The JMS Fat Tape Vol.2 (2018)

01 Planet Asia  - Royal Blood (feat. Killa Kali) (Produced by Izzynice) (2018)
02 50 Grand - Max Mode (Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf) (1996)
03 Narcotik - Literally Sauced (1995...Reissued in 2018)
04 Clever Jeff- No Fiction (1994)
05 Amiri - Keep Keeping...(2018)
06 Afu-Ra - Whirlwind Thru Cities (Produced by Joe Roach) (1998/2000)
07 All City - The Actual (Produced by DJ Premier) (1997)
08 Godfather Don - Kaos  (1998)
09 People Under The Stairs - Wannabes (1998)
10 Pete Rock - One Life To Live (Feat. MC Eiht)
11 Aceyalone - The Balance (Produced by Mumbles) (1998)
12 Scaramanga - Holdin' New Cards (Produced by Goldfinghaz) (1998)
13 Lords Of The Underground - Burn Rubber (Produced by Marley Marl)  (1995)
14 Main One - El Gran Combo (feat. Fat Joe, Joe Fatal, Kurious, Prince Powerule) (Produced by Domingo) (1995)
15 Ohmega Watts ft Othello - Long Ago (2005)

Turn it Up!!!

J.M.S. Joint of The Week: Portishead - "Humming" (1997)

Another classic album celebrating it's 20 year anniversary is Bristol's legendary Portishead's sophomore album simply titled Portishead which was the follow up to the Trip Hop classic Dummy (1994), a perfect soundtrack for grey and bleak rainy days and chill mode after a big night out (or in).

Fans were very curious why the follow up album took so long but were quickly hushed once they got to listen it. Portishead didn't have the same impact as the debut album but was still a great follow up but definitely a more darker sounding album and the track I have chosen here is a perfect example of how ill Geoff Barrow's production really was (he should have produced more Underground Hip Hop records because he was giving RZA a run for his money at one stage) and how Beth Gibbon's shimmering vocals were the perfect accompaniment to his production.

I've always loved how "Humming" starts with orchestral strings, eerie and haunting Sci-Fi sounds and leads up to the scratchy, slow pitched crunchy drum break (the original artist escapes me at the moment sorry) and rumbling bassline all dripped in oceans of reverb.

If you haven't been exposed to Portishead before, I suggest that you start with Dummy, then search all of the remixes and B-Sides, move on to the remixes for other artists (Paul Weller, Primal Scream, Massive Attack, Bjork etc) and then check for this LP, the Third LP and who knows we still might get another Portishead album in our lifetime.

J.M.S. Joint of The Week: EPMD - "Do It Again" (1997)

This week's joint of the week is from (as you would already well know) my all time fave MC team EPMD and while I dive into Erick Sermon's lengthy resume, I'm starting to wonder why he never gets mentioned alongside DJ Premier and Pete Rock, Dilla and Marley Marl when he has done so much for not only Hip Hop but R&B & Reggae/Hip Hop as well and while I'm not a fan he has also produced some commercial material that should have seen him earn big bucks but it didn't really happen and I wonder if he regrets supplying dope beats for overblown and overrated fraudulent rappers?...who knows lol

"Do It Again" is "Green Eyed Bandit Funk" formula for sure but damn it works, when I first heard this back in 1997 on their comeback album "Back In Business" I was surprised that E-Dub had not usedTom Browne's classic Jazz Funk number "Funkin' For Jamaica" before, sure E had used elements of it in L.O.D.'s "Feel It" (1996) and a few other joints but he hadn't used it like he did on "Do It Again" incorporating elements of it
and I suspect it might have been difficult to chop up as there is a lot of busy vocal work among the instruments but E flipped it superbly and Erick and Parrish throw rhymes back like and forth like old times and sound right at home.

The Back In Business LP certainly had it's moments but it's not overly an essential EPMD album in my view, some tracks felt a bit thrown together and they were capable of much better, still it is worth revisiting and this track was one of the highlights for me.

Bonus Joint: L.O.D. -"I Feel It"

Peace

Joint of The Week: Subterranean - My Style is Phreaky (1997)

This week's joint of the week belongs to little known crew Subterranean who hailed from Iceland and released their debut album Central Magnetizm in 1997 which is well worth checking out.

Cell7 was absent from the scene for quite a while but released a solo album in 2013, which I recall hearing but can't really remember it as for the rest of the group, Frew Elfineh Taha aka Black Fist appeared on recordings with Promoe, Supersci and others and Gnúsi Yones has appeared on recordings from other Icelandic Hip Hop artists and according to Google, they still appear as a group at live shows from time to time.

"My Style is Phreaky" is pure 90's NYC mix-shows and mix-tapes flavour and the style is similar to classic DJ Spinna/Joc Max production...you will definitely hear Digable Planets and Fugees influences on this one.

"My Style is Phreaky" also appeared on the essential Wide Angles compilation released in 1999 as "My Style is Freaky".



