The REAL Mista Tung Twista

Way back in the early 90's, I was rapping along to Tung Twista's debut single "Mista Tung Twista,"* following the lyrics printed in the cassette's sleeve (rap nerdistry for the win!). Well, I quickly noticed that those lyrics were wrong. And not just wrong like the occasional conjunction or syllable was off (which is interestingly the case in a lot of printed rap lyrics), but I mean... they were pretty majorly off. So... I got on my old school word processor I had back then and transcribed these, completely accurate lyrics (did I mention the phrase "rap nerd?"), using the album's transcripts to guide the formatting (some of those line breaks seem a little arbitrary) and clear up some difficult to decipher phrases like "the sucka descendant of Canaan." Remember, this was back in the days before you could just google terms like that and learn that Canaan is "an ancient term for a region encompassing modern-day Israel, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Jordan, Syria and northeastern Egypt."

Well, today I stumbled upon that sheet of paper while going through a couple old boxes. So I decided to scan and post it so you can finally read, for the first time ever, the real "Mista Tung Twista" lyrics:
[I know the text looks a bit small, but you can click to enlarge each verse.]


*It's actually not so impossible if you've got the lyrics memorized.

The Return Of the Return of K-Solo

Over the summer, we looked at K-Solo's indie comeback record from 1998, City of Shaft. Well, in 2004, K-Solo came back to make another go of it with this 12", "Wolf Tickets." He came out on Waste Management Records, which was his own label. They had a website all the way up 'till '07-'08 and he still reps Waste Management on his myspace, but so far this has been their only release.

I held off on picking this one up at first, because I heard a couple lackluster reviews; but actually it's pretty dope. The A-side, "Wolf Tickets," definitely wins this round. The beat is subtle but strong, with a killer rolling bassline. It kinda reminds me of a slower version of "Excalibur," but the lyrics remind me more of "System." That's probably because he recycles a whole verse from that song (the first verse of "Wolf Tickets" = the last verse of "System"). Yeah, it's kinda lame; but at least he chose the best verse, and the other two verses on this track are new.

There's no production credits on here, so I can't say who did what, but somebody did good. The hook is real simple, just a K-Solo repeating a couple lines between verses. The instrumental doesn't change up either; it's just all about Solo spitting over a hard track - like it should be.

The B-side isn't quite as strong, but it's ok. It's got a solid drum track, but otherwise relies on kind of a generic "gangsta rap studio sound" looped sample, and features a chanted hook, like a throwback to the early 90's. It seems to be a posse cut, but it's hard to tell, 'cause no one says their names, and they all sorta sound like Solo. But, no... it's definitely only him on verse four, so the other tracks must be some other dudes. And he outshines 'em all. I guess they're his Waste Management weed carriers crew? So, as a whole it's a little underwhelming; but you can't really complain about a rugged posse cut where each MC is just coming as hard as they can over a simple beat. Nothing exceptional, but it gets a respectable pass.

Both tracks come in Main, Edit and Inst. versions. For years, K-Solo said in interviews that he was coming with a full-length called There'll Be Hell To Pay, but it never materialized. Of course, since he's still repping Waste Management, maybe it's still coming. He also signed a couple other artists, including Canibus (which is why Solo appears on two of Canibus's later albums), but Can kept coming out on other labels during that time. So I guess maybe Waste Management Records has been acting more as a management company since this record? Anyway, both of his indie comebacks have been hot... so here's hoping there'll be a third.

It's Naked Time!

Remember in my Sole interview when I asked him who Time was? He's like I have no idea, and I'm like, "well, your on his new album." He remembered and said, "ahhh thats my homey time. he's from denver. he's become a good friend of mine. sometimes when i think someone shows a lot of promise i do music with them." Well, Time was good enough to send me his album (plus a bio), so we can delve into the matter a bit further.

Time's a solo MC (yes, from Denver), though he's also part of a 2-man crew called Calm, with producer AwareNess, who also did more than half of his latest album (which makes the distinction between a Calm album and a Time album pretty thin). It's called Naked Dinner, and it's his third, not counting the Calm album and an EP he mentions in his bio. It's on Dirty Laboratory Records.

