The JMS Fat Tape Vol.5 (2018) 01 Baby Blak - Economix (Produced by Kev Brown) (2003) 02 J-Rawls - Best Producer On The Mic feat. Oh No, Diamond D & Kev Brown) (2011) 03 Mr Live - Relax Y'Self (Produced by Ves) (1996) 04 Def Dee - All It Takes (f. Magestik Legend, Jamall Bufford, Hassaan Mackey) (2013) 05 Dooley-O - Aahhha (2005) 06 Lootpack -HitYaWiDat (1999) 07 Rahsheed - Keep Kickin That (Produced by DJ Jazz) (1996) 08 Mad Skillz - It's Goin' Down (Produced by Jay-Dee) (1996) 09 N-Tense -Da Good Die Young (1995) 10 Futurewave - Red Supras feat. Justo (2018) 11 Willie The Kid and Klever Skemes - Duckboots (feat. Eto, Manic) (2018) 12 DTMD - Who's Next (feat. godlymC, Cortez, DJ Ragz) (2014) 13 Kev Brown - Makeba (2012) 14 The B.U.M.S. - Non-Stoppin' The Groove (Produced by Joe Quixx) (1995) 15 Skuzii - Conversation's in a Parking Lot (feat. EOM) (2018) R.I.P. to Dilla, EOM and Blu Warta (N-Tense)
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.
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
Kiss Of The Beast is the dope debut album from French producer Doc Singe and features Rob Swift, MF Grimm, Insight, Count Bass-D, Kool Keith, Finsta, John Robinson, Branesparker, Pacewon, 2 Mex and L.I.F.E. Long over hype production (fat dusty breaks, ill bass lines and interesting samples) that harks back to the golden age and suits each guest really well, sadly this album has been criminally slept on I wanted to give it some light.
Lastly, I would like to wish all of my readers a really Happy New Year, thanks so much for your comments, feedback and for being a loyal reader in 2011...be safe and see you in 2012.
"Like It Should Be" is the 6th music video from NYC's Verse Essential, this track can be found on his dope debut album Ingenious, which was released as deluxe version earlier in 2011...
Chicago MC Astonish follows up his 2008 debut album, From Now Until Forever
with a smooth new 15 track album The AstonishinglyODD Project that Panik from the legendary production outfit Molemen has kindly offered as a free download, behind the boards are Panik, Oddissee, Jay Vega, CRZ Beatz, Odd Couple, Wes P,Taavi Haapala and O-Zone and the LP includes guests, label mate Scheme plus Lungz, Jay Vega, Reap, Myles J, Jessica Jasmin, J Dott Trife, E-Class Eppi and Decay.
The AstonishinglyODD Project has beats that will take you back to the 90's and early 00's rhymes that are thoughtful and mean something. plus diggers and sample fiends will know the sample used for the vibed out "Feel Good" right off the bat, the Oddissee produced tracks have previously been released, but Astonish does nice work on them...especially my highlight of the album "Saw Myself"
1. All I Need (Intro) (Prod. by CRZ Beatz)
2. Summertime Chi feat. Myles J (Prod. by Jay Vega)
3. All That I Got (Prod. by Oddisee)
4. Feel Good feat (Prod. by Jay Vega)
5. Trees (Prod. by Odd Couple)
6. LSD feat. J Dott Trife & Lungz (Prod. by O-Zone)
7. Shine Like DIlla (Prod. by Taavi Haapala )
8. Hire feat. Reap & Jessica Jasmin (Prod. by CRZ Beatz)
9. Fill Up The Room (Prod. by Oddisee)
10. Full Room (Interlude) (Prod. by CRZ Beatz)
11. Samo feat. Scheme & E-Class Eppi (Prod. by Wes P)
12. Saw Myself feat. Jay Vega & Decay (Prod. by Oddisee)
13. Living Comfortable (Prod. by Panik)
14. Lord Forgive Me (Prod. by Jay Vega)
15. Hip Hop (Prod. by Jay Vega)
If you are a regular reader of CRDS then you will know how much of a fan of and how much I admire the consistent and high quality output of the Mello Music Group label...well kids they have done it yet again, as if hitting us off with these dope albums wasn't enough...
Plus a few previously released albums that were offered as free downloads (Oddisee's 101 and Mental Liberation with exclusive bonus tracks and remixes) and Oddisee's collection of his season based EP's in the form of Odd Seasons and ill remixes from the likes of Def Dee, Gensu Dean and Dunc (DTMD) for various artists (Boog Brown, Roc Marciano etc).
We now get MC and producer and member of Diamond District and 1978rs, follow up album to 2010's dope Before Taxes..
