[Revisited] RAKIM - "The Seventh Seal" (2009)

Damn, a few years ago I stumbled across an extremely rare Rakim track by some DJ that had uploaded it to YouTube that was absolutely bonkers but I forgot to post it for y'all and know I can't find it anymore. I'm gonna get my detective on, but in the meantime I want to get on some throwback shit while discussing his LP "The Seventh Seal". Said album is a good LP in my book, the rhymes are definitely there and it features personal future classic like "Walk These Streets", "Still in Love", "Dedicated" (say what you want about that No Doubt sample, that shit was heartfelt as hell), "Workin' For You" (whew), "Holy Are You" (oh my god) and "Man Above". Then there were the good (and in a few cases even great) but not outstanding masterpieces like "Documentary Of A Gangsta", "Won't Be Long", "Satisfaction Guaranteed", "Put It All To Music", and so on. The only joint I felt was outright wack juice was the cringe worthy rock influenced "How To Emcee" with kicked off the album nontheless and I'm sure gave a lot of heads a bad taste right from jump.

Now don't get me wrong, "The Seventh Seal" is a solid album and it's a lot better album than many claim it to be, but after a eight year hiatus following a somewhat overrated album called "The Msater" (yet it's underrated in many circles as well) I had definitely hoped for more although at the time I tried to tell myself it was a better album than it really was. It needed more bangers, it needed more New York grit, and in many cases it needed better beats. Lyrically it was all there and as Rakim, along with a very select few others (Nas, KRS-One, Ghostface) are able to keep your interest over a mediocre beat it's a worthy addition to his discography and I sure it's not his last. He did some dope records on Aftermath that has subsequently leaked but as he has explained the chemistry with Dre wasn't there so that's understandable, though I would liked for him to include "After You Die" and "Welcome to the Hood" on the album, as well as the four studio tracks that appeared only a few months before on that Live & Unreleased CD.

It became even more apparent that Ra had lost some of his impeccable ear to the streets when it was revealed that "What's Wrong", his collaboration on Marco Polo's "Newport Authority 2" was actually a scrapped joint from "The Seventh Seal". Like WTF, along with "Holy Are You" and perhaps "Still In Love", that would have been the real boom bap banger the album was in such a despeare need for. Add to that not only that but that also a slamming, hard grooving posse cut laced by Ty Fyffe called "Euphoria" was scrapped from the album in favor of being some Mp3 exclusive it just left a sour taste in my mouth. I know you have heard these joints before, but consider this tracklist for "The Seventh Seal" and tell me it's not would have made for a stronger album. Ra definitely need a good executive producer these days, and to tell you the truth he has needed one since he and Eric B. split up. And that is not to say that he's not still the God MC and has put out PLENTY of hot wax throughout the years but as far as albums goes his legacy would benefit from one classic disc. Check this tracklist brothers and tell me this wouldn't be a lot closer to an album fitting of this great of the greats legacy? Considering that the album has been out for so long I took the libery of uploading this version, if Ra or any from his camp feel this is a violation I will take it down immediatly, and either way it won't be up for long - I just want to give a chance for my beloved readers to get a chance to what in my opinion could have been. Feel free too comment! To me this is a much, much better balance of Ra's spiritual side which he conveys great on many of these songs, but strays to far away from his cassic styles when it comes to balancing the smoother joints with the boom bap his fans have come to expect. Please comment after listening - all songs on this was done and most likely at one point considered for "The Seventh Seal". Also having Nick Wiz, the ultra unterrated producer and long time Ra collaborator, produe just over half the tracks gives this exclusive Lost Tapes version a more coherrent feel to my ears. What do you think?

