Since these unreleased Soulman remixes of yesteryear seem to be pretty well-recieved so far, let’s keep ’em coming. I did all of these joints in the crib, most of them just homemade demos where I’m scratchin’ in acapellas over my own beats bangin’ straight out of the S-950. Later, after making a little bit of noise with the remixes, labels started giving me DATS with various acapellas on them (which were REALLY hard to deal with in that pre-Pro Tools era since I had a very basic, low-tech set up that was great for grimey REAL SCHITT music but probably not up to par for producing commercial quality stuff that was gonna make labels throw big $$$ at you… I still did my thing and kept them schitts on the beat, though!). What really used to irk me back then was when a label would get me to do a remix, then would shelf it and go with some OTHER schitt that was not even bangin’ on any level! Okay, my schitt is too raw and underground and you’re going with something that’s more polished and is gonna be a big radio hit- I can understand that. But to get passed over for some blah-ass schitt that ain’t NOBODY gonna be pumpin’? SMH all day.
I got a bunch of these 90’s remixes on cassettes buried somewhere in my tape boxes… some I’ve already ripped to MP3, a lot of them I have no idea where they’re at. As I come across them I’ll throw them up for your perusal- why the hell not, long as folks are appreciating the lost sounds. And BTW, I hope I can inspire some of y’all big name artists and producers out there to unearth some of your unreleased schitt that’s just laying around gathering dust- either release that schitt commercially or throw it out here on the internet. There are a LOT of people who want to hear that stuff, believe me.
What I’m hittin’ y’all with this time is two different versions of Onyx‘s “Shiftee”, a mellow cool-out joint and also a harder hitting “Fat Rat” remix. More to come…
ONYX – Shiftee (Soulman Fat Rat Remix) RE-UPPED
Month: July 2007
SWAB THE DECK MATE OR FLINTSTONE YOU’RE FIRED
L.I., or as the real heads said it back then, STRONG ISLAND, was the place to be in hip hop back in the late 80’s… the music industry is soooo funny, it’s like one or two acts come out of a certain town, city or region and blow up, then all of a sudden it’s like “damn, must be sumthin’ in the tap water over thar, givin’ these kids magical rappin’ powers! Let’s go sign ALL of them to recording contracts!” DumB asses. ANYWAY, I remember really diggin’ this joint that came out of Hempstead back in 1988, courtesy of SUGAR BEAR The Powerful Powerlord (and you gotta say the full name, don’t try to shorten it to just “Sugar Bear” like it says on the Coslit label… no, it’s SUGAR BEAR The Powerful Powerlord. Say it right.). I am assuming it orginally came out on the aforementioned little Coslit Records as a local Hempstead sureshot, brought some noise and then got picked up by indy rap monolith Next Plateau. I say assuming because I really don’t know, just makes sense to me from the tiny bit of research I did on this record… I told you last post that I’m not much of a journalist. Any random rap historians out there who want to verify that info please do so.
A two sided joint in which both sides are slammin’- as a consumer, you gotta love the value. “Don’t Scandalize Mine” got ’em open with that well known Talking Heads sample, and the b-side won again (in my opinion anyway) as “Ready To Penetrate” pimped out a dope Olympic Runners classic loop with some Cerrone, Kool & The Gang and other elements thrown in. I used to know the source of the vocal hook, too… Pointer Sisters or somebody? Probably not… I can’t remember all these damn samples no more.
My dude SUGAR BEAR The Powerful Powerlord really isn’t the most lyrical rapper to ever hold a mic, but he still brings a lot of flavor to the track. Which is sometimes all you need to be a one-underground-hit wonder. Put on your fat gold chains and wop along with me, G…
SUGAR BEAR The Powerful Powerlord – Don’t Scandalize Mine RE-UPPED
SUGAR BEAR The Powerful Powerlord – Ready To Penetrate RE-UPPED
DID YOU GIVE THE WORLD SOME LOVE TODAY, BABY? I DID.
