Browsing: Hip-Hop
My peoples from Paterson, NJ just dropped their album It’s About Damn Time!. The sound of the album is vintage underground, boom bap, grungy beats (my type of vibe!). Saheeb Badhealth provides all the production on the album and Light provides the rhymes. If you’re looking for something the opposite of the new Kanye album, check this one out.
I was diggin around in my crates and pulled out this old 12-inch single from 1997. I bought this because HDM aka Hype Da Madman was from Staten Island, and at the time I was ALL about anything even remotely Wu-Tang related. The b-side Real MC’s was produced by Nick Wiz under the alias Nik The Wiz. For those who don’t know, Nick Wiz has a lengthy track record including beats for Rakim, Cella Dwellas, and Mad Skillz.
As per a video by Nick Wiz himself, the beat for “Real MC’s” was given to Pharoahe Monch for an Organized Konfusion song. HDM pressed up the single without telling him and Pharoahe heard it, getting pretty upset with Nick Wiz.
This wasn’t the first time HDM ran into some bad luck. Apparently, he was on the original version of Mobb Deep‘s “Right Back At You” from Infamous. Prodigy didn’t like his first and asked him to change it. HDM basically told him f off and he was removed from the song and replaced with Ghostface and Raekwon. Classic case of when keeping it real goes wrong!
Regardless, this single is pretty dope so take a listen. When researching info for this article, I did a search on the single on Discogs. For whatever reason, the single goes for $50 to $100!? Maybe I should sell my copy…
When the topic of legendary 90′s producers comes up, you’ll often hear names like Pete Rock, Buckwild, and Large Professor. There is one name that almost never comes up. This month’s edition of Underrated is dedicated to Easy Mo Bee.
Easy Mo Bee has a track record that the average producer only dreams of. He started his career working with Big Daddy Kane producing cuts for It’s a Big Daddy Thing. Shortly after, he worked on GZA‘s (then known only as Genius) debut album as well as RZA‘s first single on Tommy Boy Records (under the name Prince Rakeem). He was even approached by Jazz legend Miles Davis and worked on his last album before his death.
His career kept advancing as he linked up with Bad Boy and produced the majority of Notorious BIG‘s Ready to Die. Unfortunately, most people think P. Diddy produced it. Mo Bee scored more fame with mid-90′s hits for Craig Mack, Busta Rhymes, and Lost Boyz. Despite the sound of hip-hop changing drastically at the time, he was still able to adapt to current sounds with commercial tracks like “I Love the Dough” with Jay-Z. After a brief hiatus, he re-surfaced and worked with Alicia Keys, earning him a Grammy.
Despite all that, many people don’t know who he is or never regard him as one of the best. Also, given his quality of beats and track record, he should have been much more famous than he is. There are several theories on why, but the most widely accepted one is that Puff Daddy used his power and influence to essentially blackball him from the music industry. This rumor stems from an alleged dispute between the two regarding production credit for a Bad Boy-produced single.
Despite his career ups and downs, he’s one of my favorite 90′s producers. His lo-fi samples and drums provided the backdrop for many great MC’s to rock on. Below are some choice cuts to get familiar with him.
Various Artists – The Points
Craig Mack – Flava in your Ear (Remix)
Notorious BIG – The What
Lost Boyz – Jeeps, Lex Coups, Bimaz & Benz
Delicious Vinyl has been a well-known name in hip-hop since the 80′s, spawning commercial pop hits from Tone Loc and Young MC, as well as hip-hop classics from The Pharcyde and Masta Ace. For those that don’t know, they also have a catalog with plenty of J Dilla beats. Aside from putting out some great music, they are also responsible for one of the most recognizable record label logos (look it up if you don’t know).
Delicious Vinyl recently opened a store in Hollywood featuring long out-of-print (and new) music, as well as plenty of merch featuring their well-known logo. Aside from music, the store will also double as an art gallery and live performance venue. If you’re in the Hollywood area, check it out and continue to support vinyl-related retail!
This is my first installment of a new segment entitled – Underrated. Each month, I’ll be showcasing a group/song/album from the past that I feel is often overlooked when the word “classic” comes up. The hope is new and old hip-hop fans alike will seek out these cuts and they will get the recognition they deserve. So here it goes…
The first featured group is a personal fav of mine, CRU aka The Rhythm Blunt Crew hailing from the Bronx, NY. The group removed the “Rhythm Blunt” from their name due to concerns with censorship and conservative retailers. The group consisted of Puerto Rican rapper Chadio, hype-man/rapper The Mighty Ha and mc/producer Yogi.