01. "What's Wrong" [prod. by Marco Polo] [*]
02. "Walk The Streets" (Ft. Maino)
03. "Documentary Of A Gangsta" (Ft. YQ)
04. "Man Above" (Ft. Tracey Horton)
05. "Hip Hop" [prod. by Nick Wiz] [*]
06. "Love For Sale" [prod. by Nick Wiz] [*]
07. "Holy Are You" [prod. by Nick Wiz]
08. "Working For You"
09. "Word On The Street" [prod. by Nick Wiz] [*]
10. "Message in The Song" (Ft. Destiny Griffin)
11. "Love For Sale" [prod. by Nick Wiz] [*]
12. "Euphoria" (Ft. Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss, Styles P & C. Chanel) [*]
13. "Psychic Love" [prod. by Nick Wiz]
14. "Still in Love" [prod. by Nick Wiz]
15. "Dedicated" [prod. by Nick Wiz]

RAKIM - "The Seventh Seal" [c7 update]

[Revisited] CALL O' DA WILD - "Straight Out The Wilderness"

Back by popular demand! I've been getting crazy requests for a reupload of the Call O' Da Wild compilation that me and the homie Pattch82 put together back in 2011. There's not any additional songs or different sequencing on here as I always felt that it flows just like an album and features each and every song ever released under the name of Call O' Da Wild, along with both sides from Barron Ricks only 12" single. Since its been a while since it was originally posted I'm sure a lot of Lost Tapes readers missed it the first time around and this is definitely one compilation/album that fans of Cypress Hill, DJ Muggs and Soul Assassins do not want to miss out on. The reason I couldn't upload it before was that I had lost all of the songs and been on a hunt for a while to find the best versions of each songs, striving for 320 kbps though some are between 192 and 256 kbps as well. The only tracks I couldn't find in better than 128 kbps are the two songs from the singles "Andrews Ave." / "Urban Wilderness", but I'm on the hunt and as soon as I find them I'll update it. This compilation flows fantastiic and plays just like the Call O'Wild album  that DJ Muggs was supposed to executive produce but never materialized. Overall it sounds a whole lot clearer and better than the 2011 version that I uploaded so Merry Christmas all the Soul Assassins heads!

For those not in the know Call O' Da Wild was a Harlem duo consisting of emcees Barron Ricks and Angelo Campioni that DJ Muggs took under his wing in the mid-'90s and made them part of the Soul Assassins crew. Signed to the SONY label in '96/'97 after a series of soundtrack apperances and a trio of 12" singles, the plan was for Call to be the first group to record an album overseen and mainly produced by DJ Muggs outside of Cypress Hill. If you check out the booklet for Cypress' "Unreleased  & Revamped" EP (which features the Call O' Da Wild collaboration "Intellectual Dons") you can actually see an ad fo their album with the text saying coming soon. As evident by this collection of all their released songs prove that they made extremely gritty, hardcore and dark music, and by the time '97 or '98 came around when the LP was planned for release, its very likely that a major record label like SONY got cold feet due to artists like Pappa Diddy Pop dominating the airwaves. However the relationship between the producer and the group eventually had soured as well. "Call O' Da Wild broke up right after their album was finished for SONY, and they thought their were superstars before they record was even out... I have the DAT tape in a storage somewhere", the super producer/DJ told the Los Angeles Time in an article published in 1998. It's a real shame though considering how fantastic these tracks sound together; I'm glad we at least got forty minutes of these guys getting busy over hardcore beats mainly by Muggs, with some additional input by The Alchemist, Jerome Foster and Knobody/Sean C. Barron Ricks did however appear on several songs on Cypress Hill's "IV", including the hit single "Tequila Sunrise" so it's possible that the main beef was with Campioni.

All songs execurtive produced by DJ Muggs for Soul Assassins Music. All songs produced by DJ Muggs except track #1, "Sometimes the Neighborhood", produced by Jerome Foster and Sean Matthews, track #4, "Harlem River Drive", produced by The Alchemist, and track #6 produced by Sean C & Knobody. All songs are from either Call O'Da Wilds singles, the soundtracks for "Gravesend" ("Ninth Symphony") and "Bad Boys" ("Clouds of Smoke"), respecitvely. "New York Undercover" and "Runnin' Wild" are lifted from the first DJ Muggs' "Soull Assassins" compilation (though the latter only appeared on certain versions of the LP). Last but not least, the songs "Harlem River Drive" and "Rags to Riches" was first released on a solo single by Barron Ricks, released in early ¨98. So what you're waiting for'? Even if you had the original download the sound quality is much greater here so press play and TURN IT UP all my Soul Assassins. Peeace to Pattch82 once again too, as well as Supreemo for the artowrk.

01. "Sometimes the Neighborhood"

02. "Rurterrain"

03. "Intellectual Dons" (Ft. B-Real)

04. "Harlem River Drkv 

 05."Andrew¨s Ave."

