As you might already be aware, a recent collaborative effort on the Philaflava forum resulted in a reconstruction of The Firm album, re-imagining the track selection as it should've been. It's one of those releases thats generally considered a bit underwhelming, mostly due to it being less than the sum of its parts. The highs are high but the lows aren't really what the people involved should have put their names to in 1996. During the course of the discussion, the subject of 'La Familia' was raised. This was a song I'd kind of forgotten about since having it on a Future Flavas tape back in the day, but it turns out it's only official release was as a clean version on Foxy Brown's 'I'll Be' single, and Cormega's verse had been replaced by one from Nature after the group's line up changed. Save for a couple of mixtapes and poor quality youtube rips, the original was nowhere to be found. You can probably see where this post is going.
A quick check on my shelves turned up
this bootleg 12" with the uncensored version featuring Cormega. So here it is. Shout out to
DJ Filthy Rich for cleaning up the pops and crackles for me.
The Firm: How It Should've Been
The 12" is well worth picking up if you see it, as it also includes the original version of 'Benjamins' without Biggie and 'You'll See' (another promo only Bad Boy track). The
Tracey Lee/Canibus/McGruff joint is also unreleased.
Dope post Step. Glad I could help. This version of La Familia was the best, in my opinion...Cormega ripped it.
ReplyDeleteAnybody know where to find the dirty version of the 2nd version that appeared on Foxy Brown's "I'll Be" CD single which featured Nature? The beat was sped up a bit, had better sound quality, and had a verse from Nature. Somehow this guy has it and posted it on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2qZbpxN6pw
Hi Step, for some reason I'm not able to log on to philaflava boards. Here's a link to AZ-Sosa with Scarface sample in the intro, lifted from the 12". And also La Familia w/ Nature from the 12". Would be great if you could post them in the Firm thread. https://we.tl/djKWq9NuC1 Also it would be great if you could post You'll See and the og Benjamins. Looking for good-quality versions for years now. Thanks! Angelo
ReplyDeletethanks man. I've posted the OG version of Benjamins before but guessing the link is dead. I'l re-up it when I have more time
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DeleteI found the CDQ Explicit version with Cormega
ReplyDeletehttps://www.philaflavaforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2865404#p2865404