Rap Thangs That Shoulda Done Happened #5

The return of the wildly irregular feature where I get my Armchair A&R on and do my best to correct Rap's wrongs and come with the ill hypothetical behavior. I've always liked the idea of learning to make beats but I never really had the time or patience and I'm 36 now so it's probably never going to happen. In this edition, I offer up ideas I've had for songs that rappers and producers are welcome to take and run with. If you want to give the blog a shout out on the track that'd be nice. 

Rappers in search of some chunky sample based beats could do a lot worse than bring Rich Harrison in from the cold. Dude had a great run in the mid 00s but seems to have dropped off the radar somewhat. Probably still spending that 'Crazy In Love' money.

A UK rapper (preferably one of the ones I like) needs to sample the "rap with a British accent" line off Ghostface's 'We Made It'. Its begging to be used. Loop that up like Swizz Beatz was doing with all those Jay Z vocals 10 years ago and you're golden. 

Someone needs to make a track using the piano from Ray Keith's iconic jungle track 'Terrorist' (yes, I know he sampled it from 'Nightporter' by Japan). Sample the bassline as well if you're feeling brave. Get the drums right and you've got a classic on your hands. You're welcome.

I need to hear someone (specifically AZ, or maybe Jadakiss) rapping over 'Change Of Heart' and/or 'Lets Go Together'. Don't sleep on Change.

After MOP did a sterling job bringing Tears For Fears back earlier this year, there's no reason that someone can't banish the memory of 'Rule' by Nas and flip that same sample. I nominate Cam'ron, NORE or some new jack out of Cali or the Bay Area.

Rap Thangs That Shoulda Done Happened #4

 This is a special 'Songs That Shoulda Done Been Included On (Different) Albums' edition. It's inspired by something I read in HHC years ago that suggested that if 'Fight The Power' had been recorded less than a year earlier, it could've replaced 'Party For Your Right To Fight' on 'Nation Of Millions...' , thus making one of the best albums ever pretty much unfuckwitable.
Rap as a genre is full of "looseys". Tracks that as a result of poor A&R decisions, sample clearance issues and just being recorded at the wrong time, were never able to attach themselves to an album and so - up until just over ten years ago - were often overlooked by your average Hip Hop consumer, perhaps denying them being certified classics in some cases.

With that in mind, theses tracks would've been ideally been included on the following albums*...

Ghostface 'Guerilla Hood'
from Theodore Unit '718'
should be on: The Pretty Toney Album
The standout track from the otherwise forgettable Theodore Unit LP, not including 'Pretty Tony Shoulda...' as that's essentially off De La's The Grind Date LP. Anyway, 'Guerilla Hood', first heard in a muffled and possibly unfinished form with Kay Slay bellowing over it (the initiation process for any potential street classic) would've slotted in nicely alongside The Pretty Toney Album's gullier moments such as Run, Biscuits and Metal Lungies.

Run DMC ft Prodigy & Nas 'Queens Day'
from Run DMC 'Crown Royal'
should be on: Stillmatic
Nas is probably the biggest offender for leaving great tracks off albums but I'm going with Queens Day in this instance because I love it and it's inclusion on Run DMC's 3rd (third) comeback album meant a lot of people slept on it. I first heard it when Westwood played it in 2000 but as Crown Royal didnt drop until 2001 Nasir could easily have swiped it for Stillmatic. We'll ignore the fact that Prodigy got dissed on there.
I'm always down for a track with a soulful piano led beat and reminiscing-on-back-in-the-day type lyrics. Especially when it could've replaced 'Braveheart Party'.

Dr Dre ft Snoop, Kurupt, Daz & Rage 'Puffin On Blunts...'
from Dre Day 12"
should be on: The Chronic
Obviously. Maybe not in its 9 minute form but you can cut off the last few minutes of adlibs at the end and stick this on side 2 on The Chronic. As much as I love that album I always felt it was a bit heavily weighted towards side 1. This would balance things out a bit and give one of Kurupt's best verses a more suitable home.


Dogg Pound 'Niggaz Dont Give A Fuck'
from Poetic Justice soundtrack
should be on: Doggystyle
Death Row again. This song is the perfect example of how to do dark and sinister gangsta rap properly. Sticking it on a soundtrack with joints by TLC and Usher isn't good enough. It would've suited Doggstyle down to the ground. In an ideal world it would replace 'Whats My Name' - seriously, anyone listen to that anymore? - but as that was the lead single I'll sacrifice 'For All My Niggaz...' instead.

