So… as we come to the last post of January on DanjLovesThe90s, I hope y’all have been enjoyin’ this Winter Six thing so far. For this one, we slide into 1993, which was a transitional year both for hip-hop and myself.
By that winter, I was 13 and had started dabbling in the rap thing. Fukkit, who am I lyin’ to- I was all in with both feet. To paraphrase that famous old folks saying, if I was into homework like I was into writing rhymes, I’da been academically achieving like a muh’fukka. I had also subscribed to The Source, started listening to the older albums I hadn’t heard, and began my oft-mentioned “fuck R&B” phase. I wasn’t totally disconnected, but it wasn’t my main thing at all by then. I was too caught up in hip-hop to be that interested in Shai or whoever was poppin’ off at that moment. Me and my brother were buying new tapes almost every week- from Naughty By Nature to 2Pac to Showbiz & AG and more. Amongst alllll the music I was playing, here’s the six that immediately popped into my head while recollecting the ’93 winter:
Onyx “Throw Ya Gunz”: I don’t even know WTF East Coast hip-hop’s sound is in 2010, but ’92-’93 was about lots of shouted choruses and aggressive beats. And when it came to shouting and aggression, Onyx was in the front of that movement. People don’t seem to acknowledge this a lot, but they had a lotta dudes tryin’ to carbon copy their sound and image that year. “Slam” was the biggest hit off their Bacdafucup album, but the lead single “Throw Ya Gunz” was the one that had me amped to hear more of Onyx in ’93.
Black Moon “Who Got The Props”: Speaking of shouted choruses, can’t forget about Black Moon. “Who Got The Props” was another example of how a record could be on a low-budget label with little to no hype behind it, but become a big street-level hit because the shit just went that hard. The first night I heard this, DJ Celo played it on his Saturday night mix show on DC‘s WKYS (which I listened to regularly). Ever since I taped it that night, I literally never got tired of hearing it. I went on to become a huge Black Moon fan later that year, but that’s a story for another day…
Brand Nubian “Love Me Or Leave Me Alone”: Annnnd speaking of Celo on ‘KYS, this was another song I taped that night. With Grand Puba deciding to break out and do his own thing, the duo of Sadat X & Lord Jamar was working out better than expected. “Love Me Or Leave Me Alone” was the second single off their In God We Trust album, with Jamar and X givin’ their women a fair chance to make a choice. I didn’t dig that album too tough, but this happened to be one of the tracks that made it feel somewhat less of a rip-off.
Redman “Time 4 Sum Aksion”: But on the other hand… one album that surely wasn’t a rip-off was Redman’s Whut? Thee Album. I kept it in the Walkman and knew the whole shit word-for-word, even the skits. With “Time 4 Sum Aksion” being one of the joints that made him official, Red was killin’ shit. Even as my favorite group (EPMD) was going its separate ways, they put out one of my new favorite MCs, who’d continue to be that as the years went on.
Diamond & The Psychotic Neurotics “Sally Got A One Track Mind”: From the mighty Diggin’ In The Crates crew came Diamond D, who (like fellow DITC members Showbiz and Lord Finesse) was both an MC and producer. His Stunts, Blunts, & Hip-Hop album had its fair share of time in the tape deck, and even before it was an official single, I was crazy about “Sally…”. Here, Diamond tells a story about a girl who stays gettin’ banged out by random dudes with cash, but ends up with nothing to show for it but babies and chicken wings.
SuperCat feat. 3rd Eye, Puff Daddy, & Notorious B.I.G. “Dolly My Baby” (Bad Boy Remix): With the hip-hop/dancehall reggae thing kicking off heavily, and Shabba Ranks busy dancin’ in pajamas with Johnny Gill [STOP], Super Cat was the new hardcore fan favorite. Some dudes named Puff Daddy and “Big E. Smalls” (that’s what it says on the record), along with MC/producer Jesse West a.k.a. “3rd Eye”, come through on this remix of SC’s “Dolly My Baby”. Notable for three things: A) Puff’s grimy flow that still makes me laugh, B) the line “I love it when you call me Big Pop-pa” which later made for a helluva hit record, and C) the first (and far from last) time the Bad Boy brand was shouted out on a record.
-D!
My dude! All those were killing me back then. Shoot, Onyx got me in trouble in high school! Singing “Attack of the Baldheads” going to homeroom. But everything changed when I heard Redman, I still rock Redman today. That album is the truth.
But yeah man, 1992-1996 was awesome as sin. And the “NYC/East Coast Sound” was just killer. I’m going to have to break out some stuff this weekend.
