AMG's Bitchin' Trilogy

A couple years ago, I did a post about AMG's obscure, 12"-only prequel to "Once a Dog (Janine 2)" from his debut album. But that 12" alsow wound up being the beginning of a trilogy of records AMG would take the next twelve years to create. Twelve years is the exact same length of time JRR Tolkien took to write the Lord Of the Rings trilogy., so maybe that gives you some idea of what to expect. Or maybe it doesn't. I'm talking about "Bitch Betta Have My Money" and it's lesser known sequels.

"Bitch Betta Have My Money" was AMG's first single, released on Select Records in 1991. I explained in my previously mentioned post about the two versions of that 12" already, and obviously explored the B-sides for the preferable version; but now it's time to talk about the song itself. This would obviously be an important song for AMG, as we'll explore, but among other things, it wound up being the title for his debut album. The title line and hook comes from Ant Live's closing line to Big Daddy Kane's "Pimpin' Ain't Easy" with Nice N Smooth and Scoob & Scrap Lover.

And it's based on a surprisingly overbearing heavy metal guitar sample for an underground west coast hit from the DJ Quik camp. It's produced by AMG himself, though Quik gets a second co-production credit, along with Tracy Kendrick and Courtney Branch, so it's hard to say exactly who's responsible for what. On the one hand, you want to say Quik's the "real" producer, so he probably did all the heavy musical lifting. But then again, it sounds nothing like the rest of Quik's body of work. And on the album itself, Quik's co-production isn't even mentioned (though Kendrick's and Branch's still are), so I'm tempted to say AMG did the just about everything creative on this one, and the other guys just helped on technical and business ends. But that's just a guess.

Anyway, "Bitch Betta Have My Money" is one of the most successful rap songs to feature guitars at appealing to us "I'm not a rock & roll fan; please stop adding all this cross over guitar playing to everything" types. Or, to put it another way, it's one of the least garage band sounding rap songs to be dominated by guitar riffs AMG's high pitched but crisp delivery .is perfectly suited for the too-young-to-be-listening-to-this crowd, with his unlikely boasts about being a teenage pimp and long list of almost non-sequitor sexual claims. On the one hand, it's the perfectly cliche "this is what America's youth are listening to" song for the daytime talk shows of its day... but it's also good/ There's just a higher level of quality in everything Quik and his camp was releasing; and even if Quik didn't actually make any of the music here, the standards and quality control must've rubbed off here.

So almost ten years later, long after AMG was dropped from Select Records (the fact that he beefed with Quik and made an entire album without those cats really hurt him), it's no surprise AMG was looking backwards. Reunited with Quik and now on his own label, 304 Entertainment, AMG gave his album a throwback title to hopefully reclaim lost fans: Bitch Betta Have My Money 2001. And yes there was a title track to go with it, and yes it was on the debut 12" single: "Perfection" b/w "Bitch 2001."

Naturally, AMG has had a number of songs with the word "bitch" in the title (he's just that kind of artist), including "Mai Sista Izza Bitch," "Be Mai Bitch" and "Trust No Bitch;" but there's no doubt that this is a direct sequel to "Bitch Betta Have My Money." Besides the fact that the album title spells it out pretty explicitly, AMG's very first words on the track are the softly stated "part two," before he starts rapping. And the definitive Ant Live quote is back on the chorus. I think the title is just shortened here because people at the label were sick of typing it out.

Now, the A-side is produced by DJ Quik, but unfortunately, "Bitch 2001" isn't by Quik or AMG, but by somebody named The Noma. The track's not bad, it is kinda funky, but it really feels like the bland kind of instrumental a lot of west coast acts had once they signed to major labels and lost their underground sound. AMG's delivery is sort of an intentional match for the original, but he clearly has to tailor it somewhat to fit this new track, which has a fairly different vibe to the original, but I do like how they bring in the vocal sample of The O'Jay's "For the Love of Money" and merge it with Ant Live for the hook. It's honestly not bad, but AMG seems more off the track lyrically, filling the song out with junk like instructions for the listener to, "hit the website for merchandising." It's no longer about being a teenage (or older) pimp and more just a state of the union address about his rap career.

