The Dr. Dre Diss Everybody Overlooked

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Your Definitive Guide To The World Class Wreckin' Cru Line-Up

Can you identify these men? Hint: these are the easy ones. Answer below!

So, pretty much everybody knows that Dr. Dre got his start making records as a member of The World Class Wreckin' Cru. Well, after that Sofer record. Many also know that fellow NWA-member DJ Yella was there with him. And if you know your stuff, you know the leader of the crew was named Grand Master Lonzo. But here's thing: on every single record, their line-up changed. And I don't think there are a lot of people out there who could tell about all those subsequent members over the years. So let's go chronologically, member by member:

Cli-N-Tel) The World Class Wreckin' Cru started out as a DJ collective, but when they actually started putting out records on their own imprint, Kru-Cut Records, they were a four-man crew. Lonzo, Dre, Yella and Cli-N-Tel. In fact, since the other three were essentially DJs, Cli-N-Tel was basically their lead MC, rapping on their earliest singles "Surgery," "Slice" and "World Class." Not that he wasn't a DJ, too; he was often credited as D.J. Cli-N-Tel even. He does most of the vocals on "Surgery," too; although Dre does finally have a mini-verse on there. So the four of them was the line-up for their first album, World Class. But he quickly broke out as a solo artist, releasing records like "It Ain't Mine." He didn't release a full-length album until 1996, though; and that was overseas only. So I guess you could say his solo career never took off; but he's made little appearances here and there over the years.

Mona Lisa Young) Mona Lisa wasn't a member of the Cru originally, though she sang the hook to the song "Lovers" on their first album. She had already released a solo R&B album on Motown, though, so in a way she was bigger than all of them. So when they released their second album, the less electro-oriented Rapped In Romance, they had her on a bunch of songs. And while she didn't make the album cover, she's listed on the back as one of the five members, so she was official for a minute there.

Shakespere) I said five members on album #2, right? That's because, when Cli-N-Tel left, they brought in their dancer Shakespere. Remember, the other three weren't really rappers, so he got promoted straight to lead MC right away. He did make the album cover. He's the guy with the gruffer voice who's doing all the rapping on their singles "The Fly" and "He's Bionic." Since they'd singed to Epic Records at this point, though, I guess they all felt compelled to rap more, and they started releasing these love songs where everybody does a soft almost spoken word rap. So two of their singles, "World Class Freak" and "Love Letter" essentially became remakes of "Lovers," which was the song Mona Lisa sang for on the first album.

Michel'le) Unlike Mona Lisa, Michel'le wasn't really official, but you can't not talk about her. Like I was saying, these slow, four-way love ballads were becoming a Wreckin' Cru trademark. And after their second album they released one of their biggest singles, "Turn Off the Lights," which was another one of those, except instead of Mona Lisa, they had Michel'le singing the hook. And man did she hit it out of the park! Of course, you all know what happened to her. Produced by Dre, she put out a hit solo record, then they got married and things got dark after that.

The Uzi Bros) The Wreckin' Cru was more or less breaking up at this point. They still put out Dr. Dre's "House Calls" in 1987, but Shakespere seemed to be out and never went on to anything else. Meanwhile, more and more outsiders were being brought in to make the Cru's records. Their single "Must Be the Music" was an R&B duet with Mona Lisa and a guy named Derrell Black, who doesn't seem to have recorded anything else. They brought in Ice Cube's CIA posse for "The Cabbage Patch." And they brought in The Uzi Bros.

The Uzi Bros were a 3-man band consisting of Will Roc, Ken Strong and Bob Dog. They mostly played instruments, but when they put out their own album in 1990, Will Roc rapped. By 1988, the Cru was totally broken up, Dre and Yella formed NWA, and the latest Wreckin' Cru album was billed as Lonzo and The World Class Wreckin' Kru. Lonzo's sitting by himself on the album cover for Fast Lane, and for good reason. Will Roc wasn't rapping yet, rapping-wise, it was essentially a Lonzo solo album, although the Uzi Bros sung a few choruses and stuff. Mostly they handled all the music though. And since Lonzo still wasn't much of a rapper either, this album has a lot of instrumental stuff, and they slightly remixed "Lovers" with the original line-up's vocals. The credits say "featuring Mona Lisa and the Uzi Bros," but it's definitely Cli-N-Tel and everybody's vocals. They were really stretching on this album. Mostly Lonzo does spoken word stuff on this album, like Luke on his LPs, but without a JT Money in his pocket.

Anyway, The Uzi Bros went on to release their own album in 1990, like I said. They had a couple singles and a cool song on The Return of Superfly soundtrack; but they stopped making records after that. They stayed in the industry, though, producing and playing instruments for other west coast rappers, and Will Roc even released an instrumental album in the 2000s.

Tebo and Kim Brewer) Fast Lane also brought in a couple other vocalists. and they brought in more guest vocalists like Tebo and Kim Brewer. Kim's really only on one song, so it's tempting to just treat her like a guest, but Tebo's got credit on a solid half of the album. Meanwhile, Brewer's got far more music credits as a studio singer down the road, adding vocals to albums by tons of big artists from Whitney Houston to KD Lang.

Willie Z and Al Foote) In 1989, Lonzo and The Uzi Bros parted ways and he was left without a crew again. So he released the Crew's second greatest hits album (there had already been one in 1987) called Dance and Romance. This was re-released with broader distribution in 1991 under the title Turn Off the Lights (Before the Attitude) (a reference to NWA, natch). Anyway, it's just a bunch of their old records, except Lonzo does a little intro and outro to it. On the intro he says the group had split up, but on the outro, he said, "the World Class legacy is being carried on by Lonzo and two brand new brothers: Willie Z and Al Foote. Look for us in local record stores."