Now, I've never read any William Burroughs, but just seeing Cronenberg's movie was enough for me to get that this album is full of Burroughs references, and the album has more than just a punny title in common with Naked Lunch, from a hook about botching a William Tell-style shooting to the bugs and typewriter in the artwork. I'm not really sure why it's full of Burroughs, though... I guess it just serves as atmosphere?

Anyway, it's a pretty solid album. Time sounds like a cross between early Eyedea and Braille when they're in full concept song mode. Their website (I'll drop the link at the end) says AwareNess's beats sound like early RZA, Pete Rock & Large Pro, "but he manages to transcend all of them." I give him credit for having the nerve to write that and make it public, but it's not true... he doesn't sound like any of them at all. His production is good, though, don't get me wrong; but it's of the 'mood above funkiness' variety. It's like haunting synths and strained samples - not the kind of you're gonna want to bump in your jeep like those other producers' work, but fitting for songs called "Cockroach Goddess."

Content-wise, the album's actually got a lot of variety. He goes from rapper biography to a song about vampires to one about never growing up. Guests include Sole (as previously established), C-Rayz Walz, who sounds surprisingly like Bizarre on this record, and some guy named Damon JeVon who's on five or six tracks. Time breaks out the autotune on two or three tracks, which is interesting to hear on a decidedly underground-sounding album. The quality of the lyrics is as varied as the subject matter. He certainly gets points for scope and he comes up with some genuinely effective lines and moments... Other lines just come off as kinda silly and confusing, with cloying attempts to be clever like:

"Charlton Heston told me that
Soylent Green is people,
With pink stars, yellow moons,
And babies and steeples.
The clouds rain panic,
And I rain on command
With teardrops, snow flakes,
Mobs and man.
She wears a bullet-proof heart;
He wears a Dick Dastardly smile,
With carnations in his teeth
And a spastic style.
She can't believe it's love;
He can't believe it's not butter.
She shows her breasts like car wrecks
Making his privates flutter."

I mean, I think that verse is supposed to be a sillier moment on the album (I hope), so maybe it was an unfair verse to pick out of context... and his songs with a stricter focus are do tend to flow more smoothly. But you see what I mean: he sounds a bit young (I mean his writing, not his actual voice). Once he gets past that, he could really be an MC to watch out for; but even as it stands now, Naked Dinner is a decent quality album if you fall into his niche style audience. You'll know if you perked up or groaned when I mentioned "early Eyedea" and "concept song" in the same sentence.

Time has a myspace here, and also a pretty nice official site for him and his label at dirtylaboratory.com. And Naked Dinner is available at ughh, itunes, and probably where ever else you frequent online.


P.s. - I apologize for the title of this post... couldn't help myself.

T-U-R-T-L-E Secrets

Update 9/27/11: The HHC site seems to be down, so I've posted the article below... Click 'em to enlarge 'em to a readable size.

The new issue of HHC Digitial just dropped tonight, and with it comes my latest Fear Of the Rap! column (page 9). I talked with the creators of "Turtle Power" themselves, the Partners In Kryme, to get the inside scoop on one of hip-hop's all-time biggest hits, and a damn enjoyable record still to this day. In fact, before you click over there, see if you can guess what classic cartoon show the medley to this song came from (hint: it's not the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon). ...And, no, this is not recycled content from my interviews with GV and Keymaster Snow; this is all new interview content and info. 8)

You'll also want to check the issue out for a major Rakim interview. The reviews I'm hearing for his album may be disappointing, but a lengthy talk going back to his Paid In Full days? That's a must read any day. Oh, and there's a cool little Esoteric interview, too.

Whoops! Don't let me forget to actually drop the link after all that... It's right here.

Natural Elements, Just In Time for the Holidays!

Natural Elements are now set to drop on December 1st. Remember that project on Traffic I was talking about a few months ago? Well, there's now a date, album cover and an official track-listing. It looks like we're a go!

