Rhymes Galore

09/28/2010

As noted by Noz the other day on Twitter, one thing hip-hop has been rather short on in recent years is “characters”. Of course, a lot of ‘em are playin’ roles anyway, but there’s not many who have their own distinctive entertaining personas, images, and rhyme styles. Love her or hate her, Nicki Minaj is one recent artist that falls into that category- as crazy as her voices and facial expressions may be, she commands attention as something different from the crop. Others in the past like Ludacris, Eminem, Redman, ODB, and Biz Markie had similar quirks- even to a point where the more “regular” their music was, the less appealing it was. They were expected to do the unconventional, so the normal shit just never quite hit the same way.

Another artist who also fits this description would be Busta Rhymes. For years, Busta was the one that always came with something different. For that reason, he always had his own lane, no matter what else was poppin’ that particular year. When the whole game went one way, his music went another, without being so over-the-edge that it didn’t still hit. But somewhere within the last five years, while he still has his different moments, he’s become a lot more typical. By comparison, the gun-bustin’, coke-sellin’ Busta hasn’t been clickin’ as well as the Busta that became a household name in the ’90s.

Read the rest of this entry »

16 Comments | DanjLovesTheHipHop, Nuff Respect Due | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by Danj!

DANJ! Presents Winter Six: 1999 (Makin’ Moves Y’all)

03/12/2010

At the dead end of ’98, I moved back into Baltimore City, after spending about seven months out in the ‘burbs at my brother’s place. Within the first two weeks, I’d had a drunk pass out in front of my door and almost got caught in the crossfire of some nigga tryna shoot it out with the cops. Yeah, it was good to be back.

Read the rest of this entry »

12 Comments | Classic Material, DanjLovesTheHipHop, DanjLovesTheR&B, My Life, Winter Six, Young Youth | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Danj!

Summer Seven Series: 1997

08/10/2009

grad

So… on June 10, 1997, I graduated completed high school and went the hell home, glad to be up outta there. My senior year was on some straight bullshit, and I was definitely given a hard way to go through that whole ride. Finally, I was out, with not a clue as to what my next move was. Meanwhile, I figured I might as well enjoy the summer… why not?

technics1200

During this time, I started DJing at parties with a dude from my old neighborhood named Troy Rock, who I always used to bug when I was younger. He was the DJ around there, and I was just a lil’ kid asking him to make tapes for me and shit like that. By ’97, I was good enough to play at parties, so I took advantage of the opportunity. I didn’t get paid much, but I was more pumped off having the chance to play in front of people and use the Technics 1200s.

But my main focus was still rappin’, and I was really ready to put a lot of time into that. I knew a couple of producers around this time, so I was trying to work with them and get things off the ground. My Plan A and Plan B at that time were both in music. I was gonna work on my own music, and get money by DJing- anything else wasn’t of my concern. I even remember a meeting at school shortly before I graduated completed, at which I told the administrators that THOSE were my plans. “Well don’t you think you should get work or go to school?” Nope, I was gonna rap and spin. Ohhh, the naivete.

surge!

In the midst of all that, I was up to my same madness. I was halfway dealin’ with a girl named Tasha (in the grad pic) by this point, but mainly on the field. I wasn’t partial to drinking yet, but I stayed smokin’ with my brother and his cast of characters. I actually liked listening to the radio, and of course I was still watching videos. I wanted to start goin’ to the 17+ clubs around this time, but I never actually went. I wasn’t much into dancing, and I didn’t fukk with Baltimore Club music too hard… so I wasn’t gonna go there and hold up the wall. Just wasn’t my thing.

I really had no idea what I was gonna do except buy more notebooks and more records. My life plan was hare-brained at best, but hell if I didn’t decide to go with it. I don’t really regret it, but I probably woulda done it differently in retrospect. At the time, I was just in my own zone- drinkin’ Surge, smokin’ weed, writin’ lyrics, and askin’ questions later.

wu triumph

The Danj! Summer Seven of 1997 (NOTE: Life After Death is exempt from this list- I ran that WHOLE thing just as much as I did these seven.):

Busta Rhymes “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See”: Honestly, I thought this shit was wack the first time I heard it. The second, third, fourth…? You couldn’t tell me it wasn’t the shit. What the dealy, yo?

Puff Daddy feat. The Notorious B.I.G., Lil’ Kim, & The LOX “It’s All About The Benjamins”: Of course, everyone in the know had been rockin’ with the Puff/LOX version since the previous winter… but those extra Kim and B.I.G. verses took it from hot to classic.

Dru Hill feat. Jermaine Dupri & Da Brat “In My Bed (Remix)”: B-More’s favorite R&B group in the whole wide wide world was Dru Hill in ’97, and it was undeniable. They were battin’ .1000, and this remix only added on.

Wu-Tang Clan “Triumph”: That Wu-Tang Forever joint was a lil’ hit-and-miss for me, but they came out swingin’ with the lead single. Also, the video had me on some “wow” shit for a minute there.

Royal Flush feat. Noreaga “Iced Down Medallions”: Heard it on 88.9 late one Friday night… from there on out, prob’ly listened to it at least once a day that whole summer.

