Another rare, historical gem from KRS-One and the BDP crew that I stumbled across on YouTube yesterday. This rare tape with original handdrawn artwork and inserts were given away at Boogie Down Production's first Japanese tour in the very early '90s. Since they had the tape prepared and done by then my guess was that this featured recordings from US shows but at least one track you can hear Kris shout out Japan so it's most likely a Japanese recording as welll.
The rare cassette features two sides (Duh); one being KRS freestyling and strictly going in over classic, and some more obscure, ragga flavored joints while the B-side is labeled the "Hip Hop Side" and (you gussed it) instead features Kris on more traditional breaks and beats. Well worth a listen, and ahuge thank you goes out to YouTube uploader FITTY for allowing us all to hear this forgotten document of one of the best "groups" hip-hop has ever witnessed.
If you follow Hip Hop news you and especially The Star Chamber you know that he's driving a campaign against Afrika Bambaata based on the multiple ocassions on child molestations that has come to light and there's no doubt in my mind that Bam should be punished for this, and that his legacy will forever be tarnished. However, KRS-One was asked about his thoughts about this on N.O.R.E.'s recent podcast, and though his comments was hardly well thought out or well put together, it has been twisted to say that he meant that he is down with pedophilia and child abuse. What he did say was that as far as Hip-Hop goes, you can never change the legacy of hip-hop - whether or not the allegations turn out to be true, Afrika Bambaata has been such an integral part of the culture that no matter what his legacy will stand firm. His choice of wording was very poor and his comments was in very poor taste, but for the hip-hop community to turn his back on KRS for a stupid comment doesn't sit welll with me. He is one of the innovators, oen of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time and his discography is timeless. Now the P.K. mafia is digging up classic BDP joints like "13 & Good", taken from the 5/5 concept album "Sex & Violence" (which to this day still holds up as one of my three favorite KRS/BDP albums OF ALL TIME).
So far from boycotting KRS I'm hooking you up with a rare VHS of Boogie Down Productions performing in NYC in 1990, featuring D-Nice, Ms. Melodie, Kid Capri, Harmony and even the late Heavy D. The interview segments are interspersed with dialouge, interviews and clips of the crew hanging around. This was released in 1991 on VHS tape and is a true historial document. I believe that this is the video portion of the same concert that made up the "Live Hardcore Worldwide" LP but I am not entirely certain since it been years I listened to that LP (not a favorite of mine at all as live hip-hop albums, as opposed to jazz, are a drag unless the name of the group happens to be The Roots). All praises due to uploader Alan-Proctor Thompson.
Oh yes, I know I'm late as fruck on this one but KRS-One is one of my favorite emcees in if just one head missed this when it dropped about 1.5 weeks ago then I'm happy. Despite this being a verse and a hook over the same beat Swizz Beatz recently gave to Styles P for his single "Jason" this is truly excellence right here, and it's shit like this that can restore my faith in Hip Hop. It's called "Jason Remix" and clocks in at just under two minutes, but what a blazing two mintues that is! Unlike some of KRS's so-so material over the years, not to mention Swizz Beats even more so so-so material, I didn't have that high hopes but I know that when they both bring their A game absolute magic can happen, and that is exactly what happened here. Over a very raw, stripped down/minimalist approach wit 808 type of drums and a repetitive bassline the beat sounds tailor made for KRS. And not the KRS One of today, but for BDP. You got the political verse and the hook proudly exclaims over and over again "BDP POSSE, D-BLOCK POSSE, RUFF RYDERS POSSE". I would love a new BDP album with this type of sound - BRING IT ON KRIS!
You know I'm a sucker for classic KRS-One and BDP so this demo called "Late Night" that Kenny Parker just unleashed is three minutes of pure boom bap gold. Produced by Parker this is an early take for a song they were developing for "Return Of The Boom Bap", one of the definite albums of the '90s. If you're looking for more classic Boogie Down shit, be sure to check out this full 50 minutes BDP performance from London, 1990.
