[Slept On Classics / EP Comp] LL COOL J - "14 Shots To The Dome"

LL Cool J has had a pretty strange career and these days he's almost all absolte (although I was one of the few who actually found a lot to like on "Exit 13"), but his early work from 1985 to 1995 brought him up to legendary status and that can never be taken away from him. From his incredible debut "Radio" which revolutionized the way Hip Hop was supposed to sound with its minimalist production (reduced by Rick Rubin), the young LL's sure shot flow and cocky lyrics delivered with that unmistakable voice and flow - man that was something else. "BAD" was another good album, but it didn't quite pack the punch of his debut although it featured several cuts that was on the same level as the debut. The rauncy lyrics was still there, and having switched producers to the L.A. Posse which featured the extremely talented and severely underrated DJ Bobcat, a long wwith Dwayne Simmons and sometimes DJ Pooh the album featured an unmistakable raw sound best exemplified on the title track, the fun rock anthem meets DJ extravaganza "Go Cut Greator Go", the storytelling (although basic) on "The Bristol Hotel" and "My Rhyme Ain't Done" and the powerhouse performance of "Ahh, Let's Get Ill". This was LL's true breakthrough album and the main reason was both it's strenghts and biggest failure - "I Need Love". A sugar sweet love serenade, not much more hardcore than anything from Michael Boltons catalouge it had girls going crazy but alienated many of his street fans that came up on "Rock The Bells", "I Can't Live Without My Radio" and "I Need A Beat". The success of "I Need Love" would be a blessing and a curse if I ever saw  one - it gave LL's first real hit single, and it made him realize that he should go after the ladies more with these sugar sweet hip-hop ballads. On the other hand, I respect it because it was a niche that hadn't been done to that extreme before and it was imporant in thoe days that each big rapper had a gimmick or niche of his or their own.

The follow-up "Walking With A Panther" was as misguided as can be on so many levels, and it showed a clear disconnect on what LL thought his fans wanted from him and what society in large wanted from an Hip Hop emcee at that time. The cover sported him with a black panther, clearly trying to casch in on the Black Power movement label mates like Public Enemy was fully immersed in. The problem was that except for a couple of Bomb Squad productions the album was filled with braggadocious rhymes and songs aimed for the ladies. And on top of that he cut the two best tracks from the LP - the Rick Rubin produced "Going Back To Cali", "Jack The Ripper" and the classic LL "Crime Stories" (they all turned up on the cassette only). With this LP people were definitely counting out Uncle LL, but as the artist he was he wasn't let one wack album halt his career. Instead he got with the hottest producers of day; fellow Queens/Juice Crew superstar Marley Marl and produced one of the best comeback albums hip-hop has ever seen in "Mama Said Knock You Out" - it featured "Around The Way Girl", but that was more New Jack Swing than sugary ballad and otherwise it was filled with hardcore Hip Hop joints, impeccable lyricism, funky beats, and one of the most powerful Hip Hop singles ever recorded - the title track, produced by Bobcat and Marley Marl. This was a triumphant return if I ever saw one!

But how do you follow up such greatness? LL continued working with Marley Marl and Bobcat (as well as relative newcomer QDIII), and right from the first track - "This Is How I'm Comin'" with it's powerhouse knockout of a beat, pounding bassline and agressive flow it was clear that this was an attempt to create "Mama Said..." the sequel. To my ears it certainly works, I absolutely love that record to death. There were some suspect cuts like "Pink Cookies In A Plastic Bag Gettin' Crushed By Buildings" (you'd have to look for a more hamfisted metaphor - the remix by Easy Mo Bee which was used by Easy Mo Bee was straght fire though), "Stand By Your Man" and "Back Seat Of My Jeep". The main criticms of the album at the time was that critics and some fans felt that LL was overly influenced by Treach of Naughty By Nature and tried to become somewhat of a thug rapper. To me this was never a problem, at all, LL is a actually a good actor and when he rhymes stuff like "Saber tooth, the truth/ Ha-coot, spit the juice!/ And let the hot ass lead loose and let it fly/ Betty bye bye if you're ready to die" I don't feel he's more inauthentic than the vast majority of these studio gangsters out here everywhere. And he got the flow and beats to back it up - matter of fact, flow wise and some of the production is even heavier than it's masterpiece of a predecessor.

I'm writing this post to give the album the credit I think it really deserves as it has been put down so much. I can imagine alot of people in this day and age have considered buying it, looked at the reviews and felt that it wasn't for them. But tracks like the [uncredited] K-DEF productions "Funkadeli Relic", "Straight From Queens" and the Lords Of The Underground assissted "No Frontin' Allowed" stands among LL's most fierce productions of all time and I can't see how any LL fan can dismiss these bangers out of hand like that. Not to mention the album closer "Crossroads" - a continatuion of the final track of "Mama Said..." ("The Power Of God") but with LL going much deeper showing that he's far from a a one- or two trick pony, and all set over one of Bobat's most ambitious productions of all time. Here's what he had to say about its making - "One of the greatest records that LL and I have ever done is called “Crossroads” and it’s on that album. I used a full harmonic orchestra on that record in New York. We used 105 tracks on this song. This song is the most complex and unbelievable masterpiece I have ever created ... Go back and listen to that. I personally know that it would have taken LL’s career to the next level because you know you can only stay at a street level or mainstream level for so long and then it’s over with. You’ve got to go somewhere else with your sound and that song I believe would have taken him to that next level." (Source) It's the perfect album closer to an already intense albums that showed more range from LL than perhaps any other album he's done either since and when LL stopped working with DJ Bobcat and Marley Marl he only had one truly great album left in him ("Mr. Smith" - though I know that's debatable to some). The only true missteps of the album is that they couldn't include K-DEF's absolutely mindblowing creation for the album "Year Of The Hip Hop" and the oriiginal Dr. Butcher version of "Soul Survivor"... Oh well, you can't win them all!