This track is dedicated to my Friend, Steampunk, music and anarchy enthusiast/activist Emily Strange who sadly lost her battle with cancer last night, Emily was pretty much the official photographer of Evil Mule when I managed them and took some really great photos of live gigs and release parties over the years.

I will miss your cheeky and clever wit and laugh Emz, rest well hon xxxooo

Jaz

Joint of the Week: PMD - Many Often Wonder (1997)

I was a big fan of PMD's second solo album (which celebrated it's 20th year anniversary in 2016) and this cut was recorded at the same time that he did the sinister strings laden remix for "It's A Pee 97" with Prodigy (and Havoc on production) also on this 12" was the Charlie Marrotta produced "Kool Kat" and the sequel (of sorts) to 1989's "Knick Knack Paddy Wack" only this time PMD enlisted Das EFX, L Da Pro (as far as I'm aware this was all he was ever on) and Nocturnal (who also had potential but vanished from the scene) on mic duties.

Never the less "Many Often Wonder" is a dope self-produced joint that is bare bones in production, reminiscent of early 90's PMD and contains a vocal sample of EPMD's "Rampage" cut.

One

P.S. I will no longer be using the JMS Soundcloud account as Soundcloud restricts pretty much everything I upload.

I have created an Audiomack account so feel free to follow or send requests.

2017-J.M.S. Presents-Back To 97' Volume 2

Here is the second volume of the Back To 97 series, compiling this one was pure joy (just like it was with the first volume) this one feels like an old radio late night NYC radio show or an old
Weds Nite Jam show and has a lot of my faves from '97 which in essence was the finest year for Rawkus records and my Jansport backpack was chock full of CD's, tapes, 12" inches, rhymes and a fat marker it was also strapped on proudly haha...there are a handful of ill underground Canadian joints (Rascalz, Choclair, Illegal Justice, Down To Erf & Kardinal Offishall) on this one as well.

2017-J.M.S. Presents-Back To 97' Volume 2 (320 kpbs)

01 Big Kwam - Raw Skillz (Da Beatminerz Remix)
02 Artifacts - 31 Bumrush (Produced by Shawn.J Period)
03 Royal Flush - War
04 Mike Zoot - Service (Mayhem Remix)
05 Rascalz - Clockwork
06 Choclair - What It Takes (Remix) (Produced by Day)
07 I.G. Off & Hazadous - Hip Hop Till I Die (Produced by DJ Spinna)
08 Down Ta Erf - Formation (Produced by The Golden Boy)
09 Major Stress - Sippin' Yo' Mo (Produced by Salaam Remi)
10 Illegal Justice - Da Illest
11 Jungle Brothers - Where You Wanna Go (Produced by Djinji Brown)
12 Reflection Eternal feat Mos Def & Mr. Man - Fortified Live
13 Lord Sear - Alcoholic Vibes
14 The WhoRidas-  Till The Wheels Fall Off (Produced by Jay-Z (Hobo Junction)
15 Kardinal Offishall - Make It Happen Featuring Red-1

One

2017-J.M.S. Presents-Back To 97' Volume 1

Happy 2017!

I hope you all enjoyed the New Year's celebrations and we can now finally say good riddance to 2016...aside from the birth of our adorable daughter, last year was for myself and so many a very muddled and miserable year and the celebrity death toll was just staggering and mind numbing, the Grim Reaper needs a much needed holiday in 2017.

Here is the first compilation of the year...this year we will be celebrating the 20th year anniversaries of a lot dope albums and a lot of classic indie singles released back in '97.

Looking back 1997 was actually a lot better than I previously had thought, the production was often dark and melodious and the drums were hard and kicking, the samples crackled, while the bass-lines rumbled below and the horns wailed in the background, lyrics were still at the forefront as well but admittedly there was also a lot garbage (not as much as the pollution passing for Hip Hop these days though) produced as well that was steadily infiltrating the culture.

It is most likely that there is a previous Back To 97 compilation on this blog when it was CRDS but that link would be long dead.

2017 will also be the 10th anniversary of this blog and if there are any links you would like re-upped just let me know in the comments.

Highlight cut on this one for me is "Thinkin' About Cash"...
Blaq Poet and Hostyle from Screwball sounded perfectly at home on the crazy Beatnuts production which consisted of some ill Lou Rawl's drums and a catchy organ sample from Dick Hyman which The Beatnuts freaked ridiculously...Les and Ju tore the mic to shreds as well...not to mention Morgan Freeman from The Electric Company on the introduction sample.

