Two banginest tracks that I think I need in my life. First, Reservoir Doggs. Nope, never heard of the dudes either but its seems they have based their whole steez on Mobb Deep which, to my ears at least, is no bad thing. Of course no proto-Havoc would be complete without a slab of smooth yet sinister music to accompany the various threats and the Dogg’s, thanks to Buckwild, do not disappoint. The bragado of side A is far better relayed against a backdrop of sparse rolling drums with an eerie vocal harmony and a boom bap RPM. Hypnotic.
Buckwild also blesses Street Smatrz ‘Problems’ track with some very melodious refrains as MC ignorant drops some very cliched ish but again Buckwild knock its out the frame with beat. Listen to the instrumental
Been a busy month of record purchases which is lame considering how much expenditure in my house there is and another mouth to feed BUT needs must. The only thing that drags me through the dark days of teh remainder of my time on this rock is music. The 45 minute drive to and from work is punctuated by the my latest records which I download after I have purchased the original on EBay or Discogs and get sent back to my UK bolthole. It’s weird being a record collector in Bahrain but the exchange rate is so good I’d bee a fool not to.
I digress. Firstly, back in Shanghai, I downloaded this compilation from Buckwild one of the 90′s most slept on producers. Loads of beauties on this and I returned to it once more when an email from Discogs had the Buckwild Remix of You Know Now up for sale at a very low price. Missed out on one over on Ebay a few weeks ago so didn’t want to miss out again. A lovely three and a bit minutes punctuated by the excellent AG just riding out the mellow break like it was always supposed to be. Some prefer the origninal but it’s all about this version for me.
Oddly another Show and AG white label came up in the same week and again, really low price which I snapped up without a doubt. Fat Pockets remix on whitle label second release from the legendary duo. For years I had this song in my head never knowing who it was by. Pure unadulterated banger from way back when Hip Hop was cutting edge and the lyrics and beat stood for something. Classic. Kill for a copy.
I am a fan. I love the artform and I love Guru be he gay or straight. Why? Well, the memories and the good times and I hope that he can get through whatever it is that he is going through. My Guru Gay post has had millions of hits and searches and it troubles me. What is it they hope to find here? Solar reaming Guru? There is nothing to see, just my idle speculation and I feel dirty for putting it out there but I’m not the only one putting two and two together and coming up with bullshit. Anyway, the music. That’s what got us here. That’s what binds. Nice copy of Words I Manifest came up today on Discogs cheapy cheapy so I did the decent thing. Longer and rawer than the album cut, the 12” remix is an essential item in the collection of any Gang Starr aficionado which is what I am evidenced by my vinyl collection – every single release apart from the first two right up to Moment of Truth. I’m a fan.
So here I am blogging via a mobile as it seems this stuff works at long last. One of the things about a blog is finding the time to sit down and type this shit like people used to write letters back in the day. Its old. Mobile technology has now allowed me to update this site whilst waiting for my son to fall asleep at night. So where were we?
Stunts Blunts and Hip Hop is where. Back, twenty years ago Fuck What You Heard came out on Mercury records. Using a lovely John Handy baseline it featured the best producer on the mic Diamond D who is now a seminal figure on the rap atlas thanks to his first album Stunts Blunts and Hip Hop. Now, this being the 90′s all eyes were on CD’s as the future with vinyl having only years to live. Record execs pictured the future was small and silver rather than big and black so as a kick start to this some albums were not released on vinyl with Stunts, Blunts and Hip Hop being one. In the UK I couldn’t even find a CD version and had to settle for owning just the one Diamond D record for the last decade or two.
Last May, whilst in London, I managed to get a copy of Sally and and via Discogs a Best Kept Secret 12″ but the real holy grail is the album. It transpires that a limited ammount were pressed up as promos and it is one of these babies I am fiending for. Ever since I started building my collection up again after my firesale when we left London for HK I have seen half a dozen on Ebay and Discogs over the last year but couldn’t bring myself to part with the money (150 dollars minimum) but since the Bahrain dinar is so strong and my children are young enough not to require school fees I feel now is the time to strike lest I torment myslef for all eternity. I have emailed collectors on Discogs (which makes me feel a little dirty and cheap but needs must) and I’ll await to see what gwarn. Wish me luck or sell me your copy.
There’s been a bit of a Kool G Rap renaissance in my house recently. A quick breeeze through Discogs has one amazed at how cheap and rare his early output was with DJ Polo. Make no mistake, if we are talking about Golden Age MC’s then look no further than the Kool Genius of Rap. Recently I heard on that internet a demo version of Big Daddy Kane’s Raw with Kool G Rap keeping up with Kane on this seminal track. If anyone can keep pace with Kane in his prime you know this brother has the skills. Make no mistake, these jams upped the game with each release and this was not money but the simple fact that each MC wanted to put out better product than the next. G Rap is up there with Rakim, KRS One and Kane no question but he really never had a classic jam like these guys and somehow never appealed to the white media. Not sure why but the simple fact is that nobody could fuck with G Rap. Pure cinema in each track. So, I splurged on some of his classic shit which was mucho cheapo I was amazed to find. Anyway,I’ll speak on G Rap another but let me leave you with this stroke of mid 90′s class that was on his overlooked first solo LP. Now tell me this is not the shit.
