[Throwback Doc] BLACK MOON - "Behnínd The Moon" (2013)

Here's an official documentary put out by Duck Down music in 2013 on the making of Black Moon's classic '92 debut album "Enta Da Stage", celebrating it's 25 year anniversary. I had totally missed this when it first hit the net, and as I'm sure more people than me did just that I wanted to post it since I've been banging some Black Moon recently and yesterday I was watching the amazing Masta Ace doc on "Disposable Arts". Unlike the Ace documentary this actually features footage of recording sessions and live performances from the era along with recent talking heads interviews about the impact of the album. Featuring the entire Boot Camp Clik this is 75 minutes of pure bliss for any true hip fan. You can stream the entire thing via Duck Down's official YouTube channel since last year, but if you want to support the cause grab your DVD at The Duck Down Shop. Enjoy!

BLACK MOON - "Go To War"

This is some fantastic news right here! I unfortunately missed the chance to see Black Moon live earlier this December, but at least they are forming that raw energy again and are bringing out new music for us dedicated fans. DJ Evil Dee, Buckshot and 5 Ft. joins forces once again and their new single "Go To War" is bound to satisfy each and every long-time follower of the hardcore New York Boot Camp trio. As if that wasn't enough DJ Evil Dee, obviously really embracing the Christmas spirit, is letting loose a download of the free mixtape "Broadcasting Live", featuring exclusive and new music by the likes of Heather B, Dysfukhional Familee, Nutso, Makeeba Mooncycle, Shabaam Sahdeeq, Finsta Bundy, Rock Mecca and many more. Download or stream both for free below and TURN THIS SHIT UP!!! DUCK DOWN!

[Album] J-FORCE Presents "Cadillac Respect"

When people think about The Future Flavas show they obviously  gonna think about the nr. #1 DJ:s Marley Marl and Pete Rock, and probably all of the incredible exclusive remixes and on-the-air songs that was played on air almost weekly. The Future Flavas remixes always stood for high quality, but the fact is that it wasn't Marley and Pete that was responsible for all these goodies though they often get that credit in the internet generation. Of course both of them put in a lot of work and created some still unreleased classics, but they also had lesser known but incredibly skilled beat wizards up there with them that was also responsible for some terrific remixes and exclusives. One of these guys were J-Force, who was down with Marley Marl for a long time, and released two now very rare self-released 12":s between 1995 and 1996 with "Bullseye" and "For All Thoze". Since then he has scored music for a lot of hip-hop films such as the "Beef" series, "Rock The Bells" and Bling" among others.

With his long brown hair, he looked almost more like a punk rock kid than a highly talented boom bap musician but looks can definitely deceive as both his work on Future Flavaz and his own records was more than proof off. Following him leaving Future Flavaz he kind of faded into the shadows, but as of last year the producing spitter has dug deep into his archives, releasing some previously unreleased solo tracks on a self-released 12" and even more exciting a 22 track remix compilation called "Cadillac Respect". It's the latter that I'm going to focus this post on, as it is an incredible listen that features several of his rare Future Flavas remixes that has never been released anywhere else, a long with some other exclusive mixes that is sure as hell going to make you respect this kid and his SP1200. There's also a few cuts featuring J. Force showing off his rhyme skills, and once again he's no joke on the microphone either, The remixes include revisits of classics by Kool G Rap, Inspectah Deck / Pete Rock / Kurupt, AZ, Nas, Ghostface, Nas/Prodigy, Black Moon, The UN, Mic Geronimo and more.

You can order a copy of "Cadillac Respect" a long with a T-Shirt @ Cadillac Respect.com where you can also read a whole lot more about J-Force, his past and his future endeavour. Below you can also stream the entire project for free, either via DatPiff or J-Force's official site mentioned above. You can also download the entire project for free via Hulkshare. Don't miss out on this sickness!

[EP] PHONIKS - "Summer Nights"

Portland, Maine producer Phoniks had me totally hooked when I had his funky blend of jazz, soul and hardcore beats on his remix EP "Autumn in New York" earlier this year. Since then he has released the equally impressive original project "Dephacation" with Virginia duo Awon & Dephlon, and this guy is definitely not sleeping cuz he's back with yet another crazy fat remix EP. Underlining classics by Jay-Z, Nas, AZ, Big L, 2Pac, Biggie, and Black Moon with what has already become his trademark sounds the smooth sounds of "Summer Nights" is definitely one you want to have in your earphones this summer.

[Snippet] Eminem & Black Moon - "Don't Front"

Now this is just in-fucking-sane! A few days ago Eminem released the worst album of his career so far, which ironically happened to be the sequel to his best one. It's only redeeming future was that the once so promising super lyrical Aftermath emcee brought out Rick Rubin to produce four tracks (as well as serving as an executive producer) which actually came together nicely. The rest of the album was plain shit though, club beats for babies, lots of corny lyrics and awful do-it-yourself hooks... Which makes it even more frustrating when he decides to step it up and show people that he actually can rhyme with the best of them.