So, this is gonna be rewarding. The track-listing is 20 tracks deep; which is 6 songs longer than the leaked Tommy Boy album. So we already know we're in for something extra. In fact, it's only sort of Tommy Boy's shelved album... Actually, it seems to be a random assortment of NE tracks, including a large chunk of the Tommy Boy stuff. Once again it gets confusing and brings up almost as many questions as answers, so let's break it down song by song and see what we can work out:

1) "NE Season" - This was track #12 on the leaked version, so already we're out of sequence with the Tommy Boy LP, but that's the least of the differences we're going to see moving forward.

2) "2 Tons" - The big Tommy Boy single, of course, and one of their best ever.

3) "Bust Mine" - The old Dolo single? Yup. It seems like we're going into a bit of a 'Natural Elements' Greatest Hits' run here.

4) "Tri-Boro" - 'Greatest Hits...'

5) "Paper Chase" - More 'Greatest Hits.' I wish they would've left these off to make room for more unreleased material; but there's plenty of that still to come, so can't complain too much.

6) "Supreme Domination" - Whoa. An unreleased Fortress-era track (that I wrote about in HHC, here)? NOW we're talkin'!

7) "Livin It Up" - Second single from Tommy Boy, though surprisingly it wasn't on the album as leaked. But Traffic threw it on here.

8) "Shine" - Back to 'Greatest Hits' steez. ::shrug::

9) "Off Beat Bop" - Whoa! Never heard this before... A "new" song that wasn't on the Tommy Boy leak - sweet!!

10) "By Nature" - This was on the album, and has been floating around the 'net, often titled "Take a Trip Into the Mind."

11) "Intricate Plot" - This was on the album. Remember, though; this is the first time these "album" tracks are getting a legit release, so even though I say "this was on the album," it's still completely, previously unreleased.

12) "Survive" - Traffic's taking it back again. This is an old song from the early NE days that'd only seen release on the bootleg EP from Word of Mouth (which I detail here).

13) "Second Hand Smoke" - This was on the album.

14) "Tell Me Something Good" - This was on the album.

15) "NE Thing" - This was on the album.

16) "Paper Chase Pt. 2" - This was on the album, and also the Word of Mouth boot, where it was titled "Paper Chase 2005."

17) "Livin It Up Pt. 2" - Again, this was released on single from Tommy Boy, but wasn't featured on their version of the album. But it's on this one. Nothing new, but the more the merrier, right?

18) "NE Definitely" - This was on the album and the Word of Mouth EP.

19) "More Than Vocals (MTV)" - A track that NE recorded after being dropped from Tommy Boy that's been floating around the 'net, and another one I covered in my HHC piece.

20) "First Of All" - Odd that the album's intro is stuck on as the last track, but what the hey? This seems to be slightly shorter than the version included on the leak AND the EP (I refer you to my EP review, again, for the differences between the two). Is this possibly a third edit? Or maybe it's just mixed a little faster.

So, Traffic (who seemed to be partnered up with a label called Kings Link Recordz for this release) has definitely gone gonzo in including plenty of extras along with the proper album track-listing... but unfortunately to extreme of excluding a bunch of songs from the LP! Yeah, you read that right. Five or six album cuts were left off of this release, which is all the more frustrating when you look at those damn "Greatest Hits" songs they've got on there, taking up room. What Natural Elements fan doesn't already have "Shine" and "Bust Mine?" "I Don't Care Anymore" and their ill phone sex song would've been much more welcome than some generic reissue songs thrown in the mix.

I guess maybe some of those songs are considered unfinished? L-Swift said the album was never properly mixed down and that the leaked version we heard were "skeleton songs" (see this post for more on that, including Swift's full quote). He even said "I Don't Care Anymore" was supposed to feature SuperCat, and I guess if they didn't record his part back in 1999, it's unlikely they would've called him into the studio in 2009. So I guess they made some "executive decisions" (though the tracks they left off don't sound particularly unfinished for the most part to me). I guess I can sorta accept that. They promise us that these are "the original masters secured and remastered," and the soundclips they've put out there (like here) do sound nice and clean.

