Normal Bias

A.Z.: “Street Wise”

This marks the first out-of-print commercial release posted here on Normal Bias, and it’s a pretty rare one, as far as I can tell. It’s a solo album by AZ, but not the AZ you’re thinking of. This is the 80s Harlem gangster Azie Faison who also recorded with the group Mobbstyle. AZ and two other Harlem compatriots, Alpo and Rich Porter, were portrayed in the 2002 movie Paid in Full and a documentary titled Game Over. I won’t go too much into the back story here, but it is pretty interesting stuff, so read up.

While this record is more interesting from a historical perspective than anything else, there are still some standout tracks worth checking. And there’s something about the dark, low-budget nature of this tape that gives it a feeling of gritty realness that you’re not going to find in any so-called gangster rap of today.

A few tracks worth mentioning:

• “What’s Going On Black?” has vocal samples from Chuck D and… is that Phil Collins?
• “Last Days” is a bizarre, yet engrossing, 7-minute posse-cut epic about the coming apocalypse with one emcee that sounds a lot like Ced-Gee. This track has perhaps the most confusing anti-gay message ever recorded:
  

  Man on top of man, I can’t understand,
  Me, myself, I’m not a fan.
  Throw ‘em all in the garbage can, ’cause they trash,
  Who like it in the ass.
  To each his own, you choose who you wanna bone,
  God bless the child that have his own.

• “Gangster Shit” was a minor hit, and with good reason. Featuring a guest shot by Pretty Tone Capone rhyming over the same loop that the Kings of Swing used on “Nod Ya Head To This.”

“Street Wise” was released on Espionage Records, which was located at 470 Lenox Ave, now home to the Lenox Terrace Podiatry Group.

AZ: “Street Wise”
Espionage Records, 1991 (est.)

Track listing:

1. Street Wise
2. What’s Going On Black?
3. Last Days
4. I Rock
5. What Does It All Mean
6. Another Contract
7. Gangster Shit (Re-Mix)
8. Don’t Dis Nobody
9. (The D.L.)
10. To Be Continued…
11. I Rock Again

Download (92 meg)