The JMS Fat Tape Vol.6 (2018)

Music calms the savage beast...

01 Kwest tha Madd Ladd - What's the Reaction (Remix) (Produced by Don Charnas) (1996) (Re-released in 2007)
02 Big Daddy Kane - Daddy's Home (Produced by LG) (1994)
03 J Dilla ft Elzhi - Come Get It (2001)
04 VVS Verbal feat. Sadat X, Craig G - Then 2 Now (Produced by ES-K) (2018)
05 J-Live - School's In (Produced by Mark Ronson) (2001)
06 Prophetix - Unstoppable (Produced by Aspirin) (2002)
07 Capital Tax - I Can't Believe It (G's Jazz Mix) (1993)
08 Luv NY - Snake Charmer feat. A.G., Kurious and Dave Dar (2014)
09 The D.O.C. - No One Can Do It Better (Produced by Dr Dre) (1989)
10 Stezo - Freak The Funk (Produced by Doug Lazy) (1989)
11 al.divino x ESTEE NACK - EVANGELIUM (prod. OLASEGUN) (2018)
12 Celph Titled & Buckwild - There Will Be Blood (Feat. Sadat X, Grand Puba, A.G., O.C. & Diamond D) (2010)
13 MED & Guilty Simpson - Face Down (Produced by Black Milk) (2018)
14 CrimeApple & Big Ghost Ltd - Grey Poupon (2018)
15 Cash Crew - Original Freaky Flo (1996)

Here

The JMS Fat Tape Vol.3 (2018)

The latest installment...all dope, old and new....enjoy!

The JMS Fat Tape Vol.3 (2018)

01 Showbiz and AG - Hard To Kill (1992)
02 Nice and Smooth - Blunts (1994)
03 Ten Thieves - Straight From The Slums (1995)
04 Dabyre- Tunnel Vision (feat. Guilty Simpson) (2018)
05 O.C. - John Wick (2018)
06 J Scienide - Mystery Science (2018)
07 Damu The Fudgemunk, Flex Mathews - Burners (feat. Insight The Truncator, Blu) (2018)
08 Moodswingaz - Musslin' (1999)
09 Jericho Jackson - Self Made (2018)
10 Apathy - I Keep On (feat. Pharoahe Monch) (Prod. by Pete Rock) (2018)
11 Coops - That Jazz (2018)
12 Black Milk - True Lies (2018)
13 Shorty Long - Shorty'z Doin' His Own Thang (1994)
14 Tribeca Grand - NY-Phi (2018)
15 Class A Felony - I'm Not The Herb You're Lookin' 4 (Chyskillz* Remix) (1993)

R.I.P. Chyskillz

The JMS Joint of the Week: Okey Doke - Pass De Budda Sack (1993) (Final One)

Okey Doke - Pass De Budda Sack

NB: As I will be posting the JMS Fat Tapes on a regular basis, I will no longer be posting the J.M.S. Joint of the Week.

One

The JMS Joint of the Week: Digable Planets - "Where I'm From (Aural G. Ride 12") (1993)

One of the greatest things about Hip Hop music back in the 90's was the sheer diversity in it and NYC's Digable Planets were one trio that held the Jazz/Rap crown proudly, I was listening to their debut album tonight and was transported back to a greater time before the Internet and cellphones, before trash Soundcloud "Rappers" before the industry well and truly massacred and butchered Hip Hop and sold it back to the masses as pieces of ignorance, vanity, superficiality and polluted it with brain-dead, fake and plastic lames riding a wave but the saddest past is that these idiots just cannot see that they are absolute slaves and once their wave is done, they are done! 

Ahem back to the topic haha...DP were so smooth that it should have been a crime, Ladybug Mecca, Doodlebug and Butterfly were clearly students of not just Jazz but Funk and Soul and incorporated this into their music effortlessly with rhymes brimming with positive antidotes and superb production, they still influence Hip Hop and I recently heard a track that was pretty much just "The Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" chopped up.