Despite the title, that record came out in 2000, but before we get to the final entry in the trilogy, we have to make a quick stop at this 2001 release from Germany. If "Bitch Betta Have My Money" was The Fellowship Of the Ring and "Bitch 2001" was The Two Towers, this would've been The Silmarillion. ZYX Records had a big run of remix singles of American rap hits in the 90s, and AMG's "Bitch Betta Have My Money" was no exception. There are five mixes on here, but that includes the original version and the "Bitchstrumental" from the original 12", plus a Radio Cut and X-tended Mix of the same basic remix. So basically there's just the one new remix. called the Jiggy Pascha Remix.

You can see on the cover [I'm showing the CD cover because it's pretty novel, but there is a plain sleeve vinyl version as well] that production credit is given to DJ Quick [sic.], but checking the fine print reveals that this new mix is actually created by Isy B and DJ Lil' Tommy. I don't know anything about either of them, really, except that they've done a lot of production and remix projects like this, often for ZYX; and frankly, that may be all there is to know about them anyway. It throws in the Busta Rhymes "Wild for the Night" vocal sample that every DJ on the planet was guilty of over-using in those days, and lays a bassline over the original guitars, which kind of conflicts. It sounds like these guys were unable to get an Acapella version for their remix and just had to do the best they could by adding sounds on top of the completed record. It's okay, and would be impressive if a DJ just did it as a live mix right in front of you at the club. But there's really no reason to buy this record. Actually, the most original and creative thing about this single is the fact that it opens with a skit, spoken in German, where I think a guy is supposed to be talking to a woman giving him head. ...I have to admit I am pretty curious what's being said there.

So now, okay, you might be saying: Werner, I knew all about "Bitch 2001," but what is this third part you're supposedly building up to? Everyone knows "Bitch Betta Have My Money" and at least AMG fans who've bothered to keep up with him know about the sequel, but our Return Of the King is pretty obscure. But it exists, and it's even on vinyl.

See, in 2002, AMG put out a pretty obscure, CD-only greatest hits compilation called Greatest Humps, Vol 1. AMG had just about enough songs to fill out on greatest hits album, by the way; and the idea of stringing it out over more than that was a mistake, and there never was a Vol. 2. But in order to get fans to buy an album of songs they would've already owned, he of course made a little new material to stick on there with his biggest hits, and one of those songs, "No," was given a 12" single release in 2003. And the B-side to that? "Bitch Give Me Back My Money."

I hadn't bothered with the Humps collection, but I was happy to throw down for the 12" when I saw it. The new song and the exclusive new B-side. But prepare to be disappointed. Because ""No" is a new song and it's alright. It's got a heavy guitar loop very reminiscent of "Bitch," actually, and AMG's still flipping that same style. But it's definitely not as good. Still, it was alright and at least lived up to my low expectations for a new AMG song in 2003.

No, it's "Bitch Give Me Back My Money" that's the real disappointment. It starts off with a useless skit with AMG talking to a girl who wants money from him, and I'll just leave you to guess what he tells her to do. Then the song starts and it's... the same instrumental and all the same vocals as the original "Bitch Betta Have My Money." He didn't even re-perform them, it's the same vocal track. The song has just been lightly remixed. There's some extra cutting, which is admittedly rather good, actually. But it's not a new song; the new title never enters into it. Some DJ (there's no credits on the record) has just taken the original song and played with it on his turntable. Oh and they actually cut in the skit, "When She Calls" from the Bitch Betta Have My Money album into the song. On the positive side, it's really well done and would've made a sweet B-side to the original 12" in 1991. It's just not what we've been lead to believe. The new title is a lie.

