WHO FLIPPED THAT ISH (SAMPLE) BETTER? #1 (MOBB DEEP 'TEMPERATURE'S RISING' / HIERO (via 'The Shaman') 'EVERYDAY OF THE WEEK'

WHO FLIPPED IT BETTER? SERIES / POST #1:

    The early-mid 90's was, of course, an amazing time in hip-hop music. At the time, you had classic cuts coming from all over the country, although the South's integral contributions to the culture wouldn't be recgonized until a few years later, unfortunately. But in the early/mid-90's - the East Coast & the West Coast were co-kings. Well, NY was the reigning ruler who enjoyed a long-run on the throne - but was quickly being usurped by the West. LA got most of the shine - but the Bay Area had been paying it's hip-hop dues for a long time, as well as was enjoying basking in the success of their Southern California brethren. Segway to what this article is all about: a (hopefully) soon-to-be regular series of posts that are basically a case of answering the eternal questions in life - why are we here, is there a God, why do women take fucking FOR-ever to get ready to just go get take-out Chinese, and...WHO FLIPPED THE SAMPLE BETTER??!? For our first post, in which we try to resolve the eternal rap nerd question of which-producer-flipped-the-sample-best (I've already given you kinda of a warm-up to in the intro already - is between a track off the all-time East Coast seminal classic rap album, 'The Infamous...' by Mobb Deep, titled 'Temperature's Rising. The other contender's classic cut comes from the one-off, early-Hiero phase EP known as 'The Shaman', by a very young Pep Love and an equally-fresh-behind-the-boards-but-talented-AF young producer known as Mike G.

    The main sample from both songs is 'Where Is The Love' by Patrice Rushen, a 70's/80's singer who's biggest musical claim-to-fame is the single 'Forget Me Nots' in 1982. That song has been sampled many times itself within the hip-hop genre, and I'm sure Patrice Rushen is getting' some of those nice-ass music label royalty checks just from the Will Smith usage of her songs in some of his mega-singles from the mega-soundtracks of his mega-blockbuster films in the 90's alone. 'Where Is The Love', in it's intended form as an 80's quiet storm-style adult cxontempory and R&B release, isn;'t bad at all. That's why the sample is so great, of course. Patricia Rushen has a very relaxing yet sweet voice that carries the track well. But this is about the flip. And that flip occurs in the very first 10 seconds of the song. Those 10 seconds would become the main sample for both 'Back to School' and 'Temperature's Rising'. Except, as I stated before, this was originally intended as an 80's quet-storm track that was oh-so-hot back then. I mean, Sade was straight KILLING IT WITH 'DIAMOND LIFE' AND JUST HER GENERAL GODDESS BODY+PERSONA, YA BISH, during this time period. But I digress. Basically, both tracks' producer's were wise enough to know that they needed to speed that shit up if they were gonna to go anywhere with that sample in the form of a killer hip-hop joint. So they did. And the outcome was a seminal classic (Mobb Deep's version), and a B-side classic and Hiero side-group fanatic favorite (Pep Love/Mike G's version) that would, quite honestly, be THIS amateur crate digger's dream to find on wax as a 12" single.

CONTENDER 1: 'Temperature's Rising' was recorded and released as a single to the album 'The Infamous...' by Mobb Deep, who is a duo, Prodogy & Havoc. Havoc, was/is still the primary producer behind Mobb Deep (tho apparently, legendary ATCQ member & literal neighborhood friend, Q-Tip, did a TON of post-procution work for the 'The Infamous'...album, but basically just changing things here-and-there as the musical meat-and-potatoes of most every track on the album was Havoc (though apparently, ATCQ head-member & literal neighborhood friend, Q-Tip, did a TON of ghost-production no this album [1]). Havoc started by adding gritty, hard-hitting "Boom Bap" style drums to the graceful, smooth Patricia Rushen sample. Around-the-way, local NY singer Chrystal Johnson provided the beautiful signing voice on the track's hook. The track was written in similar form to another QB legend and personal friend, Nas, and his track 'One Love' that, of course, involved Q-Tip as well. [2] Unfortunately, the subject of this track's prison-letter-format, not just a Mobb Deep posse member but actual older blood brother of Havoc, Killa Black, ended-up committing suicide in his prison cell just a few years after the track's release, while still incarcerated, obvs. Sometimes art reflects life a little too much.

