THANKSTAKING 2008 – JUST ONE HIP HOP LESSON THIS YEAR

I figure that my annual Hip Hop Lessons have taught the masses enough about the true meaning of Hip Hop that I really don’t have to go all out with the old school park jam tapes this year (plus whoever flooded the internets with all those Cold Crush / Bambaataa / Crash Crew / Furious 5 etc. mp3s over at the Wu-Tang Corp. and other sites gave y’all enough lessons to last a lifetime or even longer). But I will still celebrate the spirit of my original Thankstakings Day posts and drop another old school gem on y’all while I wait for the wife to finish cooking the turducken or whatever it is she’s cooking that has the whole house smellin’ good and schitt and got a brutha hongry as a muhfuhr.
This one is the second part of the Mr. Hyde / Mr. Bond / Starchild / Ronnie Green jam at Foster Center from 1979 that I posted previously (but has now been zapped by Z-Share, so until it gets requested and I re-up it, it’s gone). I’ve had like hundreds of old school tapes over the years, but I must say that this is one of my favorites. Not necessarily the best, but I just like the hell out of this schitt. No planned out routines, no harmonizing, no showstopping moments, just the basic essence of Hip Hop- mc rhymes, breakbeats and echo chamber. This dude Starchild, who I never heard of other than on this tape (I’m pretty sure this ain’t Kool Kyle), is crazy def with the nursery rhymes; Mr. Bond has the raw b-boy style; and Mr. Hyde kills it on a couple of occassions (Hyde definitely should be mentioned when you talk about the best of the early emcees IMO). And Ronnie Green’s beat selection is always fresh to me.
BTW and FYI, Jekyll & Hyde‘s DJ Ronnie Green is actually better known to some as Captain Rock (yes, the same Captain Rock who had a few electro rap hits back in the 80’s). Funny story about Captain Rock- me and my crew did a show opening for Captain Rock back around 1985 or so. We did our thing, then went out into the crowd to watch the good Captain’s set. Well, I guess Rock and his crew must have been moonlighting as male strippers when they weren’t engaged in teh electro rap because midway through their show they did this little choreographed move where they slightly lowered their slacks and… man, I can’t even describe it any further without being on some serious PAUSE schitt. I feel soft even admitting that my eyes saw this schitt happening. So I’ll leave the rest of that to your own imagination… I guess the girls in the front row liked it, though. Me, I just wish I woulda stayed backstage.

Another BTW- the pic at the top of this post is just one of the great back-in-the-days flicks by Jamel Shabazz. You should already be well aware of the brother’s incredible work, but if not Google up some samples and then buy as many of his books that your Paypal account will allow for. RECOMMENDED REAL SCHITT MATERIAL.

MR. BOND, MR. HYDE, STARCHILD & RONNIE GREEN – Foster Center 1979 PART 2

Z-SHARE IS TEH WACK

I thought maybe it was just me, but looks like the worst case scenario is true- pretty much all the old audio appears to have been wiped out by Z-Share. I think it has something to do with that alien spacecra- err, I mean that meteor that crash landed in Western Canada recently… yeah, that’s probably what happened. Something from outer space wiped out the Z-Share audio. Well, if anybody out there needs any of the old stuff that’s no longer available, drop me a line and I’ll see how much of it I can re-up. At some point I may try to just get all of the mp3s back up, but really, unless somebody requests something there’s really no good reason to even bother with it. Therefore… I probably won’t bother with it. But if you have any requests just hit me up and I’ll see what I can do. Man, do you realize how many pron links out there in cyberspace have now been rendered useless??? This is almost as bad a calamity as the collapse of the United States economy, I think even far worse. Why must I cry?

PICTURES PT. 2 (NOT MINE THIS TIME BUT OMG LOOK AT THESE FTW!)

More pics… not my amateur iPhone joints this time, but some great stuff I found online. It seems that Google is now making the Life magazine photo archives available to the public- talk about a treasure trove of incredible images. You can find all kinds of stuff here, but I don’t know if you’ll find anything cooler than these flicks of some ultra pimpish fight fans attending the Muhammad Ali / Joe Fraizer “fight of the century” back in 1970. This schitt is GOLDEN.

PICTURES

I think I want to be a photographer. Yep, I definitely want to be a photographer. I don’t know schitt about photography, but whenever I’m out and about I see pictures all around me. You know, like “damn, that schitt right over there would be a ill flick”. Been snapping stuff out in the streets with my little camera phone cameras for a minute now, which is cool but i think it’s time to graduate. Get a real camera with real filters and flashes, start learning about apertures and IS and the rule of thirds. I’m thinking like this: I’ll cop a decent camera that’s on the low end of the pro level joints and start reading up, learn all the basic ins and outs of photography. Then if I’m still into it after a minute then I’ll go ahead and drop the BIG dollars on some top-of-the-line equipment. Sounds like a plan, right? If anybody out there knows a thing or two about photography please feel free to leave me some advice on how to get started in the comments section. In the meantime, here are some of my little iPhone and Motorola Razr flicks. I like taking pictures.

