Two-Minute Music Musings: Pete Rock/Camp Lo's 80 Blocks From Tiffanys Part 1

If anyone deserves to be on that infamous hip-hop milk box "Missing" alert on the side of the carton - it's those two brothers seemingly time-frozen in the 90's New York rap scene, Camp Lo. The duo - Geechi Suede and Sonny Chiba, respectively, are well-known through-out the rap underground for their debut album 'Uptown Saturday Night', which released towards the beginning of the second-half of the 1990's in 9-7. 1997 was a weird year for rap music. 2Pac had actually fulfilled his lyrical claims of a sudden death at a young age - and everyone was still in complete shock. The Notorious B.I.G. was still alive at the year's beginning - but he wouldn't survive to see is end with the ball-drop at Times Square in December. Puffy Combs and Suge Knight were both grasping for power straws on each's individual coast - with mixed results. Puff went with shiny suits, glitz, and well-known 80's samples while Suge went 100% rough-and-rugged - both with his label's choices in music as well as his personal gulliness. Basically, hip-hop was lost and in desperate need of a guiding light (which Jay-Z and Dre/Snoop would eventually provide) and Camp Lo's excellent debut was lost in all the chaos, glitz, and glamour. Which is a shame. Because 'Uptown Saturday Night' is banger-for-banger able to compete with any other hip-hop album that released in that 90's timeframe. The 'Lo never followed-up Uptown Saturday Night, for reasons that are never quite explained. No matter. Fast-forward to 2016 (it actually started a few years ago) and the 90's rap-revival is in full-swing, 100%. Rap musicians new-and-old are starting to benefit from the additional exposure, especially after newcomer Joey BadA$$ and his Pro Era crew came on the scene back in 2012. 90's producers are in-demand once again, and newer producers are following old-school ques and techniques. One of the "holiest of holy" of these 90's-era beat-makers is Pete Rock, aka Soul Brother #1. Pete Rock was never a slouch (or disappeared like Camp Lo) on the boards in terms of frequent work - and his instrumental series, Petestrumentals; as well as his Soul Survivor series and so forth; have gave him enough work to stay busy. But this 90's-rap trend has given Pete Rock much more attention than usual, and he's decided to share the wealth. The stars aligned however they did, and so New York's Mount Vernon & the South Bronx came together to collaborate on a quasi-album-slash-mixtape, 80 Blocks To Tiffanys. The 80 Blocks... tape is a blend of new Camp Lo vocals and old Pete Rock productions - several of the tracks are well-known tracks Pete did in his 90's group with CL Smooth such as 'On Ice (freestyle)', 'Ha', 'Lumdi', and 'Searching'. It works, amazingly well. In-between the classic Pete Rock cuts, there's some original production as well. There original tracks complement the old-school vibes present for the tape's entirety. It's Pete Rock - expect lots of horns, low baseline grooves, and extremely hard-hitting drum patterns. Geechi Suede, and especially Sonny Chiba's vocal delivery and just the sound of their individual voices works superbly over 80 Blocks...'s production. So well, in fact, that I constantly found myself wondering why the two guys never pushed their efforts' further back when Camp Lo first started. I guess we'll have to save the answer to that particular question for next time. As for right now, the answer to the question of wether 80 Blocks From Tiffany's fulfills all of this 90's music fanatic's desires is a resounding HELL yes.