In this classic episode of Yo! MTV Raps Fab 5 Freddy visits with Boogie Down Productions (KRS, Kenny Parker, ICU and Willie D). Recorded right around the release of the still (very) underrated "Sex & Violence" album, KRS drops a lot of jewels well worth catching. Around the middle the BDP posse takes the stage over at the Yo! studios and perform an ill live medley. A big shout out goes out to Hip Hop Junkie at YouTube for recording and sharing this video with us all. Also while we're still on BDP and "Sex & Violence", I want to bring back a true classic for y'all. The Ali Shaheed remix of "We In There", which is probably the most hardcore track Ali ever did and also one of the best remixes of all time if you ask me. BDP - "WE IN THERE" [REMIX]
My homie Mal Moe a.k.a. M-Credible came to me with a great idea of me doing a compilation of Skeff Anselm's material, and though he's definitely very dope I knew much of his material was hard to come by but I also know that Mal has been helping me out a lot and have a great ear for these sort of things so I was at least gonna try. It took me some time tracking down everything but in the end I managed to find pretty much everything he ever did, which isn't much but pretty much all very dope. The end result is a 15 track compilation I hope y'all enjoy as much as I do and help fans understand just how dope Anselm was at one point.
Younger readers might not have a clue about Skeff Anselm is because he held such a low profile, but he was an engineer, mixer, producer and remix artist from the Boogie Down Bronx, originally working under Jazzy Jay on his UNI label. Among his earliest recording work for the label as an engineer was for Grand Puba's original group Masters Of Ceremony on the single "Sexy", the entirety of Don Barron's debut album and the single "I'm Not Playing" and parts of the unreleased album by The Ultimate Force (Diamond D/MC Rob) which was supposed to follow but was eventually shelved (until it finally saw the release a couple of years ago: and thank god for that!. As a producer his first project was the full-length album for hip-hop trio Nu-Sounds "Mackin'". It was in its entirety produced by Anslem in conjunction with group member DJ Fashion (credited as Rohan Robotham) while emcees Craig Burrus and RMR handled vocals. Without Burns and Anslem the group reformed, adding rapper Broadway, as Strictly Roots a few years later and released "Begs No Friends" to little noise, but that's another story. Check the YouTube video below to stream the complete album!
Anslem undoubtedly is most known for his excellent work on A Tribe Called Quest's most classic albums "The Low End Theory" and "Midnight Mauraders", where he laced such timeless pieces as "Showbusiness" and "8 Million Stories". He also worked with Brand Nubian on their equally classic debut album "One For All" where he was credited for the Lord Jamar solo "Ragtime" and some engineering, mixing. However I have a feeling that he did some uncredited co-production work on there as the 12" single for "All For One / Concerto in X Minor" clearly states him as co-producer of all songs on the release, including the remixes (check it out for yourself). After production on D-Nice's second album (including two versions of the Naughty By Nature collaboration), MC Serch's solo debut, and a joint on Heavy D. & The Boyz popular "Blue Funk" album, he started remixing and producing more low-key records for what was more or less one hit wonders (Yall So Stupid, Blakkheart, Akiko, B'Zar Behavior. Jamalski). In 1996 he produced his final high-profile record in the form of the De La Soul/Mos Def collaboration "Big Brother Beat". Two years later he reappeared for the final time (to my knowledge) co-producing a joint called "The Street Mix" by some no name kid group called Mag 7 - I have not included it on the compilation but you can check out the video for it right here.
So what really happened with Skeff Anselm and why did he leave the music biz behind. He definitely had a slamming sound and much of what he produced or remixes is considered classic today. One reason that he might have been quite hard to work with, something that I learned from two interviews (although remember that there's of course two sides of every story). First Diamond D said the following in an interview when answering the question how it was working with Skeff (who's credited for engineering work on both "I'm Not Playing" and "Stunts, Blunts & Hip-Hop") - "Working with Skeff was cool, but he kinda always looked down on me" (Platform 8470 Magazine: Interview with Diamond). Then there's an interview Lord Jamar about the making of their second Puba-less album "In God We Trust" and the decision to record it themeselves. This is what Lord Jamar had to say on the topic - "This guy did some production on the first album. He's still my man so I don't want to bring his name up. He did a song on the first album and was always cool with us. He thought that he was going to be the producer and he was going to try to exploit us. He did a beat and the price was crazy higher than it should have been. For that price of one beat, we could buy equipment and make all our beats at home... I know for a fact that my beats are hotter than this dude" (MVRemix: Lord Jamar). Now remember that the only outside producers on "One For All" was Stimulated Dummies, who of course includes Dante Ross who in fact worked on both "In God We Trust" and "Everything is Everything". Beside Skeff and Dante Ross the only other producer is Dave "Jam" Hall and I think we can all be assured that's not who he's talking about. This is not to spread gossip, and if you know anything please let me know and I'll be glad to fix it, I'm just interested in how it come that a talented producer and engineer basically dissapears from a promising career. With that said, let's get on with the compilation, some classic, and some quite rare or at least obscure, early to mid-'90s bangers to please your ears. TURN IT UP, ENJOY and NOD YOUR HEAD!
