Werner von Wallenrod's Humble, Little Hip-Hop Blog

1:32:44 AM EDT
Feeling Jubilant
Hearing "I Hate Rock & Roll" "Pass da Mic" is Da Youngsta's [what's with that apostrophe, by the way? Is their name meant to be an incomplete, possessive noun?  I guess what it can only mean is that the trio, collectively, is the belonging of some mysterious entity known only as Da Youngsta!] second single off of their first album.  It's also their best song, and the only song off their debut to feature a guest verse: Mentally Gifted of The Hilltop Hustlers*, which definitely helps.  So four MCs kicking freestyle verses over a dope beat, with a simple hook ("pass the mic, yo, pass the mic!")... what more could you want?

Well, how about a Pete Rock remix?  Yup.  The remix, actually credited to Pete Rock and CL Smooth, is the real reason most people would probably pick this up today (and why the price never sinks to bargain bin status online).  This track is as fresh and addictive as anything the duo were doing back in the day.

What's also interesting about this remix is that it's a lyrical remix as well.  Qur'an's first verse (by the way, this is where he spits the line "money growin' like grass for the mass appeal" that Gangstarr made famous) and Mentally Gifted's last verse stay the same, but the other two completely abandon their verses for new ones.

Tarik's original verse started by talking about how, "Honeydips flip cause they know I'm well equipped. They drop their bottom lip, then they start to unzip the XYZ. But I ain't down with HIV; so I keep my J-I-double-M-Y in my back pocket, just in case I wanna knock it."  Considering how they were 11 years old when they recorded their debut album, it's easy to imagine why someone figured they ought to make a few alterations before shipping the video out to MTV.  So instead he went with a more typical, posse cut style freestyle verse that goes, "I've come to riggidi-riggidi-rip the rhyme again and again and again. I go for what I know, more ready than I've ever been," etc.

Taji also changes his verse.  "You're unstable, unable to get on a weak label. You still be home writin', watchin' me on cable. Steppin' to me, yo, you're bound to take a fall. I put you in a pocket like an eight ball," becomes "I'm known to riggidi-riggidi-rip rip a rhyme [yes, both verses start out with the phrase "riggidi-riggidi-rip a rhyme" on the same version of the same song... seems like Quality Control was asleep at their post on that one] like Jack the Ripper. Slick syllables slip; I got more juice than citrus. Suckers can't get with this - I ring more bells than a Jehovah witness."  So yeah... both verses are completely, 100% different than the originals.  It's hard to say which verses are better (except for thankfully dropping the uncomfortable references to 11 year-old sex)... I'd say it's a dead tie.  But having them be different makes the whole listening experience less repetitive since both versions are on this single, and the original beat by LG is pretty tight, too.

And to answer your question before you ask it: yes, there is an instrumental to the Pete Rock remix.  There's the dub version, with the background vocals still on it, and the instrumental proper.  They don't include the instrumental to the LP version, but oh well.  They got the important one.

I've upped the picture of the cassette maxi-single, since it's got a picture cover.  The 12" is a sticker cover, with just their logo and the track-listing on it.  Said track-listing is the same on both formats though, and also feature one more song: the album track, "Neighborhood Bully," which pretty much vindicates all your preconceived notions based on the title ...which is to say it's exactly what you think it is, but the beat is dope.  Again it's by LG, who pretty much did their entire debut LP, which makes sense since two of Da Youngsta's are his sons.  How else do you think these little kids got major label record deals?

Today Da Youngsta's [file under Y, people, not D.  You wouldn't file "The Youngsta's" under T, would you?] have long since split up after their last album - which was I'll Make You Famous, not No Mercy as most online write-ups would have you believe - but they still maintain a myspace page.  Qur'an has gone on to become a producer in his own right, and has his myspace here.  Meanwhile, Taji a.k.a. Taj Mahal has some tracks up on his myspace, where he's working on a solo career as an MC... or at least he was in 2006, when he upped all that material.

 

*I think this is who Hansoul was referring to in my last post, since their was no one actually named MG in Da Youngsta's.

