Mark 563 is a DJ, a graphic designer, he is also into amateur photography, but he also dabble into illustrations.
He is also a proud owner of one of the greatest vinyl collection i have ever seen. Stay tunned after this one, cause soon after we will show you some more of his great work. Enjoy and pleas leave the feedback, thanks.
** Click on the image to see it in a bigger resolution.
You really ain't know hip hop if you ain't know the legendary Digital Underground. Likewise, if you've never danced your ass off to this song at a house party while singing "I once got busy in a Burger King bathroom," then you should probably bounce and go listen to some Flo-Rida or something. These dudes are Oaktown legends, and are unfairly remembered more for the fact that they gave Tupac his start in the industry than the music that they made.
Digital Underground is a fantastic rap group, don't get me wrong. However, I've got to admit that they have their faults, at least musically. As the mighty ego trip Monkey Academyonce said, D.U. has "one great album, one decent EP, and far too much bullshit after that." Whereas this may be perceived as a little harsh, there's a modicum of truth to it. Sex Packets is indeed a classic hip hop album; it's bawdy, rambunctious, and totally fun. Unfortunately, after releasing this seminal piece of music, something caused D.U. to fade away into the ether.
So what happened? Too ambitious, indulgent? The constant revolving-door cycle of artists coming in and out of the D.U. camp? The actual bloatation (is that even a word?) of the group into near-Funkadelic status, with dozens of musicians, graphic artists, dancers shuffled into the collective? Who knows. I suppose that's a question for another day and another blog post. For now, we'll be focusing on just one of the other high-quality releases by Digital Underground: 1991's This Is An EP Release.
Essentially a continuation of the Sex Packets sound and themes, This Is An EP Release rides the Parliament vibe, eschewing the sample-driven sound and embracing live instrumentation; this is some of the funkiest organ work you'll ever hear on a rap record. 6 songs deep, all killer and no filler. It might not be the perfect EP but it's pretty damn close. Do yourself a favor: scoop this up and play it next Saturday night. I guarantee it will not disappoint.
If that was not much for you, than try to digest this load of dope summer tracks from all over The States, alloted in 3 volumes, made by member of philaflava forum and owner of his own blog, Drayzee, http://drayzee.blogspot.com/. Drayzee was just kind enough to allow us to use his own work and to represent it via T.R.O.Y. Blog. Thank you Drayzee for this massive work.
"Drayzee Says: It's 'Em Summer Days" is a compilation based on g-funk/gangsta/jazz/funk music. Too bad it's not summer yet, however this project will certainly give you that summer vibe. I hope this will bump in your speakers 6 summers from now. The first volume contains more "party-like" songs, the second volume will contain more gangsta/cruisin' stuff,jazz & funk, and the third one will be for you to just chill on. I also used some St. Ides commercial once per 8-9 songs, just to give you the feeling that there still is a dope radio on earth bumpin' this.