THE CULT OF JAY DEE: Dilla Tribute Show Review At The New Parish in Downtown Oakland

Detroit came to downtown Oakland last night. And local venue The New Parish (looking more and more like The Fox Theatre's second cousin every weekend it seems) played host. The show was officially entitled "The Kings Court Tour" - except that the King of THIS particular court has been dead for a little over a decade now. In 2005, James Yancey; also known the entire world-over as J.Dilla; tragically passed away from Lupus at the still-young age of 32. What made it worse was that for a decade-plus BEFORE that ill-fated time period in 2005, Dilla had been putting in major dues within the music industry and was mastering his craft; preparing for a (hopefully) fruitful music career. And Yancey was finally starting to reap the rewards of all that hard-work producing for major-label artists, himself, and his personal group, Slum Village. Until time stopped on that cold day in February 2005. Now, in 2016, Slum Village (and "King's Court" fellow performers Phat Kat and Guilty Simpson) are all that remains of the active musicians that J.Dilla had his own personal fingerprints on (not counting major-label artists such as Tribe and De La). And even then, Slum Village; a once-trio, had been whittled-down by age and health to a sole original member in performer T3. The other two OGs - already mentioned Dilla, as well as fellow Conant Gardens dweller Bataan - have both passed tragically in their thirties already. And other constant member Elzhi (who joined AFTER Dilla left the group full-time in 2001) wasn't exactly repine' SV anymore, either. Indeed, T3 was looking somewhat lonely up there on stage. I imagined before the show that opening-act emcees Phat Kat and Guilty Simpson (who straight BURNED through his excellent underground catalog...) would substitute themselves for Jay Dee and Bataan's vocals. This did not happen. It also exposed how little I actually knew about the ever-changing game of musical chairs (literally) that Slum Village likes to participate in. As stated, Slum Village started as a trio out of Conant Gardens; an impoverished project/slum (hence the group name) on Detroit's Eastern Side. Jay was (obviously) the man-behind-the-boards (and his beloved, infamous MPC) and Bataan provided the group with it's "wildcard" role-playing member. Bataan was troubled with drug addiction to crack-cocaine, though - an affliction that would eventually be the cause of his tragic early demise a few years after Jay Dee in 2009. And then there was T3 - the emcee responsible for the strong-yet-steady (and never overpowering) vocal delivery and verbal assault on most-all of SV's catalog. And just like his style - T3 has become Slum Vill's constant, as well. As mentioned, T3 brought along some fellow Detroit-dwelling friends to Oakland too; including Phat Kat, Guilty Simpson, and Black Milk. I arrived near the end of Phat Kat's set, and honestly didn't really ever feel any regret for that. Not that Kat's an incapable lyricist. It's just that his charisma was very unbalanced; plus he continued to verbally admonish the crowd for being "a straight sausage-fest" and continually asking where all the "bitches were at" in the building. We get it, Phat Kat - backpacker rap isn't exactly a girl's best friend. Much like the worlds of battle-rap and sneaker-collecting, backpacker rap music is most-definitely a man's world (word to JB). But it's slowly becoming more viable for the female gender and there were definitely ladies in attendance. But the ratio was still overwhelming guys. And when your sitting in a hot and stuffy, compact sweatbox-of-a-venue like The New Parish - I get that standing shoulder-to-shoulder with all dudes isn't the greatest. Luckily, it wasn't to the point of distraction - and Phat Kat continuing to mention this fact did more harm than anything else to the "vibe" of the night's performance. Phat Kat DID know how to execute a proper segway for Guilty Simpson to come-out and start his set. Guilty kilt it (no Scots) 100%; to the point that nobody cared they were almost hand-in-hand with the sweat-soaked, hairy guy next to them (probably me). Guilty Simpson has benefited handsomely from his involvement with Jay-Dee towards the end of Dilla's life. Simpson had (what seemed like) an endless supply of Dilla-esque beats; and indeed - if the beat wasn't produced by Jay Dee himself, then it WAS produced by someone to sound exactly LIKE Dilla. And this sub-world within hip-hop - the "cult of Dilla" if you will - has developed into it's own lucrative cottage industry. Independent music labels (no matter how small or large in scope their involvement was) like Stones Throw Records have made a killing off of J.Dilla's old catalog and productions. Much like fellow rap-music-martyr Tupac before him, Dilla left behind an ample amount of material in both finished and rough-draft forms. His work ethic was impeccable - perhaps even moreso than 2pac's due to the nature of a beatsmiths creation process as opposed to an 100% lyricist. Vinyl record-collecting has also shot into the stratosphere in terms of popularity lately - it completely DOUBLED it's yearly sales size in 2015 - so there's literally piles of 12" pressed vinyl singles, special edition EP's, and everything remixed, remastered, and re-re-RE-released one more time for good measure. Not that any of the artists under the Dilla umbrella are actually in the wrong. Indeed, Dilla himself would probably approve if he could be asked right now. And beside his infamously named "Ma Dukes" of a mother, if anyone should reap the benefits of the J.Dilla financial gravy train than it should be T3/Slum Village. And a whole lotta gravy left the train station last night. The New Parish was packed shoulder-to-shoulder; maxed-out with a mixed group of street-dwelling corner boys and suburban, soccer-playing and backpack-wearing white kids. Some were OG's like me, most were fresh-faced neo-soulphytes that probably discovered Dilla around the time Donuts came-out. Instead, they're live-and-in-the-flesh Dilla-esque artist of choice is Black Milk - who was easily the night's breakaway star. A prospect of J.Dilla when he was alive, Black Milk is basically Detroit's backpack rap golden child (and onetime possible savior). He was eager to make a name for himself after Dilla passed and handed him the mantle. Instead of proving to the audience exactly WHY Dilla chose him, Black Milk played an entire set "as if we in the basement playing beats for myself, y'all...that cool? You guys gonna rock with me??!". And rock with Black Milk for his 45-minute set, we did. He played weird loops and eccentric drum patterns, mixing all the rich tapestry of music that Detroit's served-up over the decades. He went from soul, to funk, to early Detroit house and then gritty net-soul that we were all in attendance for. Black Milk also guest-DJ'd for both Phat Kat and Guilty Simpson. Newcomer DJ Will (sp? different name? crowd was so f'n loud, smh...) provided assistance on the 1's and 2's for Slum Village. All-in-all, the night was a semi-memorable one fueled more by nostalgia than by current music. And nostalgia sells. T3 stated to the crowd at one point that Dilla's personal favorite SDV track of all-time was 'Get Dis Money', and he had a record label entitled 'Jay Stay Paid.' So yeah, I think Dilla would probably nod his head in approval. Just definitely not as hard as I nodded mine last night when his group rocked the mic on a surprisingly warm, full-moon lit night in downtown Oakland.

Consequences, Rhymes, and Strife: ATCQ's Almost-Classic Fourth Album

In the nuclear family of A Tribe Called Quest, Beats, Rhymes, and Life is the middle child. Unlike it's first-and-last-born musical siblings, BR&L doesn't really get as much attention from the general public for it's accomplishments. Even the addition and resulting creative shot-in-the-arm that producer J.Dilla (as 1/3rd of production team 'The Umma') gave the album couldn't save it from a legacy of relative obscurity compared to much-worshipped Tribe LP's The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders. Agreed, those two albums (and, one could argue, People's Instinctive Travels) are essential, timeless classic of the hip-hop genre. But Beats, Rhymes, and Life was perfect for what it was - an album created during a group's gradual and eventual decline...but still working at a somewhat-high level. Like Mike on the Wizards. I challenge you to find a skipable single track on BR&L. Double dare. Also, the album is just so goddamn FUN. A Tribe Called Quest started this journey of theirs on a mostly-fun tip with People's Instinctive Travels... - that almost childlike joy and sense of innocence (somewhat) that the genre of hip-hop started with itself - and they were just getting back to that, essentially. Q-Tip and the rest of the crew (but especially Tip, as he put in a LOT of timer & energy production-wise as well as lyrically and anything else needed to move the group's efforts forward in the public spectrum) were starting