Bambi and Donette Williams) And sure enough, in 1990, there was a new World Class Wreckin' Cru album, called Phases In Life, with those three dudes on the cover. Al Foote's a French singer, and Willie Z plays the sax, and actually has a lot of credit as a studio musician in hip-hop and other genres. But as you can tell, that leaves them stupidly lacking in the Actual Rappers department. So you've got a lot of singing, including guest female vocals by Bambi and Donette Williams. And the raps are mostly just clunky spoken word patches again. Try and listen to the rap verse on "Love Lovin' You" without wincing. This album had a cover of "I'll Be Around" for a single, again with mostly singing (so why not just stick to the far superior original by The Spinners?), and they recorded a remake/sequel for "Turn Off the Lights" called "The Lights Are Out" with Bambi singing the chorus now. Ouch.

Curtis Bray) So, that looks like it's the last World Class Wreckin' Cru album, but not quite really. In 1994, they released Gold, which is ostensibly another greatest hits album. And it does feature a couple of their greatest hits. But more than half of is new material. There's another "Turn Off the Lights" sequel, this time with nothing but R&B vocals by Curtis Bray. All the new songs are by Lonzo and Willie Z. Al Foote seems to be out of the picture now, and in his place is Bray, who sings and writes on a couple of the new songs. This seems to be all he's done, however.

Meko) And that seems like the end of the Cru's recordings. It almost is. Remember when Thump Records was going hard on the reissue game, putting out tons of old school funk and hip-hop compilations, and albums by artists like Toddy Tee and JV The Nayba Hood Queen? Well, they also released a WCWC greatest hits album in 2001 called Greatest Hits Plus. Why "Plus?" Because the last two songs are new! One is an R&B song by a new R&B vocalist named Meko and produced by someone named G. Claiborn. You might wonder what the WCWC connection even is, but Lonzo is credited as co-writer of the song. I guess he was making a demo for her when Thump Records came to him so this is what he gave them.

Oh, and the other song is called "Boo Yaws." It's produced by a somebody named N Deed. It's a terrible dance song trying to move into the Southern rap song, with a hook that goes, "bounce ya boo yaws like ya do down South!" Lonzo does his own rapping, though, and it's the last Wreckin' Cru song to date.

So that's all of the WCWC rappers and singers. I wouldn't call all of them official members, more like affiliates or contributors. But Lonzo, Dre, Yella, Cli-N-Tel, Shakespere, Mona Lisa Young, Willie Z and Al Foote were definitely official members at different stages, and I think the Uzi Bros earned it for the 1988 album, too.

Oh, and that photo up top is the original line-up, from the back cover of their first album.
So left to right: Dre, Yella, Lonzo and Cli-N-Tel.

Sanford & Son, Part 2: Watchitsucka!

So my first instinct is to breeze over this first one because they never made a single of it, but it's too fun not to talk about. Nice 'N' Smooth were the next to loop up the Sanford & Son theme in 1991. The song's called "Step By Step" (for no discernible reason), the last song on their second LP, Ain't a Damn Thing Changed. And gosh, where to begin? How about the fact that Greg Nice takes his non-sequitur lyrical style to a whole new level of absurdity with this one:

"It's so ridiculous, like Cheech and Chong.
Here to make things right that was wrong.
He was wack, so he got gonged.
Samson, Delilah and King Kong.
...Drink your drink with a crazy straw.
I can go pop or I can get raw.
Remember the man with the manicure?
My sister had a baby; it was premature."

Just... what? Not a single one of those thoughts follows into the next, and none of them have a logical place in this song. It's almost like jazz scatting, except with real words rather than sounds. There's no other reason to bring up Samson and Delilah, let along follow them up with King Kong. The fact that you recognize the words just makes them sound better than meaningless syllables. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's how all teenagers hear pop music.

Then Smooth Bee of course, does his own, completely different thing, basically kicking a narrative rap about being cool at a club:

"Look around the atmosphere: over there,
A face like Venus, body like Cher.
Oh yeah, so I stepped to her.
Later on that night, I slept with her.
She forgot she had a man, so I wept with her."

Ha ha! And everything's made all that much crazier because they're rapping to sitcom harmonicas. It's Sanford & Son, but this self-produced track by the pair fades it out to bring in a smooth, totally unrelated bassline, only to bring the harmonicas back for the hook. Then they get The Black Flames to harmonize back-up vocals at the end. None of it fits together! It's like three different songs forced together. That's what keeps it from being one of their greatest hits and why it wasn't a single, but it also makes it crazier and all the more novel.

But there's one other 90's record that used Sanford & Son, and it did become a single. Da Fat Cat Clique were a nice little indie group from Philly, who made records with everybody from EST to DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Lux. And "Watchitsucka! (Rock Wit da Cat Clique)" comes right off their second album, Ode To the Cool Cat. Produced by Rugged'Ness, this one uses the loop for 100% of the song and doesn't mess it up with other elements or interpolate it with cheesy keyboards. It's just the funky, original soulful harmonicas sounding great. They do cut the loop shorter than you'd expect, so it takes some getting used to, but it sounds great.

The hook's just okay, with this girl mono-tonally asking, "you wanna rock with the Fat Cat crew?" And none of the verses are particularly interesting either. Over another beat, it would be pretty generic. But just them flowing over this track sounds so good, nothing else matters. Totally average lines sound dope just by the way they spit them as the beat cuts out. It's a short song, but it's so high energy, you can just listen to it on loop and never stop rocking with it.