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6:57:20 PM EDT
Feeling Determined
Hearing Da Youngstas' "Pass da Mic" remix

I've been searching for so long, and so diligently, for Hansoul's "Every Ghetto's the Same" 12", that I was beginning to seriously doubt it existed.  Thankfully, Hansoul (who's still putting out music, in case you didn't know... more on that below) himself was good enough to answer my questions on the subject and help a fan out.  8)

He told me, "the fact of the matter is that in my 'old life' as an artist e.g. Before Christ (BC) there was an album and that single; and videos done for those songs and things were ready to come out and airing and receiving rotation. But prior to its official store release I truly had an experience and was touched, and met Jesus in a way I had never met Him. I then rededicated my life to Him and pulled the album and told video jukebox and others to stop airing it and spinning it. This is what occured. I have parted all ways with all music I did that was not Glorifying to my Lord Jesus Christ."

So it was pulled before its official store release, which would explain how hard it's been to find, of course... but were there ever any promo copies pressed or anything?  There must've been something...  I also thought it was surprising he disowned his previous catalog when he had already been a pretty positive rapper.  I mean, compare "Imagination" to the NWA-insipired gangsta rap that was jumping off on every label under the sun that year - he wasn't exactly Brother Lynch Hung before he found Christ.

He answered, "it was only released underground, and we pulled it prior to official release.... what I used to think was positive I realize now was not positive."

So now I'm hunting for a 14 year-old, underground record which was only put out on a handful of promo copies.  Wish me luck with that.

And yeah.  If you didn't already know, Hansoul's been putting out a fair amount of music in the 2000's.  He said to me, "I currently have an album out that is banging; you should pick it up, it will really bless you... you can get it in stores or on my myspace. It is entitlted 'Jesus Saves!' MG that was with the Youngsta's and others produced and are on it."

Jesus Saves is his third album since his old stuff (there was a 12" single as well).  He's also collaberated with Mentally Gifted - yes, the same one from The Hilltop Hustlers back in the day - Ready Rock C(!), and his crew, The Fishermen.  His first and third albums are available on his myspace.  Check it out.  And let me know if you ever come across a copy of "Every Ghetto's the Same."  :)

P.s. - Happy ID4!

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3:02:42 AM EDT
Feeling Scared
Hearing my old Esham tapes

^Video blog!!
(Truly frightening original content created for this blog rather than linked content by somebody else.)

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7:52:08 AM EDT
Feeling Adventurous
Hearing Whislte "We're Only Buggin'"

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2:42:21 AM EDT
Feeling Determined
Hearing Whistle & Kangol "Bad Habit" This is just a simple post to recognize a really dope 12".  A lot of you guys are probably pretty familiar with this one already, and a lot of people have probably never heard of it.  This is "Pure Dynamite" b/w "Axe Maniac" by Unique, which came out on New Day Records (a spin-off label of Sugarhill Records, when they wanted a more contemporary image) in 1989.

He recorded a full album (you can see right there on the label, it says "from the forthcoming album DIE HARD"), which was tragically shelved - though most of the tracks were finally released as a limited EP from DWG, which I already talked about some time ago, here.  But this was one of only two singles (and even one of those was a very limited, pretty much promo-only release) that actually came out.  So there's a good chance you've never heard Unique, but those who have know why his records tend to hit the triple-digits on the Bay.

Unique's just a dope, no gimmicks MC from NJ (word up!)... from the school of Big Daddy Kane R-A-W-type rapping.  He raps fast - not Tung Twista fast - just steady, short, rapid fire, clearly-enunciated freestyle rhymes over some perfect beats.  On "Pure Dynamite" you've got a smooth, funk guitar riff over a break beat and finger snaps, with just a classic 45 King-style horn sample for a hook - a track he produced himself.  It's not that the lyrics are deep at all, super clever, or next level "advanced," they're just fresh freestyle flows - an art that's almost been lost in the 2000's.

