J.M.S. Presents - Man, We Had It So Good (1990-93 Indie-Dance Anthems) Vol.1

J.M.S. Presents - Man, We Had It So Good (1990-93 Indie-Dance Anthems) Vol.1

01 St. Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart (LP Version)
02 Soho - Hippychick (Happiness Is A Warm Hippy Mix)
03 The Sindecut - Tell Me Why
04 Masssive Attack - Safe From Harm (LP Version)
05 Soul II Soul - Love Come Through (LP Version)
06 Martine Girault- Revival (Rebirth Edit)
07 Shara Nelson - Down That Road (LP Version)
08 Zoe - Sunshine On A Rainy Day (Reformation Version)
09 Bomb The Bass - Winter In July (Brighton Daze Mix)
10 Coldcut - Autumn Leaves (Nelle Hooper Vocal Mix)
11 Maureen Walsh -Thinking Of You (Dreaming of You Mix)
12 DNA feat Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner (12'' Mix)
13 The Cure - Close To Me (Closer Mix)
14 World Unite - World Unite
15 Electronic - Get The Message (DNA Remix)
16 The Farm - Groovy Train
17 Happy Mondays - Step On
18 The Sugarcubes - Birthday [Justin Robertson 12" Mix]
19 Primal Scream - Higher Than The Sun
20 The Grid - Floatation (Subsonic Grid Mix)

(Proudly compiled by DJ Jaz)

This 20 track deep compilation represents (in my opinion) some of the very finest music that Dance and Indie (Baggy) music had to offer music lovers and club heads in the early 90's.

My hope is that these tracks evoke some great memories and a truly joyous trip down memory lane or if you are new to any of these then I hope you enjoy them.

I have spent pretty much all of my Life around music whether selling it, playing it in clubs/bars etc or on radio, writing about it, dancing to it or just listening to it and as I grow older (I'm 44 now with a beautiful Daughter and a Lovely Wife) I have (like many others before me) deeply gone down nostalgia lane and actually came out a better person for it I feel.

I sifted through hundreds of tracks and changed the track-listings over many times but I honestly feel that this first volume is a great compilation and does what I set it out to do.

The 90's just had soul, style, heart, substance and creativity in a massive abundance and I can fondly recall a session around or '92 or 93 where I said "Man, I wish I could just repeat these years over and over again".

I had all of these tracks on 12", CD or CD single or Cassingle at one stage but most have either got sold, lost or stolen (as it goes) however it's 2017 now and we live in a digital age and I for one am incredibly grateful for today's technology.

This compilation is especially dedicated to my old Vivian Street crew, my old Cuba Street and Stussy crew (Evening Post famous once haha) all of the old Naked Angel and Midnight Espresso crew, Clinton Smiley, Cian and Cool Tone from The Soul Mine
Colin Morris and Steve H and the crew from Colin Morris Records every single person I had the good fortune of meeting through great music and last but definitely not least...every single DJ that rocked these tracks and others like it and made me lose my mind on the dance floor.

The 90's were indeed a very special and unique time.

Until the next one ;)

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

J.M.S. Joint of The Week: Big Tabb - "Laid Back" (1993-94)

Peace, it has been a while between drinks but you know how busy Life can get...this week's joint of the week is pure underground East Coast flav (via Philly aka Illadelph) taken from Bigg Tabb's unreleased album Who's Wreckin The Mic (recorded between 1993-94) kindly put out there by the true heads at Chopped Herring who will be on their 200th release shortly.

Bigg Tabb aka Jakk Frost is best known for his "It's Nice Outside" b/w "Brothers In Da Hood" 12' released in 1993.

"Laid Back" produced by MG aka Mentally Gifted (a name you will know well if you listened to Da Youngsta's back in the day) is exactly why I love and miss 90's Hip Hop so damn much, a rhythm infused track with well placed Biz Markie and Rakim vocal samples and Tabb going for broke sounding like a combination of Grand Puba and Pudgee Tha Phat Bastard with a guest appearance by One Man Riot?



Pick up the CD or LP here

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Fat shout out to Appleseed.

J.M.S. Joint of The Week: Grand Puba - "Fat Rat" (1991)

The movie was extremely forgettable (I honestly could not tell you one actor that was in it) but the soundtrack released way back in 1991 contained one of my all time fave Grand Puba tunes "Fat Rat" (Puba's first solo joint?) that sampled the classic 1982 Fonda Rae tune "Over Like A Fat Rat", Grand Pu was behind the boards and he didn't just lazily loop it straight up he cut out vocal sections to dope effect.

