Normal Bias

The Year in Rap – 1995

This is the final in The Year in Rap series. Lots of good stuff here, though not my favorite in the series. Some exclusive stuff you’ll find include David J Hip-Hop Central remixes of “Fast Life” and “Mic Check” (where he even lends a verse). Saafir’s “Pull Ya Card” is on here, too, an underappreciated gem from the saucee one, in my opinion.

I had always intended to create cover art for this one, but just ended up printing up some cheesy cover with just the name of the mix and the track listing. I can’t even find a copy of the cover, though I know it’s in the basement somewhere.

Since I don’t have cover art, here’s the track listing.

Side A:

Ear to the Concrete Intro… Laze
Rather Unique… AZ
Fast Life (Hip-Hop Central Remix)… Kool G Rap feat. Nas
Invasion… Jeru the Damaja
Runnin’… Pharcyde
Reprogram… Channel Live
Put It On… Big L
Sandwiches… Count Bass D
Natural Disaster… Supernatural
KMEL Freestyle… Supernatural
MC’s Act Like They Don’t Know… KRS-One
Pull Ya Card… Saafir

Side B:

Side 2 Intro… Laze
Superstar… Group Home
Hole in the Bucket (Live Radio Session)… Spearhead
Honeydips in Gotham… Boogiemonsters
Labels… Genius/Gza
Criminology… Raekwon
No Flow On the Rodeo… King Just
The Nod Factor… Mad Skillz
Elevate… B.U.M.S. (Brothas Under Madness)
Crooklyn (Part II)… Crooklyn Dodgers (Chubb Rock, O.C., and Jeru)
Mic Check (Hip-Hop Central Remix)… Aceyalone

 

 The Year in Rap - 1995 (Side A) [43:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The Year in Rap - 1995 (Side B) [43:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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The Year in Rap – 1994

The third entry in The Year in Rap series features everyone you might expect to be featured on a “best singles and soundtrack appearances” compilation from 1994: Saafir, Organized Konfusion, Jeru, O.C., Ras Kass, and E-Rule along with a couple of surprises (bet you weren’t expecting Fesu, were you?). This collection features a number of “Remix Lites” done by yours truly. What’s a “Remix Lite”? It’s essentially the original song with a few extra samples layered on top (dig the Curtis Mayfield loop over Nas’ “It Ain’t Hard to Tell”).

One track you’ve probably never heard is the Hip Hop Central Remix of Saafir’s “Light Sleeper.” As far as I know, this compilation is the only place anywhere this version of the song is available. It was produced by David J. Warner, an alt.rap original and former host of the “Hip-Hop Central” radio show out of Bloomington, Indiana. I haven’t spoken with David in more than a decade and have no clue where he is these days. It’s a mighty dope remix, though.

The sole drop on this one comes courtesy of Michael Franti of Spearhead. Liner notes are much less embarrassing this time around, aside from a swipe I took at the Digable Planets for being assholes to me when I tried to interview them. Not that I hold a grudge or anything. (Years later I interviewed Ladybug Mecca in an interview that was so strange it couldn’t be published.)

Cover art again courtesy of Devo Spice.

click through for the full j-card

 

 The Year in Rap - 1994 (Side A) [44:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The Year in Rap - 1994 (Side B) [44:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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The Year in Rap – 1993

The second entry in The Year in Rap series still was more compilation than mix, but it’s still head and shoulders above the previous year’s entry and stands as a really solid example of that classic 1993 sound.

It kicks off with a mix of a Malcolm X speech laid over top of Stanley Clarke’s “Black On Black Crime” from the Boyz n the Hood soundtrack (I used this same blend on a high school Media/TV Tech video project about the Rodney King beating and ensuing riots). Appropriately, it then runs into Masta Ace’s “Jeep Ass Niguh.” Also representing 1993: Raw Breed, Art of Origin, Hiero (three times!), Original Flavor, PRT, and Jeru. I’d venture to say there’s not a single dud on this mix.

One track you probably haven’t heard but will want to check out is Martay and B-Right’s “Smokin’ Joints.” These two guys were part of the East Coast Tribe, a crew out of Atlanta’s underground. (Martay’s name may sound familiar from Upski’s Bomb the Suburbs (page 19).) Martay’s still kicking and every couple of years I get an e-mail from B-Right. Good people who made good music that wasn’t heard by nearly enough people.

The cover was designed by nerdcore star Devo Spice.

I should also note that the liner notes on this one are even more embarrassingly awful than 1992.

Dig in.

Download: Front cover / Liner notes

 

 The Year in Rap - 1993 (Side A) [44:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The Year in Rap - 1993 (Side B) [46:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted in 1990s, 1993, Hip-Hop, Mixtape, The Year in Rap | 2 Comments »

The Year in Rap – 1992

It’s been nearly four months since my last post. I have a bunch of stuff lined up, so the pace should pick up a bit for the remainder of the year.

Back in 1992, I was 17-years-old, filled with love for hip-hop at a time that most of my peers were moving onto other genres. A friend and I were making (admittedly pretty awful) music and I was armed with a good quality dual-cassette deck. Beginning in 1992 and going through 1995 I compiled the best hip-hop singles and soundtrack appearances into a 90-minute collection and sold them to friends and online. It was a great time.

