…and now back to our regularly scheduled program.  What a way to bounce back.  After The Source staff’s vacation for that March ’94 Miami issue, they did a complete 180^o degree turn for the April 1994 issue and got back to work.  This is the most well worn issue in my entire collection.  Within the span of a week, more than 20 guys in my dorm asked to borrow it.  And over the years, I’ve had people ask me to photocopy it for them.  Thank goodness for scanning technology since the pages have begun to fall out.  First things first, Gangstarr is on the cover.  Other than that Nasty Nas album, Hard to Earn was the other highly anticipated album on campus.  Primo must have been the busiest producer over that past year, too. From his own album, KRS-One to Nas, to Jeru to Biggie, etc. his schedule was full.  And he gave them all quality time as evidenced by the finished product.   But anyway, let’s get back to the main subject.  Nasty Nas’ Illmatic.  Before his Escobar image fiasco, he was obviously a student in the Rakim School of Rhymin’, Poetry and Emceein’.  Dude was truly a poet in hip-hop and reading the lyrics without the music proves it.  There was no ‘Lollipop’ garbage on Illmatic.  Since the main supplier of exclusive music in college, Brooklynite Marlon, dropped off the bootleg tape to me (which I still have here in the basement after 14.5 years), I was a Nas fiend.  Between classes, everyone blasted their static filled bootleg Nas tape from November ’93 all the way to the official release date.  And not one person I bumped into thought it was less than a 5 mic classic.  I do believe we harbored an unspoken East Coast bias at the time, though, because 80% to 90% of the music we liked was from NYC, Jersey or Philly.  Our only debates were which song(s) were/are better (for my money it’s ‘NY State of Mind’, ‘Memory Lane’ and ‘One Love’).

 

When the time came for the official day of release, there was no haggling for a ride or worrying about writing our papers and studying for finals even though it was the last week and a half of the semester, and sadly, I was about to graduate in less than two weeks.  I can’t adequately describe how bittersweet it felt at the time to hear such a great album combined with the elation of finishing college knowing that my daily hip-hop debates with knowledgable people from up and down the East Coast would soon end.  Back to the story ~ A bunch of us jumped into somebody’s car and headed to our favorite mom & pop record store near the University of Delaware (I don’t know why we always drove to Delaware) and bought every copy of the CD they had for sale.  The sales clerk looked at us like we were crazy.  On the way back to campus, everyone except the driver, ripped open their CD case and silently read the production credits and liner notes with smiles plastered on our faces.  I’m sure you’ve read numerous reviews of the album so I won’t get into that here but I was the happiest guy you’d ever seen for months (even though my girlfriend was upset because I neglected her to listen to the album).  I hadn’t played an album that much on a consistent basis since I had purchased Big Daddy Kane’s Long Live the Kane and Special Ed’s Youngest in Charge back in high school.  And I only had two complaints about the album (I’m grumpy, remember?).  The original ‘Represent’ on the demo tape sounded much grimier and I loved that.  I still play that version.  And my other complaint was that the album was too short.  But I understood that MC Serch probably cut the album down to preserve the quality.  In hindsight, he did the right thing.

 

But why was this album not as commercially successful as Doggystyle and Ready to Die?  According to the RIAA, Illmatic (released on April 19, 1994) went gold on January 17, 1996 and then platinum on December 11, 2001.  I think it had a lot to do with the lack of club/radio friendly songs.  ‘It Ain’t Hard to Tell’ was a good first single for the radio but other than that, this stellar album was made for people to play in the car or at home.  It was truly a gift and a curse for Nas.  Today, ‘best hip-hop album’ lists always seem to have this album in the top ten and many times at #1 (http://passionweiss.com/2007/05/09/the-25-greatest-albums-of-all-time-as-voted-on-by-the-internet/).  But for me, it will only reach as high as #4.  Sorry Nas.

 

Side note 1 - I have to say that the feeling of anticipation regarding an album’s release date was the best part about buying music pre-Internet.  Actually reading the artist’s interviews prior to the release, seeing the ads/videos, and going to the store where you’d bump into DJ’s and other people with similar taste, and then ripping open the case to read the CD liner notes while on the train or bus home was all about the experience of being a true consumer.  Not to mention the freebies (posters, stickers, discounted/free records and CD’s, etc.) you’d get for being a frequent customer of a mom & pop record store.  With all of the greatness of technology (I love the accessibility), that one important aspect (anticipation) has died and I never ever hear younger people talking about the anticipation of an album.  It’s simply downloaded on the day that it leaks and that’s it.  Hip-hop music has become seemingly disposable but as long as you have Internet access and search long enough, you’ll find something old and something new that suits your taste.

