Bird Intro," "Hairy Bird Reprise" and "Untitled," which, despite their titles, seem to be pretty much full and distinct songs, that are fresh and lush enough to hold up against anything else on this album (there's some awesome flute work on "Untitled"). And finally, you've got a killer demo song that'd been floating around the internet for ages in the form of a radio rip, "It's Good for Your Health." But here it's clean and unmixed.

The presentation is nice, too, with a phat booklet containing vintage photos, labelscans, notes from Bobbito, and pretty much every article ever written about Siah and Yeshua back in the days... The Vinyl Exchange is even in there! It's a mild disappointment that this was originally meant to be a double-disc set, with instrumentals from the original EP, longer freestyles and other tracks, but the artists were against it(?!). Still, it feels pretty full and complete as it is. The only real disappointment was that it was CD only, a move Traffic pulled with a bunch of really promising double LPs they announced. But, for a CD, it's pretty essential.

Cube In Stereo

The previous video I'm referring to/ correcting: Cube In Action

(Youtube version is here.)

Science Officer Mr. Spock Vs. Professor X of the X-Men

If there was one thing Macola Records knew how to do, it was repackage songs. If a song was released through them once, you can bet it was released at least ten subsequent times in a short amount of time. In just the span of two or three years, they issued many represses and dozens of compilation albums, all with the same 15-20 songs reshuffled over and over again. And one crew that Macola repackaged quite often was The X-Men.

The X-Men was a west coast DJ group headed by the Unknown DJ (years later, the NY DJ crew consisting of Roc Raida, Mista Sinista, etc, would claim the name... but these guys came first). There were two major X-Men 12" singles, recorded by Unknown and DJ Slip (who also went by the name The Juggernaut to fit the theme), "The X-Men" and "Revenge Of the X-Men," both in 1988. Unknown and Slip were the core, but there were also affiliate members, who either contributed or were shouted out, including DJ Battery Brain, Battlecat, and Arabian Prince, who released the third X-Men 12", "Professor X (Saga)" under the alias Professor X, in 1989.

Now, because Macola has re-released the "X-Men" and "Professor X (Saga)" tracks so many times, it's become two of their best known songs. Both have made more recent appearances, too, on budget Dr. Dre compilation albums, even though Dre had nothing to do with these records besides being in the same west coast scene at the same time. But what most people probably don't know is that "Professor X (Saga)" is actually a competing version of another, more obscure X-Men song using the same instrumental.

"Revenge Of the X-Men" is already a far less exposed song than "X-Men" and "Professor X (Saga)," but it has a very interesting B-side that you hardly ever hear about called "It's More Fun To Sample." Now "Professor X (Saga)" says it's produced by The Professor (Arabian Prince), but he's really just recycling the instrumental of "It's More Fun To Sample" from the year before.

It's More Fun To Sample" features Unknown using another alias, Spock, which, yes, fails to properly fit the X-Men theme. Perhaps that's why they remade it. But anyway, "It's More Fun To Sample"'s production credit is given to Unknown and Slip, so they must've really created the beat.

The songs are very similar in other aspects as well. Arabian Prince's raps as the Professor are absent, of course.

"Professor X! I'm here, coming from my creator,
D 2 D, D A T, Master M emulator[or something close to that];
Conceived in data planet by DJ Unknown.
DJ Slip was on the mix when I came to be known.
Professor X is a scientist who studies all the music;If a guy grabs a girl, he can surely get into this.
'Cause computers that we use are so simple to create!One, two, three, four, five, six...
Working in my laboratory, making mutant tests;Strange reactions came upon you while sitting at my desk.Clearency[sic] must be achieved before I can tell the rest...The result is a creation of the great Professor X. Professor X!"

But instead we have verses by Spock/Unknown, using the same kind of bass-heavy voice modification for his rhymes.

