Whatever your opinion is on Busta Rhymes the man sure as hell deserves massive props for having been a forerunner in hip-hop since the early '90s to the mid 2010s. I can't think of many other hip hop artist that has managed to stay current by updating his sound with the times and manage to do it in a succesful manner. Most rappers who were succesful in the '90s when boom bap type hip hop were a big thing on radio that has tried to stray from their original formula in an attempt to sell records fails miserable. But year after year, decade after decade, Busta keeps the hits coming, gaining new fans while at the same time still giving his original fanbase something to bang their heads to. Granted, he hasn't released an album that I really liked since 2006's "Big Bang" (which overall is an underrated LP) but even "Year Of The Dragon" had some bangers. For every "I Love My Bitch" there's a "You Can't Hold The Torch"; for every "Arab Money" there's a "Wheel Of Fortune"; and while his new single "Twerk It" is one of the most horrible tracks released this year, the follow-up single "Thank You" featuring Q-Tip is absolutely excellent. So yes I am still a Busta fan, despite his many questionable releases. Oh, and for the record "Dillagence" has to be one of the best mixtapes ever released.
But this post ain't about the new Busta, this shit is taking it back to the mid-'90s, covering the time span in which the large mouthed one dropped his masterpiece debut "The Coming", and its almost equally dope follow-ups "When Disaster Strikes" and "E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event)". These three albums are straight up incredible on all fronts - theme albums about the upcoming end of the world that are expertly sequenced with Busta's powerful voice taking command over dark, hard hitting beats provided by a healthy mix of established veterans (DJ Scratch, Q-Tip, Rashad Smith, Easy Mo Bee) and the producers of the future (Jay Dee, Nottz, Swizz Beats). One thing about a Busta Rhymes album is that the guy always been so commited to the project that there will be plenty of dope joints left on the cutting room floor once the final tracklist is decided on. A good example is "Genesis" which originally had no less than seven J Dilla productions, but once the final album hit stores his contribution had been limited to two tracks (cutting "Keep It Poppin'", "We Alright", "How We Roll", etc.).
Luckily for us many of the songs from these sessions instead appeared as B-sides, ended up on soundtracks or the ocassional white label bootleg. And this is where myself and The Lost Tapes come in of course. I've compiled, in as good sound quality as possible, all the non-album tracks, excluding remixes, from Busta's singles from '96-'98 and beefed it up with some of his more essential guest spots from that period. I could of course have included classics like "Scenario", "Come On Down", "Flava in Ya Ear" and so on but I really wanted this to play like a complimentary piece to Busta Rhymes three first solo albums when he still had that mega raw rah-rah style. As such I think I've succeded quite damn well as this represent Busta Rhymes at his very peak over those booming headknock type of beats we loved to hear him demolish. Production from Diamond D, DJ Scratch, Wyclef, Kid Capri, Erick Sermon and more. TURN IT UP!!
01. "Far Away" (Ft. Hurricane G)
02. "Coming Off"
03. "Wild Hot" (Ft. Q-Tip)
04. "Steppin' It Up" (w. A Tribe Called Quest & Redman)
05. "Live to Regret"
06. "On Your Mark: Ready, Set, Go"
07. "Rumble in the Jungle" (w. Fugees & A Tribe Called Quest)
08. "Flipmode is Da Squad" (Ft. Rampage, Lord Have Mercy & Serious)
First off to everybody who frequents this blog, sorry for the lack of updates this past week, but now I'm back with some good updates and a lot of good ish on the horizon so keep coming back. First out is the tracklist/artwork to M.O.P.'s highly anticipated "Street Certified" EP/mini-album that hits iTunes and other digital retailers on November 18. We have already heard three singles, including "Broad Daylight" (see above), the title track featuring Mobb Deep and my personal favorite "187" which really captures that vintage Mash Out sound and could almost have been pulled from "Warrior" sessions, I hope there are more tracks in that vein on the new project.