Being that KRS-One's last album under the Boogie Down Production's name in 1992, "Sex & Violence", still stands as my favorite Kris album of all time. Crazy agressive boom bap beats that need to be played loud enough to make the walls shake; with KRS-One embracing the full range of his immaculate rhyming skills. From some of the best diss tracks of all time in "Build & Destroy" (going at X-Clan), some of the most well-written attacks on organized religion (" "), straight up HARDCORE hip-hop ("Duck Down", "Ruff Ruff", "We in There",), crazy story telling ("13 & Good"). Including some of Kris' finest lyrics and performances of his entire career set over neckbreaking beats by the likes of Pal Joey, Kenny Parker, D-Square and the underrated Pal Joey, I know that old school hip-hop heads will think it's blasphemous of me to say that "Sex & Violence" is the illest KRS-One involved LP of all time, even surpassing my other many favorites like "Criminal Minded"and "Return Of The Boom Bap".
With that being said, and the established fact that I'm a huge sucker for alternative/demo versions of my favorite songs I just had to repost this terrific 12" rip from a limited UK pressing originally posted by SouthernHospitality's Rob Pursey, though I spotted it over @ UNKUT so props to both of them. This is a crazy treat for me, and one of the reason I got into this Lost Tapes thing first and foremost. This rare version, that I didn't even know existed, features an alternative mix of Pal Joey's album track as well as an additional verse featuring rhymes that would later appear on the fellow "Sex..." LP, "Build & Destroy". Be sure to not sleep on this if you're an old scchool KRS fan, one of the truly greatest emcees the hip-hop world has ever witnessed - up top you find the original album version (the video), while the Soundcloud link below is for the very rare "demo" (or alternative version). TURN IT UP!!
Only a very selected few can claim the same impact on the hip-hop scene as KRS-One and DJ Scott La Rock's Boogie Down Productions. Signed to B-Boy/Rock Candy in 1986 they quickly started to make an impact when they started repping The BX hardbody on some of the illest diss tracks ever recorded; "The Bridge is Over" and "South Bronx". When "Criminal Minded" hit the streets a year later, it was obvious they were on to something big. Together with the legendary Ced Gee, Scott and Kris wrote, produced, directed and mixed what is often referred to as one of two New York albums that put "Gangsta Rap" at the forefront. But just as the duo were starting to enjoy the success of the album, real tragedy struck. Scott Sterling (a.k.a. La Rock) was fataly gunned down in an altercation, leaving behind him an infant son; Scott LaRock Jr. KRS-One who already was heavily into spiritualism and metaphysics even back then, tells an interesting story in Brian Coleman's excellent "Check the Technique".
"Later on in life, MC Serch asked me why I had a smile on my face on that sad day. And it was because I was like: 'Scott's in a better place now. We are now going to win. Because half the crew is in the spirit realm and the other half of the group is here on earth. We can't lose now." That's a very powerful statement and from that day on every BDP and KRS-One album carries "Overseen by Scott LaRock - despite what others might think!"
The death of Sterling would of course have a huge impact on the future music of BDP which now became more of a KRS-One solo thing surrounded by a posse of people that didn't neccesarily have very much impact on the music; a bit similiar to Public Enemy's S1WV Crew. Right before Scott's death, he and Kris had started writing what would become BDP's sophomore LP, "By All Means Neccessary". The first songs Kris wrote back then was "Stop the Violence" and "My Philosophy" and Scott had decided they should cut up Stanley Turrentine's song "Sister Sanctified" for the latter. "Still #1" was a work in progress and was built on a battle rhyme style KRS had used when battling Melle Mel at the Latin Quarter in '87. These were all songs that were initiated before Sterling's untimely passing which proves that they were never aiming to do a "Criminal Minded Part 2" but was on a mission to educate the youth on politics and knowledge of self.
