Bay Area BUMS

West Coast Smack and Can You Do Without?
from the album Lyfe 'N' Tyme on Priority / All City (1995).

Following up the recent post on The Nonce with an even greater album from the same era, today I'd like to provide you with two tracks from the legendary Lyfe 'N' Tyme from The B.U.M.S. (the capitalizationally inventive Brothas Unda MadnesS: comprised of rappers Evocalist and D.Wyze). This album is amazing with a jazzy vibe throughout that recalls that golden age I production of ATCQ and Pete Rock, but gets a laid back slant from these two Bay Area, CA, area rappers (Hayward, what?!). In fact they even have these sweet little interlude samples a la Pete Rock + CL Smooth albums. Overall, start to finish a fantastic hip hop album. Credit where credit is very much due, I originally got turned on to these cats by O-Dub's Soul-Sides.

I've put up two tracks that are similar in that they are built on a bouncy, old-timey jazz boogie sample. Additionally, I noticed after the fact that they are interesting in that neither are produced by the great Joe Quixxx, who produced many of the gems of this album. Absolutely nothing against Quixxx, it just surprisingly turned out that way. First up is "West Coast Smack," produced by the Baka Boyz. A foul-mouthed pontification on how The B.U.M.S. (in particular) and the west coast (in general) dominates the game. Lots of people copied Das Efx's rhyme style, but only a few like the B.U.M.S. could bring enough to the table to not sound like copying herbs. This track is lots of fun. I played this at a party recently and while I wish I could say it blew the roof off, truth is it didn't but I got a very knowing nod from one of the heads in the audience (ten points to Ravenclaw for that cat's knowledge).

Next up is a harder "Can You Do Without?" produced by King Tech (of Sway and King Tech, who executive produced and released this via their label All City Prod). Again we get the boogie horns, but now they are chopped down to just a short augmentation to color the pounding kick drums and cymbal ride. Both MCs run on with forceful, hip hop reference filled rhymes that ride the beat even when it drops out for almost too quirky samples.

Enjoy...this is a fantastic album with an overall quality and complexity these two tracks and this post do fully represent. Sadly, this album and the two related singles are the only releases from this group. Correct me if I'm wrong, I definitely want to find more.

Nonce, Twice, Track Three Features Ladies

The Nonce: Mix Tapes, Good To Go, and On The Road Again
from the album World Ultimate on Wild West Records (1995).

For a long time the post-Common's Resurrection, pre-Jurassic 5's Quality Control period of the late 90s was a hip hop waste-land. While I still find that time frame to be a real dry spell in terms of amazing albums, I keep uncovering albums from that era to help redeem it. One of my more recent discoveries is the underground championed The Nonce.

This duo (the fantastically named Nouka Basetype and the late Yusef Afloat) from Los Angeles released two albums and an EP between 1995 and 1999, and their debut album World Ultimate is a consistently pleasing listening experience. Start to finish, it is all easy, lazy head nod in effect and the rappers trade off with comfortingly familiar flows that can tend to melt into the hazy background. "Mix Tapes" was released as a single, and it definitely can appeal to the heads with the tapes of making, trading, and getting tapes. The bassline and two note piano sample create a rather haunting vibe for such a nostalgic song, but I chill just listening to this.

A little more interesting in terms in of the production is my favorite track from the album "Good To Go." The flutter that pans around stereo sets off the lovely boom bap and piano loop. Sounds like the production that inspired early Fat Jon to me. Beautiful stuff that you seldom hear with rappers anymore. And finally, the most commercial track off the album is "On The Road Again," which is again a slice of life for a hip hop head. Here we get Figures of Speech providing the background vocals and a more uptempo track (or as uptempo as these mellow cats get). Overall The Nonce's 1995 album full of their own nostalgia, has reached me more than a decade later and filled me with my memories of this type of music and the days when it was all around us.

Hip Hop Served With Love: Black Spade

Black Spade: Tale Of 32 and Her Perfume She Wore
From: To Serve With Love [OM Records, 2008]

Late pass in effect today so bear with me.

I'm always moaning that, as much as I appreciate the promotional music sent through to me by companies, so many of the promos are not my thing that I quickly lose faith in checking it out.

Well, it'll teach me to pay more attention to what I get sent as I've had this Black Spade album sitting in my In Tray (otherwise known as my coffee table) for a few weeks now. After picking it up and flicking through I wasn't quite sure what to make of it and left it for another listen. That could have been the end of it but for an appreciation thread on Soulstrut which made me dig this out again and, what do you know, this is actually a damn fine listen from end to end.

Taking care of production and mic duties, Black Spade's album is very much a one man affair but works hard to avoid repetition in sound or subject matter. Flitting between singing and rapping Spade's production style seems based in underground rap while his mcing maintains a level of bravado more akin to mainstream style. Production wise I'm hearing an undeniable Dilla influence with the heavy muffled drums and off kilter loops but there's no doubting that Spade is bringing his own take on production to the table. You can find more about the man behind the music here

Tale of 32 showcases Spade's more straightforward rap side with a great flowing beat and a bassline that simmers below before occasionally bubbling up over the beats as Spade delivers a smooth undulating rhymeflow on top.

When I saw a song titled Her Perfume She Wore my first thought was of Herbie's I Thought It Was You and I was delighted to find out that this name check was intentional. Black Spade uses the slightest of references with the chorus hook and a couple of chord changes that pay tribute to the funk disco classic. This track falls into the group of songs where Spade showcases his singing talents and is something I heartily support. There's no denying the man can rap but I'm really feeling his singing voice over these type of beats. Hot stuff.