"Bubble gum rappers,
Young whipper-snappers
Don't step to this
'Cause Unique's too treacherous
Eatin' competitors
Up like The Predator
A plan of attack on the wack rap editor
Save the handicap raps
And take a long nap
When I snap
My brain's like a rap trap
Foes are wiped out
Erased like White-Out
I won't take a break
I take 'em right out
Suckers are bumped off
Knocked off
Treated like a bad cough
Step outta line, get chomped off
I write rhymes
That'll outshine
The average battle rhyme
Try to bite a rhyme?
It's wartime
Enemies face
The rage of a nut case
Twenty-two's the age
And Newark: the birthplace"

The B-side, "Axe Maniac" is a short tribute to his DJ, Godfather D, and as you'd expect, features some hot scratching.  It's co-produced by Unique, Godfather D, and K.G. of Naughty By Nature (Unique was one of their Legion of Doom posse).  It's a faster beat here, with single horn stabs to keep your head bobbing to the rhymes and cuts.  It's definitely a hot track you'll revisit again and again, but "Pure Dynamite" is the real masterpiece if you ask me.

Long story short, as the hardcore collectors've known for years, it's a must-have.  Anytime you come across this in your digging, snatch it up.  And if you come across "I'm Untouchable," send it to me.  ;)


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1:48:25 AM EDT
Feeling Rebellious
Hearing E.U. "Da Butt;" I just bought the 12" - yeah, babay!

I realize my blogging can be considered a little advanced (link joke!).  I tend to just jump right into blogs about underground or old school artists that, realistically, most hip-hop fans today probably don't know a thing about.  And I bypass their signature releases, and even their secondary albums, and go right to their obscure B-sides and indie comeback 12"'s.

Like, right off the bat, what percent of The Source's current readership (assuming anybody still reads magazines anymore... I don't know; do they?) knows who Spyder-D is?  In 2008?  I'd bet way less than 50%.  And for my first blog about him, do I tell you guys about his underrated classics like "Placin' the Beat" and or "Big Apple Rappin',"  or his role in the smerf dance craze?  Do I even bother to rant about how "I Can't Wait (To Rock the Mic)" is easily one of my top ten stranded-on-a-desert-island songs?  No, I jump right into a post about a single-sided promotional record from after his career had pretty much petered out (sorry, Spyder), which I suspect I may have the only copy in existence of.

And when I talk to my readers, a phrase pops up a lot.  And I get e-mails with it, too.  I get e-mails saying, "OMG! I've been looking for that song for 15 years!  I need it!  Please send me an mp3; I'll even pay!  Name your price; how's $50?"  And it's not even something that rare... Like, it'll be "Holy Intellect" by Poor Righteous Teachers.  So, usually I'll spend 2 seconds to find a quick link for the 12" on gemm or EBay for like $5, like, "there ya go.  Get the original with the picture cover, and I just saved ya $45 bucks."  And that phrase comes back at me: "I don't have a record player."

Well, anybody "advanced" enough to be reading this blog deserves to be caught up.  Trust me; it'll change your life.  It'll be like when you finally woke up that morning, aid "to hell with this!" and got yourself a region free DVD player (you... do have one of those, don't you?).  It just opens up your life to a whole new level of hip-hop love.

So all of that was just an incredibly long preamble to this:


Werner's Humble, Little Guide to Getting Yourself a Record Player

Here's something you should know right off the bat:

Pretty much any record player will do.  Unless you're planning to dethrone The Invisibl Skratch Picklz in the next DMC Tournament, you don't need a Technic 1200.  Unless you have a collection of obscure jazz records from the 20's and 30's, you don't need it to play 78's.  You don't need a direct drive, you don't need fancy needles, and you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars.

Record players are still easy to find.  Heck, just type "record player" into Amazon's search bar and you'll already have a bunch of options.  If quick and easy is your buying strategy of choice, then you're done there.  Just pick one for under maybe $70 and you'll be playing records in just a few business days.

