What up y'all?
I was watching some Ultimate Warrior clips on YouTube, which put me in sort of a retro mood. I decided to run with that and do a little tribute to one of my favourite hip-hop producers, Prince Paul, and have two of his proteges square off.
THE MAIN EVENT
From Amityville, Long Island, New York, representing Da Inner Sound, Y'all, DE LA SOUL!
De La Soul was founded in 1987 by high school buddies Kelvin "Posdnous" Mercer, Dave "Trugoy" Jolicoeur and Vince "Maceo" Mason. They first started to get noticed in 1988 when a demo version of a song called "Plug Tunin'" landed in the hands of Prince Paul, then the DJ for the group Stetasonic. Paul was impressed enough with Trugoy and Posdnous' offbeat rhymes that he arranged for them to be signed by Def Jam. In 1989, they released their Prince Paul produced debut 3 Feet High and Rising.
3 Feet High was a massive commercial and critical hit and, almost 20 years later, is still De La's best selling album. It also spawned some anti-De La backlash. In a genre where street cred is king, some saw De La as soft. While all three members were born in New York, they were raised in the mixed race, middle class suburbs of Long Island. That, mixed with their unusual style and love of '60s pop samples got them labelled "hippies" in the hip-hop community, a label that continued to piss them off for most of a decade.
Their next album, De La Soul is Dead, was much darker and angrier. They lashed out at critics and took shots at fairweather friends trying to launch their own careers off of De La's new found fame on "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" and wrote a downright disturbing song about child molestation ("Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa.")
Their third album Buhloone Mindstate would wind up being their last collaboration with Prince Paul. Despite getting great reviews, Mindstate wound up being a commercial failure, getting swept aside by the growing popularity of West Coast gangsta rap. For their fourth album, Stakes is High, De La would go it alone, looking for a new identity.
Still, Chris Rock called Mindstate one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time in a list he wrote for Rolling Stone, so that has to count for something.
Here's the video for "Ego Trippin' (Part Two)" off Mindstate. This video really pissed off Tupac, as he was pretty sure he was the shirtless rapper being referenced in the video. The female MC in the video is Posdnuos' cousin Shorty No Mas.
As an aside, seeing De La live still ranks as one of my greatest concert experiences of all time.
THE COMPETITION
From Queens, New York, the group that gave hope to white hip-hop heads everywhere, 3RD BASS!
3rd Bass where probably the first white rappers to get a real Hood Pass. Sure, the Beastie Boys were down with LL Cool J and Run DMC, but everybody knew they were essentially a white frat boy's take on hip-hop. 3rd Bass was different. They made a point of not sampling rock songs, were almost obnoxiously conscious of race politics and made a point of mentioning that MC Serch (aka Michael Berrin) came from the mostly black Far Rockaway neighbourhood. They also had one black guy in the group (DJ Richie Rich, aka Richard Lawson), which undoubtedly made the other two look a little more down.
The group was founded in 1987 when a mutual acquaintance introduced the three. Serch was already recording as a solo artist, Rich was DJing in local clubs and Pete Nice (aka Pete Nash) was hosting a hip-hop show on Columbia's campus radio station. The three starting working together under the name Three the Hard Way, which would later get changed to 3rd Bass.
In 1989, shortly after the Beasties unceremoniously left Def Jam for Capitol, the mighty Jam signed 3rd Bass to a recording contract. 3rd Bass inherited their label's feud with the Beastie Boys, calling them out in the press and on wax.
Their debut album, The Cactus Album, was a critical success and produced a moderately commercially successful single, "The Gas Face."
Their second album, Derelicts of Dialect, has the Bass boys replacing the Beasties with the much more deserving Vanilla Ice as their object of mockery. The single "Pop Goes the Weasel" achieved crossover commercial success based largely on the video, where the band kicks the shit out of an Ice lookalike (actually Henry Rollins in costume).
Sadly, the party had to come to an end for 3rd Bass, and they split up in 1992, citing creative differences. Neither Serch's solo album (Return of the Product) nor Pete Nice and Richie Rich's debut (Dust to Dust) managed to achieve anything close to the commercial and critical success they had enjoyed as part of 3rd Bass.
MC Serch was last seen on Ego Trip's The (White) Rapper Show. He also has a show on a Detroit hip-hop station, and briefly ran his own record label, Serchlite. He also does a little acting. (He was hilarious in Bamboozled as the white Mau Mau.) Pete Nice splits his time between a baseball memorabilia shop in Cooperstown, NY and a baseball-themed bar in Boston. He also wrote a book about baseball. Richie Rich attempted a comeback in 1999. No one's heard from him since.
Here's the video for "The Gas Face." I enjoy it for two reasons. One, they make fun of MC Hammer. Two, it features guest vocals from KMD's Zev Love X, who would later re-invent himself as MF Doom.