The reason this is late pass related is that the album actually came out yesterday, if you're a fan of this type of hip hop, and I know many of you are, I would definitely check this out.

Pimp C RIP

Pimp C 29th Dec 1974 - 4th Dec 2007

One Day
From: Ridin' Dirty [Jive, 1996]

Use Me Up
From: Too Hard To Swallow [Jive, 1992]

Pocket Full Of Stones pt 2
From: Super Tight [Jive, 1994]

Gravy
From: Underground Kingz [Jive, 2007]

So it now seems confirmed that legendary producer and rapper Pimp C was found dead in a hotel room this morning. He was just 33 years old.

As half of a group that have crafted a soundtrack to pretty much my entire adult life and created more great tracks than 99% of the rest of the rappers could ever dream of there doesn't seem any real way to express the loss of this immense talent.

I'll leave it to my fellow bloggers to write the full obituaries and just have my own tribute night tonight with non stop music from the Underground Kingz. Rest in peace to one of the greats.

Freeway: Free At Last - At Last

Freeway: When They Remember
From: Free At Last [Roc-a-Fella, 2007]

Despite the fact that a large percentage of my listening time is spent checking out new rap releases I generally tend to avoid blogging about them. This is mainly due to the fact that guys like Noz at Cocaine Blunts, Oliver at Soul Sides, and many more are so adept at covering the releases that it seems kinda pointless offering my two cents.

However I just had to put something up about the new Freeway release coming out tomorrow on Def Jam.

Freeway's debut release, Philadelphia Freeway, was an album that, while slowly building appreciation, is still cruelly slept on. Featuring stellar production from the likes of Just Blaze and Kanye it also showcased Freeway as one of the most intense rappers in the game.

Needless to say I was more than a little excited about Freeway's follow up and have only had to wait four years for it to show. However, I am pleased to report that the album doesn't disappoint with Free not showing any signs of growing rusty over the gap.

For me the standout track has to be When They Remember whereby producer Bink (the man behind the monstrous All My Life off Philadelphia Freeway) takes the Gladys Knight & The Pips live version of Try To Remember/The Way We Were and flips it into a blistering hot beat. What makes it extra special though is the way Freeway takes the beat and runs with it - No chorus, no breakdowns, just high energy line after high energy line. God knows how many times I've played this since first hearing it.

The album drops tomorrow and I would advise you not to sleep.

While this year will undoubtedly once again belong to the South and Bay Area with superb releases by UGK, Devin, The Federation and Turf Talk all competing for top five status it has to be noted that Def Jam are coming with a strong fourth quarter what with Freeway, Jay Z, Ghost and, potentially, Nas all dropping albums. It's good to have them back.

Battle of the Beats: Typewriter vs. Printer

The Lyricist - Richy Pitch f/ J-Live
from the Live At Home EP on Sevenheads (2002)
Removed at the request of the artist. I definitely recommend purchasing, and you can find the vinyl here among other places, the cd here, or download here.

The Many and The Few - The Matthew Herbert Big Band
The Three W's - The Matthew Herbert Big Band
both from the album Goodbye Swingtime on Accidental (2003).

Recently I have been on a real kick for music from the indy rap boom years of the late 90s/early 00s. This Richy Pitch produced track came a little late in that run, but it features indy standard bearer J-Live on the mic, so some slack can be cut. RP lays down a nice, soulful bit of boom bap with snare and an organ lick that provides a great bed-rock for in turn J-Live's dexterous lyrics, DJ Go's scratches, and live flute by Lorna Reah. Even a full fledged sample by Sean "You're the man now, dog" Connery brings home the other sample element here, old fashioned typewriter clicks and dings. I'm old enough to actually remember using a typewriter to fill out my high school application, but I cannot say have any nostalgia for that old beast.

One of the great things about music is the connections that are possible and in hearing RP's typewriter beats I was reminded of Herbert's big band jazz album Goodbye Swingtime. In that album, Herbert's taste for conceptual projects meant using sample sources related to political writing add to his heavily chopped and edited versions of big band arrangements he made (with Pete Wraight). In "The Many and The Few," Jamie Lidell's stacatto jazz singing is augmented by a typewriter sample again (although it is actually audio from phone books from around the world being dropped at various heights - yep that's right).

The Goodbye Swingtime album is so good start to finish I had to put another track up. "The Three W's" features Herbert's dot matrix printer churning out pages from the website www.soaw.org. (NOTE: for the politically motivated soaw.org can be a very informative read.) Herbert wrote a personal contract on how we will make music - sort of the Dogme 95 of sample-based music - called PCCOM. But despite all the subtext and constraints on his music his arranging skill creates fantastic opportunities for his musicians and especially vocalists. Mara Carlyle shines with her haunting vocals on "The Three W's," but really Herbert finds a voice and use for each of member of his band (bass, drums, piano, a full set of brass and woodwinds including some of the UK's more famous swing musicians). Herbert and Wraight remind me of Stan Kenton in terms of the arrangements that appear to be the backbone of these compositions. Wonderful! Another connection to dive into.

Way More Bounce To The Ounce: Volume 10

Volume 10: Pistolgrip-Pump and Where's The Sniper

From: Hip-Hopera [RCA, 1994]

An oldie but goodie today and one that can't fail to gee you up for the weekend. I tend to follow the code of posting up music that falls into the relatively obscure category but that's always a little trickier with Hip Hop as my knowledge doesn't go anywhere near as deep as some of the other bloggers out there and on our Hot List.

With that said and done, I do spend a large part of my music listening experience enjoying the world of rap and, revisiting Volume 10's Hip-Hopera the other day, I was so blown away by how original it still sounds that I couldn't resist featuring it on the site.

