[Out Now] D.I.T.C. - "Sessions"

You all know that D.I.T.C. released a brand new album, their first in 16 years not counting compilations, EPs and mixtapes. Although it was credited to D.I.T.C. Studios it was obviously a real crew album as it featured all new material from mainly Fat Joe, AG, OC, Diamond D with even Lord Finesse came out of retirement for a brand new verse. The Studios album was released as a joint venture by Slice-Of-Spice and the groups own album. Now the group is releasing their own version of the LP, entitled "Sessions" which drops today (October 28) on iTunes with hopefully physical copies to follow. The project features many of the same songs from the "D.I.T.C. Studios" album, either as-is or in remixed form, along with a few brand new cuts. Interestingly enough, the crews original classic "Worldwide" was met with a similiar fate. Due to members not being able to being on the same page the album was released in three different incarnations - "Worldwide" (CD), "The Official Version" (LP) and "All Love" (Japan). Either way I'm always down for some new D.I.T.C.!

Check out the video for the Diamond D, Lord Finesse and Fat Joe reunion on "Rock Shyt" (which also appeared on the Studios version) as well as the Showbiz remix of "It's Cold Outside" below. Cop the digital 12-track LP @ iTunes now.

D.I.T.C. Studios - Bangers Upon Bangers

It's been quite a while since I updated this blog as I'm sure you know- The thing is that I don't have the passion to continue do daily updates for a few reasons. No. 1 I barely listen to hip-hop at the moment (it's all about jazz like the Mwandishi sextet, all Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy, Coltrane and so on); No. 2 I still check for new hip-hop but i don't feel that there's been much music up to par recently; No. 3 I have been employed as a full-time librarian so the time is quite precious. But besides that I'm letting the site be up throwing some ill updates every once in a while.

My first thought was to make a D.I.T.C. blog/website and since the start of The Lost Tapes I don't think I missed any new shit from the Diggin' crew as well as posted interviews by Diamond D, Buckwild and E-Blaze. 2014 and 2015 brought us plenthy of dope new releases from Lord Finesse, Showbiz & AG, OC (with Apollo Brown) and most importantly the Slice-Of-Spice sponosred "The D.I.T.C. Remix Project" which featured incredible modern takes on some of the D.I. classics updated by some of the finest proudcers around (it even included a previously never before heard Big L verse on Finesse's "Thick" mix - is this the original?). A while back D.I.TC. dropped the news about an upcoming brand new album and dropped some ill snippets and a single or two on their Soundcloud.

Since then they have posted a brand new track each and every week, featuring all living members of the crew - including a slamming Fat Joe verse on the guitar heavy boom bap monster "Rock Shyt", also featuring Lord Finesse (first verse in a decade) and Diamond D. You got a short AG banger produced by Buckwild, several heavy OC joints, D.I.T.C. fam member M. Gage getting busy over Showbiz productions, the soulful O & A collabo "16 & Out" which Lord Finesse truly blessed with that boom bap we all love., If you open the Soundcloud page and press play on the first song you'll be able to hear all uplaoded tracks in chronological order - creating somehwat of a new D.I.T.C. mixtape so don't fucking SLEEP!

D.I.T.C. STUDIOS - THE SOUNDCLOUD TAPE

D.I.T.C. - "Diggin' Number" / "Brolic"

As you, my loyal readers, noticed in the last half of 2015 I really became somewhat disillusioned with hip-hop (and still am to a degree) and I will expand on this theme on an article I intend to write called "Hip Hop and the celebration of mediocricity" which I feel is a huge problem with the musical aspect of this culture right now. But as you notice by many updates today I feel that several artists are coming back out with that real shit that I've been longing to hear and provides a much needed counterbalance to the extreme wackness of the mainstream artists like Young Thug, Slim Jesus, Stitches, all that drill music bullshit and so on as well as the so called "underground movement" which I feel rehash old tried and tested formulas that have been done so much better in the past, without saying nothing new.

But upcoming projects from favorite artists like D.I.T.C., K-Def, Ghostface/Killah Priest, KRS-One, Scarface, Erykah Badu and younger talents like Kamasi Washington, Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus, Thundercat, and even Kanye West is restoring some of my faith for 2016. Especially Diggin' in the Crates has long been a favorte and as I've written previously the original intent for a website of mine was one exclusively designed around that group. Though I've been somewhat dissapointed in the rehashing of old material over and over again as well as hastily put together projects like "The Movement" and "Unreleased Production '94", stellar projects like Finesse's "The SP1200 Project(s)", OCs "Trophies" and "Ray's Café", AG's EP with DJ Koss, Show & A's "Mughsot" trilogy and Diamond's "The Diam Piece" (and his excellent and ridiciously overlooked BIGREC collaboration "DoomsDay") is ample proof that this collective is still at the top of their game. However a new group album has been at the top of the list of many hip-hop fans wish list for over a decade by now and the excellent "The Remix Project" has turned out to be a appetizer for an upcoming full-length by the entire crew. 