Scarface feat. 2Pac “Smile”: One of ‘Face’s best records ever, although ‘Pac pretty much owns it. And nah, that wasn’t him in the video.

Lauryn Hill “The Sweetest Thing”: …and nah, wasn’t him in this one either. But “Ms. Hill” continued building on her stardom with this one, a year before she would REALLY shut it down with the Miseducation.

IN CASE YOU MISSED ‘EM: Check out the other Summer Sevens HERE.

-D!

6 Comments | DanjLovesTheHipHop, DanjLovesTheR&B, Hip-Hop Soul, My Life, Summer Seven Series | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Danj!

It’s The Posse!

06/05/2009

theposse

Oh HELL nah, this ain’t about that movie. The only thing worth writing about from that is Salli Richardson being ass-nekkid. Sorry, film buffs. Now that I’ve introduced myself and then revealed an embarrassing secret, I’ll now proceed to go in on some things that made me love the ’90s. This is about a certain kind of track that would always cause some kind of debate amongst those who heard it. They’re commonly referred to as “collabos” now, but up until about ’97-‘98, they were called “posse cuts”.

The posse cut is the one where the main artist features two or (many) more guests on the same track. The reason why a lot of these are so popular is because they’re always bound to spark a “who had the best part?” discussion. I’ve literally taken part in convos that lasted as long as a full hour about this kinda shit. Posse cuts usually consisted of spirited performances by all parties involved, because likely, they all wanted to be “the one with the best verse”. After all, even in camaraderie comes competition.

With all due respect to “The Symphony”, “Buddy”, and others from the great ‘80s- here’s a few of my personal favorites from the ‘90s:

scenariovideo

“Scenario”- A Tribe Called Quest feat. Leaders of the New School (1991): This is one that I was stuck on from the first time I heard Tribe’s Low End Theory album. It’s known today as the song that made Busta Rhymes a star, and probably led to the late-’93 breakup of the Leaders. After this joint, LONS became “Busta n’nem”. That said, “Scenario” is no one-man show. ATCQ’s Q-Tip and Phife, as well as LONS’ Charlie Brown and Dinco ALL had quotable verses. Everything about this is classic, including its video AND the equally-classic ’92 remix (featuring a new MC named Kid Hood, who was murdered days after recording his verse). For The Win: BUSTA (on both)

“Niggaz Done Started Somethin’”- DMX feat. The LOX & Mase (1997): These five were part of a new movement in late-’97/early ’98. They were all up-n-coming artists from NY whose street fanbases were cultivated through mixtapes, and were now heading toward more mainstream exposure. The LOX’s Jadakiss and Styles held it down as they were known to do at all times, while Sheek’s verse was… well, Sheek-like. But all three LOX members take the back seat here, as I gotta declare this one a dead-heat between X (who was 100% on fire back then) and Mase (who rarely gets half the props that he should- another blog, another day).

flava vid

“Flava In Ya Ear (Remix)”- Craig Mack feat. Notorious B.I.G., Rampage, LL Cool J, & Busta Rhymes (1994): This joint is so major, people tend to forget how much of a SMASH the original “Flava…” already was. From Puffy’s Warriors-inspired intro, all the way to Busta (again) closing things out strong, this song and video was a template for many all-star remixes to come. Sadly for Craig, his biggest record ever had an even bigger remix, on which he got outshined by everyone… even that totally nonsensical LL verse. The nod on this one, however, goes to BIGGIE for “gettin’ more butt than ashtrays” and letting failed rappers know that their future was with UPS.

“Head Banger”- EPMD feat. K-Solo & Redman (1992): This one represented somewhat of a turning point for everyone on the track. For one, it was Redman’s first high-profile show-stealing appearance. It was K-Solo’s last time being involved in something of particular relevance (unless you wanna count being told to suck DMX’s dick on “Get At Me Dog” a few years later). It was also EPMD’s final single before they split at the end of ’92. Over a beat that (according to Erick Sermon) was originally intended for Ice Cube, everyone did their thing, but Red walked away with it. Show me a nigga who thinks one of the other three had the best verse on there, and I’ll show you someone just tryin’ to be different for the fuck of it.

In trying to avoid droppin’ super-lengthy entries, I’ll end it here for now. But it DEF. won’t be the last of this topic, as I have some others that I’ll be biggin’ up tomorrow. Stay tuned…

You Want ‘Em? CLICK ‘Em.

A Tribe Called Quest feat. Leaders Of The New School “Scenario” (1991)

A Tribe Called Quest feat. L.O.N.S. & Kid Hood “Scenario” (Remix) (1992)

DMX feat. The LOX & Mase “Niggaz Done Started Something” (1998)

Craig Mack feat. The Notorious B.I.G., Rampage, LL Cool J, & Busta Rhymes “Flava In Ya Ear (Remix) (1994)

EPMD feat. K-Solo & Redman “Head Banger” (1992)

-D!

9 Comments | Best Of..., Clans/Posses/Crews/Cliques, Classic Material, DanjLovesTheHipHop, Reeeemmmmmiiiiixxxx! | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Danj!

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.