06. "Clouds Of Smoke" (Ftl Wayne-O)

07. "Ragsto Riches" (Ft. Cypress Hill & Self Scientific')

08. "Urban Wilderness"

09. "New York Undercoverr"

10. "Ninth Symphony" (Ft. Cypress Hill)

11. "Runnin¨Wild (Outro)"

CALL O' DA WILD - "STRAIGHT OUT THE WILDERNESS"

[Revisited] KOOL G RAP - "GIANCANA STORY"

Kool G Rap is the epitome of a super lyrical beast on the mic and has stayed on top as one of the most influential cats of the industry from when he first broke out, then backed by DJ Polo, Marley Marl, Dr. Butcher & The Juice Crew for "Road to the Riches" (1989). So it was definitely exciting when in early 2000 The Kool Genius signed a deal with Rawkus, at the time the most succesful and respectable underground power house in hip hop. A deal between these two still seemed a little peculiar however, considering that the label's successes mostly came from a roster of "conscious" artists that were often lesser known to the masses when they first signed. But as the early 2000s came along and the hip-hop scene started turning its tide, the label found itself a slowly sinking ship and in trying to keep a float they tried their hand at more commercially viable music. This became evident with the album by G Rap, who's always been a big artist but never a commercial one - a concept the exeutives and A&R's at Rawkus didn't fully seem able to grasp. Insisting on taking his album in the direction they thought was right for him (and the label) rather than listening to their acclaimed artist himself resulted in the album being pushed with how the albuback several times. Even Mike Heron, who together with V.I.C. as The Ghetto Pro's produced four tracks on the eventual release voiced his displeasure m was handled, and he's hardly the only one - amongst fans and critics it is generally considered the weakest link in The Genius' discography. That's not to say that the album doesn't have its fair share of bangers, but much of it feels forced and half hearted. Check out the following quotes below to see how the actual artists actually felt about the album that found its way to stores:

 

"[Where you happy with the end result?] Definitely not! [...] Rawkus was not a label that was into sticking by who they signed. They signed me as an artist for a certain reason but when it came time to put out material, they wanted me to become a different artist [...]  This is where me and Rawkus bumped heads. I’m a grown *ss f*cking n*gga and can’t 2 young f*cking punks tell me what to do!" 

- Kool G Rap (MVRemix interview, 2003)

 "Me and V.I.C did the “My Life” record, which was a pretty good twelve inch. It didn’t get promoted the way it should have, but whatever. That was my only proud moment on that fuckin’ album, let me tell you. [...] [Fans] wanted something else [than what the label pushed]. I was confused about it, [G Rap] was confused about it, and I think that’s where the relationship strayed. I don’t think they understood what G Rap is about – his legacy’s about – and the reason motherfuckers still mention him is because he never traded in shit..." - Mike Heron of The Ghetto Pro's (Unkut interview, 2007)

It's not too suprising then that most fans single out "The Giancana Story" as the master spitter's weakest album. While the lyrical performances are for the larger part as potent as usual, it's also clear that much of the music here is not something the artist himself would've settled for had he been fully in charge of the final product. This is strengthed by the fact that a copy of an advance version of the album leaked before Rawkus handed over the artist and his material to Koch/In The Paint. This advance version has some major diffences from the final retail release. Some of the strongest tracks (i.e. the Havoc assisted "Thug Chronicles", on the bootleg called "How it Feel", or the Scarface sampling CNN collaboration "This is My Life") has been remixed into commercialized, digitized and bastardized misfires. Others such as the classic 12" with DJ Premier, "First Nigga", and the bloodboiling banger "This Means War" and many more had been entirely omitted from the final product.