If you are or used to be a fan of LL and had heard a lot about bad things about this, or just dismissed it out of hand on its original release be sure to give it another chance because to my mind this and "Mama Said Knock You Out" are sister albums and perhaps LL's three finest albums along with "Radio". One thing's for sure, he pumped out true quality classics for a 10 year period then had some quality albums and singles throughout the years so no matter how much BS he continues to release at this point he will always be a legend in my mind. Below you'll find a selection of five songs that are either remixes of songs on the album (the three first songs), one song that didnä't make the final cut because of sample clearance issues and a 1993 remix he did as a favor to Mary J. Blige feauring a short LL verse which I added as a bonus to this EP comp. Enjoy!

01. "Pink Cookies" [Easy Mo Bee Remix]
02. "Stand By Your Man" [Hip Hop Remix 1]
03. "Stand By Your Man " [Hiip Hop Remix 2]
04. "Year Of The Hip Hop"
05. "Mary Jnae (All Night Long Remix)"  [*]

LL COOL J - "5 MORE SHOTS TO YOUR DOME" (1993)

[Future Flavas Throwback] PRODIGY & BIG NOYD

I've been going through a lot of classic moments from Pete Rock and Marley Marl's legendary Future Flavaz show in the late '90s and might very well post one of my favorites every now and then. First out is this absolutely mindblowing Prodigy and Big Noyd killing it over an unreleased Pete Rock or Marley Marl instrumental. This was most likely recorded in early '99 as P's first verse would later turn up on "Murda Muzik", the real gems here are the superb Noyd verse and especially the final Prodigy verse where he heartfelt touches on his sickle cell disease. To my knowledge none of these verses have never been released on anything before or since despite themd definitely needing to be heard. A big shout out and major thanks to my man Brandon aka Crates of Jr. for the upload, be sure to visit his excellent blog Collector's Item as well!

[Comp] MARLEY MARL - "The Godfather Of QB"

Marley Marl... The name alone invokes an aura of respect even for thie most casual hip-hop fan, at least one should hope so. Hip Hop as we know it today owe a whole lot to Marlon Williams and his many contributions to the culture. Not only is he the true pioneer of sampling records in the way that would soon after become the staple of making rap music, his ear for talent helped bring some of the greatest emcees and producers of all time to the forefront, including Pete Rock, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, Tragedy Khadafi, and so on. Not to mention his love for pure street shit that is so often displayed on his incredible Future Flavaz radio show. But all this is well known to anyone that's familiar with his history. 

So while many of his early production work for legends like LL and Biz Markie are generally considered all time classics it seems that fewer heads hold his later joints in the same high regard. This is bullshit, Marley Marl never fell off for a second, and should proudly be mentioned among other giants like DJ Premier, Diamond D and Pete Rock. His more recent album with KRS-One wasn't that well received as far as I know, but if you ask me that LP is a fucking monster that I urge all my readers to revisit ASAP. It's been a while since I made a compilation for The Lost Tapes and I never ever done one focusing on Marl's work before. For the reasons stated before the focal point of this comp is Marley Marl's production work from the mid-'90s onwards, and on strictly hardcore shit at that. No R&B remixes, just hard cooked bangers with a lot of Queensbridge emcees holding it down. So download this knocking compilation, press play and turn that volume up LOUD while the Godfather of Queensbridge guides you through 70 minutes of pure hardcore Hip Hop. Another Lost Tapes exclusive!

01. Kamakazee - "Bridge '95"

02. Troy SLUGS & Capone - "What U Hold Down"

03. Capone-N-Noreaga / Tragedy Khadafi / Mobb Deep - "LA LA [Kuwait]"

04. Noreaga / Kool G Rap / Musolini - "40 Island"

05. Kool G Rap / KL - "With A Bullet"

06. Killa Sha - "Nightshiftin'"

07. Nas - "Bridging The Gap" [Remix]

08. PHD / Havoc / Kamakazee - "Set It Part 3" [Remix]

09. Kamakazee - "Head On"

10. Pop Da Brown Hornet - "Follow Me Up" [Marley Marl Remix]

11. Imam THUG / Tragedy Khadafi - "QB2G"

12. Fat Joe - "Find Out"

13. Killa Sha - "Black Dracula"

14. Kool G Rap - "$ Ova Bitches"

15. Capone-N-Noreaga / Tragedy Khadafi / Mobb Deep - "LA LA [Iraq] 

16. Screwball / Havoc / Cormega - "On The Real"

17. Truck Turner / Kool G Rap / Big Pun / KRS-One - "Symphony 2000"

MARLEY MARL - "THE GODFATHER OF QB"

[DOCUMENTARY] TRAGEDY - "The Story Of Queensbridgde"

For my two first posts of 2015, as well as taking this time to wish all of my readers a terrific new year ahead of us all, you know I had to come with the big guns. First out is something that many of y'all have probably seen before although i know me myself has been looking for the full version of this for a long ass time, since the versions I constantly found always cut off after 68 minutes or something like that and had French subtitles. I'm talking about the excellent Brook Simms 2005 documentary on Tragedy Khadafi, who you should know by now is one of my all time favorites, "Tragedy: The Story of Queensbridge". YouTube user Hallvard Fauske Ekdahl has uploaded the, in my opinion, ever made on Queensbridge hip-hop as Tragedy pretty much inspired the major players of QB, from the Juice Crew, to Nas, to CNN, to Mobb Deep, to Cormega, Killa Sha, and so on. The narrative takes us through Trag's young days working as The Super Kids with DJ Hot Day, as the solo artist Intelligent Hoodlum, with the major underrated classics "Intelligent Hoodlum" and "Saga of a Hoodlum" under his belt, to his work with Capone-N-Noreaga creating "The War Report" and his long running solo career as Tragedy Khadafi, and much more. If you've never seen this before you are in for a REAL TREAT, a major shout out to Ekdahl again for the upload, and also be sure to support Trag's new street album "Pre-Magnum Opus" which is out now on iTunes. The video won't embed so head over to the playlist (which also includes two bonus footage), and has an all over running tme of about 85 minutes.

