Hip Hop *Revisited Podcast

Ep. #004 takes a look at some Hip Hop songs that pose a musical question. Eye ask a few of my own as well. Heavy D. & The Boyz - Who's Da Man? Ya'll better answer right!!! Seriously, though. I've always wondered if this was meant to be the title track for the movie of the same name. Rough House Survivors - Can U Dig It? Smooth joint featuring a hot guest spot from the Mecca Don himself, C.L. Smooth. MC Serch - Can You Dig It? Serch falls back, rolls with plan A and drops the dolo mission. But here's a question: What the heck does "I'm hip to the dig" mean? Artifacts - What Goes On? The fellas from New Jeruz question the gurlies. Seems like they had a few issues they needed to work through. Blacksheep - The Choice Is Yours Well, this song seems to be helping consumers make quite a few choices lately as it has appeared in quite a few recent high profile commercials. Trends Of Culture - Who Got My Back? It's that crew with the other Nas. Definetly a fave of mine, shame Motown didn't know what to do with these cats. They had a nice debut album. Black Moon - How Many Emcees...? Contrary to current definitions, this is that classic backpack shit! The real question is, how many emcees are gonna use a hook by Kris?!? Ill Al Scratch - Where My Homiez (Come Around My Way) Big Ill Da Mack did a big switch on "Homiez". His stint with the W.I.S.E. Guys and that video, "Time For Peace" was quite different. 2Pac - How Do You Want It? Pac was in the pocket with his flow on this one. Plus, he had Heather Hunter in the video riding the bull! Nuff respect. Busta Rhymes & Janet Jackson - What's It Gonna Be? Janet wouldn't have to a ask a brother twice!!! Leaders Of The New School - Where Do We Go From Here? A young and hungry Bussa Bus and his orginal squad, the dynamic L.O.N.S.. One of the last Hip Hop groups to effectively utilize the multiple voice delivery. Deda The Original Baby Pa - Understand? How can a project this dope get shelved?!?!? Pete Rock blessed this project, along with the Ini album. Amazing that these stayed unreleased for as long as they did. Madkap - Questions The Beatnuts gave these cats from the left coast that east coast underground heat to freak with. Nice results. Danja Mowf - Question From the tragically slept on "Word Of Mowf" album, this is a playful, yet insightful little joint that flows nicely. Ugly Duckling - Do You Know What I'm Saying? Only a true Hip Hop afficiendo will really appreciate the clever construction of this tune. The same technique was used by KRS-One on "Hip Hop vs. Rap", however UD flipped the entire song with jacked lyrics. Jungle Brothers - How Ya Want It? (We Got It) It's a Native Tongue reunion, however short-lived. These days Baby Bam is not quite as nostalgic. Positive K - How The Fuck Would You Know? Spittin' the pimp game hard on this one, Pos K does Too Short, Shock G, and Big Daddy Kane proud on this one.

