[Classic Live Show] PRINCE PAUL w. Stetsasonic, Gravediggaz & BDK @ Tramps '99

The legendary Tramps club in New York City were the host of some amazing concerts over the years and was even the place for a few live albums, including the celebrated Big L Tribute Shows released under the D.I.T.C. banner as a two volumes set in 1999. DJ Eclipse was a regular DJ and behind the scenes man at Tramps and captured a lot of incredible live sets with his camera throughout the years. Today I stumbled across one absolutely monumental piece - it's unforutnately not the full set, but is something of a Prince Paul rememberance night as he was promoting his "A Prince Among Thieves" and had invited to the scene his original band to show his humble beginnings, the ground breaking live Hip Hop band Stetsasonic, an excellent set by Gravediggaz over live instrumentation and an itense set by one of the all time great lyricistsof all time - Big Daddy Kane. There's also a celebration of the then burgenoing undrground movement with a Paul led performance by Non Phixion, Special Ed and Missin' Linx. Eclipse uploaded these goodies back in 2013, but I actually just happened to come across them today, three years later and was absolutely blown away. Now THIS is a Hip Hop shop worth the money for entrance and would be a worthy purchase had it been recorded properly and intended for release.

But I am getting off track here, I want to present y'all with the three videos DJ Eclipse posted from Prince Paul's Tramps, NYC show that took place in March 1999. This is a true display of as brilliant a Hip Hop concert you are likely to see for so many reasons. Having all of the Stetsasonics reunited on stage (including Frukwan and Prince Paul on the turntables) getting busy and getting the crowd hype over the slick rednitions provided by their live drummer and electric bassist who both does a fabolous job. The first video is all Stetsasonic, and as I mentioned is brilliant, but my favorite part is towards the second half of the second video where Grym Reaper enters the stage while the Stetsa crew (minus Paul and Frukwan of course) dwells into some of the "6 Feet Deep" griminess. But they don't do this over any pre-programmed beats and samples but instead reuses the bassist and live drummer from the Stetsa set to GREAT effect. Grym with his crazy high-antics style and delivery and Frukwan's more laid back baritone voice with Prince Paul's trntable wizardry is a match made in heaven, and to hear "Constant Elevation" over a sample-styled live interpretation of Barry White's classic ""I'm Gonna Love You just A Little Bit More" is nothing short of pure excellence. Sad and scary is the fact that only a month after this show, where Poetic looks so full of energy and life, he collapsed in his home from severe stomach pains, was rushed to the hospital only to be told that he had cancer and had only a few more months to live. A tragedy to say the least.... Had this shame of an outcome never happened and with Paul peraps willing to join the fold I'm sure Gravediggaz could drop at least one more classic album before calling it quits.

The third and final part of the video trilogy sees Prince Paul bring out Count Mackula, Mr. Big Daddy Kane, for an absolutely awesome lyrical slaughter session proving that he was better than just anyone in 1999 still. He just needed the right beats and tne down the ladies man image. Here at Tramps the Live Band had left in favor for pre-programmed beats courtesy of Prince Paul (who sitll handles the turntables). BDK sure as hell ain't no joke here, and the crowd is absolutely stunned as should you be as he goes through a quick medley of classics from his first two albums with unphazed delivery and always spot-on performance. Excellence! Now this is one show that I would be love to purchase on wax had it been actually recorded proper. But for now these videos is an excellent reminder of what the Hip Hop show can be in its purest form, much thanks to DJ Eclipse for sharing and everyone involved in making this music happen that night at Tramps some 17 years ago!

[Comp/Article] GRAVEDIGGAZ - "WHAT'S A GRAVEDIGGA"