The album which is to be titled "D.I.T.C. Studios" is set to be released via Slice-Of-Spice (the same label who handled the remix album and all recent Lord Finesse releases) definitely seems to be an official follow up to 1999's excellent, yet somewhat underrated "Worldwide" LP on Tommy Boy. All active emcees is participating again (AG, Fat Joe, Diamond D, OC) with at least one apperance by Milano promised. Judging by the four singles released thus far the main difference seems to be that the crew has turned to more outside producers this time around which might be a wise move since interviews throughout the years have revealed that the main problem the members had with the direction of the debut was that the four D.I. producers wanted to stray in somewhat different directions. Following the soulful "Make 'Em So Proud" and my personal favorite "My City", the last week has seen two more singles from the album being unleashed on the highly anticipating public. "Diggin' Number" features AG, OC and Fat Joe and is produced by J. Clyde while Diamond D handles beats and production on "Brolic" which sports verses from AG, OC and Diamond himself. This ish is shaping up lovely so be sure to check out the joints below and be sure to support the real once this album drops - I know I will, and I barely bought a single hip-hop album in 2015.

D.I.T.C. - "My City" / "Make 'Em Proud"

Now this right here is a true treat that I know a lot of real hip-hop heads like myself have been awaiting for years upon years by now... and that is the official reunion of D.I.T.C. as an actual group rather than a loose crew. There's been talk of a new album in interviews for a long time by now but I remember OC somewhere saying that for it to happen everybody would need to be on board and on the same page - meaning that without Fat Joe the chances of a new Diggin' in the Crates LP were slim to none. I had my doubts as if Joe would ever return to the fold as I haven't heard him claim D.I.T.C. since 1999 or somewhere around that time. The great news is that the whole group have been back in the studio recording brand new material that will be unleashed on the world sometime during 2016.

Not much information has been made available at this point but I've seen it mentioned as both an upcoming album and an upcoming compilation so we'll see were we will eventualy land. The one thing I do know is that the release will be a Co-Op between D.I.T.C. (the label) and Slice-Of-Spice, much like the excellent remix project that dropped back in 2014. This means that it will be available on both vinyl and CD which of course is fantastic news. So far one full track has been made available to the public - "Make 'Em Proud (Hold Up)", a collaboration between Fat Joe, AG and Diamond D over a Lord Finesse production (speaking of 'Ness it will be interesting to see whether or not he will be rhyming again). Just as I was writing this and going on to get the links for the music I noticed that a second single has just been released - a joint called "My City", produced by a to me unknown cat by the name of Motif Alumni (peep his Soundcloud - SKILLS!). In addition to the two singles the group's official Soundcloud page also holds 90 seconds snippets for an additional three songs. Most exciting news in quite some time, don't you think?!

BIG L - "I Shoulda Used A Rubba" [CDQ]

Despite only completing one album in full during his tragically short life the legacy of Lamont Coleman, better known to the world as Big L, will always be that of one of the wittiest, most charismatic and technical emcees ever to step footh inside a recording booth. As part of the D.I.T.C. crew and an understudy of Lord Finesse, the young Coleman hung around recording sessions with several industry heavyweights like Freddie Foxxx, Large Professor, Diamond D and DJ Jazzy Jay, while planning his own future LP debut. His shot came when L was signed to Columbia Records (on the strength of his bugged out Showbiz produced demo "Devil's Son") on the very same day as another young aspiring emcee by the name of Nas. Throughout 1993 Big L recorded his debut album which was to be called "Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous". Using dark hardcore beats with pouncing rhythm, grooving basslines and agressive horn stabs chopped up from long forgotten jazz records by Showbiz, Lord Finesse and Buckwild, the sound complimented Big L's often hilarious, often shocking and always on point lyrics to a Tee. The problem was that Columbia kept pushing the LP back as they had more faith in other artists on the roster such as Nas, Fugees and Cypress Hill which meant L had to take a backseat and sit on his material. A whole year before "Lifestylez..." was finally released a promotional cassette containing a full LP was released to selected magazines and radio stations. Hip Hop, by then still a relative young phenomenon, was in a constant state of change and elevation and sometime during '94, L even begged permission from his label to remix and update some of the material on the LP to make it sound current against competition from popular New York artists like Raekwon, Notorious BIG and Mobb Deep. The answer was a negative one, which left L with a debut album partly recorded as early as the beginning of 1993. Had "Lifestylez..." been released in January 1994 I think Big L might have had a very different career over at Columbia. It's interesting to note that they decided to go with the Summer Smooth Remix by producer Selah for the "M.V.P." video, a song much more in line with the times of 1995 - yet it sounds like nothing else on the actual album.