Onyx made me get a baldie for a hot second, hahaaaaaaa… the hell…
Redman was the craziest shit out for a good while. Especially around ’95-’96 when he was just poppin’ up on all kinds of different songs just bodyin’ the shit everytime. I gotta speak on that dude soon, cause he def. was one of those who I really studied and listened to extra-hard.
-D!
I STILL jam “Who Got The Props” till this day! LOVE Buckshot’s verse…i STILL get get live when the opening beat comes on like you already know!! That’s a very good instrumental.
Showbiz & AG – the song that I really liked from them off top is “Represent”
Redman – I thought about him this morning matter of fact and I remember back in late 96 jamming that “Muddy Waters” CD [gonna download it later...]Time 4 Sum Akshun is good also
wasn’t Redman on “4,3,2,1″ with LL or was that Method Man?
Diamond D – I actually have this album and liked “Sally….” BUT my shit I kept playing over and over was “I Went for Mine” ["Ayo I went for mine/so go for yours kid" and "Needs another loop so I added a flute"] OMG!!!!!!
SuperCat – I have Dolly also… Mary J singing the hook and I LOVED Biggie’s part at the end when he goes “AHHH” or whatever! CLASSIC! I dont like P Did but damn he came out with some good music!
you’d be surprised!!! my taste of music that is lol I also listen to this all day everyday on XM’s Backspin
Have a good weekend! its fucking 40 something degrees here Im just staying warm lol
-thehoustongirl
Ayyy Houston… yeah, that Black Moon situation was serious. They came straight out the box swingin’ for the fence with that one.
Yeah, Red and Meth were both on ’4321′… and hell yeah @ ‘Muddy Waters’- I used to keep that shit on auto-reverse, haha!
Far as Diamond- I fux w/ ‘I Went For Mine’ hard too… and ‘Fuck What Ya Heard’, ‘Best Kept Secret’, and ‘That’s That Shit’… the whole album really.
That Supercat record was serious… that beat, the MJB backgrounds, the Biggie verse (even tho’ it was short)… Puff was unnecessary and comical, but what can ya do?
I’ve heard Backspin a couple times. I don’t have satellite radio, but it def. sounds like my kinda station.
-D!
Hey Danj. These are a great hiphop selections. It took me back to a time when I had a passion for hiphop like that. Oynx scared the hell outta me, but my brother loved them. I had the pleasure of meeting Sticky Fingaz at my school. He was great. I was in love with Black Moon when this came out. I could listen to this over and over again. Great classic. I have to admit that I dismissed the Nubians without Puba. It just didnt feel complete. I was kinda in the air about Redman. He was a character like Busta Rhymes use to be. He was just ghetto ass hell. I really didnt start to like him until the second joint. I heard “Sally Got a One Track Mind” joint, but I swear I never knew the artist name. LOL Supercat was the man. Seeing a fat black dude and a skinny clown looking dude in the video use to make me laugh. Puff looked so fake I swear. LOL Dont forget the MJB was on the vocals. I still love the song.
Puff in that video… his face didn’t even match the voice. He’s all smilin’ and shit while the voice is grimy and angry-sounding. That voice wasn’t for him, just like his boy Mase when he used to rap all loud and aggressive, lol. Turrible… just turrible.
-D!
This was around the time NY Hip Hop got real gutter. This was the changing of the guards. What can I say about Reggie Noble. I remember when he use to live on Springfield Ave and South 20 in Newark, NJ (I had to blow his spot up lol)He was one of our saviors along with Naughty and Latifah. I actually heard What Thee Album months before it came out thru Duitall Kelly (of Lords Of The Underground)Speaking of Lords, you didn’t put Funky Child on the list? That was a huge single during the winter of 93. And no Protect Your Kneck? C’MON Son lol
Right, all of hip-hop was changing into a harder direction, on the West and the East. That’s when just about everybody had to come out a lil’ harder than they were before…
I might shock ya a bit w/ this, but I was never a super Lords fan. I liked ‘Chief Rocka’, ‘Funky Child’ was cool, so was ‘Psycho’. But as a whole? I could take or leave most of their shit. As for ‘Protect Ya Neck’, I don’t recall hearing it during that winter, or at least not as much as the other joints I listed here… these were just the ones I liked the most.
-D!
i love me a good reggae joint, that supercat was hot
I concur! This and ‘Ghetto Red Hot’…
-D!
Very fitting that you start this post off with Onyx. True hip-hop that parents want you to stay away from only because it scared the shit outta them. Hell, it STILL scares the shit outta me LOL. When I saw them perform on VH1 Hip Hop Honors for Def Jam, I was backing away from my TV set like they were about to burst through that bitch!
And I’m gonna have to check out the last single you mentioned cause Lawd knows I loved everything Bad Boy back in the day. Now……Yo Puff, #wheredeydodatat