Fondle ‘Em Records: probably the best underground record label in hip hop’s history. Set up and run by the infamous Bobbito Garcia, the first release on it was in the form of the Cenobites EP - a collab between Kool Keith and Godfather Don. Since then it has released music from the likes of MF Doom, MF Grimm, Siah and Yeshua, KMD and countless other underground heads. It is now defunct, with many of the releases being unavailable and out of print, and some, such as the Siah and Yeshua EP, are collector’s items. I’ve picked three 12′’s to review which (I hope) are lesser known. Someone requested the Lord Sear 12”, so I stuck that up on here. The DJ Eli 12” and the Grimm 12” are both bangers, and well worth checking. Seek out these 12′’s if you can, but beware, some are harder to come across than others.

DJ Eli - And So Kiddies b/w Truly Gifted Ones

Part of the Cloudkickers crew, Eli has produced beats for a number of people, including Ill Bill and also MF Grimm as well as this 12”. I must admit that outside of this I don’t know much about his production but on this 12 it is mint. The a-side features the great MC Cage: this is a typical Cage affair with his involved rhyming complementing Eli’s beat very well. However, Cage is not really an MC who has ever grabbed me overall; I’m more a beat person than a rhyme person so I don’t really feel suited to judge this track. However, The b-side, is the winner. A great headnodding beat, again crafted by Eli, runs with three MCs - Yeshua, J-Treds, and Pumpkinhead. The trio trade verses on a track which as well as being considered ‘underground’ manages to go off well in a club too: the snare snaps hard on this! To finish off the 12”, there is a great instrumental piece called ‘Lay Puzzled’, utilizing a sample from Nas’s ‘NY State Of Mind’ as a hook. Overall, this 12” is great, however the b-side is definitely the winner.

Lord Sear - Alcoholic Vibes b/w My Hindu Love

Lord Sear became well known on the Stretch Armstrong show for his freestyle segments and general chit-chat during the ’90s. He popped up every now and again, freestyling to whatever Stretch felt like. He steps up from that for this 12; although I’m sure this is all freestyled, it is a studio recording and what a recording it is. Like many records, one side is better than the other. ‘My Hindu Love’, performed by his alias ‘Stak Chedda’, is pretty nice, but it is all about the a-side, ‘Alcoholic Vibes’. One of the simplest, easiest beats I’ve ever heard but it thumps so hard. I dunno what it is, whether it’s the repetitive bassline or the way the drums have been laid down, but it is impossible not to nod your head to it, or maybe even to try a little freestyle yourself! He produced all of it as well, with it being engineered by Mighty Mi of High and Mighty. This 12” is long out of print and I copped it a while back in NYC, a very good find, as it had been on my list for ages. Seek it out (like all the records I review) if you can, and buy it on sight.

MF Grimm - Landslide b/w Tick Tick

MF Grimm (now known as GM Grimm) could perhaps be considered a legend in rap, for both his skills and also the stories that surround the dude. He hails from Brooklyn and is probably the only rapper I’m aware of who has spent most of his ‘professional’ career confined to a wheelchair. He suffered at the hands of a gunman in 1994, several shots to his body leaving him, at one point, deafened, blinded and paralyzed from the neck down. Although he regained the hearing and the sight, he is still confined to his wheelchair. During this time, according to his bio, he wrote the great ‘Scars and Memories’ in hospital. If you haven’t heard that, you need to check it.. maybe I will post it up here soon. Anyway, not only contending with being confined to a chair, in 2000, he was sentenced to life imprisonment (which was later reduced) for various charges. The dude even posted a $100,000 bail for one day release to record an album, ‘The Downfall of Ibliys:A Ghetto Opera’. That is hardcore!

Anyway, back to the 12”. Along with other releases, this came out on Fondle ‘Em. The main track is a simple, haunting effort. Laced with a piano all the way through, Grimm comes correct. There is also a remix, and I prefer this to the original, which is also found on the 12”, produced by none other than DJ Eli. For the MF Doom fans, the b-side, ‘Tick Tick’, is produced by the metal faced villain and it’s a typical Doom affair. DJs: I challenge you to mix this! It slows down and speeds up throughout the tune making it a very interesting listen. I much prefer ‘Landslide’, but I appreciate Doom doing something different.

P.S. Sorry for the record skipping on the landslide remix… shitty records!! Buy CDs!

[Dan's note: that 'Landslide (Remix)' is seriously dope. Thanks once again to the mighty Scone!]