The last tracks that had been recorded for the album was "MVP" and "Street Struck", which were both created in the same session and especially in the case of the former it does sound more in line with where hip-hop was at in early '95 than a song like "I Don't Understand It". As L couldn't remix or update the sounds of any song he instead opted to delete certain tracks from inclusion on the final version. "Devil's Son" (click to download) had already been available since early 1993 and considering its shocking subject matter it worked better as a promotional introduction to the world than an album cut. The Lord Finesse produced "School Daze" (click to download) was not only one of the joints from the very earliest Columbia sessions, the rhymes were Coleman "reminisces" about his school days were probably written while L was still in school, and would have sounded dated had it been released in late '93. However, the two remaining tracks that appeared on the original promo cassette but failed to materialize on the retail release are another story altogether. "I Shoulda Used A Rubba" and "Timez Iz Hard..." (both produced by Buckwild) were to my ears just as potent and in line with the hardcore boom bap vibe of the album as anything on there. For years low quality rips of these four songs have circulated on mixtapes, bootlegs and on the net. Unfortunately even the semi-official compilation "Return Of The Devil's Son" failed to produce decent sounding versions of these joints (matter of fact, avoid this compilation at all cost). However it has come to my knowledge that the Japanese CD edition of "Lifestylez..." actually included "I Shoulda Used A Rubba" (sometimes known as "Clinic") as a bonus track. So after the original pressing was reissued in Japan in 2010 a rip of said bonus tracks has popped up on the internet. Finally hearing this classic lost Big L track in its full glory, properly mixed, mastered and in a high quality rip is pure bliss for a D.I.T.C./Big L fan, now let us just hope an equally good version of "Timez Iz Hard..." will get a proper release. Much thanks to whoever ripped this "Clinic" originally (as I got it in the mail by friend I have no idea who to credit); I also added a decent rip of "Timez Iz Hard..." for your listening pleasure.

[Album] EA$Y MONEY - "The Money (Motive Of Nearly Everyone)"

 Ea$y Money is an emcee hell bent on bringing back that boom bap sound without sounding dated and from the stuff I've heard from him he is doing a damn good job at it. As part of Termanology's St. Da Squad collective, Ea$y has dropped the ocassional mixtape as well as appearing on records by Reks, Term, Action Bronson, Big Shug, Statik Selektah, Serial Killers (Xzibit, B-Real & Demrick), Slaine, and more. His official retail full-length debut album is now here and features the sound of hip-hop a lot of people might have been missing if they haven't been knowing were to look (and if that's the case bookmark The Lost Tapes y'all). With production from DJ Premier, Statik Selektah, Buckwild, 9th Wonder, J. Cardim and more and cameos from the likes of Lil' Fame, Termanology, Jared Evans, Wais P, Joey Bada$$, Action Bronson, to name a few. This shit goes hard so be sure to press play. The album is OUT NOW on Showoff Records. Stream below and if you like what you hear, head over to iTunes and show your support!

BIG L's "Who You Slidin' Wit" [Buckwild vs. Pete Rock]

People who have followed this blog for some years know that wile I do like a lot about Big L's only true posthumous album, given that he was actually working on it at the time of his death, true posthumous release "The Big Picture", it could have been so much better. Some years ago I made my own version of it, posted it and let you the readers decide whether my "A&R:d" version was closer to L's original vision than the sometimes cheesy shit that ended up in retail stores. Don't get me wrong, the album had plenty of hot joints, many of them recorded by L in his lifetime and released as the first singles from his upcoming album ("We Got This", "Ebonics", "Size 'Em Up", etc.). Yet other songs he recorded, albeit maybe a little dated at the time from a production standpoint, like "Games Females Play" were remixed into one of the albums absolute worst club imitating cuts that had me shaking my head in disbelief. 

Luckily they had a lot of ill acapellas to work from, inviting bonafied legends like DJ Premier, Showbiz, Hi-Tek, Mike Heron and Pete Rock to add new boom bap type of soundbeds for L's masterful lyricism. But the latter producer I mentioned, who happens to be one of my all time favorites, turned the track that L recorded with Buckwild shortly before his passing into a superbly mediocre club anthem called "Who You Slidin' Wit", also adding an uneccesary verse by weed carrier Stan Spit (and as if that wasn't enough the one Pete Rock track that actually goes replaces the impeccable Party Arty once again with Stan Spit). The album version of "Who You Slidin' Wit" strangely sounds nothing like either Pete Rock or Big L, and considering that it's a "remix" (as using a total backdrop for the same vocals) of a song Buckwild gave L for inclusion on the LP, and was even cut at the very last minute in favor of the Soul Brother beat. SMH. Check out the album version up top and download the Buckwild original version below (320 kbps); a track that luckily made its way to the public through a very rare Rawkus promo of the album released in 1999, but we definitely needed more DITC/DJ Premier type of joints on this album and that's a fact.

BIG L - "WHO YOU SLIDIN' WIT" [BUCKWILD MIX]

MEYHEM LAUREN & BUCKWILD - "100 MPH" (Ft. Action Bronson)

Hell yeah, this one deserves a video like hell. The opening track to Meyhem Lauren and Buckwild's absolutely slamming joint LP "Silk Pyramids" which made my top 10 of last years best album (the full list will be published tomorrow with all reviews). Of course also features Action Bronson, and an absolute monster performance from both Buckwild and Meyhem who properly sets the tone for the outstanding LP.