"TRAGEDY - THE STORY SAGA OF QUEENSBRIDGE"

[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!

REDMAN - "Rockin' With Marley Marl"

Official new heat from Redman and Marley Marl! "Muddy Waters 2" still on the way, and it's looking like we're getting a prequel tape to boost.

[Comp] PHD (The Poet & DJ Hot Day) - "Non Album Tracks"

Another slamming Lost Tapes compilation is here for the real hip-hop heads to enjoy! This is one I can't take credits for as it was compiled and uploaded by Debonair P, a very good producer in his own right, who here has collected all non-album tracks by the early-'90s Queensbridge duo known as PHD. For those who don't know PHD was an emcee/producer DJ made up of two real 'Bridge legends, the legendary DJ Hot Day and the too often, still to this day, overlooked rugged emcee these days known as Blaq Poet. The latter is still going pretty hot, releasing an almost classic album with DJ Premier on production back in 2009 called "Tha Blaqprint" and the stellar 2006 solo effort "Rewind: Defja Screw". Since then he has dropped several less stellar albums with producers like Stu Bangas and Vanderslice. On the other side of the spectrum, DJ Hot Day has slowly been coming back to the mainstream, at least as he was one of the mian producers of one of the standouts on Nas Jones' masterpiece "Life is Good" album - on "Reach Out" which featured Mary J. Blige and strived to really capture the block parties vibe in Queensbridge back when guys like these were coming up. He's also reunited a couple-three times times with Cormega on "The True Meanign" and "My Brother's Keeper".

Having released some hard but forgotten 12":s together with producer Norman Rockwell, and mix engineer all star Marley Marl, in the late '80s, it was first when Blaq (then known as just The Poet) hooked up with DJ Hot Day in early '91 that he truly started to come into being an artist that could his own. The same can be said for Hot Day as he had been Tragedy Khadafi's original DJ in The SuperKids before they disbanded around 1987, following Marley snapping up Tragedy for a solo deal, and later released an album called "It's My Turn" in 1989. Despite being a solid effort, it failed to capture the attention of  neither the hood or the suburbs - interesting trivia is that album featured the first ever apperance by Cormega on wax, as he appeared on the posse cut "Going Straight Up"). Slightly reminiscent of the saga of The Gravediggazs, Poet and Hot Day came together and formed PHD somewhat as a response to the way their musical careers had been handled by the corporations, resulting in they both having something to prove to listeners and to the industry as a whole. And the chemistry between the two is unuqestionably there throughout, although they were still honing their skills and getting better every time. The result was one album from the duo after being signed to Tuff City, the early hardcore QB shit not too dissimiliar to what Trag was doing with his Intelligent Hoodlum albums. People saying that Mobb Deep and Nas invented the QB sound we hear today need to get a reality check; all they did was add their own spin to it and take it to the next level but the seeds had been planted through several acts already. The 1991 album was called "Without Warning" and it's twelve tracks, entirely produced by Hot Day, still to this day stand as a testament on just how booming this LP was botj tjem amd now with the perspective of the past. If you haven't heard the album for before and isn't one of those hip-hop fans that can't listen to hip-hop made prior to 1994 this one comes highly recommended, if not for anything else, then at least you should be able to appecaite it's historical weight.

For this compilation Debonair P has collected all non-album tracks ever released by PHD (a.k.a. Poet and Hot Day) as a group, including instrumentals on the projects "B-side" so to speak, and it's of course an all around great listen. This was made possible since Tuff City continued releasing PHD tracks they had in their vaults on 12" singles and EP:s all the way into '96 - it's obvious that they owned the masters, but I wonder if they had the group's  content. Either way you don't want to miss it, so a huge thanks goes out to Debonair for this comp! If you haven't heard Debonair's music before I'm sure you'll be very thrilled by the recent EP he did with mid-'90s East Coast underground phenomenon Omniscence called "Sharp Objects". Well 'nuff talk for the time being, so be sure to download this ASAP, take a trip down memory lane in the Queensbridge section of Queens and of course... TURN IT UP!!!

01. "This is For My Peeps" ["This is For My Peeps / Set it Off" 12"]

02. "I'm Flippin': Vocal Remix" ["I'm Flippin'" 12"]

03. "Life On The Edge: Remix"

04. "Let The EP Kick" ["EP" VLS]

05. "I'm Flippin: Video Remix" ["I'm Flippin'" 12"]

06. "Bringing Forth Terror" ["EP" VLS]

07. "This is For My Peeps: Remix"

08. "Keep It Real: Remix" [**] ["Keep it Real Remix" 12"]

09. "Concrete Jungle" ["Keep It Real Remix" 12"]

10.  "Set It" (Ft. Havoc, Kamikazee & Legacy)  ["This is For My Peeps / Set It"12"]

11. "Kick That Shit & Get High" [***] [" Kick That Shit / "The Grand PO" 12"]

12. "Set It Pt. 3" (Ft. Havoc, Hostyle, & Legacy) [***]  ["Set It Pt. 3" 12"]

13. "I Am The Authentic" [***] ["Set It Pt. 3 12"]

14. "The Grand P.O." [***] ["Kick That Shit / "The Grand PO" 12"]

15-27. INSTRUMENTAL VERSIONS of MOST TRACKS

All tracks produced and mixed by DJ Hot Day, except

[**] Remix and additional production by Sha (formerly of Horror City)

[***] Produced and mixed by Marley Marl

PHD - "Non Album Cuts: The early 1990s sessions + Instrumentals"