 

Side note 2 – About 6 years ago, I was surprised to find out that Shortie aka Minya Oh aka Miss Info was the one who wrote the Illmatic review.  She actually wrote quite a bit of the important articles/reviews around this time so she’s been plugged in for a while.

 

 

Some other highlights from this issue:

 

- Tupac continues his numerous legal battles

- Raekwon with the hip –hop quotable for ‘C.R.E.A.M.’

- Have bulletproof vests become fashionable?

- An article/discussion regarding Nas and the making of Illmatic

- Haiti in turmoil

- The Maddenbowl ’94 tournament (played on Sega Genesis) featuring one of my favorite artists (Masta Ace) as the winner  - E-A-G-L-E-S! – Casual, Buckshot, Sadat X, Kurious, Q-Tip, Kid Capri, and MC Serch were some of the other contestants

- The great article on the history of Gangstarr

 

Record Report highlights:

 

- Nas – Illmatic (5 mics)

- Shyheim – AKA The Rugged Child (4 mics)

- E-40 – The Mail Man EP (3.5 mics)

- The New 2 Live Crew – Back At Your A** For the Nine-4 (3 mics)

- Conscious Daughters – Ear to the Street (3.5 mics)

- Down South – Lost in Brooklyn (3.5 mics)

 

April 1994 issue part 1

http://www.zshare.net/download/119548465854292e/

 

April 1994 issue part 2

http://www.zshare.net/download/11955194a13c7a12/

 

BONUS!

 

Nas – Illmatic

http://www.zshare.net/download/119564641a7ffb86/

 

Nas – Illmatic instrumentals

http://www.zshare.net/download/119621382e6b7792/

 

Nas – Illmatic Demos

http://www.zshare.net/download/11962900bfa5119e/

 

 

~Vincent~

 

I realized over the past weekend that I’m running out of space on my hard drive.  It’s a 500GB external hard drive and I’ve steadily been burning my old CD’s and saving them there over the past two years.  But my time is running out.  I have a lot of CD’s (mostly jazz and hip-hop) and they’ve already consumed most of the space.  I figure that I have about a month before I completely fill the hard drive.  What do you do to save your music?  Should I just buy a larger external hard drive (1 TB)?  Let me know ASAP.  Thanks

~Vincent~ 

 

 

Random Tracks #7

 

L.E.G.A.C.Y. w/ Big Pooh - Styles – from NC State of Mind Mixtape Vol. 1 2004 – I just love this song.  L.E.G.A.C.Y. is a little overconfident and cocky but humorous.

 

Kwest Tha Mad Ladd - 101 Things To Do While I’m With Your Girl – from This Is My First Album – I still can’t believe that one of my girlfriends at the time gave me this tape and we laughed like crazy listening to it as we drove to TGI Friday’s.  Unfortunately, we crashed into a Nissan Pathfinder on the way and I had to ride my mountain bike for 3 weeks while my car was in the shop.  I kept staring at her legs under her short skirt instead of keeping my eyes on the road.  It’s funny how tragedy becomes comedy as you get older.

 

The D.O.C. - Mind Blowin’ – from No One Can Do It Better 1989 – Dr. Dre was killing it production-wise when he was hungry.  And D.O.C. made this one of my all time favorite songs.  He consciously chose to keep cursing at a minimum on the album because he was all about showing lyricism.

 

Danny Swain – The World is Yours – from Danny is Dead 2007 - I stumbled onto this EP download by accident while rummaging through blogs last year.  This song is exactly what’s missing on the radio nowadays to balance out that repetitive garbage spewed out from Flo Rida, Shawty Lo, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Rich Boy, etc.  Dude is entertaining, intelligent and creative and this song is a good example.

 

D-Nice – Call Me D-Nice – from Call Me D-Nice 1990 – No one cared what D-Nice was saying on this song back in ‘90.  At a party, all you needed to hear was that beat drop and the floor would be crammed with people.  Ice Cube’s “Jackin’ For Beats” is another good song utilizing the same beat.

 

Rough House Survivors w/CL Smooth – Can U Dig It – from Straight From the Soul 1992 – I made the mistake of believing that Pete Rock produced this but it turns out that some guy named Tony Dofat (who obviously knew Puff Daddy and worked at Uptown Records) copied Pete’s signature style back then and jacked it.  So why would CL Smooth get on a track produced by a Pete Rock biter?  Regardless, the entire album is a rare treat from ’92.