1. The Dove Shack - Summertime In The LBC 2. Mr. Criminal - Sounds Of Summertime 3. 2nd II None - Up N Da Club 4. DGSB - In The Summer Breeze 5. L.O.L. - Summer Breeze 6. Big Mello - Fancy Thangz 7. 2nd II None - If You Want It 8. Black Ty aka Tyrese & Kurupt - Westside 9. 2nd II None - Nuthin' Has Changed 10. Foesum - Likka Store 11. Madd Hatta - Trunk-O-Funk 12. Goldy - In the Land of Funk 13. Cold World Hustlers - Everyday Thang feat. One Tyme 14. Conscious Daughters - We Roll Deep 15. Ganksta C - 3 Wheel Motion 16. Double A - Gangstrumental 17. Nate Dogg - Nobody Does It Better (feat. Warren G) 18. 2Pac feat. Dre & Roger - California Love [Wadz Remix] 19. 213 - Another Summer 20. Warren G - Get U Down (Remix) ft. Ice Cube, B-Real, Snoop Dogg 21. Dream Warriors - California Dreamin' 22. Da Brat - Let's All Get High (Feat. Krayzie Bone) 23. Twinz - Journey Wit Me 24. Second Nature - Take me back 25. Top Prize - Ballin Big Affair 26. Stalin - G-Funk 27. Playa B & The Midwest Click - Indiana Love 28. O.F.T.B. - Ladies Night 29. Zapp - More Bounce To The Ounce 30. Zapp - Beautiful Lady 31. Lakeside - Something About That Woman 32. The Whispers - And The Beat Goes On 33. Oliver Cheatham - Get Down On Saturday Night (Special Extended Version) 34. Kool & The Gang - Summer Madness 35. Incredible Bongo Band - Pipeline 36. Quincy Jones - Summer In The City 37. The Isley Brothers - Footsteps In The Dark 38. Isaac Hayes - Walk On By 39. Roy Ayers - Everybody Loves The Sunshine 40. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Waiting in Vain 41. The Floaters - Float On 42. Zapp - Be Alright 43. Joe Sample - In All My Wildest Dreams 44. Erick Sermon - Music (feat Marvin Gaye) 45. Bobby Hutcherson - Ummh 46. Mojoe - Gumbo Groove 47. Lucas - Sitting In A Breeze With Jazz 48. Kingdom - Ghetto Star 49. 2 Of The Crew - Emotions 50. Alien Planet - In The Heat Of The Night 51. Nate Dogg - Bag O' Weed 52. Trundeed - You Know 53. 213 - Game Don't Wait [Wadz Remix] 54. Ahmad - Back in the Day (remix) 55. Gyrl - Gyrl - Play Another Slow Jam (Single Version) 56. Ice-T - How Does It Feel 57. CC Waterbound - CC Waterbound 58. Ase Man - Space Age 59. Blue House Boyz - This Is How We Chill 60. 5th Ward Juvenilez - G-Groove 61. Rodg - Always 62. A Lighter Shade Of Brown - Dip Into My Ride 63. Twinz - Good Times 64. DGSB - Let Me Groove You 65. Suga Free - The Rebirth ft. Mausberg & Kam 66. 2nd II None - Let's Get Higher 67. Mr.X - So High 68. Vontel (Ft. Roger Troutman) - 4 My Homiez 69. Rhythm And Green - Carry On 70. Duke - Young Rida 71. Lo-Key - Don't Trip On Me 72. Royal C - Rollin On The East Side 73. Lite Foot - Summer Nights 74. Battlecat - Waterdrop 75. Jay Dee - Think Twice 76. N.E.S. - 4YoRide 77. Scrooge - I Made It 78. Ii Triflin - Get Money 79. Big 50 - Funk Flow 80. A Lighter Shade Of Brown - Playin' In The Shade 81. Playya 1000 - Sunday Afternoon (4-Ever) 82. South 1 East - Dago Luv 83. Se7en - Rise 84. Mac & Ak - Can I Strike Through 85. Mista Grimm - Dippin' 86. Caprice - What Do You Want 87. Foesum - Who Got Your Back 88. Paperboy - Propaganda 89. Jewel T - Driftin 90. San Quinn - Having A Ball 91. Precise - What Tha Funk 92. Wessyde Goon Squad - Higher (Remix) 93. Darkside - Let Me Introduce Myself 94. Tha Reela - Whats The Lick 95. DJ Quik - Summer Breeze 96. 2Pac - Can You Get Away 97. 2Pac - Me Against The World
Paying my tribute to one of the original Flavor Unit crew member, Apache, I compiled all of his appearances on records from 1989 to 1993 and the 12" cuts from his 1993 solo album "Apache Ain't Shit". Starting out with Lakim Shabazz on 45 King's Rhythmical Madness in 1989. Following with four appearances on the Flavor Unit album in 1990. In 1991, he's on Naughty By Nature & Double J's album. In 1993, for his 12"s cuts, he receives production from A Tribe Called Quest(Q. Tip), Large Professor, and The 45 King. For his guest appearances in 1993, he's with Fat Joe & Kool G Rap, and 2Pac(R.I.P), Treach, & The Live Squad(Stretch R.I.P). He would also write some of Latifah's lyrics. Apache had an incredible music collection.