Volume 10 was originally part of the Goodlife open mic sessions before, as far as my knowledge goes, first laying down rhymes on wax on Freestyle Fellowship's Heavyweights. Volume then went on to release his massive and bass shattering debut single Pistolgrip Pump in 1994. The album Hip-Hopera followed soon after and, being a disconnected brit, I can only assume didn't do too well as a follow up didn't appear till 2000.
In a way I can see why the album might have failed to rake in the sales - it certainly doesn't offer up what would be expected after hearing Pistol Grip Pump. This is in no way a criticism of the album though as it mixes the upbeat bounce and gangsta vibes of tunes like Pistolgrip with songs rife with paranoia and social criticism.

Alongside the mix of somewhat psychedelic bass heavy beats, Volume 10's rapping style is what really sets the album apart for me. Tracks like the alcoholism themed Where's The Sniper show Volume switching between a mumbling style almost swallowing the end of sentences and a sing song style more reminiscent of Freestyle Fellowship recordings. The effect should be horrible but thanks to the man's gifts and the lyrical content on offer the results hold true as Volume trips and stumbles his way on and off the beat.

I couldn't really feature this album without including Pistolgrip-Pump so here it is for the 2% or whatever of the visitors to this site who haven't heard it. Reintroduced to a whole new audience recently when it was featured in GTA San Andreas it truly is a window rattling, head bumping, classic as Volume 10 delivers a venomous rhyme over THAT beat. Even if you've heard it a million times before it never truly gets old. Enjoy.

Just Another Case Of Slept On Hip Hop

Cru: Just Another Case and The Ebonic Plague
From: Da Dirty 30 [Def Jam, 1997]

Returning to one of my favourite post themes today - the why oh why isn't this more famous than it is/wrongly slept on classics righteous venting. The Cru's Da Dirty 30 seems to be getting more well known as time goes on but is still not really at the level of respect the album should be courting after 10 years of circulation.

Released in 1997 in the middle of Def Jam's messy reorganisation, the 30 track album (with only around 6 skits) suffered from what I can only take as a botched publicity drive. Even in the far off land of the UK I managed to catch the single Just Another Case on late night radio which was enough to get me to hunt down the album (a lot harder back in those primitive times involving lots of, gasp, shop enquiries and magazines). However, the expected following hype for the album release never materialised and it sunk into 1997 without leaving a trace.

On to the album itself and why it's a personal favourite. While Cru's mcing is of a more than acceptable standard, what really sets the album apart is the production work from under appreciated man behind the music Yogi. Producing the whole album single handedly, Yogi continually flips the styles, successfully offering everything from ATCQ jazzy flavours to RZA dark and threatening soundscapes. Perhaps this is what damaged the group more than anything as while the wide range of styles allows them to offer something to every kind of rap fan it's not really clear what market they should have been pushed to.

Anyway, Just Another Case is the track that sold me on the group and it still resonates today. Featuring a beautifully understated hook of guitar and swirling strings the crew/cru unravel a tale of hard knocks boosted by an in form appearance by Slick Rick (still one of my favourite vocal styles in the history of hip hop).

The Ebonic Plague is a more upbeat track once again featuring vocals from Q-Tip voiced Yogi, ODB voiced The Mighty Ha and Chadeeo. This time they get Rass Kass offering some lyrical input (speaking of where are they now rappers.....)and the track bubbles and bounces along in impressive fashion.

It was really quite a trial to only pick two tracks from the collection with so many different styles on offer and I can only recommend you pick up a copy to discover your own favourites and perhaps share a moment of sadness as "DJ Footlong" wraps up the album promising a part 2 to follow shortly. Ten years and waiting guys...........

Steady Playing With The Hustlers

Steady B: Let The Hustlers Play and Serious
From: Let The Hustlers Play [Jive, 1988]

Hey, how you doing? It's been a while I know. Part of my absence is due to the fact that real world moves have resulted in me being in the middle of moving home (what with this and J's impending nuptials it's grown man time on the Fuzz) and part of this has been for less stressful reasons. You see, I finally pulled my finger out my ass and picked up two vital things - new headphones for my Mp3 player and a far improved soundcard for my PC.

The purchase of these two items has led me on a journey of musical rediscovery as I started hearing things a way I hadn't since I burnt everything on to a hard drive. Suddenly beats banged harder, bass vibrated stronger and singers had more soul. It felt like the equivalent of aural spectacles. Unfortunately the opening of my ears meant that I was so lost in my music I forgot to share.

Anyway, no crying over spilt milk, so what have I got for you today? Well, one of the albums that truly felt like a rediscovery was Steady B's 1988 album, Let The Hustler's Play. Suddenly I remembered why this never used to leave my decks and why I regarded it as one of The Great albums to have blasting out the car.

With production from two greats at the top of their game - Chuck Nice and KRS One, the album's beats are bananas (no room for slow love songs here) and Steady B's flow is never showy but always on point.

Let The Hustler's Play kicks off the album at a tempo that never slows down. Chuck's production hides it's class in it's simplicity. Steady details the life of a hustler and, while his rhymes aren't going to win any awards, the level of swagger and confidence of a guy who was still only 18 at the time of this release carries the track with irresistible power.

Serious features the unmistakable production and shout outs of KRS and throws absolutely everything into it's three and a half minute running time. Absolutely blistering old school insanity and as hard as anything coming out today.

Steady released two more albums after this before fading into obscurity in the early nineties. Unfortunately his return to the public eye was in the worst possible manner and it's highly unlikely that he'll turn up on any future versions of Nas's Where Are They Now. He was just 26 at the time.