[Out Now] MILANO CONSTANTINE - "The Believers"

Ever since he held his own next to Big Punisher on the D.I.T.C. classic "Where Ya At?" back in '99 real heads have definitely been fiending for more music from Milano Constantine. Back in the early 2000s the Wild Life member signed to T-Ray's Beatdown Recordings and recorded the full-length album "The Believers" with an all star line-up of producers including Showbiz, Lord Finesse, Amed, Buckwild and T-Ray. Unfortunately the LP was shelved leaving the public only with the three track EP "That's Milano". Now the 15 song album is finally seeing an official release, with the digital copies already being sold through iTunes and the CD coming very soon. Support this one y'all, this shit goes HARD!

01. "The Believers Intro" [prod. Buckwild]

02. "When You Hear" [prod. Emile]

03. "Drama" (Ft. A Black) [prod. Lord Finesse]

04. "Hope You Listening" [prod. Showbiz]

05. "Bring It Home" [prod. Showbiz]

06. "Tramps Freestyle"

07. "Awful" [prod. Amed]

08. "That's Milano" [prod. T-Ray]

09. "Show 'Em" [prod. Showbiz]

10. "Morir Sonando" [prod. Lord Finesse]

11. "Harlem" [prod. Showbiz]

12. "Live Your Life" [prod. Showbiz]

13. "New York City" [prod. Molecules of The Legion]

14. "Where Ya At?" (Ft. Big Pun) [prod. DJ Premier]

15. "Warrior's Drum" [prod. Lord Finesse]

16. "Everybody Hurts" [prod. T-Ray]

"THE BELIEVERS" @ iTUNES

DJ EFN Ft. OC, Royce Da 5'9", Your Old Droog & Reks - "Revolutionary Rebel Music"

DJ EFN is dropping his full-length album "Another Time" on March 3, filled with sick US emcees like Inspectah Deck, MC Eiht, King Tee, Smif-N-Wessun, Killer Mike, Talib Kweli, McGruff, Ras Kass, Joell Ortiz, and many many more. Should definitely be one to look out for! The new single "Revolutionary Rebel Music" gives a good taste of what to expect, with EFN rounding up OC, Your Old Droog, Reks and Royce Da 5'9" to let loose over a hard hitting Buckwild banger. ILL!

[Album] MILANO CONSTANTINE - "The Believers"

Only a few days ago I posted the back cover of Milano's new mixtape from his mixtape which featured both newsongs and classics. Well, it turns out that this is actually the abum Milano recorded when he was signed with T-Ray on Beatdown Recordings which only resulted in the three track EP "Show 'Em" / "That's Milano" / "Morir Sorando" that was released in 2004, although the album was recorded in 2002 and featured a few older jams like the DJ Premier remix of "Where Ya At?"featuring Big Punisher. Thisgonna be a real interesting listen as I've always been a uge Milano fan and i never felt he got the proper props he deserved.

As I could only reveal the back cover with the tracklist and production credits when I first posted on it, it is now thanks to Unkut.com revealed that the title of the album is "The Wariors" by Milano Constantine, and not only that he got a hold of the entire album - How amazingis that?. Production by the usual D.I.T.C. co-horts, T-Ray, Molecules and Emile. A huge thanks to Robbie @ Unkut - you truly made my otherwise shitty day!

[Upcoming] MILANO CONSTATINE

Milano Constatine  is a well-kown name amongst the D.I.T.C. head, having released solid 12" singles and mixtapes produced by Amed, Show, OC, Lord Finesse, T-Ray, DJ Premier, Cues of The Legion and Buckwild to name a few. He's an ill battle rhymer as well, perhaps best known for his classic Big Punisher collaboration "Where Ya At?". As far as I can see it's still untitled while the artwork is handled by Philip J Bux Capiello but according to the post on Milano's Facebook it's coming really soon so stay tuned! Mixtape of the year?!

[Comp/Article] RAKIM - "The Last Platoon: The Lost Rakim '95"

A couple of years back I did a a three part compilation series for Rakim's guest spots, unreleased tracks and B-sides. The first installment in the series focused on the year's between "Don't Sweat The Technique" and "The 18th Letter", without a doubt the numer one era in which fans have been able to hear unreleased songs, radio rips, and alternative/original mixes, thanks to bootlegging and underground radio. Why I've heard rumours before that Ra was working on an album around '95 that was eventually scrapped, the fact was recently confirmed from a very official source. I wasn't very suprised considering the amount of material from '93-'96 that is as good as any album cut but has never appeared in any official capacity.

The quest to do a sort of "Lost Tapes" album for Rakim, focusing on the years mentioned above, came when B.I.G. producer Dominic Owens of Hi-Class who released three previously unreleased singles (and in some cases alternative versions from what we previously had heard) that he revealed he had recorded with Rakim at his Hi-Class Studos sometime durng 1995. This was followed by the official source that revealed the scrapped album, which appeared in Robbie Etterson's excellent interview with Domingo @ Unkut (great read if you haven't checked it out already). Domingo revealed that he produced "Original Style", the original mix of "Bring It On" and an untitled track that unfortunately never was completed; all sessions taking place in 1995. With that said, there was no longer a question in my mind that the world needed to hear this scrapped album, or at least what's still available on the net and bootlegs from it.