The rules are the same as always. Comment to vote, votes are due midnight Friday.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
GOOOOOAL! Kano beats Happy Mondays!
In a close fought, high scoring match, the lad from London overcame the hools from Manchester by a score of 3 - 2.
Here's the Kano's victory video, "Ps and Qs" off Home Sweet Home. I won't front. This video brings out my Scarborough.
Here's the Kano's victory video, "Ps and Qs" off Home Sweet Home. I won't front. This video brings out my Scarborough.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Opening weekend music: Kano vs. Happy Mondays
What's up all?
So as two or three of you may know, this weekend was Opening Weekend for the English Premiership. As a fairly major soccer fan, this warms my heart tremendously. After spending the summer sleeping in until noon, I was actually kind of happy to get up on Saturday morning and watch Blackburn Rovers beat Everton while I ate my Raisin Bran.
To celebrate the return of the Prem, here's some good footballing music.
The Main Event
In the Chelsea blue corner, from East Ham, London, England, a former West Ham Youth player who once tried out for Chelsea, KAAAAANOOOOO!
Yeah, you read that last part right. Kano once tried out for Chelsea. Thankfully, the Lions didn't like the cut of our man Kane's jib and failed to sign him on. After that crushing defeat, he did the smart thing and focused on music.
Kano first started getting noticed as part of the NASTY Crew in the early 2000s. At a 2005 Lord of the Mics, he got on stage and battled Wiley to a draw. Wiley, for those of you who don't know, pretty much invented Grime as a genre and is (arguably) responsible for finding talents like Dizzee Rascal, althought Dizzee might disagree.
Around the same time, he released his debut full-length Home Sweet Home. The album went gold in Britain, produced three hit singles ("Ps and Qs," "Typical Me" and "Nite Nite") and received a full-on bukkake party from the press.
His second album London Town, came out in 2007 and featured noticably smoother R & B edges. While I didn't like this development, apparently the British music buying public did. London Town debuted at #14 on the British pop charts.
That said, Kano has recently parted ways with 679 records. Apparently he wanted to get back to a harder sound on his next album, but the label had other ideas.
Anyway, here's the video for "Typical Me." It's about getting tossed from bars.
The Competition
In the Manchester United red corner, from Salford, Manchester, England, The HAPPY MONDAYS!
The Happy Mondays were formed 1980 by brothers Shaun and Paul Ryder and fellow delinquents Gary Whelan and Mark Day. As far as I know, none of the Mondays ever played high level soccer, but they were often described as football hooligans by the music press, so that has to count for something.
In 1987, the released their debut full-length, the improbably named Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out). Their second album, Bummed, received massive critical love and the Mondays' mix of soul, funk, indie pop and acid house became the template for the Madchester Sound.
Their third album, Pills Thrills and Bellyaches, brought them commercial success and enough money that a band that already had a gift for a substance abuse was able to fulfill their incoherent crack and heroin filled dreams. The band began to have trouble making it to gigs, or knowing where they were at any given moment, as this famous quote from Shaun Ryder proves.
"I'm not too sure where I've been, I've just got off a plane, mate. I think it was Spain or Norway or some mad place like that… in fact ask Bez."
That was after returning home from Holland in 1992.
In an attempt to get the band back on track, the minds at Factory Records sent them to the Barbados to record their fourth album Yes, Please! Instead of focusing on music, the band sold their gear, and later their clothes, for cocaine. The massive cost overruns from the Yes, Please! recording sessions wound up bankrupting the label. The band broke up shortly afterwards.
This is the video for "Step On," off of Pills, Thrills.
As always, votes are due by Friday at Midnight. Comment to vote.
So as two or three of you may know, this weekend was Opening Weekend for the English Premiership. As a fairly major soccer fan, this warms my heart tremendously. After spending the summer sleeping in until noon, I was actually kind of happy to get up on Saturday morning and watch Blackburn Rovers beat Everton while I ate my Raisin Bran.
To celebrate the return of the Prem, here's some good footballing music.
The Main Event
In the Chelsea blue corner, from East Ham, London, England, a former West Ham Youth player who once tried out for Chelsea, KAAAAANOOOOO!
Yeah, you read that last part right. Kano once tried out for Chelsea. Thankfully, the Lions didn't like the cut of our man Kane's jib and failed to sign him on. After that crushing defeat, he did the smart thing and focused on music.
Kano first started getting noticed as part of the NASTY Crew in the early 2000s. At a 2005 Lord of the Mics, he got on stage and battled Wiley to a draw. Wiley, for those of you who don't know, pretty much invented Grime as a genre and is (arguably) responsible for finding talents like Dizzee Rascal, althought Dizzee might disagree.
Around the same time, he released his debut full-length Home Sweet Home. The album went gold in Britain, produced three hit singles ("Ps and Qs," "Typical Me" and "Nite Nite") and received a full-on bukkake party from the press.
