Showing posts with label Lil Kim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lil Kim. Show all posts

Saturday, 16 December 2017

Radio 1 Rap Show with Funkmaster Flex, Lil Kim and Busta Rhymes (2000)


The first thing to say about this show is that it starts with Christina Aguilera dissing Eminem over The Real Slim Shady instrumental (a song which was possibly the start of Em making really bad records). If she could rap on beat it might've been bearable but she can't so it just sounds terrible, however I think we can all agree that in 2017 a new Christina song is likely to bang harder than anything Eminem can create at this point. Seeing all these high profile rap DJs, journalists and "influencers" feel the need to have an opinion on the Eminem album and acting like it's a surprise that it's really fucking awful is just baffling to me. 
Anyway, once that's done Westwood hands over to Flex who has Lil Kim in the studio. That's followed by Busta Rhymes in part 2, who's heavily plugging the release of Anarchy. They're really pushing the singles Get Out and Fire to the extent that if you ever needed evidence of payola this wouldn't be the worst place to start, although if I recall these songs never really blew up on the same scale as Busta's other lead singles. His run of club bangers from '96 to 2006 was equalled only by Jay Z, but there was a bit of a dip on this project. Fire ain't bad but didn't really catch on and Get Out sounds a bit too Hard Knock Life-ish. The real gem on the album is 'The Heist' with Ghostface, Raekwon and Roc Marciano over a Large Pro beat. One that the backpackers probably missed when it dropped and are now being charged big bucks for the German promo 12" , probably due to the J Dilla produced A-side.
Weirdly, this show also contains Flex cutting up a bunch of 80s classics, which is the same mix that was previously broadcast a few years prior (like, '96 or something). I know this because I posted it before.






Tuesday, 24 May 2011

Lil Kim 'Big Momma Thang'
the unreleased versions (1996)
















Although I'm not exactly a big fan of Lil Kim, this track grew on me as a result of rinsing DJ Rectangle's excellent 'Deadly Needles' mixtape back in 97.
I got hold of the 12" you see below and was dismayed to find that it was missing Jay Z's cameo, and so wasn't the version included on Kim's 'Hardcore' album. Instead there were 2 mixes, one of which I assume to be the 'original' (edit: see update below) which makes use of the awesome Love Unlimited Orchestra sample also used by Real Live and Jemini around the same time, and one labelled 'remix' with the same beat as the album version. The real talking point is the lyrics that didnt make the cut on the album...




The track features Kim taking a few shots at Faith Evans and 2Pac and must have been (like most/all of her songs) written by Biggie. You can hear his cadence and humour all over it...

"Uh, who shot ya?
Who knows how they got ya?
Fed up...wet up
Maybe next time your punk ass will Keep Ya Head Up!"


I'm not sure but would guess that the lyrics were removed from the official release due to Pac having died just before it came out. Its a bit of an under-the-radar track and well worth a listen. If you're a stubborn boom-bap dinosaur who wouldn't dream of checking for Lil Kim, its all ok because its produced by Stretch Armstrong.
















Thanks to Addicted 2 Retail for having a decent Kim photo I could use!

UPDATE 16/12/11: Theres a bit more info on this in the comments section from Stretch. After asking a few more questions (via Twitter) it appears he pressed up 500-1000 copies of the 12" himself.
Mike Nice has also put me up on a demo version of this track with Biggie doing a hook to the tune of 'Sweet Dreams' by Eurythmics. This was scrapped after Nas came out with 'Street Dreams' although apparently Kim's track was made first. Also, I've re-upped the files as the album version was corrupted and I've re-titled the 'original' as 'Stretch Armstrong mix'.