"Soulsonic rocked the planet, but we're here to take control.Super beings sent to rock: he's DJ Slip, I'm called Unknown.
We have heard techno attempted; and yet sadly, you have failed;
You should stick to vice, Miami. Leave the techno to LA.
DJ Slip the beat programmer of this psychedelic groove;We'll scratch the beat while syncopated samples put you in the mood.You can't resist the X-Men posse, or the dope hypnotic beat;Clap your hands to what he's doing and I'm sure you'll move your feet.You must dance or be forgotten. If you can't, then you must try.
This is X-Men law, no need to front - perpetrate and die!

Techno music's here, so use it. Hear the groove and hit the floor.While the X-Men rock the planet like Soulsonic did before.Unleash the beat like it was fire, burn your speaker cones to shreds;Cerwin Vega rocks the house, X-Men bass upside the head!"

Perhaps more importantly, the signature vocal samples from the X-Men cartoons, like "the X-Men train to improve their mutant skills," aren't here. In there place are Star Trek samples like, "analysis, Mr. Spock" and "science officer Spock, transmit now!" The other signifigant difference is that "Professor X (Saga)," strangely, ended with a keyboard solo reprising the tune of Arabian Prince's previous record, "Take You Home Girl." "It's More Fun To Sample" ends more abruptly.

So I urge any fan of that late 80's west coast style to seek out both versions and see which is your favorite. Who best rocks this beat, Spock or Professor X?

Gangstarr Without Premier

(Youtube version is here.)

DiZappointed

it recently came to my attention that Z-Man, a great MC I've been a long-time fan of, was a part of another crew I'd never heard of, and they had two albums out since 2005 that I'd totally slept on. They're called One Block Radius, and consist of Marty James, Z-Man and MDA. God damn, Z-Man is prolific! So I quickly tracked down and ordered both albums... the CDs were both cheap on Amazon, so I didn't even bother checking for clips or anything, I just ordered.

So their first album is the self-titled One Block Radius on Island/ Def Jam/ Mercury. And it's, umm... pretty wack overall. But it's good in parts. Okay, here's the deal. This is like some cheesy pop/rock/rap/whatever else group that somehow had the good taste to enlist Z-Man. The main, sung vocals range from corny to downright unlistenable. And the production feels very teen-marketed; I could see these songs being performed on some Nickelodeon channel music show geared at pre-teens.

But here's the upside. Z-Man has some nice verses. I mean, some are better than others - some could be completely forgotten in the sands of time and it'd be no great loss. And none of them are like his best stuff. But he's on pretty much every song, and the rap parts are often very distinct from the rest of the song. The music typically breaks down to a rawer track for him to spit on, and while he's not as unrestrained as he would be with Luke Sick and friends... well, there is an Explicit Lyrics warning on the disc. If someone was so inclined - someone with more free time than myself - they could cut all the rest of songs away from the rap parts and make a pretty neat little EP.

Also, a few of the tracks occasionally have some brief moments of good scratching, because one of them doubles as a DJ.

So that was in 2005. Then, in 2008, they came back with a follow-up album, Long Story Short, this time on Avatar Records. I wouldn't have bothered with this second outing if I hadn't gone and bought that both at the same time. But this one is considerably better. Maybe it's the fact that they're no longer under the evil auspices of multiple major labels, but the music is considerably more adult-sounding and hip-hop oriented. At least on some of the songs. Others still suck just as much as they ever did. And I'd still love to strip the other vocalists from this album completely. But this album has actually straight-up good, worthwhile songs that wouldn't require a music critic with audio software to edit them down into something tolerable.

It's all still for Z-Man completists and the aggressively open-minded only. But if you fit into one of those two categories, the second album is worth checking for. And there's also a 12" single off that album with some exclusives on it (the first album had a single, too, but there's nothing noteworthy about it). Oh well. At least I got a few good Z-Man verses out of it, and I only paid like a penny each for them on Amazon. And hey, if their third album shows as much improvement as their second did from their first... then that means it might really be pretty good.

The Imaginarium of Nick Wiz

You may remember me blogging about a great compilation of rare and unreleased recordings by underrated producer Nick Wiz a couple years ago called, Cellar Sounds volume one 1992-1998. It was just too bad, in this industry, we'd probably never live to see a volume 2, right? Well, thankfully No Sleep Records has proved us wrong - Cellar Sounds volume 2: 1992-1998 is here! And in many ways, it's even better than the first one!