The remix to "Where I'm From" was simplistic but so dope, a lone clarinet sample drifting in and out over a deep bass and past clipped "Funky Drummer" drums and the video for the original version was just as ill, watching the Digables rhyme while snow fell on them was a sight to behold.



They are still touring and had another reunion in 2016.

"Where I'm From (Aural G. Ride 12')"

Bonus cut: "Dedicated"

J.M.S. Joint of The Week: Juice With Soul - "Body Armour" (1993)

Juice With Soul (Juice and Soul) was one of those groups that had a minor hit in the 90's, ("Gang Lingo" with Lt. Stitchie) which was a firm radio and club fave in 1993) dropped a decent album on a major label (Atlantic) and then vanished into the ether, this was sort of the case for this duo of Bostonites but member Juice/Big Juan later went on to be a part of the Kreators who are probably best known for the superb posse cut "Home" (which featured the late, great Guru).

"Body Armour" lifted UK legend's Soul II Soul's "Fairplay" drums to great effect and some smooth horns in the hook while tales of corrupt cops are told.

Sadly Juice/Big Juan lost his battle to cancer in April of 2016.



Bonus Joint: "To The Uumhm" which sports one of the greatest piano loops used in the 90's and the fat "Zimba Ku" drums.

One

Joint of the Week: Biz Markie-"I'm Singin" (1993)

The Honorable Judge Biz Markie overlooking proceedings.

After Biz changed the course of sampling in Hip Hop for like ever!...due to uncleared samples (mainly Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again") on his I Need A Haircut LP (1991) he came back in 1993 with his fourth album, the amusing All Samples Cleared album and this dope cut was always a fave.

Sure  the legendary The Beatnuts used the Grassella Oliphant's version of "Get Out of My Life Woman" first for Kurious's timeless "Walk Like A Duck" but I always thought that T-Ray used it differently and Biz blessed the m.i.c. lovely, you had him running through a ton of zany pop culture references and songs and Biz going for broke in his hilarious ("up your nose with a rubber nose" lol), mush mouthed and lovable way..."even Robin scream Holy Hip Hop Bizman" haha.


NB: Biz and the Juice Crew have been touring around the US lately and they haven't lost a step, there is quite a bit of footage on Instagram.

One

Joint of The Week: Southpaw-"Break Wide" (1993)

Thanks to the beauty of the internet aka the World's biggest online music store...you get to hear dope albums that you might have only been exposed to once or twice to back in the day (or not at all).

So a fat shout out goes to OGDonNinja for reminding me of the debut album from Cleveland, Ohio's Southpaw...I chose the track "Break Wide" as I have always loved the Prince "Under The Cherry Moon" loop, the breezy guitar sample and MC Breed sample from his classic "Aint No Future In Yo Frontin" joint...plus the smooth flows of Prof K and Champion are the icing on the cake.

I highly recommend the Left Hand Rule album and if I could compare it to another...it would be the debut album from OG Style-I Know How To Play Em which used a barrage of classic breaks and familiar samples and made them sound fresh which is exactly what the Left Hand Rule album does.

One

RIP Prince
RIP MC Breed
RIP The Original E (OG Style)
RIP Big Boss (OG Style, 4 Deep)

2016-JMS Presents-It's A Remix! Vol 3 ('93 Edition)

2016-JMS Presents-It's A Remix! Vol 3 ('93 Edition)

1-Masta Ace Incorporated-Saturday Night Live (LA Jay Remix)
2-Yaggu Front-Left Field ('Step To This' Remix)
3-Rumpletilskinz-Is It Alright (Remix)
4-Trends Of Culture-Valley Of The Skinz (Jes Wes Remix)
5-De La Soul-Ego Trippin' (Part Two) (LA Jay Remix)
6-Digital Underground-The Return Of The Crazy One (Lean Butter-Bean Remix)
7-Volume 10-Pistolgrip-Pump (UK Jazz Mix)
8-Original Flavor -All That (Hard Beats Remix)
9-Mobb Deep-Peer Pressure (The Large Professor Remix)
10-Rakim-Heat It Up (One For The Bronx Remix)
11-Mesanjarz Of Funk-Keep It Flowin' (Remix)
12-Ghetto Philharmonic-Don't Bite The Concept (Underground Mix)
13-YZ-The Return (Remix)
14-Sham &The Professor-So-Low-1st (Remix)
15-Da King & I-Tears (Darp Vibe (Radio Edit)

November 9th, 1993-A Tribe Called Quest-Midnight Marauders 20 years on...

