Better Late Than Never...

Thanks to some helpful fool who left a comment on an old post, pointing readers to their bullshit website that contained malware, I've been struggling to access my own blog for more than a week.  It's all sorted now though, and unless you were curious enough to look at some spurious old comment that didn't make any sense you wouldn't have been affected (or maybe that should read infected!).

So apologies for the delay in posting this, but better late than never.

Big Daddy Kane - Uncut

The latest interviewee on The Combat Jack Show, is Juice Crew legend Big Daddy Kane.

King Asiatic Nobody's Equal. It's not every day we get to sit with a legend. Kane goes deep with his history, what he thinks about Mr. Cee, how he produced the majority of 'Long Live The Kane' with no credits, how Doug E Fresh taught him how to rock the crowd, how some cats from The Juice Crew wasn't fuxin with him, how he really wanted to battle KRS-One, what Madonna smells like, how he shopped a young Jay Z with no success, why he started wearing purple silks and such... This one is a marathon, but with Kane, there's no half steppin'.

An essential and intriguing listen for any Kane or Juice Crew fan.

What Time Is It?

Well according to Marco Polo and Organized Konfusion it's 3 O'Clock.  This dope new tune from Monch and Po features on the Port Authority 2: Directors Cut album from Marco Polo.



And since I originally wrote this post, a video has now dropped for this track too.  It's not that exciting and Mr Monch's coat is somewhat questionable, but some peeps prefer to have a visual with their audio.

Light Years

DJ Skizz hooks up Roc Marciano, A.G. and O.C for this rugged banger.  It's nice to see DITC emcees collaborating, but even nicer to see Roc Marci doing something different.  I'm not a fan of his uber laid back doze rap, but he kills it on this track.

Street Photographer Documents Early Hip Hop Culture

Charlie Ahearn (the director of the hip hop classic Wild Style) has made a new film called Jamel Shabazz: Street Photographer.  Shabazz was already well respected following his 2002 book Back in the Days which contained a catalogue of photos straight from the streets of NY city at the time that hip hop was evolving.  This film appears to take the book a stage further and adds more narrative to the history that Shabazz captures, and also contains contributions from graf legend Chino BYI who has a great personal connection the photos.  Prepare for a trip down memory lane, the fashions, the art, the attitude, the swag of early b-boys, this has the lot.

And lastly....

There seems to be a new documentary on UK hip hop surfacing every few months recently, and now we have one dedicated to The Twilight Firm.  They were two producers from London that made their mark in the late 80's and early 90's.  

I'm going to reserve judgement on this one.  The topic seems too narrow to warrant a whole documentary, but that hasn't stopped Kamanchi Sly, Rodney P and other notable UK hip hop veterans adding their commentary.

A Smooth Operator's History

I've had the privilege of seeing Big Daddy Kane perform live twice in the last year.  Admittedly, I would have loved to of seen him in 1988 or 89, but that didn't happen.  So instead I have to be content with 2012 and 13.  But that's no hardship, Kane is a true performer on stage.  The big difference between BDK and most of these other old school artists who are reforming and touring, is that Kane has never stopped performing.

When I saw him last year in London, he tore it up with Biz Markie.  Not only did he rip through every one of his classics that you could wish for, he even did verses from cameo spots on other peoples records!  Kane covered every significant release in his career.  And to top it off, his interaction with his audience and his sheer ability to entertain (even attempting to dance like he did back then) makes him one of the best performers I've seen in a long time.

And so I realised that I've not really given Kane much shine on this blog.  He's easily up there as one of the greats and is often recalled as being the only real challenge to Rakim's crown in the late 80's.  So to put that right, here is the TV One documentary on the Smooth Operators history.  There's some great stories in here, and a good explanation of why he went all R&B for a period.  But then they bring it up to the present time (well, up to the point it was recorded, which is before his latest Las Supper venture) and Kane shows he's still got what it takes.  Check out the track that plays when he's performing with Connie Price & The Keystones (towards the end of the documentary), this material needs to drop and re-establish Kane as a current artist.

Who said it's nearly 25 years since his peak?  Shut up!

Mike Check

Big Daddy Kane - Get In To It (1987)

One of my most prominent memories from 1987 was the explosion of pirate radio and the amazing array of talented rappers that were blaring out of my stereo.  Never had my speakers had it so good.  Of all the artists at that time, Big Daddy Kane was the one getting the heaviest rotation.  Every time the DJ changed and the next show started, they too would play the latest BDK 12" that their predecessor had only just played half an hour before, but hey, I wasn't complaining because his shit was so dope.

Big Daddy Kane was like Rakim in that his lyrical ability and delivery truly set him apart from almost everyone around him.  He struck an incredibly fine balance of using complex metaphors alongside classic battle rhymes over punchy up tempo beats whilst still managing to sound smoother than a full Brazilian wax.  His diction was crisp and every word was audible, despite the speed at which he often delivered his rhymes, (something many new school artists should study, but don't get me started on the current trend of lazy rap). 

To quote the legend himself:
"And let's just get one more thing understood"
"If I fart on a record, trust me nigga, that shit gon' sound good"

This 12", along with a couple of his other early 12"s, was released on the Prism label, which later merged with Cold Chillin.  It's produced by Marley Marl and has the fantastic Just Rhymin' With Biz on the B side.
When people talk about the explosion of Hip Hop in the late 1980's they usually mention Eric B & Rakim, PE, LL, Run DMC etc but Kane is too often omitted from this list which is an injustice as his influence was as great as the fore mentioned.

Track listing:
A1 Get Into It (Vocal) 5:08
A2 Get Into It (Instrumental) 5:11
B1 Somethin' Funky 5:07
B2 Just Rhymin' With Biz 4:03

Download Link (Hotfile - 27mb)
http://hotfile.com/dl/88100083/fb781b3/Big_Daddy_Kane_-_Get_Into_It_(12)-1987.rar.html