I’ve been extra hip hop with almost all my posts here on the THAT REAL SCHITT blog thus far… that’s a good thing, but I don’t want to forget about my beat diggin’ / record collecting side either. So the joint of the day will be this ill little slab of vinyl out of I guess Sweden (I don’t pay much attention to details when it comes to this record schitt) on the EMI-Odeon label- “Did You Give The World Some Love Today Baby” by Doris. Doris Svensson to be exact. I guess I could be a good journalist and give you a full bio and backstory on good ol’ Dor… I could if I was at all interested, but I’m not. Being a journalist is too much like work- if doing this blog becomes work I am not gonna be doing it for long. So let’s keep it fun. If you’re really interested in knowing more about Doris’ life story and how many goats she has in her barn, you can try checking here… there actually may be no valid goat information, but you probably will find something about the lady that’ll be of use to you. Good luck and happy reading.
What I WILL say about Doris and her popsikeable album is that I found out about her and it in the early to mid 90s. Legendary record dealer Boston Bob Gibson had this dope series of tapes with all kinds of rare records I had never heard before (I’ll do a post on those tapes too one of these days, fo’ sho), and the song “You Never Come Closer” was on one of the later volumes. Out of all the rare ass breaks and grooves on Bob’s tapes, the Doris song just stood out for some reason. I guess it’s just my kind of schitt… real haunting, moody sounds with a soft female vocal. Nice. I dig a few other cuts on the full length as well.
So I’m letting y’all peep out the song “You Never Come Closer” and if you dig that you can get jiggy with it and download the whole freakin’ album I uploaded for you- I’m cool like that. Plus I think this schitt has been reissued too (y’all dudes just have it SOOOO easy these days, you don’t even know), so y’all vinyl hounds out there can probably get your wax on as well if you so choose.
DORIS – You Never Come Closer RE-UPPED
DORIS – Did You Give The World Some Love Today Baby LP RE-UPPED
PHILL MOST CHILL "RELEASE YOURSELF" ALTERNATE MIX
I know my random rap peoples are all well aware of the “BE INTELLIGENT E.P.” 12″ i did in 2006 with my family over at DWG (Diggers With Gratitude). What you may not know is that one of the songs that made it onto that E.P., “Release Yourself”, was supposed to come out a year earlier through Landspeed, the same label that put out the “On Tempo Jack” 12″. Had the labels all designed, I think even one-sheets might have been done (don’t quote me on that, I could be just having a senior moment here). But alas, twas not meant to be (which is too bad, because I’m still fiendin’ for the opportunity to drop that “Freestylin’ With Phill Most” track that was supposed to be on the a-side of the 12″ that never was… you may have heard some of “Freestylin’…” on that SOULMAN “Neva Stop Diggin'” cd, but until you hear the whole song, particularly the last verse, you really haven’t heard it at all!). The version of “Release Yourself” that was gonna drop had a different mix, too… including some shout-outs at the end of the song. I still had to end up fading it out early, because I thought my voice was sounding real bugged out on some of those shouts to my old school crew. That was a real problem with those old in-the-crib-4-track recordings i did back then… if I messed up, my equipment wasn’t even good enough for me to be able to get a decent punch-in to correct any blurrrs or slurrrs. So any of that old 1988-1991 era Phill Most Chill stuff that you hear is almost always a straight take from start to finish- no punches (and if there IS a punch-in, it’s usually glaringly noticeable).
Matter of fact, when I re-issued the “On Tempo Jack” 12″ and omitted the song “Out To Kill” that was on the OG 12″, some people complained that the song was left off just to keep the original vinyl more collectible. Well, although I am indeed happy that the OG maintains it’s exclusivity, the REAL reason I didn’t put “Out To Kill” on the re is that I just didn’t like how I sounded on it. All my homeboys back in the days used to love that song, but I cringe to hear the parts on that record where my voice is cracking and schitt… lots of stuff I would’ve corrected by punching in if I could have, but it just wasn’t possible. Maybe one of these days I’ll post that song up here for those who haven’t heard that OG vinyl. Then again… maybe I won’t.
