week 7...
this week i was going to unearth tunage from my boyee (word to flavor flav)
just be (nee: corey ball), but i could find the discs that had his songs. next week, however, justice will prevail! for week seven, i offer some out-of-print video hits and some overlooked jams from the source's heyday.
1. Bush Babees, "The Love Song"/"Gravity"/"3 MC's"
Having dropped the "Da" from their collective moniker, as well as their relationship with industry little man, Jermaine Dupri, New York's Bush Babees rebounded in 1996 by being accepted into the Native Tongues Version 2.0 (which was pretty much De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Tribe Called Quest, D'angelo, The Roots, and almost all of Rawkus Records' NY rappers). The Ummah -- Jay Dee, Ali Shaheed, Questlove, and D'angelo -- produced a number of tracks on their sophomore album, "Gravity." Shawn J. Period and Pos from De La rounded out the rest. "The Love Song" with Mos Def was pretty much the only single from the record, but the other two tracks I added "Gravity" and "3 MC's" (featuring Q-Tip), should've been singles.
2. Capleton featuring Method Man, "Wings of the Morning (Dynamik Duo Remix)"
Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle" is one of the most easily recognizable breaks. Marley Marl freaked it for the Juice Crew's "The Symphony" and the Black Crowes did some awful cover of it. In this track, dancehall selecta Capleton is joined by hot-Wu-member-at-the-time Method Man on a remix for his breakthrough U.S. single "Wings of the Morning." Ironically, Lil' Jon (yes THAT Lil' Jon) produced this song over 10 years ago, while we're all sort of scratching our heads now at the fact that Lil' Jon can actually produce a song that doesn't require looping shitty keyboard presets.
3. Luniz featuring Dru Down, Richie Rich, E-40, Shock G/Humpty Hump, Spice 1, "I Got 5 On It (Bay Ballas Vocal Remix)"
Posse cuts! One of the greatest things about hip-hop is just imagining the rappers you could pair up on one song and then having them come together for the love of money! Off the heels of such successful mid-90's posse cuts like "The Points," "Cowboys," and "Flava In Ya Ear (Remix)," Oakland's Luniz banded together some of the Yay Area's biggest rappers to appear on a bloated version of their weed anthem, "I Got 5 On It." Interestingly, there's a
video for this song that looks like the
"Flava In Ya Ear" video except that it's in color, but I suppose the concept of rappers rapping in a white room isn't really stretching the imagination too far.
4. Pedro the Lion, "Backwoods Nation"
Ah, it wouldn't be a hip-hop post without adding some David Bazan in the mix to spice it up, eh? This is probably one of the best Pedro the Lion songs and it doesn't appear on any proper album. I've only seen this performed once, at the album release party for "Control" where he performed the entire record from start to finish, tacking on this song at the end of their set. You can find this song on Jade Tree's "Location is Everything" sampler, but it's also been re-recorded for David Bazan's solo debut. I prefer this version, but the new version is just as haunting.
Labels: Bush Babees, Capleton, Luniz, Native Tongues, Pedro the Lion
week 6...
it's about that time for sleigh bells and all of that. i sat around my living room this morning trying to think of what songs i should hit you guys off with this week. i was thinking of putting up some holiday tunes, but that would be way more cliche. even for my taste. plus, i've worked in retail during the holidays and having to hear wham's "last christmas," even if it's jimmy eat world's version, can be pretty grating on the ears. so instead, i'm hitting you off with some uber rare and out-of-print hits from the past.
1. Invisible Skratch Piklz - "Gimme My Goddman Money"/"The Real Hip-Hop Shit"/"Makin' Me Bioootch"
These songs are from Volume 5 of the infamous "Shiggar Fraggar Show," a pirate radio show from the 90's in which DJ crew, Invisibl Skratch Piklz would get stupid drunk and/or high and just scratch for hours on end. There's also some awesome commentary from MC U.B. These days, it's easy for rappers to put out these mixtapes that have the kind of budgets that they usually spend for a studio album. This is what a real mixtape should be -- just a bunch of dudes, holed up in a room doing what they do.
2. Jungle Brothers featuring De La Soul and Q-Tip - "How Ya Want It (We Got It) (Native Tongues Mix)"
What a coup for the JBs. After a period of inactivity, they blasted back on the scene in the late 90's with this Roc Raida-produced jam. The booming bassline and the JB's playful banter with De La Soul made this a certified underground hit. This is a lesser known remix with Q-Tip, thus representing the big three groups of the Native Tongues -- A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and Jungle Brothers.
3. The Strokes - "New York City Cops (Live in Vienna)"
This is a pretty good live bootleg of the best Strokes song ever. I'm not huge on this band, but when I first heard this track, I was all about it. Sadly, the track was left off their debut, "Is This It," so as to pay respect to the officers who were busy saving lives during 9/11.
Labels: Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Jungle Brothers, The Strokes
week 5
sorry for the lag.... i guess i forgot to update the site. my bad. in all fairness though, the holiday season is hard for a guy like me. and by "guy like me" i mean someone who doesn't remember things save bits of pop culture. oh well.
1. Brand New "aloC-acoC (Coca-Cola)"
This is the b-side to their single "Sowing Season." it's not on the album and to avoid getting sued by the biggest label conglomerate in the world, i'm seriously only going to leave this up for a week. peep it while you can, because it actually sounds pretty good, in a "it's hard to find a friend"-Pedro the lion sort of way.
2/3. OC "Far From Yours" and "My World"
These two songs were sort of put together for OC's "Far From Yours" video from way back in '97. "Far From Yours" is a OC's attempt at a commercial radio single, which rocks a slick Brothers Johnson loop. "My World" is classic DJ Premier.
4. Shai "Baby I'm Yours"
If you check out this mp3blog often enough, you'll notice that I have a spot in my heart for '90s R&B. Shai is one of the best groups that have long been overshadowed by Boyz II Men and Blackstreet. Side note: I saw Shai in the summer of 1993 and my mom, of all people, managed to harass some people backstage and she got my CD signed.
Seriously. 5. The Hit, "Caliber"
The Hit was a short-lived band from Seattle. They kind of sounded like Jawbreaker. This is probably their best song.
Labels: Brand New, OC, Shai, The Hit