CONTENDER #2: Ahhhh, early-era Hieroglyphics. "The forgotten Hiero side-group" of The Legendary Hieroglyphics crew out of Oakland, CA, 'The Shaman', the Hiero sub-musical duo,                                                                                                                                                                 that NOBODY really remembers. Obviously, the details on this sub-group of the much larger hip-hop collective, are extremely vague...still, (as a dedicated hip-hop nerd, I obsess over these types of things like a USWeekly-reading soccer mom, lol) and it KILLS ME not to know the entire story behind this piece of Bay Area rap history. Because Pep love, or more so his producer Jay-Biz'\]]\\s sole Hiero album release is actually one of the best albums from the entire Hieroglyphics library, imo.
It's like a musical polarid snapshot of the early-Hiero era. That early phase of the Hieroglyphics crew, when every motherfucker on the damn crew had a solo contract with Jive, that '92-'98 phase of Hieroeglyphics albums pressed with the Jive Records stamp-of-approval. And what a phase it was. So innocent. So young. Everyone was either just finishing high-school, or were still IN high-school (I'm looking @ you - Soul of Mischief).

Basically while their classmates were flippin' burgers and rock cocaine on the corner, they were already putting albums on the Billboard 200. And 'Everyday of the Week' sums-up that era, perfectly. It's indie-sounding, like two friends jus recording some ish in their bedroom for fun, mixed with the major label engineering magic at the same time. No, it's not POLISHED. At all. Just, not crappy sounding either. Remember, this was 1994-1995. Fools were still buying CASSETTE SINGLES. Drug dealers had PAGERS. It was a different time, and when you think about how arcaic the tech was, it makes this joint even more impressive. Pep Love & Jay-Biz go for a more light-hearted approach in their flip of 'Where Is The Love'. Jay-Biz add's a couple jazz loops here and there, some sparkle and pop, as was Hiero's signature and the general (tho not long-lasting enough for Jazz-Rap fans such as myself, unfortunately) hip-hop style at the time.

Basically, it comes down to what kind of style are you most attracted to. Do you like gritty, 90's gamgster rap? Or were you more of a Native Tounge Posse fanatic, "peace & love / "Can't we all just get along??!?"-type dude? Did you always stay strapped...and if so, was it with a 9mm or a backpack? That right there, will honestly guide you to the answer to which is the "better" flip of this sample from Patrice Rushen. In reality, both are amazing, classic songs. Both have their benefits. But like a hip-hop Highlander - THERE CAN BE ONLY ONEl,

And that's 'Everyday of the Week' by The Shaman, for me. Too many personal memories. I can still remember the very first time I heard 'Every Day of the Week' in my friends scraper BMW, around 2004, during afternoon Bay Area gridlock traffic on the 24, and he was bumping' old, personal stereo-dubbed Stretch & Bobbito tapes (ATTN: IF YOU HAVN'T SEEN BOBBITO'S NEW DOC ON THE HISTORY OF HIS & DJ STRETCH ARMSTRONG'S LEGENDARY 90'S RADIO SHOW, 'RADIO THAT CHANGED LIVES', then DO THAT SHIT NOW SON...ITS ONLY AVAILABLE ON VIMEO AT THE MOMENT UNLESS YOUR LUCKY ENOUGH TO ATTEND ONE OF THIER IN-PERSON LIVE SCREENINGS WHICH I MISSED, SMH. WHY AM I YELLING!?! BECAUSE ITS THAT DAMN GOOD &N IMPORTANTE, FAM!!!) and 'Everyday of the Week' came on. It was love at first sight.

In summary - Mobb Deep might have won the war (the better album) but Extra Prolific definitely, without-a-doubt, won the battle with 'Back to School'. And what a battle it was.                            

Vampire Weekend x Souls of Mischief???

So this happened, apparently. Hipsters everywhere, go change your pants before that jazz you just cream in 'em dries and gets all stankonia and shit.