As I had done with the original "The Lost Album", I was well aware that there were plenty of heat rocks recorded around '95/early '96 While I there included some guest spots from Ra like Barrry Leinson's "Murderer", while I here only wanted the solo joints that I would imagine very likely were part of that shelved album. These solo tracks are all classic Ra and include jams like the Marley Marl produced "We All Got Plans" - a track that was premiered as an exclusive on Future Flavaz in January '96, and is to my knowledge the first time William Graffin and Marl has collaborated since the original "Eric B. is President" 12". This song was released on a white label 12", so I have updated the links thanks to the kindness of Letter_D's rip which doesn't feature any J-Love or DJ shouts. Other stellar tracks include Pete Rock's "Living For The City", Buckwild's "Last Resort", Easy Mo Bee's "Shades Of Black", Nick Wiz's "Once Upon A Rhyme", and much more. There's also original versions of "Remmber That" (whch made mixtapes rounds as early as '95), a more rugged version of Wiz's "Show Me Love" and Owen's "I Get Visual" track which is an early incarnation of "When I'm Flowing".

All in all, with its 40 minutes running time, this album is pretty much as good as "The 18:th Letter",. Had the best songs from both "albums" been combined in a quality way, there's no question that this would be a true hip-hop classic in the book of a majority of Ra heads. While there's a couple of tracks that didn't make "The Master" and "The Seventh Seal", this shelved, lost album is on another level. I've listened to the 12 tracks, 40+ minutes album plenty of times by now and it truly felt like a natural extenction of the Eric B. & Rakim joints with it's hard knocking beats and jazz samples; yet pointing towards the sound of the mid-'90s that the God MC would come to embrace on his solo debut. If you want to get the ultimate version of Ra from this time, why not add the songs on here with the finest from the retil album like "The 18:th Letter", "New York (Ya Outta There)", "The Saga Begins", "The Mystery" and "When I'm Flowin'" (which would replace "I Get Visual" as the Pete Rock remix is one of the best Ra' joints of all time in my book).

With that being said, "The Last Platoon: The Lost '95 Album", is not only interesting for the immaculate music and expert lyricism it provides. It's also one of the few, if not only, time that fans of The God MC has been taken behind the scenes of his process. Having recorded a full album that would most likely satisfy his clientele, he started out by remixing several cuts (bboth Owens and Domingo took a stab at "Bring It On" (see below), while "Once Upon A Rhyme" and, "New York to Cali" both went through at least one face lift before they were album ready. Add the fact that despite three songs from "The Last Platoon" actually  did appear on the retail they were so thoroughly remixrd that only the vocals were the only common denominator.- "Remember That", "Show Me Love" and "When I'm Flowing (I Get Visual)". The sheer amount of scrapped tracks., original versions,  and so on, I would be very suprised if "18th Letter" is in any way unique in that asopect but ratther Rakim's usual work method. We all remember the Dr. Dre / Aftermath situation, and even after he left that contract "The Seventh Sea" took many years to come - and it didn't feature some of the early street buzz singles like "I'm Back" and "It's Nothing". The former was also made in several versions before Ra settled on his favorite (although, for me - the seropior version was always the one with Lil' Fame. Then there was the blazing posse cut "Euphoria" which was listed as a digital bonus track, but with verses from Styles P, Jadakiss and Busta there's no question that this hardore song would do a great job in breaking up an often smootj album. Maybe even more unexpected when it came to cut tracks was when Canadian true school producer Marco Polo dropped his first single from hi prequel-album "Newport Authority 2" a couple years back. The song called "What's Wrong" was a soulful them e song on the dangers of capitalism that for all intents and purposes was Rakim solo. Marco revealed that it was a track left off "The Seventh Seal" almost came as a shock considering what could possibly have gone through his mind when deleting from the ultimate tracklist. Add to that the various bootlegged original versions of "Don't Sweat The Technique", "Pass The Handgrenade" and a few songs that didn't make the '92 album, and the question posed here gains a lot more weights.

So with that said, let's move on to the 1995 ompilation which I've choosed to call "The Last Platoon: The Lost Rakim '95" (The Last Platoon was actually  a crew that The R was rolling with at the time). Assembled amongst these tracks are an all-star line-up of mid-'90s producers royalty in the form of Dominc Owens/Hi-Class, Domingo, Easy Mo Bee, Gary G-Wiz of Bomb Squad, Nick Wiz, Marley Marl, Pete Rock, Buckwild and possibly Salaam Remi or Clark Kent (I'm not sure who in fact produced the original "Remember Dat" though some sources indiciate either Reemi or Kent) who are all featured here. In usual order I put a lot of thought and hard work into the sequenceing for this album so I really hope you'll at least give "The Last Platoon" a chance to bang it from font-to-back. As with any time with Rakim on the music, this is simply fantastic music; both from a lyrical perspective and from a beatheads point of view. As stated above the jazz samples, addictive breakbeats, horns and stand-up bass lines is a lot more reminiscent of the latter Eric B. & Rakim albums than what eventually become "The 18 Letter". Thereby it works as the perfect bridge between "Don't Sweat The Technique" and "The 18:th Letter"..TURN IT UP!!

