If you've seen any of the previous episodes of Unsung that spotlight a classic hip hop artist/group (and I've featured most of them on this site), then you'll know what to expect. This time around it's the turn of EPMD.
Both Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith contribute to this, along with DJ Scratch too, so it's a balanced view of their history. Starting at the school where they first met, they document the creative recording techniques from their first album, JMJ hooking them up with DJ Scratch, forming the Hit Squad and much more besides. But it's when things started to fall apart that it gets really interesting. Both artists talk openly about the fallout, the reasons, and the subsequent reformation.
June 20, 2013
June 12, 2013
Quinine 2 - Part 2
In my previous post, I skimmed through Nine's career history and shared with you some of his rarer material. So you should be reasonably up to date, well, up until as far as 2009.
I recently stumbled across Nine again on Soundcloud, and it was refreshing to see that he's still making relevant music. But most notably, I spotted that his web page is titled called Quinine 2! Some of the tracks are numbered as though they are tracks from an album. So whether these are tracks from a shelved Quinine 2, or tunes that haven't made the final cut, who knows?
Either way, it's good to see another artist from the 90's continuously active in the game. And if this is the material that he's sharing for free on Soundcloud, then there is surely some even better stuff in the vaults, possibly ready for release in the not too distant future...
I've embedded a couple of the tracks below, but check out Nine's Soundcloud page for plenty more:
https://soundcloud.com/quinine-2.
June 8, 2013
Quinine 2 - Part 1
What ya want Nine? Phat beats for my rhymes! I remember when those lines first blasted from an episode of Yo! MTV Raps. With the somewhat infectious baseline, Nine's gruff voice and a style that epitomised 90's NY hip hop, this was surely a new talent destined to go far.
Well to my surprise Nine's career was fairly modest. Two critically acclaimed albums and signing to a major label should be considered successful, but to me, Nine never really had the recognition he deserved. And then he disappeared from the scene after his 2nd album was released in 1996.
Well, that's not entirely true. He did do a couple of guest spots for some unheard groups, and in more recent times he had a little MySpace thing going on, but even that went quiet a few years back.
But Nine has always been active and you may be surprised to know that he's released several albums since his MTV days in the 90's. In 2007 he released Return of the Hardcore and followed it up in 2009 with Quinine. Return of the Hardcore was nowhere near to the same standard as his early work and feels more like a mixtape or cuts that didn't make an album, but Quinine is a good album, more cohesive and a return to his previous form, so it's well worth a listen. If you were a fan of Nine back in the day, then I'm sure you'll enjoy both albums, but Quinine is by far the better choice.
And whilst sharing some of Nine's hard-to-find back catalogue, you might also be interested in the Bootleg & Unreleased album. This is a compilation of tracks that aren't on the first two albums, including the mighty Famaldahyde 12", his smash single with Funkmaster Flex (under the 'Nine Double M' moniker) and various remixes etc, this is golden era Nine at his finest.
But the real rarity here has to be his 1991 debut on Warlock records. It's a 3 track single, all of which were produced with Funkmaster Flex. It's fair to say that Nine sounds much different (he was much younger and still mastering his craft) on this 12" and he certainly hadn't fully evolved the distinct gruff and grimy voice that later became his trademark. I've got to give thanks to Juicy over at the 1994 HipHop Blogspot for recently uploading this.
So why is the title of this post Quinine 2? Good question, and I may not have a definitive answer, but hopefully all will become much clearer in part 2 when I bring things up to the current day.
Download:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/r6jdi7015dypmyu/Nine_-_Bootleg_%26_Unreleased_Shit.rar
http://www.mediafire.com/download/hjzp1lcakf1vybh/Nine_-_Quinine.rar
http://www.mediafire.com/download/9t21ui7aad5nhsa/Nine_-_Return_of_The_Hardcore.rar
Funkmaster Flex & Nine Double M - F.A.L.L.I.N. (And Y'all Can't Get Up) (VLS) (1991) (320 kbps):
http://ad08aa84.linkbucks.com/url/http://ad08aa84.linkbucks.com/url/http://ul.to/kt6siag5
http://ad08aa84.linkbucks.com/url/http://rapidgator.net/file/e9de9964601019a6b95a6af1468e4613/(1991,_Single)_F.A.L.L.I.N._(VLS)_[320].rar.html
May 31, 2013
What do you ask god?