The Earn is a superb album and a great listen from start to finish, you can tell (as with all MMG releases) that so much heart, passion and soul went into creating this album, the rhymes from yU are thoughtful and dope and the production handled by yU, Kev Brown, Slimkat78, DJ Roddy Rod (Maspyke), Usef Deniro, Unknown and others will definitely leave smiles on all kinds of faces as well.
I honestly don't know what is in the DMV's water, but to me they are the true home of Hip Hop in today's age, no gimmicks, no materialistic raps, no auto-tune, no cheesy synths, no wearing of stupid wigs or jeggings, no posing, no wannabes, no shock factor raps and best of all no lame attention seeking due to a lack of skill...nope MMG just offers the listener no frills, pure Hip Hop music, made by passionate and genuine artists that live and breathe Hip Hop and are carrying the torch to take Hip Hop to a right place into the future.
DJ Nu-Mark (Jurrasic 5) teamed up with Slimkid Tre (The Pharcyde, Almghty Mghty Pythons) for a Free EP containing three tracks that would sound great on the radio or at your next BBQ, party, session etc.
My highlight of the EP is The Eagles sampling "Friday Night" which is mad addictive and sounds like it was released in 1995 and has been an anthem for years, the title track is butter-smooth and sounds like something the late, great J-Dilla would have produced for The Pharcyde back in the Labcabin....days and "Baby Don't Take The Fun" is dope too...
Quick Note: I just wanted to extend my many thanks for all of the comments, really positive feedback and the overwhelming sharing this post and compilation has been getting, this post has been getting really good feedback from some of the artists involved as well and I just wanted to say that, this is what Hip Hop all is about, so if you have shared this on Tumbler, your blog, Facebook etc I just wanted to extend my gratitude.
What's good CRDS readers?...yes I know that it's a cliche, but what you hear on the radio is not Hip Hop music, Hip Hop music to me is hardcore and head nodding beats, clever samples, thoughtful rhymes that actually make sense and interesting rhyme patterns and schemes, rumbling bass lines, DJ cuts and authenticity, what you hear on the radio contains none of that...it's disposable, "junk food" Pop Rap and so much of of it is empty, gimmicky, stupid, devoid of soul, plastic "music" made by talentless "artists" and corporate chumps just to make money, however if you delve deeper into the underground and read a lot of blogs and you will see that true Hip Hop is alive and breathing in 2011...
Thankfully there are are dozens of artists that are staying true to what Hip Hop represents and keeping with the ethics, styles and sound production of the much missed 80's and 90's and a lot of kids that have been in the game for more than a few years have been releasing solid material and gaining new fans, while the old ones appreciate that they are still around, Large Professor, Pete Rock, Kurious, Diamond-D, Pharaoh Monch, Buckwild, Showbiz and A.G, Beastie Boys, J-Live, Celph Titled, various Wu Tang Clan members (especially Ghostface) Cyne, J-Rawls, K-Def, Marco Polo, EDO.G, Masta Ace, Constant Deviants, Madlib, Grap Luva (who has still not had a solo album yet haha) etc...that said there are some rap vets that have well to be frank...fallen the hell off and completely forgotten about their hardcore fans and are just chasing the mighty dollar, it's best not to mention them, but I am sure you all know who I am referring to.
Some of my personal fave relative newcomers these days are Action Bronson, Meyhem Lauren, Shaz Illyork and The Outdoorsmen,Evil Mule,Timeless Truth, Silent Knight, The Audible Doctor, Brown Bag Allstars, Oddisee,Diamond District, DTMD, Has-Lo and everyone on the Mello Music Group label, SPOX PHD, Roc Marciano, Damu The Fudgemunk, Apollo Brown & The Left, Black Milk, Steve Collosall, LCA, Leaf Erikson, Epsilon Project, DJ Cosm, Custodian Of Records, Rasheed Chappell, Arch Druids, Aarophat and Illastrate, Beneficence, Bamboo Bros, Dopplegangaz, The Incredible Funk League, Dela, Dues Paid, Kyo Itachi, M.D., Maxilla Blue, The Grimm Teachaz, Shinsight Trio, Intricate Dialect, Gangrene (Oh No and Alchemist), Hassan Mackey, The Black Opera, Malcolm and Martin, Fashawn, Maverick, Random Axe, Verse Essential, Lord Monsta, Proh Mic, Jazz Spastiks & Junclassic, Offsprings of The Native Tongue, Sick Team, Ras Beats, Statik Selektah, Gasoline Monk, DJ SMV, Willie Evans Jnr of Asamov) and more than a few others.
I thank every one of these dope artists for keeping an incredible art form and culture alive, I also want to say that is so dope that we didn't lose the legendary Erick Sermon after a heart attack scare recently, thank goodness you are still with us trooper, you are one of my MC's and Producers ever and it would have been really hard to deal with losing E-Double.
I hope you enjoy this compilation of some ill releases from 2011...