THE ONE AND ONLY L.O.N.S. YO
Another one from my unreleased “LOST” hip hop mix… Leaders Of The New School was one of my favorite groups of the early 90s with their nouveau Cold Crush stylings, and they were east coast stomping their way to the upper tier of the rap world with their debut album “A Future Without A Past”, followed by an epic appearance on A Tribe Called Quest‘s “Scenario”. Everybody was slobbering as they waited for the second LONS album to drop, but the drool quickly dried up when “T.I.M.E. (The Inner Mind’s Eye)” thudded in 1993. The debut single “What’s Next” was chill (aided by a nice Large Professor remix) and there were a couple of other cool songs on the LP (“Classic Material” was my schitt), but overall? BRICK. Sounded to me they tried to get waaaaaay too cerebral and deep with the schitt instead of just ROCKIN’, which is what LONS did best. Next thing you know Charlie Brown is beefin’ with Bussa Bus, errrbody whisperin’ in Busta’s ear that he’s the real star of the group and the other cats are dead weight… Busta starts doing what at last count was 3,565 cameos on other rappers’ remixes, then goes on to construct a huge plainum-plus career as a soloist, and… no more LONS. Sad, because I really likeded that group and wish they could’ve done more.. umm… classic material.
In between the 1st & 2nd albums, though, they did drop a gem on the “Strictly Business” OST that went largely unnoticed… I never heard this schitt get any play back when it first came out. This is actually one of my favorite Leaders cuts… totally adheres to the original format set forth by the Bomb Squad, Chuck D & them (they’re the ones who put these Long Island teens together and made them a group, for those who aren’t familiar). And I STILL say C. Boogie Brown was the man!
THIS WEEK’S OLD SCHOOL HIP HOP LESSON: THE TREACHEROUS PERPETUOUS FRESH-FRESH-FRESHEREST
The TREACHEROUS THREE, in particular KOOL MOE DEE, inspired a lot of your all-time greatest rappers. This is a fact… unfortunately I don’t know how many people who weren’t around during their era of dominance even realize how influential they were. The bridge between the original pioneers and the “next school” (Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, KRS, etc.), Moe Dee, Special K and LA Sunshine elevated rap from simple simon-type stuff to a higher level of art. Rap with real INTELLIGENT content, structure, etc. etc. Headz were blown away with the innovative speed raps of the early 80s, but it was the stuff they did in the mid 80s that lit the spark for Ra, Kane, etc. Unfortunately, most of what they were doing at that time was only heard at live shows and on records that really weren’t hitting as big as their earlier efforts. The public at large was not impressed by The Treacherous’ “Gotta Rock” 12″, their last on Sugarhill. But believe me, other rappers took notice to what was going on lyrically. Can you say NEXT LEVEL?
So, I give you a couple of live freestyle joints to give you an idea of what the T3 were doing back in 1985-1986- the first is a clip from a show down in Bermuda and the second is one that may be familiar to some, with Moe Dee and Special K’s big brother T-La Rock (who was an innovator and a big inspiration to the next era as well) goin’ off over the “Check Out My Melody” beat.
BTW, the clip with Moe and T La Rock is great to me because IMO it really illustrates how dope Moe Dee was and that most of his studio recorded solo output really doesn’t do him justice. The rhymes he says on this freestyle are the same ones he says on a song, “Bad Mutha”, from his 1st lp. To me, that song is just plain wack. But do it over with Moe on stage, hyped up and full of energy, bustin’ those same rhymes over a classic Marley Marl beat? SO DOPE.
Now, of course, hearing this over 20 years after the fact may make it difficult for the uninitiated to see how groundbreaking this stuff was. Just take my word for it… I wouldn’t lie to y’all. (And by the way, the Treacherous Three weren’t the only guys who pushed the rap envelope along… I’ll be posting more ahead-of-it’s-time rap by other pioneers in the days to come.)
CHIEF ROCKER BUSY BEE: THE ARCHITECT MC VOL. 1
Here’s a def little short film about one of the true pioneers of Hip Hop music, the Chief Rocker BUSY BEE STARSKI. Nice video footage from back in the day, some stuff I never saw before. I’m hoping more film of those old school parties will surface in the near future… the world needs it, for real (and if the world don’t need it, I need it! Holla at ya boy if you got some authentic footage… I got $$$$).
