Bloggerhouse Hip Hop

Provocative, insightful, stimulating are a few words that come to mind to describe the Coup. In this world of diluted watered down boring ass hip hop, Boots and Pam da Funkstress have never lost focus. They started the group with E-Roc as a voice for the anti-establishment. They can really open the listeners eyes all while teaching a lesson. Proving a point that ignorance truly is the #1 reason for discrimination in society. Don’t get me wrong, Boots is spitting on a different, if not higher level then most. A devout communist, this one-of-a-kind sounding MC spits some tales that will open your eyes wide.

At the heart of it all, most of it you can agree with, when you sit back and think about it. Thinking about it, being the one aspect that a lot of todays MC’s don’t make you do. You may remember that the Coup released their 2001 album Party Music very near to September 11th with a eerie cover:

The Coup’s first album Steal This Album, is a true underground classic. I upped their third album ‘Steal This Album’, prob their most slept on album. Check it out:
Steal this Album

i have been asked to reup some 304 posse cuts. I don’t remember what I upload a while back and I am too lazy to look but i put 10 files in one upload:
1. 2nd II None – Straglaz (OG Version)
2. DJ Quik – Fuck the Police
3. DJ Quik – If U Want It (Remix)
4. DJ Quik – Let U Havit (OG Version)
5. DJ Quik – Quik Is the Name (Remix)
6. DJ Quik – Summer Breeze (Remix)
7. DJ Quik – Total Auto
8. DJ Quik – Wake Up Show Nov 13, 2003
9. Hi-C – Let Me Know (Radio Freestyle)
10. Young Buck (feat. Hi-C) – Now Holla

304 POSSE

-Brian

Thur, 1-25-07 (my computer desk)
Twist & Shout & Second Spin

Last Thursday was pay day. I had some overtime on it, plus two full weeks after being short the last couple of checks because of the holidays and the such. Needless to say, I haven’t had much money to spend on myself lately. I paid a bunch of bills then decided it was time to hit up some of the used music stores and see what I can track down in the used bins. No better way to waste a bright & sunny Thursday afternoon than checking out some CD stores.

Twist & Shout: Colofax Ave, Denver Colorado ($29.73)

Twist & Shout is one of the two main wax/inpendent music stores in Denver. You have Wax Trax and you have Twist & Shout. Each have their own pro’s and con’s. Wax Trax seems to have the harder to find stuff as far as wax goes, but their CD selection isn’t up to par with Twist & Shout. Twist & Shout moved locations recently and I had not been there since the move. The new store is pretty nice. Much more room than the old location. They also had their own special “Hip Hop & Underground Room”, with a DJ spinning records (although I’m thinking dude was more of Drum & Bass/Trance dude with purple hair) and everything in one area. At first I thought it was kind of cool, then I kind of took offense to it, since it seem like it was easier to keep an eye on us “hoodlum” hip hop purchasers. Whatever.

I went through the wax, just to see if I found anything extremely rare. I didn’t see anything I couldn’t live without. T&S has always been very good about carrying all the latest hip hop releases on CD, best I’ve seen in town. They include stuff that is supposbly only avaliable on the sites like hiphopsite.com, such as the J-Zone “Experianced” project that he uses Jimi Hendrix samples that I thought was only avaliable through hiphopsite.com. It was also the only place I’ve seen Dooley-O’s “I Gotcha” release from last year, that I snapped up. It’s more expensive in price, both their new and used CD’s, which is common with the independent stores. I did go ahead an picked up a new copy of Exile’s “Dirty Science”, which was the only thing in my top 10 favorite albums of 2006 that I didn’t have a hard copy for. But you’re not here for that, on to the pickups…

Hi-C – Skanless $6.99
http://www.zshare.net/download/hi-c-rar.html
1. [Intro-Scratch]
2. Too Greasy
3. Leave My Curl Alone
4. Punk S**T
5. Funky Rap Sanga
6. Request Line
7. Sitting in the Park
8. Compton Hoochies
9. Jack Move
10. Bulls**T
11. 2 Ada Time
12. Yo Dick
13. Froggy Style
14. 2 Drunk Ta F**K
15. Ding-A-Ling
16. I’m Not Your Puppet
17. 2 Skanless
18. Let Me Know [*] – DJ Quick, Hi-C, , Tonya A
19. Do You Wanna See [*] – DJ Quick, Hi-C, , Tonya A
20. Do It [*] – DJ Quick, Hi-C, , Tonya A

This got the re-release treatment back in ’04, which is cool I guess. Nothing much different, execept for three lack luster tracks with DJ Quik at the end that do NOTHING to add to the total package. Personally this has always been a favorite of mine. It was dropped my senior year in high school and it appeals to the high school kid in it’s humor. It got much play at any party we had that year. Tracks like “Punk Shit”, “2 Ada Time”, “2 Skanless” and the WYDU Classic “2 Drunk Ta F**k” (don’t lie, it’s happened to all of us) were all favorites of us hormone charged, cheap beer guzzling, high school seniors. The $6.99 I had to fork out was a little more than I wanted to pay for it. I guess since it appears to be from ’04, they justify charging more for it. I wanted it though, so I paid for it.