to feel the effects of all that time on the road doing both touring and making the promotional rounds; as well as making music videos, taking photographs, and all the other necessary tasks of a major label album release in the early nineties. There was also starting to be a lot more group in-fighting (which would continue to fester within the group, see: Michael Rapport's also-named Beats, Rhymes, and Life documentary). Half the decade was over when Beats, Rhymes and Life dropped in 1996 - a time where hip-hop artists ion general had started to stop focusing on what made their era so golden, in pursuit of platinum and (eventually) diamond-level record sales. These artists stopped giving to the culture and started only taking from it. This topic was addressed that same year by fellow Native Tounges' members, De La Soul, on their seminal classic Stakes Is High. Tribe went the different, less serious (and totally fine) route. Their leader needed a surge of inspiration - and Tip found it in a young producer from Detroit with a seminingly unlimited amount of musical potential named James Dewitt Yancey. Yancey's artist name/general nickname was J.Dilla - the (now) much-worshipped underground sales sensation. But Yates didn't have a congregation yet in 9-6. Back then, he was still trying to get himself and his group of neighborhood friends and rappers, Slum Village, off the literal pavement still. (SEE: BBC Radio 1's EXCELLENT radio program 'The Story of Q-Tip' for more on Tip and Dilla's relationship beginnings in his own words) And so, here came Q-Tip with an "S"-on-his-chest to save the day (and the admiration of suburban-dwelling, Diamond Supply Co. wearing, soocer-playing white kids everywhere). Dilla, plus Tribe co-members Tip and Ali Shaheed, joined forces as production trio "The Ummah" and create the expansive sonic environment that makes-up 'BR&L'. The album's recipe was basically a mixing of the "classic Tribe" soundscape - with some Dilla-esque production tweeks. The trio decided to create an album less of the jazz-rap variety - though jazz elements definitely still remain - and go with something a little more soulful, yet updated. Basically a precursor to the net-soul atom bomb that Dilla and his contemporaries were about to drop on the general public via individual efforts; as well as together in the super-production team The Soulquarians. And I think this switch-up of production style (which, remember, was still ahead of it's time by a couple years) is where most of the listener's "shock value" comes from - that and the addition of a third emcee in Q-Tip's younger good cousin, Consequence. Yes - there was now a third voice in the crew, as "unofficial" as Consequence's status was claimed to be by Tip himself at the time. More than a mere feature artist - Consequence shows-up on at least 3/4th of the album's cuts. And it;s not necessarily a bad thing. Cons is himself a competent lyricist. In fact, I personally feel that he adds a sense of energetic vibrancy that, as mentioned earlier, was lacking. Sure, Tip & Phife still had LOTS of energy in the tank. But to borrow Phife's favorite type of references (basketball) once again - even Jordan needed newer members like Steve Kerr for his second three-peat. And Consequence was that 6th man off-the-bench that gives that verbal shot-in-the-arm needed on tracks like 'Motivators' and album single 'Stressed-Out'. It's like the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi - your either with or against them. They add to the material, or take it away depending on who's expressing the opinion. I'm firmly in the pro-Consequence group. Well, I am on this album anyways - Consequence leaves much to be desired on post-B,R&L material; and probably the reason he was never heard from again on other Tribe releases which were soon to dwindle into nothing at all after The Love Movement. There will never be an argument over which is the top 3 ATCQ albums - Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders firmly hold positions #1 and #2 (and switch depending on who's deciding the ranking), while People's Instinctive Travels is close behind in spot #3. But playing eternal catch-up behind People's... in the "eh" category is Beats, Rhymes, and Life. It has all the elements that make-up a classic hip-hop album as well. It's just that the cooks might've added too many new ingredients in the kitchen to the old, favorite formula just a little too much for most people's liking. And that's a shame. RIP Phife Dawg. RIP Consequence's career.