Few groups throughout hip-hop's rather brief history has been as fascinating as The Gravediggaz to me. I am mainly talking about the original incarnation here (though I indeed like their two second releases quite a lot but it's just not the same without the original mebers and their impeccable chemistry and common drive during that first album! The Prince Paul led quartet that saw the super producer oversee and direct three criminally underrated lyricists as they mixed what would become known as horrorcore with knowledge of self in an absolute brilliant way. Being that I'm 28 years old, I fell in love with hip-hop in the mid-'90s and one of the first LP:s I truly fell in love with and memorized every word to at around 13 years old was the GD debut "Niggamortis". Of course the album was known as "6 Feet Deep" in the US but as Frukwan says "it was always 'Niggamortis' to us" (Coleman, 2014). I recently read Brian Coleman's excellent book "Check The Technique Volume II" which has an extensive chapter on the album with Frukwan and Paul breaking down the science behind its making and even a track-by-track breakdown. That and my man Pattch82's excellent interview with The Undertaker for HipHopSite about the album's making is all any Gravedigga head will need to read to fully grasp the genius and hard work that went into that classic of an LP and chuckle at all the crazy ancedotes. If you haven't bought that book and it's predecessor and is a true hip-hop fan, I STRONGLY recommend you to do so - both volumes are among the best books I've ever read on hip-hop - related to this thread, it also contains a deep chapter on Stetsasonic's "In Full Gear" where Frukwan, Prince Paul, Daddy-O and DBC break down that album in great detail.

* Did you for instance know that the beat for "6 Feet Deep" (the song) was created almost by accident? While waiting for engineer Scotty Harding to come by the studio, the quartet headed over to the music room of the studio and started playig around with the instruments; Frukwan on guitar, RZA on keyboards, Paul on drums (maybe Poetic on bass then?). Every once in a while they would come up with a little groove by accident, but the whole thing were being recorded. And RZA as crazy as he was back in those days, took home the tape, chooped up some parts he thought had potential, added a beat and brought it back to the guys, the next day. This was also the last song recorded for the album, and Scotty Harding was pissed when recording it, thinking it sounded like a Tom Waits song.

* Did you know that not only Sunz Of Man affiliates Shabazz, Dreddy Kruger and Killah Priest made their debut on "Niggamortis", but also Hell Razah? He's one of the guys asking one of the seven questions of "360 Questions to Ask a Gravedigga?".

* Did you know that Prince Paul produced "Diary Of A Madman", and not RNS and RZA as the credits would have you believe? RZA presented Paul with a cassette of that Johnny Mathis loops that his man RNS had done. Paul loved it and even though RNS wanted credit for them to use it he refused to reveal the sample source, forcing Paul to add a beat to the shitty cassette loop. Then he of course tied it all together, Prince Paul style, with the cinematic court scenario. So RNS got credit because of him finding the loop, RZA got credit for presenting the tape and making the connection and Prince Paul got co-production credit for producing the record. That's just how it goes sometimes.

* "Niggamortis" went through several tracklist changes, many of them last minute, as can be realized not only by looking at some of the earlier promo cassettes but also by listening to the "Rest in Peace (Outro)". On this banging outro RZArector agressively takes the mic for a speech that incorporates a lot of the tracks on the album. This however also includes "Freak The Sorceress", "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" and "Pass The Shovel". In the end it was RZA who vetoed against including "Freak...", against Paul's wishes as RZA didn't want to go as disrespectful towards the females while Paul couldn't care less. Luckily, he found a way to put it out anyways as a B-side.

Whether or not you know all of that background info or not (and tons of more information like that), "Niggamortis" has stood the test of the time as a true hip-hop classic. Prince Paul has said many times that it his personal favorite of the records he has done and I'm inclined to agree, it really showed he can do those dark, grimey, hardcore beats with the best of them and you can truly hear how he and RZA really inspired eachother during its making. The hunger in RZA's voice and agressive content is probably his best performance ever and he's on every damn track on this album - between his many styles, my favorites are his early RZArecta shit and the introspective shit he spat on "Wu-Tang Forever", and in fact the second GD project. Frukwan never really got the chance to shine as bright on the Stetsasonic albums but here he just murders everything, and his calmer voice is used as a perfect balance between RZA's and Poetic's wild styles. Which brings us to Poetic, who according to Prince Paul was like the lyrical frontman of the group. He had previously only had gotten to release one 12" on Tommy Boy (and a shelved album called "Droppin' Signal" that is another dope lost gem that remained in the vaults for way too long), though Paul tells about this unbelivable demo that he did with his brother Brainstorm and producer Mr. Sime as Brothers Grymm that made him want to sign him to Dew Doo Man before it folded. Speaking of Mr. Sime, a lot of people have wondered who that guy that produced the classic "Here Come The Gravediggaz" which is pretty much his only production credit on an official release. Paul wanted all the members to be involved on the production side as well - RZA of course did "Graveyard Chamber" and together with the rest of the group created the americna title track; Frukwan produced "Blood Brothers", which was a cut from his demo, though I'm not quite sure how the original record sounded as Paul says that he had to replay a lot of it, mix it down and so on so I guess he should at least have a co-producer credit on it; and as for Poetic's production, since he wasn't really a producer back then (unlike later when he made some absolutely amazing beats on the latter GD projects), he wanted to include a song by Poetic's producer Mr. Sime instead (and according to himself, he was pretty hands off on this one).