It's been an interesting month on the internet. Aside the drama around Tim Dog's supposedly fake death, and the passing of one half of Kris Kross, there's also been some retro goodness. Here we go....
The Microphone Master
The Red Bull Music Academy has been consistently representing good hip hop for a few years now, but now they bring us nearly 2 hours of discussion with hip hop's greatest emcee. I don't think I need say any more, let Ra do the talking.
NYC Live Throw Down: 1979-1985
Just take another look at that image! 26 hours!!! Props to Janka-man for sharing this. It turned up on one of the best websites there is for finding obscure and out of print records. I'd never seen it before, so I'm assuming many of you won't have either. Here's the description:
Over 1 full day (33 live performances) of vintage and official live throwdowns, spanning from 1979 to 1985. New York City's original school together in one complete set. This collector's set includes one data DVD containing 3.5 GB of high quality (320 Bit Rate) mp3's. Each show is ID'd and sequenced, resulting in convenient use and enjoyment, as opposed to each show being one thirty to ninety minute-long continuous track.
No collection is complete without the infamous Kool Moe Dee / Busy Bee scuffle, or the notorious routines of the Force MCs, Treacherous Three, and Cold Crush 4 MCs. The list of essentials on this disc is endless. Includes a 24 page full color booklet of vintage NYC show flyers and artwork.
If you're an old schooler with a passion for this type of stuff, then download, buy some food supplies and lock yourself in a room for a couple of days whilst you reminisce. All the links and a detailed track listing can be found here:
G.U.R.U.
Last month was the 3rd anniversary of Guru's death. Somehow this tribute track from Marco Polo, Talib Kweli and DJ Premier completely passed me by, which is a shame, because it's pretty nice. See what you think.
Would You Like a Demo of ESP?
Nope, I'm not offering to read your mind, or bend a spoon. I'm talking about the demo tape of Tha Alkaholiks when they went under their previous name, the Educated Street Poets or ESP. I've previously covered this demo (and 29 others) here, but the tracks were embedded and were not available for download, whereas this downloadable version contains all 6 tracks. Props to Warlord for sharing this rarity.
More of the God MC
Producer Dominic Owen has released the 3rd instalment of his unreleased Rakim tracks. This time round we're blessed with Get Visual (which eventually made it onto Rakim's debut LP The 18th Letter under the title When I'm Flowing).
For me, this is an interesting piece of history that adds another layer to this track. As you can see from the Soundcloud title, Dominic produced this track in 1995, but the LP wasn't released until 1997! This version is far superior to the album cut, but then I've always hated the LP version. Why? Because there is another (bootleg) version that ranks as one of my all time favourite Rakim tracks. Both versions are presented here, you decide which is better, but don't waste your time with the LP version.
For me, this is an interesting piece of history that adds another layer to this track. As you can see from the Soundcloud title, Dominic produced this track in 1995, but the LP wasn't released until 1997! This version is far superior to the album cut, but then I've always hated the LP version. Why? Because there is another (bootleg) version that ranks as one of my all time favourite Rakim tracks. Both versions are presented here, you decide which is better, but don't waste your time with the LP version.
May 21, 2013
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
May 11, 2013
Wu Excitement???
You've either been in a coma, working on the international space station, or stranded in a desert somewhere if you've missed all the hype around the latest Ghostface Killah project Twelve Reasons to Die. But just because there's been a lot of hype, it doesn't mean that you've paid it any attention. I haven't, because experience has taught me not to get excited about the Wu, and I'm sure I'm not on my own.
Last year I really enjoyed the Trophies album by Apollo Brown and O.C., in fact it ranked in my top three. So when I saw that Apollo Brown had remixed the new Ghostface album I felt compelled to pay some attention to it, and I'm glad I did.
I should probably mention now that the Apollo Brown remix is currently only available on a limited edition free cassette that accompanies the CD album. Most (if not all of these) have been sold, but I can help you out there so keep reading.
Before I get into the music, let's just read the concept for the album, how it was conceived and understand that this album was recorded live.
