Don't Sleep #18 MC Chill - MC Story (1986)

It's been ages since the last Don't Sleep but as I just copped this 12" I thought I'd post it up. This is something I first heard back in '88 when I was first getting into this hip hop thing. Like a lot of rap fans in the UK, the Streetsounds albums played a key part in forming my tastes, pulling together a bunch of fresh new US jams for those of us that weren't spending a fortune on imports in Groove Records every weekend. Being only 10/11 years old me and my mate Mark were very much about just finding whatever rap music we could get our hands on and at the age of 10 the bargain bins and sale items were a good place to start. He scored a copy of Electro 12 which I promptly copied (on high speed dubbing too I'd imagine) and was introduced to some top tunes by Grandmaster Flash, Fat Boys, 2 Live Crew and Whodini. The only track I din't like was Square Dance Rap by Sir Mix A Lot. The album also includes the super dope 'Ultimate III Live' (which warrants a post of its own) and the subject of this post - MC Story by MC Chill.

The single was released on Sal Abbatiello's Fever label, which was also responsible for records by Most Wanted, Spoonie G, Sweet G and Cover Girls. It churned out a ton of Latin freestyle records and that whole 80s keyboard thing is in full effect on MC Story (along with a bizarre and very out of place guitar solo at the end). The chorus is kind of cheesy but you do get a class verse from the one and only Melle Mell which makes things well worth the price of admission.

Obviously '86 was a changing of the guard for the music once Rakim and BDP came along so this was very much the end of an era for this kind of rap. It's not a track you would necessarily be into if you didn't hear it at the time, but very much a nostalgia piece for me personally so thought I'd shed a bit of light on it.

It's mad that the Streetsounds series didn't make it to CD, let alone digital or streaming outlets. You can listen to Electro 12 on Soundcloud though.

McGruff Rugged & Raw aka If It Ain't McGruff It Ain't Me [a Herb McGruff compilation]

Over the last few years my waning (now pretty much non-existent) interest in new Hip Hop has meant I've gone back and discovered a new found appreciation for artists who I'd previously enjoyed, but perhaps never delved to deep into their catalogues. I've already hit you off with a Sauce Money compilation, and on a similar tip is this Herb McGruff collection. 

Signed by Heavy D to Uptown after the rest of his Children Of The Corn crew had found deals elsewhere, McGruff's debut album Destined To Be suffered from his label's attempts to jump on the Bad Boy bandwagon of the moment and have him dropping jiggy club efforts rather than the more thugged out Harlem-centric content that was his strong suit. Kind of understandable given that Uptown properly dropped the ball with Biggie (worst label decision ever in rap?) but history has shown us that the industry has a track record of signing acts with a big street buzz and then getting them to move away from the style that made them popular to chase radio play. In McGruff's case he got off to a good start with the Harlem Kids Get Biz promo 12", but the album had far too many lukewarm, middle of the road joints like Gruff Express and didn't really make much of an impression. What was interesting was the amount of collabs, features, and mixtape only/bootleg tracks that were circulating around the same time, and that's what makes up the bulk of this compilation.

I'm not sure if it was just bad timing, people stealing his ideas or vice versa but Herbert seems to have a issue in the jackin for beats department which probably hindered his progress somewhat. Creep is dope, but it's based around the same break Biggie used on Warning. Nasty with Foxy Brown uses the World Famous Supreme Team beat that's far too similar to the Firm Biz remix which dropped around the same time. Make It Hot has the same Eugene Wild sample recognisable from Foxy and Blackstreet's monster Get Me Home. I've included them all because 20+ years on it's not much of an issue but you can see how it may have been a problem at the time. 

I haven't really ventured into his re-emergence with Dipset in the 2000s so its mostly mid-late 90s material, and although it's pretty heavy on collaborations and guest appearances it's a decent representation of the man's work. Pick of the bunch for me is Harlem World with Mase on the hook, which samples Strawberry Letter 23. There's also East And Police produced by Godfather Don off 2008's The Demo EP,  a couple of the better tracks off the album in Reppin Uptown with The Lox and the aforementioned Harlem Kids Get Biz and some looseys like Bow Down with Mob Style and the mixtape only Hell Up In Harlem with Black Rob, Cardan & Cam'ron.