But hey, you can actually get them way cheaper than that.  For a start, search EBay for "record players."  If you're more the "go out and shop" type instead of the "order online" type, you can get them used super cheap.  Heck, record players are common at garage sales... get yourself one for fifty cents.  Ask your relatives if you can pillage their attic or basement.

Again, if you're not a hardcore club DJ or planning to practice your crab and flare scratches, you don't need any of the pricier models.  Only DJs who scratch really need to worry about belt drives snapping (if you're not back-cueing every thirty seconds, it won't ever snap in your lifetime) or scratch resistant needles (just use whatever already comes with the player).  Only hip-hop producers and blend tape makers care if it has pitch control on it or any other feature you can think up.

About the only thing you will want to look for are outputs.  RCAs (the round red and white plugs), headset- or microphone-jack plugs or whatever.  It doesn't matter.  Just something so you can hookit up to your stereo or computer.  And even those aren't necessary if you just want to listen to your records (then it just has to have a built in speaker or speaker output), but if you want to copy your vinyl recordings onto tape or mp3, or just have the sound coming out of your home stereo system, you'll need outputs.  But don't sweat it, because every record player you come across will have outputs unless it's a crazy, old antique.

Seriously, if you love hip-hop music enough to be reading blogs like this one, there's no reason for you not to have a record player.  Even if you don't have access to an essentially free one from a yard sale or older relative (and many of you probably would if you looked into it), they're still way cheaper than your ipods - and all your music doesn't disappear if your harddrive crashes ...instead it will take a big, house fire!  Ha ha!

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11:35:53 AM EDT
Feeling Thoughtful
Hearing Ego Trippin' Man, you know I can't stay away from these hip-hip DVDs.  Well, last night I kicked back and watched Female American Rap Stars (Netflix rating 1.5 stars).  This is intrinsically different, for both good and ill, from my first all-female InstaRapFlix entry, Queens of Hip Hop.  Where Queens breezed through as many female MCs as possible to build up an impressive roster at the cost of sacrificing content, FARS lingers on its subjects.  But, what it loses is all these interesting women and the chance to hear what they had to say.  It doesn't help that this film is quickly dated (judging my who they cover and what they promote, it seems to've been filmed around 2003)... this film chases the the ladies with the biggest records at the time and treats them like towering hip-hop icons (no-hit wonder Ms. Jade, who had a record deal with Universal at the time, is featured pretty heavily), and now most of them already seem to have completely left the hip-hop culture's consciousness.

It starts out with its weakest segment, on Eve.  She's interviewed, and we also get a few clips taken from interviews with other artists (DMC, Lyte, DJ Quik, and one of her producers) where they're asked about her.  Well, we quickly find this film's Achilles heel: all the questions are soft-ball "is it hard being so talented"-type questions, and all anybody does is toss compliments back and forth about each other.  Every time the doc shifts focus to another artist, we go to an interview clip where Iceman, our host, asks him to say what comes to mind when he says their name, and each time he only says, "queen!"  Her producer says, "I remember back when Eve was signed to Aftermath," and I kinda woke up.  Are we gonna talk about her time on Aftermath: why she switched labels, what it was like working with Dre, etc?  Nope.  That the fact he remembered when Eve was on Aftermath was all he had to say, and we move on.  This entire segment is full of intercutting and jump cuts, trying to make something out of nothing, because nobody ever has anything to say.

It picks up a bit when we move on to Missy Elliot, if only because she has more than six words to share.  She's interviewed on the set of one of her music videos, and one of the most fun parts is when they ask the little girls who dance in it about their experience working with Elliot.  But again, it's like they only had five to ten minutes with anybody they interviewed and had to move on to let the next interviewer get in... you can even hear a manager yell at them, "you've gotta wrap it up!" during one of the questions.

So, yeah, they're clearly grabbing whoever they see at a few press spots, which kind of works... Spinderella is DJing at Lyte's show so she gives a few words, Vinnie of Naughty by Nature is at Latifah's party, Krs-One is at Lyte's event... Even Robin Leach and Steve Guttenburg(!) are available at one of the locations to briefly praise Latifah.  ...Queen Latifah herself never gets in front of their cameras, though.