However, separating the artist from the music, this album should be played at very high volume, preferably in a residential area and reintroduced as part of the late eighties collection of classic rap albums. Oh yeah, a reissue wouldn't go amiss either ya know?

Metal on Metal - Music Mix Magnificently for the Attention Diordered

Metal On Metal Snippet - Michna vs. Woodman
from the Metal on Metal Mix CD (2005).

Lots going on currently keeping me off the blog world. Some of it music, lots of it nanophotonics and getting married. But that is neither here nor there. What is here is a short post to get me back in the groove again. I am not ashamed to state clearly and concisely that turntable lab makes me life twice as nice. Maybe its hip to keep my fandom on the mello, but I'd rather give up ice cream than TTL. Anyways, Michna and Woodman are two lab affiliates who created this Metal On Metal mix CD, which is complete genius. Take a listen to the snippet up above and see if you can count how many different elements and songs are seamlessly put together here. Pop, rock, rap, dance, it is all here in one goofy/deep blend with pans and madness. And the whole disc is like that. Perfect for our attention deficit times.

Hey Hey Hey: Paul Nice is all Bizness.

DWYCK (Paul Nice Remix) - Gang Starr f/ Nice & Smooth
The Bizness (Paul Nice Remix) - De La Soul f/ Common
from the mix cd Lost Product, Vol. 1 (2007).

Paul Nice has been around for a long time digging deep into crates, putting together amazing mixes, and producing tracks that capture the sound of the first golden era of hip hop whether he made it in 1989 or 2006. He was just out here in San Francisco last week and that's reason enough to highlight a couple of tracks off of one of his more recent mixes (this cat is magnificently prolific). Lost Product is a mix of original Nice remixes of various tracks (mostly hip hop but some soul).

First up is a remix of the Gang Starr and Nice & Smooth team up "DWYCK." There must dozens (hundreds?) of DWYCK so another one has to be dynamite to get noticed, and Paul Nice provides. Also it is fun, working the bassline and a vocal snippet from the theme song for Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. Paul Nice really has a great feel for basslines which is also clear on his remix of "The Bizness" from De La Soul w/ Common. Very jazzy and less bouncey than many of Paul Nice's tracks, but still a great fit for the well-known lyrics.

Note, this mix is called Lost Product, Vol. 1, which I really hope means that Paul's got stacks of these redo's cluttering his hard-drive and we'll be graced with them soon.

In Memory Of J Dilla

Rene Costy: Scrabble

Jackson 5: All I Do Is Think Of You

Stan Getz and Luiz Bonfá: Saudade Vem Correndo

The Cyrkle: The Visit

The Three Degrees: Maybe

Ahmad Jamal: Swahililand

A year to the day of Jay Dee's untimely death and the blog world is rightly filled with tributes to the brilliant catalogue of beats the producer left us with.

Not having anything unheard to add to the tributes out there I thought instead I'd just share a few of my favourite tracks that Dilla reinvented for his beats. It may just be a coincidence but to me what many of these originals share is a deep rooted soulfulness similar to the great beats that the man delivered time and time again during his lifetime.

While I tend to shy away from breaks posts the quality of tracks produced from the great songs above is justification in it's own right. May his music be celebrated for many years to come.

James Dewitt Yancey (February 7, 1974–February 10, 2006)

Three Times Dope

Three Times Dope: I Got It and I Ain't Try'n 2 Hear It
From: Live From Acknickulous Land [Arista, 1990]

Apparently today is the most depressing day of the whole calender year which is good to know. Things were getting a little bit Office Space this month and logically if we peak today then life can only get better tomorrow. We hope.

Combating those January blues and in a desperate attempt to slow down the people throwing themselves in front of trains and slowing my journey home lets have some turn of the nineties hip hop by the foolishly forgotten Three Times Dope.

Although TTD's first album Original Stylin' was a reasonably big success their 1990 follow up, Live from Acknikulous Land, was pretty much buried as soon as it came out. As with 99% of other listeners I've gotta hold my hands up and admit that I've been sleeping on this one for a long long time but boredom will eventually cause you to revisit a collection and on hearing it again I can't stop playing it - full of simple loops and quality rhymes the album is a more than solid listen from start to finish.

I Got It is an unashamedly party orientated anthem as they flip the classic James Brown Super Bad sample with rapper EST's fluid mcing over the top. The instruction for "Chuck Nice hit me twice" followed by the horn stabs gets me every time.

I Ain't Try'n 2 Hear It is a more introspective track with some lovely guitar led production by Chuck Nice and some top drawer verses by EST. I've missed having tracks like this in my life.

TTD did release a third album in 1998 but by that time they were resigned to the waste bin in my brain and I never bothered checking it out. Any idea about whether I'm sleeping once again?

Dude Dude Dude, The Earl

Bonus Beat 13 - The Earl
from the 12" Remixes, Vol. 5 on Footlong Development Records (2006).

Here's The Proof - The Earl
Unreal - The Earl
from the EP Loaded Ensemble on Footlong Development Records (2003). "Proof" also released as 12" in Japan in Subcontact (2006).

More instrumental hip hop for your heads today. I L-O-V-E the tradition of fledgeling producers putting out gray-market bootlegs of popular or classic hip hop tunes to showcase their beats and aesthetic. Something new and something familiar all in one, like a truffle burger at a tenth the price and with longer lasting enjoyment. I first came across Los Angeles are producer The Earl for exactly this reason because he was releasing remixes of Big Daddy Kane, Q-Tip, and J-Live on his own Footlong Development label. In a brilliant bit of decision making he also included his instrumentals and Bonus Beat productions on each Remix Volume he did. Up today is the assiduously named "Bonus Beat 13" from Remixes Vol. 5, which works the exotica/spy vibe extremely well. Reminds me of Herbaliser's "Missing Suitcase."

