No Sleep Recordings and production master Nick Wiz, return with the long-awaited fourth installment of the “Cellar Sounds” 2CD series. Again, this is a treasure chest of vintage mid-90's underground Hip-Hop; the majority of which has never been heard before! Again, Nick showcases why his studio “The Cellar” was a key location in the NJ/NYC underground scene. His unique fusion of filters, horns, smacking SP-1200 drums and dense bass-lines gave his work a signature sound and it is also why Wiz was the producer of choice for the legendary series of Echo Unlimited / Lyricist Lounge cassettes, “Underground Airplay”.
Still, Nick Wiz was most noted for his contributions to the Cella Dwellas “Realms and Reality” debut, as well as albums from the likes of Rakim, Mad Skillz, Chubb Rock and others. In between putting in work on these major label releases, he still dedicated himself to the cause of the unsigned artist. Prolific to say the least, Wiz constantly ran sessions and developed several groups at a time.
Artists like Shabaam Sahdeeq, Ran Reed, Chino XL, and Pudgee were mainstays in the underground radio- dominated Nineties scene, while others like Hardwe’re and Gauge the Mental Murderah are best remembered from sought after “random rap” 12”s. While a lot of the material produced and recorded by Wiz did find its way to release, countless other tracks remained stored away on DAT tapes for over a decade.
Found on this incredible 2CD set are selections from the highly collectable “Underground Airplay” tapes, unreleased remixes, and obscure demos from lyricists throughout NYC and New Jersey.
Forty-six tracks in total, spanning from Wiz’s early recordings in 1992 to his zenith in 1998, this is a true time-capsule of the Nineties underground Hip-Hop sound; presented in perfect digital quality! Part eight of the “For Those That Slept” series.
Peace and Season Greetings JMS readers...here is the final installment of the C.R.D.S. Presents-95 Da Illest series...
To be honest I forgot to finish and post this up before the blog name change so here it is...another jam packed volume of fat head nodding and classic Hip Hop (and with a fair bit of Erick Sermon and Redman beats, cameos and influences haha) from '95, most of these joints got much run on The Wednesday Nite Jam show and at all of the bars and clubs/parties etc that myself and my old crew used to play at...fat shout to Winston Spliff, Pops, Don Luchito, Jnr Ranks.
Also I'd like to send out a fat shout to to Fats Eardrum and Juicy from 1994 Hip Hop for some of these joints.
I'd like to wish all of my readers a very Happy Christmas and a very prosperous 2016.
I am honestly not sure how often I will post on this blog in 2016 as I am getting the best Christmas/Life gift I could ever get...Fatherhood:) but I will do my best to at least post on a regular basis.
C.R.D.S. Presents-95 Da Illest Vol 5 01-Erick-Sermon-Focus 02-Boostin' Kev-That Be Boostin' 03-Funkdoobiest-Lost In Thought (Produced by DJ Muggs) 04-MHZ Clique-Physical Chemistry 05-Gravediggaz-Bang Your Head (Underdog Mix) 06-Denocka-Clicks & Crews 07-Heather B-All Glocks Down (Produced by Kenny Parker) 08-Science Of Sound Feat. Phife-Who Got The Funk 09-Mel-Low-The Day I Die (Produced by Redman) 10-Champ MC-Funkhouse (Reggie & Rockwilder Remix) 11-Jamal ft Erick Sermon, Redman, Keith Murray & L.O.D.-Genetic for Terror (Produced by Redman & Rockwilder) 12-DJ Pooh & Threat-No Where To Hide (Remix) 13-Dominant Species-Pain To The Brain (Produced by Mr. Len) 14-Tucka Da Huntaman-Da Hunt Is On (Produced by Tony Stoute) 15-Street Poets-209A
More banging Detroit dopeness!!!...This is easily one of my top tracks of 2015...taken from Nolan The Ninja's ridiculous new EP released on DJ Soko's label Left Of Center.
Don't forget to check out the Lo-Fi Loops beat tape
It's time for some newness around here, C.R.D.S. is out and J.M.S. (Jaz's Musik Spot) is in...why? because simply focusing on just Hip Hop has become stale and I don't just listen to Hip Hop.
I guess it's growing older and always searching for music that moves these raggedy old bones hah.
So for the first J.M.S. post...here is a small collection of really dope chill/soul and ultimately atmospheric music tracks...these tracks have become to the soundtrack to my hectic, yet very rewarding life lately...