 

Big Daddy Kane – Mortal Kombat – from It’s a Big Daddy Thing 1989 – My favorite rapper in high school shows you why he shouldn’t be taken too lightly.  It seems like he and Nas both did a complete 180 degree turn from their ‘real’ hip-hop side to the commercial side and never fully recovered.

 

Juvenile Delinquentz - Juvenile Delinquentz – from Terminator X & The Valley of the Jeep Beats 1991 – I bought this CD because of “Buck Whylin’” but was pleasantly surprised by this.  I knew quite a few guys back then who felt the same way as them.

 

J. Rawls – A Tribute to Dilla – from The Liquid Crystal Project 2006 – This song (and album) is yet another reason why I love producers from Ohio.  It’s some ole ‘chill out and have a glass of wine while you think about your stock portfolio and reminisce about your great grandmother’ vibe.  J. Rawls, Fat Jon, Hi-Tek, Ill Poetic and even DJ U-Neek are all good producers from the Buckeye State.  Don’t sleep…

 

Smif-n-Wessun – Bucktown – from Dah Shinin’ 1995 – I always liked this song but didn’t like the album or Tek much at all.  The mid-90’s boom bap sound is encapsulated well on this song, though.

 

Slum Village w/Q-Tip – Hold Tight - from Fantastic Vol. II 2000 – Clearly just having a good time and not afraid to be themselves on this song.  I swear this album confused the heck out of me when I bought it.  I shouldn’t have but I expected more lyrically.  The beats kept me happy, however.

 

Cunninlynguists – America Loves Gangsters – from A Piece of Strange 2006 – Hip-hop music with a message…never gets played on the radio anymore.  Thank goodness for groups and songs like these.  For some reason, though, I have never been able to swallow the voices of artists from Georgia/Kentucky (maybe it’s the strong accent?) even though the music produced by Kno from Cunninlynguists and the Organized Noize crew is always top notch.  I do listen to the lyrics as well but when I get their albums, I always try to find the instrumentals, too.  Kno is definitely one of my favorites and I’ve found a lot of his instrumentals in the blogosphere. 

 

Queen Latifah – Just Another Day… - from Black Reign 1993 - A lot of younger people I know don’t even realize that Queen was a rapper way before starring in movies and cosmetics commercials.  She’s come a long way since the days of rhyming in the basement with The 45 King.  This was just a cool song to play outside…with a (gasp) message.

 

Slick Rick – It’s A Boy (Large Professor remix) – from It’s A Boy single 1991 – Large Pro made this song completely different than the original and it was well received.  Maybe he felt bad about Rick being locked up at the time but it works.  Can’t go wrong with a song about your child.

 

The Fugees w/ A Tribe Called Quest, John Forte and Busta Rhymes - Rumble in the Jungle – from When We Were Kings soundtrack 1996 – Hearing this makes me wonder why they didn’t collaborate more (as long as they locked Pras in a closet during the recording session).

 

Black Milk – Pressure (instrumental) – from Broken Wax Instrumentals 2007 - Yup.  My favorite producers today (other than Primo and Pete Rock) are in Ohio, Georgia, Kentucky and Michigan.  I would have never thought that ten years ago.  Black Milk is a beast and he took the reins from Dilla just in time.  I ride around just listening to his beats blasting.

 

All City – The Actual – from Metropolis Gold 1998 – This album was blessed by a bevy of good producers and I wonder how/why Primo got involved.  These guys were not the best of rappers by any means but the budget for this album must have been high.  Primo earns his paycheck as usual.

 

Outkast – Benz or Beemer – from New Jersey Drive soundtrack 1995 – Organized Noize does it again.  Does Outkast still work with them?

 

3^rd Bass w/Zev Love X from K.M.D. – The Gas Face – from The Cactus Album 1989 – Remember this video?  A song this zany had to be produced by Prince Paul.  And MC Serch drops the knowledge???  Who would have thought that Zev Love X in his pre-MF Doom days as an Ansaar Muslim would influence these guys on their own record?

 

http://www.zshare.net/download/119029675620a24b/

 

~Vincent~

How many people expected this in 1994?  Every hip-hop junkie I knew went cold turkey for a month when this issue came out.  Not one person, even the people with subscriptions, admitted to owning this.  I saw it torn to shreds and stomped on by a friend.  What made The Source staff put out this issue in 1994 of all years?  We’ll never know.  But someone out there enjoyed this issue.  My view of Florida hip-hop back in 1994 is the same view that I have today.  I haven’t heard anything really good yet.  Luke and The 2 Live Crew were a guilty pleasure in high school (80’s) but not to be taken seriously or lyrically by any means.  The one interesting interview in this issue (IMO) was with DJ Magic Mike.  About two or three years before this issue, I was well aware of his business acumen and his determination to stick with the ‘Bass’ formula to get paid.  He reminds me of Too Short in that sense.  There’s enough money regionally for them to stay paid and be true to their audience so why try to cross over?  I respect those guys even though I dislike their music.  Anyway, I won’t waste another minute on this issue at all.  Read it at your own risk.