MORE 90’s SOULMAN REMIXES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED OUT ON
Over two weeks now and I’m not bored with blogging yet! This is great. Hope it stays this way for a minute, cuz I got a lotta stuff I want to put out there… all in due time, of course.
I’m gonna continue catching up on re-upping stuff I had on the old WORLD OF BEATS V.2 BLOG that died off before a lot of folks could get them and also some joints that may have been up on the SOULMAN’S WORLD OF BEATS and PHILL MOST CHILL MySpace pages but was not downloadable. This time let’s drop the NAS featuring LAURYN HILL “If I Ruled The World” SOULMAN REMIX and also the ERIC B & RAKIM “Let The Rhythm Hit Em” SOULMAN REMIX, both unreleased but oh-so necessary- I had real headz fiendin’ to know the deal about some vinyl on these back in the days. (Yes, young hip hop neophytes, there actually was a day waaaay back in time before deejays had Serato or even CDJs, where they relied on VINYL to play those exclusive homemade remixes and mashups… there also was a day before the term “mashup” even existed. Shocking, but so true.)
I’m gonna continue catching up on re-upping stuff I had on the old WORLD OF BEATS V.2 BLOG that died off before a lot of folks could get them and also some joints that may have been up on the SOULMAN’S WORLD OF BEATS and PHILL MOST CHILL MySpace pages but was not downloadable. This time let’s drop the NAS featuring LAURYN HILL “If I Ruled The World” SOULMAN REMIX and also the ERIC B & RAKIM “Let The Rhythm Hit Em” SOULMAN REMIX, both unreleased but oh-so necessary- I had real headz fiendin’ to know the deal about some vinyl on these back in the days. (Yes, young hip hop neophytes, there actually was a day waaaay back in time before deejays had Serato or even CDJs, where they relied on VINYL to play those exclusive homemade remixes and mashups… there also was a day before the term “mashup” even existed. Shocking, but so true.)
Anyway, let us once again travel back to the days before THAT REAL SCHITT somehow, in a perverted twist that I will never understand, got confused with BACKPACKER NERD RAP. How the f**k does that happen??? I give up.
DOWNLOAD:
NAS FEATURING LAURYN HILL “IF I RULED THE WORLD (SOULMAN REMIX)” (RE-UPPED): http://www.zshare.net/audio/57255310d6d5f4ee/
ERIC B & RAKIM “LET THE RHYTHM HIT EM (SOULMAN REMIX)” (RE-UPPED): http://www.zshare.net/audio/57255489730a318f/
THIS WEEK’S RANDOM RAP SURESHOT: COURAGEOUS CHIEF "VERBAL SURGERY"
I dig my slow and funky hip hop just as much as the next rap fanatic, but I’ve always had a thing for FAST RAP when done properly… there’s nothing like a skillful emcee going a mile a minute over uptempo yet hardcore breaks IMHO. Think BDK “Set It Off” & “Wrath Of Kane”, Kool G Rap “Kool Is Back”, etc. Courageous Chief, while of course not on the level of Kane and G Rap, gets extra busy on his jam “Verbal Surgery”. I ain’t gonna get into some ol’ record review schitt… f**k that, just listen for yourself. All I’ll say is that this is one of my faves in the random rap genre… that’s it.
DOWNLOAD:
COURAGEOUS CHIEF “VERBAL SURGERY” RE-UPPED: http://www.zshare.net/audio/5751470160621aa2/
PHILL MOST LOVE JAPAN
THIS JUST IN- your dude Phill the Most just agreed to a deal with the Japanese homeboys at YO! BROTHER PRODUCTION to design some funky fresh stupid def apparel inspired by the works of yours truly. Starting with just some super fly t-shirts, but I got my eye on taking over that ROC-A-WEAR market in the near future. Li’l thangs poppin’, big thangs droppin’. You know how we do! I’ll keep you informed on whassup with that as the project progresses.
THAT REAL SCHITT 