What's maybe most disturbing then is that there actually is a good, if not fucking great album hidden between the two often vastly different versions of "Giancana Story". I have been wanting to combine the best from both, and possibly adding a couple of tracks recorded around the same time, for a long time but haven't really gotten around to it. T´hese last few days I have made it my mission to really study the two versions, and attempt to authentically create a truly banging Kool G Rap album from those sessions. Beside picking the best songs from the advance bootleg and the retail, I have also added a number of B-sides and 12" numbers not included on either versions, but recorded around the same time. These include the Knobody produced banger "Nobody Can't Eat" (which appeared as the B-side to the "My Life" single in '01 on Rawkus); the DJ Scratch produced "Spill Blood" which is the B-side to the "It's nothing" single; "Take A Loss" would appear on DJ JS-1's debut album in 2003, but it was actually originally released as a single in 2001; that same year also saw the release of "Murder Fam", a white label released and produced by J-Love. The overall result is 16 tracks, and 60 minutes of pure unfiltered hip-hop at its finest, and a much, much stronger album than the one Koch released in 2002. I hope you are willing to play this front-to-back at least once, and if you choose to do so strongly suggest you too crank the up volume real LOUD!

01. "First Nigga" [prod. DJ Premier]
02. "Thug For Life" [prod. Young Lord]

03. "The Streets" [prod. Buckwild]

04. "Holler Back" (OG Mix Ft. Nas & AZ) [prod. Buckwild]

05. "This is My Life" (OG Mix Ft. CNN) [prod. Ghetto Pros]
06. "Nobody Can't Eat" [prod. Knobody]

07. "Spill Blood" (Ft. Caddillac Tah, Black Child & Jinx) [prod. DJ Scratch]

08. "Gangsta Gangsta" (Ft. 5 Family Clik) [prod. DJ Butcher]

09. "Planet of the Apes a/k/a Y'all Niggas" (Ft. Jinx, Shaqueen & Lazy)

10. "This Means War" [prod. ?]
11. "Murder Fam" (Ft. Jinx & Ike Infa Diamond) [prod. J-Love]
12. "Take A Loss" [prod. DJ JS-One]

13. "She's Dressed to Kill" [prod. ?]

14. "Keep Goin'" (Ft. Snoop Dogg & Devin The Dude) [prod. Hi-Tek]

15. "Thug Chronicles" (OG Mix Ft. Havoc) [prod. Ghetto Pro's]

16. "Where Ya At?" (Ft. Prodigy) [prod. Bink!]

KOOL G RAP - "GIANCANA STORY"

[Comp] Big Shug & DJ Premier "album"

When Big Shug and DJ Premier hook up we comes as close as we ever will again to new Gang Starr material, considering Shug was always part of the Gang Starr Foundation and is still standing with Preem. When Group Home and Jeru got albums fully produced by the beat-virtuso in the mid '90s Shug settled back with a few guest spots and two 12" singles. After the new millenium arrived the talk of Shug solo album fully produced by Premier started circulating, and both of them confirmed it in interviews. "Who's Hard" finally dropped in 2005 and while it was a banging album it wasn't the full collaboration many of us we're hoping for. Within the next three years Shug dropped an additional two albums, "Street Champ" and "Other Side Of The Game".

While all these LPs are solid releases in their own right, (that i recommend you go out and support if you like what you're hearing on the tape i'm presenting below), it was the DJ Premier produced joints that really stood out to me. Together there was a total of 16 collaborations between the MC/producer and after Preem's album with Blaq Poet dropped last year I felt I wanted to compile a tracklist with the tunes from Shug's albums. Considering the tracks on Poet's album ranged from recordings between 2006 and 2009, this Big Shug album with tracks from 2005 to 2008 could have been an actual album by the two. With the sequencing I put this together with I really feel it sounds like an album all the right elements are there - you got the perfect intro for the album, a perfect amount of guest features, a good closing track, etc. At least that's how I feel and i'm sure that you will love this as well if you're a Gang Starr head. I call it "WHO THE HARDEST?!".

01. "Soundcheck"

02. "Tha Way It Iz"

03. "Counter Punch" (Ft. Gang Starr)

04. "On The Record"

05. "Bang 'Em Down"

06. "Do Ya?"

07. "Tha 3 Shugz"

08. "Sic-A-Niggaz" (Ft. Bumpy Knuckles)

09. "Streets Move" (Ft. Singapore Kane)

10. "Play It"

11. "Like A Muhfucka"

12. "My Boston" (Ft. Singapore Kane & Termanology)

13. "When I Strike"

14. "It Just Don't Stop"

15. "Dirt" (Ft. Smiley The Ghetto Child)

16. "What's Really Real"

BIG SHUG - "WHO THE HARDEST"