Also up are two tracks from his solo release in 2003. "Here's The Proof" is the instrumental to "Proof" which is on the flipside of the record and features Khalil of Fresh Air as the voice. I went back and forth as to the throwing up the instrumental or the vocal version and narrowly went with the instro, even if it does get a bit repetitive at the end (like all tracks meant to have verses flowing over them). Tasty, super-recognizable Tribe whip sample tossed in with chunky drums a vampy little piano element. Regular readers of Ear Fuzz may be noting a deeply felt love for piano lick along side thick, slow drums for me.

"Unreal" from the same album leaves out the piano for lots of horn loops and some unrecognizable to me high-pitched accents (is that high register electric piano? synthetic piccalo?). For the last minute or so The Earl works his drum elements around solo style...maybe not the most intricate chopping ever, but it has the nice effect of moving off the rigid beat enough to move me to the edge of my seat.

1 Part Glue, 2 Parts Maker's Mark = sticky, drunk beats

Never Really Know - Glue
from the album Catch As Catch Can on FatBeats (2006).
Live It (Part 1&2) - Maker
from the album Shooting The Breeze on Galapagos4 (2005).
Honestly f/ Qwel - Maker
from the 12" single on Birthwrite Records (2004).

I was really caught out of nowhere by Glue's release this year. I feel like I say this about every hip hop album I like, but the beats just carry this through. MC Adeem says positive things and doesn't bother me, but overall I'd rather listen to this album as an instrumental, which blissfully is packaged write in there with the full album in the CD release. Maker is the producer for 75% of the album (other credits go to DJ DQ, who gets under-utilized as a DJ through the rest of the album) and it is some of his finest work. Picking just 1 of 4 possible favorites, I chose the "Never Really Know," which features excellent horns and minor key piano over crunchy boom-bap beats. Its a little hard to find someone making old-styled sample boom-bap these days with all the keyboard wizardry running amuk.

Maker's put out quite a few production releases (he's the fuzzy chinned fella on the left in the above picture of Glue), 1 of which I was surprised to find buried somehow forgotten in my stacks. That would be his track with Qwel called "Honestly" from 2004. They also recorded a full album together, but I haven't been fortunate to hear it yet. Anywhats, Qwel does the perfect white Mos Def sing-rant about the appropriation of hip hop by the money hungry bitches folks and channels Kurt Cobain in what could be a corny but applicable reference concerning artistry vs. industry but amazingly just works beautifully.

Finally a proper Maker instrumental where he loops up big, fat drums to make an almost live sounding cine-funk track sounding a lot like ultra-early DJ Shadow. I know I could use more of that sound in my life today. Neither Maker nor Glue are doing something completely new, and they're not the only ones embracing this older style of hip hop but for right now they are up on it better than anyone else. And if they end up near you, Glue is a fine show live.

The Substance of the Way of the Samurai

RZA: Opening Theme (Raise Your Sword), RZA #7, and RZA's Theme
From: Ghost Dog (Japanese Version) [JVC Japan, 2000]

Hungover and suspiciously aware of those first signs of the flu, a cold and overcast day like today has me searching for a record to soothe the repetitive pounding in my head. A gritty soundtrack to urban decay? A collection of of haunting, claustrophobic beats? An unofficial sequel (sonically speaking) to GZA's Liquid Swords? Enter RZA's original score to Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.

For those late to this magnificient film as I was, I can't recommend it highly enough. Forest Whitaker gives a stunning performance as the deceptively gentle and introspective Ghost Dog, a modern-day samurai who makes a living by carrying out hits for the Italian mafia. I've always been a fan of Jarmusch's bizarre and distinctive visual narratives, but for me, Ghost Dog is the pinnacle of his filmography, in no small measure due to RZA's participation in the project. Wisely, Jarmusch specifically instructed the Wu abbott to compose a score that shared the sound and feel of Rae's Cuban Linx and the aforementioned Liquid Swords instead of the somewhat sterile Bobby Digital material he was into at the time. So RZA (presumably) dusted off his Ensoniq ASR-10 and crafted what I believe is some of the finest music of his career.

The selections here are the stuff Wu diehards go apeshit over, and for good reason. One of RZA's singular contributions to hip hop was his masterful embracement of the limitations of sampling technology: by deliberately extending the length of a sample, he was forced to lower its quality, resulting in the raw, gritty sound he is best known for today. Ghost Dog adheres to that ethos beautifully, and the tracks are painstakingly unquantized to boot; perhaps its only flaw is that the 16 cues here are too brief. The opening theme ("Raise Your Sword") sets the tone effectively: ominous and menacing, RZA places clunky electric piano chords and apocalyptic strings atop a beat based around a percussive metal scraping. "RZA #7" is probably my favorite cue, if only because it's so reminiscent of Black Planet-era Bomb Squad. The nightmarish "RZA's Theme" sounds like something GZA and Masta Killa would absolutely destroy.

Of course, there was a catch: fans of the film's soundtrack understandably purchased what was available at the time (the domestic Sony edition) only to be disappointed to find non-film tracks from Wu satellite members like North Star and La the Darkman (yet questionably missing Killah Priest's "From Then til Now," a key moment in the film) and little of RZA's actual score. A Japanese version of the film's music is available, but fetches outrageous prices on Amazon and eBay, especially considering the length of the disc; phenomenal as the music is, I can't advocate dropping $50 on a CD containing less than 35 minutes of music. (I was fortunate enough to discover a vinyl edition on Razor Sharp Records a year ago.) Suffice it to say if you come across this soundtrack at an affordable price, by all means snatch it up immediately - but take careful note of the track listing.