The 12" has the Instrumental and A Cappella on the flip, which is cool. There's no date or other info on the label, but I can tell ya it's from 1998. Da Fat Cat Clique broke up after their next album, but A.B. Lover recently came back as one half of The Saints, a new Christian rap group, who released their debut album, Passion and Purpose, in 2014. They've even got Ital the Ruffian on there; but there's nothing half as funky as this Sanford & Son joint.

Sanford & Son, Part 1: MC Shy D Is Back!

I still remember what a bugged moment it was as a kid hearing The Fresh Prince rock with his human beatbox Ready Rock C on "Rock the House" in 1987, and he suddenly says, "yo Ready C, man, play 'Sanford & Son'!" And he suddenly starts beatboxing one of the funkiest sitcom themes in history. Despite being the title track of their album, it wasn't a commercial single. It was a live track, and you can hear the crowd go nuts at that moment as well. But it was a little less novel if you were a familiar with MC Shy-D, who had already rocked Sanford & Son last year.

MC Shy D is usually lumped in with Miami bass, but he's actually an Atlanta cat originally born in the Bronx. In fact, he's Afrika Bambaataa's cousin. So he brought a raw east coast feel to his hip-hop, especially on his early records. He was a real raw beats, rhymes and cuts guy in the beginning. He also imported some of New York's cornier elements, though, like the Fresh Gordon-style method of bringing silly cartoon and television jingles into rap records. Actually, that may've been some of Bambaataa's influence, too, since he was known for mixing all kinds of crazy, diverse records into his sets. And so, anyway, Shy D's first record was 1985's "Rapp Will Never Die," known for incorporating the Pink Panther theme.

That record made a lot of noise for him, so you know he had to do something like that again for his second record. In 1986 on 4 Sight Records, Shy D recorded "Shy D Is Back," which plays the Sanford & Son theme on every hook. And this was his signature for a while. The intro to his debut full-length on Luke Records starts out, "yo cuz, come here man, tell me, I got one question for you, brother. Who is this kid Shy-D? I was listening to the radio, man, I heard this tune, it sounded like the Pink Panther! dom dom dom dom, Da-dom, da-dom! This kid was doing the wildest scratching, the wildest rapping; I'm like, yo, this is def. Then it came back, cuz, with dun-dun-dun-da-dun, dun-dun-dun-na-dun-na-dun! I'm like, yo kid, I'm thinking I'm watching TV or what? This is def, man, who is this kid Shy-D?" In the beginning, he was that guy.

Of course, the secret is that Shy D and DJ Man were killing it on the (self produced) beats, rhymes and cuts, and those jingles were just like icing on a cake. You could strip away the Pink Panther instrumentation and still have a hot record. In fact, some would probably argue that it'd be better without it. But that goes less for "Shy D Is Back," because while the Pink Panther tune is a novelty, Sanford & Son's is a genuine funky riff. Did you know Quincy Jones made it? Yeah, there's a reason it endures.

But of course, those in the know (or who just looked closely at the label scan above) know that "Shy Is Back" is actually the B-side to his 1986 12". The A-side is "DJ Man Cuts It Up" (there was a "DJ Man Cuts It Up Again" on their Got To Be Tough album). And it is a testament to the fact that they didn't need any novelty tunes on their records, because it's a hot track based just on Shy D's rhymes, tough drums and especially DJ Man's cuts. Well, actually, there is a brief period where Shy D says, "give them a taste of our first song," and the Pink Panther plays once on this one, too. But it barely even registers under DJ Man going nuts with the turntables. You know, his cuts sound pretty advanced for 1986. Admittedly, there is a syrupy bassline that kicks in on the scratch hooks for this song, but it's not an interpolation of any TV themes or anything. And there's also a cool little mini-track called "XX-Rap." It's just 44 seconds of Shy-D kicking a hard, curse-laden (though barely X-rated compared to the kind of lyrics we'd start hearing a few years later after groups like 2 Live Crew and The Geto Boys) rhyme over some unadorned human beat-boxing.

But let's face it, no matter how dope those were and how they proved Shy-D didn't need gimmicks, the B-side is the one that got all the radio play and attention. Because they rocked the Sanford & Son theme! And they didn't even sample it, they interpolate it, with this chintzy fake harmonica as played on a keyboard. It doesn't sound half as good as the original sitcom; but on the other hand, the sitcom doesn't have Shy-D going hard and DJ Man cutting loose. That's the real strength of the record. So come for the cheesy tune, stay for the skills. And of course, after living with that record for a year, it wasn't quite as much of a mind blower to hear it on a Jazzy Jeff record. But of course, Shy D and Man didn't play it under water.  ;)

Scratchin' To the Beat In Stereo

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Kanye West's Fake Twitter Army Is Real!

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Z-Man's Show Up Finally Shows Up

Ah yeah, six years later and Z-Man's Show Up Shut Up and Rap has finally arrived at my front door. Yeah, Show Up was originally an mp3-only album Z put out through Machette Vox's bandcamp page. But now in 2016, it's been resurrected and pressed up as an actual physical release. CDs can be copped from accesshiphop and probably other places.

At eight tracks, this is either a long EP or a short LP; but either way, it's classic Z. This is the album with "Cupcakin'," the song he had a video for. It's an ill look at adult relationships through the unique perspective of Z-Man, "I'm tryin' to raise hell; you tryin' to raise kids." It's like "Passin' Me By Ten Years Later," with all the frustration and thwarted dreams that implies. It's also got a really ethereal vocal sample contrasted over killer 80s drums; it sounds sick. DJ Eddie Def adds some subtle but slick cuts, too. If Z-Man was on a major, it would've been one of those few hip-hop songs that was huge but still artistically credible.