01. "Bring It On" [Dominic Owens] (1995)

02. "Shades Of Black" [Easy Mo Bee] (1995)

03. "The Original Style" [Domingo] (1995)

04. "Last Resort" [Buckwild" (1995)

05. "Living For the City" [Pete Rock] (1995)

06. "New York to Cali" [Dominic Owens] (1995]

07. "We All Got Plans" [Marley Marl] (1996)

08. "Show Me Love" (Rugged) [Nick Wiz] [1996]

09. "Heat It Up" [Gary "G-Wiz"] (1993)

10. "Remember Dat" [Salaam Remi] (1995)

11. "Once Upon A Rhyme" [Nick Wiz] (1995)
12. *"Bring It On" [Domingo Mix] (1995)

13. "I Get Visual" [Dominic Owens] (1995)

RAKIM - "THE LAST PLATOON ('95)"
[[Mirror Link]] *

[Comp] SADAT X - "The 5% Cowboy"

I remember having a discussion with a certain Charles Jones  on how he considered Sadat X's "Wild Cowboys" an extremely dissapointing album. Needless to say I had no clue what he was on; to me The X-Man's 1996 debut is an extremely impressive full-length album. Coming off three excellent LP:s by Brand Nubian - "One For All", "In God We Trust" and the frustratingly underrated "Everything is Everything". With his '96 solo debut Sadat got the chance to write about more personal topics like domestic problems, the feeling of being locked up, create thematic songs about the misrepresentation by the media, ghetto stories, and weed and alcohol. Another thing that set it apart from the Brand Nu group albums were found when glancing over the production credits - wereas previously Sadat almost exlusively had been heard rhyming on chunky beats by Lord Jamar and funky headnodders from Grand Puba, here he went for a plethora of sounds from some of the most talented, young beat makers of the day.

On "Wild Cowboys" Doddy X got to flex his lyrical muscles and unmistakable voice over production work by D.I.T.C. aumnis Diamond D, Buckwild, Showbiz and DJ Ogee. In adition he also scored beats from Money Bo$$'s (who collectively appears on "Game's Sober") producer Minnesota, Da Beatminerz, Pete Rock, Dante Ross, and Ali Malek. With a production line-up like this in the mid-'90s and hosted by the unique and truly great Sadat X, I for the life of me can't understand why the LP wasn't that well-received when it first dropped (3 mics in The Source; 3 stars in Rolling Stones and the same for AllMusic). I mean what the hell, this is hardly no average album, it's close to a mid-'90s classic to me and there's not a single song I would skip - and with apperances from Deda/Pete Rock ("Escape From New York"), Grand Puba, Roc Raida, and The Black Cowboys posse consisting of Shawn Black, Kool Chuck and Tec.

As is so often the case with almost any album, there are tracks that was recorded for the album but never made the final cut. In 1996 X released a rare promo 12" featuring a song called "East Coast" on the A-side, produced by Buckwild, while the B-side came strapped with vocal and instrumental versions of an original alternate version of "Wild Cowboys", produced by DJ Ogee. Both songs are included in this new Lost Tapes compilation which focus on Sadat X singles, soundtrack joints, B-sides and guest features from the era. As the project is designed as a sort of prequel to his solo debut I have choosen to focus exclusively on songs betweeen 1994 and 1996, and as a sort of jumping off point I decided to go against the non-album track rules and include Sadat's first solo song "Alladat"; the hardcore joint that Buckwild produced for Brand Nubian's "Everything is Everyhing" in 1994 (while Jamar got "Return of the Dread" as a solo jam on that album). So get ready for an hour of Derrick X that will hopefully inspire you to dust off, or even cop "Wild Cowboys" if you don't have it already. Sadat's in effect!

Last but definitely not least - A huge thank you goes out to my man Fritz who managed to hook me up with an original VLS rip of "East Coat" / " "Wild Cowboys: OG" which I've been searching for forever. On top of that, much props to everybody who originally ripped any of these tracks which I couldn't rip by mself, sometimes because I don't own the original records. Thanks guys! No matter what this sounds like a very sick prequel to "Wild Cowboys" and you can easily hear it as a stepping stone from a group member to a forefront solo artist, and the results is damn fine.

                                                                                                                               

 01. Sadat X - "East Coast" (1996) [prod. Buckwild]

02. Sadat X - "Alladat" (1994) [prod. Buckwild]

03. Sadat X / Lord Jamar / Grand Puba - "The Lump Lump" (1996) [prod. Buckwild]

04. Grand Puba / Sadat X - "I Like It Remix" (1995) [prod. Buckwild]

05. OGC / Sadat X / Black Shawn - "Wild Cowboys in Bucktown" (1996) [Ogee]

06. Kurious / Sadat X / Mike Gee - "A Mansion & A Yach" (1994)

07. DJ Honda / Sadat X / Grand Puba / Wakeem - "Talk From NY" (1995)

08. Omniscience / Sadat X - "Touch It - Remix #2" (1995) [Fanatic]

09. Sadat X / Akinyele - "Loud Hangover" (1995) [prod. Funkmaster Flex]
10. R.A. The Rugged Man / Sadat X - "50,000 Heads" (1995) [Dirtman]