This film tries and occasionally succeeds - it helps that they ran into Lyte two different times, and even got a little concert footage of her to cut to (although they wind up taking it too far by cutting to the same single song WAY too many times).  But for the most part it just proves that even with the best of intentions, you can't make a quality, substantive movie out of press junket interviews (which is what they are).  A quick Youtube video?  Sure.  But a movie?  These guys just never got the content.

So, that's it.  Nice interview of another mediocre but not terrible hip-hop DVD, right?  No!  There's still another third of this movie to go.  A third that has absolutely nothing to do with our female American rap stars.  Heck, it's not even shot in America!

In one of the most shamelessly self indulgent turns I've ever seen in a film, our host Iceman makes the rest of the movie about himself and his rap career (apparently he has one).  He's booked a show in Moscow, of all places, and suddenly this changes into an on-the-road tour doc about his show in Russia.  There's not a lot to show, though... we see a little footage of him on stage, him flying first class, and he spends the rest of the time getting the locals to sell him cigars or freestyle for the camera in Russian.  ...Weird!

So, if this write-up feels kind of sloppy and muddled to you, then you're beginning to get a sense of what the viewing experience is like.  Bottom line: whatever you do, don't buy this DVD!  But... if you're a big fan of Missy Elliot or MC Lyte specifically, it's worth clicking on for the instant view.


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5:14:37 AM EDT
Feeling Grateful
Hearing Brutalization - another def track! Unique and Dashan are probably the most overlooked members of the X-Clan-centered collective known as The Blackwatch Movement.  And they weren't just "down" with them, like YZ or Daddy-O... these were some serious X-Clan affiliates, with their songs hosted by Professor X ("Vanglorious.  This is protected by the red, the black, and the green... with a key... SISSY!"), and produced by Paradise.  They dropped their album, Black To the Future on Warlock Records in 1989, and this, their only single, the same year.

Now, anyone who's listened to X-Clan and fam knows they're fond of their house music.  Heck, Isis's album was filled with house cuts.  Unique and Dashan managed to limit it to only one song on their album, but unfortunately (but predictably), it wound up being their lead single.  ...Really, their masterpiece was "Protected By the Red, Black and Green," and "Three the Hard Way" would've been another hot single (except the line, "I'm like a jew; my job is to gyp you" could've been a sticking point).  But I'm sure Warlock made the call here.

Still, if you have to listen to a house song (and sometimes you do), nobody did it better than X-Clan.  Unique is the fun, fast-rapping slick talker of the Clan, and it's a shame he wasn't utilized a little more on the Clan and Professor X albums... but on his own album, he definitely showed his skills in spades.  And he proved that he could even handle the dancey, poppier track, "House Is Taking Over" with expertise.

Looking at the track-listing, you might think you've got a couple exclusive remixes on hand here... the "Rare Groove Mix" and "City Beat Mix."  But really "Rare Groove Mix" is the album version, and the "City Beat Mix" is just a shortened instrumental (the song is 3:42, the instrumental is 2:00).  Oh, and the "Bassapella" version is exactly what it sounds like: the acapella vocals over nothing but the bassline. 

The b-side is the album track, "Lumumba."  In case you don't already know, Lumumba is Professor X's real name (Lumumba Carson, son of Sonny Carson, the... let's say "politically divisive" author and activist).  In addition to being the front man of The X-Clan (sorry for the rhyme), he was also a manager for various hip-hop arttists including Pete Nice and Positive K, and this song is a fun, semi-throw-away ode to his management, done in a jokey reggae style.  It's essentially decent album filler.

So, the single is a poor, probably label-driven choice - but still dope - released off of an even doper album.  And for a long time, I'd always wondered what happened to Unique, who showed the raw talent and knack to be doing underground X-Clan records or be on MTV doing pop singles, but seemed to fall off the Earth after this album (he wasn't even featured on "Close the Crackhouse" for chrissakes!).