It would kick ass if this came out on double LP, but it'll probably just be CD. But despite my qualms and the ways this could've been better (less stuff everybody's got and more previously unreleased material, this is still one hell of an awesome release. Heck, if this sells enough, maybe they could be talked into releasing a Volume 2 with all the rest of the songs.

Update 12/11/09 - Now that this disc is shipping and I've gotten my copy, I compared "First of All" to see if this is the version on the Word of Mouth EP or the Tommy Boy leak. Interestingly, it's the Tommy Boy leak, but they fade it out about a minute before the song's actually over. So if you've got the EP, at least you'll be getting the different version when you purchase this album... but yeah, it's missing the final third. Weird.

Rap Fan Clubs

So, I found this inside my 2 Kings In a Cipher cassette single of "Definition of a King." It was kind of a big, fuckin' rip-off, because the back cover, and the tape itself, lists all the remixes (like on the 12") as being featured on there... but when you actually play it, all there is is the album version on side 1, and a couple album snippets on side 2. Surely, there's nothing more universally hated in the music industry than fucking snippets.

Notice it says, "this would also qualify you to be a charter member of the Two Kings In a Cipher Fan Club." Now, I've never seen a slip like this in a cassette single - at least not the regular kind in the cardboard slips - but practically every rap artist or group in the history of hip-hop as advertised a fan club in their album's liner notes.

It's a pretty big disappointment of mine that I never signed up for any of these - at least the free ones - as a kid. Most of you guys probably didn't either. But this is the internet! Surely one or two of y'all out there must've signed up for a few of these. So, what did you get? Any funny newsletters? Autographed photos of Doug E. Fresh? A laminated S1W membership card? Promo singles of unreleased music?? Imagine all the fun, neat stuff rappers (or their managers, labels, etc) must've sent out to some lucky fans over the years.

So come on, people; if you've ever gotten anything, cheesy or awesome, share with the group! :)

Ed O. G & da Bulldogs Week, Day 7 - Demos and Rarities

So, Ed O. G kept busy in the 2000's, releasing several indie albums (The Truth Hurts, Wishful Thinking, My Own Worst Enemy and the collaborative album Stereotypez with his crew Special Teamz) and singles. Finally in 2008, Direct Records released one of the best and most under-rated albums: a double LP by Ed O. G & da Bulldogs (we even hear them rap on this!) entitled Life Of a Kid In the Ghetto: Demos and Rarities. Despite the use of the term "rarities," this is all 100% previously unreleased material. It's a high quality, loud pressing in a nice picture cover and all the tracks have been "taken off the demo tapes, reels and master DATS from Joe Mansfield's original demo recording sessions." So, while the sound quality does vary a bit from track to track (especially the last couple songs on here), I think it's safe to assume that this is the best they'll ever sound.

Side A of Record 1 consists entirely of "original demo versions" of tracks that originally appeared on Ed's first album: "I Got To Have It," "I'm Different," "Feel Like a Nut," "She Said It Was Great" and an Interlude version of "Be a Father To Your Child" (basically an alternate instrumental). These are cool to have for serious fans, and there are some interesting differences ("I Got To Have It" uses the same basic samples, but places a lot more emphasis on some banging drums, and ends with some shout-outs where Ed O tells us he's down with "Stop the Violence"). They're a treat for serious fans, but not really different enough from the released versions to appeal to casual fans.

Sides B-D got those peoples' backs. Nothing but all "new" songs by Ed O. G over Joe Mansfield (Vinyl Reanimators) production. Fuckin' A. Most of these could easily have been featured on the album... in fact, I'd've preferred some of these songs. Like "Brand New Style," where he flexes freestyle rhymes over a track that's constantly switching between incredible beat changes? That's pretty much second only to "I Got To Have It." A few of the songs do feel a bit more like freestyle raps over familiar samples that were probably never really intended for commercial release, but they're still dope. There's even a track featuring Krs-One. Why on Earth they would've left a Krs-One feature off of their album if they had one back in '93 is beyond me. But we finally get to hear it now.