The last song Scott LaRock and KRS-One completed and recorded in a studio was titled "Essays On BDP-ism" and is simply a super dope cut. I actually really wish they had put this on "By All Means Neccessary", both in honor of Scott LaRock's importance to the group but also because it would have been a stand-out track on an already classic album. The rhythm track is booming while the samples they use adds a melodic quality transforming it to a smooth headnoder with a slight touch of reagge in some parts. This is nothing short of a masterpiece and I can think of at least two songs on the "B.A.M.N." LP that I would have sacrificed for this joint on there. My guess to why it didn't make the final cut is that it's a freestyling/"having fun and just flow" type of track rather than the politically charged music that ended up on the disc. Either way, it's another documentation of what an incredible duo Scott and Kris were together; really makes you wonder how things would've happened if this great guy never had been in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
"Essays On BDP-ism" ended up in 1988 on a Jive Records compilation called "East Coast vs. West Coast" and as the B-side to the UK edition of the "I'm Still #1" single the same year. Later it has appeared on the "Duck Down" single and finally on "A Retrospective",KRS's Greatest Hits LP for Jive. This is impeccable BDP music right here, shitting on the majority of new hip-hop music today so let's take it back to '88 and blast this shit LOUDER THAN A BOMB!Oh and while you're at it, check out this dope 2002 article from XXL remembering Scott LaRock, a very good read. R.I.P. Scott!
This is a true piece of hip-hop history right here, straight from the personal archives of Mr. Kevin Beacham. Kevin taped this amazing full 9 minutes radio broadcast of Boogie Down Productions ripping the stage on what was called the "Philosophy Night" party held in The Bronx back in 1988. The event celebrated the release of BDP's new single and video release "My Philosophy" and features The Teacher, KRS-One, on the microphone and D-Nice holding down the turntables. Apparantly WNUR 89.3 didn't broadcast the entire show but the tracks their listeners, and now we thx to Beacham's uploading of his old cassette, were treated to performances of "Up to Date", "Stop the Violence", "Dope Beat" and "I'm Still #1". Head over to Fifth Element Online to read more about the event and don't forget to thank Kevin Becham there for this fantastic upload. All thanks to him for letting me use this piece on The Lost Tapes (right click on the link + save as to download).
Back in February of 1992, Boogie Down Productions released their final, which to me was probably their absolute finest, album. It is either this or their debut based on its impact. "Sex & Violence" was, as its title suggest, easily the most agressive and controversial LP the crew have ever recorded., Lead emcee KRS-One, hadn't dropped a true hardcore, yet conscious album, since he first debuted with the late DJ Scott La Rock for '87s "Criminal Minded". Through the years that had passed since Scott La Rock's tragic killing, B.D.P. had gone through a rotating cast of members and several changes in sound. The majority of them hardly contributed to the music as far as either beats, rhymes or writing goes. The three albums between the aforementioned LPs could more or less be seen as KRS-One solo albums. He was credited for all the production, 98 percent of verses and writing, mixing and arranging. The engineering was handled by D-Square and 'Doc' Ivan Rodriguez (something that these days would most likely give them both a co-production credit).
"Sex & Violence" had all the right elemenents from a slamming BDP album; coupling the social commentary of "By All Means Necessary", "Edutainment""Gheto Music" and injecting darker topics, more thumping beats and overall a much harder edge. Both lyrically and production-wise, that is. The themes deals with things like black drugdealers needing to give something back to their community; the hoax of religions and the way they control peoples minds; metaphysical teachings; the I.R.S. treating people like whores; debunking 5% terminology in favor of humanism. There's even a twisted tale of a 13 year old girl with the apperance of someone much older and her homosexual police father trying to lure our hero into bed. This is just to name a few of these creative songs, each track on the entire LP basically got its own theme and KRS never repeats himself over the 60 minutes the LP clocks in at. Kris Parker has rarely been in such high spirit and flowing as viciously he does on this neck-breaking album.
The quotables is plenty and lyrically it's no short of a masterpiece - high-powered battle rhymes ("Duck Down" and "Ruff Ruff" where KRS and Fredie Foxxx trades bars over a breakbeat banger provied by D-Square), the old-school block party tribute ("The Original Way", also with Foxxx), the way TV and mass media corrupts young peoples mind through sex and violence ("Sex & Violence"), groupies screaming rape to get that cash ("Hey Gal"), etc.
A very well-rounded album in other words, and one that, to me, is the true sequel to "Criminal Minded".It has a large dose of that hardcore street elment that was missing from many of the previous BDP albums while still maintaining much of the conscious lyrics that was found on those. It's the pinnacle of what KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions was capable of doing and what made them one of hip-hop's most hailed and legendary acts. To me, this and the following "Return Of The Boom Bap" was KRS at his absolute peak as an MC and as a teacher, and they both features the best body of work he ever rhymed over.