R.I.P. Apache Jan.22.10
01 - The 45 King & Louie Louie - Smooth Yet Hard (Feat. Lakim Shabazz, Apache) (1989)
02 - The 45 King Presents - Flavor Unit Assassination Squad (Feat. Apache, Double J, Lakim Shabazz, Lord Alibaski, Queen Latifah) (1990)
03 - The 45 King Presents - I Feel Like Flowing (Feat. Apache) (1990)
04 - The 45 King Presents - Passin' The Mike (Feat. Lakim Shabazz, Apache) (1990)
05 - The 45 King Presents - Smooth Yet Hard (Feat. Apache) (1990)
It appears that good things can happen when the UK gets blasted with the heaviest snow in 100 years. With the country coming to a complete halt, forum regular Step One had time to put together this sweet compilation of bootleg remixes and blends. Show some appreciation by leaving a comment (or a link to another remix) and he might bless us with volume 2.
Step One says "A staple of any nineties Hip Hop DJ’s collection is the shady white label remix. Information on whoever was putting these out was usually pretty thin on the ground for obvious reasons but they often held some real gems. Having rediscovered some of these recently I’ve put together a collection of some of those unofficial remixes as well as a few that I’ve found on the blogs and forums over the last few years."
01 2Pac-Old School (B.Cause Remix) http://diamondsinthedust.blogspot.com/ Usually the non-Pac fans favourite Pac track. B Cause throws some familiar samples under Pac’s reminiscing of 80s NY and gives it a nice funky vibe.
02 Big Daddy Kane-Set It Off (Daily Diggers Remix) http://www.dailydiggers.com/ Some of you might recognise this from DJ Mike Nice’s ‘Brooklyn Bullshit’ mixtape. The UK’s Daily Diggers flip the Cold Chillin classic.
03 Big Pun & Fat Joe-Twinz (Brooklyn Untouched Remix) This remix discards the original ‘Deep Cover’ beat and replaces it with another Dre & Snoop collabo, ‘The Next Episode’. Always goes down well in a club set.
04 Common-I Used To Love Her (Sir Charles Flavour Remix) http://www.myspace.com/djsircharles Common gets a G-Funk makeover as his vocals are dropped over Warren G’s ‘Nobody Does It Better’.
05 D&D All-Stars-1,2 Pass It (Bootleg Remix) A DJ Fashion remix? All signs point to yes.
06 Erick Sermon-Bomdigi (Street Jam Bootleg Remix) The beat from En Vogue’s ‘Hold On’ gives this E Double solo joint some extra bump.
07 Fat Joe & Doo Wop-Boriquas On The Set (DJ Dough & Porge One Remix) http://www.myspace.com/djdoughhiphop The UK’s Dough & Porge One always had some special remixes on their CDs. This one is taken from their ‘Heads Aint Ready’ mix which is well worth seeking out.
08 Method Man & Redman-How High (Bootleg Remix) The acapella of this track was definitely a favourite amongst producers, probably due to the amount of quotable lines from Red & Meth at their peak. This version uses the ‘Human Nature’ melody over EPMD's ‘You’re A Customer’ beat.
09 Mobb Deep-Hell On Earth (Paul Miles Remix) Another UK remix, this time by Birmingham DJ Paul Miles (aka Pat Bateman).
10 Nas-It Aint Hard To Tell (DJ Day Remix) http://likeathrottle.blogspot.com/ (this also came out on vinyl) This track has been remixed to death but this has to be the best of the unofficial ones. Quality production from DJ Day out of California.
11 The Pharcyde-Passin Me By (WAR! [What-A-Remix]) A Jazzy Jim remix.
12 Tim Dog & KRS-One-I Get Wrecked (Gamm/Samoo Remix) http://diamondsinthedust.blogspot.com/ I don't have any info on this one but I’m pretty sure I copped it at B.Cause’s blog.
Credits are what made me keep an eye (ear) open for The Beatnuts, Battlecat and Sam Sever. But in the late 80's, the producer's role still wasn't really prominent, it was usually a list of musicians that could tell a story before you even heard the song. So going to my bay area favorites, as long as it said Shorty B on bass, I KNEW it was going to be deep, slow and funky.
Another name that kept popping up in the bay area was Pee Wee. Mainly this was because I have always been a big "Digital Underground" fan, and by 1991, Pee Wee was a mainstay in the group.
Once you popped in their third album "Sons of the P" into your yellow sony walkman, the first verse we heard was Pee Wee's:
DIGITAL UNDERGROUND - THE D-FLO SHUTTLE
Let me give your ears a baptismal Dip into the pool and let me chisel Chunks of ignorance out your brain system As I implant wisdom in the name of d-flo Here we go with this, let me flow with this Holy glory, how the dolio flow in this
He came off as a new Digital Underground MC, since they are known to add new MC's on each album. But, a quicker look to the credits would prove that he also a major player behind the boards, ass he grabs the Producer credit for "D-Flo Shuttle", and to be behind the sounds that came out of that album was, and still is, quite impressive. I had to dig deeper.