Ep. 03 of the H.H.*R. podcast showcases a collection of songs where the artists assume the role multiple characters. Whether doing a duet (or posse cut) with themselves, or dropping dead-on imitations in their flow, these emcees demonstrate the uncanny ability to portray more than one persona in a single song. Tracey Lee - Many Facez Trace actually takes on the role of the whole crew on this joint. Good interaction between the characters. U.T.F.O. - Split Personality Check for Doctor Ice's head trip when he goes the ethnic Sybil route, flipping to hispanic, carribean and asian alter-egos. Notorious B.I.G. - Gimme The Loot One of my favorite Biggie joints, his wicked sense of humor and ridiculous flow are on full display. Again, a great sense of interaction between the two characters. Digital Underground - Packet Man Shock G. and his infamous alter-ego, Humpty Hump trade licks in this slick tale about an imaginary new get-high ... sex packets! (if only ... ) Oddly enough, when checking through the D.U. catalogue, there really weren't too many Shock/Humpty pure duets to be found. Although they appear on several songs together, they very rarely just trade off like they do here. Nine - Hit Em Like Dis Rather silly tune which finds the usually gruff IX kicking it with a rapping reptile. Nine decides to rip-it, rip-it by rocking the froggy frog style in this duet with his normal persona. Interestingly enough, this would not be the last time the frog style would be the technique of choice for an emcee (see Thirstin Howl III's "Skillionare"). Kwame - The Man We All Know And Love The classic debut song from the polka-dotted rapper-turned producer. Filled with clever melodic hooks and hysterical ad-libs, this is an impressive demonstration of the style that Slick Rick made popular. The Bad Seed - Pockets Trippy joint that tells the story of a cat that is literally caught in the middle ... of his two rapping jeans pockets! A clever twist on the age old good vs. evil concept. Bad Seed does well with playing the middleman to his pockets' yin and yang. Positive K - I Got A Man The unofficial sequel to the classic MC Lyte duet, "I'm Not Having It", except Pos decided to handle the mic duties for both sides of the game. Eye always wondered if this really was supposed to be another duet with Lyte that somehow just didn't happen. Anyway, Pos K still brings that NYC swagger to the table, while still keeping it light (no pun intended). Jimmy "Super Rhymes" Spicer - The Adventures Of Super Rhymes One of the first real emcees (Wayne and Charlie the Rapping Dummy don't count as real emcees in my book) to rock multiple voices on wax. This epic classic is one of the superior examples of seminal Hip Hop storytelling. The Last Emperor - Secret Wars Pt. 1 A ridiculous combination of imagination, clever lyricism and impersonations. Great concept from the Last Emp. Force M.D.'s - Itchin' For A Scratch First let me say that it is purely coincidental that these cats have now ended up on every podcast I've doned. Not sure how that happened, but it wasn't the intent. Anyway, more impressions. This time Popeye, Mr. T, Mike Jax, and James Brown get the business on this song which was featured in the absolutely horrid flick, "Rappin'". Masta Ace - Me And The Biz Juice Crew holds down the square, well actually it's just Masta Ace. But Ace definetely brings the Juice Crew alive on this one, flipping Biz's style with the precision of a brazillian ju-jitsu master. The Roots - Boom! Black Thought a.k.a. Riq G's delivers an absolutely jaw-dropping vocal performance on this song. He nails BDK and G-Rap with stunning accuracy. Amazing!

Ep. 03 of the H.H.*R. podcast showcases a collection of songs where the artists assume the role multiple characters. Whether doing a duet (or posse cut) with themselves, or dropping dead-on imitations in their flow, these emcees demonstrate the uncanny ability to portray more than one persona in a single song. Tracey Lee - Many Facez Trace actually takes on the role of the whole crew on this joint. Good interaction between the characters. U.T.F.O. - Split Personality Check for Doctor Ice's head trip when he goes the ethnic Sybil route, flipping to hispanic, carribean and asian alter-egos. Notorious B.I.G. - Gimme The Loot One of my favorite Biggie joints, his wicked sense of humor and ridiculous flow are on full display. Again, a great sense of interaction between the two characters. Digital Underground - Packet Man Shock G. and his infamous alter-ego, Humpty Hump trade licks in this slick tale about an imaginary new get-high ... sex packets! (if only ... ) Oddly enough, when checking through the D.U. catalogue, there really weren't too many Shock/Humpty pure duets to be found. Although they appear on several songs together, they very rarely just trade off like they do here. Nine - Hit Em Like Dis Rather silly tune which finds the usually gruff IX kicking it with a rapping reptile. Nine decides to rip-it, rip-it by rocking the froggy frog style in this duet with his normal persona. Interestingly enough, this would not be the last time the frog style would be the technique of choice for an emcee (see Thirstin Howl III's "Skillionare"). Kwame - The Man We All Know And Love The classic debut song from the polka-dotted rapper-turned producer. Filled with clever melodic hooks and hysterical ad-libs, this is an impressive demonstration of the style that Slick Rick made popular. The Bad Seed - Pockets Trippy