For "Sex & Violence", Kris updated his approach to creating an album; one that would reflect the start of something new. Rather than producing the entire album by himself, he invited legenary Prince Paul and the crazily underrated DJ Kenny Parker and Pal Joey (who did "Love's Gonna Getcha" the year before, and"Black Cop" on the CB4 Soundtrack) to handle the bulk of beats. The other three joints are provided by long-time engineer D-Square and KRS himself. While Kris is unquestionably a skilled producer, this was definitely one of the main things making the album stand out from previous LPs as it created a new, fresh sound for BDP. Every beat on the 15-song disc consists of raw, gritty and heavy boom-bap which, of course, makes them the perfect pallette for the agressive vocals Kris paints over them. Front-to-back listen is invitable and the soundscapes are really stripped down, back-to-basics type of shit with a modern twist on it (for being '92 that is). The rhythm section is at the forefront with the bass, the drums and Kris's vocals being the three MVPs; a recipe that would continue on 1993s "Return Of The Boom Bap". And both these albums are in fact the epitome of what early '90s boom bap is supposed to sound.
1992 was an incredible year for hip-hop music (Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Lord Finesse, Showbiz & AG, Kool G Rap/DJ Polo, Gang Starr, Diamond D and many other classic LPs) but if you ask me, "Sex & Violence" is easily one of the top 3 records of that year (only topped by "Mecca & The Soul Brother" and "Runaway Slave" and possibly tied with "Daily Operation"). Unfortunately the LP was the least succesfull of all the B.D.P. albums up to that point and the reason had more to do with issues other people were having with KRS than the quality of the music. After throwing Prince Bee of PM Dawn of the stage and bumrushing it with a big entourage while going into "The Bridge is Over", made labels scared of the G.O.A.T.s unexpected antics and didn't promote the LP like it should have been. Similary the classic "Build & Destroy" was stepping on a lot of toes as he's bascially debunking large chunks of the 5% terminology which were extremely popular in hip-hop circles at the time and simultaneously it was a diss to X-Clan, and to a lesser degree Poor Righteous Teachers, who previously criticized KRS for being a sell-out and disagreed with his humanism stance.
The Source rewared the album with 4.5 mics which it's definitely deserving of; if not 5 (especially considering the inferior "Edutainment" was rewarded with the highest rating). I've seen plenty of people complain at forums and newsletters how ridiciolous it was for the magazine to give "S.&.V" a 4.5/5 rating while the critically acclaimed follow-up "Return Of The Boom Bap", which was in 50% produced by Gang Starr's DJ Premier, "only" managed to get a 4 mic rating. I think that's just stupid, I agree that the "Boom Bap" LP absolutely deserved 4.5 mics but if it had, I think "S.&.V." would be well deserving of the 5 mics it never got. It wouln't suprise me if it's DJ Premier fans who's the most upset about that, but let's face it - the main producers of Prince Paul, Pal Joey and Kenny Parker did an excellent job of supplying KRS-One with the perfect canvas for him with bangers like the title track, "Poisonous Products", "13 & Good", "Build & Destroy", "Duck Down" and basically the rest of the album. To me this might just be KRS-One's finest album of all time; "Criminal Minded" is of course the most influential but as far as music I feel like revisiting over and over again I might give the edge to "Sex & Violence".
Back in the early '90s and late '80s, artists actually cared about their 12" releases and always packed them with dope remixes from the album and non album B-Sides. Besides of course instrumentals and accapellas for the DJs. I inclued a .rar file of the three album singles's (you can see the vieos above in this post too) B-Sides for y'all to enjoy while reminiscing on this gem which is a true tesament of why KRS-One should always be inclued in any list of greatest MCs of all time. The Ali Shaheed Muhammad Tribe Called Quest remix of "We In There" is especially dope to me and even superior to the album version which is saying alot. The non-album cut, "Feel The Vibe, Feel The Beat" is nothing to fuck around with either. I also aded "Black Cop" from the 'CB4 Soundtrack in 1992; although it appeared on the '93 album I found it interesting that it was here listed as a Boogie Down Productions song and is soley credited to Pal Joey for production. Enjoy, TURN IT UP and dust of your copy of "Sex & Violence" and realize how underrated of an album this actually was and still is.
BDP - "B-SIDES: SEX & VIOLENCE"
01. "We In There" [Ali Shaheed Muhammad Radio Mix] (1992)
02. "Feel the Vibe, Feel the Beat" [prod. by KRS-One] (1992)
03. "13 & Good" [Kenny Parker Remix] (1991)
04. "Black Cop" [prod. by Pal Joey] (1992)