And as if that wasn't enough, Direct also released two 12" singles off of this album (which include instrumentals), and Acting that same year. Acting is the Dedicated EP I covered on Day 3, but with a crap load of remixes, skits, acapellas and bonus tracks. In fact, let's break down the totals:
6 songs taken off the EP (that's 100%)
3 remixes
2 acapellas
4 skits (which are basically 1 short bonus beat apiece)
3 bonus tracks, including 1 featuring Big Shug and Scientifik
The only down side? Acting is CD only (boo! hiss! You could've at least put the three new tracks and three remixes on a 12" single).

So, that's a lot of killer old (but new to us) material. But fans will be happy to know that Ed O.'s still doing it, too. His latest full-length, a collaboration with Master Ace entitled Arts & Entertainment, just dropped a couple weeks ago (10/23). Dude stays recording.

Ed O. G & da Bulldogs Week, Day 6 - Rich Get Rich

(Youtube version is here.)

Errata: As pointed out in the comments (thanks!), that is actually not Scientifik featured on that Pyro track... while it IS him on the No More Prisons album like I said, it's actually the group Self Scientific (or more specifically MC Chace Infinite) featured on the song "California Mind State."

Ed O. G & da Bulldogs Week, Day 5 - Da Bulldogs

Ed O. G's compelling solo comeback did beg one question: what happened to da Bulldogs? And for that matter, who were da Bulldogs? Well, both answers are pretty interesting. According to his liner notes and album cover photos, Ed O. G & da Bulldogs were a 4-man team when they were signed to Mercury/Polygram/ Chemistry Records: Ed O. G (duh), T-Nyne, Gee Man and DJ Cruz. Though in the dedication notes of his first album, he gets a bit more inclusive, saying, "Special thanks to the Bulldogs, who are: T-Nyne, Smooth Ice Gee, DJ Cruz, Black, Bulletproof Brett, Slim Dog, Shawn Booker, Lorenzo, Bruzer, Mo, Tyrone, Money 1, Muff K. Diamond, Dream Nefra, etc." "Etc?" Isn't that enough? Well, I suppose this possibly draws a distinction between two "versions" of da Bulldogs: the smaller group being the guys he went on tour with, that got checks from the label and actually somehow contributed musically (though they don't seem to have done much), and the other being just an inclusive list of everyone down with his clique of friends. Or something. What's more, apparently, da Bulldogs are pretty much just a later iteration of Ed O.'s old Dorchester group, The FTI Crew (DJ Cruz was one, and I believe T-Nyne is the artist formerly known as Spoony T).

And as for question #2, what happened to them? Well, they started putting out their own records! They put out a couple 12"s on different labels in 1999, and finally settled on Needlepoint Entertainment (their own label, I believe... they certainly never put out anybody else), where they put out a full-length entitled Almost Famous. So let's look at one of their records and see what's going on there.

This is "Bounce" b/w "Livin It Up," which dropped on Needlepoint in 2001... neither song on this 12" is on their 2003 album. The credits on the label aren't terribly telling, just informing us that both songs are produced by a guy named Flipside. But a quick listen tells us that there's two MCs and one DJ at work here, so I'm guessing this is the basic line-up of T-Nyne, Gee Man and DJ Cruz. One of the MCs does refer to himself as Terry... I suppose that's what the T in T-Nyne is short for?

The production is simple - essentially just one endless loop per song - but dope, with a cool, slow drum track and some calm, head-nodding samples. They really feel like the sort of beats you'd expect Ed O. to rhyme over (minus any change-ups), so the territory's nice and familiar. Lyrically, "Bounce It" is pretty empty (as if you couldn't tell from the title) and can be summed up in the line, "my favorite thing's fat booties with the thong between." But they impress more on "Livin It Up," where they take turns rapping to a hypothetical girlfriend who's only interested in expensive things. Each song features a little bit of scratching which is nothing show-stopping, but adds to the atmosphere. So "Bounce It" is ok, you won't be mad at it; but B-side definitely wins, and deserves a home on anybody's mixtape.

The 12" comes in a plain sleeve, but it's bright red, so that's gotta count for something, right? "Bounce It" includes Radio, Street, Inst. and Accap. versions; and "Livin It Up" has the same, minus the accapella.

