The 90s Loved The 80s: (More) Punk Smooth Sh*t

05/08/2010

Some of you early, early DLT90s readers might recall the first time I covered this, but I’m a superfan of them smooth ’80s R&B joints. I zone with those when I’m in coolout mode and whatnot. For that same reason, I also rock with a lot of the hip-hop tracks that sampled them during the ’90s. Truth  be told, when a newer song samples one I used to like, there’s a 75/25 chance I’m automatically gonna like it. While that’s not always the case, it helps a lot. So this brings us to today’s entry, with four more tracks from the ’90s that I hold in such esteem, which borrowed heavily from four from the ’80s that I like just as much.

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DANJ! Presents Winter Six: 1997 (Rapper’s Delight)

02/26/2010

Aight, so… I was in my senior year of high school, and the first few months of my year was some ol’ bullshit. I had a lil’ beef with this kid, and for whatever reason, my teachers acted like I was some kinda bully tormentin’ the nigga. On five different occasions between September and December, I was suspended, even havin’ to stay home for two weeks straight at one point. They’d gotten their hands on a tape I made and interpreted the lyrics to be some type of threat on the dude’s life, when it really wasn’t that serious. If I told y’all the extent to which this shit went, you’d be amazed that some people who work for a school could be so dumb.

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“Get’cha Bling Like The Neptune Sound…”

12/22/2009

“Yo, N-E-P, T-U-N, E-S/ The way they lace a beat’s like, one of the best” – Noreaga, “Super Thug” (1998)

There was a time earlier in the 2000s when I still liked listening to the radio and watching BET on the regular. The only time in recent memory that I’ve committed more than an hour to either was when Michael died. Prior to 2005, when “Laffy Taffy” and all of its spinoffs finally broke my threshold for pain, I was still regularly tuned in. A good half of that is due to music produced by The Neptunes.

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Summer Seven Series: 1998

08/17/2009

noodlesO-Kaaay. Last week was kinda like a tough one, and I caught a brick the other day. RESET.

streets

SO… in ’98, I was staying at my older brother Kawann‘s apartment in Reisterstown, Md. Shit was cool for the most part, even though we bumped heads about certain stuff like my leaving lights on in different rooms and smashin’ all the lunchmeat. I mainly remember my time spent there because of three things: drinkin’ Bud Ice, eatin’ Oodles of Noodles every day, and runnin’ the shit out of Streets Is Watching on the VCR. I think every last person that visited the apartment saw that tape at least once, cause we watched that shit REGULARLY.

I was 18 and still not up to much except trying to get my money situation right. Most of the time, I was in the house- either tryin’ to convince a girl to come all the way out there via MTA, or watchin’ BET all day long. Wild to think that there was a time when I’d literally watch that one station from 9 a.m. to late in the evening, just tapin’ videos. Nowadays, I don’t even watch videos (or BET), but ’98 was a whole ‘nother story. Other times, I chilled with my brother and his friends- at least when they went to places that I wasn’t too young to get into.

austinrock

Also, during that time, I got back into watching wrestling. I had gradually lost interest in it since ’92, and eventually stopped watching it altogether. One day, I happened to see Monday Night Raw on Prevue Guide (now the TV Guide channel), so I figured I’d check it out on a whim. What I ended up seeing was some shit waaay different than I remembered it. One of the main reasons I had stopped watching was because it was all kid-catered and I was getting older… but now it was about things I liked as a teenager (i.e. profanity and sexual innuendo). It was catchy enough to make me continue watching, so I did.

Near the end of the summer, I heard 92Q having a call-in battle segment of sorts called “The Cipha” (the same segment Cassidy held dowm in Philly when the host Neke was on their station). I called in to appear on the show one Friday night, and for the following month, I was the champion. I had to do it four times a week, but I was always ready to go in soon as 9:30 p.m. hit. Crazily, no matter how much I figure nobody remembers it, I’ve run into at least one person every year since then who still recalls that. I’ve tried to avoid makin’ that my Al Bundy/”four touchdowns in one game” story, but it never fails.

Summer ’98 was fun, if not much else. Nothin’ to complain about here- I weighed about a buck-oh-five, ate every piece of lunchmeat and package of Oodles in the house, eventually got a chick to make the long-ass MTA trip, rhymed on the radio, rediscovered a childhood interest, and taped hundreds of videos. It was what it was.

aaliyah

The Danj! Summer Seven Series of 1998:

Aaliyah “Are U That Somebody”: With Timbaland still pushing limits with his beats (baby noises and no hi-hats), Aaliyah locks the summer of ’98 all the way down.