Not too long ago I had a period where I went back and played both of The Notorious BIG's two albums religiously, and this month now marks the 20 year anniversary of that first classic LP. At this time I also collected most of his rarer demos, freestyles and guest apperances. Unlike 2Pac, his one time ally and contemporary, Wallace left us with only a small scattering of finished recordings to pick up when he tragically left us in '97. Instead of paying respect to the man's legacy by compiling and releasing the original music he recorded in his lifetime, the vultures at Bad Boy instead have opted to remix and completely alter his unreleased music. As it stands now BIG's musical legacy consists of two excellent solo albums ("Ready to Die" and "Life After Death"), the executive producing and career launching of Junior M.A.F.I.A. with "Conspiracy" and Lil' Kim with "Hardcore". Add to that something like an additional 40 loose tracks, studio freestyles and guest apperances left for us fans to compile and share. Despite the small output very few Hip Hop artists can be considered more influential and inspirational to both his own generation and todays up and comers - and that in itself is a damn impressive feat. BIG will always be remembered as one of the true greats, a musical giant who twenty years ago made waves with the release of his debut album. It's safe to say that "Ready to Die" has stood the test of time and should have a given place in the top albums list of any true hip-hop conniseour.
The internet is of course swarming with various tributes and articles in honor of the ocassion. For my own contribution I have put together a compilation of non-album tracks that I feel reaches a very high level of quality. As always I've tried making this compilation form a coherrent listen that focuses on a specific time or style. The goal here was to create something like a companion piece to "Ready to Die". That means that I'm limiting the inclusion of songs to material recorded between 1993 and 1995 (the time in which between "R.T.D." was recorded and final single with B-side released). Additionally, I wanted to focus on BIG's lyrical skills and writing genius, given as much space as possible to solo tracks. In the end I maybe used a little too many posse cuts and such as I originally intended to only use 10 songs, but one thing's for sure - there's no half-assed material on here. Below you'll find the tracklist, download link and a little info on each song, it's producer, origin and relevance for the compilation... TURN IT UP!!!
01. "The Wickedest: Freestyle Intro"
This exclusive freestyle makes for a perfect intro and the epitome of Biggie's style post-"Ready to Die". Recorded by DJ Mister Cee (who of course was an integral part of Big's career) as an exclusive for his "The Best Of The Notorious B.I.G.", released in 1995.
02. "Party & Bullshit"
It felt natural to kick things off with "Party & Bullshit", seeing how this hardcore party starter was both BIG's first single ever and was left off his debut album. This also marks the first time Biggie worked with Easy Mo Bee, who would become one of the most important players in crafting the Notorious sound. The song were also featured on the original soundtrack to the 1993 flick "Who's The Man?".
03. "Dead Wrong"
Another early collaboration with Easy Mo Bee who's hard hitting boom bap shit in com"bination with the dusted flow of BIG stands as a superb representation of everything great about the early '90s East Coast bap. An Eminem remix of course turned up on '99:s posthumous "Born Again", but the version for the real heads is this one, recorded during the early Uptown sessions for "R.T.D." in '93. This clear rip from a DJ Craig G tape was borrowed from NahRight's excellent BIG article.
04. "Come On Motherfuckers" (Ft. Sadat X)
"Come On" is another cut that was cleaned up and modernized by The Hitmen for "Born Again" but the original, superior version sees BIG rocking hard as hell over a dusty Lord Finesse break, complete with intense horn stabs. Sadat X and Biggie Smalls definitely makes for a very interesting combination, and this '93 joint (another recording from the Uptown sessions) is about as tough as they come yet was left to the mixtape circuit until just a few years ago.
05. "Dreams (Just Playing)"
"Dreams" is nothing short of classic BIG as he invites listeners into his nasty dreams of all the R&B singers he'd like to fuck. And it's done with more wit and charisma than most emcees at their best moments too. Built around a crazy addictive guitar loop, "Dreams" was produced by the underrated Rashad Smith of Tumblin' Dice, this was included as a bonus track on the 2004 remaster of "Ready to Die". It's first apperance dates as far back as 1993 when DJ Doo Wop put it on his "Spring One" tape, which indicates that it might have been recorded for BIG's Uptown debut.
06. "One More Chance/Stay With Me" [Hip Hop Mix]
The smooth video version of "One More Chance" (see above) is definitely one of Biggie's most famous songs, though it bears little resemblance to the version that appeared on the album. The 12" single included two remixes of the song - the famous Faith Evans version which was about as R&B as BIG would ever get and this one labeled The Hip Hop Mix. Using the same verses as the video mix but adding a differet hook by Total, Biggie's sexual themed flows sounds perfect over the pounding drums, guitar stabs and scratches - once again produced by Rashad Smith / Tumblin' Dice. An interesting fact is that this version of the song replaces the original Bluez Brothas version on the clean version of "R.T.D.".