01. Action Bronson & Statik Selektah - Not Enough Words (Produced by Statik Selektah) 02. Epsilon Project - KO (Produced by Nemak) 03. Add+ - Insomniac Dreaming (Produced by Black Milk) 04. DTMD ft Yu-Keep On (Produced by Dunc) 05. Oddisee feat. Diamond District - For Certain (Produced by Oddisee) 06. Bamboo Bros feat. Pete Rock & Mighty Buda - Beyond A Sensation (Produced by Dave Dar) 07. Cappadonna - Cuban Link Kings (Produced by Phantom of The Beats) 08. Bumpy Knuckles & DJ Premier - B.A.P. (Produced by DJ Premier) 09. Celph Titled & Buckwild feat. Lord Digga & Kwest - Get Stupid (Produced by Buckwild) 10. Global Platoon feat. Steve Colossal - Flash Kidnap (Produced by M.I.) 11. Has-Lo - Light Years (Produced by J-Zone) 12. J57 feat. Silent Knight - Craft Brewed (Produced by J57) 13. Metasyons-Villain (Produced by Crate Digga) 14. Roc Marciano - Emeralds (Produced by Arch Druids) 15. Timeless Truth - Memorex Massacre (Produced by R8der) 16. Large Professor - Key To The City (Produced by Large Professor) 17. J-Live - The Authentic (Produced by Marco Polo) 18. The Primeridian feat. ADaD - Live From The Belly (Tall Black Guy Remix) 19. Grap Luva - Rocking With Elegance (One For Damu) (Produced by Grap Luva) 20. Evidence feat. Fashawn - Same Folks (Produced by DJ Babu)
some dope vids of tracks on this compilation...
Lastly please check out NYC's Rock Mecca new single, "Runnin Runnin" which is the second single from his upcoming Pirate Radio Star LP, the first single "New York Noise" can be heard here...
Mello Music Group have knocked it out of the park yet again, this time it is rising Philadelphia MC and Producer Has-Lo...
Conversation B is a complete re-imagining/reworking of Has-Lo's dope In Case I Don't Make It album that was released earlier in 2011 and has beat contributions from...
The Audible Doctor, Kev Brown,Exile, Oddisse, Apollo Brown, ST-MIC, Small Pro, Eric Lau, IMAKEMADBEATS, Has-Lo himself (the superb "Maxwell UR" that speaks on how he remembers Hip Hop growing up) and others including my highlight off the album, the incredible "Light Years" produced by the highly under-rated J-Zone...
who currently has a book on release...Root For The Villian: Rap, Bullshit, and a Celebration of Failure which you can read hilarious excerpts and order the book from here...
Heavy-D was born Dwight Errington Myers, May 24th 1967 in Mandeville, Jamaica in and moved to (Money earnin') Mount Vernon in the early 70's.
Heavy-D was a charismatic and very positive character that could both rhyme and dance his ass off...Hev was first and foremost but also a song writer, producer and actor in short he was a pure entertainer and an MC that always had multitudes of personality in his rhymes and he could make smooth jams for the Ladies, catchy Pop-Rap (that had a soul and a pulse) and he could bring it hardcore too not to mention the reggae and ragga and R & B tracks he appeared on, during his lifetime he also worked with greats Quincy Jones and BB King, Levert, Janet Jackson, Frankie Paul, Buju Banton and a multitude of other artists.
Hev was also the first cousin of the legendary Pete Rock who produced many tracks for Hev including some just recently this year that are still yet to be released.
I was first introduced to Heavy-D's music via the old school Wellington, New Zealand radio show The Uncut Funk Show (Radio Active 89 FM), to be honest I cannot remember it if was the legendary DJ Tee Pee or DJ Rhys-B that played Heavy-D & The Boyz (DJ Eddie-F, Trouble T Roy andG-Whiz -"Mr Big Stuff" released on Andre Harell'sUptown Records as the first signing way back in 1986 but I fondly remember having it on tape and it receiving much run in my walk-man player (wow that seems so long ago) just like the time an old High School friend that had the Heavy D & The Boyz debut album, Livin' Large on tape.
I loved the whole album and played the late, great James Brown sampling, Marley Marl produced classic "The Overweight Lover's In The House" jam a lot...around 1988 my old Friend Kory H from Maryland invited me to his place and showed me his crazy impressive tape collection and a whole bunch of videos (not to mention some beers and fennel seeds to cover up our breath, because his Dad would have got mad as hell and was seriously like Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air...even the beard was the same lol)...ahhh where was I? oh yes...one of the vids was a few of Heavy-D and The Boyz and I was in awe at the way Hev and his crew moved, especially Hev because he was a big fella..."We Write The Songs", the classic duet with the Juice Crew's Biz Markie D and Heavy-D was released the same year and appeared on the classic Marley Marl-In Control Volume 1.