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East And Police 

Creep

Villain Guys 

Harlem World ft Mase

Freestyle

Reppin Uptown ft The LOX

Harlem NYC - Beats 2 Blow remix with Bootsie & Big L

Uptown Connection ft Mase & Big L

Harlem Kids Get Biz

Hell Up In Harlem with Black Rob, Cam'ron & Cardan

Pure Uncut Raw with Eightball, Canibus & DMX

Bow Down ft Mob Style & Meeno

Nasty ft Foxy Brown

Kay Slay freestyle

Obviously these were taken from a variety of sources - CD, vinyl, digital, some official, some less so. If you've got anything else that should've been included let me know.

Don't Sleep #17 Alley High - Voo Doo / World Wide (1996)

Voo Doo is something that I've heard on a couple of different tapes over the years and it caught my attention both times, only for me to find what it was and then promptly forget about it. Thanks to Tobes for IDing it again this time around when it turned up on this Friday Nite Flavas show, after which I swiftly made a purchase before I forgot it again (it's hella rare that any records I want are not only reasonably priced but also available from a UK seller). Both sides of the 12" are nice, with a kind of Camp Lo vibe to them. It's a bit of an obscure one but well worth your attention.

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All Discogs tells us about Alley High is that this was their only release, which is a shame as it sounds like they had some potential. What is surprising is that Voo Doo is produced by DJ Milo, who was a founder member of Bristol's legendary Wild Bunch crew. While some of the other members went off and became stoner/broadsheet favourites Massive Attack (and - if you believe the rumours - Banksy), Milo bounced to NYC, hooked up with Salaam Remi and had a hand in a track on Zhigge's album. Zhigge featured on a track on Harlem High Records's only release which is also a Milo production, and is likely the same imprint as Alley High's Harlem High Entertainment so they could well have been rolling with that whole crew.

Don't Sleep #16 Ice Cube 'What Can I Do' remixes (1994)

2 remixes of a track that appeared on the often maligned Lethal Injection. The first thing to say is that these versions hit the target and both are significantly different and better, which is exactly what a remix should be (remixes that just consist of getting a bunch of guest rappers on the same beat are an entirely different thing and should be treated as such). I recently commented on another post that this might be the last great Ice Cube track. I know You Can Do It was a huge commercial success and Club Banger but I think we'd all prefer to hear pretty much anyone rap on it apart from Ice Cube. Fabolous, Nelly or Jadakiss would've been right at home on that. The guy that made Amerikkka's Most Wanted and Dead Homiez not so much. Anyway, both mixes of What Can I Do are dope depending on your mood...



First up is the slightly harder to find of the two. The Eastside remix is by Ali Shaheed Mohammed (weird choice right?) and got some spins by Flex back in the day. It has that stripped down beat you'd associate with a lot of ATCQ tracks from around that time and is a nice take on the original version, making it more palatable for the boom bap contingent but retaining the laid back feel of the original.



The Westside mix is by the somewhat underrated Lay Law of Above The Law. I say somewhat as he's widely credited with inspiring the sound Dre used on The Chronic and as a result inventing G Funk, but Above The Law are still kind of slept on. The beat is exactly what you'd expect a '94 West Coast track to sound like but it fits perfectly and brings more energy than the LP version, which might be why Cube decided to change tack at the end and instead of being resigned to his fate as an ex-con working at McDonalds, he adds some extra lyrics and ends up on the run after joining forces with the guy that robs the place. A nice touch, giving you some good value for money and that's all we wanted back in the day, before people started acting like music doesn't exist if it's not on a streaming service. Also, this version doesn't have the big rant at the end and is all the better for it.