 

March 1994 issue part 1

http://www.zshare.net/download/11902521a230ec67/ 

 

March 1994 issue part 2

http://www.zshare.net/download/11902682e96eb93f/ 

 

 

~Vincent~

 

Random Tracks #6

 

The Beatnuts – Reign of the Tec – from Intoxicated Demons 1993 – My favorite ish-talking duo came out swinging for the fences with this song. 

 

Ol’ Dirty Bastard - Brooklyn Zoo – from Return to the 36 Chambers (The Dirty Version) 1995 – No matter what anybody says, ODB is sorely missed in the Wu.  You cannot imitate his off the wall, nuttiness and unpredictability.  He really balanced the seriousness of the group. 

 

Redman – Whateva Man – from Muddy Waters 1996 – This song represents the essence of Redman to me.  Pure entertainment and a banging beat by Erick Sermon.

 

Masta Ace – Mad Wunz – from Slaughtahouse 1993 – Ace completely shocked me with the incredible production on this album.  I think Lord Digga had something to do with that but nonetheless I love hearing this song in the car.

 

Digable Planets – Rebirth of Slick(Cool Like Dat)  – from Reachin’ (A New Refutation Of Time And Space) 1993 – Music diversity reigned in the early to mid 90’s and even the hardcore heads liked this in the midst of listening to Dre and Snoop.  The beat is just incredible.

 

Gangstarr w/ Jeru Tha Damaja and Lil Dap – I’m the Man – from Daily Operation 1992 – Thank goodness for instrumental albums and sites like strictlybeats.blogspot.com.  I couldn’t stand to hear Lil Dap anymore.  Primo laces everyone with the heat as usual, though.

 

Boogie Down Productions – We in There – from Sex and Violence 1992 – KRS-One was very angry in the early 90’s and I loved that.  I must have played this song a zillion times when I bought the CD.

 

Casual – I Didn’t Mean To – from Fear Itself 1994 – I used wonder why Casual wasn’t in Souls of Mischief.  But after listening to his album I realized that he didn’t fit within their group dynamic.  This song is funny as heck and darn near matches a true story I heard yesterday.

 

Group Home – Suspended in Time – from Livin’ Proof 1995 – A great example of when keeping it real goes too wrong.  Some people can’t tell their friends that they’re wack.  Primo’s loyalty to these weak wanna be MC’s was a waste of good beats.  Why didn’t he just hand them over to Nas and Jeru for their sophomore albums?  Or better yet why didn’t he use them for a Gangstarr album in ’96?  The world will never know.  But the day I bought this CD, me and my cousin prayed for the instrumental album.  On November 5, 2006, our prayers were answered by strictlybeats.blogspot.com.  The little snippet featuring Jeru at the end of the song was a welcome surprise.

 

Nas – It Ain’t Hard to Tell (remix) – from It Ain’t Hard to Tell single 1994 – I picked up this cassette maxi-single before the lady at the record store could even put it on display.  We were Nas fiends in late ’93/early ‘94 and couldn’t wait for a clean copy of any of his songs.  I love how Extra P flips the remix.

 

Black Moon – Black Smif and Wessun – from Enta Da Stage 1993 - I used to have daily hip-hop debates with two guys who lived across the hall from me in the dorm.  One was from Brooklyn and one was from Harlem.  Since I was from Philly, they figured I knew nothing about hip-hop music…until they saw the huge collection of magazines, vinyl records, tapes and CD’s in my room.  From then on, we debated just about every album that we bought from summer ’92 to spring ’94.  Black Moon’s album was one that we all agreed was a 5 mic classic.  We would sit in the room for hours playing spades, chess and Mortal Kombat breaking down the entire album track by track.  This song happened to be my second favorite.  I can’t figure what the guy is saying in the vocal sample but it still sounds great today.

 

Tupac – Young Ni99*z – from Me Against the World 1995 – This song is probably my favorite Tupac song.  It always takes me back to ’90 or ’91 when life was crazy and ever changing.  It reminds me of my friend’s cousin who was a wild character like O-Dog in Menace to Society.  He didn’t care about anything.  No matter where we went (movies, mall, on the corner, to meet girls, etc.) he would always start a fight, get rowdy or steal something.  It got to the point that I couldn’t jeopardize my future hanging around him anymore.  I remember when he started car-jacking people (with or without a gun) just for fun.  There were so many car-jackings statewide that the Pennsylvania legislature created a new car-jacking law with an automatic 15 year penalty.  Around the same week that the law went into effect, he went out to carjack somebody for a ’91 Lexus and he got caught for the first time and spent 15 years in jail.