07. "Runnin' From The Police" (Ft. 2Pac, Stretch, EDI, Khadafi & Buju Banton)
"Runnin' From The Police" have always been one considered as of the strongest songs in both BIG's and 'Pac's respective catalouges if you ask me. There's so many quotables in here that it's not even funny, and hearing 'Pac, BIG and Stretch all on one track is truly powerful, and Easy Mo Bee did a masterful job in creating the backing track. This classic was originally recorded around 1994 in a 2Pac session for inclusion on his "Thug Life Volume 1" album, even appearing on a rare promo cassette of the project. The song was ultimately replaced by "Stay True" and it would take another year before fans got the chance to hear "Runnin'" on the compilation album "One Million Strong".
08. "Real Niggaz"
"Real Niggaz" is another huge record with a West Coast connecction, as it's common knowledge that Biggie had a lot of love for LA and the music the city produced in the early to mid-'90s. It's unbelivable this was never given more exposure because not only does Biggie sound phenomenal over these Death Row tracks like "Deep Cover", his verses here displays the same type of top notch storytelling that he would perfect on future masterpieces like "Somebody's Gotta Die". This was originally heard as a two part piece on a DJ Clue tape back in '95 before Mister Cee collected all verses for his incredible "The Best Of Notorious B.I.G." tape.
09. "Jam Session" (Ft. Heavy D & Troo Kula)
One of a couple of collaborations between Biggie and Heavy D, produced by Jesse West who really brings the funk on here with an affective heavy bass melody and slick guitar. Heavy D and BIG made a few songs together (all featured on this compilation), and there's no denying that there's a lot of chemistry to be found here. Something that not everybody knows is that the duo even had plans on developing a clothing line for men with a larger build called BIG & Heavy. "Jam Session" also features Troo Kula (at the time a member of Jesse West's group 3rd Eye) and is lifted from the otherwise forgettable compilation album "NBA Jam Session".
10. "Let's Get It On" (Ft. 2Pac, Grand Puba & Heavy D)
This somewhat forgotten posse cut features some of the greatest emcees of the '90s (Grand Puba, 2Pac, BIG, Heavy D) getting it on over a relatively smooth headnodder that packs influences from the New Jack swing era. Taken from the album of the same name by DJ Eddie F. and The Untouchables, a crew of DJ:s and producers from the Mt. Vernon area which originally mentored and included Pete Rock (who didn't have anything to do with this joint however).
11. "Watchu Want?"
"Watchu Want" was a late deletion from "Ready to Die" and is another one of the Easy Mo Bee/BIG recordings from the earlier recording sessions of the LP before Puffy was dropped from Uptown and took Wallace with him. This is a very powerful cut, with Biggie at his most hardcore and I still have a hard time deciding whether or not I would have prefered it to have been left on the LP. I have a (possibly false?) memory of reading somewhere that Biggie really wanted to keep this one but Puff insisted that the quota for rugged hardcore jams had been filled.
12. "Who's The Man?" (Ft. King Just & Todd1)
The 45 King has produced some of my all time favorite records and hearing him produce for BIG is pure bliss. Unfortunately Wallace only kicks one verse here but that's a verse that makes the tracks inclusion on this compilation an absolute definite and leaves little question to who the man in this case is (King Just comes correct though). I guess the reason this isn't remembered for the great battle record it is, is because it came out on a very forgotten album called "Back Up Off Me!", the only LP released under the names of Doctor Dre and Ed Lover.
13. "A Buncha Niggas" (Ft. Heavy D, Guru, Busta Rhymes, 3rd Eye & Rob-O) The Heavy D & The Boys albums from the early '90s always had a ton of underground gems on them and "Blue Funk" might just be the illest. As far as posse cut goes this one has one of the more jaw dropping line-ups - Heavy D, Guru, Busta Rhymes, Rob-O from InI, 3rd Eye (Jesse West also produced this banger) and of course The Notorious B.I.G.