As for Lethal Injection, it gets a bad time  and admittedly it's not amazing, but Cube had set the bar ridiculously high with a run of 3 classics in 3 years before this. If it was anpther artist's debut it could well be getting mentioned in discussions about slept on/underrated albums where people show off their knowledge of obscure regional shit and early 90s underground rap. Really Doe is a solid start, albeit not a strong lead single. You Know How We Do It is flawless and better than It Was A Good Day, which Cube was clearly trying to emulate. Ghetto Bird is tough, although once again maybe the remixes are better. The main fuck up is including the 11 minute version of Bop Gun in the middle, which was a nightmare for anyone rocking it on tape for one thing but it really slows the momentum down. Either throw it on at the end or use the edited single version (and it was a good single) and keep it moving. Cave Bitch is a bit shit but reps an era where rappers weren't trying to "build a brand" and it would be fantastic to watch the social media meltdown if it came out today. I think the main issue with the album overall is that Cube was generally known for aggressive, hyped up songs and the lyrical content people loved him for didn't always sit well on that post-Chronic production. Still, it's better than Home Invasion though, which came out in the same year, so there's always that.

Down(load) By Law

A couple of weeks ago I dropped that big ass zipfile of random 90s joints that you might've forgotten about, should play more often, or not heard before. It was pretty popular so here's the early 00s edition.
It took a bit of thinking about it because whereas during the 90s I feel like we were mostly all on the same page (or at least aware of the majority of releases), by the time Y2K hit things were about more than NY and LA and people were finding their listening niches and picking sides. Going through my folders from 2000-2003 there's the established A-list artists you'd expect, alongside underground indie joints (both backpack and more thugged out), and artists from all over the US, plus the UK too as that was doing quite nicely at the time. I was definitely a lot more open minded back then, possibly as a result of being in my early 20s and generally being  less cynical about things but also because I worked in a Virgin Megastore so I had plenty of time to investigate any release that looked interesting. That's how Blackalicious ended up on here, as Blazing Arrow was one of the few rap albums I could play in store to disrupt the playlist of Sophie Ellis Bextor, Wheatus and Robbie Williams. It was also a time of hitting up the bargain bins in various 2nd hand record shops and picking up anything that looked like it might be something. Discogs and the "vinyl revival" have pretty much killed that experience off for good unfortunately

Anyway, here's the selection....

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Casual - I Got Ta Get Down

D Block - 2 Gunz Up

Da Ranjahz ft Ras Kass & Bilal - Da Dopest

DJ Quik ft Pharaohe Monch - Murda 1 Case

Ghostface Killah - Cherchez La Ghost (Heartbeat remix)

Bars & Hooks ft Prodigy - Mind Blowin'

Cappadonna ft Raekwon - Love Is The Message

Blackalicious - First In Flight

Grand Agent - Every 5 Minutes

Just Ice & Big Daddy Kane - Just Rhymin With Kane

Big Scoob - Brooklyn Flava

Run DMC ft Nas & Prodigy - Queens Day

Declaime - Caliwayz (remix)

The Game & Obie Trice - Growin Up In The Hood

Scarface ft Jay Z - Get Out

Pitch Black ft Foxy Brown - Got It Locked

Guru ft Timbo King, Killah Priest & Black Jesus - In Here

Perverted Monks - Desperado

Willmatic - Surround Surveillance

Soul Supreme ft AG, T Max & Pete Rock - Queen (Hip Hop)

I was going to do a brief write up on each track but that's a bit much. If there's anything you want to know just ask..

The photo was taken in a shop that I found one of the above records in. It's a complete health and fire hazard that makes NYC's The Thing look like Ikea and I can't believe it hasn't been closed down but an hour or so of awkward physical contortions and inhaling all manner of nastiness yielded a result or two so, y'know, appreciate that.