Like the last volume, this one is a double disc set, giving us a whopping total of 41 full-length songs all produced, as the title would suggest, by Nick Wiz from 1992-1998. Well, except for one song, which was produced in 2000... but it's by Ra-fuckin'-kim, so I think it's safe to say we'll forgive him that. ;)

Now, you may remember in my write-up of the first volume that I was somewhat disappointed to see some previously released, and not necessarily all that rare, songs mixed in with all the treats, taking away space that could've been used for even more unreleased jewels. Granted, songs from Ecko's legendary Underground Airplay tapes are so rare, they're practically unreleased and earn a pass, but records like Main One's "Main Event" weren't remotely rare, much less unreleased. ...Well, volume 2 does away with all that jazz - you won't be rebuying a bunch of songs you already have this time - this collection does feature a handful more from those Ecko tapes (and frankly, I'm happy to see them get a proper, quality CD release), but otherwise it's essentially all 100% unreleased material this time around.

The collection of artists is pretty solid... there's a lot of Ran Reed a.k.a. Hitman, and a lot of Shabaam Sahdeeq and his associate crews: Shadowz In da Dark, Sinister Voicez, and an even earlier group he was in that you've probably never heard of called Mad House. I'm surprised there's no Chino XL (come on, we know there's more O.G. Poison Pen tracks sitting in those vaults!), and there's not as much Cella Dwellas or Pudgee material as you might expect... though there are a couple songs from UG's scrapped solo album and a track that was left off of Pudgee's unreleased King of New York, which is crazy, because it's better than most of the songs that were on there. There's one or two more by Milkbone, N-Tyce, plus some neat surprises by totally unknown, unsigned groups that Nick's worked with.

And, once again, there's a killer vintage Lord Have Mercy song at the end of disc 1 that's in the vein of the classic Cella Dwellas material. Are there more songs like this? Is he just going to slowly eek them out to us one song at a time... ahh! Driving me crazy! lol

Also, like the last volume, the insert opens up to brief notes by Nick on every single song, for example, "The Native Assassins were Black Sun and another MC named Fatal. This was before Shadowz In da Dark. We worked on a few records for this group before the Shadowz thing evolved." First class release all the way. It's just too bad none of this is on vinyl...

Oh wait! No Sleep also released a double LP called Cellar Selections 1. It's comprised more of songs from Cellar Sounds volume 1 than 2 (though there are a couple from 2 as well), and thankfully it focuses exclusively on the songs that haven't already been released on vinyl. So, no Ran Reed "Enough"s but plenty of Darc Mind "We In This"s. And best of all, it has an exclusive unreleased song by Pudgee called "Get Down." The 2xLP is limited to 250 copies, so you may have to work a little to find a copy, but believe me, it's worth it.

The music is great; the sound quality is great; the releases are top-notch all around... Let's just hope there are Cellar Sounds volume 3 and Cellar Selections 2 pending!

D-Stroy and Tony Touch Killer '94 Demo

I have to admit, I had no idea that, before The Arsonists, D-Stroy was down with DJ Tony Touch. But this brand new release from Chopped Herring Records proves not only that it happened (in fact, D-Stroy is possibly the first MC to appear on a Tony Touch mixtape), but that they were a killer combo. This is a 6-song EP release of a previously unreleased demo tracks by D-Stroy and Tony Touch. It's limited to 275 copies, and the first 75 copies are pressed on a cool, chrome colored vinyl[pictured]. Plus it has a wickedly awesome sticker cover.

When I first put this on the tables, I thought, wow, he sounds totally different than he did even on the first Arsonists record, but then I realized the first MC to rap on this is the EP's sole guest, Ching Rock. As soon as we get to verse 2, we hear D's unique, scratchy voice. And the production is perfect. Jazzy but simple, broken down, raw, plenty of scratches. Everything you'd hope for from an indie '94 12".