Poetic had a style that was unmatched, like ODB there were no father to his style and when The Gravediggaz formed the stars were definitely aligned because few groups can boost about such an incredible chemistry both amongst the emcees and with their producer. And RZArector absolutely murdered everything on this album - Paul tells how he constantly put these two emcees against each other to get the best performances from both, as in telling Poetic "Damn, RZA KILLED you on that, you better do it again", and telling RZA the same but the other way around! And it deifninitely worked! Although the original quartet only did one album, luckily enough they did release a bunch of B-sides, remixes with new vocals, demos and soundtrack joints which makes for a perfect compilation for anyone who want more of that six feet deep hip hop ish. I know I do.. So without further a due, check it out, it's the Graveyard Chamber. I only included songs or remixes done between 1992 and 1995 produced or remixed by one of the original members. Most of them are Prince Paul productions but there's a few slamming RZA cuts on here as well. The exception is the bonus tracks I added that I bet has been forgotten about a lot of people, I know I hadn't heard them for YEARS before putting this together. These are bonus tracks however as I really wanted to focus on Prince Paul's work (and RZA's to a lesser extent) making this a sort of unofficial sister album to "Niggamortis" - included are the Portishead remix of "Nowhere to Run", the excellent Underdog remixes of "Bang Your Head" and "Mommy, What's A Gravedigga?". Last but not least, there's also Big Kap's Flip Squad remix of "1-800 Suicide", not a favorite of mine but maybe many of y'all like it so why not include it? These are all official joints, lifted from the many 12" packs Gee Street released in its promotions, as well as a few other demo joints that Prince Paul let loose on "Hip Hop Gold Dust" and his Soundcloud. There will never be a group like Gravediggaz again so enjoy this slamming complation because I know I am! And if you're mentally dead, these guys got the shovels to dig you out so TURN UP THE VOLUME my friends and let Frukwan, Poetic, RZA and Prince Paul take you on a journey to the darkside; 70 minutes of classic, somewhat rare hip-hop at it's finest! ENJOY this dark shit my friends!!

01. "Intro"
[This into comes from the original Gravediggaz demo tape that Paul shopped around to labels for almost one year without any label wanting to sign them - imagine that. Def Jam passed, Geffen passed, and so on. The only one interested was Eazy E's Ruthless Records, Paul even went down there to meet Eazy and Heller but when he saw the contact he was like "Thanks, but no thanks". The demo included this, "The House That Hatred Built", "Ashes to Ashes", "2 Cups Of Blood", "Pass The Shovel", "Freak The Sorceress" and "1-800 Suicide". Now that's a demo!]

02. "The Houe That Hatred Built" 
[first GD song ever recorded and the track that started it all. This song was made during the quartets first meeting at Pauls house in L.I. It's not as polished as later cuts, though Prince Paul did a band up job of making it sound real clear when he dropped it to his Soundcloud in 2012]

03. "1-800 Suicide - New Vocal Version]"
[This is just incredible, "1-800 Suicide" is one of the classic hip-hop songs of all time, so to hear that same beat and that KRS-One hook always puts chills up my spine. The difference here is that this song, which was relesaed on the but new excellent verses from all]

04. "Mommy What's A Gravedigga - Cali Mix"
[Prince Paul gets his West Coast sound on with this one. Uses the same vocals as the RZA mix, but puts it over that cassic moog synths and heavy LA bass which brings out a totally different sonical feeling of the song. In fact I believe that RZA's remix is the one that the trio recorded their vocals over as that one was released several months earlier on the "1-800 Suicide" 12" in 1994. Paul's mix idefinitely dope but I'd go with the RZA remix any day of the week]