It wasn't too hard, because Pee Wee and hiphop's deepest baritone voice ever, Big Money Odis, got together to put out "A Day In The Life of a Player", as the duo "Gold Money". It lacked charisma, but still had some absolutely ridiculous tracks in between, starting with the funkiest motherfunken pimp track ever "Youngblood" (everything played by himself!) and finishing the track with the most "pwnest" track ever recorded. It was a one on one conversation between Pee Wee and the group called "The Young Black Teenagers". They get served. then chilled. And are never to be heard of again. Throughout the production of the album Pee Wee really takes full control and let's the album slide through hundreds of genres within 11 tracks. "Mnniiggaahh" starts with Beethoven - Fur elise and crashes into a heavy-rock induced track, while "Nothing" starts funky, goes into jazz, and then just gets deep into some "Pink Pantherish" finger-snappin' nouveau jazz movements.
GOLD MONEY - YOUNGBLOOD
Now, this was a GREAT time for Digital Underground, because just a year before Raw Fusion came out with "Live From the Styleetron" and Tupac debuted with "2Pacalypse Now". I liked both albums equally at first, but every time I realized that Live From The Styleetron was kickin harder, I would be held back to the fact that "Trapped" was slowly becoming my favorite rap song, so that would keep my interest for Pac's album. The credits on his album were disgusting and fucked up beyond belief. For example, I could clearly hear Pee Wee rapping on "I Don't Give a Fuck", but nothing in the credits. So for many years I thought that Pee Wee was just MCing and probably lending a hand in production. And not bad, his lyrics BLASTED the cops and became Pac's anthem for his second album.
Niggas!, isn't just the blacks also a gang of mother-fuckers dressed in blue slacks They say niggas hang in packs and their attitude is shitty Tell me, who's the biggest gang of niggas in the city
When I grabbed that "Trapped" single from someone's record crates, the credits were much clearer. It said in three words. Produced by Pee-Wee.
TUPAC - TRAPPED
Pee Wee's voice would pop out again on the Dangerous Crew's album "Don't Try This At Home". The track "Gone With The Wind" was so dope that it must have been on every mixtape I made during the next 8 years.
DANGEROUS CREW - GONE WITH THE WIND
When I had the opportunity to ask him about this project with the Dangerous Crew, he told me that the crew was actually him, Shorty B and Father Dom:
"We used that album to feature Ourselves, Bad Influence (for some reason didn't make the album), Father Dom, Goldie, the Lunies (ended up going to another label) and all of the groups on Shorts new Dangerous Music Label. That's why every body thought the DANGEROUS CREW WAS ALL THOSE PEOPLE. Hey if you have that album and you look at my picture, that's NOT ME. Somebody switched the pictures at the label. I still don't know if it was done on purpose or if it was an accident. But, I guess that "gone with the Wind " was my pre-warning to get out of there. I'm still cool with Short and Shorty B and all the Rappers"
This all sounds typical of the Industry Rule #4080.
You will hear Pee Wee poppin' up all over the place during the years that Bay Area rap was running things. "Menace II Society" has his sounds on Ant Bank's "Packin a Gat" and Too Short's "Only the Strong Survive". Goldy, a Too Short affiliated MC, also had quite a few tracks with Pee Wee's production. He got busy on the white and black keys all over Too Short's albums "Cocktales" and "Get In Where Ya Fit In". I am sure his guitars got some licks on those too. A few tracks on Spice 1's "Black Bosalini" album got the Pee-Wee treatment too.
As the Bay Area lost it's "hiphop clout", Discogs.com slowly loses trace of any more current things Pee Wee's on.
The last time we chatted, he didn't mention anything specific, but this was quite a long time ago, so I'll shoot him a quick message and let's see if he adds his two cents to this piece!
For now, I hope you enjoy the Gold Money album, VERY rare, but sadly I think that my CD Rip skips on one track. I will add a few other tracks mentioned here to the zipped file.