SOULMAN’S MID-NOVEMBER LISTENING MUSIC

How many of y’all remember when I used to do the “Ten Beats To Catch” schitt in Rap Sheet magazine? Oh, you were only 7 years old back in 1994? Okay, never mind that. You may perhaps recall the “Shit I’m Feelin'” piece I used to do on the old World Of Beats website. Don’t know that one either? You have no idea who I even am, do you? Ahhh, well… time moves on, I guess.
Well, I think I want to kinda resurrect those ideas and start hittin’ you with regular songlists of the stuff I’ve been listening to, for whatever it’s worth. Maybe give you a reason to seek out some different music that you wouldn’t normally check for, or maybe just give you another reason to view me as a strange, strange person. Be forewarned, though- everything I listen to is NOT THAT REAL SCHITT. My tastes are varied (and I guess a little strange, too… I dunno, I listen to all kinds of schitt, yo).

Mayer Hawthorne – Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out / When I Said Goodbye
The Revelations featuring Tre Williams – I Don’t Want To Know / Sorry’s Not Enough
Francis Guillon – By My Side
Kanye West featuring Young Jeezy – Amazing (my daughter’s favorite joint of the moment)
Q-Tip – Life Is Better (featuring Norah Jones) / Move / The Renaissance / Won’t Trade / For The Nasty (Remix)
Chicago – Feelin’ Stronger Every Day
Ambrosia – You’re The Only Woman
Electric Light Orchestra – Evil Woman
People Under The Stairs – The Wiz / The Ultimate 144 / Party Animal No. 1
Raphael Saadiq featuring CJ Hilton and Stevie Wonder – Never Give You Up
Sam Cooke – A Change Gonna Come
Jon Lucien – World Of Joy
Lighthouse – One Fine Morning
The January Tyme – I Could Never Love You
The Damnation Of Adam Blessing – Dreams / Lonely
Five Stairsteps – Ain’t Gonna Rest (Till I Get You) / Behind Curtains
Lord Jamar featuring Raekwon – Original Man / Supreme Mathematics (Born Mix)

UNITY RAP

Hmmm… I been postin’ a lot recently for a guy who was acting like he was one step away from suspending the blog indefinitely, huh? I think I’ve been invigorated by The Coming Of Obama… he’s gonna make everything better, not only in the United States but also in the world of THAT REAL SCHITT. And possibly on other planets and even mythological places like Asgard… I’m just assuming here. His influence is just that far reaching.
But anyway, today I’m gonna drop some obscure rap schitt from 1982 courtesy of a guy named DJ Magic Ray and some other guys who go by The Undefeated Three. The rhyming on this 12″ is pretty standard 1982 era no-name rap fare, but the beats are HARD. I bought this joint when it first came out and used to practice trying to scratch it on my mom’s record player… most of y’all are probably too damn young to know about it, but this was one of those old school record players with the little arm that holds a stack of records and drops the next one down after the last one gets to the run-out groove. Man, we used to f**k up perfectly good vinyl back then!
I’m giving you both the A and the B sides… vocal and instrumental with bonus beats. I’m almost scared to listen to this… it’s gonna make me want to squeeze into my extra smedium mock neck and Lee jeans with the permanent creases I used to wear back in ’82 (just say no, Phill).

EDIT: I did not realize that this Undefeated Three was the same Undefeated Three that was down with Tuff City Records and included the legendary Funkmaster Wizard Wiz– I just found this out myself from reading a post this week on what is quite possibly the greatest real schitt website to ever hit the interwebs, Unkut.com (respect is due). You can check the FWW interview here– it’s a good one. See that, you learn something new every day.

DJ MAGIC RAY AND THE UNDEFEATED THREE – Unity Rap
DJ MAGIC RAY AND THE UNDEFEATED THREE – Unity Rap with Bonus Beats (instrumental)

HOTTEST SCHITT OF THE MOMENT

Yeah… like I have any idea at all what’s the hottest schitt of the moment… I barely listen to anything new anymore. But I did hear this record right here, and I gotta say it’s fresh to def. This dude Haircut– err, I mean Mayer Hawthorne– is kinda killin’ it I think. 29 year old white dude? Just the very idea of of it is fairly illmatic if you really give it some thought (I didn’t, but I suppose it would be if you did). I like this record, and it’s shaped like a Bobby Caldwell record too! I am now placing this vinyl up on my wall as the new centerpiece of my Stones Throw shrine- the Baron Zen album will have to come down, unfortunately.

IN OUR LIFETIME

DAWN OF A NEW DAY – 11-04-08

It’s a little after 10 pm eastern time here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. and it looks to be a wrap…. wow. Dan Rather said last night on CNN that a McCain win would be an upset of “biblical proportions”. Well, the seas have not parted as of yet and doesn’t seem that they’re going to anytime soon. Again I say… wow.

O’Donel Levy – Dawn Of A New Day

SAM IS ON TROMBONE

Is it me, or is the classic Ultramagnetic 12″ “Funky” b/w “Mentally Mad” hard to find in MP3 form out there on the interwebs? I don’t know much about such things, but I was having a hard azz time even finding a scan of the label, let alone a cotdamn MP3. Well, I happened to burn the songs onto CD-R before selling most of my Hip Hop vinyl, so at this time I will share with you these two songs which are among my all time favorite Ultra joints.
Miscellaneous Ultra factoid that you may or may not care to know: the “MC Ultra” chorus on Ultra’s breakout single “Ego Trippin'” was provided by Bronx underground legend Keyboard Money Mike, who is probably most famous for being shouted out on BDP’s “Still #1”. Miscellaneous Phill Most factoid that you may or may not care to know: Keyboard Money Mike told me this himself back when I was considering signing with his production company back around 1989 or so. Well, some of y’all might find that schitt interesting.

ULTRAMAGNETIC MCs – Funky
ULTRAMAGNETIC MCs – Mentally Mad