14. "Who Shot Ya"
"Who Shot Ya" marks the first time BIG worked with Nashiem Myrick who would come to be a major contributor to the sound of "Life After Death", making this something of a transitional record. An interesting fact is that the song originally was incepted as an interlude for Mary J. Blige's excellent '95 LP "My Life". Word is that the content was a little too violent for an R&B album and in the end the interlude verse were recorded by Keith Murray. Being label mates and old friends, Puff and BIG secured the beat and put it on as the B-side of the "Big Poppa" single, causing all kinds of controversy. You can check out the original demo version with both Murray and BIG, liberated by DJ S&S and uploaded by NahRight. NOTORIOUS BIG - "THE ANNIVERSARY"
Now this is what I wanna hear from The Chef, not that "Call Of Duty" single with Akon that apparantly was the lead single from his "F.I.L.A." proejct. Perhaps inspired by Jay-Z's '97 classic, Rae uses the original, true classic of the same name, as his platform which really sounds right in the hands of he Wu-Tang alumni - both deep, melancholy and banging. I wouldn't have minded another verse but it is what it is. Below you can also check out another recent Rae single which appeared during my internet absence - the old school flirting "Oh God" with Busta Rhymes and O.T. Genasis. Bad sound quality, sick track. Shouts to OkayPlayer for both joints.
The other day I was listening to Sonja Blade's DJ Premier produced classic 12" "Look For The Name" on Bodybag Entertainment which really peeked my interest in whatever happened to this hardspitting Brooklyn femcee. She also dropped another single on the same label, the Black Rob-assisted "One Thug", a solo on the "Romeo Must Die" soundtrack, a collaboration with P, Busta, L Boogie, and NORE on the first "Violators" LP. Add a few guest apperances on records for Rah Digga, DJ Kay Slay, Ice Cube, Monifah, Shaq, Fabolous, and Tracie Spencer; all music that was released between 1998 and 2001. These many guest apperances was a marketing strategy as Blade was preparing to release her debut album "Who Am I" in '01 through Virgin/Bodybags with manager Chris Lighty for Violators. At least the majority of the album seems to have been completed, as far as recording goes, and according to this MTV.com articlefrom April 2000, it reveals that production was to be handled by DJ Premier, DJ Scratch, Rockwilder, Clark Kent, Mario Winans of The Hitmen, DJ Clue and more. Artists set to appear included Busta Rhymes, Carl Thomas and Nate Dogg. Being the huge D.I.T.C. fanatic that I am, I came across info about a 2001 white label featuring a Blade/Busta collaboration called "So Gutta", produced by Buckwild, a few years back. This seemed pretty much impossible to find, in fact I was starting to wonder if it wasn't some shady blend or whatever, but then a radio- or mixtape rip of the song appeared on YT late last year. It's a fucking hardcore ass MONSTER of a track with Blade and Busta going back-and-forth over Buck's sinister boom bap anthem; flipping the same sample used by Dilated Peoples for "Triple Optics". With cuts like "So Gutta", "Look For The Name" and "One Thug" it could've been quite a sick LP though we'll never now, as it's definitely lost to the public forever. Check out "So Gutta" with Busta and Buckwild up top, it probably cuts off one minute too early but damn was I excited to find this at last (mad shouts to YT uploader zerominus for dropping this gem on us). Now if anyone have the full track, or at least a decent mixtape Mp3 please send me an e-mail or drop a commentl.
A lot of emcees, and for some reason especially female spitters, have a good season only to then never be heard from again - i.e. Charlie Baltimore, Vita, Jane Doe (expect a real dope post on here very soon btw), Amil, and so on. This is not the case with Blade as she, over the years, slowly has been starting to make moves and rebuilding her brand again. Every now and then she's dropping a fresh single and/or video via her YouTube account, There's no question that she still's got the flow and the voice and though not every song is a masterpiece I really fell in love with the BK anthem "Brooklyn Keeps On Taking It" from 2012, produced by Ez-ELPEE and featuring both Tek-N-Steele all over the video and dropping a short but tuff verse near the end. Promising shit right here!