His second album London Town, came out in 2007 and featured noticably smoother R & B edges. While I didn't like this development, apparently the British music buying public did. London Town debuted at #14 on the British pop charts.
That said, Kano has recently parted ways with 679 records. Apparently he wanted to get back to a harder sound on his next album, but the label had other ideas.
Anyway, here's the video for "Typical Me." It's about getting tossed from bars.
The Competition
In the Manchester United red corner, from Salford, Manchester, England, The HAPPY MONDAYS!
The Happy Mondays were formed 1980 by brothers Shaun and Paul Ryder and fellow delinquents Gary Whelan and Mark Day. As far as I know, none of the Mondays ever played high level soccer, but they were often described as football hooligans by the music press, so that has to count for something.
In 1987, the released their debut full-length, the improbably named Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out). Their second album, Bummed, received massive critical love and the Mondays' mix of soul, funk, indie pop and acid house became the template for the Madchester Sound.
Their third album, Pills Thrills and Bellyaches, brought them commercial success and enough money that a band that already had a gift for a substance abuse was able to fulfill their incoherent crack and heroin filled dreams. The band began to have trouble making it to gigs, or knowing where they were at any given moment, as this famous quote from Shaun Ryder proves.
"I'm not too sure where I've been, I've just got off a plane, mate. I think it was Spain or Norway or some mad place like that… in fact ask Bez."
That was after returning home from Holland in 1992.
In an attempt to get the band back on track, the minds at Factory Records sent them to the Barbados to record their fourth album Yes, Please! Instead of focusing on music, the band sold their gear, and later their clothes, for cocaine. The massive cost overruns from the Yes, Please! recording sessions wound up bankrupting the label. The band broke up shortly afterwards.
This is the video for "Step On," off of Pills, Thrills.
As always, votes are due by Friday at Midnight. Comment to vote.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Apparently, She Wants to Win
Lil' Wayne's wealth distribution platform wasn't enough to win over the voting public, with the voting public choosing She Wants Revenge's brand of gothic creepiness 5 -1.
Since you liked it so much, here's a little more cinematic freakiness in the form of "These Things." It featured Shirley Manson. I want to fucking tear HER apart.
She Wants Revenge - These Thing
Uploaded by enkil_
As an aside, look what popped up when I put "She Wants Revenge" into Google Video.
Since you liked it so much, here's a little more cinematic freakiness in the form of "These Things." It featured Shirley Manson. I want to fucking tear HER apart.
She Wants Revenge - These Thing
Uploaded by enkil_
As an aside, look what popped up when I put "She Wants Revenge" into Google Video.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
I'm not sure how I feel about you: She Wants Revenge vs. Lil Wayne
For a minute there, I was worried that I might not post for two weeks running, effectively signaling the end of this blog. I was tremendously stuck for a topic and starting to worry that I'd used every idea I was ever going to have.
As always, my friends managed to save my ass without them even realizing.
Recently, I've been having a lot of conversations about acts that I'm having a little trouble admitting that I like.
With that in mind, I bring you MMV's tribute to ambiguity, Lil' Wayne vs. She Wants Revenge.
The Battle
In the red corner, from New Orleans, Louisiana, a man who's short in stature but a giant in syrup consumption, LIL WAYNE!
I work with a number of Lil' Wayne fans. Last month, while one of them was desperately trying to get tickets for his gig at Circa, which was subsequently canceled, I mentioned that I still wasn't completely sold on this "Lil' Wayne is good now" thing. They both had minor panic attacks, burned me a copy of Tha Carter 3, and pretty much refused to fuck off until I acknowledged Wayne's greatness.
I have to admit that the last two Wayne albums are pretty impressive, but I still have major issues with anyone who claims to be "The Greatest Rapper Alive" and isn't named Jay-Z. I also have a tough time looking at Wayne and not thinking of the guy who got the throwaway verses on The Hot Boys albums.
I was in Grade 12 when the single "Bling Bling" came out. "Bling Bling" may be one of my least favourite songs ever. Not only did it introduce the phrase "Bling Bling" into wider society, to the point that my dad now uses it, it also featured such lyrical gems as "Hear my cell phone ring/bling bling bling/see my earrings from a mile/bling bling." As someone who's a lyrically-minded hip-hop fan, this song was like a kick in the balls to me.
Dwayne Carter was grew up in New Orleans' Hollygrove neighbourhood. Like me, he was a gifted kid in elementary school. Unlike me, he dropped out of school at age 14 to join The Hot Boys and once accidentally shot himself with a high-powered handgun. Earlier this year, he was arrested in Arizona with a fantastic quantity of drugs.
Although Carter found fame as a rapper starting at the age of 16, he wasn't really taken seriously as an MC until he made a major comeback as a mixtape MC in his mid-20s, when he was so good that critics gushed all over his new albums, Tha Carter one through three, and were remarkably willing to overlook his past indiscretions.