Turns out that a bonus track for "MMLP2" will feature Eminem and Buckshot trading bars over the Black Moon classic "I Gotcha Opin". This is a pretty damn cool idea as I always wanted to hear Eminem over hardcore New York type of beats, but it seems to be a trend these days to take off the best songs on your albums and release them as bonus cuts on iTunes. Check out the 1:30 snippet above which features Eminem's full verse. Apparantly this track will be made available as a free download for those who purchase the "MMLP2" and a copy of "Call Of Duty: Ghosts" before November 20. Fuck that, I'm waiting for the leak and I'll post the full song as soon as it drops!

[Comp] BOOT CAMP CLIK - "Timbs, Hoods & B-Sides"

As we know this month marks 20 years since Black Moon unleashed their uncompromised, dirty and agressive debut album "Enta Da Stage" to an unsuspected market. The flag bearers for East Coast hip-hop at the time, while all fantastic in their own rights, were either the positively minded Native Tongues movement with cats like De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, and Queen Latifah in the forefront, or the revolutionaries like Brand Nubian, X-Clan or Public Enemy. Black Moon and their Boot Camp Clik crew, together with Wu-Tang Clan who debuted at the same time, didn't fit either camp neither lyrically nor sonically; showing agressive youths formed by their poor surroundings hungry to make it into the big game through rugged but honest rhymes about their lifes. Black Moon consisted of main emcee Buckshot (sometimes backed up by the 5 Ft. Assassin) whose violence infused lyrics and unmistakable voice was as exciting as Da Beatminerz's, the producers of The Boot Camp Clik and "Enta Da Stage", lo-fi sounding juxtapositions of booming basslines, pounding drum programming, and the way they chopped jazz and samples into complete unrecognizability. The album sounds as fresh today as it did the first time you heard it and stands as one of the definite hip-hop classics, and still it was only the very beginning of a movement that would continue throughout the entire decade and beyond.

A few posts down I posted a short documentary of the group's early history and the impact their breakout had. As this is The Lost Tapes and I have put myself in the position where I advertise this site as having "the best compilations on the net", you know I ain't gonna stop at that. "Enta Da Stage" is one of my favorite albums, but so is the entirety of that first round of solo albums from the Boot Camp Clik (Black Moon's Buckshot, Smif-N-Wessun, Heltah Skeltah, and Originoo Gun Clappaz). "Enta Da Stage" was released in late 1993, followed by S-N-W's "Da Shining" in '95, and Heltah Skeltah's "Nocturnal" and "Da Storm" in '96. The main producers of these four LP:s were Da Beatminerz, mainly consisting of brothers DJ Evil Dee and Mr. Walt but around the mid-'90s also added Baby Paul and Rich Blak to the ranks, and although every single emcee behind this album are truly exceptional talents, it was the sound of Da 'Minerz that gave them a coherrent sound as a series of LP:s. The team produced the entirety of "Enta..." and "Shinin'", while they settled for half of the music on both the latter two albums.
The idea for this compilation, aside for doing something for the 20:th anniversary, came a couple of weeks back when me and my man were watching some classic videos, and we put on some of the tracks from "Dah Shinin'". Linkan made me aware of the videos for "Wrekonize" and "Sound Bwoy Burreil" making use of the 12" remixes rather than the actual LP versions; the same goes for Black Moon's "I Gotcha Opin" and Heltah Skeltah's "Therapy". Following this I started looking through all the 12" and single releases from those four albums and came across a whole lot of remixes and B-sides that in itself would make for a terrific Boot Camp Clik album; one a lot closer to what the original BCC fans had hoped "For My People" would have sounded like, and probably would have been the case had they not ditched Da Beatminerz; which to me Always was a very strange move. For me, that's like if Wu-Tang Clan would have decided to release "Wu-Tang Forever" without any RZA involvement whatsoever, as far as the beats go that is. But I'm getting off the topic here...

One small obstacle in doing this compilation was that some of the Black Moon material had already been collected on a semi-unofficial Nervous Records album called "Diggin' in Dah Vaults" back in '96. However, I am not using any of the songs found on there that had not previously appeared on any 12" or EP; I also ditched "Son Get Wreck" remix since it's a 5 Ft. solo and he was never an official part of the BCC. The single "Headz Ain't Redee" was my definite choice for album/comp opener, but instead of using the same version heard on the aforementioned compilation (which was produced by Buckshot), I am using the Beatminerz version from the 12" single. I also ditched "Fuck 'Em", the B-side to "Who Got The Props"; mainly due to time restraints but also to cut down on songs found on "Dah Vaults". Other than that it's pretty much all here - you got all the aforementioned video versions and other 12" remixes in HQ rips, you got B-sides like The Fab 5's "Blah", their sequel to "Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka", Black Moon's "Murder MC's (The B-Side)" and "Reality (Killing Everything...)". Probably most excitedingly to some are the inclusions of two songs recorded and until last minutes intended for "Dah Shining" and "Da Storm" - "All About The Cash" and "Likkle Youth Man Dem" featuring Smif-N-Wessun, respectively. The latter is not the cheap remix on "For My People" but the actual Baby Paul produced original that most versions of "Da Storm" still list as track #16 on the back cover, despite there only being 15 actual tracks.  