Blogspot like we bringin' 2008 back

You a slave to a draft in my Macbook. Just realised I haven't posted this year so far and I'm already into what will probably be the last couple of months of this site - I'm trying to wrap it up at 1000 posts and/or the ten (ten!) year anniversary -  so here's a random bunch of 90s tracks that I've discovered or rediscovered over the last however long, plus a few long time faves that I feel should get more shine. It's like an extended Don't Sleep but somewhat restricted by what's on YouTube. Having realised how much stuff isn't on there I might make that my next project.

Geto Boys - Homie Don't Play That (1991)

ESP - Give Me The Night (1991)
WC And The Maad Circle - Dress Code (1991)
The Elite - Nympho Klepto (1992)

Da Lench Mob ft Ice Cube - All On My Nut Sac (1992)

Black Rob - The Smoothness (1992)

Poison Clan - Action (Mike Fresh Nasty Mix) (1992)

Domino - Long Beach Thang (1993)

Ice Dog - Stick Up Boyz (1993)

Extra Prolific - Go Back To School (1994)

Kirk - Uptown Style (Laidback Bounce mix) (1994)

Shadez Of Lingo - Mad Flavaz (Dallas Austin remix) (1994)

Down N Dirty Tribe - Inna Cipher (1995)

Ill Al Skratch - Don't Shut Down On A Player (1995)

MOP - '95 Live Freestyle (1995)

SOP - Styles  (1995)

Big Noyd - Usual Suspects (Stretch Armstrong Remix) (1996)

Real Live - Money & Shows (1996)

Colored Section - Bomb MC (1997)

Duo ft DMX - 3 Stories (1997)

McGruff ft Mase - Harlem World (1997)

MC Eiht ft Daz - Hit The Floor (1997)

Redman - Pick It Up (Warren G remix) (1997)

Teflon ft MOP - The Rawness  (1997)

Doo Wop ft Don Blaq - The Things I Do (1998)

Flipmode Squad - Run For Cover (1998)

Kasino ft The LOX - Men Of Respect (1998)

Blahzay Blahzay - Federal Reserve Notes (1999)

DJ Clue ft The LOX, Cam'ron, Nature & Fabolous - Fantastic Four Pt.2  (1999)

Goodie Mob - Get Rich To This  (1999)

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Don't Sleep #15 Akinyele 'Freaky' (1996)

Banger. This is a record that I'd only heard on Stretch Armstrong and DJ Ev's excellent 'Back To Back' mixtape, and a few times on Stretch's radio shows. It was after posting one of those shows that someone in the comment section informed me that I could find it on the 2004 album 'Live At The Barbeque' which compiled a bunch of unreleased and rare Ak tracks. Shout out to Mighty Mi for that putting that together.
Anyway, Freaky is definitely something that would've shifted decent units had it dropped in a 12" back in the day. I haven't been able to find out much about the other rapper on the track, who I think is called J Mo (or Jay Mo/Jay Moe) as there's a couple of rappers with that name and it looks like they're based in the Bay Area rather than Queens. [Updated] It's CJ Moore.
Akinyele has a bit of a strange time with rap fans, in that 90s heads and boom bap purists fawn over his debut album and then mostly ignore anything he released after that. Maybe all the sex chat made them uncomfortable or something. This track also proved to be a source of inspiration for Nas, who I assume thought that as barely anyone had heard it he would be safe to jack Ak's punchline about not even picking the cotton out of asprin bottles for his verse on 'Why You Hate The Game' in 2007. Sneaky.

Audiomack seem to have gone corporate and bitched out on the download feature so here's a link if you want the MP3.

If you like this you should visit/revisit The Martorialist's playlist of Akinyele deep cuts. The Robbery Song in particular has been in regular rotation round here recently.