The true title is "Bitch Betta Have My Money (Ghetto Life Remix)," which is taken directly from Greatest Humps. There are a couple new remixes of his early songs on there ("Jiggable Pie (Nu Pie Mix)" and "Vertical Joyride (Nu Ride Mix)" are handled the same way), I suspect because he had rights issues licensing the songs from Select Records and had to make new versions to include them without paying a lot for them. Or maybe he just fucked with them because he wanted to make the album more compelling to his fans who probably had all those songs already. In either case, it was a big let down when I first laid this down on my turntables only to hear the same old song. But, then again, a 2003 sequel probably would've been a wacker disappointment anyway, and this new mix, taken on its own terms of being strictly a slightly cut up remix, is actually dope and something I'd recommend. Would I have actually wound up with something I could recommend if there was a "Bitch Give Me Back My Money?"  I doubt it.

Answer Record Week Day 6, Finale: Crucial's Conflict

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Answer Record Week Day 5: The Streetz Take Over Jay-Z

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Answer Record Week Day 4: If Dre and Snoop Were Truckers

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Answer Record Week Day 3: Kid 'N Play vs Run DMC

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Answer Record Week Day 2: LL Ain't That Type of Girl

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Answer Record Week Day 1: Bad Boys and Girls

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PMD's Original Squad

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Get On the Short Bus

The 90s was the decade of "the soundtrack movie," where some film deals were structured as much or more on the accompanying soundtrack album, and the profits that could make, than the film itself.  Having trouble getting your movie financed? Buy a couple original songs from some popular rappers and parlay that into a studio pick-up. It started with some hip-hop-related films having hugely popular soundtracks into films that didn't even necessarily have to exist because they were just an excuse to make high selling compilation albums. From Above the Rim to Tales From the Hood, the album's have longer lasting legacies than the movies themselves. Even Warren Beatty put one together (remember Bulworth? Or are you just picturing the music video for "Ghetto Superstar?"). The movies got cheaper and cheaper (consider Master P movies, and their knock-offs) because it became more and more apparent the movies were just excuses for record labels and Hollywood to cross-pollinate funds and eventually the well ran dry.

Now, it would be unfair to say every soundtrack movie is a poor film; but there was an ever increasing stigma attached to them, and it's hard to call that undeserved. And that stigma is probably why Spike Lee never really made a film with a fully hip-hop soundtrack. He was classier and careful to project the image of a higher profile film-maker. But because he was always in tune with hip-hop and working with some of its best artists, it put us heads into a regularly recurring rough spot: do I want to buy this full album of stuff I don't care about just for one or two good songs? If you're not a jazz fan, the buying the full soundtrack to Mo' Better Blues just for that (excellent) Gangstarr song was a tough pill to swallow. At least "Crooklyn Dodgers" and its sequel from Clockers were released as singles. Bamboozled had about four songs and one of them was a Charli Baltimore track; so you really felt like you had to grossly overpay anytime you wanted just one or two songs.

Get On the Bus is another perfect example. Anytime a Spike Lee joint comes out, you have to run and check the soundtrack to see what we've gotten; and in this case there were three rap songs amidst a see of R&B, from Curtis Mayfield to Earth, Wind and Fire. But what tempting rap songs... A Tribe Called Quest, Doug E. Fresh and Guru. And remember, this was 1996, back before seeing Guru's name meant "produced by Solar." Every time I went to a music store I'd pick it, reread the track-listing and consider it; but I never pulled the trigger. And I'm glad I didn't. Because when I got older and hipper to getting my hands on DJ vinyl, I found otu about this ideal promo EP.

Get On the Bus Sampler is an official promo release from Interscope which features all three of the hip-hop tracks. Plus the D'Angelo song, because I guess they wanted to fill out the side with something and they figured he was "pretty hip-hop." But let's get into the rap songs because all three are nice and exclusive ...though Tribe's would turn up on a compilation album or two down the road.