A Guy Called Phife: Rest In Power

Being in second place sucks. Straight up. It usually means, especially in sports, that you've worked your ASS off at something. You put in all your blood, sweat, and tears and practiced until sunrise. You committed yourself one-hundred-and-one percent and yet still came up short. All the attention is on the other person; its like you want to scream I'M REALLY GOOD TOO GUYS. Malik Issac Taylor knew this position well. Malik, more famously known as Phife Dawg, is one of two emcees in the much-heralded hip-hop group, A Tribe Called Quest. It's simply "Tribe" to their devoted following - of which there is millions worldwide. The de-facto leader, though, isn't Phife; but instead the other emcee in the four-member group, Q-Tip. From jump, Q-Tip produced much of Tribe's catalog - and this was, naturally, a major reason for his position as leader. But Tip was also oozing charisma and had a distinctive (yet nasally) voice that stood-out. And the ladies loved him (and still do). Sure, Phife Dawg had these traits as well - just not as much. And in every famous duo - scanning every medium from music and comics, to film and beyond - there's always an alpha. There has to be. Otherwise you wouldn't have artists; you'd have a couple of mountain rams butting heads all damn day. And that's OK. Q-Tip, as great as he is, can't possibly mark every attribute on a listener's personality checklist. Tip and Phife, and other amazing groups like them (Outkast, fellow Native Tounges members De La Soul, etc...), are the ying to each other's yang. They fulfill the needs of the listener that the other one doesn't. Super-artistic weirdo? Q-Tip. Sport-loving, "guy's guy"? Phife. The person you hold on a pedestal? Q-Tip. The more down-to-earth, easier-to-relate-to one? Phife Dawg, no doubt about it. And that's why his death earlier this morning hit me (and those same millions of other devoted followers, I'm sure) so goddamn hard. Phife had a self-deprecating humor that was essential to his (and thus, Tribe's) entire make-up. He was like that one person at a party who makes you feel at ease when you were super-nervous before. He does a faux-jamaican patois routine that relaxes you, maybe. Indeed, Phife clowned around - but at the same time don't take him for a fool. He came-off as more street-smart than Tip who was definitely the more artistic, sensitive one (like Black Thought and Questlove); the rough-around-the-edges type who would definitely be the one protecting the other friend in a fight (maybe the one in 'Jam'?). Q-Tip might've been viewed as the more "artistic one" since he produced, or had his hands in, much of ATCQ's production - but Phife was no slouch when it came to his verses. Not necessarily a super lyrical miracle, Phife Diggy still knew how to hit you straight in the heart. That same self-deprecating humor breed humility - and Phife's humble side shines through on one of his rare solo tracks, '8 Million Stories'. Going the opposite route of the usually materialistic and "happy days"braggadocio rap route; Phife talks about having basically the worst fucking day ever (Ice Cube would not approve). We follow Phife as he tries, and tries again, to get laid. His jacket gets stolen - with all his money in it. The cops, of course, fuck with him. He gets robbed, this time in person (Phife's only 5'7", he says it in pretty much every Tribe song ever). AND JOHN STARKS (word to the 90's!) GETS EJECTED SON. '8 Million Stories' is, without a doubt, one of the best A Tribe Called Quest songs ever. And it's only Phife (except for Q-Tip's ad-libs at the end). Phife proves himself on 'Butter' as well, which is a cut off Tribe's earlier classic album 'Low End Theory'. Indeed, Phife definitely proved his worth as a member of the Tribe crew. I was lucky, no, PRIVILEGED enough to see A Tribe Called Quest live in 2004 at Rock The Bells in San Bernardino, CA. I still have my tattered and faded ticket somewhere. You have to understand, Tribe was thru back then, having split-up after 'The Love Movement' for various reasons (which would fester through-out their ill-fated "comeback" attempts later). So, at the time, this was a very big deal. Rock The Bells was in it's infancy as well, just transforming itself from a small Sunset Strip-held monthly event to a full-on musical festival. I traveled down from Oakland for the show, all of 19 years old. J.Dilla was there, as well as Madlib as the duo Jaylib. Ahhh memories. But I digress. That show would turn into one of the best nights of my life (ODB died that day too, it was kinda weird). They truly put on a 100% effort, and this was (at the time) thought-to-be their only comeback show as stated, exclusively at that Rock The Bells show. Obviously, that didn't happen. A Tribe Called Quest would go-on to attempt a couple other comeback attempts, with some better than others. But Tribe wasn't "Tribe" anymore though (see: Michael Rapport's excellent documentary 'Beats, Rhymes, and Life'). But for that period in the 90's, hardly anyone could touch them. Q-Tip might've been the sun to Phife's moon, but they need each other just the same. Rest in peace to one of the members of one of the most important hip-hop groups of all-time,; as well as one of my personally favorite groups - Phife Dawg. Condolences to his family and the rest of Tribe. I'm sure Phife is looking down from the clouds above, wearing a throwback Knicks Ewing jersey over his angels wings and sipping a Dr.Pepper. Salute.