OB4ZL presents: Don't Sleep on Sauce Money

Where you are gifted a big ass compilation of songs and freestyles by a rapper who definitely falls into the underrated category. Like Beanie Sigel, Black Rob and The LOX it's likely that a lot of purist backpacker types ignored him because of his label affiliation, which makes you wonder if Big L would've received the same treatment had he lived to see his Rocafella deal bear fruit. Sauce Money is a very similar rapper to L in that they both are highly skilled in amusing punchlines with an undercurrent of extreme violence.
I first became a fan of Sauce after hearing him on Reservoir Dogs in '98 although obviously he'd been putting in work for a few years previously. A few solid 12"s followed, including the amazing Pre Game which was taken from the Belly soundtrack (realised I haven't included it here but assumed if most people have just 1 SM track it's that), but the 'Middle Finger U' album got delayed after some label nonsense and didn't drop until 2000. It's not bad at all but like a lot of albums from that era it's suffers from being pretty long. It does feature production by Marley Marl, Premier, Clark Kent, EZ Elpee and Spencer Bellamy though so worth picking up if you see it cheap. I've only included a couple of tracks from it on the comp, the rest is notable guest verses, a few loose 12" releases that usually involve one or both of Jay Z or Jaz O, and a bunch of freestyles. The 'Ave' ones are taken from Kay Slay's 'Best of Sauce Money' CD, as is the savage Nature dis (anyone know the backstory on that?). The other freestyles are mostly sourced from tapes I've ripped over the last few years so you may have those already but it's good having 'em all in one place innit?

"thought you was Chinese the way you duck Sauce"

                                      

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(click the image to enlarge)

Additional listening:

Sauce Money on the Combat Jack Show

Sauce Money on the Radio 1 Rap Show 25.03.00

Don't Sleep #14 Group Home ft Agallah 'Handle Your BI' (2001)

Like Jeru, Group Home's fortunes dwindled once they stopped working with DJ Premier, Fortunately there's numerous bork producers out there that can hook up a decent Primo imitation beat and once you throw Agallah into the mix, plus some dude called Bleedz, you get a solid indie banger that came out as a 12" on Swedish label Street Level. Don't sleep.

Although the popular train of thought - online at least - seems to be that Livin Proof is Premier's best non-Gang Starr album, I personally prefer The Sun Rises In The East as the beats and the raps are both fully on point. Obviously Jeru proceeded to join the Fun Police full time on his second album which took the shine off things a bit but there's still a few favourites on there. I was never that into Ya Playin Yaself but the One Day beat is lovely, and last year I copped the test press for 50p while out digging and sold it for £70 so it holds a special place in my heart.

Don't Sleep #13 Lil Cease ft Busta Rhymes, G Dep & Mr Bristal 'More Dangerous' (1999)

You have to wonder how Lil Cease must’ve felt when he pitched up to the annual Weed Carrier Convention in 1999. He’s on a table with Memphis Bleek, Streetlife and Cuban Link. All of them were granted some time to shine on their respective bosses albums. Cease had never got on Life After Death, despite doing a sterling job of holding BIG's weed and making sure there was plenty of paprika Pringles on the tour bus. All Bleek had to do was memorise a verse and he not only got on Reasonable Doubt but ended up doing the fucking intro to Volume 2 over one of Premier’s best beats. Life was not fair. Still, now that he’d finally had the green light for his own album everything would be lovely. The budget was huge because it was nearly impossible for a rap album not to go gold, and he’d got a bunch of beats that Mase had turned down, which not only saved him a bit of money but also dispensed with the issue of finding his own sound. Redman, Jay Z and Puffy had all recorded verses for it so all he needed was a dope cover and he was good to go.

As it turned out, the hilariously bad cover was not the only problem with Cease’s album but it probably didn’t help matters. I purchased it recently - not for any significant amount of money obviously – on the strength of the fact that I really liked ‘More Dangerous’ and thought that maybe there’d be a few other similar tracks on there worth having. There was not.

Cease isn’t a great rapper. Not that that’s ever got in the way of success but he obviously saw Mase’s success as his blueprint and plays up the ladies man angle while throwing in a few tougher tunes for the fellas. The thing was we already had Mase. As a result, the highlights on the album tend to be the guest spots. Future Sport would’ve made a great solo track for Redman. 4 My Niggaz is worth a listen just for the sake of hearing a Jay Z verse from the late 90s that hasn’t been played to death. That’s pretty much it. The rest of the songs probably wouldn’t bother you too much on their own in the context of say, a DJ Clue tape, but digesting the whole thing in one go is a big ask.