The Tribe song is "The Remedy." Again, even if you never heard the soundtrack you're probably familiar with this song; but this is where it originated from. The label (to the EP or the full soundtrack) doesn't mention it, but it also features Common. This was from Tribe's fourth album era, when the group was starting to split, so there's no Phife on here, and the track is co-produced by Jay Dee. Fortunately, Jay's talents were enough to rescue what might have otherwise been a sinking ship; and the fact that this is on the soundtrack of a film about the Million Man March seems to have inspired some extra thoughtful and substantive lyrics from Tip and Common. So troubles or no, this winds up being a very compelling, funky little Tribe song that could fit easily onto any 'greatest hits' compilation.

Doug E. Fresh's song is either called "Tonite's the Nite" or "Tonite's the Night," depending on whether you believe the label to the EP or the full soundtrack. Personally, I prefer the EP's dual-'Nite" titling, just for the consistency. 1996 would put this well after Doug's New Get Fresh Crew phase, but this song still features Miss Jones on the hook. It's definitely on the pop side, and the hook is a bit much, but it's nicely produced by Clark Kent who's made a really suitable track for Doug to rock over. with some fresh and catchy samples and an upbeat but funky vibe. It definitely sounds more modern, but none the less captures the spirit of The World's Greatest Entertainer album, especially when the Chill Will and Barry B start scratching over the funky bassline.

Finally we have Guru's "Destiny Is Calling." And no, DJ Premier isn't on the boards. It's actually produced by... Permanent Revolution. Whoever the fuck that is. They've made a sitar-heavy track which is interesting but doesn't really click. It's okay, and Guru tackles some serious topics. But then again, his lyrics and delivery are pretty simple and choppy, with forced rhymes like "dollars" and "swallow." It's not bad, but definitely disappointing for all of us who've heard album after album of Gangstarr before this. You know this could've been a lot better and a really powerful call to change our society, ut instead it's just "meh."

But even with that little disappointment, this is a very sweet little EP. I mean, it's a must-have for the Tribe song alone, everything else is just gravy. And while I could see other heads not getting on board with it, I was pleasantly surprised by the Doug E. Fresh song. I'm really happy to have this in my crates, and extra pleased that I never wasted more money on the full soundtrack. And you know, eighteen years later, I honestly can't remember if I ever saw Get On the Bus or not. I can picture flashes of it, but those might just be from the trailer...? I'm not sure. But I'll remember "The Remedy" for the rest of my life.

Disco Rick Meets The Grumpy Ole Man

(Youtube version is here:)

Raheem the Vigilante Raps for King Ad Rock

In 1989, when The Beastie Boys had just exploded into mainstream popularity with their Def Jam records, corporate America was watching. And just like they've attempted to cash in on young pop stars' popularity by casting everyone from Elvis to Vanilla Ice in their own films, so too did King Ad Rock get to star in his big budget star vehicle. And really, if you watch any of these movies - from Britney Spears' Crossroads or Eminem's 8 Mile all the way back to Mamie Van Doren's Untamed Youth and before - they're essentially the story. Underdog youth has major family issues and runs counter to the status quo/ authority and usually specifically the law, only to discover the specialness within themselves, choose good friends over bad friends and overcome their circumstances. It's pure teen pandering, of course, since that's who these movies are aimed at, since their casting their heroes.

Well, Lost Angels is no exception, it's got every cliché in spades. Ad Rock comes from rich Californian parents who don't understand him. They're divorced and treat him like an outcast because he's in a gang (who strangely pretend to be Latin), even though he really doesn't want to hurt anybody and is just following along because of peer pressure. He falls in love with a bored rich girl (her mom tells her to clean her car, so she drives it into their swimming pool), who seems out of his league, but really she's just another troubled teen in with the wrong crown. He gets into a gang fight and there's some legal scenes which really make no sense if you think about them (his father walks into juvenile court with a paper bag full of pills his mother is abusing, dumps them on the floor, and so Ad Rock is sentenced for having them, even though nobody even suggested he they were his). So he's sentenced to a silly juvenile detention center, where Donald Sutherland is the one good doctor who cares about the kids and teaches Ad Rock to be a good person, while ironically learning the same lessons apply to his own life as well... essentially the Robin Williams role in Good Will Hunting.