The RZA has two upcoming soundtracks to be released in the next month or so: The Protector, a collaboration with video game composer Howard Drossin, and music for the upcoming series Afro Samurai on Spike TV. Let's hope one of them bears similarity to the brilliance of Ghost Dog.

Merry Xmas From Ear Fuzz!

Soul Saints Orchestra: Santa's Got A Bag Of Soul
Milly & Silly: Getting Down For Xmas
Audio Two: Christmas Rhymin'

I was going to post up a major soul related festive gift of great tunes for you but it appears that Soul Shower has beat me to it. I would highly recommend popping over and checking out his bumper bonanza here.

With this being the case I can only offer you up what we shall call the funkier side of Christmas music - might go down well after a few too many eggnogs, who knows?

Santa's Got Bag Of Soul has to be one of the funkiest Christmas songs ever with the Soul Saints Orchestra wisely using the Christmas theme in the loosest sense to put together a straight fire of a tune.

Getting Down For Xmas is a suitably cheesy Xmas mix of funky wah wah that goes great with the novelty tie/Old Spice gift set you get from a disconnected relative.

When browsing my Xmas rap selections it dawned on me why people tend to use Run DMC's Christmas in Hollis as, to be frank, pretty much all other Xmas hip hop tunes are bonafide terds. Still Audio Two's Christmas Rhymin' ain't too bad, probably due to the wise choice of keeping the Christmas themed music to a minimum.

That's all for now folks, have a great Christmas day and see you on the other side..........

Wale: 21st Century Go-Go

Wale: Breakdown and Uptown Roamers

As displayed in J.'s post below, it's not all pre 1994 on this site. I never have, and never will, buy the notion that modern music is shite. While I love my old soul, jazz, funk and rap there's always an innovative, original, sound round the corner to reawaken the excitement of even the most jaded listener.

With this in mind it's time to shine a light on an up and coming talent from Washington DC - Wale (Wha-lay). Currently setting the world of MySpace alight this rapper actually has the music and talent to back up the hype as he and his crew go about reinventing Go-Go for the new millennium.

On the blistering Breakdown Wale lets fly over a combination of various drum breaks and synths that could have come straight from a classic Junkyard Band recording but here sound totally fresh and new. Seriously intense when played at high volumes, I want to be in a club when this drops.

Uptown Roamers flips it on a more Chopped & Screwed vibe as Wale delivers a fluent introduction to his city, it's inhabitants, and the culture over a heavy synth production, proving himself to be much more than just a party mc.

You can find a couple of other decent tracks from Wale at his MySpace page and download his mixtapes for free at his label's site Studio 43. With various deals in the pipeworks there looks like deservedly big things on the horizon for this particular MC.

(Thanks to honorary EarFuzz member Chuck for hooking me up to Wale's sound.)

You Are Now Tuned Into Channel Live

Channel Live: Mad Izm and Lock It Up
From: Station Identification [Capitol, 1995]

You may have noticed that I'm totally on a nineties rap tip at the moment. Having funked myself out over the last couple of months I've been digging in the rap crates and revisiting some of my forgotten gems. So it's back to the back to the back to the hip hop today with the 1995 debut of Channel Live, produced by Mr Hip Hop himself, KRS One.

More than almost any other genre of music, the battleground of rap is littered with the remains of artists who burn brightly for a moment and then fade away and I guess Channel Live fall into that category. While the platinum success of their single Mad Izm did help the album go gold they faded from the scene as quickly as they appeared. However, unlike many of these rappers, Channel Live's album actually delivered on the promise of the single, offering a mix of styles, quality verbal dexterity and some excellent production by KRS.

I couldn't really offer up this record without posting up Mad Izm and it's a track that's stood the test of time remarkably well, its simplicity being a blessing as Hakim and Tuffy vary their flows and tone to create their own vocal melody over the minimalist strings and beat production. And KRS One turns up for good measure as well.

Lock It Up offers up a horn heavy beat from Salaam Remi reminiscent of ATCQ and the two MCs once again go to town on it, offering up a selection of fast, fluid rhymes notable for their wit as well as their technical ability.

I see that since then Channel Live did release a follow up EP and album in 2000 but I've yet to meet anyone who's heard it. A shame really as it's clear to hear that they're a couple of highly talented artists. Guess it's another one to add to the already stacked pile labelled Coulda Been Contenders.....

Real Words, Real Life

O.C.: Time's Up and Let It Slide

From: Word...Life [Wild Pitch, 1994]

There's a famous story about Martin Scorsese's adventures at the Oscars. Apparently one year little Marty turned up and found that his seat had been marked as a previous Oscar winner, the reason being that he could have won the award so many times that the organisers assumed he must have got the statue at some point or other.

A long and unnecessary tale yes, but similar still to me and O.C.. I've been digging his music for so long that I'd just assumed that at some point or other I'd done a post on him. However, trawling back through the archives, it appears not. Therefore to start making amends on this let me present you with O.C.'s debut album - Word...Life, the forgotten classic of 1994.

O.C. made his recording debut at the top of the chain guesting on Organized Konfusion's Fudge Pudge before dropping his debut longplayer to widespread acclaim. Despite this acclaim for the debut and his follow up album, Jewelz, (expect a post on that shortly) O.C. is still more of a name spoken by rap fanatics than the general public.

Mainly produced by D.I.T.C. stalwart Buckwild, the album featured a variety of imaginative loops that were clearly drawn from the Diggin In The Crates style of sampling. This top level production merges beautifully with O.C.'s superior rapping skills as he shows his preference for complex rhymes, matching three syllable rhymes on the beat.