As a result it definitely qualifies for a ‘weak albums with 1 or 2 good songs’ list. Nashiem Myrick’s piano led beat for More Dangerous wouldn’t have sounded out of place on The War Report and as it sounds different to pretty much everything else on ‘The Wonderful World..’ it seems strange that it’s the opening track. Busta Rhymes is restricted to chorus duties, reciting a line from Biggie’s ‘Warning’ and Mr Bristal and G Dep put in a decent shift with the verses. So Dont' Sleep.

Don't Sleep #12 FT 'Stand Up' (2000)

If you have an interest in late 90s/early 00s indie rap you're probably familiar with FT from his Tru Criminal/Street Smartz releases. I've selected the lesser known 'Stand Up' for this installment of Don't Sleep as it's kind of different to a lot of what his peers were doing at the time, especially with the high hats + double time flow combo at 2:42 as NY was still a way off adopting the dirty south style at this point. Dipset's JR Writer used pretty much the same beat about 8 years later and you can't say that about too many indie joints from the turn of the century...



Turns out that this is produced by a dude called Rodney Hunter who might not be a big name in rap circles but he did produce the dope 'Boundaries' by Leena Conquest which I used at the start of my recent Technics & Chill mix.
'Stand Up' was recorded for Stretch Armstrong's 'Spit' compilation, although I discovered it by way of what was possibly the best cover mounted freebie CD of all time, given away with HHC back in the day. I know everyone brings up the Soundbombing, New York Reality Check and Lyricist Lounge CDs as the era defining compilations of the independent Hip Hop boom but that Landspeed compilation bodies them all in my opinion.

Unkut: The 90s Files - FT of Street Smartz

Don't Sleep #11 Lace Da Booms 'Cut That Weak Shit' (1996)

This came out as the first release on Guesswhyld, back in 1996 when indie rap wasn't an entire sub-genre in itself, and the records still looked 'indie' - no glossy covers or barcodes. If you were one of those people propping up the counter at the likes of Mr Bongo or Handspun (or in the US, Fat Beats) you'll probably be familiar with it, but for the uninitiated...



There's a few different mixes on the 12" but the go to one has to be the NYC mix. It uses the beat from Kane's 'Young Gifted And Black' and has an early guest appearance from Royal Flush, who drops a dope verse. It's some proper traditional mid-90s East Coast rap and should not be slept on.
If you still buy vinyl, this is represents pretty good value for money - L's version used the same Kane beat but has different lyrics and no Royal Flush, plus you get the instrumental. The b-side has the Buckwild mix which is in a similar style to his remixes of Mad Izm and Daaam. Not entirely my bag but alot of people seem to enjoy those beats. The Domingo produced 'Aint No Secret' ain't bad either.

Additional notes: If you check the label, you'll see this also features Quasi Modo, who is/was part of Flush's Wastelanz crew and nothing to do with Madlib.
Also, I've just spotted that the label says Guesswild and not Guesswhyld, which became the label name for future releases. Not really important but record nerds enjoy that kind of thing.

BONUS! I recently picked up a cheap copy of this Guesswhyld compilation as I wanted a CDQ of Cut That Weak Shit. Turned out it was the Buckwild mix so here it is if you want it.

Don't Sleep #10 Co-Defendants ft Rob Base 'Get Cha Weight Up' (1993)

The 10th installment of Don't Sleep is something that I first heard on a Red Alert tape in late 1993, and ended up being one of the first import 12"s to find its way into my collection. On a 90 minute TDK that was heavy on the Hoodie & Timbs, East Coast stomp style that was the flavour of the month (Das EFX, Onyx, LONS, Jeru, Wu Tang etc) this track really stood out as something different. A lazy blunted flow that wouldnt have sounded out of place on a West Coast/G Funk beat and a random cameo by none other than Rob Base have made this one a personal favourite over the years...