 

Tha Alkaholiks - DAAAM! – from Coast II Coast 1995 – With a limited budget for buying new music in the mid-90’s, I frequently employed one of my old tricks.  New music was released every Tuesday and I knew that some people would quickly sell their new CD’s to a used CD store before the end of that week to get a good trade-in price.  So me and my cousin Allan would take Saturday morning trips across the bridge from Philly to Pennsauken, NJ to pick up those still new CD’s at less than half price.  We went to a store that sold used music and electronic equipment as well as CD’s.  I picked up a boatload of great new CD’s there in the early to mid 90’s for $5.99 or less.  When I finally heard this song in our concert speakers at home, I went “DAAAM!”, too.  I always liked how Tha Liks seemed to just be themselves on record and have a good time sort of like The Beatnuts.  Isn’t being yourself, in the music industry, kind of taboo now?

 

  

 http://www.zshare.net/download/115786407a5c7d82/

 

~Vincent~

The February 1994 issue of The Source featured the well debated Wu-Tang Clan Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) review.  When the album first dropped, I remember almost the entire college campus branding it a classic on the strength of the singles.  The hunger and determination of the group shined through in every lyric, video and movement.  However, contrary to the opinion of the majority of my close friends and my girlfriend (who told me in so many words that I was crazy two days ago), I will never consider it a 5 mic classic.  I know a lot of people today bow down at the Wu-Tang altar so they’ll immediately think I’m crazy, too.  But hey, I can only like what I like and I make no apologies for my individual taste.  I’m one of the few people on Earth who firmly believes that The Source got the rating right the first time and that’s a rare occurrence.  I will forever view their debut album as a 4.5 (a 4.75, if possible) out of 5.  Why?  I always have and always will hate the first song (“Bring da Ruckus”) on the album.  While every guy in my dorm blasted that song right before playing Madden, I quickly skipped ahead to “Shame on a N****” every time I popped it into the CD player.  IMO, “Bring da Ruckus” has always been out of sync or something.  If only that one song had been put on the B-side to one of their singles as an unreleased track…

 

Some other highlights from this issue:

 

- Akinyele writes a letter to The Source in response to the critics of the song ‘I Luh Huh’

- Tupac is arrested for allegedly shooting police officers in Atlanta

- Timberland doesn’t need money from urban dwellers who buy their boots?

- Kurupt with the hip-hop quotable for “For All My N***** & B******”

- Short interviews with Del and Souls of Mischief

 

Record Report highlights:

 

- Snoop Doggy Dogg – Doggystyle (4 mics) - I think they got this rating right, too.  Don’t you wholeheartedly agree with me TC???

- Queen Latifah – Black Reign (3.5 mics) - This album dropped at the right time.  We need more ladies in hip-hop who say something positive on a song from time to time.

- Ice Cube – Lethal Injection (3.5 mics)

- Domino – Self titled (3.5 mics)

- MC Ren – Shock of the Hour (3.5 mics)

- Wu Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (4.5 mics)

- Kurious – A Constipated Monkey (3.5 mics)

- Yaggfu Front – Action Packed Adventures (3.5 mics)

 

 

February 1994 issue part 1

http://www.zshare.net/download/11559722b8985dd5/

 

February 1994 issue part 2

 http://www.zshare.net/download/11559823a75e4e6b/

 