Most of the rest of the EP is hot, too. Produced by DNAE Beats and Boac, it's a wild mix of old school and trendy contemporary elements, that gives the album a real timeless feel. Eddie Def and his turntable show up on a couple more tracks, too. One or two songs, like the posse cut "Gurp Logo," about their t-shirts, falls a little short. But the MCs are strong enough that you won't actually skip over anything.

But it's the songs where Z-Man really goes in lyrically that are naturally the highlights. "Yell Ho!" is essentially the title track despite technically disqualifying, with Z getting introspective about his career:

"I should be on the road,
But I'm writing you a verse,
Just to let you know it was exciting at first.
Now I'm sittin' here fuckin' dying of thirst
Of my own spit; I need to hear, yellin',
'Show up, shut up and rap.'
They're fuckin' paying me to do it!
Shh, focus on that."

Eddie Def cuts up a couple other songs as well, and Bored Stiff show up on "I Gotta Go." And Boac takes the mic for a verse on "Progress," which is thematically along the same lines as "Yell Ho!" But Z-Man doesn't need help; he always the best part of his albums, and this is him unfiltered and pure hip-hop (as opposed to some of those rock/ dance kinda projects he's done, like One Block Radius or Motel Crew).

And I never blogged about it at the time, but if you missed it, be sure to cop his 2015 album Flea Circus with producer Tahaj the One. It might be an even better disc over all, and it's a crazy concept album, too, where they really follow through on the "flea circus" idea. It's a trip. Not a lot of guests on that one, though White Mic shows up on one song, along with some guy named Shag Nasty. But Tahaj takes the mic a few times and proves himself a capable MC as well. Plus, again, Z doesn't need guests, he stays interesting enough on his own.

And if that's still not enough for you, I have good news. The back of Show Up promises a new album called 6 Pack of Dynamite "coming soon." Sounds like 2016 is gonna be a good year for Z-Man fans.

Have You Ever Actually Listened To Overweight Pooch?

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Your Definitive Guide To the "New Jack Swing"

"Rump Shaker" was a big mover on the charts, but Wrecks-N-Effect will go down in history for one song, the anthem of an entire genre of music, and even fashion, "New Jack Swing." It was the flagship song of Teddy Riley's movement. But it was purely a rap song, so he couldn't give it to his group (Guy), so instead he gave it to his brother's group. And a lot of people think that was their first record, but that's just one of several popular misconceptions and confusing details about this song. I've been meaning to tackle this one on my blog for ages, but it's a lot to get into. Today I'm doin' it, though. Let's break it down.

Wrecks-N-Effect started out as a four-man group on Atlantic Records. They were fronted by Keith KC, who was their also the established credible MC of the crew, as he was an original member of The Masterdon Committee. Then the other three were Marky Mark (Teddy's brother, Markell Riley, not Mark Wahlberg, who used the name second) A-Plus a.k.a. Aqil and B-Doggs, but Keith did the rapping on pretty much every single song. They had a strong go-go influence to their sound, which probably came from Teddy, who has musician credit on every single song and also had go-go beats on some of his earlier work (like "Wong"). Teddy had musician credit, but not production credit, which went to Markell and Gene Griffin for GR Productions. Their first EP had a couple singles and at least one music video, but when their brief period on Atlantic ended, Keith broke out.

So Wrecks signed to Motown in 1989 without Keith (although Mark and Aqil both thanked him in the liner notes, so I guess there was no bad blood), and Aqil took over as the lead MC. I think they just had a single, but that single was "New Jack Swing," so when that blew up, they put out a self-titled album (which is why many think it's their debut). Actually, you could argue the title is meant to be New Jack Rap, since that's written on the spine of the cassette version. Anyway, another thing that's interesting is that Teddy Riley isn't credited with any production. Markell has a few tracks, including "New Jack Swing," but the most are by Redhead Kingpin. Also, see that gryphon logo on the second cover? That's a GR Productions thing; Guy used to have it on some of their covers, too. Gene Griffin was the president, and Teddy Riley was the vice president of GR.

Anyway, let's get off the album and back to the single, which dropped in '88. Prepare for more confusion, because there's actually more than one version, with completely different track-listings. I remember being confused when I first bought the single and it was totally different than the song I heard in the music video. Fortunately, the video version turned out to be on the album in '89. But it wasn't until years later and I was an adult that I realized there were different 12"s.

This is the version that came out first. A lot of it's the same naturally, including all three verses and the same core breakbeat (a killer loop called "The Village Keepers") and the James Brown snippets. It even has an extra recurring "tear the roof off the mothersucker" vocal sample. But it doesn't have the dramatic keyboards that layer over the whole song, and it doesn't have Teddy Riley's bugged out super-villain laugh and random improvisations like, "everything is made by man" and "all you have to do is polish your nails!" Enough of it's there that any "New Jack Swing" can rock out to it, that one break is really the crux of the appeal; but it's not the whole song and feels a little lacking once you've heard the video version.

So then this came out, still in '88. This has multiple mixes. The 7" Version is essentially the video/album version, and the 12" Version is a longer edit of that. The Percapella is what it sounds like, an acapella but still with the percussion, which makes for a pretty funky, stripped down mix actually. But then, flip it over, and there's the Club Version, which is another different version. This has new adlibs and stuff by Teddy, and I think this is where the remix versions took those "polish your nails" lines from, because here there's twice as much. I think he just took the mix and decided to say whatever randomly popped into his head over the track. So I suspect they made the original version, then this crazy club version, and then used both for the remix we're most familiar with. There's also a Bonus Beats track, which is kind of fun, because they start rubbing in Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative," which of course was one of Teddy's biggest hits.