Don't Sleep #9 Ill Mannered Posse 'Scanlous' (1989)

Taking it to The Bay for Don't Sleep #9. I don't know too much about Ill Mannered Posse other than they were from San Francisco and lead rapper Cougnut died in 2001. A bit more research for this post reveals Andre Nickatina was also a member and their handful of underground releases fetch a few quid on Discogs.
'Scanlous' came out when West Coast rap still had a recognisable East Coast influence, in this case with some PE and LL samples being cut up in the chorus. It brings to mind early Compton's Most Wanted which is obviously a good thing...



This was discovered way back in 1989-90 when my mate Rob, who was doing reasonably well for himself in the acting biz (considering he was 11) and  was doing a job in London. An American kid he was performing with gave him a TDK that included this song and also served as my introduction to the Geto Boys, in particular 'Do It Like A G.O', 'Gangster Of Love' and 'Mr Scarface'. Safe to say it stayed in rotation for along time.

Don't Sleep #8 Wan Cee 'Rememberance' (2005)

Thought I'd drop a UK joint for this month's Don't Sleep. This is definitely one of my favourite songs from that era, and probably one of the last UK rap tunes I really loved before that changing of the guard occurred and things switched up when the grime scene took over a for a minute.
I'm a sucker for a throwback joint and this is one of the best - nice soulful beat courtesy of the underrated Fusion, with that Crooklyn Dodgers sample in the chorus and Wan Cee reminiscing on growing up in London in the 80s and 90s. Air Max, Chipie Jeans, Champagne Jungle days.

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Video is kinda cool too. Got some burn on Channel U when it dropped but the track never quite got the props it deserved. Possibly because the hood kids were all checking for grime and the backpack crowd were more on that Jehst/Low Life Records tip and didn't tend to take to the more 'road' elements of UK rap because they were mostly middle class white students. Possibly.

If you like this and want to check some more UK rap from the same kind of period check my UK Bubblers mix.

For Don't Sleeps 1-7 go here

Don't Sleep #7 The Usual Suspects (1997)

A double header for this edition of Don't Sleep. One of my favourite tracks of the late 90s that kind of got lost in the shuffle of great posse cuts from that era - John Blaze, Banned From TV, The Firm joints, Reservoir Dogs, Benjamins etc . The notable thing about this particular cut is that it comes in two different versions. Both were officially released but neither seems to be considered the original or the remix. They both use the same beat but the line up of rappers varies. 

Version 1, taken from the How To Be A Player soundtrack features Mic Geronimo alongside DMX, Cormega, Fatal and Ja Rule. This was back when DMX was on the cusp of becoming the biggest rapper on the planet for 2 years and no one was entirely sure how Ja Rule spelt his name (he's listed as "Ja" on this). I believe Cormega was signed to Def Jam at this time which explains his appearance and Fatal was getting a bit of attention off the back of his 2Pac association. The beat is courtesy of one of the lesser know members of The Hitmen - Daven "Prestige" Vanderpool and is pretty simple and minimal with a nice Mandrill sample and a subtle bit of ESG in the background.

Version 2 featured on Mic's 'Vendetta' album and on the b side of the Nothin Move But The Money 12". Cormega and Fatal have been replaced by the more than capable line up of Tragedy, Jadakiss and Styles P. No idea why. Label politics would usually be the answer but I can't see why Def Jam would let DMX on there and not Cormega. They did drop him though so maybe that had something to do with it. Still dope. Don't sleep.

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Previous Don't Sleeps are here

Don't Sleep #6 Da Ranjahz ft Jay Z 'Bulletproof' (1998)

Had a minor set back involving (what else) the world's most jinxed laptop. Seems to be working ok for now so I thought I'd post up this month's installment of Don't Sleep for you. 