2017-J.M.S. Presents-Back To 97' Volume 1

01-Boogiemonsters-Behold A Pale Horse
02-No I.D.- Original Man (feat. Dug Infinite)
03-DJ Krush-Supanova (Featuring Finsta Bundy)
04-EPMD ft Keith Murray & Redman-K.I.M.
05-Black Attack-Verbal Attack (Ft. Al' Tariq & Problemz)
06-Rasheed-Industrypartybumrusha!
07-Peanut Butter Wolf ft Encore-The Undercover
08-Fanatik-Home Improvement (Featuring – Eb. F)
09-Mood-Info For The Streets
10-The Beatnuts ft Blaq Poet & Hostyle-Thinkin 'Bout Cash
11-Common-1'2 Many
12-Peace Bureau-The Boom
13-O.C. ft Big-L-Dangerous
14-Teflon-Shxt_Happens
15-Camp Lo-Sparkle (Mr. Midnight Mix)

RIP Niran Mitchell
RIP 7th Dan

Back To 1997...

To be straight up, honestly it is an honour to have been exposed to these dope joints the first time around in 1997, but if you are only hearing them now then welcome, they did it much better back in 97, it's not one of my all time fave years in rap music(that belongs to 1988,1992 and 1994) but there was a lot of talent and solid releases.

I personally feel that all of the material on this collection has stood the test of time and that's why I did this compilation up to share some of the tracks I rocked hard on the radio show, in my headphones or on my stereo.

All of the top producers were in full swing in 1997, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Buckwild, Show, Diamond D, The Beatnuts,Nick Wiz, No I.D., Erick Sermon etc...but also Hi-Tek was introduced to us through Mood,The Artifacts dropped a dope follow up to 1994's Between A Rock & A Hard Place, Premo laced classics for Biggie (RIP)Jeru, Krumb Snatcha, OC, Sauce Money and of course Gangstarr and a few others.

Mobb Deep were still dope and doing shit up for CNN, (What What!!!) Cormega and DV Alias Khrist amongst others, EPMD came back with a good (not a classic though) album, No I.D. released one of the years best albums and tracks and The Cru were pretty tight as well


Organized Konfusion released a great and interesting concept album (The Equinox), Beatnuts gave us Big Pun (RIP) and the Stone Crazy LP, Diamond D released a good solid second LP, we were introduced to Dead Prez through Loud records, Marely Marl was still making dope beats (see Kamakazee's Snakes), Godfather Don was on the scene and making ill beats, Rakim came back with another good album and had beats from DJ Premier and Pete Rock and Buckwild.

Bobbito Garcia's Fondle' Em records re-introduced Zev Luv X to us as the incomparable MF Doom and gave us great 12"s from Scienz of Life, Lord Sear and Cage who had us saying right, right a lot (and some silly kids putting needles in their lips) and Chicago's Molemen showcased there dark and ill beats through Vakill , All Natural and Juice.

Stones Throw records were introduced to the World via the late, great Charizma (RIP) in 1996 and later with Rasco and Encore releasing solid material in 97,and of course the Wu-Tang Clan had fans divided with the Wu Tang Forever Double LP (but still got love regardless).

A massive output of indie vinyl was released steadily in 1997 from the likes of

Bee Why
Shamus
Raidermen
Natural Elements
Masterminds
Kukoo Da Bag Of Bonez
Finsta Bundy
Brainsick Mob
Brainsick Enterprize
Siah
Aboriginals
Wisdom
Adagio
K-OtixSir Menelik
Pumpkinhead
Primeridian
Sacred Hoop
Lower Life FormsR.A. The Rugged Man
Mike Zoot, Lace Da Booms and so many more, which of course will be uploaded on future comps.

Rawkus was the number one indie label, putting out the classic Soundbombing 1 compilation, also Company Flow were taking the reign as leaders of the underground movement and released the Funcrusher Plus LP.

That was just a brief rundown on 97...and if you want to know more I will put up some more info in the next installment, much love for checking the blog, getting the music and leaving feedback.

peace

Jaz
Back To 1997 Fat Tape-Volume One...

1-colored section - bomb mc original recipe (prod :coke)

2-mood_karma (prod: hi_tek)

3-beatnuts_do you believe (prod: beatnuts)

4-scienz_of_life_powers of nine ether (prod: don_q)

5-visionaries_blessings (prod: j_rocc)

6-bee why-remember the times

7-encore_defined by the dollar (prod: architect)

8-rakim_the saga begins (prod: pete_rock)

9-defari - bionic (prod: evidence)

10-lord_sear_alcoholic vibes (prod: lord_sear)

11-godfather_don-piece_of_the_action (prod: godfather_don)

12-no_i.d.-the_real_weight(prod: no_i.d.)

13-all_natural_drug wars (prod: molemen)

14-dv_alias_khrist_ft_mobb_deep_building (prod: havoc)

15-the dwellas - main aim (prod: nick_wiz)

16-kamakazee – snakes (prod: marley_marl)

17-cormega-angel dust(prod: sha-self)

18-rawcotiks – nevertheless (prod: choco)

19-oc-war gamez (prod: dj premier)

20-artifacts-the ultimate (showbiz remix)

21-mystik_journeymen_black sands (prod: sunspot jonez)

special thanks to Indie Cratez, Brakk and Frogga...