Blackmale – Let It Swing $4.99
I remember copping this tape when I was in High School as well. It dropped in ’89 and I thought was always slept on as fuck. It dropped on Ruffhouse before Ruffhouse got huge. The group consisted of a duo from Philly, if I remember right. I’m not saying it’s a slept on classic, but if you enjoy music from this time period, you should be able to enjoy this album as well. Looking on Amazon, it’s going for a cheap .25 cents, but I’d rather pay the $4.99 for it and experiance the enjoyment I felt when I came across it. It’s posted up on Bust The Facts if anyone wants to check it out.

45 King – The 900 Number EP $6.99 http://sharebee.com/ed8b82b4

1. 900 Number [Original Mix]
2. 900 Number [45 King Remix]
3. 900 Number [Lakim Shabazz Acappella Vocal]
4. 900 Number [Ced Gee Remix 1]
5. 900 Number [Ced Gee Remix 2]
6. 900 Number [Ced Gee Remix 3]
7. 900 Number [YZ Acappella Vocal]

I thought for sure when I ran into this I was on to something big. Well after doing a little research, this too, has recentely been rereleased. But then I got to looking at what I have, and the copyright is 1991 (usually rereleases contain both the first copyright and the second copyright) then looking at the bottom of the re-release it says “From Eminem’s Producers”, meaning the “Stan” track he did. Mine has “Acapella versions by Lakim Shabazz & YZ”, so I’m thinking mine is original. Not that I’m that big of a record geek, but it’s still kind of cool. Again, I didn’t really want to spend $6.99 for an EP, but I’ve been on a 45 King quest the past few months, so I grabbed it.

O.G.C. – Da Storm ($5.99)
Yes, even I have my holes in my collection. When most of the BCC stuff came out, a friend of mine and I would take turns buying stuff, while the other person would dub it. He always insisted that he buy the BCC, so besides the Black Moon albums, I didn’t own anything else. I’m trying to correct that, so I’ll snap up any of those original BCC releases.

After dropping almost forty bucks at Twist & Shout, I wanted to hit up a cheap place, so it was off to Second Spin on Colorado BLVD

Second Spin: Colorado BLVD, Denver Colorado ($7.02)
I had just been there on New Years Day, but they usually have some type of sale going on. I was in luck, they still had the buy three get one free and the “Everything under $3.99 is 50% off” sale. It was a little soon after my first visit, but there was some new stuff and some stuff that the price had been brought down on. I bought a couple games as well (San Andreas GTA) and the clerk was nice enough to count it as a fourth, giving me one for free and giving me half price on one of the three, which he wasn’t supposed to do.

DJ Hurricane – The Hurra (free)
http://sharebee.com/4465d7fe
1. Now You Do
2. Elbow Room
3. Four Fly Guys
4. Can We All Get Along
5. Feel The Blast
6. Pass Me The Gun
7. The Hurra
8. Where’s My Niggas At
9. What’s Really Going On
10. Comin’ Off
11. Get Blind
12. Pat You Foot
13. Stick’ Em Up

While he may be best recognized as the Beasite Boys DJ, Hurricane is a hip hop vetern, appearing with The Afro’s and also Davey D. Hurricane dropped this LP back in on the Beasties label. It’s decent, nothing ground breaking, but it’s strong in the “Hollis Crew” flavor. For free, I’ll take it, although I thought it was going to be a $1.50, which still would have been alright.

Rob Base – The Incredible Base ($1.50)
http://sharebee.com/c0b4026f

I’m not the most computer saavy person in the world. If it wasn’t for my “web-guy” (thanks Chris), this blog would be done on whatever default setting Blogger has. I still haven’t switched over to the “New Blogger” because I hate having to try to learn something new. Needless to say, I’m still having problems with the burning feature on my new computer. The thing does everything but wipe your ass, but I still can’t figure out whats wrong with the burning feature. Everything else works fine as far as playing, coping disc stuff to the hard drive, ect…. Guess I’ll wait and see what happens when I try to use some different disks in it. This post took me four hours Sunday to write up, not all at once, I was watching the NFL playoffs while writing (go Bears), but I still hate wasting time like that. It was originally supposed to appear Friday, but I had a short day at work and wasn’t able to work on it. Then the whole burning issue happened, so you get Friday’s post a few days late.