[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] BIG DADDY KANE - "Wrath Of Kane"

Few debut albums packs the punch of Big Daddy Kane's 1988 classic "Long Live The Kane". Kane had originally started out lurking in the background, writing and/or co-writing some of his good friend Biz Markie's best songs (including the immortal "Vapors") and acting the hype man. As soon as he convinced Marley Marl to let him record some songs of his own it quickly became clear that Kane was not only Young, Gifted and Black but also that he was a rap superstar in the making. Coupled with the super funky, bottom heavy beats by Marley, Kane would showcase a rapid fire flow and intense delivery without ever missing a beat. In fact his delivery was often hype and calm at the same time, making rhyme sound as natural as breathing for the young emcee. Jaw dropping lyrical exercises like his solo singles "Raw" and "Ain't No Half Steppin'" instantly made him a favorite amongst true hip-hop connoisseurs and street dwellers. At the same time his smooth voice, good looks and appreciation for the fairer sex (displayed on jams like "The Day You're Mine" and "I'll Take You There") made him a favorite amongst the female crowd as well. Puff Daddy and BIG would later look to "Long Live the Kane" as a sort of blueprint for creating "Ready to Die", another classic album that perfected the balance between the hardcore and the sexy without falling in neither the studio gangsta trap or watering down the music with corny pop tracks. And the influence on BIG is just one example, listening to Kane's debut it's quite amazing how much of the albums lyrics have been sampled, flipped and borrowed by everyone from Jay-Z to GZA, ODB to Gang Starr, and so on.

While Big Daddy Kane never even to this day have lost his lyrical ability , he would never again sound as amazing and comfortable rhyming as  he did on the 1988 Cold Chillin' debut. Kane also had a good ear for music and would often bring ideas to his producer Marley Marl, who did a marvelous job of flipping those samples, creating unforgettable hip-hop bangers by sparking up old jams by The Emotions, ESG, Bobby Byrd, Booker T, and of course James Brown. It was a sure shot way to make certain heads would be kept nodding and feets tapping while ears peaked to Kane's every word. Although Kane has been quoted as saying that there were at times quite a lot of tension in the studio between the two, for the listener it was a match made in hip-hop heaven. And sometimes when two people have to fight for their ideas create the strongest music as was likely the case here. Big Daddy Kane was for example unaware that a new mix of "Raw" would be used for the album, as he told Brian Coleman in his excellent "Check The Technique". Using the same beat Marley decided to use parts of Kane's verses from the original demo session which also featured Kool G Rap (that legendary version is also featured in full in the compilation below). In the end Kane was happy with the results.

As was the custom for an LP in the '80s "Long Live the Kane" consisted of only ten tracks and a running time of roughly 45 minutes. Simply put, just enough to satisfy the listener, but at the same time to short not to leave a striking hunger for more. While revisiting Kane's debut extensively the last couple of weeks, I realized that there was enough B-sides, demos and unreleased material that captured that same magic chemistry created between Marley Marl and Big Daddy Kane in 1988. Focusing only on tracks produced between 1987 and 1989 in collaboration between this duo, the aim of this nine track compilation is to create a little companion piece to the herein discussed album. A few of these songs were even recorded for "Long Live The Kane" ("Something Funky" and "This is For Your Own Concern" to be exact), while the majority of the others are B-sides to singles from the album. When the label pushed for the laid back ladies anthem "I'll Take You There", Kane headed back to the studio to record "Wrath Of Kane" to at least have something more rugged for the street cats on the flip. The only perhaps "controversial" decision is the inclusion of "Young Gifted & Black" as it actually appeared on "It's Hard Being the Kane", but seeing as it's still a collaboration between Kane and Marley in the given time frame I found it interesting to hear it in this setting. The version of "Rap Summary (Lean On Me)" heard here, however, is the original version of the song from the "Wrath Of  Kane" 12" (1988) rather than the Marley remix from the aforementioend LP. 

With that being said, this is undoubtedly a great way to kill 40 minutes of your time and I hope it will be as pleasurable to y'all to listen to as it is for me. So let's take a trip down memory lane with Marley Marl and Big Daddy Kane, two of the greatest to ever touch a microphone and a sampler, respectively. And while I'm at it, don't forget that these cats both have relatively new projects out on the market right now. Big Daddy Kane's group with singer Showtyme and live band Lifted Crew released their official debut "Back to the Future" last year, while Marley produced the entirety of Lords Of The Underground latest EP, "LOTUG 20, Vol. 1" only a couple of months ago. So go and support the legends! And last but not least, a big shout out and thanks to DJ Mike Nice and anybody else responsible for digging up these gems.

01. "Get Into It"

02. "The Wrath Of Kane"

03. "Something Funky"

04. "For Your Own Concern"

05. "Young, Gifted & Black"

06. "Rap Summary (Lean On Me)"

07. "Raw: Original Demo Version" (Ft. Kool G Rap)

08. "The Symphony" (Ft. Master Ace, Craig G & Kool G Rap)

09. "Word to the Mother (Land): Outro" [Original 12" Mix]

BIG DADDY KANE - "¨WRATH OF KANE"

[Slept-On LP + EP] LL COOL J - "14 Shots to the Dome"

Following the 1990 release of LL Cool J's "comeback" album "Mama Said Knock You Out" LL was once again at the top of his game. When an artist of LL's stature who's been succesful for cose to ten years want to switch it up a bit too much, the fans and record buying public might want to find negative aspects of a sophomore project like this to hold on to - in turn making it a flop. This was the case with LL's 1993 album "14 Shots to the Dome" which is something that has always suprised me. Personally I got nothing but love for this LP and counts it as just another in a long list of powerful, consequtive LL albums - his last good allround release to me was the following '95 release, "Mr. Smith" but I'll save that for another post. "14 Shots" is far from a perfect masterpiece but as it was the first LL album that I truly fell in love with it still remains one of my favorites.