I can remember it just like yesterday, my bedroom was draped in red and gold to match my Joe Montana poster that my mother had got framed for me to go with the room. She was good like that, always made sure her son always had coordination game on lock. It's probably one of the reasons I'm real finicky today about matching colors. Life was good back then, the Oakland A's were fresh off a World Series sweep against their cross-town rivals, the San Francisco Giants. My childhood idol Rickey Henderson was setting himself up for a career year, in which he later won his first and only MVP award.
At the time the biggest selling hip-hop album "Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em" was dominating the airwaves and officially put Oakland on the hip-hop map. Despite years of hustling by Todd Shaw, it wasn't until Hammer's success that Oakland started receiving national attention. I suppose selling 10 million records will do to a town. If you ask me every Bay Area rapper owes a debt of gratitude to MC Hammer.
At twelve you're still very impressionable and I remember trying to memorize every lyric in D. U.'s Sex Packets album while listening in my bedroom. My room was filled with stacks of Playboys that were given to me by Hector, a 40-something Puerto Rican guy who used to do maintenance work in my apartment complex. Come to think of it, it's disgusting to think that I even touched those magazines after Hector had his way with them. God bless Hector though, he always laced me with some of his KFC when he couldn't finish it. Kinda disgusting to think about that too.
Even though I was obsessed with Playboy magazines back then, I still refused to grow up completely because I was still collecting baseball cards. Back then David Justice and Frank Thomas rookies (both former A's players) were the most sought after cards and I remember starving myself at lunch just so I could use that money to cop packs of '90 Leaf.
Little did I realize most of these things were Bay Area related. Subconsciously I was forming a marriage with apart of California in which I've never visited growing up. As the years went on I noticed some of my favorite music came the Bay Area. You had Spice 1, Too $hort, The Coup, Mac Mall, JT The Bigga Figga, Ray Luv, Andre Nickatina, Dru Down, Mac Dre, Young Lay, Rappin' 4-Tay, Celly Cell, The Luniz, E-40, Digital Underground and 2Pac just to name a few.
The production was also phenomenal because you had Ant Banks, Studio Ton, Mike Mosely, Sam Bostic and the forever underrated Khayree.
Below are some of my favorite tracks for this era. What are some of your favorite Bay Area artists? Albums? --Philaflava
"You goin overboard with all that, fuck New York shit trying to dis Brooklyn, but the Boogie 'bout to talk shit and ain't no fun, if the Dullah can't get none risin in the East, I'm bout to set it on the West, son Listen, I ain't even down with who you dissen far as I'm concerned NY been ass-kissen for the longest, on the live side I'ma dead it you aint a trooper, I know that's all super-unleaded gas you inhaled from all your record sales cause you went to California and blew up, but you fail tryin to dis the big apple, I aint supposed to wanna battle for a million dollar raffle? You gettin gaffled soon as I see you got a million after the battle, I be like "oooh what a feeeelin" Toyota will be selling me they biggest Landcruiser money green so niggas could fiend like drug users winners slap users like pimp slap hoes and we know Suge is pimpin them hoes on Death Row you actin like you wanna beef, but talkin below me you ain't a real thug, you a real CaliPhoney ** Who Shot Ya? No it wasn't me and my peeps you're talking bout New York, wordup, like something sweet don't fool yourself, this ain't New York Undercover it's real like the history of your father and mother I'm sayin, think about that shit that you did had a shootout in NY, raped a bitch, did a bid like you proud of that, then let the world know it happened first of all you fuckin up for other niggas' rappin how you makin movies, selling records, doin tours, then be up in Denemora (sp), scrubbin other niggas' drawers? the whole point in being criminal is gettin paid son, you paid already, actin Crazy like Eddie fuck a Thug Life, niggas die being unlawful let that peer pressure stress ya somethin awful with the world in ya hand, fuck a man, be a King you aint even a man cause you under the wing Heltah Skeltah from the shelter, need protection now you're one of Suge Knight's sons, runnin for election against Snoop Dogg for that top dog spot Death Row, Prisoner-of-the-month on lock. *** Now everybody know you from them roles you be playin so all that make a record shit aint even worth sayin west coast rappers go platinum in a second cause west coast niggas go out and buy records but east coast rappers be on conceited shit the wack emcees here make repeated hits they get star-struck and stop giving a fuck and lyrically, half these niggas suck, and what just put the real rappers in the ring let your man bring the beats and whoever do they thing fuck a record sale, fuck a phoney reputation, fuck a pimp record label and them suck-dick stations. Show skills, how ya flow skills, rock a party- live from the heart, in front of everybody without a shotty, ain't no need for all that get your stupid ass some rikers & tracks, fuck the gats my people out in Cali aint got nothin to do with this you on your own dick, partner, and you new to this I could never dis my peeps in the west but, that dissin Biggie shit, we still ain't impressed..."