~Vincent~

Before I became a hip-hop junkie, I was a full fledged comic book, superhero cartoon, and video game junkie.  From about ’75 to ’85, most of my loose change went to buying comic books and as I got bigger, playing video games.  But comics were my first love and were the spark for my vivid imagination and my admiration for books.  I remember my uncle taking me to the comic book store on at least two Saturday mornings per month to pick up new issues.  Beginning way back in ’76, the Uncanny X-Men were my favorite but as time went on, I bought The Avengers, The Defenders, Alpha Flight, The New Mutants, Incredible Hulk, Dazzler, She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, ROM, Power Pack, Daredevil, Ms. Marvel, Dr. Strange, Fantastic Four, What If, etc.  I could go on and on.  Comics then were like my Source magazines now.  I had stacks of milk crates full of rare, first editions in the plastic to keep them safe for the future.  In 1984, I started listening to hip-hop more and reading comics less…until Secret Wars came out.  The mini-series concept was everything I had dreamed about regarding comics up to that point.  An all out war between the good and bad.  I debated every issue with the comic book nerds in school just as I debated every Run-DMC release with the hip-hop heads.  Thinking back on those days, I can’t believe how seriously we were into comics and hip-hop at such a young age.  So it didn’t surprise me in the summer of 1996, when I dropped by to visit a friend of mine who also lived in West Philly.  Jamal (aka The Last Emperor) and I would always sit around and talk about the goings on in hip-hop and what he wanted to do with his own career.  It just so happens that he was also a comic book junkie as well.  1996 turned out to be a pivotal year for him, too, since he had also gotten with Dr. Dre for his Aftermath label.  That was an exciting day but we’ll save that for another time.  So anyway, I stopped by his house and he wanted to talk about a concept for a new song that he wanted to write featuring rappers battling superheroes/villains.  We went back and forth about who would be best for each match-up in the rhyme and I clearly remember saying, “No matter what, Nas has to go against Spiderman.  He just seems to have that unassuming image on the surface but can really rhyme.  Sort of like how Peter Parker is just a college student but fights super villains.”  This was maybe a week before Nas’ second album was released.  I never thought he would take me seriously until he recorded the song and played it back for me.  I think I rewound the tape four or five times to soak it all in.  It was like the perfect marriage of hip-hip and comics for us and in later years, he would always tell me that people wanted to hear that song performed no matter where he toured.  Those were the days…

 

Secret Wars #1 (This version was released with his first album Music, Magic & Myth but I have a much better original version on tape with the sound effects.  I’ll up it as soon as I get my old tapes burned to mp3 files.)

 

http://www.zshare.net/audio/1161661835567a32/

 

 

Secret Wars #2 (FYI – We never discussed this one before he wrote and recorded it.  But it’s a good follow up.)

 

http://www.zshare.net/audio/11616705c368af8e/

 

 

 

On a sad note, in 1984 crack hit America in a big way and Philly wasn’t immune to it.  I lived with a younger uncle who became addicted to crack and when I went to school one day, he stole 95% of my comics and sold them to get high.  Even though I was small, I tried to beat him with a baseball bat until my mother intervened.

 

 

~Vincent~

 

 

Random tracks #5

 

Ol’ Dirty Bastard – Shimmy Shimmy Ya – from Return to the 36 Chambers (The Dirty Version) 1995 – Don’t you just miss ODB today?

 

DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince – Summertime – from Homebase 1991 – An otherwise less than stellar album was saved by this one single.  It encompassed our summers here in Philly perfectly.

 

Craig Mack w/ Biggie, Rampage, LL Cool J & Busta Rhymes – from Flava in Ya Ear (remix) – from Flava in Ya Ear (remix) single 1994 – Remember the video?  I didn’t like LL on here at first but the weirdness grew on me.  And Busta should have left Rampage at home that day to play with his cats.

 

Method Man & Redman – How High (remix) – from How High single 1995 – I think I heard this on the radio and drove straight to the store to get the cassette single.  I knew they would make an album together after hearing this.

 

Eric B. and Rakim – I Know You Got Soul – from Paid in Full 1987 – If you haven’t heard this before, can you consider yourself a true fan of hip-hop?

 

The Fugees – Zealots – from The Score 1996 – I thought this song was funny with weak, no skills Pras dissing Jeru.  Good thing Lauryn helped him get some money in his pockets before he disappeared.

 

De La Soul w/Redman – Oooh – from Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump 2000 – De La took their time coming back with their AOI concept album.  This was a good single, too, but I don’t remember it creating a huge buzz.  Pharoahe Monch pops up on a skit at the end to rip it in a simulated cipher.

 

Kanye West, Nas, KRS-One & Nas - Classic (Better Than I’ve Ever Been) – from Classic (Better Than I’ve Ever Been single 2007 – Nike gives hip-hop (and its Air Force 1’s) some exposure.  Imagine if more huge corporations allowed artists to create good songs like this without it being an outright advertisement for a product.

 

MC Lyte – Throwin’ Words at U – from Eyes On This 1989 – Lyte tears it up.  We need more ladies in hip-hop that can rip it instead of just stripping.

 

Nine - Wutcha Want? – from Nine Lives 1995 – It took me ten plus years to get over his cartoon voice.  I can stomach it over this beat, though.

 

Three Times Dope – Straight Up – from Original Stylin’ 1988 – Lyrics, originality, and having fun combined to create a classic song and album in ’88.  A crazy beat, too, but it works.  EST was a true MC. 