From the official website: As those involved tell it, the story came first, the music second and the lyrics last. Twelve Reasons to Die is the creation myth of a black superhero set in 1960s Italy, which looks a lot like 1990s Scorsese. The curtain opens on a young man born into a life of crime. But anyone familiar with Robert De Niro’s characters in Goodfellas and Casino knows what’s coming next when Ghostface’s character rhymes, “I was a boss among white boys, rocking a ‘fro.” He hits the ceiling, leaves to start a black syndicate, falls in love with a boss’s daughter and makes a ton of money importing cocaine. For these crimes, the criminal organization he came up in murders him and dumps his body in a vat of acetate. His former friends press 12 records from his remains, but when those records play, his vengeful spirit arises. Though he was rebuffed and disrespected in life, in legend the Ghostface Killah becomes immortal.
And just like it's cinematic concept, the album plays out like a film. The production quality is akin to the same creativity that Rza showed in the early days of the Wu, often using simple, effective, stripped back melodies and beats that give everything space to breathe.
It's not my intention to write a review of this album, so that's enough of my analysis. Why not check it out for yourself without having to part with your hard earned cash. Even better, why not check out the Apollo Brown remix for free too? And just for good measure, I'll even embed the video too. If you're feeling this album, or just a fan of Ghostface, then you've got a full hit to you main artery here.
Mike Check.
Mike Check.
Stream the original full length album...
Stream the Apollo Brown remix album - The Brown Tape...
Or watch the video for the lead single...
May 3, 2013
Which Authority?
As the weather begins to heat up, so does the music. With several decent albums having dropped this month (more on this in my next post), and potentially several more in the near future, hip hop is looking quite good right now. The winter drought appears to be over, and here are a few pieces of interest from around the world wide webz that reflect this.
Somewhere In between 1 and 2!
Next month Marco Polo releases his follow up to his 2007 debut LP Port Authroity that is imaginatively titled Port Authority 2 (I guess it tells you what to expect from it!). As expected nowadays, some early marketing and hype is required in the form of a mixtape, so Marco has released the free to download Newport Authority 2. It's slightly confusing as there isn't a Newport Authority 1.
Well aside the confusing and effortless titles, the mix contains some better tracks than I've come to expect from these promotional releases. This is due to the fact that these tracks were only left of the final cut because of legal issues around sample clearances etc. I found the Tragedy Khadafi track particularly head nodding (and it's good to see Trag back in action), but there's a few others that are worth a listen too, not to mention the already leaked tunes from Big Daddy Kane and Rakim.
Zoned Out
I've been a fan of J-Zone's production from the beginning, so it was nice to watch this short clip of him crafting something new using a well known break and chop it up with some more unusual samples. And if you've ever wondered where all those retro movie sound bites come from, well he answers that too!
April 24, 2013
Tony's Influence
Def Jam Presents Scarface: Origins Of A Hip Hop Classic
I only recently came across this short documentary that looks at the immense impact and influence the movie Scarface has had on hip hop. With contributions from many of the major artists who have used Scarface references within their rhymes, the film takes a look at the parallels between the life of Tony Montana and many of those who create hip hop.April 17, 2013
There Be Pirates!
This is only a 10 minute mini
documentary, but it begins to spotlight the importance of UK pirate radio in the early 80’s and how it brought black music to the masses.
Anyone who grew up
in a major city during these
times is likely to
know the importance of pirate
radio. It was the only way most of us could hear hip
hop music in its early days and right up until the shift towards internet radio, it remained a key method of
keeping up to date with the true underground
scene.
As someone who was raised listening to these stations, and was then later a part of them, it would be great for me to see something like this expanded into a full length documentary. These early innovators who set up the masts, funded the equipment and took the risks are as critical to our hip hop history as the original DJ’s and emcees. For the UK, pirate radio was the equivalent of a Bronx DJ throwing a party in their local parks.
As someone who was raised listening to these stations, and was then later a part of them, it would be great for me to see something like this expanded into a full length documentary. These early innovators who set up the masts, funded the equipment and took the risks are as critical to our hip hop history as the original DJ’s and emcees. For the UK, pirate radio was the equivalent of a Bronx DJ throwing a party in their local parks.
April 8, 2013
Comic Underground
It's widely known that Shock G of Digital Underground drew all of the artworks used for their early 12"s and albums, so it shouldn't come as any surprise that as well as being a gifted producer and dual personality emcee, he's also a pretty good artist too.
But I was completely unaware that he had produced a comic book that never saw publication, and only recently have some of his original sketches from 1999 come to light. The comic was called The Assholes: Hole Invasion and personally I found the content particularly amusing (see image above for a good example!).
Further images and information can be found here.