Sometimes his voice and lyrics do sound a little less refined than the Arsonists... when he says stuff like, "you'll get 'knocked the fuck' out like in Friday" in "I Ain't Real," he does sound a little weaker... this isn't a case of his-demos-are-better-than-anything-he-did-once-he-got-known. He became a better MC over the next few years later, but thanks to the production by Tony and the rawer sound of the recordings, these tracks rank right alongside some of the strongest Arsonists records. If you're a fan of "Sessions" - and what serious hip-hop head isn't? - then you'll be more than happy hearing this EP. My expectations were not only met but exceeded.

So, actually, five of the songs here comprise their original demo... most have never been heard, though there is an original version of "Vitamin D," which D-Stroy released as the B-side to his second single on Matador in 2001. That version was dope, too; but the original is definitely better. It's kinda like "Sessions," in the way that it's driven by a catchy bassline over cracking drums, and it has a great, dusty horn sample, too. The Matador version is a lot busier, but I don't think that works in its favor.

Another song, "Make Noise," is specifically credited as being the "Demo Tape Mix," but as far as I know, there's never been another version of this song released. I know he's had a couple mix-CDs out... Cataclysm, and just recently More Than Beats and Rhymes. But there's no such song on either of those, so I don't know. Anybody heard of a D-Stroy/Arsonists track called "Make Noise" before?

Anyway, then, the final sixth song is a Bonus Track, recorded in 1995. Tony Touch worked on this one, too - it's a song titled, "Palante Siempre Palante" recorded for a documentary of the same name about the New York division of The Young Lords (a Chicago gang that developed into a political activist movement). It does sound a little more professional and polished than the rest of the songs on this EP, and it's not quite as good as the rest (not because it's more polished - they just both happen to be true of this song), but it's still pretty dope, and it's cool to finally have a proper release of this song as well.

So, if you're still saddened about The Arsonists breaking up, and you still can't look at the Date of Birth album without getting frustrated... well, this EP doesn't feature the full crew, but it's honestly just as good as anything that does.

Tyler On Wax

(Youtube version is finally here. Sorry, these hi-def files take a lot longer.)

Ice Cube In Action!

(Youtube version is here.)

Corrections: It's Crew In Action, not Effect; I misspoke. And the first printing of this 12" came out in 1987, not 1988.

The Great Father MC Showdown!!

My God! My last post about Father MC was all the way back in 2009? I'm shocked I haven't posted about him yet in 2011, let alone the fact that I somehow missed all of 2010! Of course, I shall take immediate action to rectify this situation, but of sadly... I can't get 2010 back. All I can do is act in the moment.

So, if you want to talk about albums that flew under the radar by rappers who've had big, hit records, you'd have a hard time getting more obscure than Father MC's fourth album from 1995, after he was dropped from Uptown. I mean, he had huge, chart-topping hits, and then I feel like I might be the only person who knew he came back in 1995. It probably didn't help any that he actually came out with two full-length albums that year, on two different labels, with largely the same track-listing...

Yeah, there's Sexual Playground on Topp Dogg/ Spoiled Brat Recordings, and then there's This Is for the Players on Moja Entertainment. Both credit Father MC as executive producer, too, which lends credence to them both being legit. Both have a lot of songs in common, but both also have a few exclusive songs. A few songs are interludes, a few songs are the same but with slightly altered titles, it's all confusing and misleading... And that means it's up to me, and me alone, to break 'em both down and set it all straight for the hip-hop world.

First let's look at the...

Songs in common:

Do Me (SP)/ You Can Do Me Right (TIftP) - Father plays it safe here, rhyming over a classic, old school bassline (from Tragedy's "Live Motivator," MC Beta's "There's Nothing Like New York," etc) and adding a nice R&B hook.

Sexual Playground - Not bad either. Some nice R&B choruses, and the production just sounds like a slightly lower budget version of the stuff on his previous albums.

This Is 4 the Players - Kind of a slowed down, g-funk thing. Corny, and the hook is sub-par.