Most of you can skip over this next rant, because honestly, I haven’t had a lot of problems in the past and 90% of the visitors to this site are pretty cool cats. I plan on getting back to setting one day a week aside for re-upping past posts and doing requests. I used to do “Requests Fridays”, which took a TON of time and ended up me spending sometimes as much as 6 hours on a Friday night of all nights filling requests. I want to get back to that (maybe not on Friday) one of these days, but for the time being, I’ll kind of do requests and re-ups as I go. I’ll be the first to admit, I can get absent minded, flakey, and totally space stuff off (just ask Chris or Polarity, I still owe them CD’s from last year). Just give me a little time and sooner or later I will get to it. If it’s been a few days and I still haven’t posted you request/re-up and I said I would, I have no problem being POLIETLY reminded. If you light up the c-box with your request over and over, I’m going to tell you to go fuck yourself and ignore you from then on out. I’m not doing this for my own good. I’m trying to help others recoup stuff they’ve lost or just want to hear something they missed. I enjoy helping others. I think it keeps the music and the right hip hop vibe alive. But I’m not going to deal with morons like the one we had last week. Plain and simple. Enough of the rant. Like I said most of my reqular visitors and commenters are class acts, but it only takes a few to piss me off.

back to our regularly scheduled post…….

Used Music Shopping Trip 1-9-07, Cheapo Disk, Denver, CO; Total Spent $9.49

Our Jan 9th trip took us to Cheapo Disk (thats the real name) in Denver off of Colorado BLVD. Cheapo Disk is an odd place. I’ve had days when I’ve walked out of there with 15 CD’s of some pretty hard to find stuff. Then I’ve had days when all I found was Deion Sanders, 2 Big MC, and other corny ass shit. You never know what you are going to find there. It’s also a little more spend than some places. You rarely find anything under $4.95 and most things are between $6-$8. They also rarely have sales like Second Spin does right down the street. But as I said, from time to time you’ll find some hard to find shit in there. I’ve came out of there with an ORIGINAL Masta Ace – Music Man disc, A-Teem, Dred Scott and some others. El Travster was pretty broke this week, so the limit was set at $10, meaning that if I wanted to walk out of the store with two discs, I was going to be limited to a $3.95 disk and a $4.95 choice, limiting my choices even more. I probably should have went to a cheaper place, but it was on the way home from work. Well there wasn’t a lot there on this trip. I probably could have rounded up 5-6 decent choices, but I ended up with these two choices, one a jewel in the rough and one a…..how can I put this nicely, fuck it, it sucked.

Rough House Survivors – Straight From The Soul (Relativity, 1992) ($4.95)

This was a slept on release from the early 90′s. I should know, I slept on it until Polarity sent me a copy of it a couple years ago. I guess I was judging a book by it’s cover, thinking it was one of those half-talented hard rock releases that was plauging the music at that time. With Tony Dofat doing his best Pete Rock impressions, the album lives up to its name, containing soulful beats and decent lyrics. I haven’t seen this around in the past five years much, but then again, I’ve only been looking for it for the past couple years. Amazon has it pretty cheap, but after you mix in shipping costs, I was fine with picking it up for what I did. If you want to download this album, check Jaz’s blog as he posted it up a few weeks ago: Cold Rock Da Spot

E-Dawg – Platinum (Spot Entertainment, 1999) ($3.95)
http://www.zshare.net/download/e-dawg-rar.html
1. Journey feat Loon-E-Toon
2. No More Tears feat Money B
3. Shackles feat Sir-Mix-a-Lot & Francce
4. Coolin’ feat Loon-E-Toon & Francce
5. Wanna Ride feat E Ness
6. Eye For An Eye feat Francce
7. Crackin’ feat Travy Trav (No, not me), Dick Bone, Smokey The Last Emperor
8. Sexxxin feat DUBL
9. Throw ‘Em Up Smokey The Last Emperor
10. Gots To Get Paid feat DUBL, Loon-E-Toon

Coming from the Northwest, I’ve always supported the artists from the region when I can. E-Dawg was down with Sir-Mix-a-Lot in the early 90′s and dropped “You Can’t Slip” as the B-side to the “Baby Got Back” single. It’s was a nice cut and got me hyped to E-Dawg’s flow and voice. He also did some stuff on the “Seattle…The Darkside” compilation in ’93 and released a 12″ on Def American (Rick Rubin’s label) called “Drop Top”, also in ’93. My boys on Streets On Beats hipped me to his “Despardo” album that dropped in ’01. When I found this a couple months ago, I was curious. At $3.95 and a couple of the copies gone, I figured I better pick up this last copy. I can’t find shit on this release, even his myspace page doesn’t mention it. It was actually recorded here in Denver and released on a Denver label, so I don’t know if it was a local thing or what. The album is pretty bad, save for a couple songs. Weak production, too much singing on the hooks, in bad west coast fashion, plaugue the album. I’m actually sorry I’m upping this, but since Jaz already posted up the Rough House Suriviors album, this is what you have.

Couple Requests

King Of Swing (Bum Rush/Virgin, 1990) http://www.zshare.net/download/kings-of-swing-rar.html
1. Strategy
2. Betty Boop
3. Nod Your Head To This
4. Show Em What U Got
5. U Know I Love Ya Baby
6. 2 Minutes of Funk
7.
Swing Fever
8. Funky Breakdown
9. Rumors
10. The Hustler
11. Go Cocoa!