I don't really think I need to sell this any further - if you're into Boot Camp Clik or Da Beatminerz, and especially the early works of both then this compilation is definitely a Heavy hitter. Speaking for myself, it's what's been banging in my headphones the last couple of Days which has allowed the sequence and final tracklist shape up to perfection. In other words a lot of time, thought and headnodding has been invested into this one to assure my readers the strongest and most coherrent listen possible. So spark one up, step into your Timberlands, throw on a nice hoodie, spark one up and let the volume BANG!

 

01. Boot Camp Clik - "Headz Ain't Redee" [Beatminerz Mix]

02. Black Moon - "Act Like U Want It" [F.A.P. Mix]

03. Black Moon - "I Gotcha Opin" [Da Beatminerz Remix]

04. Smif-N-Wessun - "Wrekonize" [Remix]

05. Smif-N-Wessun - "Sound Bwoy Burriel" [Remix] 

06. The Fab 5- "Blah" [Originoo Muddy]

07. O.G.C. / Smif-N-Wessun - "Likkle Youth Man Dem" [Original Mix]

08. Black Moon - "Buck 'Em Down" [Da Beatminerz Remix]

09. Black Moon / Smif-N-Wessun - "U Da Man" [Remix] (Ft. Havoc & Dru Ha)

10. Smif-N-Wessun - "All About The Cash"

11. Heltah Skeltah - "Therapy" [Remix] (Ft. Vinia Mojica)

12. Black Moon - "Reality (Killing Everything...)" [prod. by William Rosario]

13. Black Moon - "How Many Emcees?" [Remix]

14. Heltah Skeltah / O.G.C. - "Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka Part II"

15. Black Moon - "Murder MC's" [B-Side Vocals]

 

BOOT CAMP CLIK - "TIMBS, HOODS & B-SIDES"  

[Mini-Doc] BLACK MOON - "The Beginnings"

Black Moon's 1993 album "Enta Da Stage" is without a doubt one of the five best albums to have been released in that year, along with "36 Chambers", "Midnight Mauraders", and a few others. Check out this mini documentary about Black Moon and their beginnings with "Enta Da Stage", which of course celebrate its twenty year anniversary this month. A must watch for fans of the group and all the early BCC/Da Beatminerz produced albums. Spotted @ EgoTripLand. Enjoy!

The Story of The Crooklyn Dodgers

The monumental meeting between Masta Ace, Black Moon, Special Ed, A Tribe Called Quest and Spike Lee that resulted in "Crooklyn", a track that'll go down in history as one of the finest 12" singles of all time. The song was of course a one-shot deal, made for Spike Lee's beautiful film of the same name, but there's a lot more to the story that you may not know... Now Red Bull Music Academy, who's really been blessing hip-hop heads with fantastic music seminars over the last couple of years, have put together a brilliant interview based around the making and aftermath of the original "Crooklyn". Pretty much everyone who was involved with the joint except for Ali Shaheed Muhammad is interviewed; did you know that ODB was originally supposed to be on it?; did you know that the trio first recorded all completely different verses over the beat?; did you know that Evil Dee was involved in the production?; etc, etc. In other words, an absolute must read for any serious hip-hop connoisseur - CHECK IT OUT!

01. "Crooklyn" [Baseball Mix]

02. "Crooklyn" [Instrumental]

03. "Crooklyn" [Full Mix]

CROOKLYN DODGERS - "CROOKLYN"

R.I.P. Kleph Dollaz

The name Kleph Dollaz might not mean much to those who's not read linear notes, but he was without a doubt a talented cat who sadly never got the props he so rightfully deserved. Durrel Durand (a.k.a. Kleph Dollaz) left the physical due to a heartattack yesterday morning; local friends called the artist an integral part of Virginia's hip-hop scene. Outside of his hometown he hooked up with an M. Warren to form the duo Ill Biskits, releaing the classic 12" "God Bless Your Life" B/W "22 Years". The underground hype caught the attention of Atlantic Records who signed them for a one album deal; resulting in "Chronicle Of Two Losers", a dope and original hip.hop album featuring production by Bronx legends Buckwild, Lord Finesse and Mike Loe. Since it didn't sound anything like the shiny suit music provided by Pappa-Diddy-Pop and BIG around this time, the album was shelved after only a smaller amount of test pressings. Lucikily it has been reissued since 2007 thanks to Traffic Entertainment, so it's no longer a lost album... and at that, it's strongly recommened.

After the failure with Ill Biskits, Kleph Dollaz started producing for other artists, including amazing material for Boot Camp Clik, Rasco, Sean Price, Sadat X, Littles, M.O.P., Blahzay Blahzay and Tek. One things for sure, his sound will surely be missed and all condolences goes out to his family in this hard time. Rest in peace..