I am really excited about seeing this film, I grew up on N.W.A.and actually first bought the Straight Outta Compton tape from the legendary The Soul Mine store in Kilbirnie, Wellington, New Zealand (mad props to Cool Tone as always ;)) that album was a walk-man staple for most of 1989 and I could easily recite the whole album haha...of course as a fan I was instantly zfan of all of the solo albums and I still love Eazy Duz it and the NWA and The Posse album etc, at one stage I collected everything that Dre produced (I even had the Michel'le 12"s and album haha and the first Above The Law and The D.O.C.'s albums are all time faves to me.
I have being revisiting their their music lately and it has bought back a flood of crazy memories like where the hell did both of my N.W.A. T-Shirts go and my Eazy-E and Ice Cube ones go? and that I wish I held onto my LA Raiders and LA Kings caps haha but also the fact that even though it was often misogynistic, sexist and violent, N.W.A. made really dope music and it has stood the test of time.
I fondly recall writing out the track-list and title of the next album after Straight Outta Compton and from memory it was imaginatively titled Return To Compton haha and the excitement that I felt when a old record company rep Friend (Hi Ed) bought me back a copy of Efil4zaggin back from the US and I was one of the first in the country to have the CD, needless to say I made a lot of dubs for Friends and it spread really quickly, I also premiered tracks from it on the Wednesday Nite Jam show and we had a lot of calls asking how the hell we already that album.
People that have seen the film already (which has gone straight to the top of the box office in the US) have said that the actors portray the real group really well and that is a well written film and one for the old heads and new heads to definitely see, there have been some grumbles about some omissions (Ren does not get the focus he should, Tairrie-B, Yomo and Maulkie are all missing or not talked about.
Straight Outta Compton screens nationwide on September 3rd 2015.
Special shout out to Mikey, Vicious and Big Daddy Cam aka The MVC Posse who played a lot of N.W.A. music back in the days on the Wednesday Nite Jam and introduced me to thier legendary music.
You are now about the witness the strength of Street Knowledge...
When the stunning news hit and spread around (I first saw the sad news on Instagram) that Brooklyn legendSean Price aka Ruck aka Donkey Sean Jr aka Dr Kill Patient aka P aka The Metal Bearded Goon had passed away in his sleep on August 8th 2015, it was (and still is) of utter bewilderment and the feeling of a tremendous loss to Hip Hop, he was only 43 and one of the greatest to ever touch a mic and had given more to Hip Hop than some actually know.
Sean Price defined pure ruggedness and rawness and was just dope plain and simple and his lyrics were easily quotable for example most recently on Gangrene's "Sheet Music" "My dreams is big, my crib is little" "Snuff to the wack boy, biggest N.....a in my group Buff from the Fat Boys P!"
After coming through on Smif N Wessun's Dah Shinin' album on "Cession at Da Doghille" in 1995 and later with Heltah Skeltah (and O.G.C.)backin on the classic Fab 5singles...
In 1996 Ruck and partner Rockness Monstah added another classic to Brooklyn's Boot Camp Clik classics cannon with the release of Nocturnal...the album contained fat production from Baby Paul,Evil Dee, Mr. Walt, Buckshot, E-Swift,Shawn.J.Periodand Ruck and Rock themselves, they followed up their debut album with Magnum Force in 1998 and D.I.R.T.in 2008
But it wasn't until the early 2000's when he changed his name to Sean Price that he really became a ferocious, big, menacing, gruff and ill voiced MC that his talent really shined, he released a few singles and later mix-tapes with P.F. Cuttin' and when his debut solo album Monkey Barz dropped in 2005 people really paid attention, P was just destroying mics left, right and center and was carving out a niche that he wasn't want to be effed with lyrically (and physically no doubt.)
Monkey Barz saw Sean Price link up with North Carolina producing wunderkinds 9th Wonder and Khrysis for the first single and who didn't love "Onion Head" and "Heartburn"?
P followed up his debut album with Jesus Price Superstar in 2007 and again he linked up with both 9th Wonder and Khyrsis (who produced the head cracking "King Kong" as well as Tommy Tee, MoSS, Illmind and others.