Nine – Unreleased, B-Sides, Rare Release
http://www.zshare.net/download/nine-rar.html

1. I’m Comin’
2. Rah Ni–a
3. Six Million Ways To Die feat Tragedy
4. Feel No Guilt feat Demasters
5. Who Not Knowin’
6. Watcha Want Remix
7. It’s Ugly
8. Ova Confident Remix
9. Famaldahyde
10. Me, Myself, & My Microphone
11. The Vetern
12. Watcha Want Instrumental
13. When The Shit Hits The Fan
14. Chuck Chillout Show feat Dueces Wild
15. Back Together feat Full Force
16. Gods, Earths, & 85′ers feat Poor Righteous Teachers

Someone wanted the Nine albums, but those have been posted recentely on other sites. This is something I don’t believe I’ve posted up before, and I told Dan Love that I would set it up. Nice collection of tracks he’s done with others, some remixes, and just funky stuff.

Well once again, there will be a postponment of the post that was originally to be done Friday. I wrote the thing up on my home computer, saved it as a word document, burned it, along with some rar. files of some requests, brought it to work and……….there was nothing on the disk when I went to load it this morning. So either, hopefully, I have a bad RW-Disk, or my brand new computer isn’t working right. I haven’t tried to burn anything to a disk yet, except that, so I’m not sure. I don’t have any normal disks right now to try that.

Anyway, since work has been busy this week, and for some odd reason I’m supposed to actually work while I’m at work, I’m putting up another half assed post just to get by with. Not much time for writing (and me being the perfectionist I am when it comes to doing this damn thing, it bugs the fuck out of me) so you’ll get some EP’s, one request (sorry about the timeliness of the others) and some words thrown together, and we’ll call it a post.

Del The Funkee Homosapian – The Lost EP http://www.zshare.net/download/del-tha-funkee-homosapien-lost-ep-rar.html

Sorry no track list or cover art. I don’t even remember where the hell I got this. A blog? Cocaine Blunts? Hell, I don’t remember. Honestly, I think I listened to it once or twice so I don’t even remember what it contains. I had with me, so up it goes!

Diamond D – The Remix EP http://www.zshare.net/download/diamond-and-the-psychotic-neurotics-remixes-reissue-ep-2003-rar.html
1. Sally Got A One Track Mind (Showbiz Remix)
2. Best Kept Secret (Extended LP Mix)
3. Best Kept Secret (Instrumental)
4. Check One, Two (Diamond Vibe Mix)
5. Sally Got A One Track Mind (2 Track Beatdown Mix)
6. Feel Da Vibe (LP Diamond Mix)

If I remember right, this was a white label vinyl only mix that Polarity blessed me with. I’m sure it’s been up before, but that’s what a half assed post is, a bunch of re-runs.

Someone wanted this. I had a nice little write up for the album on the post on my home computer…butttttttttt……Dame Dash initial project, yeah, that Dame Dash. The album sounds a lot like the first KMD album, and the Native Tongue movement come to think of it, which is a good thing. Good review of it here

The Future Sound – The Whole Shabang Vol. 1

http://www.zshare.net/download/future-sound-rar.html

1. Intro

2. This Is a Game

3. Function

4. Flashback Relay and The Whole Shabang

5. Star Struck (Caterpillar Style)

6. Thread

7. Bop Step

8. Lady/What’s a Bro to Do?

9. Pixie Groove

10. Scriptic Cryptic

11. Primates in Stitches

12. Flashback Relay and The Whole Shabang (Wig Out Mix)

13. Sucka Set 14. Jungle-O

15. When the Ends Meet (Life of the Futuristic B-Boy)

Sorry for the half-assed post. Hopefully I’ll figure out what the fuck is wrong with the computer and fix it, or I’ll just re-write the whole thing, which isn’t really what I want to do. I need one of those flash sticks or something. Or home internet……Fuck it all

Trav

This is actually plan B as far as posts goes. I had originally worked on the post I wanted to do on Friday at home over the weekend and was going to bring it to work with me to post up today, but I forgot the CD-RW disk I had the word document on, so I’m going with a post I was going to do tomorrow.

Two of the artists I was going to highlite on this series had their albums posted up on other blogs last week, so I was left scrambling for back up plans. The original plan I had, I left at home, figuring I wasn’t going to do this post until tomorrow. Since I travel with booklets of Mp3 disks to listen to while I’m at work, I was left scrambling for something just so I can crank out a post today since I’ve been absent for since Thursday.

Hiero Vs. Hobo http://www.zshare.net/download/hiero-vs-hobo-kmel-rar.html

Normally I wouldn’t call Hieroglyphics underrated in any way. Maybe even overrated in some aspects. But there are some aspects and groups under the Hiero umbrella that did get overlooked. In the grand scheme of beefs, one such beef that always seems to get overlooked is the famed Hiero Vs. Hobo Junction beef that happened in the mid 90′s. This jumped off after Saafir did a little spot on Casuals’s “Fear Itself” LP. When Saafir started working on his debut “Boxcar Sessions”, Casual was supposed to return the favor. For whatever reason, Casual never did drop that guest apperance and the beef was on.