11. Sadat X / Grand Puba - "The Next Spot" (1996) [Dante Ross]

12. Sadat X / Fat Joe - "Stay Away From The Nasty Hoes" (1996) [Diamond D]

13. Frankie Cutlass / Redman / Sadat X / June Lover -  "You, You,  You" (1996)

14. House Of Pain / Sadat X - "Heart Full of Sorrow" (1995) [DJ Lethal]

15. Grand Puba / Sadat X - "Play It Cool" (1995) [Minnesota]

16. Lord Finesse / Sadat X / Grand Puba / Large Professor - "Actual Facts" (1995) [Jesse West]

SADAT X - "THE 5% COWBOY"

[Video] SONNIE CARSON - "Never Ran, Never Will" (Ft. Styles P)

Last year skilled Brooklyn spitter Sonnie Carlson released his free project "Most Likely to Succeed", featuring several productions by D.I.T.C. legend Buckwild. One of those cuts are the thumping Styles P featured single "Never Ran, Never Will" that now gets the visual treatment. Be sure to bang this LOUD and if you're still sleeping on this street album be sure to click on the link above and press play!

[Video] MEYHEM LAUREN - "Silk Shirts & Yellow Gold"

A whole lotta ass up in the first video to Meyhem Lauren's collaboration with super producer Buckwild. Be sure to support "Silk Pyramids" if you haven't aready, by far one of the best projects of the year.

MEYHEM / BUCKWILD - "Freestyle 1" / "Freestyle 2"

You already know that Meyhem Lauren is one of my favorite emcees out of the younger generation and that Buckwild is one of my all-time favorite producers, so it came as no suprise that their collaborative effort "Silk Pyramids" represent some of the best work both artists has put in in some time. The album which is released through Chopped Herring Records, is available in a few different versions - you got the ordinary CD and digital release which features the 13 tracks that have been made available for streaming on various sites. You got the high priced 2xLP set which omits "I Need It All", "Q.U. Cartilage", and last but not least you got the (order the vinyl set @ Chopped Herring while they last and you have a lot more money than me.

Instead of the aforementioend tracks on the CD the vinyl features the joints "French 75" and "Rep The Streets" (and possibly "Friendship is Priceless"). The Extras EP includes instrumentals and accapellas of these joints, but also "Q.U. Cartilage" (undoubtedly one of my favorites from the album), and the Sonnie Carson guested "ODA" in addition to two untitled freestyles. These two freestyles have been unleashed to the net by Buckwild himself via his Audiomack account (along with "Q.U. Cartilage"). The illest of these sounds like Meyhem going crazy over what I think is an original beat while the other is a freestyle over Buck's classic '93-'94 beat for "Ozone" from OC's "Word...Life". Enjoy!

[Throwback] THE PHARCYDE - "Labcabincalifornia" *Bonus Tracks*

Even a lot of hardcore The Pharcyde fans don't even know about these  joints, which in itself is a shame since they are actually part of their perhaps finest and most celebrated album ever - the incredible journey that is "Labcabincalifornia". SlimKid3, FatLip, Imani and Bootie Brown's loose rhyme steezes and blunted flows really came to the forefront on this LP, backed up by fantastic early production work  by Jay Dee, east coast golden age soldier Diamond D, Grand Mixer M-Walk, and the guys themeselves who all did an absolutely marvelous job. However Diamond's "Groupie Therapy" was not the only time during the recording of "Lacab" that the LA unit bumped heads with the East Coast sound of the day and the D.I.T.C. crew more in particular. The Buckwild produced "Heart & Soul" and the equally rare "Emerald Butterfly" were both  recorded for the album and are thus right in the key of the rest of the record. So much in fact that whenever I listen to my copy of the album I often throw them on right afterwards to get a more complete experience so to speak. Both tracks are exceptionally ill as you soon will hear if you haven't already.

"Heart & Soul" fits right in with the overall flow of the album, as Buckwild avoids revisiting the
dark, heavily horn driven Bronx sound that had become his trademark at the time with his many remixes, "Lifestylez",  "Stress", "Word... Life", the Artifacts record and so on. Instead his production here matches the crew's lyrical playfullness and free-form deliveries by placing them over a deep bass track with a lone, but chopped up, accoustic guitar sample taking center stage all the  while percussive insruments counterpoints the main drum track. The song also features a nice '90s-esque female hook by an uncredited singer which immediatly catches your attention, suggesting that this could possibly have made it as a single even. Ironical, considering that it was left off entirely of the main album, only made available on a few selected versions including the Australian and German releases a long with the aforementioned "Emerald Butterfly". I can't decide if dropping these tracks were a good or bad thing - on the one hand, they both fit the album perfectly and I love "Labcabincalifornia" so it's great hearing more (mastered and completed) music from those sessions, but then again it would kick up the overall running time close to 79 minutes which is a pretty tough listen for any sitting. 