 

But hold up (wait a minute) The Wu's Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) was not the only classic album released on November 9th, 1993, Native Tongue's A Tribe Called Quest released their third album Midnight Marauders and it was an album that made a lot of top 10 lists by the years end and cemented Tribe as one of the greatest groups along with the Wu to ever grace Hip Hop.

 









What made the album so special other than the great music was the cover made up of a who's who of Hip Hop legends, I recall an old Friend attending photography school and a group of us recreated the cover, that was a wild and amusing day but the poster has long gone sadly.

 

Midnight Maruaders was ATCQ's trifecta and a superb follow up to the classic Low End Theory (1991) album and was just generally a great feel good album filled with positivity and dope jazz loops, crisp drum breaks and funk and soul samples supplied by Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Skeff Anslem (he gets props too) and Q-Tip with Q-Tip and Phife dropping some of their greatest verses of their careers and had "the funky diabetic" Phife telling us that his fave rap group in the World was EPMD (I agreed) and that "if he ever went solo my favourite MC would be me"

The LP will most likely be remembered for the dope Large Professor produced and guested track "Keep It Rollin" where Large Pro announced his solo album and for us to "buy the album when I drop it", as fans will know this album was never officially released due to label politics and b.s.

 
I remember taping the "Award Tour" video off TV and playing it pretty much every night (along with a ton of '93 classics that I had compiled on VHS tapes) and eventually heading to Allan's CD's to pick up the CD.

 

I picked up this album (from memory) around 2 weeks after the US release on import, needless to it was on constant rotation but "Sucka N--a" was the track the stood out to me the most after "Award Tour" & "Midnight" but in all honesty there wasn't a weak track on Midnight Marauders and the album has definitely stood the test of time.

I had a few Friends that picked up the album on vinyl and we thought it was dope that there were different versions of the cover and that they changed up who appeared on the cover and it was a great way to past the time to pick them all out, I raise a toast to the great ATCQ for blessing us with great and timeless music and for the legacy they leave in Hip Hop after their final tour in 2013.






 Check the links...

atcqs-midnight-marauders-turns-20-delve-into-the-story-of-its-arwork-and-the-intricacies-of-its-sonics
20th-anniversary-focus-a-tribe-called-quest-midnight-marauders-jive-1993
uncovered-tribe-called-quest-midnight-marauders-cover-art-director-nick-gamma
today_in_hip-hop_a_tribe_called_quest_midnight_marauders_turns_twenty
tribe-called-quest-midnight-marauders samples
a-tribe-called-quest-midnight-marauders


 
Big props to DJ Sav One and Mark 563 and Slurg for some of the scans used in this post.

"Seven times out of ten, we listen to our music at night"

Keep bouncin'...
 
This post is dedicated to the late Rob Arona, sadly this old Friend passed before the release of this album and I knew he would have loved it as he was a huge Tribe fan.

Wu-Tang Clan-'Enter The Wu-Tang' (36 Chambers) 20 years on...

Man I am old haha...yes indeed kids...we have finally arrived at the 20 year anniversary of the one of the rawest, illest and greatest and game changing albums in Hip Hop history a true landmark of an album, the album I am referring to is of course the debut album from the legendary Wu-Tang Clan released on Loud records November 9th in 1993.

I remember the day I first heard this album, the day that the Hip Hop world was properly introduced to the Staten Island (Shaolin) clique known as The RZA, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon The Chef,  Inspectah Deck,The GZA, Old Dirty Bastard (R.I.P.), U-God, Masta Killa and Method Man aka the Wu-Tang Clan.