05. "The Reincarnation Of Freud" 
[B-side with Prince Paul showing off his DJ skills, Poetic came up with the name. Damn I miss dope 12" records with all these dope reimixes and B-side]

06. "Pass The Shovel" 
[only included on the original European pressings as a bonus track; one of the first tracks GD ever recorded as a group. Paul didn't even want it on the album either way, but Gee Srtreet was adamant about having one more record for the European market so this was the one. As a standalone it has stood the est of the time obviously]

07. "1-800 Suicide - Poisonous Mix"
[classic RZA '95 production, with Blue Raspberry on vocals. Paul even included this on his production album "Hip Hop Gold Dust" as the only song he didn't produce hismself - saying how this is one of his favorite Poetic verses of all time. There's also a "Guillotine Mix" that's exactly the same beside the fact that RZA's verse is replaced by the one on the "New Vocal Version", see above, which made it seem redudant to include it here]

08. "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark"
[rare classic, that was neither on the demo tape and remained unreleased until 2005 on the aforementioned Prince Paul compilation It's definitely an early GD song though, as engineer Scotty Harding speaking on the original demo remembers his favorite song from that early era being the Craiig G featured "Don't Be Afraid..."]

09. "Michael Jackson Skit"
[it's Prince Paul so of course we need some brilliant skits, and this one is just fucking HILARIOUS despite it's a bit morbid knowing about what happened to the King Of Pop ow but still... Gravediggaz interrogating Jackson about stealing some Gravediggaz tapes from the studio, haha]

10. "From The Darkside"
[released in 1995 on the "Tales From The Darkside" soundtrack, and sees Paul take a step back from production as the song is a co-production between Poetic and Frukwan who obviously snapped up a lot working with two of the abolute best and most innovative proucers of the '90s. While it's a Undertaken and Grimm joint, RZA was present for the ssion as it does features RZA on adlibs (could be an interview except though, but still... I know he endorsed it, as I 've heard him play it his DJ sets]

11. "Freak The Soceress"

[This cut is a fucking monster, RZA's just going at it real hardcore. As I stated above, Prince Paul really wanted this on the record but strangely enough RZA thought it was to misgrading to women (ain't you the guy that made "Maria", "Dometic Violence", "A Better Tomorrow, etc, just to name a few?). Prince Paul managed to sneak it onto the B-side to "Nowhere to Run" though so it's a win for the fans and for Paul!

12. "Constant Elevation - Alternative, Original Vocal Mix"
[RZA recorded two versions of his verse here, and in 2005 Paul released his favorite version of the song that he fighted to keep on the album, but RZA didn't hear it. Paul felt this verse was mch more street while The Abbot felt it was too close to his Tommy Boy created persona Prince Rakeem. Which one do you prefer?]

13. "Diary Of  A Madman - No Courtrom Verision"
[While I of course abolutelely LOVE what Prince Paul did with the original album and single version, it's kind of cool to hear the song inerruped. I wouldn't replace tthe album with it but it's no doubt a very interesting listening to hear this monster track with no interrutoptions]

14. "Mommy What's A Gravedigga" [RZA Mix]
[Prince Paul and RZA both did a mix of the very short album cut "Mommy What's A Gravedigga?" for the Double Suicide Pack 2x12", using brand new vocals and extending it from like 1:30 to a full blown track. I got to say that RZA took home this one, mainting that hardcore Gravedigga vibe of New York, while Paul went more experimental]

15. "Ashs to Ashes" [Demo]                
[Beside the "Intro" and "The House That Hatred Built", "Ahes to Ashes"is the only song from the original 7 track demo that has never appeared anyehwere else. Scotty Harding has revealed that beside making them sound clearer they really didn't do anything to the songs like "2 Cups of Blood" that made it from the demo to the album. And it's fucking sick jam too - only problem is the weak sound quality, but you can't win them all right!]