Here's a blog from King Sun on his Myspace about the diss:
"Ok, I was the first to respond with a dis record towards Tupac when he first dissed Tribe Called Quest at the Source Awards in '94. Since Tupac appeared on "California" wit Dre, I felt the need to respond wit "Califony" and derived the hook from the Die Hard movie when Bruce Willis was a cop from NY and had beef in Cali. Every time he killed an adversary his reply was "Yippie Kay Ya Mother Fucker."
The beat was produced by DJ Mark the 45 King and was cut up by Funk Master Flex in D&D Studios in Midtown Manhattan. Shout outs to Doug and Dave. I then allowed Doo Wop to put the song on his mixtape to generate a buzz. Tupac and I discussed the dis song after having Ice-T play it for Pac. We laughed together over the phone and Pac new it was nothing personal, but I had to rep NY to the fullest. Shout outs to Ice-T, who's like my older cousin from the Left Coast who has always held me down, to WC Crazy Toons, DJ Aladdin, DJ Pooh, Evil E and Hen G and Shawny Shawn.
Rest in peace Pac. Our love goes out to Mrs. Shakur. Tell BIG I said "Hold some equality for me and Lady Heron and be at the door with Jesus so we can get in!"
Doo Wop played his record with King Sun on his critically acclaimed Summer Jam '96 mixtape. Doo Wop also goes at 2Pac & The Dogg Pound at the end of the tape. Notice how the mixtape only features East Coast artists. This was around the time of Hit' Em Up. According to DJ King Shammek, King Sun had also recorded another diss record titled "Don't Know How To A.C.T." directed at Westside Connection
Somewhere down the line after the Method Man and Redman mixes, I found this one for Biggie. Great mix of some lesser known songs, appearances, remixes and two real nice freestyles from the good ol' days.
01 Biggie Smalls-Freestyle Live At Mister Cee's Crib
02 Mary J. Blige-Real Love (Remix) feat. Biggie Smalls
03 Neneh Cherry-Buddy X (Remix) feat. Biggie Smalls
04 Biggie Smalls-Party & Bullshit
05 Biggie Smalls-A Buncha Niggas (Original) feat. Heavy D, 3rd Eye, Guru, Rob O & Busta Rhymes
06 Supercat-Dolly My Baby (Remix) feat. Mary J. Blige, Puff Daddy, Jesse West & Biggie Smalls
07 Heavy D-Jam Session feat. Biggie Smalls & Troo Kula
08 Biggie Smalls-The What feat. Method Man
09 Red Hot Lover Tone-For My Niggaz (Remix) feat. Biggie Smalls, Organized Konfusion & M.O.P.
10 Heavy D-Let's Get It On feat. Grand Puba, 2Pac & Biggie Smalls
14 Bandit-All Men Are Dogs (Remix) feat. Pudgee Da Phat Bastard, Snagglepus, Positive K, Grandaddy I.U., Biggie Smalls & Grand Puba
15 Big Daddy Kane-Madison Square Garden Freestyle feat. Big Scoob, 2Pac, Biggie Smalls & Shyheim
16 Funkmaster Flex-Live At The Palladium feat. Biggie Smalls
17 Biggie Smalls-Who Shot Ya?
18 Total-Can't You See feat. Biggie Smalls
19 Biggie Smalls-Real Niggaz (All Verses)
20 Junior Mafia-Players Anthem (Original & Remix)
21 Junior Mafia-Get Money (Original & Remix)
22 Biggie Smalls-One More Chance (Original & Remix)
Being the freak that I am, I did not like the cover it came with and made myself a new one to match the other two. But for the purists who only want the original, I scanned it in, cleaned it up and threw in all new type for an exact match. Coming soon will be “The Best Of Mobb Deep” and double disc set for “The Best Of Jay-Z.”
