Tuesday, April 20 2010

Rest In Power Keith “Guru” Elam

Rest In Power Keith “Guru” Elam (July 17th, 1961 – April 20th, 2010)

My morning regiment is pretty consistent day in and day out. I wake up, hit the bathroom, go into the kitchen and get the coffee started, and not so long afterwards that I’ll pick up my phone to see what messages I missed during the evening. Needless to say the news of Guru’s leaving this planet was one of the first pieces of news that I got this morning. Shocked, and saddened, I said to my wife “Jesus, Guru has died.” A few minutes later as we sat on the couch, while I was just gearing up to start my day, and she was getting ready to head off to her job, she turned to me and, with tears in her eyes, said to me “This is so sad. It was ‘Step In The Arena’ that made me realize I was a real hip-hop ‘head’…”

That statement is actually more poignant than one might initially think. Of course being a lifelong hip-hop fan and “head” (and not wanting to actually date my old ass) I been around the block a few times and I’ve seen a lot of artists and groups come and go. But with Gang Starr there was something different. My man Kenny first introduced me to them with the “No More Mister Nice Guy” album back in what must have been 1989. I wore that cassette down like nothing else and, while admittedly in retrospect it’s not the greatest album in the world, there was a special spark that was contained in the pairing of MC Keith E.E. The Guru and DJ Premier. Songs like “Positivity,” “Knowledge,” “Gotch U,” “DJ Premier In Deep Concentration,” just kind of had an energy unlike any rap songs that I had heard before. And I don’t think I have to even mention “Manifest” which for my money is one of the greatest hip-hop singles of all time. I was already a huge fan  by the time “Step In The Arena” came out. A front to back classic. A record that I studied. I learned every rhyme, every scratch, every nuance in the beats and in Guru’s distinctive and unique voice and delivery.

Obviously Guru and Primo went on to solidify the legacy of one of the greatest rap groups to have ever graced this earth. But the main point that I was getting at in reference to what my wife said about “Step In The Arena” making her a hip-hop “head” is this: I think that Gang Starr might be the first rap group that I really claimed as being “mine,” and this is hard to explain. It’s not in a possessive sense, or not in a braggadocios way of saying “I knew of them first.” But it’s more in the way that I felt the music they made really was my own personal soundtrack. Or maybe it’s just that the records that they came out with, that I listened during those formative years as a teenager, they really defined me in a way. Kind of hard to put into words right now, so I may need to revisit these thoughts later on. But straight up, Guru – one of the greatest MCs of all time, of Gang Starr, one of the greatest rap groups of all time – will surely be missed. Much respect to all your peoples and family, and to the entire hip-hop nation who has also suffered a great loss. But the music and the legacy lives on forever, and nothing can erase that.

“More than a decade of hits that will live forever…” A selection:

Gang Starr “B.Y.S.” (Chrysalis, 1992)

Gang Starr “Jazz Thing (Video Mix)” (CBS, 1990)

Gang Starr “The Planet” (Chrysalis, 1994)

Guru “Trust Me feat. N’Dea Davenport” (Chrysalis, 1993)

Gang Starr “Just To Get A Rep” (Chrysalis, 1990)

Gang Starr “It’z A Setup feat. Hannibal” (Chrysalis, 1998)

Gang Starr “Sabotage” (Chrysalis, 2003)

Guru “Certified feat. Bilal” (Virgin, 2000)

Gang Starr “Positivity (Remix)” (Wild Pitch, 1989)

Tony Touch  “The Piece Maker feat. Gang Starr” (Tommy Boy,  2000)

Gang Starr “Check The Technique” (Chrysalis, 1990)

Gang Starr “Gotta Get Over (Taking Loot)” (Sire, 1992)

Thursday, April 8 2010

RIP Malcom McLaren

We’re on a world tour with Mister Malcom McLaren, We’re going each and every place including Spain, Asia, Africa, Tokyo, Mexico, He went to the places where the people told him not to go… Rest In Punk Mister McLaren.

Malcolm McLaren & The World’s Famous Supreme Team  “She’s Looking Like A Hobo” (Island, 1982)

All that SCRATCHING is making me ITCH… So in speaking about scratching, I found that crazy DJ Noize routine that I was looking for that I mentioned in a post last month. Here it is… BUGGING.