joint that tells the story of a cat that is literally caught in the middle ... of his two rapping jeans pockets! A clever twist on the age old good vs. evil concept. Bad Seed does well with playing the middleman to his pockets' yin and yang. Positive K - I Got A Man The unofficial sequel to the classic MC Lyte duet, "I'm Not Having It", except Pos decided to handle the mic duties for both sides of the game. Eye always wondered if this really was supposed to be another duet with Lyte that somehow just didn't happen. Anyway, Pos K still brings that NYC swagger to the table, while still keeping it light (no pun intended). Jimmy "Super Rhymes" Spicer - The Adventures Of Super Rhymes One of the first real emcees (Wayne and Charlie the Rapping Dummy don't count as real emcees in my book) to rock multiple voices on wax. This epic classic is one of the superior examples of seminal Hip Hop storytelling. The Last Emperor - Secret Wars Pt. 1 A ridiculous combination of imagination, clever lyricism and impersonations. Great concept from the Last Emp. Force M.D.'s - Itchin' For A Scratch First let me say that it is purely coincidental that these cats have now ended up on every podcast I've doned. Not sure how that happened, but it wasn't the intent. Anyway, more impressions. This time Popeye, Mr. T, Mike Jax, and James Brown get the business on this song which was featured in the absolutely horrid flick, "Rappin'". Masta Ace - Me And The Biz Juice Crew holds down the square, well actually it's just Masta Ace. But Ace definetely brings the Juice Crew alive on this one, flipping Biz's style with the precision of a brazillian ju-jitsu master. The Roots - Boom! Black Thought a.k.a. Riq G's delivers an absolutely jaw-dropping vocal performance on this song. He nails BDK and G-Rap with stunning accuracy. Amazing!

*Production note - Eye usually do a dry run of the show, listen to it for a day and then go back and rerecord with my adjustments, however, thanks to some unexpected oral surgery just hours after recording this cast, Eye had to post the reference version. Right now I’m feeling like how Martin Lawrence looked after going a round with Tommy “Hitman” Hearns on the “Martin” show back in the day...and the reference wasn't too bad, so Eye figured, what the hell....One. Ep. #002 Doo Wop and Hip Hop have quite a bit of common ground. The origins of both share some similarities, including geographic (North East, US) and social (both generally started out as street culture) indicators. In addition, there are certain aesthetic values that were common to both in their most basic forms. Both art forms placed great emphasis on live spontaneous performance (in Doo Wop, that was manifest in the form of the street corner acapella, in Hip Hop it was the freestyle cipher). Both forms also started out primarily as youth culture movements and sought to distinguish themselves both sonically and visually. The utilization of multiple voices in the performance of both Doo Wop and Hip Hop were key, with the former focusing more on harmonics, while the latter was more concerned with arrangement. There are several people who have direct ties into both genres, but none is more prominent than Sylvia Robinson. Sylvia was a successful recording artist during the Doo Wop era (as one half of the duo Mickey and Sylvia) and one of the most significant figures in Hip Hop’s initial entry into the recording industry as the owner of Sugarhill Records. The influence of Doo Wop on Hip Hop can be indirectly cited in the works of other notable figures like George Clinton, James Brown, The Isley Brothers and Jimmy Castor all of whom, were artists during the Doo Wop era who went on to make music that proved to be very instrumental to the development of Hip Hop. With the advent of sampling, Doo Wop’s presence could be more directly identified, as several songs from the genre were co-opted for use by Hip Hop producers. (see show notes below for references) There have been attempts to fuse the two genres. The most significant of these efforts were turned in by the groups The Force M.D.’s and Rappin Is Fundamental, who actually branded their particular style of music as “Doo-Hop”. * Show Notes: Fugees - Zealots Interpolation of the Flamingos classic, “I Only Have Eyes For You” btw-Lauryn kills her verse! Cypress Hill - Hand On The Pump Samples the Gene Chandler hit, “The Duke Of Earl” Tame One - Get A Jar Reworks the Silhouettes’ classic “Get A Job” on his ode to the leaky leak Salt-n-Pepa - Shoop LL Cool J - The Do Wop Not sure what song was sampled for this track. If any of you know, please holla. Little Starsky - Dancing Party People Illustrates how early Hip Hop retained certain elements of Doo-Wop, in this case, the use of the “be-bop” vernacular. The Force M.D.’s - Let Me Love You & Tears Rappin Is Fundamental - Rapping Is Fundamental & Ain’t No Smoke Towards the end of “Ain’t No Smoke”, R.I.F. borrows from the hit song “Trickle Trickle” by The Videos. The Coasters - Shopping For Clothes Technique used in this song could be classified as "rap", although not necessarily Hip Hop. Dave "Baby" Cortez - Unaddressed Letter Sequence - Unaddressed Letter The D.O.C. - Comm. Blues The Real Roxanne - Rap To Me Erick Sermon - Live In The Backyard Get @ me: hiphoprevisited.blogspot.com hiphoprevisited.podomatic.com hiphoprevisited@gmail.com p.s.- don't forget to leave a comment - tell me what you like, what you don't like, what you wanna hear...whatever!!!