On Wrecks' next single, "Juicy," which is the one that famously used Mtume's "Juicy Fruit" sample before Biggie Smalls, they had a "New 12" Remix of New Jack Swing" on the B-side. And, just as a fun fact: Teddy produced an R&B version for an artist he produced called Zan, also in '89, called "Love Juicy." It uses the same loop, too, but very watered down and smoothed out. And there's a "Love Juicy" mix of "Juicy" on this 12", which is like a hybrid of the two, with Zan's singing and softer music, but still with Wrecks' raps. Zan's gonna come back again, in a minute. Anyway, the 12" Remix of "New Jack Swing" here is basically the same as the 12" Version on the second "New Jack" single mentioned earlier, with just minor variations.

So as the lead vocalist, Aqil does two of the verses on this song. And Teddy Riley himself, does the third. I remember as a kid I thought I was pretty smart for figuring out that when he says, "yes, T.R. is my name," that's who it was, since Teddy's not even a member. But some other lines of his verse are even trickier, since it's very inside baseball. Look 'em up online, they're all wrong. Like, for example, most lyrics sites write, "yes T.R. is movin' it, right?" When actually he's saying, "yes, G.R. is movin' it," because now he's referring to the production company not himself. Also, a lot of the lyrics are contrived and awkward ("some beat medicine you wish you had, bumping your feelings from glad to sad"), because their best MC had left, so it's sometimes hard to work out what they're trying to communicate, precisely.

Hardest to track is when he starts naming artists he's "got." I remember bugging out in '89 when he said Boy George, but Teddy was just listing artists he was making hit records with at the time. So forget the screwy lists you'll find online (it doesn't help that the music video only shows about half the people he names). I'm a big fan of Teddy Riley (at least in his 80s period), so I think I've figured out the correct list:

'Ey yo, I've got Keith Sweat - That's an easy one. They show him in the video, and they had a huge hit together with "I Want Her." It was the shit back in the day.

Heavy D - Look, they're all easy at the start. Again, Heav and the Boyz were in the video, and of course Ted produced "We Got Our Own Thing," which took Heavy D into the mainstream.


Today - An R&B group you'll probably remember from the House Party soundtrack, he produced their first single, plus some of their other songs.

Moe Dee - Kool Moe Dee, of course! Teddy produced a ton of his stuff, including his biggest hits, effectively making his solo career. And who wouldn't instantly recognize him in the video with his signature shades and bright green leather rain coat.

B Sure - As in Al B Sure. He just did a little instrumentation on his first album, but also produced "Dedicated" on Heavy D's first album, which Al sung on.

And my man Bobby Brown - Again, "My Prerogative" may've been Teddy's biggest record ever.

I've got Zan the Man - Now we're getting to the tricky stuff. But yeah, this is the "Love Juicy" Zan who Teddy produced a whole Warner Bros album for.

Redhead - Kingpin of course. He ought to be in the video, since he produced most of the album.

Boy George - See? Teddy produced some of his stuff around this time. I forget the name of it, but he had a video for a song that was surprisingly in line with the other kinda stuff Teddy was making then.

James - I believe this is James Ingram. He had a whole skit at the beginning of one of singles where they're like, "say, Teddy, who you workin' with?" And he says James. "James Brown?" And he's like nah, somebody named James Ingram. Seems pretty insulting; I never understood why he'd want that on his record, but there ya go.

And Deja - Deja was this pop R&B duo with a Teddy produced single called "Going Crazy." He may've done their whole album, but "Crazy" is the only song I remember getting any play.

And my homeboys Guy, and you got to get down! - If you don't remember Guy, you weren't around in the 80s. They're his homeboys because Teddy Riley was actually one third of the group, not just their producer. Although the production was mainly his department; I don't think he really sang much, just dropped the occasional rap verse. Aaron Hall was the big vocalist in Guy.

Afterwards, tragically, B-Doggs passed away and Wrecks-N-Effect changed their name to Wreckx-N-Effect in his honor. Their time was up on Motown and it took a while for them to properly come back, though Teddy kept them in the game by giving them little appearances when he could. For instance, they were on the House Party 2 soundtrack, and Aqil rapped on Samuelle's "So You Like What You See." Eventually they got a new deal with MCA Records.

They released their third album, Hard Or Smooth, in 1992. Yes, this is the "Rump Shaker" album. But the first (or the second, depending which pressing of the album you got) song on the LP was "New Jack Swing II (Hard Version)." There is no other version of "New Jack Swing II," so I'm guessing they just mean this is hard compared to the first one. And it is, although it's hardly Straight Outta Compton material.

This one opens up with a Big Daddy Kane "check it out, y'all" vocal sample and EPMD's "Knick Knack Paddy Wack" loop with a little EFG "UFO" mixed in. A-Plus, Mark and TR all take a verse on this one, following the times by mixing a little diggity-diggity-Das EFX style into their rhymes. The main thing that makes this one feel hard, I guess, is that it has a 90s New York style shout chorus. It ends with some key-horns straight out of "The Ruler's Back," which are cheesy but fun. The line "she didn't believe a thing about the new jack swing," from the original, has been changed to "don't forget a thing about the new jack swing." This wasn't released as a single, and you can tell why, but it is one of the better songs on the album.