One Classic Wonder: 'Livin' Proof' by Group Home (Produced Entirely By DJ Premier)

It starts off like a gunshot. Those drums. Piercing your eardrums. THOSE DRUMS. Then the centerpiece sample hits. Both flow through a audio filter of grime and out the speakers with such intensity you just HAVE to stop what your doing and listen. If,you know, your into this type of thing. This music. And Preemo is the king of it. He is the creme de la creme of 90's boom bap rap music. With Guru at his side, DJ Premier dominated the rap world for a decade-plus as Gangstarr. But this song I'm describing isn't a Gangstarr track, amazingly. No, this is Group Home. 1995 was, well, the "peak" of golden-era hip-hop music. Top 40 and what now is described basically as "backpack rap" (or, lovingly by some, "boom bap") were one in the same. Puff Daddy would soon flip the script on the tastes of Top 40 hip-hop with his shiny-suit era, but in 1995 it was all about grimy, hard-hitting "boom bap" drums and really smart, dope lyrics. You had to have the skills. It wasn't diluted (that's actually a matter of opinion and open to debate which I'll leave to another discussion). And 1995 was a good year for DJ Premier. Good enough, in fact, that it allowed him the ability to focus on more than his own group, Gangstarr. This group of young dudes - all rappers or producers that Preemo knew and would work with - was known as The Gangstarr Foundation. Jeru The Damaja and his group Dirty Rotten Scoundrels were part of this collective, and were able to thus enjoy the fruits of Premier's labor on the boards. Another side group that Preemo had been working with in this time period was known as Group Home. They wouldn't go on to have nearly the type of career that Premier had hoped, but that first album they made was definitely one for the ages. Called 'Livin' Proof', the album would do just upon release. Like I said, Premier was king. But Hip-hop also didn't make up nearly as much of the music playing field as it does now. 'Supa Star' was the first and only single to hit the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 85. That's still a testament to Premier that it even charted. The first track off the album, 'Livin' Proof', which I started this article describing, managed to hit #26 on the Hot Rap Singles chart but quickly lost it's luster on the Billboard charts, which is a shame. Because that very song would become a hip-hop head's library staple. One of those instrumentals that always seems to make it's way into the rotation during a backyard cypher between friends (including this writer). 'Suspended In Time' was the album's 3rd single, and definitely is another album stand-out track. It contains a beautiful, mystical-sounding loop and the hard-hitting drums all filtered thru that 90's grime that is standard Premier. It follows the rare lackluster track on this album, 'Serious Rap Shit', which was a vast departure in sound for Preemo and thankfully, he didn't pursue it on any other tracks. Instead, the entire album has that grimy boom-bap feel that would stamp-date it with the year 1995 but at the same time make it timeless. Complex Magazine argued, in a fantastic piece on their website, that 'Livin' Proof' might just be the best hip-hop album ever produced. I don't necessarily agree, at least w/out some time to really think about it, but the fact that I'm EVEN considering it is a testament to it's quality. For every 'Baby Pa' snooze, there's a track like 'Up Against The Wall (Getaway Car Mix)' that just smacks you in the face with it's quality. This is some high-level shit coming outta D&D Studios (RIP). Lyrically, Lil' Dap has to rely more on his unique voice and charisma then his lyrics. Malachi the Nutcracker, the other member of the duo (with one of the worst rap names ever i don't care if he has some crazy personal story like "yo, I used to crack nuts a lot when I was a kid" I don't care that shit is WAAAAACK) is pretty much the Phife to Lil' Dap's Q-Tip, except Phife is waaaaay better (no disrespect due to Phife, he's a legend). But you can definitely see that one is better than the other. No, this album is all about the beats. And for DJ Premier fanatics like myself, one of his best.