Now this right here is a real underground GEM if I ever heard one! "Modern Day Gangstas" is an unreleased track that first made it's presence known to the public as "Dangerous MC's" via Notorious B.I.G.'s first real posthumous album, '99's "Born Again". That remix was produced by Nottz and Dominic Lambert and added additional vocals from Snoop Dogg and Mark Curry, and differed immensely from the original song it was built around - a track produed in 1996 by none other than the now legendary Jay Dee/J Dilla/James Yancey. This is prime example of why I so strongly disliked that album; B.I.G. recorded several slamming non-album cuts before his passing, but when it came time for Pappa Diddy Pop to turn these sessions into a 1999 album he tried to make it sound like it was recorded yesterday and therefore destroyed the original cuts by enlisting more popular producers and guest vocalists to fill out the spaces between the BIG verses. If a remix is not at all improving on the original it loses it's purpose, and in cases where the artist have passed away it's damn near sacreligious to mess with their unreleased music. The best examples of this on "Born Again" is the Eminem remix of "Dead Wrong", an original joint BIG cut with long-time friend and musical partner Easy Mo Bee, which albeit ruff in its original incarnation is a straight up slamming jam. Even more interesting is the aforementioned Jay Dee production "Dangerous MC's" (originally titled "Modern Day Gangstaz" and sometimes labeled as "The Ugliest"), originally recorded as a Busta Rhymes song in sessions for his '96 solo debut "The Coming".
The story goes that this beat was one of several tracks Bus' picked from Jay Dee's beat CD for what would become "The Coming" (the others being "Still Shining" and "Keep It Movin'"). Somehow Puff Daddy and The Notorious B.I.G. heard Busta's version of "Modern Day Gangstas" and was blown away. With its heavy umph, low Rhodes melody and heavily filtered bassline, it was vintage Jay Dee during his The Ummah period and very similiar to the other stuff Busta used for the LP. From what I have heard what happened was that The Notorious ended up dropping a verse on the track as a cameo; as you hear BIG kicks off the song. If you listen closely to that verse you'll realize that it includes one of Biggie's most subtle, yet most agressive disses against 2Pac ever: "Missed you by inches, you're talk is senseless/ Actor needs chiropractor for cracked jaw/ Yes, I rocked your chatterbox, dangerous you're not/ I get down, twist your body 'Round & Round', upside down...". The story goes that Busta didn't want to be caught up in that whole East Coast/West Coast beef (remember the fuss after LL Cool J put Prodigy on the "I Shot Ya" remix) that was creeping towards it's tragic peak, and instead gave the song to Bad Boy Entertainment for inclusion on "Life After Death". This would explain how Puff Daddy owned the masters and had the rights to put it out on a BIG album in '99. The third emcee on the track, Labba, is a little known artist with ties to Busta Rhymes and The Flipmode Squad (appearing on Busta's "We Could Take It Outside" amongst others) but was replaced by Snoop and Mark Curry on the oficially released remix. If you haven't heard this track before you are in for a real treat. Both Busta Rhymes and Notorious B.I.G. were pretty much at their respective peaks here in my humble opinion, and as far as I know this is the only track these two musical giants ever collaborated on. Add to that that they are doing so over a lost Jay Dee beat, one that has all the trademarks and signifcance of the type of music Yancey was into during his early days with The Ummah collective - deep basslines, a love for filtering the groove and a heavy umph on the beat. There's even a video clip shot of Jay Dee in a wheelchair during his last trip overseas where the legendary beat master discusses the making of the song with Frank-N-Dank. This video was taken circa 2005 and appears on the Frank-N-Dank DVD "European Vacation". Here Dilla also reveals that in addition to Bus' and BIG, an additional legendary emcee was originally supposed to appear on the track as well (hey, maybe that Snoop Dogg verse really was made then haha). For some reason the YouTube clip of said video won't let me embed - instead you'll have to click here to watch. Below you find "Modern Day Gangstas" in all of it's original glory and man, what a track it is. I think it would've sounded marvelous on "The Coming". TURN IT UP!!
N.O.R.E. and Busta Rhymes have delivered several heavy hitting tracks and/or projects in 2013, so its fitting that I close out The Lost Tapes for 2013 with their "Manners", which also happens to be one of the rowdiest cuts of the year. I wish all my readers, homies, accomplices, and family a happy new year and a happy ending of this one!! DRINK IT UP, SCHMOKKE IT UP, TURN IT UP!!!