I was disappointed Teddy didn't make an updated list like, "I got Hi-Five, Blackstreet, Glenn Jones, the Winans and my man Mike Jackson. I got Samuelle, Bubba, Star Point, Faith and Nayobe and look out for a Guy come back in about ten years!" Oh well. It's no hit like the original, but it's not too a disappointing sequel, all things considered. ...They saved the disappointing sequels for their fourth album. But why focus on the negative when you can just replay their old hits again? "Yo, Wrecks-N-Effect, in full effect!"

Questionable Lyrics #5: Shaq and the Kid From Quo Are Genie!

So, I just watched Kazaam, the 1996 Shaquille O'Neal vehicle where he plays a wish grantin' genie who decides he wants to become a rapper. That movie raises a lot of questions, but what struck me most was the song he performs in the film, "We Genie," where he explains his character's origins. Lyrically, it's a fascinating series of choices. You're constantly going, "wait, what was that? What does that even mean? Why did he way that?" And since I also just happen to have the soundtrack album, which does include that song, I decided I just had to analyze these crazy lyrics.

Update! 6/2/16: Somebody had the great idea (see the comments) to check out the subtitles/ closed captioning for the film. And that shed a little extra light on the mystery of the still puzzling lyrics, as well as pointed out a big error I made. So now, enjoy the corrected version of this still lyrical analysis. 8)

Before we start, though, I thought I'd point out a few interesting things. First of all, Da Brat has a sizable role in this film, as herself. She even performs a duet with Shaq. But she's not on the soundtrack album, and neither is that song. Curious. The only other rapper to appear as herself is Spinderella, who has a teeny tiny cameo, and she does have a song on here. This soundtrack also features the only commercially released song by The Almighty Arrogant, although I didn't hear it play anywhere in the film itself. Shaq has four songs in this flick, and all but the one with Da Brat are on the soundtrack. Two are solo, and the one I'm interested in today features Wade Robson.

Now, in the film, a 12 year-old kid finds Shaq's boombox (that's right, he's not in a lamp, he's in a boombox, because he's so hip-hop) and the whole film is a kiddie buddy picture about this boy and his genie. And when he asks Shaq about how he became a genie, the two of them perform "We Genie." But the kid actor is named Francis Capra; so he must've just been lip-syncing to a song recorded by somebody else in this movie. Specifically somebody named Wade Robson.

Now, when I first watched this film, there's this pack of bullies that pick on our protagonist, and I immediately looked at the one with the super short blonde hair and thought, he looks like that kid from Quo. Remember that ridiculous kiddie rap group from the early 90s, where it's one white kid and one black one and they both have shaved heads, earrings and are supposed to be the most hardcore rappers possible? Well, I didn't actually believe it was that kid, he just reminded me of them. But afterwards, when I decided to search online for the name "Wade Robson," he's that kid from Quo! You guys may know him better nowadays, though, from having that famous case against Michael Jackson for you-know-what; and he's been working primarily as a dancer for groups like N'Sync, Britney Spears and even hosting his own show on MTV. Meanwhile, I have no idea what become of the other kid from Quo.

Anyway, getting back on track, "We Genie" is the only point in the film where we learn Shaq's story. It's not like "Spirit," where Doug Fresh raps about the plot of Ghostbusters II, but we also have it all explained throughout the film, so we get the references to Vigo and the pink slime. Here, we only have the song lyrics to go on. Oh, and I poked around and the lyrics to this song aren't printed anywhere online, so I'm transcribing them myself. Future generations, you're welcome.

"My name is Kazaam,
I got the whole plan.
So listen to the man,
'Cause I'M the son of Sam sultan of sand."

Thanks to the subtitles, I now realize he said "sultan of sand," which is an admittedly much better line than what I'd understood as "son of Sam." The son of Sam, of course, was the serial killer David Berkowitz, who has admittedly been name-dropped in a whole ton of rap songs, and you've hard plenty of other MCs say they're the lyrical son of Sam, but it would still have been wildly inappropriate to drop in a kids movie like this. "Sultan of sand," on the other hand... I have to give it up, that's a good phrase.

Now the kid raps:

"Is that it?
Is that the whole deal?
You wanna be a hit,
You better get real."

Shaq fires back:

"I did have this friend in a thousand BC,
We discover a bevy of bathing beauties.
Habert[?] looks to me and I says to he,
Why don't we jump in that ol' Euphrates?"

I'm actually impressed that he keeps saying he's 3000 years old in the film, and they picked a date here that more or less syncs up. But being impressed goes right out the window for the next line, "I says to he." I understand he's forcing a rhyme by saying "he" instead of "him," which is already wack, but there's no reason to use "says" instead of "say."

Anyway, this song's already beginning to get confusing. I'm guessing on the spelling of Habert, which seems to be the name of his friend. The movie subtitles say "Hbur," which just tells me they can't figure it out either. It actually kinda sounds like he's saying "a bird" here, maybe like dame, broad, or chick. But it comes up again and seems to be a proper name. So the idea is these girls are bathing in the Euphraties river and Kazaam and his buddy decide to jump in and join them.

The kid responds:

"So that's the whole story?
That's all you gotta tell?"

And Shaq answers:

"You got to listen to my rap,
From bell to bell."

Minor nitpicks. Why would the kid think that's the end of a story, and there are no bells in this instrumental so what is Shaq even talking about?

"Those babies had rabies,
And we was in Hades,
'Cause we moved with the harem
Of the prince of Akbacarem[?]."