Continuing our scratching theme in honor of the late great Mister McLaren, here’s one of my favorite videos take on the DJ Johnny Juice who is one of the nastiest dudes to ever touch the platters. He’s actually the DJ that’s responsible for doing most of the ghost cuts all of the first 2 Public Enemy albums but he never got the credit for them (although Chuck does shout him out on Rebel Without A Pause – “Juice on the loose, electric wire…” So peep game.

Saturday, April 3 2010

Do The Knowledge – Billy Stewart

So I woke up today and after breakfast, I put on the iPod shuffle in the house and the first song that started playing was one of my favorites – the Billy Stewart rendition of the George Gershwin classic “Summertime.” I know today is only April 3rd but It put me in such a mood and made me anticipate the wondefrul seasons ahead that I just had to rap about it for a little bit.

The summer of 1999 was a hot one in Philly. It was the first summer that I had spent after being in a pretty horrific car accident, one where I almost didn’t live, and had to learn to walk again, and basically put the pieces of my life together after having it shattered in a thousand tiny bits. It also was the first time ever in my life that I owned a car. It was sold to me by the boyfriend of a friend of my mother. He was moving out of the country and had no use for it so the offer was made to me. Growing up in Philly, one never really needed a car. It was walk, skate, bike or SEPTA anywhere and everywhere. But, because my legs were still weak, and I also thought that it was that time in my life where I stepped up my game, I bought the little gold 1987 Jetta from the guy. Unfortunately, I gave him half the money and he gave me the car, but before I could give him the remainder of the balance he moved to Eastern Europe. The unfortunate thing for me was that he left without giving me the papers, registration, all of that stuff. So here I was with this car that was technically mine but was actually illegal as all hell. Of course with no registration or pink slip I couldn’t get the car insured. Oh, did I mention that I didn’t have a drivers license yet either? That’s just a minor detail that’s in there too.

So here I was driving this little Gold Bug around the city riding so dirty that it’s incredible, but I loved that little car and I didn’t really care. It didn’t have air conditioning, and it sometimes wouldn’t start when it rained. Also, there wasn’t any tape deck so I was forced to listen to Philly radio. Around this time I had really started to have my fill of commercial rap music, which was probably more a change in me as much as it was within the music itself, so I found myself tuned into WOGL “Oldies” 98.1 FM most of the time. I would drive around the city that long, hot summer incessantly, just exploring and taking the vast city in. One day while driving down Germantown Avenue the sounds that came through the tinny-ass speakers was a revelation, this incredibly soulful voice singing in this staccato rapid-fire delivery of scat, launching into this incredibly rich and full orchestrated version of “Summertime.” It was coming through the speakers, going right into my brain, as I was soaking up the summer scenes right in front of me in Funky North Philadelphia. It was like one of those moments where all the planets and stars align and the universe pulls the curtain back to give you a glimpse of a very special and ancient secret. I drove to my mom’s house and immediately asked her about this version, and at first she couldn’t figure out who I was getting at, but as soon as I did for her the “BrrrrrrUP BruP chupdupadup CHUP” she said “Oh, that’s Billy Stewart!” I went out that day and found a copy of his “Unbelievable” LP at Bob Dicky’s 9th Street Records and it was a wrap for me from that moment on.

Billy was kind of a wunderkind, starting his singing career at the age of 12 with his brothers singing gospel tunes on local Washington DC radio. During his teenage years he sung with another musical legend and DC native, Marvin Gaye, and like so many artists of his time, Billy gained great popularity when he made the transition from spirituals to singing secular music. He signed to Chess records and that’s where he put out most of the records in his tragically short career. All his records have a distinct sound to it which may be attributed to being on the Chess imprint but I really think that the key ingredient to the magic of his music is the way that he attacked the song vocally with such a radical and unique approach. His version of “Summertime” is such a departure from any rendition of it before and is so hardbody, he owns that song from now until forever. I said yesterday that his version is more punk rock than most punk rock songs.

And so I’m listening to Billy today. He’s one of those artists that I personally just feel a deep connection to. I don’t think that you can say that he’s under appreciated in any sense – just go to a low rider convention in California and I would bet that 2 out of the 3 cars will be playing his tunes. And he’s obviously not under appreciated in the hip-hop community – just ask Just Blaze, K-Def and Vance Wright. But today I’m very focused on my dude, and I am DEFINITELY playing your music tonight at The Rub. Thanks for making me a little happier today, Billy. And I hope that his music moves my readers a little bit as well. So here’s a few choice pieces from Billy. I’m starting with a record that I posted up last year but became pretty popular again after Just Blaze touched it for Jay Electronica’s “Exhibit C.”