I’ve put quite a lot of work into the blog this week, so today I’m just going to throw up Sconeboy’s latest mix rather than a full post. Fortunately for you this is no bad thing: this is straight bangin’. Here’s the tracklist:

1. Justice System - Dedication To Bambaataa (Diamond D remix)
2. Yall So Stupid - Van Full of Pakistans
3. Red Hot Lover Tone - Give It Up (Diamond D remix)
4. Bush Babees - We Run Things (It’s Like Dat)
5. The Roots - Push Up Ya Lighter
6. Large Professor - ijuswannachill
7. De La Soul - Dinininit
8. Buckshot Lafonque - Breakfast At Denny’s (Rap Version)
9. Crooklyn Dodgers - Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers (’95 version)
10. Busta Rhymes - So Hardcore
11. Heather B - If Heads Only Knew
12. J Treds - Make It Happen
13. Lords of the Underground - What I’m After (Remix w/ Keith Murray)
14. Pete Rock - 914 (ft. Sheek Louche and Styles P)
15. Gangstarr - The Piece Maker
16. Rakim - When I Be On The Mic
17. M Boogie - Patience (ft. Born Allah)
18. Erick Sermon - Stay Real
19. Rampage - Beware Of The Rampsack
20. Mobb Deep - Survival Of The Fittest (remix & original)
21. Street Smartz - Metal Thangz (ft. O.C. and Pharoahe Monch)

Quality selections and tight mixing: this is excellent. Stay tuned this week, we may see another Sconeboy selections post before too long…

Sconeboy March ‘07 Mix

WGHH Radio - From Da Bricks Tuesday Night Slot

I just put the finishing touches to my latest radio show which will go out on Tuesday over at WGHH. I know it’s weak hearing someone moan about feedback, but it does take me a little while and if I don’t feel like people are listening to it then I probably won’t bother. If you’ve checked it over the last week then please let me know what you think. Have a good week y’all…

Next up from myself, we have three 12′’s featuring purely Canadian artists. Canadian hip hop is as good, and sometimes better, than stuff from the neighbouring USA, and can easily live up to the hype. The 12′’s I have picked are representative of the scene here, at least of when the music featured was produced. As with the genre in general nowadays, jiggy club music is preferred, but these 12′’s are far from that.

Rascalz - Northern Touch

Firstly, we have a posse cut. This 12″ has been a favourite of mine since I heard it here on TV a few years back when I was visiting. It features The Rascalz, Kardinal Offishall, Thrust, Choclair and Checkmate. After reading some background on the release, it seems it is much more than just a record. It came at a time when black-Canadian artists were not recognised in the Canadian music scene, and the collaboration of some of the most prominent artists in Canada was a way of showcasing the fact that there was good music coming out of Canada at that time. Sampling a B.T. express tune (also used by DMX), each MC comes correct over the beat - it’s nothing more than a rhymefest put to wax, and it works really well. This 12″ touched heads all over the world, featuring in none of other than DJ Premier’s DJ box at the time it was released too - if he likes it, you’ve gotta be doing something right! Just have a listen, it will not disappoint…

Ghetto Concept - Deifitrec b/w Certified

Second up, a great 12″ by a crew out of Toronto called ‘Ghetto Concept’. Ghetto Concept are Kwajo and Dolo, who met in 1989 and went on to release 12′’s and albums under this guise. This 12” was released in 1992. Deifitrec b/w Certified is one of those 12′’s that never leaves rotation: timeless! You can hear the 1992 vibe in this record, the beats are jazz-sampling simple creations, with the two MCs trading bars back and forth. They have a great vibe to them and it fits right in with the era: call and response, rapping and singing the hooks, and always sounding like they are having fun. The ‘Certified’ remix is my favourite. Deifitrec is also a good cut, but i prefer the other side. I actually featured this 12” in one of my mixes so check out their other stuff if you like this, it’s sure to be of the same standard.

Saukrates/Choclair - Father Time/21 Years

Lastly, a great 12″ featuring two different artists and tracks: Saukrates with ‘Father Time’ and Choclair with ‘21 years’. The two cuts make for a a solid 12″ from the days of indie hip hop. Saukrates represents Toronto, and this piano laced beat works perfectly with his rhymes. Saukrates is probably one of the most widely known rappers from Canada; his ‘Brick House’ EP features artists like Common which deomnstrates how respected he is as an MC. The best cut on this 12″, however, is from Choclair. Featured on DJ Premier’s ‘New York Reality Check 101′, it is an understated piece of work - a simple, bassline driven beat with Choclair and the pianos working well together to produce a great indie masterpiece; as mentioned previously, if DJ Premier likes it, you’re onto a winner. Choclair had an album come out a few years back but it wasn’t to my liking. I know that a few 12′’s earlier were good, so check those out. For now, this is the 12″ for me!