Noreaga “Super Thug”: “What, what, what, what, what, w-what!” Nore makes a hot hook out of ONE word. On top of that, the beat was insane, provided by The Neptunes. Who knows what Nore was talkin’ about, but it didn’t even matter.

Big Pun feat. Joe “Still Not A Player”: Pun remixes his own “I’m Not A Player” with Joe rewriting his hook from his own “Don’t Wanna Be A Player”… and everybody goes crazy.

Tamia “So Into You”: If you watched BET between June and September ’98, there’s no way in hell you didn’t see this shit. The homie Fabolous likes this song, and so do I, and so should you.

Goodie MOB feat. OutKast “Black Ice”: The Dungeon Family‘s two strongest links collab for one of my favorite tracks by either group. This song also made me a SERIOUS fan of Andre‘s lyricism.

Jay-Z feat. Memphis Bleek “It’s Alright”: When I say we were killin’ that Streets Is Watching soundtrack, it’s some real shit. Jay-Z, nigga- thaaat’s riiight.

Rell feat. Jay-Z “Love 4 Free”: Rell’s prob’ly still tryna find out what his album’s release date is… but at least he got a (turrible) video and a hot song out of his Roc-A-Fella deal in ’98. More Streets Is Watching soundtrackery.

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

-D! (one more week of the Summer Seven to go)

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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
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Freestyle Friday #2!

08/07/2009

oldHot97logo

One thing I always looked forward to back in the ’90s was getting to hear Hot 97.

Twice a year, my aunt would charter a bus and my family rolled up to Times Square for a whole day. In addition to being in NYC and coppin’ a GANG of records from Rock & Soul, I was always amped to listen to Hot on my Walkman while walkin’ thru the city. I’d read and heard about the station, but being in B-More, I never got to hear it. Whenever we went on the shopping trips, once we got up in the NY/New Jersey areas, I had 97.1 locked in. It was damn near depressing when we’d be on the way back home and the signal would start slowly dying out as we ventured out of Jersey.

Ah, well… here’s some ’90s-era freestyles from Hot 97. Of course, most of the verses ended up being heard on these artists’ albums, but fukkit. HUGE shoutout to Newark88 on the assist.

canibusdmxnoreaga

Canibus, DMX, & Noreaga (1998):  Good God Damn… on one night in early ’98, these three became the most-anticipated new jacks for the year. I happened to catch this whole thing on a mixtape in ’98, and I must’ve played the livin’ shit out of it. Funkmaster Flex plays the breakbeats and they go in.

Bootcamp96

Boot Camp Clik (1996): The whole crew- Buckshot, Smif-N-Wessun, Heltah Skeltah, and OGC- is in the building. Flex keeps it BCC by playing all of their instrumentals. A couple of these niggas were on some OTHER shit, but classic Boot Camp antics throughout.

dirty

Ol’ Dirty Bastard (1995): Not quite as crazy as you’d expect ODB to be with a live mic, but still crazy by normal standards. Over Smoothe Da Hustler’s “Broken Language” instrumental, Dirty does what he does best- a complete train wreck with entertainment value unmatched by most.

mobbnoyd

Prodigy & Big Noyd (1997): Back when Prodigy’s lyrics were still worth a damn, he and Noyd rep the QBC. Resident Mobb Deep hook girl Chinky chimes in as well, singing the hook from the Mobb’s “Reach”. P sounds particularly focused here, with a couple of jabs aimed at the next artists on the list…

defsquad98

Def Squad (1998): Redman, Keith Murray, and Erick Sermon came together (no Erick) for a solid lil’ album in ’98, and I’m guessing that this is around the time it dropped. I always wanted to hear Red rhyme on the “Who Shot Ya” beat, so there’s the redeeming quality.

mason97killacamcardan

Mase, Killa Cam, & Cardan (1997): “Here’s how we do in Harlem World“. Mase and the crew come thru, right in time to plug his debut album and drop heat on Clue’s Monday Night Mixtape show. Cam lets everybody know that they kilt it at the end, in case you were just tuning in.

(IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: The First Freestyle Friday)

-D!