The two crews decided to settle this dispute on Sway & Tech’s “Wake Up Show”. Saafir lights up the first couple MC’s, but Casual and Tajai held their own. The rest of the Hobo Junction doesn’t really do anything to impress and sometimes it sounds like Saafir is using writtens, but you be the judge who wins.

I’m a little short on time so here are a couple more Hiero goodies, one which I think has been posted on here and other places in the past. The other, I can’t recall seeing before.

Extra Prolific – Like It Should Be Done http://www.zshare.net/download/extra-prolific-like-it-should-be-rar-zs7.html
1. Intro
2. Brown Sugar
3. In Front Of The Kids
4. Is It Right?
5. Sweet Potato Pie
6. Cash Money
7. One Motion
8. Never Changing
9. First Sermon
10. Now What
11. It’s Alright
12. In 20 Minutes
13. Go Back To School
14. The Fat Outro
15. Brown Sugar (Domino Remix)
16. Give It Up

Hiero Oldies Vol 1 & 2 http://www.sendspace.com/file/n4bqea (Both Volumes are in the zip)
1.Souls Of Mischief – ‘Souls Of Mischief’
2.Casual and Pep Love – ‘It Gets No Better’
3.Del – ‘What Do You Say?’
4.Casual – ‘Gotta Lotta’
5.Pep Love & Jay Biz – ‘Everyday of the Week’
6.Tajai & Extra Prolific – ‘Let it Ride’
7.Souls of Mischief – ‘Step to My Girl’
8.Casual – ‘Where They At?’
9.Del – ‘Nowadays’
10.Pep Love & Jay Biz – ‘Reckless/Hush’
11.Souls of Mischief – ‘Live on WKCR, NYC (Stretch and Bobbito Show 11/13/92)’

Vol 2
1.Souls of Mischief – ‘Batting Practice (original version)’
2.Casual – ‘Fear No Evil’
3.Del – ‘Neighborhood’
4.Casual, Opio & Tajai – ‘Rippers’
5.Pep Love & Jay Biz – ‘Can I Kill ‘Em’
6.Del – ‘Pistol Whippers’
7.Souls of Mischief – ‘Our Secret’
8.Casual – ‘Me-O-Mi-O (Domino Remix)’
9.Del – ‘Crazy Del Song W/ Beyond The Cloak of Darkness’
10.Pep Love & Casual – ‘Feeling for the Flow’
11.Souls of Mischief – ‘Chaos and Turmoil

I have requests for tomorrow as well, so if you requested something….hang tight, hopefully it’ll be up tomorrow

Trav

Back when Ice Cube was relevant and the Lench Mob was in full force, this unknown group came outta no where called Kausion. In the early 90′s I was a huge Ice Cube fan. So, anything he touched I would have to have it. For the few of you that know my tastes, know I love the gangsta shit. This is right up the alley of some CMW or Westside Connection. The beats here are similar to something after Death Certificate maybe even the Predator. If you ever checked of Mack 10′s debut, there is also an element of that here.

The group memebers are: Gonzoe, Kaydo & Cell. Some of you true west coast heads may know Gonzoe from his solo work. He also joined The Regime after Kausion was over, which included Tech N9ne, Yukmouth of the Luniz & even Poppa LQ of Rap-A-Lot fame. Mack 10, B-Real and K-Dee make guest appearaces on this album. This straight G-shit, with a hint of g-funk on a few songs. My favs are: “Land of the Skanless” & “Steal At Will”. This IMO is the most underrated west coast album bar none. I used to feel that WC & The Maad Circle was, but the bloggers and diggers have found that album and its been heavily promoted on these boards:

Kausion

-Brian

Threat – Sickinnahead (Mercury/Polygram, 1993)
http://www.zshare.net/download/threat-rar.html
1. PDK
2. Sucka Free
3. Niggas Like You
4. 4 Deep
5. Let the Dogs Loose
6. When It Rains
7. Get Ghost
8. 24-7
9. Shuta Fuck Up
10. Ass Out
11. Zuu
12. Whore Said It’s Yours
13. Give It Up
14. Shote (Threw Wit Money)
15. Bust One fa Me
16. So Now You Know

Before the westside turned into the land of G-Funk, DJ Pooh, Bobcat, Battlecat, and even Sir Jinx were the producers of choice. Coming with hard funk tracks, that were hard enough to drive down the Boulevard in the six-trey, yet soulful enough to make the listener really feel the pain and restlessness that was experianced in the west in the early 90′s. True, one can only hear “Funky Worm” and “More Bounce To The Ounce” so many times before it gets repeatitious, but something about those old funk beats that just screams “good times”.