This was followed up with Master-P (2007), Kimbo Price and Mic Tyson in 2012 which saw P blaze tracks from The Alchemist and Evidence who seemed to know exactly the right ill concoctions to lace P with, sadly this album also featured an appearance from the late, great Pumpkinhead who also left us way too soon in 2015
P was also a part of Duck Down's Hip Hop super-group BCC (Buckshot, Heltah Skeltah, O.G.C, & Smif N Wessun) aka Boot Camp Clik who released For The People in 1998 The Chosen Few in 2002 and The Last Stand in 2006 and Casualties of War in 2007.
In 2011 he hooked up with Detroit natives (ill producer and MC) Black Milkand MC Guilty Simpsonand formed Random Axe(although the origins of Random Axe go back to Guilty's debut album Ode To The Ghetto (2008) and the track "Run") personally "Monster Babies" is the one of the greatest things he ever did, that verse still has me :o and telling people and happily quoting it haha, sadly though only one album was made from this dope group although there was talk that a finished second album was due but there isn't an official release date or any news of this yet.
For the self proclaimed "Brokest Rapper you know" the amount of artists (producers and MC's) he worked with Worldwide is actually quite staggering and this in no way an exhaustive list but it's safe to say that at some stage, Sean Price worked with your favourite rapper and/or favourite producer.
But let's not forget that P had a great sense of humour and was often filming bugged out clips that just made you laughhard and by all accounts he was obviously an incredible live performer
I have spoken to some good people on Facebook that knew him well and they said that he always kept it 100 and was one of the dopest and funniest dudes you could ever meet, he will be greatly missed but we will always have his music and who knows exactly how much music he had in the vaults...though he did say that he had done an album with Lil Fameand his new album Songs In The Key of Price drops late August 2015.
Tribute Morals from NYC (Mere One) and France respectively...
Peace and my humble apologies for the lack of updates here on CRDS (I have been busy with life basically and preparing (somewhat) for Fatherhood...so exciting times ahead indeed) anyway...here is a post of some crucial videos and albums, links you may or may not have missed...
Mello Music Group always come through with the dope goods...Multi talented producer L'Orange (who has already released the dope The Night Took Us In Like Family LP) with Jeremiah Jae and the infamous and the supremely out there, man of a million and two aliases Kool Keith deliver an album full of well to be expected off the wall rhymes and great production.
Utilizing vinyl borrowed exclusively from Afrika Bambaataa's historic and genre-defining record collection, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist's acclaimed Renegades Of Rhythm set touches down in Oakland, California in this professionally-documented film experience. You're there in the audience as the two DJ's unravel the evolution of Hip-Hop music and culture, using the same artifacts that helped create it. "Not just any records- the MASTER OF RECORDS'
records."
Squires, The Cynic, & Rapswell are...PEN PALS
From the Chopped Herring Records description:
"Hailing from Brooklyn, Squires [Beat maker], The Cynic [MC] & Rapswell [MC] are...Pen Pals. Dudes hit us up to check their music and honestly yo, we were COMPLETELY blown away. Was this a classic super group using a pseudonym? Q-Tip, Ad-Rock, Edan, Slick Rick, Doppelgangaz with Prince Paul and [lost] Paul C production? It made no sense - how could a first release be SO well put together? There was/is something suspicious about it!! They hit us up with 2 tracks [of the 10 here] and we cut a deal there and then - didn't need to
hear any more.
The second project is already recorded and will be droppin' ASAP. PURE HERRING YO.......PLEASE ENJOY, RAP FANS..."
Cop the EXCLUSIVE vinyl :Here
There will be 350 copies pressed ONLY
Full colour jacket with spine
The first 75 are on Clear, Red & Blue mixed coloured vinyl.
The next 75 copies are on Solid Blue & White coloured vinyl.
And the remaining 200 are on traditional black vinyl
For the past 15 years Thaione Davis has managed to remain steadfast within the ranks of underground hip hop both domestically and abroad. Over these years, he has stayed consistent with his contributions to the essence of the culture, providing a balance of raw grit open face lyricism over progressive boom bap soundtracks.
With this being the release of his 13th studio album, he continues to paint clever wordplay over hard beats and has perhaps created his most comprehensive album to date. As the character Donald Mayhem, aka Donnie May, Thaione engages the listener to take flight on this vivid opus of commentary called SKYWRITTERS. This carefree delivery of urban poetry will truly define why he is often known as a "rapper’s rapper".
One of the most fluid voices behind the microphone, he effortlessly weaves from braggadocio to social injustice warfare, to nightmare scenarios and even late night adventures on the west side of Chicago.
