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.