Billy Stewart “Cross My Heart”

Billy Stewart “Sitting In The Park”

Billy Stewart “Every Day I Have The Blues”

Billy Stewart “Tell Me The Truth”

And of course the tune that inspired me to write about this today… Here’s to the upcoming summer!

Billy Stewart “Summertime”

Monday, March 22 2010

Tuff Crew Love

It was a great weekend – one which I had vowed to take off, but I heard that my homies DJ Supreme La Rock and DJ Skeme Richards were going to be in town doing the Hot Peas And Butta party so I decided to swing through and check it out. Also, I just happened to bring a few 45s with me just in case I got the feeling. So when i showed up, Supreme was KILLING It on the 45s so I had to jump on to throw some joints. Then Skeme got on and closed the night out. It was really a fun time, and not something that I get the chance to do too often. Inspiring, actually. So thanks to them dudes and if you have the chance to see either one of them do their thing in a city near you, definitely go – you won’t be disappointed. And check back here for more flicks, and video, soon.

So I said that I was going to talk about some rap music this week and you damn straight I’m going to make that happen. So now that America has joined the rest of the civilized world and gotten universal health care, I got to thinking of my man DJ Too Tuff who’s been battling with thyroid cancer since last year, with no health insurance. But instead of getting into that story, I want to speak on the music. Let me tell the story about a bunch of brothers from where I come from, what they had to go through, and how they changed the world (or at least, my world.) I’m fin to talk about the Tuff Crew…

Tuff Crew came about in the late 80s and consisted of (pictured above from left) DJ Too Tuff, Ice Dog, Tone Luv, LA Kidd and “The Mountain” Monty G. These five dudes, representing a slew of different neighborhoods around Philly, released their first record the Phanjam LP at the height of Philly rap’s global power. At the time you had huge acts like Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (representing Overbrook, a section West Philly,) Schoolly D (representing Parkside, a section of West Philly,) Cool C and Steady B (both representing Hilltop, another section of West Philly) to name a few groups that were already established as the voices of Philly rap. But along came Tuff Crew, a multiracial group from West, North and South Philly, with a completely unique sound to them. In a Wax Poetics article I wrote a few years ago, I penned them “Philly’s First Rap Supergroup.” The breakout single from their second album, 1988s “Danger Zone” was a high powered uptempo bass-heavy rap assault that sent shock waves across the city. I’m talking about one of the all-time great Philly anthems, “My Part Of Town.” From the opening guitar licks (taken from The Blackbyrd’s “Street Games”) to the almighty Kurtis Blow saying “So damn tough,” to those booming 808s, this song is ingrained in the psyche of any Philly rap fan from my era. That song was inescapable that summer, as you heard it blasting from pretty much every car driving down the street, in any given neighborhood. . And as a DJ, it was elementary that one of the first things that you learned was cutting up doubles of that vocal intro.

These dudes were Philly heroes. I remember when it was announced on the radio that they were holding the photo shoot on the art museum steps for the back of their second album on the radio. I begged my mom to let me go but she didn’t. But still, they never stopped being my favorite group, my heroes. In fact, there was an abandoned warehouse that all us kids used to hang out in (“The Factory”) at 22nd and JFK and me and my homies deemed our floor “The Danger Zone.” But all in all they were a masters at what they did. Tone Love, LA Kidd and Ice Dog had lyrics that struck the perfect balance of content, swagger and awe-inspiring dexterity. And to this day I still maintain that Ice Dog has one of the best voices in rap of all time. The beats themselves, done mostly by LA Kidd with apparently so back-up from Ultramagnetic MC’s Ced Gee, were so ahead of their time, striking a unique balance of super-rare funk breaks with a barrage of TR-808 drum machine beats. And the cuts, the DJing, provided by Too Tuff “The Deuce Ace Detonator” were so inspiring to me, that I studied those records back and forth, only to say to myself after many listens “I want to do that.”