I hold "Mama Said Knock You Out" as one of the finest records ever put on wax, and the deep bass, high energy and agressive flow that introduces this LP with "How I'm Comin'" always got me in the same mood as the anthem-like title track of its predecessor. You got the breakneck beats, horns, the pounding drum programming and an agressive and self-sure LL doing what he does best - hardcore hip-hop. In fact Marley Marl, who was responsible for the entirety of "Mama...", produces half of the album, while Bobby "Bobcat" Ervin is responsible for four songs (and QDIII the remaining) - now that's a true all-star team that can give an artist exactly what type of music he needs for a particular song. While Marley never quite reach the heights of the previous LP:s finest moments, he always comes through and at this point there's no question that he and LL had a great chemistry going in the studio.

If you're not familiar with Bobcat he's produced plenty of powerful singles for LL in the past ("I Am Bad", "I Need Love" (in fact the majority of "B.A.D."), co-production on "Mama Said...", and many more). One of the most powerful songs amongst Bobcat's production comes with the album closer, "Crossroads", where he utilizes a full choir and a symphony orchestra over a pounding boom bap production that'll have necks swinging. At the time using live instrumentation was a new method for LL, yet it works extremely well. As if that wasn't enough, LL takes the hectic backing to spit in an agressive double-time flow; three impressive rhymes about the state of the World today. A song somewhat reminiscent of its predecessesors album closer in "The Power of God". While that track was more laid-back, this is a full-blown assault on the social state of the world and one of the LP:s heaviest tracks..

Just like Marley did, Bobby "Bobcat" Ervin also proves what an an amazing team he and LL formed on cuts like the drum, bass and turntable heavy "Ain't No Stoppin'". You got LL's classic bragadocious rhymes which over Bobcats high-powered instrumental is a classic in the making. This is pure '93 hip-hop, boom bap shit with a fat hook, slamming verses, lots of scratch work and small bits and pieces of a guitar line and a small vocal sample. The final Battlecat joint comes close to the end and bare the title "Diggy Down" - Another strong cut, featuring much of the same elements as the aforementioned 'Cat productions, showing LL going hard over an especially heavy bass line, that's underlined by powerful drum programming and accentuated by cuts and the occassional vocal sample. All the while, while this ain't exactly the type of track we're used to hear LL on, the New York legend sounds as fresh as they come here.

Half the album is produced by Marley Marl, who of course did all of the "Mama Said...." album and much of it sounds like what he and his protogé K-Def laced for acts like World Renown, Sah-B, Da Youngstas, and so on around this time. In fact an uncredited K-Def produced the Lords Of The Underground collaboration "NFA (No Frontin' Allowed"); he was also responsible for an excellent track entitled "Year Of The Hip-Hop" that unfortunately was scrapped from the final LP - though it was released on a limited 10" single a couple of years back. While we all know that Marley Marl is one hell of a producer, it's interesting that he has at a few times been taking credit for songs that he didn't at all conceive. A more recent example is the "Next Up" joint with Kane and G Rap on UGK's "Underground Kingz" LP which was built around an instrumental found on K-Def's "WIllie "Boo Boo" The Fool". 

There's also a few tracks from QDIII on here, who brings some welcome West Coast flavor to selected parts of the album, showing LL's versatility on the microphone; although I must say that these are probably my least favorite joints on the project. But anyway this is an album that favorably can be listened to front-to-back; preferably in a good pair of headphones. An interesting fact is that there apparantly was an original version of "Soul Survivor" that was a lot rawer, and produced by Dr. Butcher, which appeared on a DJ Doo Wop tape in early '93. That version has unfortunately never officially leaked. but you can count on me being out there hunting for it. 

Another interesting thing worth mentioning is the Marley produced single "Pink Cookies Gettin' Crushed By Buildings". While the original was a smooth funk banger, the true gem is the Easy Mo Bee remix that LL choose to use for the song's video. To me this should be the album version as it is far stronger than Marley's original and the melody is both addictive and works even better in complementing LL's verses. But overall this album, like it's predecessor is mainly done for the streets. It's clear that LL has been inspired by the type of hip-hop that Lords Of The Underground and Naughty By Nature were doing at the time, both in flow and beat selection, but at the same time pretty much all acts of the time would never dieny the impact LL's music had on them. In that token with LL making an album like this the circle is brought full. Unfortunately, when it was first released the album caught a lot of flack (probably because many felt LL tried too much to keep up wiith the hardcore sound of the East that was prominent at the time) but I believe that its slowly getting more and more accepted and even starting to gain a cult following. And rightfully so. If you haven't banged this in a while, I strongly suggest you dust off your copy and let it bang LOUD. For me, after this and the also underrated "Mr. Smith", he never again released an album that's worth listening to front-to-back. If you don't own the album you can listen to it via Spotify or purchase it from iTunes, or Amazon. I also added a little bonus EP for you're listening pleasure, featuring B-sides and remixes of the original album tracks as well as a few soundtrack joints from the era.

LL COOL J - "14 Shots to the Dome: EXTRAS" EP

01. "Pink Cookies in A Plastic Bag" [Easy Mo Bee Mix]

02. "Stand By Your Man" [Hip-Hop Mix #2]

03. "Strickly Business"

04. "Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf"

05. H.E.A.L. - "Heal Yourself"
06. "Year Of The Hip-Hop"

LL - "14 Shots to the Dome" <<Extras>>

MARLEY MARL Presents LORDS OF THE UNDERGROUND - "The 20th Anniversary Collection, Volume One"

Had it not been for my man ANT I would have completely missed out on this as it seems a lot of peeps have. I'm talking about the new Lords of the Underground shit, released in celebration of the trio's 20 year anniversary as recording artists. The seven track EP which is available from iTunes now is the first of a three volume set entirely produced by Marley Marl which of course is making this reunion even more interesting (where's K-Def at though?). Up top you can check out the single "Bumpin' Loud" while you'll find "Magic" embeded below - NICE! Support The Lords by picking up "The 20th Anniversary Collection, Vol. 1" @ iTunes now.