One of the better pre G-Funk albums was L.A. MC, Threat’s “Sickinnahead”. Threat had been in the LA scene for most of the early 90′s, appearing on Yo-Yo’s “Black Pearl” album, 2 pac’s “Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z”, Tha Alkaholik’s “21 & Over”, our last feature, King Tee’s “Tha Triflin’ Album”, Ice Cube’s “Death Certificate” along with the “Get The Fist Movement” and some other features.

In 93′ Threat dropped is solo release, “Sickinnahead”, which featured production from westcoast beatmakers, DJ Pooh & Bobcat. The album is severely over looked, even in the west coast. Threat comes with a strong delivery and dope lyrics. There are many verses on the album the stick in the listeners head. I was a fan of his verses on the Lik’s track “Who Dem N—a’s” and Pac’s “Peep Game”, so picking this album up when dropped was a must. The album jumps off into one of the best intro tracks there is. “PDK” comes with an opening verse that just sets the whole mood for the albums

“I’m here to let you know that no ho plays me
I don’t do crack cause I’m already crazy
And we don’t need no mo’, psycho people
Guns don’t kill people, people kill people
Haven’t you heard, there’s a new sheriff in to-own
But one black chief can’t calm us do-own
We floss ‘em out wide, the nigga ain’t from our tribe
Not +Tribe Called Quest+, the tribe called West
Too legit to quit so tell the cops they can kiss my
young black ass cause I’m out to get mine (you’re gonna get yours)
Let it be known, to all, men, that roam the planet earth
that Allah come firstLivin in the L.A. Zoo you gotta be a warrior
Make sure you got a good lawyer
Get caught with a spear that’s fifteen years
I hit the fence with my khakis and still they shootin at me
Tryin to kill us off like buffalo
Po-po can’t have my life, or my soul, so…..”

I always had problems getting pass the first track, once I did, the whole album is like a trip through South Central, from harrassing the pan handlers, to getting faded in the 6-4, it’s a like a day in the life of Deadly Threat. The single and video for “Let The Dog’s Loose” got some play on Yo! as well. Tracks like “Sucka Free”, “When it Rains”, “24-7″ tie the album nicely together in a very cohesive effort. The first half of the album is nearly flawless, while the second half slips a bit, but not enough to over shadow any progress he made early on.

Threat unfortunately pretty much vanished after polygram went tits up. He recently showed up on last year’s “Street Music” by Defari, which I have yet to hear.

The left coast has always been somewhat of a step-child to the East Coast. From the beginning when Hip Hop migrated to the West, the west has always been in the shadows of “Big Brother”. In the early days, west coast artists spent their time trying to copy their east coast conter-parts. Listen to Ice T’s “Dog N’ The Wax” for a prime example of just how closely the west was to the east.

Over the mid 80′s, while the east coast artists still got love in the west, the west side started forging their own sound. Electro, which can be closely attributed to the Miami Bass sound, became an “in thing” as Uncle Jam’s Army and the World Class Wreckin’ Cru began taking over the scene. Pop Lockin’ and breakin’ became a lifestyle for on the Cali coast.

It wasn’t until Ice T started doing songs like “6 in The Morning”, which was a b-side to “Dog N’ The Wax” and dropping Rhyme Pays that the west started carving out it’s own niche. N.W.A. and Eazy-E would take it to a whole other level with their crime tales and funk samples.

From then on, the west would be just important in the history of Hip-Hop as the east. Yet, some west coast albums still don’t get the credit they deserve. The next few posts will deal with such albums. We’ll cover some albums from the west that could be just important in the grand scheme of hip hop as some of the preverbal east coast classics.

First up is one of my personal favorite west coast artists, King Tee. Hailing from Compton, California, Tee took the aspects of some of his favorite east coast music and applied them to his own brand of west coast funk. His early attempts were produced by DJ Unknown, who did a lot of Ice T’s early stuff, and a young DJ Pooh, who would go on to become a legend in west coast circles. King Tee’s first album, “Act A Fool” is a west coast classic in its own right. With tracks like “Bass (remix)” and “Payback’s a Mutha”, Tee perfected a “crazy drunken style” waaaay before ODB or any others. The video for “Bass” was an staple on early “Yo! MTV Raps” and featured many early west coast artists and exposed the nation to the art of hydralics and “hittin’ switches” way before it caught on in the early 90′s.

In 1990, King Tee would drop his sophomore LP, “At Your Own Risk”, which would futher cement him into the West heirarchy. It was that LP’s remix of the title track that was produced by Marley Marl that would mark one of the first times the East and West colaborated in such a way. In 1993, Tee would jump back in the scene with his crew, The Likwit Crew, which would would introduce the world to the “Alkaholiks”, consisting of J-Ro, E-Swift (who DJ’d on Tee’s second album) and Tash, who was absent on “Tha Trifflin’ Album”, for serving a bie after a DUI arrest.

