I'm just speaking for me, not the blog but I also believe it's a very legit question too. When you put it down on paper and realize all of the Philly legends, microphone masters, turntable technicians, classics hits and summer anthems it's an argument worth making.
Obviously, NYC is number one but when you think about how Philly changed the game and continues to deliver the top talent what city/state takes its spot? L.A? Atlanta? Jersey? Houston? Detroit? Think about it...
Here are just some (not complete) of some Philly representatives. Schoolly D Steady B DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince DJ Cash Money Three Times Dope The Roots Beanie Sigel Freeway Kurupt Bahamadia Jedi Mind Trick Dice Raw Eve CHOPS Peedi Crakk Cassidy Rosco P. Coldchain Gillie Da Kid Sandman iCON Chief Kamachi Reef The Lost Cauze Outerspace Maylay Sparks Baby Blak Young Chris Truck North Ram Squad Mountain Brothers 100x Tasc4orce Jamal (Illegal) Dat Fat Cat Clique The Kartel Last Emperor Da Youngsta's Munk Wit Da Funk Grand Agent Known Rulers High & Mighty Philly's Most Wanted
More awesomeness from the Hennessy Aritisy Series. Ain't No Half-Steppin in Houston with legends. Wish the clip was longer but this is what Hennessey released
A few years back one of the original T.R.O.Y. forum mods Mustafa Goodprose aka MGP posted a very nice obscure Illadelph drop. Forum member Echo Leader was kind enough to bring this to my attention and I thought it was definitely worthy of a re-run. Below is the original post that went with the mix. Enjoy! --Philaflava One of the most slept-on groups ever to do it.
My favorite group of the Philadelphia underground is Ill Advised. Comprised of rappers Baby Blak, Mr. Lish, and occasionally Rasheed (aka the Rebel Rahsheed aka Maylay Sparks) the crew put out a number of 12s in the mid-to-late 1990s on Quake City and later Eastern Conference Records.
Basically the story is this: Quake City is a label out of Philly. Ill Advised recorded two albums for them that were only released in Japan under the "Blue Dolphin" imprint. In the States Quake City Records a released number of 12's from the Ill Advised crew, the first being obscure "Against the Grain/Kwestions/Through the Eye," the second being the college radio hit "N.A.M.E.S./Encore," and the last two the 1986/Internal Affairs joint and another pressing with a remix featuring The Roots. Ill Advised were also featured heavily on the first or second Eastern Conference Records 12 with the songs "Captivating Cultivating," "All In Together Now" which featured Pauly Yams, and "Know A Little Nigga." Baby Blak is also featured on the original version of "Open Mic Night."
The crew fell off the map in 1999 when Mr. Lish went on a "judicial vacation" somewhere "up north." There were a lot of problems with Quake City Records, I believe that they went under in 2000 the the two albums they released in Japan (Wasabi and Can U Smell Me) never made it to stores in America. The problems for the crew only magnified with Eastern Conference Records. Milo Berger, aka DJ Might Mi aka DJ Mighty Bi, never paid Ill Advised a dime for anything. Word on the street (and straight from Baby Blak's mouth in an interview with Elemtree) was that they took Mi by force to an ATM machine and um, uh, well... "intimidated" him into draining his account for them on the spot. Also, Ill Advised affiliate Rahsheed is said to have thrown a stack of Eastern Conference 12's into the Delaware River in the video for his track (and first release on Quake City Records for all you vinyl geeks out there) "Industry Party Bumrusha." I've never seen this myself, just read about it one the internet. If someone can hook that video up for me though that'd be dope.
Ill Advised has gotten their shit together somewhat as of late. Baby Blak put out a nice album in 2003 called Blak Is Back. Blak has also put out a lot of 12s with DJ Revolution. He's also done a lot of work with hip hop legend DJ Jazzy Jeff. Lish is supposedly out of jail and the duo are currently preparing their American debut on BBE records.
For all of you vinyl collectors out there I want to let you know that there are some seriously rare Ill Advised joint floating around that have never made it to the internet. The first two are the crew's Japan-only releases Wasabi and Can U Smell Me?. The third is a version of 1.9.8.6. (I think, not sure which song it is from their catalog, but it's from one of their 12's) with Mr Eon on it and a different beat. It was played a few times on 89.1 and 89.9 in NYC. I'm not sure if it's test-pressing only or just an isolated acetate. If anyone remembers the "Neuman" skit on High and Mighty's debut album Home Field Advantage that's what that whole thing was about; Ill Advised thinking Eon was wack and Milo not paying them what they were owed so they pulled Eon's vocals off of all their new songs. The skit kinda backfired on High and Mighty in my opinion because everyone from Cage to Tame One to Necro has aired out Mighty Mi for his sloppy business dealings. Also a word of warning for the vinyl collectors (and maybe Ill Advised if they are reading this), there are two versions of the Through the Eye/Kwestions/Against the Grain 12' floatring around out there. I am not sure if one is a bootleg but I've seen pictures of a version with a faded rainbow-colored label being sold in Japan. I have a different version with an off-white-colored label. I am not too sure which one is the original or if the crew knows about the second pressing because when labels are running low on money, and this is especially true of smaller indie labels, they normally start bootlegging shit in Japan. Wild Pitch did it. Ask that Oasis-looking faggot Cage about Bobbito pressing up some of his shit (The Muppet Show) and releasing it in Japan behind his back. It happens all the time so I'm not sure of one of the pressings is legit.