The LOX ft Biggie 'You'll See'
from Cant Nobody Hold Me Down 12"
should be on: No Way Out 
A personal favourite since it opened up the classic Bad Boy Mixtape Volume 3. I went on to become a big fan of The LOX and Jadakiss and Biggie was already in his prime back then. Unfortunately 'You'll See' was confined to promo 12" status. The label of that 12" states that the A-side - Puff's 'Cant Nobody Hold Me Down' - was due to appear on "the forthcoming album entitled Puff Daddy and The Goodfellaz" which I assume became 'No Way Out' (which you may recall was to be titled 'Hell Up In Harlem' at one point). This shoulda done been on that. It's one of the standout tracks of 1996 and it a wider audience deserved to hear it in better quality than the mixtapes and bootleg 12"s allowed. Quite what the pop audience that copped Puff's LP on the strength of 'I'll Be Missing You' would've made of it is another thing but stick it alongside I Love You Baby, Benjamins and Young Gs and it's a wrap.

Royal Flush 'Rotten Apple'
from 12" single
should be on: Ghetto Millionaire
Royal Flush's 'Ghetto Millionaire' album is one of those 90s LPs I played alot at the time that I think more people need to know about. After he'd caught people's attention with 'Movin On Ya Weak Production', the Nas sampling 'Rotten Apple' was the one that started building a buzz for the album. Unfortunately it didn't make the cut. Whether that was down to sample clearance or not I don't know but the promo still sells for respectable money even now which speaks volumes.

Jay Z 'In My Lifetime'
from 12" single
should be on: Reasonable Doubt
I like Reasonable Doubt alot. I can honestly say I was one of those who bought it when it dropped, mainly on the strength of 'Brooklyns Finest' and 'Dead Presidents'. 'Ain't No Nigga' however, stands out like a sore thumb on that record. I liked it at the time and it was obvioulsy a huge club record which along with its appearance on the Nutty Professor soundtrack effectively launched Jigga's career (that and the envelope of cash he gave Kevin Liles to push the track) but 'In My Lifetime', which had appeared on a Payday Records 12" a year earlier is much better suited to RD's overall vibe.

*obviously once CDRs, MP3, Spotfiy etc appeared things like this were made possible to a degree but you see know what I'm getting at.

My Rap Anniversary: Top 20 Songs Of All Time

Christmas Day 1987 marks the day I was properly introduced to Rap when I was given the tape above as a present with a new Walkman. The Coldcut remix of 'Paid In Full' was included on the B-side of tape 1 and immediately caught my imagination. Admittedly it was more Coldcut's weird samples and scratching than an appreciation of Rakim's flow but I was only 9 years old.
Anyway, with that in mind and inspired by Tha Gawd's recent post (and some of the lists in the comments) I thought I'd drop my all time Top 20.
Choosing tunes tracks that make the cut was easy, narrowing it down and bumping them again to get it down to 20 was the tricky part. The only criteria was one track per artist.

Eric B & Rakim 'Move The Crowd' (1987)

Public Enemy ‘Welcome To The Terrordome’ (1990)

Ice T ‘New Jack Hustler’ (1991)

Ice Cube ‘My Summer Vacation’ (1991)

Main Source ‘Just Hangin Out’ (1991)

Pete Rock & CL Smooth ‘T.R.O.Y’ (1992)

Dr Dre ‘Let Me Ride’ (1992)

A Tribe Called Quest ‘Lyrics To Go’ (1993)

Nas ‘Memory Lane’ (1994)

Black Moon ‘Buck Em Down’ remix (1994)

Gang Starr ‘Mass Appeal’ (1994)

Common Sense ‘Resurrection’ Extra P remix (1995)

Raekwon & Ghostface ‘Rainy Dayz’ (1995)

Mobb Deep ‘Still Shinin’ (1995)

Camp Lo ‘Coolie High’ Paradise mix (1996)

Diplomats ‘I Really Mean It’ (2003)

AZ ‘The Come Up’ (2005)

Jay Electronica ‘Exhibit C’ (2009)

Red Cafe 'Heart & Soul Of New York City' (2009)

Curren$y ft Freddie Gibbs ‘Scottie Pippen’ (2011) 

It's probably fair to say half the list would change if I did it again next week. I expected there to be more from the 00s as thats what I listen to most but when they were stacked against each other the 90s won the day. Feel free to hit the comments section and tell me why I should've gone with Midnight over Lyrics To Go or whatever.

Tracks that narrowily missed the cut: Made You Look, Still Tippin, Verbal Intercourse, On The Real, Uptown Anthem, My Melody, CREAM, Boyz N The Hood, The Roc (Just Fire), Say No Go, Mind Playing Tricks, 50 Bars, Nuthin But A G Thang, Lethal Weapon, Tonights Da Night, I Got Cha Opin (remix), Supastar, We Gonna Make It...a lot basically.

Happy Christmas!