I'm also guessing on the spelling of Akbacarem. I feel like he's trying to make Akhetaten rhyme with harem, but I don't know; maybe there's a real city with a name pronounced that way. The subtitles say "Akba d'Karem," which seems to be another phonetic guess, because that's not a thing. There was a famous harem keeping emperor named Akbar, though, known for being huge, so that would make sense. But what's the part he's rhyming with "harem?" It's still confounding.

But anyway, what the heck else is going on in this song? Babies with rabies? Maybe he's calling the bathing beauties babies, like babes. And them having rabies is just the first half of a metaphor - the second half being that they were in Hades - just meant to say "these chicks turned out to be bad news." I feel like I'm doing a lot of twisting to get this to make sense, but that's my theory. The girls Shaq and his friend went swimming with were bad news because they were the prince's harem.

So the kid asks:

"So, it's you and Habert,
In a thousand BC?"

And Shaq adds:

"Buried to our necks in sand
Like the sea!"

Alright, this is the first time the kid's part isn't entirely pointless in this song. He's reiterating details, which if we weren't writing the lyrics down, listeners would be sure to miss. So I appreciate that. And again, I don't think a literal bird is actually Shaq's friend. I could see that in a way... why wouldn't a genie's best friend be a bird? But then we'd be expected to believe that someone, presumably the prince, buried a bird in the sand up to its neck? It's gotta be a dude.

Well, Shaq continues:

"By a sultan with a sword,
And a lock and a key."

The kid remarks:

"Woo, they're in deep!
Will they ever get free?"

Hold up. What the deal is with the sword, lock and key? Is this a reference we're just supposed to get? Like, it's so obvious, he doesn't even see a point in spelling it out? Is this a famous genie story he's telling? This is when I started googling the stories of the Arabian Nights with genies and stuff, but none of them seem to have a story anything like this. The only useful bit I found was this line from the Qur'an: "And before Solomon were marshalled his hosts, of jinn and men and birds, and they were all kept in order and ranks." So, hey, maybe his friend really is a bird after all. Heck, maybe both guesses are right, and it's a bird named Habert! Or, y'know, "Hbur."

Also, the kid is an idiot for asking if they would ever get free, when he's talking to the person it supposedly happened to. Anyway, Shaq answers:

"And I looks to Habert,"

"And he says to thee?"

"At the end of this day,
We ain't gonna be!"

Now why is this New York kid suddenly speaking Shakespearian? Oh right, Shaq loves awkward, forced rhymes.

"So it's me and Habert
In a thousand BC,
Praying to the Gods,"

"And what do you see?"

"A man with a halo
And a nasty decree:
'I'll save your butt,
But you're gonna serve me'."

So now Shaq's reiterating, which is good, but I think we got the 1,000 BC part already. So I guess at this point, the prince and his harem fucked off, having left Kazaam and his friend - who's either named Habert or is a bird - buried in the sand, like the sea. Even though I don't think you can get buried in a sea. Anyway, now an angel(!) has come, looking for some free slaves. I was actually expecting to see in the subtitles that I'd gotten this part slightly wrong, but no; this is 100% correct. "A man with a halo and a nasty decree." Alright. That doesn't seem to characteristic of an angel, does it? Maybe the fallen angel... Is Shaq saying he's a servant of Satan in this movie? Because that definitely doesn't come across anywhere else in this film!

"So I nod to Habert,
He nods to me.
And when the magic is over,
We ain't men..."

Now the rest of this song is performed with Wade and Shaq saying every word in unison:

"We genie!
We were buried to our necks
In sand like the sea,
By the sultan with the sword
And a lock and a key.
I looks to Habert
And he says to me,
'When the magic is over,
We ain't men...
We genie!"

And that's basically it. Shaq adlibs some lines like, "bob ya head, Max," and they repeat the "we genie" refrain a couple of times. It's a short song, because I guess nobody's going to sit through three full verses and a bridge worth of exposition mid-movie. Also, are they using "genie" as an adjective, meaning "being a genie," or is the plural of genie not genies?And why isn't it we are. "We're genies," wouldn't adversely affect the meter of the song or anything.

One thing about this last bit: there's a lot of interchangeability. Who's this sultan they suddenly bring up? That must be the prince, with his sword, lock, key and harem. "Sultan" and "prince" are just being used synonymously here, even though I thought a sultan was more of a king than a junior. And Max singing "we genie" is just him getting caught up in the energy of the song, right?  Because I've seen the whole movie, and it never turns out that he was a genie all along or anything. Also Shaq isn't shown to have any friends from 1,000 BC, human or feathered. The song is all about two people becoming genies, but the movie is just about one. So why write the other one into the song at all? There's also no sword, lock or key in the film, so none of that pays off. Maybe this song syncs up better to an earlier draft of the screenplay we never saw?

The lyrics were definitely by the screenwriters, they have writing credit in the soundtrack notes. So this should add up more than it does. The producers, Chad Elliot and James "Big Jim" Wright also have co-writing credits, but I'm sure that's strictly instrumental. By the way, Shaq's other two songs on here were produced and co-written by dancehall greats Sly and Robbie, if you can believe it.

So okay. I think I've come away from this project with a better understanding of the song. I can track the narrative as far as it makes sense, though I can't help feeling that there's a genie legend I should be familiar with that he's paraphrasing, which would make things a lot clearer. I know Solomon supposedly trapped a genie in a bottle, but this ain't that story. But there's either some legend or a whole second act twist on the cutting room floor where the leader of the music pirates is Shaq's ancient friend gone bad. Please, though, nobody release a director's cut.

So This Is What Public Enemy Meant...?