Related links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choclair
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saukrates
http://www.megacityhiphop.com/artists/ghettoconcept/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Touch
Check them out for more info!

Next time
3 releases from Fondle Em Records - the best indie label from back then, hopefully some stuff less well known than MF Doom and Siah and Yeshua.

PZ! Sconeboy

Just to further extend the welcome to Sconeboy I thought I’d throw up a couple of mixes that he gave me a little while ago. I would talk you through them, but I’m short on time today and I’m sure he’d be more than happy to do so in a future post if asked nicely. Hopefully these will give you a bit of a flavour for his style and leave you wanting more: I know that he intends to hit you off with some new mixes in the not too distant future. If you’re sleepin’ on the archives, I’ve also put the link up to one of my first posts which also contained zips for another couple of sets. Enjoy.

Sconeboy Mixes
FDB Sconeboy Archives

First off, an introduction. Dan has mentioned me a couple of times on his blog, and I was very happy to accept his invitation to start contributing to this site. With albums steadily being thrown up, he has asked me to submit some 12′’s from my collection to be profiled on the blog. My ethos is much the same as a lot of bloggers (but not all, which is a shame) which is to only put up music which is hard to get a hold of, promo only or out of print. Hope you enjoy the upcoming selections.

Buckshot Lefonque - Breakfast At Denny’s
So with that said, here is 12” #1. This project is very well known but this 12” isn’t; a promo only release of ‘Breakfast At Denny’s’ written by Branford Marsalis under his collaboration guise of Buckshot Lefonque (pictured above). In addition to Marsalis it was co-produced by DJ Premier whose scratches also feature. What is great about this promo find is the ‘Rap’ version featuring Uptown: the same Uptown who released the great ‘Dope On Plastic’. The beat is (as to be expected) a jazzy affair; my opinion of this track is positive, but with Uptown riding the beat it simply gets a lot, lot better. I can only assume Branford, who is by trade a saxophonist, plays sax on this track. The 12″ also features live and album versions. They are good, but as I stated previously, the version with Uptown’s verses is the choice cut here.

Rugged Scientist - Shaolin Anthem b/w Lights, Camera, Action
I found this 12″ whilst working in a thrift store in Bristol a couple of years ago. Some records are too hard to find/unknown for their own good, and this is one of them. All I can tell you is that Rugged Scientist is GZA’s cousin, and passed that, I really cannot help you! Just listen… it has a classic sound (early ’90s, at a guess) with simple beats and a simple flow. ‘Shaolin Anthem’ features the New Born Click, who had a track with MF Doom on one of his projects; again, very little info for you. The other side, ‘Lights Camera Action’ is more of the same but without New Born Click this time. Rugged Scientist flows and crafts a beat which is everything I like about this time in the genre: it’s simple. He produced both beats on this 12″ too. I can only find info on one other 12” that he did, and that’s it, so if you have anymore info please let me know!

Reckanize & Mr Sta. Puff - Hip Hop Don’t Stop b/w Massive Weight
This is a west coast 12″, released in 1996, and it is my favorite and most played of the three. I found it in a Bristol record shop for about £3 a long while ago (Eat The Beat, RIP!) and I have never seen it appear ever again, anywhere. Again, it’s unknown by a lot of people. The people who have noticed me with this record have offered me money for it too, so I dunno what the deal is - it’s just good rap to me! The A-side is the best track, a demonstration for me of what hip hop should be all about. A sick beatbox laced beat, with a husky sounding rapper running off lyrics from start to finish. I will hazard a guess that the MC on this track is Reckanize. The B-side, ‘Massive Weight’, features both MCs. This is a slower affair, with both MCs trading bars; I think I prefer Reckanize to the other chap, but he doesn’t detract from the cut in any way. This is produced by two guys called 7th Sunn and G-Clef. The latter is actually Joey Cavaseno, who is also a well known jazz musician who did a 12” with Weldon Irvine (RIP), which as soon as I can find it within my collection, I will do a post for.

That’s it for now, please let me know what you think of the writing style and reviews; this is my first go at doing such a thing!

Peace - Sconeboy