Another superb EBay performance. Between Discogs and EBay you can find some bargains out there but you have to dig. Digitally dig. Until I get back to London or another civilised location the internet is my friend. Besides that I doubt even in reality I would have been able to find an O.G. copy of Peachfuzz for eight quid. Bargain.
KMD’s first release and its a weird video but the song is wonderful. The samba like OC Smith’s ‘On a Clear Day’ is looped and KMD inform us that, despite the girls laughing in the background and despite not being old enough to grow a beard (or peachfuzz) they have what it takes. Innocent but not cheesy. This is the time when KMD were hanging around with 3rd Bass and you see Prime Minister Pete Nice at the start of the video checking out the boys afrocentric stall. Golden Era’s get no more golden. Play it loud.
There was a time when, just after Cypress Hill dropped their first album, that DJ Muggs had hip hop on lock. His sound was unique, raw and brash and funky as a pair of James Browns socks and he was highly sought after as a producer. His stock only increased when he produced Jump Around for a average MC called Everlast already dropped from Ice-T’s Rhyme Syndicate label and turned him into a superstar if only for a month or so. I doubt even Muggs would have believed how big that record would be but there it was and so the logic goes that anything he touches would follow a similar path. We see it so many times in Hip Hop where, when any group blows up, all the weed carriers around them get signed which is where Funkdoobiest enter the scene. Latino stoners with cartoon covered record sleeves and friends in high places. Their first album was proceeded by the the Muggs produced ‘Bow Wow Wow’ which is a slowed down Jump Around with extra bass which, AT THE TIME was banging but alas has not aged well. Thankfully that was one that slipped through my fingers however their debut album on clear vinyl was purchased on its release and I was not disappointed. Its a great album and the real stand outs are the T-Ray tracks. Lovely, subtle things and hidden away at the end of side one and simple, effective Hip Hop. ‘Whose the Doobiest’ and Where’s It At’ stand out for me but there are others. The problem with light-hearted, cartoony, stoner rap is that its doesn’t stay with you like a Word…Life or Illmatic does so after my initial buzz I kind of got bored and looked elsewhere for a high hence me overlooking their second LP and the rest of their careers. This is why I missed Rock On from their second LP Brothas Doobie. The 12″ has the title track (which, by itself is a lovely DJ Muggs produced slow burner) but its really the remix by the brilliant Buckwild that does the trick for me. Picked up for $2.50 not including P&P on US OG WAX. You can’t front on Discogs science.
Beatnuts, The – Reign Of The Tec (Relativity) (12″, Promo)
Demon Boyz – Glimity Glamity / Junglist (Tribal Bass Records) (12″)
Gang Starr – Code Of The Streets (Chrysalis) (12″)
Organized Konfusion – Walk Into The Sun (Hollywood BASIC) (12″)
Wu-Tang Clan – Can It All Be So Simple / Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing Ta F’ Wit (Loud Records) (12″)
Organized Konfusion – Stress (Hollywood BASIC) (12″)
Raekwon – Criminology / Glaciers Of Ice (Loud Records) (12″)
KRS-One – A Friend / Heartbeat (Jive) (12″)
Diamond And The Psychotic Neurotics – Sally Got A One Track Mind (Chemistry Records) (12″) Organized Konfusion – Organized Konfusion (Hollywood BASIC) (LP, Album)
all in a week or so. I lost it but my god there are some buttas there. Thanks to Discogs my Orginized Konfusion Hollywood Basic years are alomst complete. This is an example of them at their best…
Where the fuck has this been all my life? NOBODY TOLD ME. This site is the absolute Don Dada. Loyal reader as you well know I have a big problem. I am still addicted to Hip Hop and still addicted to vinyl. As documented elsewhere on here I still get records but only when I am London. My collection is largely still intact in Bangkok but its static. When I was in London a few months ago I added on just like I did when I left but its slow and painful and I never knew how much my stuff was worth or if the stuff I was buying was cheap or overpriced. I never knew. I never knew how much a Big Shug 12″ was worth or indeed what a Big Shug discography would consist of. Those days are over. Each artist with their discographies available and not only that but the best source of vinyl dealings this side of Nottinghill Gate. This is not EBAY. This is low-fi record collectors shit. No flashy graphics just cold,cold text and record cover images. That’s it. That all we need. I am addicted. One artist leads to the next to the next. I am gradually building my collection up trying to catalog each and every record and buying jewels I missed or just could get.
Its like crack. Everyday I check on there to study. To build and do deals. Buy a record cheap and sell it on at a profit because I know what something is worth. Now I study.