I actually had to borrow the CD from the radio station I worked at as one of they were sent a promo copy and that CD did not leave my player for months, it was easily the most requested album on the Wednesday Nite Jam show throughout the 90's as well.



I eventually found the tape on import at Allan's CD's and I fondly remember DJing at and attending mad parties where either the whole album was played or people chose their favourite tracks.



I later got my own CD along with a few of the 12"s and I like many of you was Wu-Sane (Insane for the Wu) I had to buy every solo album from the original 9 members, every magazine, a couple of t-shirts, every album one of them appeared on etc and I still have most of them in storage but over time, albums were swapped, sold or given away.



I even had a manilla folder where I would write up discography's for each members resume, the Wu are still an important part of my life and always will be, I still dig at lot of what they record and I am looking forward to the next album, it was a true honour to be able to support the legendary Ghostface Killah & Killah Priest with my former crew Evil Mule in 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand.

That will always go down as one of the greatest moments and memories for me personally, so much of my life and listening time has been made up because of the Wu Tang Clan and I raise a toast to the entire crew for bringing back the realness to NYC Hip Hop for showing wack rappers the exit sign, for teaching producers how to make muddy and raw dope beats with ill Kung-Fu soundbites and little to no polish in the mixing, for teaching wack MC's how to really rhyme, , the power of words, have incredible wordplay, style and charisma and kick the truth and deliver messages to the "young black youth"...



 












If I set my mind to it, I could write a 100 page essay on the Wu but I will leave it here and tell you to listen to the album and if you feel like it, leave a comment on how the Enter The 36 Chambers album affected and participate in the poll below for the dopest track on the album.

Round up of links celebrating the landmark 20 year anniversary

egotripland: If you ever wondered why Wu-Tang rocked stocking...
20-year-anniversary-of-wus-enter-36
wu-tang-clan-36-chambers-anniversary
wu-tang-clans-enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-at-20-classic-track-by-track
enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-a-roundtable-retrospective
15-fun-facts-about-wu-tang-clans-36-chambers
wu-tang-clan-enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-oral-history
enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-20th-anniversary
wu-tang-clan-enter-36-chambers-20th-anniversary-retrospective
enter-wu-tang-36-chambers-samples
celebrate-20th-anniversary-enter-wu-tang-36-chambers
enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-is-still-locked-and-loaded
im-feeling-old-wu-tang-enter-the-36-chambers-turns-20-years-old
http://www.stereogum.com/1557582/enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-turns 20
enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-turns-20/franchises/the-anniversary






Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...

20 Years Ago...

Big props to Vincent Lopez from THIMK for the scan

What was your favourite Fat Tape in The Source magazine during the year 1993?

J-Zone- New LP-The Peter Pan Syndrome

I have always felt that J-Zone has been one of the most unfairly underrated in the Rap game, he is a really dope producer who amasses some of the illest and quirkiest samples known to mankind, loves a fat break, plays drums, is a great and hilarious writer, amusing and entertaining MC and an encyclopedia on Hip Hop and music who still rocks cassettes and a walkman and uses samplers and fat old school monitors to make beats...now in 2013 he has not only hit off true heads and fans with a new album The Peter Pan Syndrome his first in 9 years features the M.I.A. Al Shid, Breeze Brewin, Celph Titled, Has-Lo, Oxygen and er Swagmaster Bacon (lol) but he also has dug deep into his cassette shoe boxes and shared unreleased demos from 1993-94, which clearly show that he was destined for longevity in Hip Hop.

Peep "Russian Roulette"



Pick up the Peter Pan Syndrome album below...(NB: All of the limited edition packages have sold out)


J-Zone's Website
J-Zone at Ego Trip
J-Zone at Facebook
J-Zone @Discogs

Hear Zone breakdown how he makes beats these days with his "2 Girlfriends-Betsy and Diana" and other amusing ancedotes...