And now the good part, the music. I've ripped a number of Ill Advised tracks from the original vinyl and uploaded them here for all of you. A few people have the N.A.M.E.S 12', it hardly comes up for sale, and fewer people even know about the 12' they released before that. Most rap fans missed the great shit they did on EC because it was never released on CD (and it's the best material EC ever put out in my opinion). A lot of people know about the shit they did with the Roots.
Here's the tracklisting, and remember that the quality of the actual vinyl for a lot of these records is dodgy and unmastered. Don't expect CD-quality sound, just good music.
Ill Advised - Collected Songs ('95-00)
1.9.8.6. Remix feat. The Roots Against The Grain All In Together Now Captivating Cultivating Encore Internal Affairs Know A Little Nigga Kwestions Names Push Renaissance Through the Eye
If you didn't already know, Vincent Lopez at Thimk.Wordpress.com[The Source Magazine Archives] has posted volume 1 of the Illadelph Halflife demos at his page. Volume 2 is available only through the T.R.O.Y. blog's Skypager google group. You can sign up for the Skypager by clicking here or by entering your email under the Skypager icon on the right side of this page. Like I said, just letting you know if you didn't already. I really wouldn't want you to miss out on these.
Grand Puba Maxwell stopped by the infamous Jam @ Highline Ballroom in New York where The Roots do a weekly gig. Check out this video where Puba does Slow Down and 360 backed by The Roots crew. Props to OKP for the footage.
The Roots provided the live music for this freestyle session on WNYU sometime in the mid 90's.
The sound quality isn't as good as it could've been, being that I'm sure there weren't enough mics to properly set up and record. But still,this session is illll!
I'll do my best to list who all are rhyming here-
Sadat X, L-Swift(Natural Elements), Lord Tariq(Money Boss Players),
Dice Raw, Brotha Jeff X, Black Thought, Half A Mil(RIP), Dutchess,
After Dutchess,I can't call it. I know The Roots get back on the mic, but that's all I can say for sure. The cats are pretty amped and yelling a lot at this point. If you can name everyone after Dutchess, leave a list in the comments. The beat changes up 4 times throughout the session. All Roots renditions of classic beats we all know and love.
In typical Philaflava fashion somebody posts a request or a question and they usually get a quick response. In this case they got a response by the man who was behind the music in question--L.E. Square.
What you're about to read is the most in depth look at 100x there's ever been. The name may look familiar in the blogosphere. You may know them as the group Rasheed Wallace signed or as the group that's 12" singles fetch top dollar on eBAY, but today you're going to know what 100x was all about.
Be sure you read the entire thing because at the end there are two exclusive tracks that has never been released until now. With L.E. Square's permission we're leaking it here first. That's right, T.R.O.Y. is dominating the game. Lights out blogger nerds, we run things.
The 100x Timeline by L.E. Square
Lee "L.E. Square" Johnson Founding Member and Producer of 100X (10th & Oxford)
1988 The group started out being known as the Untouchables. We have one wax release under that name on Solid Ground records. (12inch. Death Wish b/w MC Killin). The members then were "Magnificent Mar," "Round Mound" and "Darryl C a.k.a. Dangerous Darryl."
1989 - 90 Darryl C left the group as did Round Mound. The group reformed and Round Mound returned as "RM" and Mar changed his name to "Lamar Supreme" and the group changed its name to 100X picking up the neighborhood street moniker (100X - 10th & Oxford.) With help of my first manager Sidney Cliett I got my first MPC 60. We added members BadNews, Mal Blak, Lex Ruger and Mustafo. I recorded tons of 100X material in my parents basement on 13th and Oxford.
1992 - 99 My basement studio became one of the hottest go to spots in Philadelphia. I have worked with tons of artists who I will name later. We did various shows in the Tri-State area, mainly Philly. We did shows with Ice Cube, Onyx, KRS One, Naughty BY Nature, Nice n Smooth, Poor Righteous Teachers, Tim Dog, Ultramagnectic MC's, Wu-Tang Clan, Keith Murray, Notorious B.I.G., Craig Mack and Redman. We bombed every "Rap Underground North" and Club Dances. The Trocederou was one of our favorite spots to perfom as was Rhythms @ 2121 Arch St. The sound engineer from that club was Tony Pleas and we became great friends and he introduced me to "Greg Osby" who recorded for Capitol Records.