BONUS TRACKS - Official Remixes by Outsiders
16. "Nowhere to Run to Hide" [Portis Head Mix]
17.  "Bang Your Head" [Underdog Remix]
18. "Mommy What's A Graveigga?" [Uptight Cratedigga Remix]
19. "1-80 Suicide" [Big Kap's Flip Squad Mix]
20. "Nowhere to Run" [Portishead Mix 2]

In memory of Antoy Ian Berkely - one of the moder underrated, and of the geatest to it. Buy Gravediggaz music @ Amazon and iTunes.

GRAVEDIGGAZ - "WHAT'S A GRAVEDIGGA?"

GRAVEDIGGAZ Ft. MF GRIMM - "1-800 Suicide" [Extended Remix]

This song has been floating around for many years and are more often than not written off as an unofficial, but well-crafted, fan made mash-up remix. Well, I got news for the naysayers, this original Gravediggaz and MF Grimm collaboration is an 100% official remix as confirmed by the latter. Probably recorded in early 1995, this was specially made on request from a magazine for a free CD given away with their latest issue and this was the result. I'm not sure if Prince Paul did the beat on this but it's a banging beat to say the least. 

"The magazine did it with the authorization of the group and it was also symbolic because that was the name of Roc Raider, myself (GRIMM REAPER) and B1 The Undertaker", according to Grimm. It's incredible how organic these guys sound together, would love to have had more collabos between both groups like that.

GRAVEDIGGAZ Ft. MF GRIMM - "1-800 Suicide" [Remix]

[COMP] GRAVEDIGGAZ + PRINCE PAUL on "6 FEET DEEP"

My man Pattch82 used to be a frequent collaborator on The Lost Tapes a while back, and is now writing dope interviews for HipHopSite. Among both me and Pattch's all time favorite producers are Prince Paul, and one of the greatest albums of all time is undoubtedly "Niggamortis" a.k.a. "6 Feet Deep", the first album by RZA, Poetic, Fruwan and Paul as The Gravediggaz. In this fantastic interview with Prince Paul, Pattch took the man on a trip down memory lane to extensively discuss the making of that timeless debut. Below you'll find some choice quotes from the interview, and at the bottom of the post you'll find a compilation featurign the Diggaz' original demo tape, some additional B-sides, RZA and Paul remixes, and so on. But I strongly suggest you read the entire interview @ HipHopSite where he actually breaks down all the tracks on the LP. Mad props to Pattch for conducting this beautiful conversation.

HSS: You mentioned that you gathered RZA, Poetic and Frukwan together at your house to discuss the possibility of forming a group. What was that meeting like with the four of you all together for the first time…?
PAUL: I think it was really just guys trying to get to know each other because they knew of each other, but they didn’t know each other. And at the same time they didn’t really know what each others skill level was. So it was a meeting to more or less get them to understand why I’d picked each one of them and what I thought they possessed that I thought would be cool collectively as a group. So it was a lot of playing music and guys giving each other respect for the work they had done. I think once they realised that I didn’t pick any slouches, you know each of them had something to offer, then it just made it a little more relaxed and like ok let’s come up with some ideas and ok, ok you are nice… I see why Paul called you here. It was cool after that and then we came up with the first song, “The House That Hatred Built”, and that was the first thing that we did just all sitting down together after coming up with the concept of what the group was… the Gravediggaz.

HSS: Was the track recorded during that first meeting too…?
PAUL: Yeah if I remember correctly. In the midst of bringing them all together and us sitting and talking and we were like ok the name of the group is Gravediggaz. I thought ok I think I have a beat for that. I had so much music and a lot of the music I was making back then was really dark. I think I was going through some type of weird depression or something so it kinda worked out that the name of the group was Gravediggaz and I had a whole bunch of music that was dark and it was just a track that fit the vibe at the time. The guys came up with stuff and we recorded it. Once everybody heard how they sounded together on one track that made them even more excited to want to work together.