*Production note - Eye usually do a dry run of the show, listen to it for a day and then go back and rerecord with my adjustments, however, thanks to some unexpected oral surgery just hours after recording this cast, Eye had to post the reference version. Right now I’m feeling like how Martin Lawrence looked after going a round with Tommy “Hitman” Hearns on the “Martin” show back in the day...and the reference wasn't too bad, so Eye figured, what the hell....One. Ep. #002 Doo Wop and Hip Hop have quite a bit of common ground. The origins of both share some similarities, including geographic (North East, US) and social (both generally started out as street culture) indicators. In addition, there are certain aesthetic values that were common to both in their most basic forms. Both art forms placed great emphasis on live spontaneous performance (in Doo Wop, that was manifest in the form of the street corner acapella, in Hip Hop it was the freestyle cipher). Both forms also started out primarily as youth culture movements and sought to distinguish themselves both sonically and visually. The utilization of multiple voices in the performance of both Doo Wop and Hip Hop were key, with the former focusing more on harmonics, while the latter was more concerned with arrangement. There are several people who have direct ties into both genres, but none is more prominent than Sylvia Robinson. Sylvia was a successful recording artist during the Doo Wop era (as one half of the duo Mickey and Sylvia) and one of the most significant figures in Hip Hop’s initial entry into the recording industry as the owner of Sugarhill Records. The influence of Doo Wop on Hip Hop can be indirectly cited in the works of other notable figures like George Clinton, James Brown, The Isley Brothers and Jimmy Castor all of whom, were artists during the Doo Wop era who went on to make music that proved to be very instrumental to the development of Hip Hop. With the advent of sampling, Doo Wop’s presence could be more directly identified, as several songs from the genre were co-opted for use by Hip Hop producers. (see show notes below for references) There have been attempts to fuse the two genres. The most significant of these efforts were turned in by the groups The Force M.D.’s and Rappin Is Fundamental, who actually branded their particular style of music as “Doo-Hop”. * Show Notes: Fugees - Zealots Interpolation of the Flamingos classic, “I Only Have Eyes For You” btw-Lauryn kills her verse! Cypress Hill - Hand On The Pump Samples the Gene Chandler hit, “The Duke Of Earl” Tame One - Get A Jar Reworks the Silhouettes’ classic “Get A Job” on his ode to the leaky leak Salt-n-Pepa - Shoop LL Cool J - The Do Wop Not sure what song was sampled for this track. If any of you know, please holla. Little Starsky - Dancing Party People Illustrates how early Hip Hop retained certain elements of Doo-Wop, in this case, the use of the “be-bop” vernacular. The Force M.D.’s - Let Me Love You & Tears Rappin Is Fundamental - Rapping Is Fundamental & Ain’t No Smoke Towards the end of “Ain’t No Smoke”, R.I.F. borrows from the hit song “Trickle Trickle” by The Videos. The Coasters - Shopping For Clothes Technique used in this song could be classified as "rap", although not necessarily Hip Hop. Dave "Baby" Cortez - Unaddressed Letter Sequence - Unaddressed Letter The D.O.C. - Comm. Blues The Real Roxanne - Rap To Me Erick Sermon - Live In The Backyard Get @ me: hiphoprevisited.blogspot.com hiphoprevisited.podomatic.com hiphoprevisited@gmail.com p.s.- don't forget to leave a comment - tell me what you like, what you don't like, what you wanna hear...whatever!!!