I've been mightily excited about the prospect of a full-length mixtape of mostly new music from Busta Rhymes and Q-Tip since "The Abstract & The Dragon"was first announced some two months back. Now that it's out there is unfortunately not as many new tracks that I had hoped, but the many classics created by this creative and super well-matched duo makes for a superb listening experience on any rainy day... And I finally got a chance to hear that brilliantly funky DJ Scratch remix of 'Tip's "Gettin' Up" in the quality it deserves to be heard! The few previously unreleased cuts goes fucking hard too, so in all I'd say this makes for a very welcome release from two of hip-hop's true heavyweights. Salute!
With their extreme styles on their respective sides of the lyrical spectrum, Busta Rhymes & Q-Tip have always been perfect compliments to each other; resulting in a load of classic and terrific records ("Scenario", "You Can't Hold the Torch", "Ill Vibe", "Oh My God", "Get You Some", "Do It", "Get Up - The DJ Scratch Remix", etc.). Now the duo reunites for Busta's new single "Thank You", produced by Tip, and while it can't compete with the tracks mentioned above it's still a pretty nice lil' joint clearly worth a listen. This marks the first single from the forthcoming "Extinction Level Event Pt. II" (a sequel to an album I highly enjoyed) and "Thank You" is better than the vast, vast majority of the horrendous "Back On My B.S." - the highly charged emcees last album that might just be the worst album I ever heard from an artist I usually like and respect.
dead prez' "Let's Get Free" is one of my favorite albums; "RGB" was slightly dissapointing, but their recent third effort "Information Age" was a huge let down in my opinion. That the duo has put out a remix of the single "Time Travel" featuring Black Thought, Busta Rhymes, Bun B, & Trixx, however, is definitely something you wan't to hear. The four track digital EP also includes the non-album track "Dead Man Shoes", an additional "Time Travel" remix with Bun B and Reek Da Villain, and the album cut "A New Beginning". So press play below and while all of these tracks are hardly masterpieces to hear Black Thought, stic.man, M1, Busta, and Bun B on a posse cut is definitely Worth hearing!
If you missed the incredible Busta Rhymes / J Dilla compilation here at The Lost Tapes a couple of years back ("Turn It Up!!"), you missed out on the premier of the still unreleased Jay Dee produced Busta joint "Keep It Poppin'". A true classic Busta/Dilla collaboration filled with JD's impeccable drum programmig, an addictive and agressive electric guitar sample, and a pounding bass line that is another great proof of how fantastic Dilla and Busta sounded through their 20 some collaborations.
"Keep It Poppin'" has never, ever been released beside a rare House Shoes digital radio show, playing the full track. It's a track from 2001, and is one of half of the tracks that Busta Rhymes originally recorded for Busta's very dope "Genesis" album. In an interview prior to the release of the album, Dilla said that he were gonna have eight songs on the album, but once when the retail LP hit stores, only two Jay Dee tracks were left - and two fantastic contributions at that with the laid back title track and the crash your whip banger "What Up"! While four of those eight songs are still under wraps (I think, one or two might be available at "Dillagence" but that's kind of hard to corraborate), with this rip of "Keep It Poppin'" and the "Dillagence" track "How We Roll" (where Busta shouts out the year 2001, as well as reusing a beat that Jay Dee released on one of the "Vintage" series under the title "Busta").
Both of these tracks, together with the two joints that made the album, would easily benefit from replacing two of the lesser tracks found on "Genesis" which I find overbloated at times. And if the other four Dilla productions were in the same vein, and they had kept i this could very well mean this would be one of the best Busta albums in a long time (and I'm a fan of "Genesis" at that). So if you haven't heard this year, get preapred for some real heat and a long lost collaboration by two of the greatest as far as chemistry goes ever since they first started working around '98 on Tribe's last album.
Another must-hear jam from the past few days are the much anticiapted collaboration with Talib Kweli and RZA from the former's "Prisoners of Consciousness" landing in stores this Tuesday. Also featured on this head banger is Mr. Busta Rhymes who delivers a hype performance along with Kweli... Sick!!
Bus-A-Bus and The Abstract have been a memorale combination ever since Busta first laid his memorable performances on 1990's "Scenario". The song is lifted from the 2012 mixtape "The Conglomerate" Here the duo goes in over Drake's "Poetic Justice", produced by Scoop DeVille. What do you think, should I make a Busta/'Tip compilation?