 

Common – The 6^th Sense – from Like Water for Chocolate 2000 – Primo brought out the best in Common on this song.  They should have made more songs together.  Common seemed upset, too, but Primo really helped him channel the rage into a message.

 

Tupac (Makaveli) – Hold Ya Head – from The Don Killuminati (The 7 Day Theory) 1996 – It seemed like he never died after hearing this.  I guess that’s why so many people thought he was still alive.  This song really speaks to me since I’ve had/currently have many friends and family members locked down.  Take the time to send a kite or visit if you can.

 

50 Cent - Rowdy Rowdy (Khrysis remix) – from The Hall of Justus Mixtape: The Singles File 2003 – No one on Earth would think that I like a song with 50 Cent on it since he’s pretty much an arrogant idiot.  But I actually like three of his songs.  This one was a surprise on the mix CD and it’s really the beat that makes me like the song.  The original doesn’t do it for me.

 

Ahmad – Back in the Day (remix) – from Ahmad 1994 – Another good song to play when you’re outside in the summer with the guys at a barbecue and tossing the football around or playing spades or dominoes.  What happened to Ahmad anyway?

 

B.G. – Cash Money is an Army – from Chopper City In The Ghetto 1999 – Out of every artist in New Orleans, I like B.G. the best.  He just seems like a real dude.  And this is my favorite song by him.

 

Polyrhythm Addicts – Not Your Ordinary – from Rhyme Related 1999 – DJ Spinna makes some good music and the MC’s were definitely hungry on this.

 

Mountain Brothers – Paperchase – from Self: Volume 1 1999 – I slept on this for a long time until I played it one day and laughed.  This is one of those joints you listen to while playing a video game.  The whole album is some pure hip-hop fun and you can hear the Tribe influence here.  It’s well produced, too, by Chops.  These three Korean guys in Philly are true hip-hoppers.

 

http://www.zshare.net/download/10983854f503d6da/

 

 

~Vincent~

  

The January 1994 issue of The Source featured Das Efx on the cover.  Since I disliked their second album, I’m not going to speak on them.  This was the annual year in review issue and I just wanted to get your opinions of The Source’s best albums of ’93 list.  Do you agree/disagree and what’s missing from this list in your opinion?

 

Dr. Dre – The Chronic

Souls of Mischief – ’93 ‘Til Infinity

Geto Boys – Till Death Do US Part

Boss – Born Gangstaz

Run-DMC – Down With The King

Menace II Society – Soundtrack

Spice 1 – 187 He Wrote

Black Moon – Enta Da Stage

De La Soul – Buhloone Mind State

The Pharcyde – Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde

Onyx – Bacdafucup

The Beatnuts – Intoxicated Demons

Trends of Culture – Trendz…

Masta Ace Inc. – Slaughtahouse

Erick Sermon – No Pressure

Tha Alkaholiks – 21 and Over

Ultramagnetic MC’s – The Four Horsemen

KRS-One – Return of the Boom Bap

Brand Nubian – In God We Trust

Digable Planets – Reachin’

 

Some other highlights from this issue:

 

- KRS-One returns for dolo

- The dopest rhyme of ’93 is from The Genius/Gza for “Protect Ya Neck”

- The popularity of gold fronts

- The bootlegging of clothing – Who didn’t buy some fake gear (shirt, skully, etc.) from a vendor on the street back in the day?

- The boosting of clothing – I remember back when me and a friend would boost from The Gap back in the 80’s before they had those magnetic discs that sprayed ink when you took them off.  This was also a time before an attendant would watch you going into the dressing rooms with a handful of clothing.  We used to always go at about 11 am to 12 Noon on Saturday when the store would be just crowded enough so that we wouldn’t get any attention.  Either I or my boy would go into the dressing room, while the other was on the lookout, with like five shirts and two pairs of pants.   And we’d put on all the shirts and pants under a very baggy sweatshirt and pair of sweatpants and walk right out when no one was looking.  Of course, we could only do this in the fall or winter when it was cold outside but we got a lot of back to school clothing those years.  The real boosters went down to the Ralph Lauren store and pretty much took them for everything.  I think those guys knew somebody that worked there because every Saturday, they’d have BOXES of brand new Polo everything for sale on 52^nd Street.  I made sure to buy a few things from them before they got caught.

- The Wu Tang Clan come out of no where to make a HUGE impact in the game

 

There was no record report in this issue.

 

Note:  All issues from here on will likely be split into two PDF files and hence, have two download links because of the increased size of the magazines.

 

 

January ’94 issue part 1

http://www.zshare.net/download/10884623c992a637/

 

 

January ’94 issue part 2

http://www.zshare.net/download/108846911edb2418/

 

~Vincent~

Coincidentally, I’m watching the Yo! MTV Raps Best of 1993 videos as I type this (”Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down” is on).  I tell you, those were some great days for hip-hop music. 