“Tha Trifflin’ Album” features classical west coast production from legendary west coast producers such as DJ Pooh, DJ Alladin, and a relatively new comer at the time, Broadway. King Tee’s subject matter on this, as well as his other efforts, is what sets him apart from the traditional “Gangsta” artist. Tee dedicates a lot of his lyrics to the art of drinking, not drive-by’s and and traditional west coast fare. The album does contain a lot of the funk samples that were found during the times, but Tee somehow makes it all sound fresh. “Got It Bad Y’all” is our first introduction to J-Ro & E-Swift that leaves the listener singing a long with the fly hook. Sex rhymes are also common subject matter, with the WYDU favorites “Bus Dat Ass”, “Blow My Sox Off”, and “Where’sa Hoe Sat I & II” dealing with jocking the females. Another sorely overlooked Cali MC, Threat (credited as Deadly Threat on this LP) shows up on another classic, “A Hoe B-4 Tha Homie” telling that pussy whipped homeboy to pull his head out of his ass and realize his bitch is a skeezer.

This album has always been one of my favorite west coast LP’s that doesn’t nearly get the credit it should. King Tee has always been a fun listen that doesn’t get to serious and just throws that classic west coast funk at your ears. This album is one of my prized collections. It’s one of the few CD’s that I haven’t lost since originally buying it when it dropped. I don’t see it much anymore in the stores, but it can still be found on some of the used music dealers online. While it’s not as spendy as “Act A Fool”, which is going for over $100, still expect to pay between $20-60 bucks for it. I don’t generally condone spending that kind of money on any used CD, but if you can track one down on the low end, it’s well worth the price.

King Tee- Tha Triflin’ Album (Capital, 1993) http://www.zshare.net/download/king-tee-rar.html
1. Drunk Tekneek
2. I Gotta Call Earl
3. Got It Bad Y’All – King Tee featuring The Alkaholiks
4. On Tha Rox
5. Just Flauntin’
6. At Your Own Risk (Budha Mix)
7. King Tee’s Beer Stand
8. We Got Tha Fat Joint – King Tee featuring Nefretitti And Mad Kap
9. Where’sa Hoe Sat
10. A Hoe B-4 Tha Homie – King Tee featuring Deadly Threat And Ice Cube
11. Blow My Sox Off
12. Where’sa Hoe Sat (Cont.)
13. Triflin’ Nigga
14. Black Togetha Again
15. Bus Dat Ass – King Tee featuring The Alkaholiks
16. Tha Great

King Tee Myspace (photos from his site) http://www.myspace.com/kingtila

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What’s up Balla’s and Ballettes? Thought I was going to be out of town this weekend, but Old Man Winter threw yet another wrench into my plans. It’s currently a balmy one degree above zero with small flakes of snow falling. People have this misconception of Denver being a freezer box in the winter time but in reality nothing is further from the truth. In a normal year, it may snow at night but by the next afternoon it’s 50-60 degrees and sunny. This year though, we’ve been hit by winter weather four weeks in a row with one monster blizzard. This weekend we are getting only six inches of snow, but the “cold enough to make your piss freeze before it hits the ground” temperatures that are supposed to last at least through the weekend is going to keep me inside. Looks like a good weekend to get my collection back in order. So if any of you have been waiting for my master list and/or my want list, it should FINALLY been done this weekend (fingers crossed of course).

NEW BLOGS
There has been an abundance of new blogs in the past month just when I didn’t think there could be anymore. Some good, some so-so, some I won’t bother to look at ever again. We are starting to feel like an old timer in this blogging land. None the less there have been some QUALITY, emphasis on quality, blogs that have popped up the past couple of weeks. I’m a strong believer mentioning these, because the more quality blogs out there, the better off we all are.

Cold Rock Da Spot
All I have to say about this blog is: It’s about freaking Time!!!! This blog is ran by Jaz, one the more helpful and down to earth cats I’ve came across in this cyber space land. He’s also one of the most knowledgeable hip hop dudes I’ve met. We go back a year or so as some of the original Cocaine Blunts memebers that was a treasure chest for lost and out of print albums before the blogs started taking over. His blog features some hard to find remixes, videos, and insightful and detailed posts you are going to find on the internet. I really hope his blog takes off because the knowledge he has to share is priceless. Give him a visit.

Poisonous Paragraphs
I’ve had some contact with this Boston cat before, mostly through my blog and some myspace messages and was impressed with his knowledge and writing skills. So when he started a blog of his own, I was immediately interested in what it would be like. Let’s say my expectations haven’t been let down. Plenty of detailed (I’m a fan of writing and this guy’s pretty good) posts and some joints that even I wasn’t aware of so it’s definately worth checking out.