"As I ventured into the courtyard, followed by fifty-two brothers
Bruised, battered, and scarred, but hard.
Going out with a bang, ready to bang out;
But power from the sky: from the tower shots rang out.
A high number in dose, yes, and some came close;
Figure I trigger my steel, stand and hold my post.
This is what I mean: an anti-nigger machine;
If I come out alive, then they won't come clean."

That's just a small portion of Chuck D's powerful and dramatic verses from his classic, "Black Steel In the Hour of Chaos." It's a compelling, darkly cinematic narrative with a shocking but strong message. On their next album, Fear Of a Black Planet, Public Enemy expounded on one of that song's most explosive concepts with the song "Anti-Nigger Machine," a personal account of a rally he attended for another black victim of a police shooting.

And then in 1991, a rap group called ANM put out a record on Joey Boy Records.

And no, ANM doesn't stand for Aimlessly Nonfunctional Magnifications, or any other silly combination the Backronym Generator might come up with.  They make it explicitly clear on their album that it does indeed stand for Anti-Nigger Machine, and even sample "Black Steel..." on several songs. Of course, it changes the meaning pretty drastically when they identify themselves as the ANM. To Public Enemy, it was a grave and pretty specific accusation directed at the US legal system, identifying our police, courts, prisons and even our military as working with frightening efficiency against one particular race of our people. What does it mean when you say you are the ANM?

Well, thankfully it doesn't mean that Joey Boy uncovered some depressing neo-nazi skinhead rap group and decided they could be the next Miami bass novelty hit. In fact, despite the label they're on, ANM are actually from Houston, Texas, and have a bit of a genuine legacy. ANM are basically a trio: MCs Jameen and Brother Alquarr, plus a DJ named Mixmaster B. They stand in solidarity with Chuck D's messages, even claiming that he'll vouch for them: "word to life, you know I'm right, just ask Chuck."

Now, as you can see, their album, Let the Message Rize, has one of those covers with like 50 dudes on it (okay, eight), even though there only seems to be three members. And no, I don't know who most of those guys are, though I'm pretty sure one of them is Lil Troy, years before he started putting out gangsta rap albums on Short Stop Records. Apparently, this was one of the first groups he ever produced. And if you need more legacy than that, Jameen went on to change his name to Mike D and join DJ Screw's Screwed Up Click. So ANM isn't some random rap nobodies act; they're still selling records to this day.

And so yeah, this album is dope. Production-wise, it doesn't have the PE vibe you'd expect. It's lots of very familiar, funky samples. Pretty much every groove here had been used on several hip-hop albums already, and are pretty obvious choices; but hey, they still sound good. Sorta like a later Rodney O & Joe Cooley album. And yeah, that means songs like "Trigger Happy Cop" (which was also the single, by the way), is actually set to "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll." So it really lacks the power of, say, "Arrest the President." It's more like... well, the sort of stuff you'd expect from Joey Boy in 1991. Bouncy, fun. Some of the samples are a little too big and heavy-handed, like the use of "Superstition" on the title track, but it always sounds pretty good, if a little corny. Except for "Cold Sweat" though, which is essentially Let the Message Rize's "Something 2 Dance 2," it's all heavy, message-oriented vocals. "Mind Trap" is an early hip-hop track about clinical depression. "Criminal Background" is about how dangerous a man becomes when he has nothing left to lose. That's a strange dichotomy.

The weakness of the album is unfortunately the MCs' skills. These guys are young and I daresay still learning to rap a bit.  Don't get me wrong, the subject matter they choose is great, but the handling of it sometimes feels like a student project. The rhymes are pretty basic with some awkward structure, leading to clunky, contrived lines like, "it's your life I will take," "people ride me like I don't have a prerogative; but who are you to say the way I'm not to live," or "my ass is what you're kissin', G." Like, try this on for size:

"Drug beats, but not the drugs you can get high on.
Hip-hoppers know what I'm sayin', so news reporters try on.
'Cause I can do the wild thing, but not the thing you're thinking of.
Your ears are to the speaker, glued to hear me sink a
Brother with the quickness."

So 1991, "Wild Thing" is a Tone Loc reference. But he's saying he can't do the kind of wild thing Tone was talking about (which was sex, of course)? I'm sure it's not what he meant, but it sounds like he's saying he's impotent; but it's okay because he can really rock a mic. I mean, they have good voices and their flow is simple but fine. And they have got a couple freestyle songs, like "President" and "Junky That," where they sound a little less stilted. It might be tempting to just give them a pass, but being able to put words together in a slick or interesting way is pretty much what being a rapper is supposed to be all about. Plus, you can't really let them slide when they try to seriously deliver punchlines like, "yo, put an egg in your shoe, and just beat it."

The secret weapon of this album, on the other hand, is this Mix Master B. He's just getting hype all over this record. There's one or two songs with no scratching, but most of them utilize him a lot. He's regularly cutting up the group's name from "Black Steel...," in fact that's how the album opens; and it sounds great. And him cutting up a key line from "Fuck the Police" is absolutely the best part of "Trigger Happy Cop."

Overall, it's a pretty enjoyable listen for anyone on an old school kick, because its flaws will mix right in with its qualities for them. But more objectively, this is a listenable but weak album. This should've probably been their demo that paved the way to them releasing their more mature official debut album. It's a lot better than a lot of stuff, though; so it's kind of a shame ANM didn't hang in there. Well, of course, Jameen and Lil Troy did, which I guess proves my point. But I think I'd prefer their music if they stayed on the ANM path than where they wound up heading. If nothing else, it's an interesting album, which is more than you can say for most stuff coming out today.