Show notes: Intro. – True School Era/Style. Era is generally artists who emerged prior to ‘82-‘83 (Run-DMC Era). Style is typified by Emcee groups (as opposed to soloists), crews were still “DJ-centric”, live performance was still the ultimate test of skills, turntables, beatbox (both human and mechanical), echo chamber, harmonizing, break beats. Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel with Disco Bee and Easy Mike - Jamaica, Queens Armory - 1979 • DJ as the center of attention. • Party-type rhymes, even though Mel already had more developed lyrics (i.e.; “A Child Is Born…”). Rhymes come in sporadic bursts, constantly shouting out the DJ. Almost purely improvisational. • Disco cuts being rocked by Flash (Love Thang – First Choice, Rock • With You - Michael Jackson). • Also on this show was Kurtis Blow, Eddie Cheeba, Starsky, DJ Divine (Infinity Machine). Easy A.D. of The Cold Crush Four and the Dota Rock of The ORIGINAL Salt & Pepper MC's - South Bronx H.S., 1980 • Whipper Whip & Dota Rock were known as Salt & Pepa, as well as being down with Fantastic Five. • DJ Charlie Chase on the wheels. Tricks – People Get Up/Get Down mix. • Style – Trade Off (Names). • Frequent use of the Echo Chamber. • Not real adversaries, despite public rivalries. Many emcees were part of other crews than the one’s they were known for (i.e. Rahiem of Furious Five originally was down with Funky Four). Grandwizard Theodore & The Fantastic Five - Harlem World Battle vs. CC4, 1981 • Fantastic won the battle on their home turf. • They had to overcome the "technical difficulties". Check the “do-over”. • Routines – “Win The G”, also do same Romantic Fantastic routine heard in Wildstyle scene at the Dixie. • Win The G was later done by OC and Bumpy Knuckles. • From commercial CD release, on which DJ Charlie Chase restored the beats from the original show. Cold Crush Brothers - From The Album "All The Way Live In '82" • The routines are tighter than most. Good chemistry, they use multiple variations on the group delivery of their lyrics. • The booming baritone voices added authority to their delivery. • Rocking over Spoonie Gee's, "Love Rap". Johnny Wa & Rayvon with DJ Thai Stick - P.A.L., 1982 • Relative obscurity of this duo (as well as others who performed during that era). • The cadence and flow were on point, particularly Rayvon. • Routines were a bit more straight-forwarded, rock a rhyme and pass it style. • The K.C. & The Sunshine Band track (I Get Lifted) was excellent for their style. Force M.C.'s (incld. K-Whan) & DJ Dr. Shock - Broadway Intl., 1983 • More popularly known as the Force MD’s. • Original Shaolin (Staten Island, NY) reps. • Style – “Harmonizing”. Lifted harmonies from different cultural reference points...Earth, Wind & Fire's "Fantasy"; "Gonna Fly Now (Theme From Rocky)"; "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"; "Auld Lang Syne"; The Brothers Johnson, Change (Luther Vandross). • R.I.P. to Mercury and Dr. Shock as well as TCD from the MD’s. Doug E. Fresh & Slick Rick - Lincoln Projects, 1984. • Routines – La-Di-Da-Di including the infamous Vanessa Williams closing verse and part of The Show. • Also performed "Treat Her Like A Prostitute" on this tape. • All beatbox backing....no DJ, not tape. • Listen for crowd reaction…interesting to hear the audience only being vaguely familiar with the routine (considering how much of an anthem the song is now). Outro. - Shouts to my O.S.H.H. and Y.T. fams and R.I.P. James Brown. Hit me up hiphoprevisited@gmail.com or http://hiphoprevisited.blogspot.com.