HSS: The demo tape that you recorded, was that done around the same time…?
PAUL: Yeah the demo tape followed right after. Once we had the first initial meeting it was just a matter of getting everybody’s schedule together and figuring out when we all can meet up next. At the first meeting I played music and they liked it, so I gave them some songs, “2 Cups Of Blood” was one of the beats which I thought was just a throwaway track, but I remember RZA was like “YOOOOOO that’s crazy let’s use that!” I’m thinking he’s crazy, you wanna use that?! It’s not even done! So I gave them the beats, put them all on cassette. They took it home, listened to it, and the cool thing is they talked amongst each other without me having to be there, because introducing them is one thing but then for Poetic to reach out and discuss ideas with the others like on this song I’m thinking about doing this or let’s do that… So by the time that they did come back to my house to record we had a good grasp of what needed to be done.

HHS: “Defective Trip (Trippin’)” is next. Who usually came up with the subject matter for each track…? Was it them hearing the beat or did you have a certain topic in mind for each track…?

PAUL: It was both. With some of them the guys would hear it and be like “ok I’m thinking this,” like RZA with “Nowhere To Run, Nowhere To Hide”. With “Defective Trip”, I had that idea; I was like man “let’s talk about trippin’, drugs.” And I thought the beat kinda fit the vibe of trippin’ you know? Kinda spacey a little bit, still funky. I gave them the concept and they just ran with it. That was the cool thing about working with them, we were all able to talk to each other and express an idea without feeling nervous you know, everybody was open so if it was a stupid idea they’d tell you it was stupid… but respectfully, haha. So I came with the concept, they wrote to it and I just added all the stuff around it.

HHS: The next track is “2 Cups Of Blood”, which was originally on the demo tape. Did you re-record that track for the album or did you use the demo recording…?

PAUL: No. A lot of stuff that you hear on the demo tape is actually on the album. So yeah, “2 Cups Of Blood” was recorded at my house, it was recorded on an 8-track cassette Tascam, I had an SM58 microphone, everything that you hear on that record is low budget and we just mixed it at a decent studio to make it sound good. But yeah, that was recorded at the house; Poetic and RZA were going back and forth. I know Frukwan kinda felt left out, I don’t think he was there at the time they recorded the rhymes. I was like “yo it sounds good as it is man, I don’t wanna change it.” Not every song has to be predictable with all the same people all the time. It’s one of my favorite songs, the beat was a mistake but it worked out and I gotta thank RZA for that because he heard something that I didn’t hear.

HHS: “Blood Brothers” is a track that Frukwan produced…

PAUL: Yeah “Blood Brothers”, the original track was on a demo that he had. When I put the group together I listened to it a lot and I liked the beat so much that when we started making the album, I tried to get everybody involved so I was like “yo let’s use that beat that you had”. I think Poetic came with the hook and expressed it to RZA and Frukwan and they just wrote to it and that’s more or less how that one came about. We had to recreate the beat because there was a lot of samples so a lot of it we replayed but we tried to make it sound a lot like a sample.

HHS: “Pass The Shovel” was next, but that track only appeared on certain versions of the album [early European presses when the album was called "Niggamortis"). Was it left off the American release due to sample clearance issues…?

PAUL: Nah I just really didn’t want it on the record you know. That was put on by the recommendation of the label; they wanted another track to put on the UK release. I said ok, but to me it didn’t really fit the theme of how the album went. It was originally a demo that we recorded at the house and then we re-recorded the vocals. I actually like the original demo over the re-recorded one, but that was more to please the label. At the time I felt the beat really didn’t fit where we were going.