Gee Rock & Da CND Coalition - Strait Outta Jerzee LP

20 years ago way back in the supreme year of 1993, Gee Rock & Da CND Coalition released their lone LP on a wildly limited number of cassettes which have rarely, if ever, been seen. Now Heavy Jewelz brings it back to Brick City with this 12 track fast moving funky LP on vinyl for the first time, never to be repressed. Limited to only 200 black vinyl copies and 100 on caramel swirl vinyl. The masters have been lost forever so we had to source straight from cassette. Accordingly we're letting these copies go for the nice price of only $25 per copy. 

This album is also available for digital download here...



Order the wax here 

Big props to Verge, aREAL and Patrock

and lastly a very Happy 40th Birthday Hip Hop

Anttex-Corner (Video) (1993)

I had no idea that a video for this even existed, rare dopeness from the Queens Producer and MC Anttex
MP3 here

A look back at the best in 1993 Hip Hop Part 1

 

A look back at the best in 1993 Hip Hop Part 1

 

It was quite staggering to look back on 20 years since 1992 (a truly great year that gave us so much dope music and culture) last year so it is only right to focus on the classic and essential albums (and some not overly classic but still worth listening to) from 1993, of course the greatest album from that year is still one of the dopest debut's in Hip Hop history and launched the mighty Wu-Tang Clan (suuuuuuuuuuuuuu) to the World (not to mention a thousand copy cat artists and labels that came and went)...


1993 was a dope year for me personally as well, I was doing a lot of gigs with the Ebony Beats Crew (mobile, clubs and parties) as well as running the Wednesday Nite Jam show on Radio Active (fat shout outs to Rainman, Don Luchito, DJ Pops, DJ Raw, Mu, Mikki-D, DJ Uche, Apollo and Jake to all of DJ's and crew and of course a special mention to the faithful old WNJ listeners of that era...I see you AL ;)

I had a full-time job as a kitchen-hand and I was living in the central city...a couple of highlights were hosting a release party for Cypress Hill's Black Sunday LP and playing a warehouse party with over 400 people and playing everything from Zapp, Led Zep to Run DMC to Kraftwerk to a really appreciative crowd.

 

Aside from what I previously mentioned 1993 had so much else to offer like classic debuts from the likes of Black Moon, Snoop Dogg, Akinyele, Souls of Mischief, Tha Alakaholiks, Threat, Fat Joe, Kam, Da King and I, The Roots and Masta Ace's crew Masta Ace Inc and heads were bumping hardcore Hip Hop, Jazz Hip Hop (or Jazz-Hop) with the late, great Guru releasing the first in his Jazzamatazz series, Ragga Hip Hop, G-Funk and Gangster Rap and Bass Music in their rides, on CD on their stereos or hitting the streets and getting lost in the music in their walk-man (kids today just have no idea what is was like to put tape back together with sellotape and to have to use a pencil or pen and run the reels round on one side to get to the next side faster, I feel mad privileged to have lived through that time and age...The Source, Rap Sheet and Rap Pages magazines were the bibles and I always loved picking up the latest copy of each, along with a fresh new tape or CD from legendary record stores in Wellington, New Zealand like The Soul Mine (RIP), Colin Morris Records (RIP), Slow Boat Records and others.

 

So what did 1993 bring other than the mighty Wu?

 

The main and most prolific producers were many that are still putting in work in this day and age, The RZA, DJ Premier, Da Beatminerz, Large Professor, DJ Muggs, Erick Sermon, Marley Marl, DITC (Showbiz, Lord Finesse, Diamond-D etc), The Beatnuts, Pete Rock, Dr Dre and the legendary Houston label Rap-A-Lot was responsible for a handful of classic Gangster Rap albums in 1993.

 

It would be really time consuming to discuss every album (I will do a post on singles and EP's at a later date) so here is a list of what I think are the essential Hip Hop albums from 1993 that you should check out if you haven't or for the old heads to reminisce like PR and CL did onT-Roy on what a truly memorable year 1993 was...

 

The LP's:



























































































Baby Chill-Wake Up Call (unreleased)
and what I consider to be the greatest Ragga-Hip Hop compilation of all time...