Rap Thangs That Shoulda Done Happened #3

#1 Ice T shoulda done embraced G-Funk. I'd been a huge fan since 'Power' dropped in '88 but 1993's 'Home Invasion' remains one of the most disappointing purchases of my youth. In the aftermath of the LA riots and the Cop Killer controversy I'm sure I wasn't alone in expecting a big return from Tracey. Ice Cube and Dr Dre had set the standard and upped the ante for West Coast rap albums in the early 90s but  Home Invasion delivered some distinctly unremarkable beats and contrived shock tactics that fell well short of the classic status of his previous 3 LPs. One thing that would've improved things significantly is some nice sleazy G-Funk synths to underpin his rhymes. Ice dropping one of his classic storytelling joints over something like 'Black Superman' or 'Thuggish Ruggish Bone' would've been a nice send-off before he departed for Hollywood (we'll just pretend that 'Return Of The Real' doesn't exist).

#2 On a 'Home Invasion' related note, Jay Z shoulda done got Ice T on a '99 Problems' remix, or at least shouted him out on the original.

#3 A 'Superthug' remix. For the record, I'm not really saying this shoulda done happened, more that I'm suprised it didn't, given the late 90s/early 00s trend for all-star versions of big singles. An ideal line-up on the remix could've featured MOP, Big Pun and Beanie Sigel. A more realistic version would probably have included Busta Rhymes and DMX. Still, we had Reservoir Dogs, Banned From TV and John Blaze that year so there's always that.

Rap Thangs That Shoulda Done Happened #2

You might remember that a while back I dropped a post called Rap Thangs That Shoulda Done Happened. The effects of this brief yet incredibly insightful piece shook the industry: A&Rs resigned, shamed by their incompetence. Dr Dre shelved 'Detox'. Puffy - who was on the verge of dropping Bad Boy's first legit rap banger for nearly a decade - went back to the drawing board.
But that was 8 months ago now and as today is the anniversary of MLK's 'I have a dream...' speech, here's the second installment:

#1 - Given their superb update of 'Boyz N The Hood', Dipset should blatantly have followed it with a cover of Levi 167's 'Something Fresh To Swing To'. Sparse 80s drums, that "dope, dope...d-d-dope dope" refrain and some coke raps by Cam, Jim & Juelz at the height of their powers would've been a mixtape classic.


#2 -  Outkast should have used the version of 'Da Art Of Storytellin' featuring Slick Rick on 'Aquemini' rather than just confining it to the 12". I don't think I need to explain this one. Dope video though.


#3 - Speaking of Slick Rick, I know everyone loves his debut LP but save for a couple of tracks I always felt it was a bit lacking in the beats department. Marley Marl and Prince Paul are the first two names that spring to mind that could've improved things.

#4 - Treach could've had a great solo album to his name. Instead of starring in straight-to-DVD flicks and warming up for New Kids On The Block on cruise ships full of soccer moms, he should've hit the mixtape circuit, found some decent producers and got busy. The man was a beast on the mic and if his freestyle over 'Keep It Thoro' on Doo Wop's Gangsta's Paradise mixtape is anything to go by then we missed out.

Rap Thangs That Shoulda Done Happened

  In the first of what might be an ongoing series, I thought I'd put a different spin on Your Favourite Blogger's Favourite Blogger's Unpopular Opinions posts. Its basically fantasy rap / idealistic thinking / me wanting to rewrite history.

#1 - Black Rob should've been on 'All About The Benjamins' instead of Sheek Louch or Lil Kim. Not hating on either of their verses but in 96-97 no-one's removing Biggie or Jada off a track so someone's got to bounce. That beat would've suited Rob down to the ground.

#2 - Ice Cube would've stayed in NWA, released 'Amerikkka's Most Wanted', appeared on 'Efil4Zaggin' and then left the group. This scenario ensures we still get AMW and 'No Vaseline' aswell as Cube over beats like 'Appetite For Destruction'. '100 Miles And Running' would have appeared on AMW as the posse cut ala 'The Grand Finale' on The DOC's album.

#3 - Suge Knight never bails 2Pac out of jail and as a result the beats for 'Ambitionz Az A Ridah', 'California Love' and 'Hail Mary' all end up on Kurupt's solo album, which features Daz, Snoop, Rage etc, and is to 'The Chronic' what 'Only Built For Cuban Linx' is to '36 Chambers'.

More as and when they come to me. Suggestions welcome.
I was lucky enough to be given a fat stack of golden era tapes yesterday. Looks like there's lots of treats in there so keep checking back as they'll begin to appear over the next few weeks.
Also, I'm on Kane FM tonight from 9-11pm (UK time) playing old rap music. Come join me if you can.