Young Thug Made The Best Album of 2015 (And You Should Get It Right Now)

Young Thug just wants to be like Lil Wayne. The cackles, crackles, and the howls - oh yes, the howls - are all signature Wayne. Sort of. Because Thugger is purely influenced by Wayne - he's definitely not biting. And those are two totally different things. There's articles out there explaining the difference - I read a good one comparing Travis Scott's work to that of a pure biter - but I'm not going to delve into that topic here. Instead - I'm here to review Young Thug's sorta debut, sorta mixtape, known as 'Barter 6'. Yes, as in the infamous 'The Carter' series by Mr. Dwayne Carter himself. And no, Dwayne did not take kindly to that seemingly gesture of respect. Because apparently, it wasn't? Or it was? Either way feelings got hurt and names were called and shots fired and tracks recorded but not like in a real, dedicated need kinda way. Because the relationships of both artists are tied to a common thread in Birdman. Baby was either once Wayne's mentor, or still is - it all really murky with the details right now due to the ongoing legal actions on behalf of Wayne & Co against Baby for money shit and all that stuff that Cash Money is infamously known for (yet still nuckas be signing with them. why? influence? spotlight? idk. but always ends the same). Anyway - 'Barter 6'. Young Thug. There's a lotta stuff going on here. Both artistically and all the other stuff which is really white noise compared to the artistic side of this tape. It's an awesome record, to be sure. Starting with the stellar track 'Constantly Hating', featuring Mr. Birman himself, Young Thug goes IN. The beat by frequent collaborator (if not just straight-up partner IN MUSIC. No shots fired.) London On Da Track is a somewhat sleeper monster track. It's bare minimum instrumentation wrapped in hard-hitting drums. Perfect to showcase Thuggers "unique take on flow. I say that in quotes because Young Thug is definitely a polorizing rapper. You either hate him or love him. But I've realized that rap flow fanatics usually tend to love Thug. Birman spits one of his two surpisingly better-than-average 16's on this album on this track. You can tell he's a bit more excited than his usual self - probably due to the surge of energy that he's feeding off of Young Thug's meteoric rise in popularity within the rap and pop world. Another stand-out track on the album (amongst an entire album of stand-outs) is 'Can't Tell' featuring another frequent collabrator - TI - as well as Lil' Boosie, who has seen a rise in popularity since finishing his prison sentence last year. All three rappers come hard AF, but Thug manages to dodge getting killed-on-his-own-shit by providing one of his most creative displays of verbal dexterity yet. I can't even begin to truly describe the moment - you have to listen for yourself to get the full experience. But I'll just say that he starts his verse by mumble-speak-flowing (kinda like Jay-Z on lean) a few bars then picks-up the pace and returns on-beat like he snorted a line of coke and feels the need to make-up for lost time. Then he hits the pocket with a line about 2004 and Gucci Mane and Big Cat and the dust settles on his rhyme scheme and he finishes the track (somewhat) tame. Boosie Bad Azz (awesome post-prison name change btw) bats clean-up here, and his verse is trademark BOOSIE BABY, oozing with confidence and his thoughts about post-prison life and his recent successes (and shit, I would too if I just served an extended prison sentence and coming out harder and more popular than ever). 'Check' follows-up 'Can't Tell' and is one of the tape's "internet singles" as I like to call them. The video is YouTube budget-friendly and all the creatives involved are frequent collaborators aka friends aka hirable on the cheap. It's a good promo song. My boy's favorite track. My fabvorite track from the album that falls into the promo single category is 'Halftime' which is Thug's ode to excess - or his version of it. Personally, popping half of ANYTHING isn't even enough to get lit but hey, I lived that life and also it's personal preference and perspective, right? I could go on, but really you need to hear this album for yourself. Other personal favorites: 'Dream', 'Amazing', and 'Knocked Off'. 'Knocked Off' is my personal favorite track on the album. Baby comes good - definitely NOT bad - on his opening verse. Thug then meditates on his upcoming wedding, plus the usual things like drugs, cars, and the color red. Definitely the color red. But the beat is just so, idk, chill? fun? The whole album is. Young Thug has so much potential it's insane. He could also crash-and-burn at a moment's notice. I just have that feeling about him. Maybe it's the perceived street-softness via his fashion choices and such. He has that Tupac complex. That feeling of a need to go EXTRA hard - in everything. And, gang relations. The artist that keeps popping up in my head that he resembles is Charlie Parker. No, he probably won't be remembered as a genius of his music genre. But the complex, non-sequitur bebop-type flow and the tortured, gritty persona reeks of Bird. Anyway, go get 'Barter 6', now. Like, NOW. Or download it? I think it was an album-turned-free mixtape due to the beef with Wayne? Idk. But it's awesome. My pick - so-far - for best music album of 2015 that I've listened to. I'm out.