Grand Pu went for broke on this and his rhymes and overdubs are hilarious ("uh uhhh huhhh") and his rhymes about skins and weed are delivered in a classic Grand Puba Maxwell style.

Grand Puba still makes music to this day to varying quality but his latest album had some dope cuts and he is indeed a legendary vocalist and producer with a lengthy resume of singles, albums and guest appearances dating all the way back to 1986.

Keep rising to the top!

Joint of The Week: The A.T.E.E.M.- "Get It On" (1992)

The A.T.E.E.M. was a short lived group that featured the legendary Chubb Rock's younger brother Rob Swinga, Hot Dog (who had a cameo on Black Sheep's -"Pass The 40" and FM (2 of Chubb's former dancers)

"Get It On" is pure 1992 Hip Hop music, a classic break, bugged out loop, a speaker rattling bassline, horns, a Chuck-D sample and braggadocio lyrics and numerous mentions to Women as "squaws", produced by The Trackmasterz (Poke and Red Hot Lover Tone) before they became well massive and in-demand producers and re-mixers, this cut appeared on their debut and only album A Hero Ain't Nuttin' But A Sandwich (1992)

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30 Years of Boogie Down Production's - "The Bridge is Over"

Listen to and watch the legendary Kool DJ Red Alert break down the beginnings of one of the greatest diss tracks and also one of the greatest Hip Hop tracks of all time, it really is mind boggling that it has been 30 years!!!



The History:

I remember having a dubbed cassette of the truly classic and legendary debut Boogie Down Productions album Criminal Minded album and I saved up my milk and paper run money up for the LP (and eventually the CD) and this was honestly an album that got played to death in my Walkman and on my stereo (and my Dad's ones as well)...

KRS was a very staunch believer that Hip Hop started out in the Bronx (a known fact to all true Hip Hop heads) and was not amused with MC Shan's "The Bridge" (1986) claiming that Queens was the place to be.

BDP recorded "South Bronx" (1986) breaking down South Bronx Hip Hop history and telling the World that he didn't "hear a peep from a place called Queens" Shan responded with "Kill That Noise" (1987) where Marley tells Shan did that he didn't hear him say that Hip Hop started in"The Bridge" on his record and with Shan responding "I didn't, they wanted to get on the bandwagon".

In turn BDP recorded "The Bridge Is Over" (ironically at Power Play Studios in Queens) and went straight for the jugulars of MC Shan (even dissing his Puma footwear), Roxanne Shante & The Juice Crew, Queens Producer/Remixer extraordinaire Marley Marl and the late, great DJ Mr Magic who dissed "Success Is The Word" (1985) that was performed by KRS One and the late, great DJ Scott La Rock's first group 12:41 

The record was first released on March 3rd, 1987 on B-Boy Records and the rest is cemented firmly in Hip Hop history for ever.





Roxanne Shante responded with "Have A Nice Day" and told KRS that his name sounded "like a wack radio station" and that DJ Scott La Rock should be ashamed for biting T-La Rock's name and referring to BDP as "Broken Down Punks".

Others got involved too like Queensbridge roughneck, Blaq Poet (Screwball) who at one stage had BDP member and Bronx Hip Hop legend Just Ice looking for him with a shotgun and MC Butchy B and a couple of others...all of this broken down in this very insightful article 

I wasn't buying the recent beef between KRS and Shan, it just seems played out to me but KRS and Marley are on speaking terms and actually recorded an album in 2007 which had some dope tracks and even featured Blaq Poet.

Diss records are not really the same today, you either get wack artists dissing other wack artists with weak disses that supposedly "bodied" the other rapper and are just corny or forgettable.

However it's always great to see actual Rappers in the culture for the art-form harshly strip down the awful and literally fake and plastic "artists" that pollute the industry today and their only response is to mention low record sales.

Fresh for 2017 You Suckers!!!

Joint of The Week: Nao - "DYWM (Gellaitry Remix)"

I just cannot stop listening to this!, this has to be Sam's greatest remix in his career so far and Nao and Sam Gellaitry really need to work on a full EP or LP.

This is Soul/R&B that speaks to the heart, soul and mind...I am in awe of this combination.



If you haven't heard either of the two artists mentioned here, then you need to investigate with the quickness, that's your homework kids...in the meantime enjoy this superb remix taken from Nao's - Fawk (For All We Know) Remixes EP, which also features a mad lovely remix of "Get To Know Ya" from Producer/Remixer extraordinaire Kaytranada.

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