[Promo Tape] KAMAKAZEE - "Heads On"

Some releases that I get from some exclusive sources I definitely keep to myself without posting them here, but being that Screwball is one of my favorite groups of all time and the same goes for many of my close friends. Plus this is definitely The Lost Tapes material and I've been searching for this for eons so I feel I need to post it. But I gotta give credit where credit is due, this is by no means a promo rip of mine but something for the The T.R.O.Y. Blog which was ripped and uploaded by Skater4041 (link #1) and the second rip was forwared to me by my man Fritz, also from the T.RO.Y. community. So all thanks to those guys, I'm truly grateful to them because this is fantastic to finally hear!

In 1995 Kamakazee, a duo consisting of Screwball members KL (R.I.P.) and Kyron, worked hard with Marley Marl and to some extent the extended House Of Hits crew (Blackcat and K-Def did a track or two each I believe), and it definitely got that rugged, dirty New York golden era mid-'90s sound. The album was called "Heads On" and was supposed to be released on Reprise Records, but unfortunately the project got shelved, but not until at least one very rare promo tape of the LP had been sent out to some DJ:s and magazines for reviews and promotion. The tape features 12 cuts, it's hard to say if the final album would include more material but considering that it clocks in at 51 minutes I think this is the way it was supposed to be - possibly with some additional interludes, intros, outros, and such. This is a must listen to for KL, Kyron and Screwball heads and will be in my rotation for a long time, although I can see why the label wouldn't quite believe in it as it has no commercial potential whatsoever hehe... Again, so many thanks goes out to Skater4041 and the fam @ The TROY community (the picture up top is also borrowed from there post which is linked above). TURN IT UP!!

01. "Snakes In The Grass"

02. "Spread It Around"

03. "Da Rocks Y'all"

04. "Shakedown"

05. "Goodlife"

06. "Mo Muder, Mo' Crime"

07. "House O' Hitz Crew"

08. "Rhyme Crime Profession"

09. "Orgy Style"

10. "Devastating"

11. "Head On"

12. "Bridge '95"

KAMAKAZEE - "HEAD ON" (RIP #1)

KAMAKAZEE "HEAD ON" (RIP #2)

[Shelved Classics] WORLD RENOWN - "THE LP"

Between 1993 and 1995 House Of Hitz was pumping out boom bap classics like there were no tomorrow, with main producers Marley Marl and K-DEF dropping hot singles and albums for everyone from LL Cool J, Lords Of The Underground, Intelligent Hoodlum, Da Youngsta's, Monie Love, Heavy D, and many more. In 1995 two limited 12" singles of previosuly unreleased songs from those sessions was released over the coming years. World Renown was the perfect House Of Hits duo as they brought that raw hip-hop, and the singles had some serious underground hit potential. '94's "How Nice I Am" quickly became a mixtape favorite, and the funky K-Def opus still remains a DJ favorite to this day. With a strong undergroun buzz, the track was soon followed by another 12" single, the smooth "Come Take A Ride". The doule-A side single featuring the best of both the East and the West's respective popular sounds of the day as Marley Marl's original mix oozed of traditional funky breakbeat magic, while the remix, provided by K-Def and Blackcat, was fittingly titled the West Coast Revibe and incorporated elements of moog synthesizers, heavy bass line and intense drum programming that was the perfect version you'd want to hear when cruising on a hot summer day.

Both singles were released on Warner Brothers Records, and due to the buzz surrounding them, the duo was around early 1995 given a one-album deal contract with the label. World Renown was a rhyming duo consisting of hip-hop royalty, at least when taking into account their family ties. The project which was self-titled, included interludes, and was given a Warner Bros. catalouge number (WB.4/2-45715). Unfortunately, as so many lost mid'-90s albums that border on classic material, the LP, despite being completed and given a few ads in various hip-hop magazines, "World Renown" remains shelved to this day and it's doubtful if that will ever change. New Jersey emcee Seven Shawn is the cousin of producer K-Def, while emcee John Doe of New York had the same bloodties to Marley Marl. Not suprisingly, the pair started recording their self-titled album at The House Of Hitz, in th the good company of production partners Marley, K-Def, and friend and newcomer Blackcat. At least for some of the tracks the mixdown was handled by Frank Heller, with the executive production asssigned to Marley Marl, Benny Medina, Peter Edge, and Nicole Bernard. The album was completed, with Shawn, Doe and their producers completing at least sixteen tracks.

Some songs have been harder to come by than expected, but thanks to those who ripped the second, even rarer promo LP (peace to my brothers over @ the T.R.O.Y. forums), I have here managed to collect all known songs recorded by the group around this time; adding both A-sides of the singles, using all exclusive tracks from both separate promos, fixed the sequence after my own liking, and even added a quite rare bonus track produced by 'Def to close out this fantastic boom bap set on a more sombre note. It's a true shame that this project never got an official release considering how many dope beats, rhymes and song structures are all over this; back in the mid-'90s Marley and K-Def worked brilliantly together and "World Renown: The Album" might have been the last full LP they worked on together as a production team. Hopefully, this project will once be picked up by a label like Traffic Records and given the proper release it rightfully deserves, fully mastered and with extensive linear notes though it's highly unlikely. But until that day, and if it ever comes, follow me back to the mid-'90s, turn up the volume and enjoy the talents of Seven Shawn, John Doe, Marley Marl, K-Def, and Blackat. I know I will!