From that situation was born 3-D Lifestyles. I produced 6 records on that album and my brother "RM" did 2. One of my best friends at that time (PUD, may he rest in peace) introduced me to Blair Thomas. Blair and I formed a partnership and the small studio that I built in my parents home became a bigger one. The garage became the booth and the music machine really started pumping hard. "RM" (who is my younger brother) started producing as well as Lamar Supreme. I created X-Calibre Records and Manhole Productions and X-Calibre Studios. We got a building and built a 2 room facility after spending a lot of money at Silicon Chip mixing and laying tracks for the single which became "Beyond The Door." We continued to produce lots of material and the next single to come was "Fast Loot Tactics." We also shot a video for this song. I did a remix and we took both songs to radio. The remix started getting a lot of spins. At that time I began to produce other groups outside of 100X. Tommy Hill of Ram Squad, Major Figgas, Jaguar Wright and I also did Gillie's first hit single "Love for Gillie." I was the first to produce Ab-Liva (Major Figgas & The Clipse). In addition I also worked with Suave House Records and did Gillie's "Something to Bounce 2." At that time our relationship with Blair was ending and again thru my best friend PUD I met the next person who became involved in the 100X movement, Rasheed Wallace.
We had two releases pressed duting our time with Rasheed which was the EP called "Plugged In" and another 12 in that had "Thug Bowl" on it. Rasheed wanted to start a label. I came up with "Urban Life Records" and "Direct Hit Studios," which was a million dollar plus facility. (The 1st Euphonix System 5 facility in the area).
2001 - present. After leaving Rasheed in 2001, I started BME ( Big Moves Entertainment) and put out an EP and Video on "RM" who added "Willie Hutch" as one of his names. We shot an EPK and also did a video. My next project was a studio at 4th and South called "The Heat"(1 of the 1st HD3 rooms in the city). We moved the studio to another building in that same area and the studio changed its name to the "4th Quarter". Not seeing eye to eye. I left that situation and went out on the west coast with Waynes World Entertainment to work some acts from "Aftermath Records."After meeting Dr. Dre and working with a few of his artists (which he dropped by the way) and recording another "RM" album I came back to Philly and started working on my own projects. I went to Va. Beach and signed with Teddy Riley and kinda layed low after that. I'm glad to say I'm back at it with a new artist that has a deal with Koch Records. His name is C-Luk (see look).
Artists I have worked with.
100X RM a.k.a. Willie Hutch Do It All (Lords of the Underground) Major Figgas Gillie Dutch & Spade Philly's Most Wanted Ab-Liva Sandman Nina Ross Quarta Ki Peedi Crack Greg Osby Shaunta (Timbos artist that's went to Aftermath) Sounds of Rage Sons of Rage Divine Beings Tommy Hill Freeway PaperDoll Rasheed Wallace Jermaine O'Neal J.R. Rider Chris Webber Tramp n Haze Ari Forman (Designer of Beyond the Door cover) Lui Blonco Ms. Jade Rhoneesha Jaguar Wright D.O.D. The Situation E a.k.a. 24-7 G-Masica Gobe Raw Rowdy Black Giants Brother From The Darkside The Roots Kenny Lee (Late brother of Philly's "Cosmic Kev") Teddy Riley Joe Street (Original member of BlackStreet) Roscoe P. Conway (artist out of Vegas signed to Motown) Red Cafe Ali Vegas The Shynin Stretch Armstrong D.J. Clark Kent The Columbians (J. O'Neals group) Porno (The Roots) C-Luk Curly Tops Rico Slaughter The Youngstas aka Da Youngsta Illy Funkstaz Chopper (Making the Band) Da Bum Rush & E.Ness (he came from Da Bum Rush)
I wanna shout a few of my fellow producers
Ruggedness Don Groove Zukhan Rhythmn D.J. Miz Power BadNewz (100X) Brian, Tim & Jay (Shynin) Koshah (Trendsettas) Supreme (Dispatcher Music) Pharrell Williams (my cousin) P-Nut 20-20 Poison Ladd S.L.R. Beats In General Muhammad a.k.a. M Ladin
And some very important people. My Mom, Ms. Dee and my Dad Mr. J.; they supported and support me still! RM and my wife "Fatty," Sidney Cliett, Laronn "LA" Reid, Valdimir "PUD" Gibson, Blair Thomas, Barry Jones, Tony Pleas, Greg Osby, Pharrell Williams, Rasheed Wallace, Wizzard, Thomas "Money"Jones and Rell(Broski).
Tracklisting: Thug Bowl (prod. L.E Square)* Time To Play (prod. Self) Fugivtive (prod. L.E. Square)** *The sample comes from John Madden '96 on Sega Genesis. **The sampled horns are from the movie The Fugitive. http://rapidshare.com/files/155857220/100X_-_Random_Joints.zip.html
I'm just speaking for me, not the blog but I also believe it's a very legit question too. When you put it down on paper and realize all of the Philly legends, microphone masters, turntable technicians, classics hits and summer anthems it's an argument worth making.