Ramblings on Ghostface Killah's Career

My first Ghost album was The Pretty Toney Album not gonna front. I was 17 and just really discovering hip-hop beyond a casual listener to like, Jay-Z and DMX (Late 90's Top 40...) in junior high. He blew me away with not just crazy AF lyrics that made no sense and made all the sense in the world at the same time, but he was just dripping charisma everywhere. There was like puddles of that shit wherever he walked. And it smelled like fresh custom-painted Clarks, Egyptian Musk cologne, and weed. And looked like if Jean-Luc Basquait was as tough AF thug from the Stapleton Projects and followed Allah, well, religiously. It was love at first sight. No, I was none of the things I just described so affectionately. I was a suburbia-raised white kid from the Bay Area who went to a private school. But soon, I would be out in the world on my own. And I had just discovered weed and good hip-hop at the same exact time, it was like the big bag theory of my personal personality's creation. That was the combo that set it all off. And the Wu-Tang Clan, especially Ghostface Killah, were there from the beginning. I started with Pretty Toney, then graduated to Ironman, and finally Supreme Clientle. Those are considered the "eternal top two" of most Ghostface Killah fans' lists. Well, I would assume anyway that it is. Not like I did the proper data-gathering and research to come to such a conclusion. But those early GhostDini albums - 'Ironman' coming during the 1st phase of Wu-Tang's hip-hop dominance in the early-to-mid 90's and 'Supreme Clientele' coming during the 2nd half/phase of Wu's hip-hop dominance - were timeless classics, it's eternally agreed upon. From there, the debate amongst Ghostface Killah (GFK, for short) hardcore fanatics begins. 'Bulletproof Wallets' is, imo, underrated and a top 5 Ghost album. 'Fish scale' lead Ghost's "second half" career burst of popularity, his "second coming" with new fans from all over the world, discovering Ghost not from jump or even a few years after, but towards the half-way point in his career. When the Wu-Tang was beginning to be an after-thought musically and more popular as an Etsy logo plastered on everything from couches, to welcome mats, and even underwear. 'Twelve Reasons To Die', both the 1st and 2nd albums, are his latest projects. Ghost collaborated with newly arthouse in-crowd'd music producer Adrian Younge, on the first album. It went over so well that he & Younge went back in the studio and cooked-up a second album which was equally good (even though the first is ALWAYS better...always). Then there's 'Big Doe Rehab', 'Ghostdini Wizard in the Land of Poetry', his recent EP with BadBadGoodGood or whatever. I'm stoned and don't wanna fact-check so bite me if I'm incorrect. I'm now 3- years-old, listening to Ghost more than a decade after I discovered him. And he still sounds fresh and amazing AF. Ghostface Killah is truly one of the greatest emcees ever, for many reasons. First, as I've brought up before, his album discography is, well, bulletproof. There's not a bomb in the bunch. And there's a LOT of albums. That's #2 - his quality albums-to-number-of-albums-created ratio. It's 12-for-12 solo albums and 5-for-5 collabo albums (yes, I looked THAT Ghostface fact up on Wikipedia, whatever). So, just for shits, i AM going to list my favorite GhostFace albums, from best to least (but ALL are dope). It goes as follows (and open to change anytime from now to infinity, word to Souls of Mischief): 1. Only Built For Cuban Linx (hey, it's pretty much a collab album and the best of BOTH emcee's catalogs, for real g, straight-up) 2. The Pretty Toney Album (You always remember your first time...) 3. Iron-Man 4. Supreme Clientle 5. Bulletproof Wallets 6. Fischscale 7. Twelve Reasons to Die / SourSoul w/ BadBadNotGood (TIE) 8. 36 Seasons 9. Apollo Kids 10. Twelve Reasons To Die 2 11. Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City 12. The Big Doe Rehab 13. More Fish 14. Wu-Massacre / Wu-Block (TBH I havn't listened to these joints yet and I heard they weren't that good so I GUESS if you wanna count thee as bombs then Ghost HAS dropped some shit that stinks...whatever I don't count collabs there's too many additional creative variables involved)