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It’s The Posse! Part II

06/06/2009

posse2

As weeeee proceeeeed… shoutout to Arsenio’s “Posse”… more of my favorites from of course, the ’90s:

“I Shot Ya (Remix)”- LL Cool J feat. Keith Murray, Prodigy, Fat Joe, & Foxy Brown (1995): Shit was undeniable. First of all, the track itself was crazy and built to be killed by someone capable of doing so, which all five MCs seemed to be aiming for. Murray opened things with a bang. Mobb Deep’s Prodigy followed with lyrics that I doubt he could write today to save his life. Joe came through much-improved from his prior work. Foxy made her debut and nearly stole the show. And then, LL KILLED IT. L had a point to prove with his rhyme, and he did just that. I remember people bein’ surprised at how hard L went. I never understood the shock, but maybe it’s because last time they’d heard him, he was “heeshee, blowticious, skeevy, delicious”… ?

pacredbig

“Got My Mind Made Up”- 2Pac feat. Tha Dogg Pound, Method Man, & Redman (1996): Daz (who produced the track) could’ve given his spot up to someone else… but everyone else brought it. One of the tracks that pulled me into All Eyez On Me (because I was NOT diggin’ “California Love” at all), “…Mind Made Up” is still a favorite of mine. It also proves to dispel the incorrect belief that ‘Pac hated the East Coast during this time. Meth and Red, fresh off of their first collab “How High”, continued to exhibit the power of their combined talents. Kurupt turned in another in what was then a consistent number of solid guest verses, and ‘Pac sounded quite determined to not be outdone. Personally, I’d give this one to Red’s verse, but I wouldn’t be mad if someone else preferred ‘Pac’s.

“John Blaze”- Fat Joe feat. Nas, Big Pun, Jadakiss, & Raekwon (1998): No dis, but if there was ever a rapper unlikely to go the distance in the rap game, it was Joe when he debuted in ’93. By ’98, he was primarily involved in pushing his man Big Pun into the spotlight. Once that was solidified, Joe went back in to drop his third album, Don Cartagena, which featured this joint. All the guests do their thing here, with Jadakiss’ raspy flow continuing to shine on every track he touched. Who knows what Raekwon was talkin’ about, but his flow was still thorough. Nas, who was phoning it in a LOT around this time, came with his A-game here. But the edge goes to Pun, off the strength of “even if I stuttered, I would still sh-sh-shit on you”. Punisher was killin’ it in ’98 before his size and health started taking a lot out of him, vocally and of course, physically.

pun

“Banned From TV”- Noreaga feat. Nature, Big Pun, Cam’ron, & The Lox (1998): Around ’98, as I mentioned before, there was a new wave of artists coming up. Most of these were rappers who’d gotten most of their early shine on the mixtape circuit, then led by DJ Clue. Out of that new wave came “Banned From TV” by Noreaga, a.k.a. N.O.R.E. This one was major, especially due to Swizz Beatz providing what is still one of his best tracks ever. Everyone goes for it, with the back-n-forth teamwork of Jada & Styles nearly taking the cake. But Pun takes it again with “disrespect and watch ya body cave in, pump the shottie gauge and hit ya shorty while he potty-trainin’”. On a side note, Nore’s never been the most immaculate lyricist, but damn if his verse isn’t entertaining as hell. HTF is Hennessey STRAIGHT if it’s “with tomato juice”?

“Don’t Curse”- Heavy D feat. Kool G Rap, Grand Puba, Pete Rock, CL Smooth, Big Daddy Kane, & Q-Tip (1991): Known for being on the lighter side of hip-hop (no complexion joke), Heavy was a formidable MC. Much of his music was aimed in a more R&B direction, which may be why he tends to be left out of those “golden age” convos. But Hev got a lot of love from others in the game, as was shown on “Don’t Curse”. Here, he collabs with some of hip-hop’s best of the time on a track where almost everyone teases curse words but never actually says one. Not even a wack Pete Rock verse nor Kane rocking a damn purple matador suit in the video could stop this song from bein’ my shhh… stuff. Oh, and G RAP for the win.

(KRS would say) “We’re not done… we’re not done!” I’ll be revisiting this topic again sometime down the line, as there are more that I plan to speak on in the future. For now, I’ll leave it here. Feel free to name some of YOUR favorites in the comment section. Meanwhile, go ‘head and enjoy:

“I Shot Ya” (Remix) (1995)

“Got My Mind Made Up” (1996)

“John Blaze” (1998)

“Banned From TV” (1998)

“Don’t Curse” (1991)

-D!

12 Comments | Best Of..., Clans/Posses/Crews/Cliques, Classic Material, DanjLovesTheHipHop, Reeeemmmmmiiiiixxxx! | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
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