The Best Albums You've Probably Never Heard Series: Pete Rock + INI's 'Center of Attention'

Apparently, this gorgeous audio landscape wasn't supposed to see release. Pete Rock had just spent a good portion of 1995 (when he wasn't making records for his group with musical partner CL Smooth, that is) shaping & forming the first album release by his newly signed group, INI, as well as the group itself. It was a 100% Soul Brother #1-produced affair; and it showed-through in each individual track. Elektra; the major label through which Pete Rock had his vanity label; still was hesitant to commit. And so, like many other albums through-out hip-hop history; Center of Attention was destined for the LP elephant graveyard. Until it wasn't. It was the year 2003, and Pete Rock had recently stepped-out a few years before on his own to attempt a solo career. He was having a career resurgence at the beginning of the aughts - riding the backs of the then-popular neo-soul and underground rap/backpacker movements; to whom which Pete Rock was regarded as a hip-hop savant. And it's easy to see why after giving Center of Attention a few spins. The album is consistent through-out; starting with 'No More Words' (which is as quintessential a Pete Rock production as you can get, really) and continuing 'til ending track 'Wanderlust'; which is dripping with mellow vibes. This is, of course, the main benefit of having a lone producer making the beats for your album. And therein lies the consistency - there's only one cook in the kitchen. And Pete Rock is serving-up dish after dish of drum-pattern deliciousness. The other involved group members don't really strand-out themselves, though. They are: Rob-O, Grap Luva (I don't even wanna know why...), Ras G, Marco Polo, and DJ Boodakhan (maybe he smokes while watching Star Trek 2 a lot??). Not that it matters; not a single member really stands-out that much. It's kinda like Group Home's Livin' Proof album, in that the producer of the album is the actual star (even though this same producer doesn't appear on any of the vocals) and the emcees involved are simply a means to an end. Not to discredit any of the guys involved - their vocal delivery and tone are a perfect match to the actual music. Record label BBE noticed this as well; and INI's Center of Attention finally received a "proper" album release in 2003 as I stated above. I used quotations there because it was essentially a combining of two old Pete Rock-produced albums from his ill-fated Soul Brother #1 Records - Center of Attention as well as The Original Baby Pa by Mount Vernon, NY emcee DeDa (I think it's pretty obvious that Pete Rock isn't known for his taste in artist names). BBE slapped the two albums onto a double disc LP and called it Lost & Found: Hip-Hop Underground Soul Classics. Center of Attention was heavily bootlegged from the minute it hit the studio cutting-room floor. Except this was pre-Napster, so it was basically a buncha Boom-Bap fiends trading over-dubbed cassettes and eventually CD-R's (truly a motley group after my own heart) for an almost-decade plus. The cover, a plain orange-ish background with a vintage black image of a young African-American girl, stood-out among the racks of clearance CD's and forgotten rap mixtapes alike at Amoeba Records on Telegraph Ave. The store was slowly becoming my musical tabernacle, and I came to worship every week (and literally twice on some Sundays). And every single time for those first few years of musical (see: mostly hip-hop) that I did the ritual of walking up-and-down the aisles of records - Center of Attention woulds stand-out, as if to almost call to me. Somehow the LP got lost in the sands of time, and I never was able to soak-in that experience of hearing an amazing album for the first time. Now I have the rest of my life.

NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL THE 90'S: Karl Kani Edition

Forgotten Bay-Area B-Sides, Remembered #1 - 'The World Is Filled...' by The Notorious B.I.G. ft. Too $hort and Puff Daddy

"Make it hot." No, it's not Call Me, Ishmael. But those three words start the song that would become The Notorious BIG's lone Bay-Area Mobb music attempt from a major East Coast artist. It was a completely different era, obviously. Pac was trying to convince the world that his paranoid fantasies were actually becoming reality, with mixed results; as was his campaign to sour the taste of Biggie Smalls in the mouths of Bay Area residents whenever the rappers' music or name was even mentioned. Yes, everyone here knew the narrative of Tupac Shakur, and how he (and to a larger extent, the American Media) was trying to make everyone choose between the two emcees, and to a greater extant, entire coasts. But the Bay Area wasn't having it. And neither was BIG. 'Ready To Die' had been an 100% East-Coast affair, but Biggie wanted to expand his resume. He also wanted to put this bullshit with Pac behind him, regardless if the feelings weren't mutual. So, for BIG's 2-disc opus, 'Life After Death', he went with a little more California-esque flavor. On certain tracks, that is. Hip-hop was still divided by coasts in terms of sound & influence back in the 1990's, and Bad Boy Records' executive and final-say-having record producer, Puff Daddy was no different in strategy at this point in time. But Puff realized where rap was going, and wanted to steer the commercial ship's course as much as possible. Hence Puff's soon-to-be-successful strategy of mixing well-known hits of the 80's with the simple rhymes of excess of rappers such as Mase and himself (after Biggie's early demise, that is, or it'd have been BIG all the way...). If Puffy was actually self-conscious of what he planned to with the direction of his Bad Boy Ent. label at the time of 'The World Is Filled...' may never be known. But the fact remains that Bad Boy, and The Notorious BIG, were in a transition. James Brown samples were on the way OUT, and George Clinton was IN.