By the time 1989 came around, I remember picking up their second album Big Tyme on tape, along with some cassingles (remember those?) and playing them over in my walk-man and at home on my stereo, I am pretty sure this was the first time I saw the name Pete Rock (he produced "Mood For Love", "A Better Land","Big Tyme" and "Let It Flow" on the album and I thought his beats were dope and had a feeling that would be name that I would be seeing and hearing a lot more of.
"Grylz They Love Me", "Ez Duz It and Do It Ez", "Let It Flow""You Aint Heard Nuthin' Yet" and "More Bounce" which sampled the classic Zapp "More Bounce To The Ounce" were my faves from that album, the same year Hev was invited to join the Boogie Down Productions crew alongside the late, great Fruitkwan, MC Delight, Wise and Daddy-O (Stetsasonic), MC Lyte, Chuck D & Flava Flav (Public Enemy), Miss Melodie, Just Ice, Doug E Fresh, Kool Moe Dee on the seminal "Stop The Violence" record collectively as the Stop The Violence Movement (overseen by Scott La Rock despite what others may think).
During the years 1989 and 1990 Heavy-D & The Boyz were touring extensively and in July 1990 Trouble T Roy's life was cut short after an accidental fall at a show in Indianapolis, you could tell that this affected Hev and the rest of the Boyz as their third album released in 1991 was titled Peaceful Journey...
Peaceful Journey went platinum and gave the crew a massive chart hit with their take on The O'Jays "Now That We Found Love" produced by Teddy Riley.
Peaceful Journey also had the classic posse cut "Don't Curse" with Kool G Rap, Grand Puba and Big Daddy Kane, CL Smooth, Pete Rock and Q-Tip and was produced by Pete Rock and number of other dope tracks produced by Pete, Marley Marl,Howie Tee and others.
Hev also wrote and performed the theme for In Living Color the same year and guested on Michael Jackson's "The Jam" off his Dangerous album.
In 1992 Pete Rock and CL Smooth released the timeless track "T.R.O.Y" which was a dedication track to Trouble T Roy (and others) and is quite simply one of the most beautiful, moving and incredible tracks Hip Hop has ever produced, Hev also released one of my all time faves in 1992 and a track showed that Heavy-D could tear the frame out of the mic on a hardcore track, "You Can't See What I Can See" produced by Chad Elliot and sampled by EDO.G & Da Bulldogs for "Check It Out" (1993)
During 1992 and 1993 Hev guested on records from the likes of Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Supercat, Queen Latifah...
Hev was also a member of the Flava Unit MC's who released "Roll Wit Tha Flava" in '93...
He also appeared on records by Mary J Blige, Naughty By Nature and others and he also had a cameo role in the comedy film Whos The Man? (1993) and released a single with the same title.
In late 1992 the groups' third album, Blue Funk was released and featured stellar production from DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Skeff Anslem, Tony Dofat, Steely and Cleevie and Jesse West who produced one of my all time favourite posse cuts in Hip Hop
The same year Heavy-D landed a recurring role on the TV sitcom Roc and later Living Single and in 1994 Heavy-D & The Boyz once again became steady chart favourites with the release of their fourth and final album Nuttin But Love.
The album featured the hits "Nuttin' But Love" (Produced by Kid Capri) "Black Coffee" (Produced by Easy Mo Bee) and "Got Me Waiting" (Produced by Pete Rock) other production came from the likes of Teddy Riley, Erick Sermon, Marley Marl and K-Def and Poke (Trackmasters), also in 1994 Eddie F released the Eddie F & The Untouchables album and featured the hit "Let's Get It On" which featured the late, great Notorious B.I.G, 2-Pac, Grand Puba and Spunk Bigga and Hev had more chart success with the R & B group Soul For Real...
After that album Hev went on to act in the film New Jersey Drive and contributed this dope Easy Mo Bee produced track to the soundtrack...
Hev was the president for a brief stint at Uptown Records, signed Herb McGruff and in 1997 dropped his first solo LP, Waterbed Hev which spawned the hit "Big Daddy" and was a commercial success, he followed that album with 2 other solo albums...
Heavy (1999) (my fave of his solo album releases) that featured the track "Listen" (with Q-Tip) produced by the late, great J-Dilla.
Other tracks on Heavy were produced by Tony Dofat, Erick Sermon and The Ummah and guests on the album included Cee-Lo, Chico Debarge, the late, great Big Pun and Eightball.
Hev released Vibes a catchy Pop-Reggae album in 2008 that also had a number of tracks produced byTony Dofat.
D got serious about his acting and starred in the Oscar nominated film The Cider House Rules, Life, and the short lived but great TV show Boston Public.
Before his untimely passing, Hev had been losing a great deal of weight, released an EP titled the Love Opus and performed on The BET music awards.
We lost a great one in Heavy-D...and yes Hev you were rough in your day :)