Show notes: Intro. – True School Era/Style. Era is generally artists who emerged prior to ‘82-‘83 (Run-DMC Era). Style is typified by Emcee groups (as opposed to soloists), crews were still “DJ-centric”, live performance was still the ultimate test of skills, turntables, beatbox (both human and mechanical), echo chamber, harmonizing, break beats. Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel with Disco Bee and Easy Mike - Jamaica, Queens Armory - 1979 • DJ as the center of attention. • Party-type rhymes, even though Mel already had more developed lyrics (i.e.; “A Child Is Born…”). Rhymes come in sporadic bursts, constantly shouting out the DJ. Almost purely improvisational. • Disco cuts being rocked by Flash (Love Thang – First Choice, Rock • With You - Michael Jackson). • Also on this show was Kurtis Blow, Eddie Cheeba, Starsky, DJ Divine (Infinity Machine). Easy A.D. of The Cold Crush Four and the Dota Rock of The ORIGINAL Salt & Pepper MC's - South Bronx H.S., 1980 • Whipper Whip & Dota Rock were known as Salt & Pepa, as well as being down with Fantastic Five. • DJ Charlie Chase on the wheels. Tricks – People Get Up/Get Down mix. • Style – Trade Off (Names). • Frequent use of the Echo Chamber. • Not real adversaries, despite public rivalries. Many emcees were part of other crews than the one’s they were known for (i.e. Rahiem of Furious Five originally was down with Funky Four). Grandwizard Theodore & The Fantastic Five - Harlem World Battle vs. CC4, 1981 • Fantastic won the battle on their home turf. • They had to overcome the "technical difficulties". Check the “do-over”. • Routines – “Win The G”, also do same Romantic Fantastic routine heard in Wildstyle scene at the Dixie. • Win The G was later done by OC and Bumpy Knuckles. • From commercial CD release, on which DJ Charlie Chase restored the beats from the original show. Cold Crush Brothers - From The Album "All The Way Live In '82" • The routines are tighter than most. Good chemistry, they use multiple variations on the group delivery of their lyrics. • The booming baritone voices added authority to their delivery. • Rocking over Spoonie Gee's, "Love Rap". Johnny Wa & Rayvon with DJ Thai Stick - P.A.L., 1982 • Relative obscurity of this duo (as well as others who performed during that era). • The cadence and flow were on point, particularly Rayvon. • Routines were a bit more straight-forwarded, rock a rhyme and pass it style. • The K.C. & The Sunshine Band track (I Get Lifted) was excellent for their style. Force M.C.'s (incld. K-Whan) & DJ Dr. Shock - Broadway Intl., 1983 • More popularly known as the Force MD’s. • Original Shaolin (Staten Island, NY) reps. • Style – “Harmonizing”. Lifted harmonies from different cultural reference points...Earth, Wind & Fire's "Fantasy"; "Gonna Fly Now (Theme From Rocky)"; "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"; "Auld Lang Syne"; The Brothers Johnson, Change (Luther Vandross). • R.I.P. to Mercury and Dr. Shock as well as TCD from the MD’s. Doug E. Fresh & Slick Rick - Lincoln Projects, 1984. • Routines – La-Di-Da-Di including the infamous Vanessa Williams closing verse and part of The Show. • Also performed "Treat Her Like A Prostitute" on this tape. • All beatbox backing....no DJ, not tape. • Listen for crowd reaction…interesting to hear the audience only being vaguely familiar with the routine (considering how much of an anthem the song is now). Outro. - Shouts to my O.S.H.H. and Y.T. fams and R.I.P. James Brown. Hit me up hiphoprevisited@gmail.com or http://hiphoprevisited.blogspot.com.