I eventually got to know DJ Too Tuff several years into me first starting coming onto the party scene in the early 90s and dude was a tremendous support to me in my career even back then. In 1993 or 1994 I remember doing a huge party at Pedro Gunn’s, a reggae spot off of 4th street where I was opening up for Too Tuff. I don’t remember what it was that I did exactly, but I remember doing a certain mix involving Super Cat. He came up to me afterwards just to tell me “Man that was super dope. I wanna be like you” or something to that effect. That was one of those moments of personal validity that I’ll always remember, one of those moments where I knew that I must be doing something right. I was glad to be able to have him (along with another Philly DJ legend and friend of mine, DJ Tat Money) join me and The Rub on stage at The TLA last year. It felt as though things had kind of come full circle.

Now I love new rap music, and I’m not one of these dudes that will go around and say that everything past 1996 is terrible. But understand how hard it is for me when the stuff that I came up on back when I was a kid was so good, or in other words, so damn tough. The Tuff Crew catalog is truly remarkable, especially the second and third albums. But what is amazing to me is why, when there are so many “golden era” rap groups that are consistently given their due and their props for their contribution to the music and art form, Tuff Crew are consistently overlooked. I know that, outside of the Philly impact, they made noise in Miami for a bit. I always considered that their bass sound was a contributing factor to that, as well as them touring with The 2 Live Crew. However, aside from most music nerds (like myself, admittedly) they’re largely unknown. But regional bias aside, I hold Danger Zone and Back To Wreck Shop up there as being just as good as many of the “golden era” touchstone albums. You should check them out if you get a chance. And for the record, trials and tribulations aside, the Crew are still around doing their thing every so often. If you get a chance to check them out, make that happen. As for me, well I have nothing but love and respect for the 5 Philly brothers who, in doing what they did, made me able to do what I do.

Now, here’s some rap music to listen to: First up is “She Rides The Pony” from the “Back To Wreck Shop” album, an uptempo B-Side single that was recently appropriated brilliantly by The Roots for 2004’s “Boom” where Riq-Geez does an incredible imitation of Kane and G. Rap.

Tuff Crew “She Rides The Pony” (Warlock, 1989)

Next is “Detonator” from the “Danger Zone” album which is the ode to their DJ. All albums around this time had the obligatory “DJ cut” and this one has Too Tuff cut the track to shreds towards the end of the 3+ high powered minutes.

Tuff Crew “Detonator” (Warlock, 1988)

Here’s a remix of “My Part Of Town” done courtesy of  Rutger “Rutti” Kroese from The Netherlands. It’s not dramatically different from the original, but it extends the intro some and also adds a very tasteful bridge from Lyn Collins in the mix. Thanks to my man Matthew Africa for putting me down with this a few years ago.

Tuff Crew “My Part Of Town (Remix)” (The Mastas, 19??)

Last but not least comes from the first Tuff Crew album “Phanjam” from 1987, but it is not Tuff Crew. On that album they gave 2 songs to a crew that they were friends with, Camden’s Krown Rulers. Camden, NJ is kind of like to Philly what Brooklyn is to Manhattan. But without all the charm and history. Well, Camden is kind of a classic picture of urban blight. Consistently judged one of the most dangerous cities in America, Camden is one of those cities that you just drive through on you way to Philly, but never stop in. However, MC Grand Poobah (not that one) and DJ Royal Rocker came out with a monster record that still moves crowds in Philly to this day. 3-2 cross the bridge, boy! A crucial Philly rap record here, even if it’s technically from New Jersey.

Krown Rulers “Kick The Ball” (Warlock, 1987)

So that’s it for today. Considering I’m going to Miami this week for WMC I wanted to get that Tuff Crew schitt up. But I’m going in heavy for Miami for tomorrow’s Breakbeat Tuesday so watch out.

BONUS BEAT UPDATE – I just found this vinyl rip of a song called “2-1-5″ from a group Plague Regime. I can’t find the 12” as it’s probably in my mom’s basement, but I’m pretty sure it was released on Echo International in 1998. The song is a remake of Tuff Crew’s “Open Field Attack” and the guy calls himself “Daish-Raw” which leads me to believe that it’s actually Philly rapper from the 90s Sha’Dasious. It’s not as good as the OG but still a cool record to have, especially for those folks that are into 90s regional stuff. And if that’s your thing, you should also look for the other big Sha’Dasious record that was big (at least big in Philly when it came out) “I’ma Put My Thing Down.”

Plague Regime “2-1-5” (Echo Unlimited, 1998)