Friday, March 9, 2012

12" Throwback - "THE POINTS"

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]
03. "The Points" [Mista Lawgne's Points Dirty]

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