Here is the first of the four editions of The Year in Rap. This one isn’t mixed or blended, as I didn’t own a 4-track or mixer, so it’s a pretty straightforward compilation. Just using a tape deck didn’t stop me from trying to make it sound like I was using vinyl, though, even faking the sound of a record stopping and doing a “remix” of Tung Twista’s “Mr. Tung Twista” by using the pause-tape method of switching between the acapella and vocal versions of the track.

In this era where pretty much every great mixtape has found its way online, this one certainly isn’t one of the best or most sought-after, but it does hold some treats. For a few of the tracks, I opted to use versions I’d heard on the radio, so you’ll hear DJ Jay-Ski and DJ Kam unknowingly participating on my mixtape (the version of “Dwyck” is especially dope). And while there aren’t any seriously rare joints here, it probably is one of the few “year in review” mixes that includes Raheem and Insane Poetry alongside Naughty By Nature and Roxanne Shante. This is the least interesting (and least technically proficient) of the four tapes in the series, but after listening to it today for the first time in probably ten years, I can say it’s still a good listen.

The j-card (remember those?) is handmade, printed from my old Apple II compatible onto a dot-matrix printer. The shout-outs are embarrassing and the references to a SASE, Dolby B, and HX Pro are quaint.

Enjoy.

click through for the full j-card

 

 The Year in Rap - 1992 (Side A) [46:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The Year in Rap - 1992 (Side B) [46:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted in 1990s, 1992, Hip-Hop, Mixtape, The Year in Rap | 1 Comment »

B-Versatile: Demos [1994-1995]

Amongst my stack o’ tapes I have a good number of homemade demos. A few of those people went on to do big things, but most were just tracks made on a cassette 4-track in someone’s bedroom. Remember, back in the early-to-mid 90’s, you couldn’t make a track in a bedroom studio that sounded like a professional production.

I haven’t featured many of those demos on Normal Bias, so I thought I’d start sharing some.

The first is a set of songs by Honolulu, Hawaii-born B-Versatile.

I met B-Versatile in 1994, I think on the alt.rap Usenet newsgroup, where all the hip-hop nerds hung out back in the pre-web days. We decided to collaborate on a track. He was going to school at the University of Pennsylvania, so he took the bus across state lines and joined me and my DJ in New Jersey for a day of bedroom studio recording. The result was a track called “So Damn Tough” (featured below). B-Versatile’s smooth, bassy voice was a good compliment for my all-over-the-place flow. I’m still proud of this track 15 years later, even with all its imperfections.

Early the following year, he put out a three song demo featuring three tracks, “Do You Understand” and two versions of “Put It In Ya Ear.” Here’s a review I wrote for HardC.O.R.E. 3.03 (the first online hip-hop magazine started all the way back in 1993 by OHHLA’s Flash):

B-VERSATILE, “3 Song Demo”
(Demo Review)

I had the pleasure of working with B-Versatile, the MC out of Honolulu, on the last Lyrical Prophets album, DIG THIS on a track called “So Damn Tough.” He was surprised me with his nice lyrics, ease of delivery, and low tone. After a while, he’s finally completed a 3-song demo on which he handled production as well as lyrics.

The first cut is “Do Ya Understand,” an upbeat, horn and bass tinged track featuring his very laid back flow. The break makes good use of a Lord Finesse sample. As with the following two tracks, some of the lyrics are recognizable from “So Damn Tough.”

The other two cuts are different versions of “Put It In Ya Ear” (‘94 and ‘95). The ‘95 version is far superior. The ‘94 version has an overused drum pattern, an overly plain piano loop, and though the break samples (from Wu-Tang and Audio Two) are appropriate, they slip off beat a couple of times. The horns are nice, though.

The ‘95 version makes several changes. My personal favorite is the change in the last line of the verse where he gives “Shouts to the Lazy”, but he also switched the samples up and added a beautiful bassline. This is the top track on the tape.

It’s hard to rank a short demo such as this one, but I’ll give it a shot anyway. B-Versatile has got talent and a great ear for music and just needs to work on a few small things here and there. I look forward to hearing more from him and perhaps collaborating with him again soon.

pH Level – 4/pHine [out of 6]

Later in the year, he sent along another demo with three more tracks: “Down to Earth,” “That’s Where My Heart’s At,” and “Freestyle at My House” (which he informs me didn’t actually have a title and made up one on the spot, in 2009).

B-Versatile and his friend Kenny did the productgion production and engineering on these tracks using an old Gemini sampler and a reel-to-reel 8-track. The beats are dope, if occasionally slipping off (such was the curse of cheap samplers back in the day) and there’s a lot of hiss in the recording, but hey — that’s part of the appeal of old demos like this, right?

These days, B-Versatile is working in the camera department on CSI:NY and still dabbles in hip-hop. I’m looking forward to hearing what he’s up to and who knows — perhaps we’ll collaborate a second time, a decade-and-a-half later.

Download all seven tracks in a zip file, or check them out individually:

 

 So Damn Tough (feat. B-Versatile)... Lyrical Prophets [5:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Do You Understand [4:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Put It In Ya Ear '94 [3:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Put It In Ya Ear '95 [4:22m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Down to Earth [5:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Freestyle at My House [4:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 That's Where My Heart's At [4:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted in 1990s, 1994, 1995, Demo, Hip-Hop | No Comments »