So, what it boils down to, I guess, is that if Ed O. G is Gangstarr, then Da Bulldogs are Group Home. You could do worse. And if nothing else, after all these years, it's nice to finally hear these guys rap for themselves.

Ed O. G & da Bulldogs Week, Day 4 - Laster

Ok. So Ed O. G made a dope comeback EP in '96 (and a cameo on a Big Shug single), but was that it? Was it a last hurrah? Would Ed O. be interested in staying in the game with no major label support, or like so many artists, would he give up when his indie record didn't make him a superstar?

Well, for almost two years, it looked like the latter was true. Ed O. came back, made a flash in the pan, and was out. But finally, at the tail end of '97, a new artist appeared. An artist named Laster, who nobody knew crap about... but his debut, indie 12" on his own starter label, Dark Records, featured a prominent guest appearance by none other than Ed O. G, so everybody checked it out.

And oh shit, it was a KILLER! "Off Balance" featured one of those ominous, atmospheric, banging indie tracks that really served to define the decade. Produced by Madsol-Desar; it features a familiar boom-bap drum track, but is dominated by this sort of science-fictiony industrial sounding sample that serves serves as both a bassline and a string section as it shifts pitch. There's also a fresh horn sample that sounds like it was taken from some Marvel superhero cartoon show when the DJ starts cutting up the phrase "knock-knock-knock you off balance" on the hook. In fact, it sounds an awful lot like the early God Complex stuff that was getting a lot of buzz at the time, which Madsol also just so happened to produce.

What-the-fuck ever, it certainly worked. It helped that Ed O. and Laster both brought their A-game, spitting a pair of nice verses (Laster coming in a little mellower, and as a consequence, less dynamic; but both come off admirably). And soon this record was everywhere in the indie-rap scene. It was even included on DJ Premiere's classic New York Reality Check major label mixtape, which pretty much solidified every song on there as a 90's staple.

There's two more cuts from Laster on the B-side, which are also not to be slept on. Laster does alright on the solo tip with a serious song about hard times on "Misery," but he's eclipsed by another killer instrumental (this time produced by Dialek). Finally, he enlisted another MC named Deplus to spit with him on "Da Outro," where they take turns freestyling over another Madsol beat, with a gripping piano sample.

So, Laster had a genuinely great 12" on his hands, but were audiences truly interested in Laster, or just the return of Ed O. G? Would his next record take off like his first with the partnership of one of Boston's biggest names? Well, Laster answered that question by playing it smart, and heeded all the demand for a remix of his hit. In 1998, Laster was back with two brand new tracks and his ace in the hole: "Off Balance (RMX)." And, to play it extra safe, the original "Off Balance" is included on the cassette version of this single (pictured - unlike the 12", it comes in a PC so you can actually see what he looks like).

To Laster's credit, it may've been a smart commercial move; but from a head's perspective, he didn't need to play it so cautious. His new tracks are dope. Laster sounds a little more confident on the mic this time around, and thankfully producers Dialek and Madsol each return for a track. And the "RMX" is pretty good - it's by Madsol again - with a similar (the same) drum pattern, but a new sample that sounds like it's taken off a classic Hollywood soundtrack. Most notably, though, is that it's a vocal remix. Laster kicks several all-new (and more dynamic) verses, this time on the solo tip. That's right, Ed O. G's not featured on this single... except the cassingle, which as I said, includes the original "Off Balance."

Well, I'm not sure how much credit goes to the break out success of this single (some at least, I'm sure) and how much was already in the works behind the scenes. But, while Laster never came back with another single (boo! Why?), "Off Balance" turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg for Ed O. G, who began a string of guest appearances and compilation tracks after '98. His return wasn't just a cheap one-off, he was back.

We Interrupt Ed O. G Week To Bring You This Breaking DWG Review

My latest review over at Diggers With Gratitude just went live today; so check that out and enjoy. A recent test-press-only discovery... gotta love the internet!

We now return you to Ed O. G week... next update coming shortly.