It's all dopey and trite and very 80s. It's full of voice-over monologue of Ad Rock pontificating about what jerks adults are, and gang members who look like the cast of Fame. Despite it all, some scenes are well directed: well shot, dramatically staged and with good use of music, probably because it's directed by Hugh Hudson who directed Chariots of Fire, as well as some more questionable films. But his talents are usually evident even if his stories are sub-par. Sutherland is easily the best actor in the show, when we finally get to him. Other cast members seem to be struggling with just how straight or broadly to play it: are they satirizing clueless parents and doctors or playing real people? Some seem to have chosen A while others tried for B. And Ad Rock himself? It's a pretty bland, low key performance, but for a non-actor, he manages to slip through most of the drama without embarrassing himself.

Lost Angels is a fairly obscure film these days, and most people who know of it only do because they're diehard Beastie Boys fans who've tracked it down .But in 2012, it was finally released on DVD... or at least DVD-R, in its proper widescreen aspect ratio through MGM's MOD program. So you can at least order it in its OAR from places like amazon.

Still, If you're going in hoping for any Beastie Boys music, prepare to be disappointed. He doesn't rap at all in the film. They do show that he's a graf writer and so still kinda hip-hop, and his gang always hangs out in a big nightclub. So there's heaps of opportunity to shoehorn in the ol' typical scene where his buddies shove him on stage and he shows us how he's this artistic phenom, and at the same time makes the girl fall for him (he instead does this just by dancing with her). But no, there's none of that. There's also no original Beastie Boys song written for the title theme, or even a teensy clip of "Fight for Your Right To Party" playing in the background.  No Beastie music at all.

There is a lot of pop music and even a soundtrack album, but it's all stuff by groups like Happy Mondays, The Cure, Soul Asylum and The Pogues. There's only one rap song on there at all, and it's actually by Raheem. The Raheem who used to be in The Geto Boys. Fortunately, it was also released as a single, so you don't have to buy the whole crappy soundtrack album to check it out.

The song is called "Self Preservation," and it's not on either of his albums, though it's still been released by A&M Records and Rap-A-Lot. 1989 would put it a little closer to The Vigilante than The Invincible, and it has more of that vibe to the song. Produced by Bryan New, who did a lot of big stuff for Jive Records, and Rap-A-Lot regular Doug King, it's pretty hard and message-oriented, though a little too guitary for my hip-hop purist tastes. But it's got nice, huge drums and the guitars are at least scratched in samples (Jimi Hendrix, I believe), not some studio musician noodling around. It's sort of like early Paris or Esham would use guitars in their early work - in fact, I'm pretty sure they both have sampled these exact same riffs - and they're cut up during the hook; so overall it's actually pretty strong.

Raheem raps from a more negative perspective of a disenfranchised youth fed up with the system... I'm not sure I fully subscribe to this theory, but it's possible that he's specifically written this song for the film and is rapping as the main character. But he does refer to himself as a "vigilante," and he doesn't really follow the film's plot or get too specific with the references. In other words, he doesn't rap, "my crazy girlfriend actin' the fool, just drove her car into a swimming pool," which is good not just because that line would be awful but because it makes the song relatable and effective outside the context of the Lost Angels movie.

The 12" features a couple different mixes. They're all essentially the same music and lyrics, but you get an Instrumental and a couple different edits of the track. Most notable is the Dirt Cheap Edit, which is a pretty substantially extended version, doubling the length of the song. So that's just another reason you're better off with the 12" rather than the full soundtrack album. Because "Self Preservation" is definitely at least worth checking out, which is more than I can really say for Lost Angels.