That's what I consider real, in this field of music
Instead of puttin brain cells to work they abuse it
Non-conceptual, non-exceptional
Everybody's either crime-related or sexual

Time's Up is probably the most well known track from the album with it's relentless bass line and O.C. spitting his deceleration of war. They are few things better in rap than an MC at the top of his game calling out the opposition over their lack of performance and this is near as good as it gets.

Let It Slide displays Buckwild's imaginative use of samples and a great example of storytelling by O.C. Take a moment to stop and appreciate the flow of this man, it truly is something special.

Unfortunately this album still hasn't been reissued but, with the recent flurry of interest in 90's rap, it can only be a matter of time now, surely?

Brazillio has kindly pointed out that the album has been reissued which has just made my Friday and helped wipe some of the hangover I'm currently experiencing from too much beer and too little good football by the England team. Link to purchase updated above.

Executing Masterplans Y to Z

YZ: Taggin' It Up and Thinking Of A Master Plan
From: Sons Of The Father [Tuff City, 1990]

Blogging about less than prolific rappers is one of the most thankless tasks I come across when writing for Ear Fuzz. Even the most obscure funk and soul groups tend to have a page dedicated to them somewhere and some useless but mildly interesting facts. Alas, this is not the case with rappers. YZ has definitely released at least two albums and even has a best of compilation but facts about this rapper are vague to the point of nothing though at least I know that he has a MySpace page and that his nephew posts on Amazon. It appears that, despite the quality of his debut release and subsequent recordings, the internet refused to go nuts over him.

So, lets skip straight to the music again with YZ's debut album Sons Of The Father, a sweet piece of new school hip hop which, surprise surprise, is now out of circulation. Taggin' It Up showcases how well YZ's verses work with Tony D's sparse production. Listening to this album again made me realise how much I missed rap songs which concentrated on quality verses rather than on a catchy chorus.

Thinking Of A Master Plan flips the old Commodores master plan sample with a funky break courtesy of Average White Band. Simple and effective, it's only on the second or third listen that I noticed quite how good an MC YZ is, his political message successfully blended into the more routine lyrics to create a constant flow of information. Who knows, maybe he'll pop up again in a year or so.......

Gettin Bizzie On Those Who Slept

Bizzie Boyz: For Those Who Slept and Mission Accomplished
From: Droppin' It [Yo Records, 1990]

What with Independent J and GIO147's posts in the last week bringing back the new school sound and the sun still shining on the sceptered isle I felt inspired to add another new school offering for your listening pleasure.

In a flash of genius I opted for a group that I a) Don't know anything about and b) Am unable to find out anything about even with the awesome power that is the internet. All I can tell you is that the group featured Ski who went on to produce a good portion of Jay Z's debut album among others but that's all been covered by other blogs in the past. I can't even find a pic of the group, sorry.

However, give me a chance to redeem myself and you may be pleasantly surprised. Everybody and their great aunt is pretty familiar with the Bizzie's single Droppin' It, a classic slice of nice and easy rap, but I thought I'd share with you a couple of tracks from the album that dropped nanoseconds before the group disappeared of the face of the earth for ever.

It'd be a big ask indeed to expect the group's album to live up to the single but what is surprising is how solid the longplayer is. Ok, it makes the same mistakes as nigh on every other group of the period with some very unnecessary hip house and reggae-lite tracks but inbetween these lie some true forgotten gems.

For Those Who Slept is a great slice of summer rap that bubbles along with an irresistible confidence and charm. I always offer a favourable ear to "day in the mall" raps and this is up there with the best of em. If sunshine could be concentrated into a rap song it'd probably sound something similar to this.

Mission Accomplished brings old school fast rap with aplomb, Ski showing that he was a more than competent MC before jacking it in for the beats, as he rips up the microphone and shows "more control than Janet Jackson". This would slay in a club as much today as it would 16 years ago. Summertime rap to roll with.

Guess Who's On Third

Lupe Fiasco: Get Down, Switch, Much More
from Fahrenheit 1-15 vol. 2/3 (2006)


West Side Chicago's Lupe Fiasco is fighting an uphill battle. Rap's landscape seems to have an open position for an emcee with Native Tounges style appeal, and Lupe seems to be making a bid to fill it. Walking the line between "conscious" rap and street rap has been attempted countless times, and with very few exceptions the music sounds more like a job application cover letter than a rap tape ("Other rappers say this, but I say that," "I'm going to change the game, I'm going to do such and such and such" etc.). Other rappers have the skill and exuberance but are so squeeky clean you almost can't call it rap music (ask yourself, would my mom hate this?). If anything, Lupe Fiasco tends towards the latter pitfall on his second mixtape, the next in the Fahrenheit 1/15 series. Luckily Lupe has the good sense to keep the subject matter a bit sticky and use a couple red flag words. Throw in a couple Paul Wall beats and you can safely keep this tape out of the mini-van.

And the rhymes are hot. Lupe can ride a beat with the best of them, and he sounds more comfortable than Kanye (to whom comparisons will be inevitable, not just due to the Chi-town connection, or the fact that Fiasco's highest profile appearance has been on a West track) expounding on the Jigga cadence that is the sound of current rap. Lupe runs rhyme circles over Nas' "Get Down," and gets even more dexterous over "Still Tippin." Check the second verse where he goes from switching rhyme styles every four bars to switching subject matter (a trick which demands multiple rewinds).

So the question is, will Fiasco's music be something rap kids are embarrased to like a couple years down the road? It will probably take a full album to tell, though the bright-as-Sunny-Delight debut single "Kick Push" doesn't bode too well for longevity. Hopefully Fiasco has enough finesse to keep things a bit dirty without sacrificing his aesthetic.