You Can Do Me Right Tonight (SP)/ I Want Your Lovin' (TIftP) - You probably thought "You Can Do Me Right" and "You Can Do Me Right Tonight" were the same song, huh? But no, "You Can Do Me Right" is actually "Do Me" and this is actually a.k.a. "I Want Your Lovin'." It's almost like they were intentionally trying to be confusing. Anyway. lyrics-wise, and hook-wise what with the girl-sung chorus, it's typical Father MC, but it's got a hardcore X-Clan style percussion track, and some keys smoothing the gap between the two styles. Pretty interesting.

Am I What You Want (SP)/ I Am What You Want (TIftP) - I like how the different title changes the question into a statement, totally reversing the sentiment. Anyway, it's a fun retake on Teddy Pendergrass's "Close the Door," even though a lot of rappers beat him to the punch with this sample (a la Big Daddy Kane in '94 with his single, "In the PJ's"). But it works because Father retains more of the natural R&B elements.

Treat Me Right - This is an upbeat one, some familiar samples, R&B hook, new jacky Father MC exactly like you'd expect.

Okay, but now let's get to the interesting info, the exclusives. First the...

Sexual Playground exclusives:

Let's Get Into FMC - Like the title suggests, this is just an intro. It's about ten to fifteen seconds of pretty random sound-clips.

Playground - This is a garbage remix of "Sexual Playground" that puts the whole thing to an awful club beat and adds some additional, shitty club samples. Interestingly, there was a single for "Sexual Playground" and this wasn't included.

4 the Players - This is just the instrumental of "This Is 4 the Players."

That's All - A silly outro gag.

This Is for the Players exclusives:

High Rollers - This was a single, which is surprising, because it's one of the worst songs on either album. The hook and concept are corny, and the beat's so smoothed out it's flat-out boring.

Sexual Healing - This is a shockingly abrasive interlude by raggamuffin MC Culture who kicks a fun, dirty acapella.

Funking With Father - Father comes a little harder on this one, but then the beat is in more of a smoothed out, G-funky mode with a little muzak twist on "Five Minutes of Funk" thrown in, all of which kind of counteracts his delivery. He closes by announcing that "the name of the crew is called Sex!" Basically, it's just not good.

Hey... How Ya Doin' - This was another single. It's interesting that two of the singles are exclusive to one version of the album. It's not bad, and certainly better than "High Rollers" or "Funking With Father," but I don't know who picked the singles - the album tracks are almost all much better and catchier.

the Interludes - There's several pretty useless skits on this album. On one, he's standing on the city streets talking to his buddies, another is just a random sound effect between songs. The last one features his daughter as they sweetly say goodbye to each other. The cassette has a bonus, uncredited intro, though it IS listed on the CD and LP (the CD and LP also give the Interludes helpful subtitles like "Studio Talk"). This one's pretty long and heavily produced; the premise of which is that Father MC is doing a radio interview with a sexy, flirty host asking him about the album. It's full of amazingly wonderful dialogue like, "what do you mean when you talk about a 'Sexual Playground?' Is that like a bunch of rides?" She even asks him if that's a microphone in his pocket or if he's just happy to be there.

Life - I guess this must be a "bonus" song, since it comes after the Farewell Interlude. This is definitely something out of Father MC's usual scope... it sounds like he's been inspired by artists like Big Mike, where he raps slow and smooth about being broke and struggling. The hook changes between each verse, which is cool, with lyrics like, "I feel the world's about to end because I see the devil's grin and my dead friends are laying on the ground." The beat sounds very Rap-A-Lot, too, and it ends with Father ranting a message to the government, followed by a scary voice which I think is supposed to be the devil himself, but who comes off more like Bushwick Bill or something. Definitely an unexpected conclusion to the album.


...So what have we learned? Well, we learned that, of the two, This Is 4 the Players is easily the definitive album. It has basically everything from Sexual Playground, plus a bunch more, including two of the singles (although the singles really aren't the best tracks at all). Sexual Playground only had some extra filler. But, the upshot is that all the best songs are on both versions, so you haven't really gone wrong no matter which version you have. If you have either, which you probably don't. :P

P.s. - Did you know, Father MC just dropped a new album, Fambody, on Itunes last August?