Wayne and Julez Santana are working on a project called I Can't Feel My Face, bits of which have already been leaked on the Internet.
This is the video for "Got Money" with T-Pain and Mack Maine.
The Opponents
In the blue corner, from The San Fernando Valley, California, a group who's name bugs me, SHE WANTS REVENGE!
I don't know nearly as much about She Wants Revenge as I do about Lil' Wayne. I know they're from California. I know that frontman Justin Warfield used to be a rapper and released an album that was produced by QDIII (Quincy Jones' son) and Prince Paul. I know that Justin Warfield looks strangely like a biracial goth Paul Giamatti. That's about it.
Oh, and I know that they make awesome, creepy, cinematic videos.
The reason it took me two years and two-and-half albums to warm up to Revenge is pretty simple. Their name, album art and overall image convinced me that this was a band for 15 year-old girls, and the number of 15 year-old girls wearing their t-shirts did very little to change that impression.
My slow conversion began about a year ago when I was at a club for my buddy Shaan's birthday. It may have been the bad draft, but there was something about Revenge's hit "Tear You Apart" that absolutely blew my mind. Subsequent sober listenings have had the same effect.
That said, I still can't get it out of my head that revenge are a sadcore band for little girls. Here's the video for "Tear You Apart."
Comment to vote, votes due by Friday at midnight.
As always, my friends managed to save my ass without them even realizing.
Recently, I've been having a lot of conversations about acts that I'm having a little trouble admitting that I like.
With that in mind, I bring you MMV's tribute to ambiguity, Lil' Wayne vs. She Wants Revenge.
The Battle
In the red corner, from New Orleans, Louisiana, a man who's short in stature but a giant in syrup consumption, LIL WAYNE!
I work with a number of Lil' Wayne fans. Last month, while one of them was desperately trying to get tickets for his gig at Circa, which was subsequently canceled, I mentioned that I still wasn't completely sold on this "Lil' Wayne is good now" thing. They both had minor panic attacks, burned me a copy of Tha Carter 3, and pretty much refused to fuck off until I acknowledged Wayne's greatness.
I have to admit that the last two Wayne albums are pretty impressive, but I still have major issues with anyone who claims to be "The Greatest Rapper Alive" and isn't named Jay-Z. I also have a tough time looking at Wayne and not thinking of the guy who got the throwaway verses on The Hot Boys albums.
I was in Grade 12 when the single "Bling Bling" came out. "Bling Bling" may be one of my least favourite songs ever. Not only did it introduce the phrase "Bling Bling" into wider society, to the point that my dad now uses it, it also featured such lyrical gems as "Hear my cell phone ring/bling bling bling/see my earrings from a mile/bling bling." As someone who's a lyrically-minded hip-hop fan, this song was like a kick in the balls to me.
Dwayne Carter was grew up in New Orleans' Hollygrove neighbourhood. Like me, he was a gifted kid in elementary school. Unlike me, he dropped out of school at age 14 to join The Hot Boys and once accidentally shot himself with a high-powered handgun. Earlier this year, he was arrested in Arizona with a fantastic quantity of drugs.
Although Carter found fame as a rapper starting at the age of 16, he wasn't really taken seriously as an MC until he made a major comeback as a mixtape MC in his mid-20s, when he was so good that critics gushed all over his new albums, Tha Carter one through three, and were remarkably willing to overlook his past indiscretions.
Wayne and Julez Santana are working on a project called I Can't Feel My Face, bits of which have already been leaked on the Internet.
This is the video for "Got Money" with T-Pain and Mack Maine.
The Opponents
In the blue corner, from The San Fernando Valley, California, a group who's name bugs me, SHE WANTS REVENGE!
I don't know nearly as much about She Wants Revenge as I do about Lil' Wayne. I know they're from California. I know that frontman Justin Warfield used to be a rapper and released an album that was produced by QDIII (Quincy Jones' son) and Prince Paul. I know that Justin Warfield looks strangely like a biracial goth Paul Giamatti. That's about it.
Oh, and I know that they make awesome, creepy, cinematic videos.
The reason it took me two years and two-and-half albums to warm up to Revenge is pretty simple. Their name, album art and overall image convinced me that this was a band for 15 year-old girls, and the number of 15 year-old girls wearing their t-shirts did very little to change that impression.
My slow conversion began about a year ago when I was at a club for my buddy Shaan's birthday. It may have been the bad draft, but there was something about Revenge's hit "Tear You Apart" that absolutely blew my mind. Subsequent sober listenings have had the same effect.
That said, I still can't get it out of my head that revenge are a sadcore band for little girls. Here's the video for "Tear You Apart."
Comment to vote, votes due by Friday at midnight.
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