So what makes them so underrated? Their 1997 debut album Da Dirty 30. Yogi handled all production on the album and to put it bluntly, the beats are hot. While Yogi wasn’t the best on the mic, Chadio def held it down with his own style. Mighty Ha added the comedy/bugged out element to the group, playing a similar role as Ol’ Dirty to Wu-Tang. What you don’t know is the album featured several unknown artists that would later have hits of their own including The LOX, Black Rob, Tracey Lee, Ras Kass and R&B singer Anthony Hamilton.
The first and biggest single off the album was “Just Another Case” featuring Slick Rick. However, the real banger (at least in NYC) was the b-side “Pronto“. The infectious West coast-influenced track was played on Hot97 constantly and MC’s were known to freestyle over the instrumental. Their second single “Bubblin” had a very ATCQ-vibe, but I actually never heard it on the radio.
Unfortunately, the album wasn’t a commercial success. CRU was signed to the Hip-Hop power house Violator Management, so they had a few features post-debut. One of the better ones was Diamond D‘s “Hiatus Remix“. Their last appearance was on the Violator Album in 1999 and the group disbanded.
Yogi went on to have an extremely successful career as a producer. His production credits include Puff Daddy, KRS-One, Terror Squad, Black Rob, G. Dep, Busta Rhymes, N.O.R.E, Method Man, Shyne, and Wale.
If you haven’t already, check out CRU’s debut album Da Dirty 30. Below are some choice cuts to get you familiar with them.
Soul Survivor was Pete Rock’s first solo effort, released via Loud Records. Before the album dropped, a rare sampler entitled It’s Me made it’s rounds early in 1998. The sampler featured tracks produced by Pete Rock (and strangely a track by DJ Krush featuring Tragedy Khadafi?). The first track is an unreleased version of “Strange Fruit“.
The album version featured Tragedy, Wu-Tang affiliate Cappadonna and Onyx’s Sticky Fingaz. The unreleased version is much longer and has a different line-up. The Tragedy verse and hook remain intact; however, Pete Rock actually spits a weak verse on this one. He’s followed by Tragedy’s cohort N.O.R.E. and finally Meccalicious. Meccalicious hailed from Pete Rock’s neighborhood, Mount Vernon, and even earned himself an “unsigned hype” in The Source. He did a few more songs with Pete Rock, but his career never really took off. In addition to the line up, the intro is also slightly different. The album version has the Billy Holiday sample reversed. The demo version doesn’t.
I admit I don’t own It’s Me. Instead, I found this track on a white label bootleg simply labeled RA-009. The b-side is the DJ Krush song with Tragedy.
Many current hip-hop fans might not know that Xzibit was a rapper and not just the host of Pimp My Ride. He actually started out as an underground West Coast rapper and was helped out by Tha Alkaholiks. Tha Liks gave X his first album feature and were responsible for his record deal with Loud Records. Years later he would team up with Dr. Dre and Eminem and would somehow morph to a TV host.
This freestyle showcases Xzibit at the beginning of his career when he was first making his rounds with Tha Alkaholiks. This was taken from the radio prior to Coast to Coast being released in 1995. Tash, E-Swift, J-Ro, and Xzibit trade verses over the drum break to “Get Out of My Life Woman“. Check out this vintage freestyle from the golden era of Hip-Hop.
Before rappers were reading freestyles off of Blackberries, they were actually spittin’ verses off the top of the dome. Okay, so NORE’s verses from this track are actually from his album but at least he memorized them!
Check this vintage 1997 freestyle from QB’s finest – Nas and N.O.R.E. (before he was PAPI or whatever he calls himself now). The freestyle is from New York’s Hot97 with Funkmaster Flex behind the wheels. Both Queensbridge MC’s trade verses of a very slowed down version of “Dance to the Drummer’s Beat“. Enjoy!
illTal.com - Beats, Hip-Hop, & Life - Official Site to Hip-Hop Producer Ill Tal. Specializing in beats, vinyl, sampling, production, and all things hip-hop related.
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