01. "World Renown"

02. "How Nice I Am"

03. "Drama" (Intermission)

04. "Don't Trust Your Man" [Marley Mix]

05. "Roll With It"

06. "Shoowa"

07. "Long Jev"

08. ''EZ On The Tweeter"
09. "My Mello" (Interlude)
10. "MC's"
11. "Come Take A Ride"
12. "Butta Love"
13. "Easy Connect"
14. "Don't Trust Your Man" ['Def Mix]
15. "Mind Over Math"
16. "Supreme Math" (Outro)
17. "State Of Mind" [*]

WORLD RENOWN - "THE ALBUM"

[Video] BIZ MARKIE on "Celebrity Ghost Stories"

"Celebrity Ghost Stories" is an american TV-show that airs on The Biography Channel, where remotely famous people tell about their real encounters with spirits and the other side. I always kept an open mind about these things, so for me it was great to see the legendary Juice Crew member Biz Markie appear on the show back in October last year (though I didn't catch it until the other day which is why it's posted first now).

Markie's story is the first segment in the show which you can stream above, where he talks about his start as a rapper, at a very young and up until the release of the classic "Going Off" album with Marley Marl in 1988 and where that drive to continue came from. In my opinion, it's a very inspiring and fascinating story and deserves to be posted as it deals with the making of one of the real Juice Crew album classics.But for you non-believers out there I added a lil' bonus cut for y'all in the form of a hype radio show freestyle with Biz, Big Daddy Kane and a very young Tragedy (then Intelligent Hoodlum of course), promoting Marley's "In Control" album.

BIZ MARKIE x KANE x TRAGEDY - "88 FREESTYLE"

Kamakazee - "Head On" [prod. by Pete Rock '95]

Before there were Screwball, the late, great KL was recording freestyles and underground 12":s with Marley Marl. My homie and long-time DJ Jaz (check his Tumblr/Soundcloud) was digging through his crates and made a pretty extraordinary find when putting on his copy of the unofficial "Snakes" 12" from '95 which is the only release to include "Head On" and "Bridge '95".

The "Head On" joint sounds not much at all like a Marl production, but extremely much of a Pete Rock classic around that time (for comparision peep the Champ MC remix from the same year).You got the up-tempo head nodding groove, the vintage horns, the Pete drums, the shout hook over the cuts, and so on. It might be co-produced by Marley, but I'm putting my money on this is a Pete Rock production. Mega thanks for Jaz for providing this gem, and not only that he linked the YouTube clip above but he also provied a HQ download below. Enjoy!

KAMAKAZEE - "HEADS ON"

Marley Marl breaks down "Eric B. is President"

Marley Marl takes a stroll down memory lane for an installment in a new video series called "Classic Recipes". Here he gives a real detailed breakdown of his production work on the impeccable "Eric B. is President" which speaks volume of Marley's genius in the studio... That's how classics are made! I'll definnitely keep you updated on further clips in the series.

[MIXTAPE] Marley Marl x Pete Rock - "Future Flavaz"

Almost no matter which A-list producer you ask about who got them into producing and deejaying, the name Marley Marl will always come up. Together with his P.N:C. Mr. Magic everybody tuned in to the piratete radio to listen to these two spin and mix exclusives; breaking new artists and playing the classics. Marley got a chance with Hot 97 to make his own show, "Future Flavaz", and when Mr. Magic left to pursue other endeavors, Marley's friend Heavy D put in a good work for his up-and-coming cousin DJ Pete Rock, the legendary two man show as we came to know it was born. 

"Future Flavaz" featured two of hip-hop's true DJ/producer giants which made it easy for them to both get exclusives and just as exclusive interviews that often included freestyle sessions. There has never been a show like it before, and still hasn't been oe yet, and luckily a lot of the shows, exclusive freestyles and remixes, and interviews has been preserved to this day. Unfortunately, the show is no more  but it will always hold a warm space in any true hip-hop heads heart.

Beside the weekly radio program, these two of course released plenty of superior mixtapes, productions and even solo records, but the one tape most connected with the show was the 1999 mix-CD titled just "Future Flavas Mixtape". Mixed and compiled by both Marley and Rock, the fourty minutes "tape" is filled with exclusives, classics, freestyles, and DJ drops. Many of the songs has since been released but when it first was released many of these songs were actual world premiers. Released on Dirtbag Records in 1999, the 20 tracks mixtape is a certified listen that you owe it to yourself to turn up if you're a fan of Marley, Pete Rock or Future Flavaz, so what are you waitinng for. Oh, and thanks to the homie Magnifik for the link!

01. Marley Marl & Pete Rock - "Future Flavaz Intro" (Ft. Sauce Money)
02. The Genius - "Publicity"
03. Mos Def & Black Thought - "Double/Trouble"
04. Marley & Pete Rock - "Interlude"
'05. Sauce Money - "Face Off 2000 Remix"
06. Black Thought & Common - "Love Of My Life"
07. Nonchalant & TJ Swan - "No Shit Like This" [F.F. Exclusive]
08. Razhel - "Make The Music Pt. 2"
09. Marley Marl & Pete Rock - "Phone Call"
10. Marley Marl & Pete Rock - "Freestyle" (Ft. Sauce Money)
11. Black Star - "Beautiful" [Remix]
12. Sauce Money - "Pre-Game" [Extended Version]
13. Black Thought - "Mi Tienes"
14. Sauce Money - "What's That, Fuck That"
15. Black Thought - "The End"
16. Nonchalant Ft. Dice Raw & Black Thought - "Take It There" [Rmx]
17. Marley Marl & Pete Rock - "Outro"
18. Rough House Survivors - "My Peoples" [* Bonnus]
19. All City - "Move On You" [Remix] [* Bonus]
20. Nonchalant - "5 O'Clock" [K-Def Remix] [* Bonus]

MARLEY MARL & PETE ROCK - "FUTURE FLAVAS MIX"

[Article] The NAS album that never was

Nas' second album, 1996's "It Was Written" got him accused of being a sell-out mainly for changing his sound. He had fallen victim to the so called "sophomore jinx", but what arguably really happened was the release of an album that was ahead of its time. Today, it is often discussed amongst the greatest follow-up LP:s ever created, and lyrically it's not even slightly below the super high standad set on "Illmatic". Furthermore, it made him gain the well deserved position of one of rap's true superstars, that he still maintains today; all while keeping it true to himself and his producers The Trackmasers vision: "We figured out how to make them respect us and not sell out or do a record, like they used to make have one house song on your album [...] So when people said 'it went too commercial', we just laughed. When we started hearing a little hate that it was too commercial, we knew we we're doing something that was beyond peoples understanding. We were happy; we were ecstatic. We knew what we were doing for this culture that we loved." (Nas, quoted in The Illest, Wax Poetics issue 51; 2012).