Random tracks #4

 

Sean Price – Like You – from Jesus Price Superstar 2007 – The P comes correct right from the gate.  Funny but serious, he reminds me of a good friend of mine.

 

Jay Z w/ Biggie – Brooklyn’s Finest - from Reasonable Doubt 1996 – How did the good collabo featuring these two end up on Jay-Z’s album?  Did Biggie lose at checkers and have to accept that horrible “I Love the Dough” garbage for his album?  I guess we’ll never know but this song is good.  It’s hard for me to say that with Jay-Z on it but Biggie makes it very entertaining and pulls both their weight.

 

Outsidaz w/Method Man and Redman - Who You Be – from The Bricks 2001 – No one ever mentions The Outsidaz.  But who cares.  Young Zee is the most entertaining dude in the crew anyway and he proves it again on this song.  Redman loves to rhyme for the heck of it.  But why does Method Man seem so lazy at times???  Even on The Wire, he was an underhanded, lazy loser.  I’m glad Slim Charles blew him away in mid sentence.

 

Chino XL – No Complex – from Here to Save You All 1996 – Funny, visual punch lines for days.  He’s a lyrical monster.  Chino has more rhymes in his pinky nail than Rick Ross has in two of his fat bodies.

 

Pete Rock w/ O.C. – Respect Mine – from Soul Survivor 1998 – My favorite song from that album.  O.C. just goes for it.

 

Ice Cube – Steady Mobbin’ – from Death Certificate 1991 – One of the funniest songs and videos ever.  Ice Cube knows how to tell a story well.

 

Freeway w/ Peedi Crakk – Flipside - from Philadelphia Freeway 2003 – I have no idea why I like this song (maybe it’s a Philly thing) but it gets me amped up.  And they both have voices that can’t be imitated.

 

Ill Poetic - So Good – from The World Is Ours 2007 – My favorite song from this album.  He’s not super lyrical but his production is another story with the crispness and the pop and hiss from sampling the records with dust on the needle.  His attention to detail on the production could take him far with the right connections.  I’ll keep looking for the instrumentals ‘cause I got to have ‘em.

 

MF Doom - Go With the Flow – from Operation: Doomsday 1999 – I didn’t get this until 2001.  He’s still as funny as the first KMD album, too.  I’ve always thought that he, Kool Keith and Ghostface needed to make an album together.  I’m sure it’d take us a few years to decipher it.

 

The Roots – Ain’t Sayin’ Nothin’ New – from Things Fall Apart 1999 – This song is too appropriate for today’s mainstream music scene.  Listen to the clarity of the music, too.  That must be great mixing/mastering work.

 

Krown Rulers - Kick The Ball – from Phanjam 1987 – I still have this vinyl album.  In high school alone, I must have played this at least 5,000 times.  And I thought they were from Philly at first but they’re really from right across the bridge in Camden, NJ.  Classic hip-hop from the 80’s.

 

Boot Camp Click w/Aaliyah – Nightriders (remix) - from HipHopSite.com Presents Preemptive Hype Vol. 7 2005 – It was good to hear Aaliyah again and surprisingly with BCC.

 

Digable Planets w/ Jeru tha Damaja – Graffiti – from Blowout Comb 1994 – From one of the most underrated albums in history.  Damn, I love this bass line with the chime in the background.

 

Black Star w/ Common – Respiration – from Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star 1998 – A visual poem with a banging beat.  They don’t waste one word either.

 

Public Enemy – Rebel Without a Pause – from It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back 1988 – Just incredible.  I remember when every drug dealer in the entire city blasted this out of their jeeps in the summer.  People forget that PE was/is a hardcore, political group that the mainstream media attacked constantly for speaking on the ills of society.  I hope they don’t get booed at the NY Summer Jam concert in June. 

 

Da Youngsta’s – Hip Hop Ride (Mellow Mix) – from Hip Hop Ride single 1994 - I didn’t hear this remix until last year when I think I got it from Travis @ wydublog.com.  It’s perfect for a slow ride with your girl in the car.  Has anyone else made a good hip-hop shout out song in the past few years?

 

El Michels Affair w/Raekwon – PJ’s – from The PJ’s…From Afar 2007 – I can’t remember how I got this but I heard it on hiphopdx.com last year and searched for it until I found it.  Raekwon should ask this group to produce a few songs on his new album Brand New Heavies style.

 

http://www.zshare.net/download/109823199d06986c/

 

~Vincent~