LG was down to guest blog this week and give us his top 10 list along with a breakdown for each track. Some of the shit you're about to read is pure gold. You can't ask for much more than this so if you're a fan ofRakim Told Me then you'll appreciate some of these details. 10. Don't Shut Down On A Player-Ill Al Skratch (New Jersey Drive Soundtrack) I did this beat after watching a pre-screen of the movie New Jersey Drive.They filmed thatflick in Brooklyn,so I made some shit that sounded like home.
9. The Weekend-Dave Hollister (maxi-single) My nigga Teddy Blend was managing Dave and hit me wit an accapella tosee what I would do and they was feelin that shit.
8. Pass Pass Le Oinj (Zenith 98)-Supreme NTM
I did alot of beats for Supreme NTM, but this is one of the tracks I was really feelin.Idon't know what they was saying( hey rhyme in French) but I could tell they had a flow.
7. Earth,Wind& Fire-Big Daddy Kane feat. Shaqueen & AB Money (Veteranz Day)
Kane gave me a CD wit some dude playin acoustic guitar and said do something with that.I played the beat for him the next day and he went crazy!! It's probably about ten different records being used on that beat.
6. One Love(LG Main Mix) - Nas I did this remix after an Ill Al Skratch session, so I just had my peoples Ken Staten sing the hook.He also sang on Where's My Homies.
5. Nigganometry- Canibus (Can-I-Bus) When I did that beatI didn't have the original Willie Hutch joint.I took that shit straight off The Chronic.
4. Lyrical Gymnastics-Big Daddy Kane (Daddy's Home)
I did this and the album title track for Kane right after he left Cold Chillin to go to MCA.He was feeling Where's My Homies, so I used the same sounds for this beat.
3. Out On Bail(Original Version) - Tupac This song was supposed to be on the Me Against The World album, but it didn't make it.My brother Easy Mo Bee & AB Money took me up to Pac's Hotel to play some beats for him.He took the first track that came on and said let's record it tonight.Eminem remixed it for Loyal 2 The Game and chopped Pac's words to make it sound like he was saying Em, he was really saying LG.
2. I'll Take Her - Ill Al Skratch feat. Brian McKnight (Creep Wit Me) I did this beat on some radio type shit cause we knew one of the r&b artists on Mercury was going to be on it. Originally it was supposed to be Joe on the song.
1. Where's My Homies - Ill Al Skratch (Creep Wit Me) I remember hearing Mr.Cee, who lived in my building cuttin up Playing Your Games on his show with Mr. Magic on 91.5 in NY. After that I had to fuck with it. Coincidentally, Mr.Cee was the one who broke the record.
Honorable Mentions: Strange (Stranger Mixshow Mix) - Boogiemonsters I did this track by just muffling the change in Playing Your Games(Barry White). We all did that a lot back then. I also produced 3 songs on the album with Derek "LA" Jackson who the Boogiemonsters were signed to at the time. Derek produced the album and had an incredible keyboard player play all the instruments. We all know him today as Scott Storch.
Dr. Feelgood - Ill Al Skratch Feat. Greg Nice, Nine, M.O.P. & Kid Capri I did this track in Al Skratch's crib. Nobody believes me when I tell em that beat is Hangin On A String By Loose Ends. Kid Capri got on it because Al Skratch knew him from Uptown. Nobody knew that nigga Al Skratch was a crazy DJ.
Hate him or love him, it cannot be denied that 2Pac was a prolific recording artist. His available catalog of work grows with each passing year and even though it has become difficult to ascertain which songs are legitimate 2Pac recordings and which are the contrivances of DJs and assorted grave robbers, sometimes the detective work and the debate are half the fun.
To make matters more complicated, another commenter claims that the actual O.G. version of the song is a Dogg Pound track that features both Deck and Lady of Rage that was handed over to 2Pac sans the aforementioned guest verses, with Deck's adlibs curiously retained. I'm not sure what to make of all this but whatever the case may be, peep the tracks and let us know what you think. --- Thun
It appears that good things can happen when the UK gets blasted with the heaviest snow in 100 years. With the country coming to a complete halt, forum regular Step One had time to put together this sweet compilation of bootleg remixes and blends. Show some appreciation by leaving a comment (or a link to another remix) and he might bless us with volume 2.
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