"Emerald Butterfly", produced by LA Jay & Tre Hardson, sits right at home within the Labcab world as well, a slower jam that's filled with a gorgeously dark bass line being maintained throughout, hard drums and once again a female chorus that works as a counterpoint to the rough mode of the song. The same goes for the beautiful Rhodes and flute samples that break up the main melody with regular intervals. While neither track would be among the five best songs on this classic LP, they are both as good as the majority of "Labcab..." and even if you don't own them in physical form (like me), or maybe didn't even know about them, this is a must hear for any Pharcyde fan which is why I have uploaded both songs in great sounding 320 kbps rips, taken from a CD source (much thanks to whoever ripped them and uploaded them in the first place). Also of interest to fans of the album (and one that proves that these tracks was indeed recorded for inclusion on the album in the first place rather as filler to be able to bless a few releases with unrelated bonus cuts) is the official Pharcyde biography put out by Delicious Vinyl in late '95 - read it here. Enjoy y'all!

"Labcabincalifornia" - Bonus Tracks

18. "Emerald Butterfly"

19. "Heart & Soul"

PHARCYDE - "LABCAB" *BONUS*

[Throwback] SONJA BLADE - Then & Now (Ft. Busta Rhymes, Buckwild, EZ El-P & Smif-N-Wessun)

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 article from 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!

BIG - "Story To Tell" [Buckwild's OG Mix]

The Notorious B.I.G.'s sophomore "Life After Death" LP received a rare 5 mics review in The Source; and don't get me wrong, it's an absolutely incredible album that indeed has a 5 mic album hiding in there somewhere. Had filler cuts like "Fuckin' You Tonight", "Mo Money' Mo Problems", "Another", "Nasty Boy", "Playa Hater", and peharps one or two more joints been scrapped, "Life After Death" had in my humble opnion been worthy of that most extreme rating. Played like a single disc album makes all the difference in the world, making it in many ways even equally as  great as "Ready to Die". Both beats and deliery are more polished, while still leaving room for a large part of the album to be dark and unforgiving (much thanks to contributions from Carloas Broady & Nashiem Myrick, RZA, DJ Enuff, Havoc and DJ Premier) and BIG had foud an ever deeper confidence on the microphone.

Like with so many LP:s what was originally recorded by the artists and producer are not always what end up on the retail album, and such is the case we're gonna be discussing today. D.I.T.C. producer Buckwild excellent contribution "I Got A Story To Tell" - an emcee class in storytelling 101. Looking at the album credits it read that Buckwild's production features co-production by Hitmen Chucky Thompson and Puff Daddy. But what exactly earned them that credit? Check Buckwild and Thompson themeselves break down the specifics in XXL:s The Making of "Life After Death".

BUCKWILD "Big picked beats on vibe, and he was looking for beats to fit into the album. Big was the type of dude where there could be 50 people in the room and you think he wouldn’t be lisening. You’d play him 50 beats and you’d think he wasn’t paying attention, ’cause he’s sitting there smoking and zoning out. And then at the end, he’d be like, I want number 12, and put number 30 on a tape.

The song was done, and everyone was telling me the song was incredible. That was all I kept hearing. But we had big problems with the sample. It almost didn’t make the album. Working with Puff, it was a blessing that he had people who could come in and get him around the sample issues. Chucky [Thompson], being an excellent musician, he replayed it and found the exact same sound. Chuck just had to change one or two notes. If I played the original and I played the sample, there’s nothing really different."

Buck is almost correct on this, the two versions are extraordinary similiar but I believe that a fully mastered version of the sample-based mix would have the slight edge. I'm not sure where Buck sampled the harp- and guitar based centre from, but the drums was lifted from Al Green's "I'm Glad You're Mine". The latter drum break has been used for several hip-hop classics, including Eric B. & Ra's "Mahogany". So I would guess that they kept that drum break for the BIG album version too and that the sample problem was with the main melody as Chucky Thompson tells it:

CHUCKY THOMPSON "I liked the original way Buckwild done it. All we had to do was take a piece out, which in the original sample was really just the harp part. I knew if I could get it to the point where it’s unrecognizable, we were good. So I went in, grabbed the guitar and started filling in the pieces. I took the same melodies. I just changed a few of the instruments. I moved it from harp to the guitar, put a little bit of harp in there, but anybody that knows that original record is probably scratching their head, like, “How the hell did he…?”

The album version of "I Got A Story to Tell" is no doubt a classic, and while the original Buckwild mix was thought lost forever it actually surfaced on the 2007 mixtape monster "Cristopher Wallace - The Last King Of New York" by Doo Wop and Mike Nice. The latter's set included, amongst tons of other interesting rarities, demos, remixes and original versions, the so called "Buckwild OG Demo Mix" of "I Got A Story to Tell". While the sound quality might not win any sonic awards it does give us a terrific insight into the creation of the song. If you imagine it mastered and in CD quality - which version would you prefer (the video above is of the album version for reference)? I wil probably do a post on the entire Doo Wop/Mike Nice tape soon enough so be on the lookout, but what's funny is that the OG Buckwild Demo you hear below is actually from another source that sound a lot cleaner than the one on the mixtape! Feel free to drop a comment on your thoughts about your thought about these two versions of "I Got A Story to Tell"!

BIG - "STORY TO TELL" [BUCK'S OG DEMO]