HHS: “Diary Of A Madman” is probably one of your best known songs. Can you tell me how the situation with the production credits happened…? Because you actually produced the track right…?
PAUL: Yeah I mean what got it twisted… I’ll explain how it happened… RZA came in with this sample and we were like “yo that’s crazy let’s use that.” RZA was like I don’t know, it’s not mine, I didn’t loop this up my man RNS who lives around my way did it. I was like “yo, ask him if we can use it.” RZA said “man we gonna have to give him credit, we gonna have to break him off a little bit and give him some credit.” I said “yo whatever it takes to get the loop.” So when we looped it, we didn’t even get the real loop, we just took it off the cassette. I said “yo, ask him what the sample is.” He was like… “he got it from a car commercial.” I said what?! Get outta here! RNS wouldn’t disclose what the sample was at the time. So I looped it up and added a beat and stuff to it. I took it, programmed the beat, recorded all the vocals, arranged all the vocals and that’s when I met Shabazz The Disciple and Killah Priest, they came down to the studio. Shabazz heard the beat, just the beat and the loop and he wanted to rhyme on it and he killed it! He was the first one rhyming on that song and the guys didn’t know how to follow it because it was too crazy. There was no concept to the song, just his rhyme. So I had to sit down and figure out how I could make this cohesive because there’s no hook, there’s no concept. So I came up with the courtroom thing and then I wrote out that part. When all the rhymes were on, I put the courtroom part on and I never told them what I was going to do. I played it for all of them and they were like yo, how did you come up with that idea, that’s crazy! How did you link all that together! It was just an idea I came up with. I took it, recorded the vocals, mixed it and at the end of the day I didn’t care about credit, I just worried about the record getting out. Technically RNS was never there, we used his sample and it was through RZA because it was RZA’s connect so then RZA got credit but the person who actually put the whole song together was me, haha. So I never got the proper credit, but I didn’t care. If it’s gonna take RNS to get credit for this so we can use the sample, because it was dope and I had no idea what it was, RZA had no idea what it was, so RNS was the only person that had a link to that sample. Now I know what it is, but back then I didn’t know what it was. It all worked out. So when I see people like oh RNS and RZA killed the track… I’m like what?! Even the production sounds like me, you can tell. RZA and RNS ain’t gonna come up with the whole courtroom scene, it’s not their style. But it all worked out in the end, haha.

HHS: So what are your overall thoughts on the album now…?
PAUL: I’m still satisfied with this record; it’s probably my favorite record that I’ve done and I don’t like too many records that I produced. I think the records I’ve done are ok, but that one I listen to and I enjoy it from front to back. When I listen to the album it’s a little different for me because I hear all of the production and all the hard work. I’m sure it would be ok if I came to the studio, did the rhymes and then I’m gone… but I pieced a lot of that together so when I listen to it I’m usually like wow I can’t believe I did that and the equipment I did it on. Now everything is done via computer. I did everything on DAS-950’s, I had a sequencing program called Master Tracks and I used the SP-12, did things by writing stuff down on paper and numbers. There were no screens to look at and move things so it was hard. So when I listen to it I appreciate a lot of the hard work. When I listen to it I miss Poetic because throughout the whole project me and him were probably the closest, he was a Long Island dude, we talked all the time. It was nice at the end of the day for guys like Poetic and Frukwan, them especially, to be able to buy cars, take care of their families. So for me to help provide that, to me that was a better feeling.

As mentioned before, there's a lot more interesting stuff from Pattch's and Paul's conversation; so please head over to HipHopSite.com and read the full thing! And also check out this lil' Gravediggaz compilation below peeps!

GRAVEDIGGAZ - "DEMOS, B-SIDES, SKITS & DEATH"

01. "Intro" (Demo)
02. "Aah Here Come The Gravediggaz" (Demo)
03. "Freak the Sorceress" (Demo)
04. "Pass The Shovel" (Demo)
05. "2 Cups Of Blood" (Demo)
06. "Ashes to Ashes" (Demo)
07. "1-800 Suicide: Partial" (Demo)
08. "The House That Hatred" (Demo)
09. "From The Darkside" (Ft. Craig G)
10. "Michael Jackson Skit"
11. "1-800 Suicide" [Poisonous Mix]
12. "Mommy, What's A Gravedigga" [RZA Mix]
13. "Freak The Sorceress"
14. "Pass The Shovel"
15. "1-800 Suicide" [New Vocal Version]
16. "Mommy What's A Gladiator" [Cali Mix]
17. "Reincarnation Of Freud"

DOWNLOAD COMPILATION 

GRAVEDIGGAZ - "House That Hatered Built"

Here's a sick halloween treat from Prince Paul to all the Gravediggaz heads out there. The track is called "The House That Hatred Built" and according to Paul this was actually the first track the quartet ever recorded together, back in 1992. This is nothing but raw, uncut hip-hop perfection right here! "It was the intro to our demo and it was actually recorded the day I introduced these guys to each other at my house . This track never made the album but It was one of my favorite productions. This was the track that started it all .. RIP Poetic . Enjoy!"

The house that hatred built ( Unreleased Gravediggaz demo 92 ) by DJ Prince Paul