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.

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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.

Joint of the Week: Rawcotiks - Hardcore Hip Hop (1996)

Hailing from Washington Heights, NYC- Jeff Valentino and Butta Lee aka Rawcotiks were first heard on Al Tariq's God Connections album in '96 on the dope cut "No Question" after that they released their debut 12" Hardcore Hip Hop" which featured a decent remix from DJ Premier but I personally preferred the original version produced by ES aka Eddie Sancho and used to play it out a lot as well as on radio.

Rawcotiks featured in The Source's Unsigned Hype section in '97 and had a handful of other 12"s on various labels including the mad lovely B-Side "Magic Chef" (produced by and featuring JuJu) on the "Live My Life" 12".

They appeared on a Beatnuts remix EP and a couple of DJ Honda albums but never released a full length album and have not been heard from since the early 00's.



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NB: I'm not sure if the link is still up or not but The Lost Tapes blog did a Rawcotiks compilation back in 2011.

Funky DL - Marauding At Midnight: A Tribute To The Sounds Of A Tribe Called Quest

Without sampling any breaks or loops, Funky DL has created the perfect audio tribute to arguably the greatest group in Hip-Hop history by remaking the beautiful sounds of A Tribe Called Quest's 1993 classic album "Midnight Marauders". 

The original album is considered a staple in the linear of Hip-Hop history and is the album that lead Funky DL to pursue his own two-decade career in the world of rap music. DL's new tribute serves as a beautifully presented homage for A Tribe Called Quest and Funky DL fans alike.

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

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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.

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RIP DJ Crazy Toones

Sadly it's not a good start to 2017...West Coast Hip Hop legend Lamar Calhoun aka DJ Crazy Toones has passed away at the age of 45 from a reported heart attack.

Crazy Toones, the younger brother of WC was a dope DJ (he was Ice Cube's tour DJ) and producer Toones was a member of WC & Tha Madd Circle and made speakers and headphones knock with his trademark Zapp claps, deep bass-lines and classic Parliament/Funkadelic funk and soul samples.

Pour out a little something and bump these classics in your system in his memory.

WC & Tha Madd Circle-Dress Code (Remix) (1991)
WC & Tha Madd Circle-Back On The Scene (1991)
QD III ft Jazzy-D-Livin' In The Ghetto (1991)
WC & Tha Madd Circle-Hood Rat (The Real Ghetto Story) (1992)
WC & Tha Madd Circle-Quick Way Out (1992)
Yo Yo-Mackstress (1993)
Coolio ft WC-U Know Whoo! (1994)
WC & Tha Madd Circle ft Ice Cube & Mack 10-West Up (1995)
WC & Tha Madd Circle ft Coolio-In A Twist (1995)
Guru-Lifesava (DJ Crazy Toones Remix (1996)



JMS wishes to send out condolences to his Family, Friends and of course all of his fans.

Joint of the Week: Stezo - "Rap Field" (1996)

As a longtime fan of Stezo - hailing from New Haven, Connecticut and starting out as a former dancer for EPMD and really dope MC and Producer in his own right and also famous for the first use of the infamous Skull Snaps break discovered by another Connecticut legend
Dooley-O and of course the classic late 80's tracks "It's My Turn", "Freak The Funk" and "To The Max" as well as his debut Crazy Noize album (but the less said about his jeans and jean jacket the better haha) although I have really fond memories of picking up that record at the legendary The Soul Mine record store after school on a Thursday afternoon and putting it on repeat for days on end, the point of this story?, I got  quite drunk at a party and decorated my jeans with names ala Stezo steez haha.

Anyway, It is always dope discovering music of his that either went unreleased or was only released on a European compilation that you completely forgot about.

Case in point "Rap Field"...chock full of crispy bacon, kicking drums, bass kicks and a strumming guitar and an ill vocal sample this is/was a sure-shot.

I'm not sure what year this was recorded but it does have a very 95-96 sound to it.

Dope Folks released a collection of Stezo rarities in 2015 that is well worth checking out and and Stones Throw released "Piece of The Pie" in 2004 (which had more than a few lyrical barbs aimed at Erick and Parish)

I have included "Figure It Out" as a bonus track.

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Jaz

J.M.S. Presents-Underground Infinite - Vol 1 (2001)

Peace, I was sorting through some old junk and discovered some (three) CD-R's of old underground Hip Hop compilations titled Underground Infinite that I did up back in 2001.

From memory they were compiled for a road trip so I thought I would throw them in my PC and hah not surprisingly there were jumps, nicks and scratches all over the discs but I did manage to see what the track listings were so I could re-compile them and share them on J.M.S.

Here is the first volume...enjoy!

J.M.S. Presents-Underground Infinite - Vol 1 (2001)

01 All Natural -Stellar (produced by Memo)
02 Hi-Tek - Breakin' Bread (feat. Donte, Main Flow, Brian Digby Jr, & Crunch)
03 Mars Ill ft Playdough - Black Market (Produced by Freddy Bruno)
04 Kankick ft The Visionaries - Sight For Sore Eyes
05 Defari ft Dilated Peoples - Behold My Life (Produced by Babu)
06 J. Rawls - Superhero feat. Mass Influence
07 Akbar - 5th Element (Produced by DJ Revolution)
08 Lifesavas -Head Exercise (Produced by JUMBO The Garbageman)
09 Declaime - Westcoastwildstyle Ft. Rasco & MED (Produced by Oh No)
10 J Dilla - Pause
11 Gang Starr - Tha Squeeze
12 Jigmastas -  Don't Get It Twisted feat. Sadat X
13 MED - In Rhymes We Trust (Produced by Madlib)
14 Mr. Complex - Underground Up (Produced by DJ Spinna)
15 DJ Eli ft Breeze, Q-Unique, Godfather Don, J-Treds & M.F. Doom - Fondle 'Em Fossils

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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