Incredible and very in depth tribute and and write up on Organized Konfusion's classic LP-Stress: The Extinction Agenda.
aYo! I hope you have been enjoying these compilations and here is the fourth installment of the CRDS Presents-95 Da Illest series, this one is on that ill, hazy late night underground radio vibe.
Lyrical skills over boom bap production consisting of dope vocal clips or cuts, deep and muddy bass lines, fat drums (often classic breaks), horns and ill samples was the recipe back then...enjoy this one and like always, make like the late, great Dilla and Turn It Up!!!
OK Kids - Here it finally is....spread over 2 nights Thursday June 11th Havana Bar & Friday June 12th Afrika so hopefully everyone can make one or the other... An Old School Mix of Crew's and Beats..... If you ever partied with us back in the day, this one (well actually 2) nights are for you....With the Contenders coming from the likes of 'Dancehall Dons' & 'Ebony Beats' to once again join forces, we'll bring you back to the days we all originated from, Please feel free to make a donation at either venue so we can help pay for flights for us all to come together again for this massive 'joint' collective, cuddles and maybe a few beers....Ft Don Luchito, Jr Ranks,Lil Jah, DJ Jaz, DJ Pops...and hopefully some surprise guests too....Shout out to all CUBA CUBA, Watkins Building, and Tonks Ave crew and whanau....bless one and all and hope to see ya there Free entry for both gigs...
Here it is...the third installment of the CRDS Presents-95 Da Illest series...20 tracks deep of that good ol' Boom Bap, pure 95 Flav and well I let the music speak for itself but I have mad good memories of a lot of these, a lot of these tracks were thrashed on the Wednesday Nite Jam show, in clubs, bars, record stores, people's homes and cars and of course on homemade fat tapes...this one is especially dedicated to unikone and Professor ElementalI greatly appreciate the love and props.
Volume 4 up at a later date...
As always kids, download to your phone, PC, laptop, MP3 Player and turn that ish up L.O.U.D.!!!
Ahhhh yes 1992 will always be fondly remembered as one of the illest years in rap music for myself personally, there was just an incredible abundance of raw talent and creativity, diversity, pure skills, personalities and singles and albums and a hell of a lot of "just drop the one album" crews and MC's who just vanished off the Hip Hop radar... Rough House Survivers(note that there is no "O" in Survivers I was guilty of spelling it that way myself) were one of those crews...well what can I tell you about these kids...
NYC's DJ Swinn and MC'sDread One, Kev, and Roberto?...well not a great deal to be honest, but this album was packed thick with horns, fat drums and deep bass lines provided by Tony Dofat and 1 joint produced by Grand Pubaplus guests such as CL Smooth, Sadat-X and Grand Puba.
Straight From The Soul was released on Relativity records in 1992 with "Check The Backpack" as the debut single, the legendary Pete Rock did a superb remix for the B-Side track "Rough House" in 1993...
Straight From The Soul was chock full of that signature 90's sound and that is why we come back to it so many years later, it's a shame they only had the one album and it didn't get the push it should have, this was the case with a lot of artists in the 90's sadly.
RHS also dropped a 12" in 1997 titled "You Got It" and later re-released in 1998 with a dope remix from Knobody
Wow!!! The interwebs continue to be an amazing and mad impressive treasure trove of all kinds of treats...
Massive props to Beatsmith for this one, here is the original version of "Hard Like A Criminal" taken off the advanced promo tape of Dead Serious in 1991
Here is the version that was eventually released as a B-Side on the "Straight Out The Sewer" 12" in 1992.
Dope and prolific Producer/MC/Writer and Founder of Weightless Records, Blueprinthas a new album available titled King No Crown and has just released a new video "Great Eyedeas Never Die" which is a heartfelt tribute to his Friend and dope MC in his own right, Eyedeawho passed away in 2010.
I haven't checked the full LP yet but I know what to expect as Printmatic has always been a very consistent artist and pours his heart and soul into his rhymes and his production, Blueprint also released a tribute to the art of B-Boying earlier this month with "Just Move" (which doesn't appear to be on the new album but can be downloaded here.
Pre-Sales have sold out but there will be limited door sales, feedback from the Australian shows has been mad positive and heads are saying that these Queen's legends are just as dope on stage as they are on record.
Fat shout out to all of the local acts and Talk Later and Flava for bringing such a dope show to these shores.