Tragically, DJ Dashan has passed on... and while I still can't really account for Unique's absence, I've found where he is now.  Yes, he has a myspace page, with new music up.  Apparently, he was starting his own label (Verbal Khemistry Records) and crew (Grimey All-Starz), but his "new single" is dated 2006 so I don't know if he's still pushing that anymore.  To be honest, I hate the production, but if you watch his videos and pay close attention to his lyrics, you can see he's still got it as an MC.  Hopefully someone in a position to do something about it will recognize the opportunities in putting this guy on with some quality beats... there's still a really nice album waiting to be made there, I believe.

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7:23:28 PM EDT
Feeling Giddy
Hearing Schooly D - Welcome To America
^Video blog!!
(Original content created for this blog rather than linked content by somebody else; and it's not out of control like the last time.)


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1:19:08 AM EDT
Feeling Excited
Hearing Joe Cool Most people missed it, I think, but Doug E. Fresh came back in 2000.  He put out two white label records for the new millennium, got slept on, and then stepped back.  But as always, I've got 'em both right here, so let's take a look.



First up is a live 12" called "He's Coming"  Live meaning in the "Party Rocker Vocal" version has been recorded before a live audience.  He really captures the energy of his live shows as he leads an enthusiastic audience through a sea of old school choruses, shout and call responses and hooks.  The beat constantly changes from old favorites to contemporary hits (well, contemporary for 2000 - i.e. Big Pun's "Still Not a Killer").

It's debatable how much this kind of thing translates to record.  What must be a blast to experience live leaves me feeling a little like "I kinda wish he'd just rap already," and I'm not sure how often I'd revisit this record, though I'd me more likely to come back to the (not recorded live) Instrumental version on the B-side.  But if you're gonna listen to a "It's Your Birthday"/DJ Kool-type song; there's no denying Doug E. is the master of it and this is one of the best (the fact that he's not shy about slipping into a hot beat-boxing solo sure helps).



Next up is "Come Again" (I'm really not sure which was released first... I'm just assuming from their titles that "He's Coming" precedes "Come Again"), another Live track.  This time in instrumental is a consistent (and not bad) track, as opposed to a parade of crowd-pleasing loops and breaks, but other than that it's very much along the same lines as its predecessor.

What's much more compelling on this record though is the two new studio tracks.  "I Could Make U Dance" (which we're helpfully alerted is his "Dirty South"-style record) really isn't bad.  Doug's versatile enough to ride the Southern-style production and change his flow to match without putting on a cheesy accent or otherwise trying to "force" himself to blend with the genre unnaturally.  A surprising guest verse from Lonnie B., of Virginia's Supafriendz crew, and both MCs shine with how quick and clever (without no reliance on punchlines) they can kick their raps (Krystal, who's also credited, is just doing back-up vocals on the hook).  This should really suck, and it doesn't at all, which is impressive.

But the last song, "Throw It Up," is the real highlight for me... in no small part because it features Big Daddy Kane.  The production is unexceptional, but it'll do for Kane to rip it with a hot verse, and while Doug tend to forgo straight rapping for all his party-type material, he holds his own spitting after Kane.  My only complaint is that it's too short - one verse by Kane, followed by one from Fresh, then a couple of hooks (which is where the other credited MC, Damage, fits in) and it's all over.  Cutting down the hook-age and throwing down two more verses by each MC would've been perfect, but I guess they figured why risk ruining a good thing when you've got it?

Like the last 12", this one ends with a not-live Instrumental version of its live track, too.

Today, Doug E Fresh of course has (say it with me) a myspace page; and he also has his own dot com at: dougefresh.com.  There's an online store there promising a new CD single (called "Left Right Front Dance") and album (called Global Warming), but they're both listed as out of stock.  Now, if you click on the Global Warming page, it says, "...will be available June 15th;" but that's actually what it said this time last year, too; so I don't think it's coming anytime soon.  He DOES have a children's book that you can order from there, which includes a CD: "Rap and Read along with Doug E. Fresh;" so you seriously hardcore fans may want to pick that one up, I don't know.


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