Mirror Music: The Deluxe Edition

Wordsworth: Right Now [Oddisee Remix] , Run [Oddisee Remix] and Right Now
From: Mirror Music: The Deluxe Edition [Halftooth, 2006]

New hip hop for you today people. Well, when I say new it's a half truth as Wordsworth's album Mirror Music originally came out in 2004 to a highly receptive underground audience.

Following on from this Halftooth have repackaged the original album and brought in Oddissee to provide a second disc of remixes. Having produced a number of the tracks on the original album Oddisee is well suited to Wordsworth's style and his beats blend perfectly with the gifted lyricist.

I've been playing out Oddisee's remix of Right Now since I received it. I always liked the original, a decent roller of an opening track with a bass heavy sound but Oddisee's remix brings the track right up to date displaying his developing style. Gone is the funky vibe, replaced with distorted organ stabs over clattering drums that verge on the edge of chaos. I love the way Oddissee lets the drums roll out at the end, letting the sound play out. I've included the original as well for ease of comparison.

Oddisee's remix of Run again replaces the minimalist feel of the original with something altogether more lushly epic. Clashing hi hats, warped keyboards and sorrowful piano accompany Wordsworth's lyrical storytelling, emphasising but never overpowering the words. Keep an eye on this guy, he's going to blow up very very soon.

This hits the stores 25th April and you can read more about the release at the Halftooth website

They'll Never Stop Speaking It

Dos Noun - Proper English

I'm not exactly up on my mixtape game and I was even less up on it when the original dropped, so I could be wrong in asking the following question: why haven't more rappers done this?

Thanks to dudes with boomboxes on Dominican Day, I heard a "Spanish slang" version that was pretty tight, but that's pretty much the end of the list. I guess the idea is beneath E-40, who would be the obvious candidate.

Regardless, Dos is from Philly, and his assertion that he speaks with English slang and will never stop speaking it is a flat out lie. But check out his myspace page anyways.

Ya Boy

Ya Boy: On Fire
Ya Boy: Turf 2 Tha Club
Ya Boy f/ Clyde Carson: Fly As This

While the bay hype machine is still grindin (see: just about any blog right now) and on the eve of the drop of his yay-ness's breakthrough album, maybe we should talk about 40's cousin, Ya Boy.

(On the real, Abbot and Costello jokes abound, and finding a pic for this post was annoying).

Someone put me on to a few of his tracks a couple months ago and they were cool, but what really caught my attention was hearing his verse on "The Deal" with the rest of the Done Deal Fam on Slump and Grind 2. Ya Boy doesn't really test limits with his lyrics, but he's got that finely tuned precision flow and those great one-liners that put him way above most other emcees. It's not even the one-liners that are great, but more than he actually has the charisma to pull off some stupid ass lines like "you niggas stay frontin, yall broke/I get ice dumped on me like a football coach." His album, Rookie of the Year, is front to back shit-talking, not in the T.I. tradition of "I worked so hard I know I'm the best," but just uncut arrogance. And, yeah, his crack talk is unbelievable and played out, but so much so it almost doesn't matter.

Beats provided by some unknowns but also your standard share of Rick Rock and flute-driven Droop-E hyphy goodness. King Cydal comes out of nowhere with crazy beats on "On Fire," "Turf 2 Tha Club" and another one. Smooth-ass Clyde Carson from The Team guests on "Fly As This," 40 himself and San Quinn show up elsewhere. Enjoy Ya Boy (ayo!) and impress your friends with some slightly off-the-map bay shit.

Next Level

Good or bad for the public image of hip hop?

Feelin Like Yeee! (remix)

E-40 and Keak Da Sneak - Tell Me When to Go (Trackademicks remix)

I see that some fools were hating on the hyphy production aesthetic in the comments of the last post, and as I recall,the Shadow/Keak/Turf track didn't go over well with some of our readers, either.

Haters: I dare you to front on this.

While Lil' Jon's original beat for "Tell Me When to Go" was a decent minimalist banger, continuing in the vein of Grindin'/Drop It Like It's Hot/Wait, Trackademicks (pictured above) reworks the track into something utterly amazing. Beach Boys-esque vocal harmonies + trunk-rattling bass hits + some well-placed tom fills = certified slap.

If you like what you hear check out Trackademicks' MySpace page.

Feelin Like Yeee!

Bay Area Quick Mix


First post in a minute, I know. I've been logging heavy hours at the record store I work at (mp3 blogger working at a record store? now I've heard it all...). But my ongoing business is indebted at least in part to the constant efort to stay on top of all the great music coming out on vinyl right now. And if you pay attention to the internets at all, you probably have borne witness to the all the horn-honking (and dumb-going) over Bay Area rap, especialy amongst post-collegiate Bay expatriates (and wanna-be expatriates, you know who you are). Anyway, noise has been made, opinions formulated, roofs danced atop of. If you're not feeling this shit, hey, I'm sure we'll have something different up tomorrow. I tossed this mix together real quick-like playing through a stack of new and not so new records from the soil where the rappers be getting their lingo from. Newness first, moving into some of the formative hyphy cuts (like, uh, "Hyphy," for example. And also, uh, "Super Hyphy." Recognize the redundancy). Stunna shades a must.

Tracklist:
San Quinn f/ EA-Ski- "Hell Yeah"
Mike Marshall f/ E-40- "Trying to Leave With Somethin"
Nump f/ Federation & E-40- "I Got Grapes"
E-40 f/ Keak the Sneak- "Tell Me When to Go"
Federation- "Go Dumb"
Federation f/ E-40- "Hyphy"
Keak the Sneak- "Super Hyphy"