On November 13, Roc Marciano finally drops "Reloaded", the super anticipated follow-up to his brilliant 2010 debut "Marcberg". Up and till that date, we're gonna celebrate the event with a shit load of Roc Marcy goodies each and every day here at The Lost Tapes, starting today. And what better place to start than right at the beginning, compilation style?
While Marciano, as stated above, officially album debuted in 2010 he had already released one street album as a solo artist, played the leading part in creating one of the grittiest hip-hop albums this side of the new millenium with The UN's "U N Or U Out", and been under the wings of Pete Rock, Q-Tip, The Alchemist, Large Professor, and Busta Rhymes. In fact Roc was even a member of the latter's Flipmode Squad for something like a 1.5 year stretch, appearing on several cuts with the crew on various soundtracks, and compilations, as well as albums by Busta and Rah Digga. According to himself he had a vast influence over the making of 2000's "Anarchy", helping to shape the final product by picking out beats and suggesting contacts with Diamond D and Large Pro. Diamond doesn't actually appear on the LP, but Extra-P's contribution ("The Heist") was easily one of the very standout songs from that year, allowing a young Roc Marciano to test his skills against not only Bus-A-Bus, but also appearing next to lyrical wizards as Ghostface Killah, and Raekwon. I was absolutely flabbergasted when I first heard this joint back in '00, shaking my head at the slam dunk of a beat with those majestic strings, and how these four guys built of each others verses to create an intricate heist story that played out like a big budget Hollywood flick. Bust more than anything I was blown away by this brand new cat that I never even heard of and the major way that he delivered in; even reaching the same level of lyrical intensity as my two foremost heroes of the entire rap game. From then I always payed extra attention when that distinctive voice took the center on Flipmode joints. Unfortunately Roc had joined just after the recording of The Squad's one and only album ("The Imperial"), but was heard on Easy Mo Bee's, Tony Touch's, and Da Beatminerz's respective albums, as well as a couple of soundtrack songs and the superb "Just For You" from Rah Digga's dope debut.
All in all, Roc Marcy appeared on eight songs as part of Flipmode, before deciding to focus his attention on his own crew, The UN. Something we're gonna get into tomorrow, but for now I've collected those eight tracks and put them out as a compilation called "Roc N The Squad". There's definitely some real dope jams here, and it's especially great to be able to follow this great emcee and producer's evolution as an artist, but in the end I think it was wise that he left The Squad; his style was much better suited for the agressive, stripped down boom bap that The UN was doing. To beef up the length and add even more of his early history, the compilation kicks off with the short version of "The Prophecy", the very first release of Roc Marciano (dating back to 1997), which works as an intro. As a bonus track I added "Same Ol' Same" from that very first EP, which was produced by Ox. All in all, I think this came together pretty damn dope and while I've seen a lot of Roc Marciano compilations on the net, I have yet to see one focus on those early days with Flipmode so here we go. Oh, and if you wanna read up on Roc's relationship with Busta, Flipmode, and The UN check out this great interview @ Unkut.
01. "The Prophecy Intro"
02. "Let's Make A Toast" [Easy Mo Bee Ft. Flipmode, Raekwon & Chip Banks]
03. "Whatcha Come Around Here For"
04. "Take That" [Da Beatminerz Ft. Flipmode Squad & Vinija Monica)
05. "Set It On Fire" [Tony Touch Ft. Flipmode Squad]
06. "Here We Go Again"
07. "Just For You"
08. "What It Is Pt. 2" (Ft. Kelis)
09. "The Heist" (Ft. Raekwon & Ghostface Killah)
10. "Same Ol' Same" [*]
"The 18th Letter" might not be the classic album that many expected from the greatest emcee of all time's solo debut. But with the songs "It's Been A Long Time", "When I'm Flowing", "New York", "The Mystery", "The Saga Begins", the title track, "Remember That", and "Guess Who's Back", the majority of the album was a powerful excercise in lyrics and beats that still sounds fresh fifteen years after its original 1997 release. This EPK that Universal Records released in promotion of the then forthcoming album features interviews with Ra himself as well as hip-hop giants like Pete Rock, Jam Master Jay, AZ, Fredro Starr, Busta Rhymes, Rampage, Coolio, and more paying their respects to the man who influenced them all. All thanks to Afro Gwada for the YouTube upload and shouts to Jammin for spreading the word!