Southern California had received most of the shine the West Coast was receiving from the media in the early 90's, and rightfully so. The biggest artists to break during this time-period were most-always from LA and its surrounding counties. But the Bay Area wasn't to be counted out just yet. Tupac was a monumental force to be reckoned with. And with all the light being shown on Pac, it was only a matter of time before that light started to cast itself on the artists surrounding him. Digital Underground had already broke with Shock G's Humpty Hump character (and broke Pac himself in the process), and E-40 and Too $hort had already established themselves locally as strong independent artists viable to major labels, so they were prepared more than anyone to make the jump to a national music platform. $hort had himself been puttin' in work with cohort Freddy B since the mid-80's at the tender age of fourteen and was now leading a successful music career. But more than viable commercial success, Too $hort had the undeniable respect of his peers. Everybody loved Too $hort. And Biggie was no different. An infamous tense encounter between BIG and E-40 around this time (which is explained in multiple sources including YouTube) actually started in part because of an interview The Notorious BIG had done at a Sacramento radio station (or in a local magazine, the direct source isn't concrete apparently) where he rated local Bay Area emcees and gave Forty Fonzarelli a "zero" on a 1-10 scale. He gave Too $hort a perfect ten. So it was only natural when Too $hort showed-up on the credits of one of the finishing tracks of 'Life After Death'. The lone West-Coast artist on the album, Too $hort gave Biggie major appeal to his West-Coast and Southern listeners (Short is a legend in the South maybe more than the Bay Area...), as well as being a neutral third-party in the somewhat-coastal beef between BIG and Pac. BIG also had an infatuation with the "player lifestyle" so prevalent in the 90's (and thankfully, put to rest years ago in terms of lingo usage), and Too $hort was the direct Godfather of the style. He gave BIG even more street cred than Biggie Smalls already had, too. Apparently, the original version of the song included another OG Oakland rap legend, Richie Rich. At the peak of his career in 9-6, Richie Rich originally appeared on the track alongside of BIG and Short. For reasons never given, Puff Daddy replaced Double-R with himself. And it's not bad, Puffy's flamboyant personality already blended well with this 90's version of the pimp lifestyle. Richie Rich also had been associating himself more & more with 2pac during this time (with Pac even appearing on RR's 1996 release 'Seasoned Veteran' and it's stand-out track, 'Niggas Done Changed'), and Puffy possibly saw this as bad for business and left Richie Rich off the record. Either way, Too $hort more than makes-up for RR's absence. His Oakland shit-talking ad-lib for 30-seconds-or-so at the track's end is classic Short. The record was produced by soon-to-be Kanye West mentor, D-Dot Angeletti, as well as Puffy himself. Angeletti sampled primarily the record 'Space Talk' by Asha Puthli, as well as the infamous "Make It Hot" vocal sample of Biggie himself, from his 'Ready To Die' track, 'The What'. Then-unsigned R&B artist Carl Thomas is responsible for delivering the hook. 'The World Is Filled...' remains today a staple of every West-Coast DJ's "classic 90's hip-hop" setlist, and it probably always will. Because it makes shit hot. And keeps it there for four-minutes and fifty-four seconds. Biggie says it right there in the beginning of the track, y'all. And always remember, you can never make a hoe into a housewife. 'The World Is Filled...' might be a regional favorite, but that shit's universal.