When he talks about how they knew they had something that went over many people's heads, they were right on target. Even though we were many who felt "It Was Written" right away, I'm still amazed at the intricate rhyme schemes and there are still lines and metaphors there to crack and interpret. I wonder how Nas' career would've looked without "If I Ruled the World", "The Message", "Street Dreams", "Affirmative Action" and "Nas is Coming"? Not to mention the less high profile, but equally monstrous cuts like "Suspect", "The Set Up", "Shootouts" and "I Gave You Power". Or what about "Live Nigga Rap" which embodied the whole Queensbridge sound at the time, and not only featured and was produced by Mobb Deep but was in fact a song recorded and intended for "Hell On Earth". Accordin to Prodigy's autobiography, he wasn't very keen at all on letting that banger go. Last, but definitely not least, it also featured the two last songs ever produced by The Live Squad's Stretch. When thinking of those two tracks (which include one of my all time favorite Nas joints ever recorded; "Take it in Blood"), it really makes you wonder how much Stretch might've blown up as a New York producer if it wasn't for that tragic night on November 30.

But all this would have never happened if things had worked out according to Nas' initial plan for how to build on from "Illmatic". Just like he originally wanted Large Professor to exclusively produce his debut, for his sophomore joint he was looking at the Queensbride OG producer, Marley Marl: "I'm goin' in with Marley Marl. He's a legend from Queensbridge, and he's one of my greatest inspirations.". At the time Marley was running his popular Future Flavaz show on WBLS together with Pete Rock, as well as, to a lesser degree, producing acts like Kamakazee, Tragedy and Capone-N-Noreaga. He was not living in QB at the time, which made the work process on Nas' project harder, but not impossible. Marley was however down to do it, and recording sessions had even begun: "I would plan a trip up there when I had time to complete the song[s]. And before I could do that, the records I was working on for my second album, I heard on the radio as radio promos for WBLS. So you can imagine how I felt. There was a song called "On The Real" and one called "True Dialect". The final straw came when the firstmentioned song was released in full, and wth several guest artists never approved of by Nas: "Marley put other niggas on "On the Real" and it really blew me away, because these were songs that I was working on for my second LP. And I hadn't even finished them! I knew there was no way we could continue working like that. So I had to figure out who I could work with who would be really concerned with making a Nas album..." (Nas, quoted in The Illest, Wax Poetics, issue 51; 2012).

The person he met was Steve Stoute, who became his manager for several years, which led to Trackmasters being assigned as main- and executive producers of the project. But it seems, that Nas recorded at least a couple of joint before this happened, maybe even in between the Marley sessions; the only thing we can say with any certainty is that they were recorded after the release of his debut. The first of these,"Deja Vu", was produced by the completely unknown Chris Winston. The song uses the verse Nas spat on Raekwon's masterpiece "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx"; a verse that has sometimes been quoted as one of the absolute finest in rap history. The track itself is straight up beautiful, with a mesmerizing musical backdrop centered around a few chopped Rhodes notes, a tight rhythm track and various percussive noises (including what sounds like water being poured into a glass). Nas' two remaining verses, the hook, and Wilson's knack for creating a soulful track based on simple elements makes this one of the absolute best unreleased tracks in the Queensbridge legends entire catalouge; not suprisingly this was miscredited to Pete Rock for the longest. For a more detailed description of the creation of the song, and why it failed to show up on the retail release, make sure to read this Chris Winston interview about "Deja Vu". A similiar cut, that was recorded by Nas with frequent collaborator Large Professor between "Illmatic" and it's follow-up is the old school salute known as "Understand", which even features Biz Markie. Extra-P boils the music down to its simplest elements with Nas freestylish flow claiming all the attention. Had this turned up on the actual album, peeps might have compared it to "One Time 4 Your Mind".

I certainly wouldn't change "It Was Written" even if I had the chance to replace it with that original Marley Marl album, but you gotta agree that this is some real intriguing stuff. I wouldn't mind "Deja Vu" and "On The Real" appearing somewhere on the album though, as they both easily outdo whatever your pick for the two weakest songs on the album would be. It's also safe to say that if Marley would have tooken on the role as producer for the album, K-Def would play a pretty large role as they were as much a tag team by then as Poke and Tone was. For example, 'Def even mentioned that he was the one who originally found and looped up the sample that made up "On The Real". To summarize, and maybe give us an idea of what "It Was Written" could have been, but was not, I have uploaded all songs mentioned in the thread in the highest qualility I've come across. I decided to include both versions of "On the Real" as the 2004 solo re-recording probably is closer to what Nas' original vision for the song was; and I also included K-Def's "Street Dreams" remix. Hope you have enjoyed this editorial in the first of three articles dealing with Nas' and the '90s, you might even have learned something I bet y'all are eager to hear the music. 

01. "On The Real" (Ft. KL & Cormega)
02. "True Dialect" [Snippet]
03. "Deja Vu"
04. "Understanding"
05. "Street Dreams" [K-Def Remix]
06. "On The Real" [*]

NAS - "SHIT WAS NEVER WRITTEN EP"