Lil' Fame, Termanology, Styles P, and Busta on a Preem banger?!! You know it's over with this line-up who comes together for "Play Dirty", the new single from "Fizzyology". The full-length project by Fame and Term will be available everywhere this November.
Here's a rare 12" Throwback for y'all;"Fly Away" is the only collaboration between underrated female spitter Hurricane G. and Mr. Busta Rhymes, and produced by mothereffin' Diamond D nontheless! Already from those three names right there, you know it's a hot joint, especially considering it's a mid-'90s banger. This had extremely limited distribution and I'm not sure it was supposed to be released at all, but it was made available as a white label promo in 1996 only. Besides that and what I hear on the song I never found out any information on the song, even if it's Busta's joint or Hurricane's. Both of them were working on albums at the time; Hurricane with her '97 debut "All Woman"(which had some sick Domingo production btw) and Busta Rhymes with either '96s "The Coming" and '97s "When Disaster Strikes..." depending on when this joint was actually recorded. However that may be, the fact is that this is a very, very sick cut that deserves to be heard by real fans of that ol' boom bap. I'm very sorry that I can't remember who hooked me up with this over at T.R.O.Y. but all props goes to him and not me and if I found out who it was I put the name here ASAP. But for now, leet's TURN IT UP!!
A. Hurricane G. / Busta Rhymes - "Fly Away" (Main)
B. Diamond D - "Fly Away" (Instrumental)
Today the world remembers and honor the memory of Cristopher Wallace AKA The Notorious B.I.G., who tragically was gunned down 15 years ago to the day. Later today you'll be able to check out the compilation "Larger Than Life" here at The Lost Tapes, but first I want to drop a 12" Throwback post for one of my favorite posse cuts of all time - "The Points". Back in the '90s posse cuts were the big thing to do for remixes, soundtrack joints and compilations. However, not many of the countless posse cuts can match up to the epic nine minute hardhitter that is "The Points". The song was recorded for Mario Van Peebles' flick "Panther" which was released in 1995; a film set in the late 1960s about the Black Panther Party. "The Points" was the lead song from the soundtrack and I believe they wanted to pack as many emcees on one track as possible to mirror the militant army mindstate of The Panthers.
Featured on the song are many of the shining stars of the mid-'90s like Notorious B.I.G, Redman, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Coolio, Buckshot, Heltah Skeltah and Busta Rhymes. The 12" release that followed the O.S.T. featured no less than three different versions of the song, two of them stretching out close to ten minutes in length and all incredibly dope. We got Easy Mo Bee's boom bapish New York mix, which is also the original version if my memory serves me correctly. We got DJ U-Neek's rugged mix, which with it's sinister keys and overall dark mood sounds much like one of the rawer cuts from BTNH's debut album (which he of course produced). Last, but not least, Black Sheep's Mista Lawnge, a truly underrated producer, brings his version down to a five minutes edit, highlighting his favorite parts over some bass-to-your-face FUNK. Considering the amount of talent repsented here, it's amazing how little known this track really is. If you haven't heard this one or its remixes before you are definitely in for a treat right about now.
01. "The Points" [Easy Mo Bee's Points Dirty]
02. "The Points" [U-Neek's Points Clean]
But this post ain't about the new Busta, this shit is taking it back to the mid-'90s, covering the time span in which the large mouthed one dropped his masterpiece debut "The Coming", and its almost equally dope follow-ups "When Disaster Strikes" and "E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event)". These three albums are straight up incredible on all fronts - theme albums about the upcoming end of the world that are expertly sequenced with Busta's powerful voice taking command over dark, hard hitting beats provided by a healthy mix of established veterans (DJ Scratch, Q-Tip, Rashad Smith, Easy Mo Bee) and the producers of the future (Jay Dee, Nottz, Swizz Beats). One thing about a Busta Rhymes album is that the guy always been so commited to the project that there will be plenty of dope joints left on the cutting room floor once the final tracklist is decided on. A good example is "Genesis" which originally had no less than seven J Dilla productions, but once the final album hit stores his contribution had been limited to two tracks (cutting "Keep It Poppin'", "We Alright", "How We Roll", etc.). 