Da Ranjahz have a had a strange career in the rap game, having been around since the mid 90s and putting out material on a host of different labels but never really getting a consistent run of releases together. They did seem to have a pretty good relationship with that dude that rapped on 'Crazy In Love' and were signed to the ill fated Carter Faculty imprint . They were also fortunate  enough to be rolling with The ROC around the time when Jigga didn't mind doing the clean up verse on a hookless mixtape joint. 'Bulletproof' - which appears on this rather handy bootleg 12" - follows the same concept as Organized Konfusion's 'Stray Bullet' and 'I Gave You Power' by Nas, but it's better than both of those songs...

I'm pretty certain that 'Insp-Her-Ation' could've been a reasonably big mainstream track with the right push. Records like that charted back then, and we know how much Alan and Becky in HR seem to enjoy Cee Lo.  I suppose the fact it wasn't means it hasn't been rendered unlistenable by being heard every hour of every day for a year though.

Don't Sleep #5: Boss 'Progress Of Elimination' remix (1993)

So far in this series, I've posted songs by artists from Chicago, New York, LA and Miami. This time out I'm going with something from Detroit, and its by a WOMAN. Turns out some of them can rap. They'll be wanting to vote next. Anyway, like most people, I was a fan of Boss's single 'Deeper' which got some heavy rotation on Yo! MTV Raps and rap radio shows back in 93. Unlike most people (I think?) I bought her album 'Born Gangstaz', which featured production by Erick Sermon, T Ray, Chyskillz and Def Jef. The Barry White/Aswad sampling 'Deeper' was the standout track but the remix of the follow up single 'Progress Of Elimination' has always been a personal favourite...



As with some of the best female rappers, Boss had someone write her raps for her. In this instance, the aforementioned Def Jef and someone called Ricardo Royal are on biro duties, with bars that bring to mind 90s Kool G Rap and I actually thought he might've been behind this one until I checked Discogs. Boss' delivery of the street narrative is suitably on point and there's a nice late night G Funk vibe underpinning the track (not that dissimilar to the beat Jef provided for Shaq around the same time). Despite leaving us with a fairly small discography, it's probably fair to say that Boss laid the foundations for Mel B, Alesha Dixon, Rick Ross and other rappers with boobs.

Check previous Don't Sleeps here

Don't Sleep #4: 2 Live Crew ft JT Money 'Fuck A Gang' (1990)

It's hard to believe in 2014, but once a upon a time rappers - and not just the corny ones - made records that were specifically against drugs, drug dealing, gangs and violence. It's fair to say that the last place you'd expect you'd expect to find such a track would be on a 2 Live Crew album (which is essentially what Luke's 'Banned In The USA' LP is). Obviously the Crew's main themes were sex, with a bit of partying chucked in before having a bit more sex while Mr Mixx finished the latest volume of the Megamix to close out the album.
I get the impression alot of people might've passed on this LP back in the day but for a 13 year old me and my mates at school though, tracks like Face Down Ass Up and Strip Club were golden. There is some great rap on there that isn't aimed squarely at a juvenile sense of humour; Man Not A Myth, To Luke From The Posse and I Ain't Bullshittin part 2 were all in contention for this post but I went with Fuck A Gang. There's no outright dis on it but given it dropped at the height of NWA's popularity, and Luke would get into some beef with Dre and Snoop a couple of years later, maybe he was taking a shot at them here. Great song either way.



Check Don't Sleep #1, 2 & 3

Don't Sleep #3: South Central Cartel 'Sowhatusayin' (1995)

Another dip into the collection to pull out something you might have not heard before or just forgotten about. This one is a big posse cut that appeared on Def Jam's 'The Show' soundtrack/compilation in 1995. I never actually bought that back in the day and only discovered this track on an old Westwood tape, as he gave it a few spins when it dropped. The SCC line up alongside West Coast heavyweights MC Eiht and Spice 1, and a rookie Jayo Felony, aswell as an always welcome appearance from Treach (whose unrealised potential as a solo artist I've highlighted previously). You can probably hazard a good guess as to what it sounds like but if you like sinister West Coast joints from the mid-90s then you'd do well to grab this...

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Previously: Don't Sleep #1 & Don't Sleep # 2