Press Rewind If I Haven’t Blown Your Mind
I just found this blog this morning and I spent a good hour on it. It’s original in subject matter by the fact that it’s posting up scans of old Hip Hop articles from magazines such as “Rap Pages”, “The Source”, “Subculture” and others. I was a BIG fan of hip hop magazines back in the day, so this was like a treasure chest of articles for me. Makes me wish I wasn’t dumb and left my boxes of “The Source” (I had every issue from Dec 91′ until sometime in 98) at my parents house and let them thrown them out without me knowing it. This is definately any oldtimers dream, so pay the site a visit.

Premium Blend
This blog is ran by another a previous Cocaine Blunt original member, Kirk. The blog isn’t neccesarily new, but it was one of the first five blogs I started checking out waaaaay back in early 05′ and he’s revamped it and is coming back better than ever. Again, if you have a short attention span and don’t bother reading more than two sentances, you’ll miss out on the main reason this blog is so good.

Bass Lines // Angles and Rhymes
This is another blog I’ve taken an interest in in the passing weeks. Some quality hard to find 12″s along with some dope UK early Hip Hop, which I of course slept on. It’s an excellent example of some of the great blogs coming out lately

Back In The Day
I of course have to give any of my Denver Breathern some shine as well, especially if it’s good. Kido fired up his blog in early/mid Dec and has been killing it ever since then. We seem to have some of the same tastes in Hip Hop so if you enjoy this site, I’m sure you’ll be down with his as well. Some classics floating around on it.

and the last one for the time being…..

And It Don’t Stop
I’m sure I’ve ran across this in the past but forgot to link it up or something. Anyway, I re-discovered this this morning while playing around and was impressed. There isn’t your run of the mill material on here. There is a bunch of classic R&B, funk, Old School Hip Hop (meaning early 80′s), and other assorted goodies. It’s going to take me awhile to get caught up on that one.

It seems with the abundance of new blogs out there I’m missing stuff that people have either posted in comments or in the cbox. If you think there is a blog I should check out, feel free to drop a link. Every link I post in the link section is stuff I personally check out at least 3-5 times a week.

Weekly Top Five
A new weekly feature for those of you who give a rip, I’ll be listing the top 5 things I’ve been playing over the past week. It could be old, it could be new, it’ll just be what I’ve been playing in my headphones (I don’t have an Ipod, I’m a broke ass).

This past week I’ve had plenty of listening time. I’ve been getting off of work, going home playing a game of Madden while listening to an album or two. Then I go lay down (us old folks need their naps) while listening to an album then usually catch a couple more in the evening while doing some writing. It’s been more newer music this week, for some odd reason.

1. Juggaknots – Use Your Confusion
I didn’t have enough listens to include this on the year end list. I didn’t even have a chance to listen to it until mid Dec, but this week this has been on my discman every day. This shit really grows on you. Maybe it’s just the fact they are “old school” enough for me, but this is better than most albums out now a days. “Leon Phelps” and “30 Something” are tracks that get the rewind button multiple times.

2. Masta Ace – Hits U Missed 3, Hits U Missed 4, and Grand Masta: Remix & Rarity Collection
Ace is my favorite Hip Hop artist hands down so naturally anthing fairly new from him is going to get a lot of play from me. Good luck tracking down Hits U Missed 3 & Hits U Missed 4 because those are only being sold at his shows which were in Europe the last I knew of. I was lucky enough Phatsoul was able to attend one of his shows (WHERE IS THE SHOW WRITE UP FOOL?!?!?! HAHAHA) in Croatia and he sent them to me. They are something I’ll definatel
y be buying when they become available. Don’t ask me to up them because I won’t. I’m close to his cousin and out of respect to her and his site, I will NOT upload any of his material.

3. Iomos Marad – Go Head
This was a suprising release in my mind. His “Deep Rooted” LP from 04′ was kind of dull, but this little jazzy ditty has gotten a few spins this week. Definately worth checking out if you haven’t.

4. Talib Kweli & Madlib – Liberation
I’ve never been a big fan of Madlib, at least not since the Lootpack days and Ta lib hasn’t been exactly the most exciting MC in awhile now but this isn’t all that bad. Madlib comes with actual hip hop beats instead of some off the wall sounds made on jupiter bullshit and Talib is Talib, so that is good or bad.

5. Ro Blvd & Free Speech – Laffy Taffy Rots Your Teeth
This has been floating around as a free download for close to six months or more but I was hesitant to listen to it until this week. I must admit, while not breaking down any barriers themselves, it’s a good listen.

QB’s Finest: Part Three, Cormega

I have to be honest, this Queens Bridge series hasn’t really excited me as much as it should have. Maybe it’s the fact that besides Poet, Nas and the some of the Juice Crew related stuff, the QB sound doesn’t always appeal to my tastes.

The next artist is looked upon as almost god status by some circles, but honestly I’ve never been the biggest fan of his. Cormega, or simply ‘Mega, has been around since the early 90′s but a trip upstate left him out of the QB golden age of Nas & Mobb Deep releases. He caught an early buzz on the streets while still in jail after Nas penned “One Love”, which he name drops ‘Mega. When ‘Mega was released from the pen, Nas hooked him up on the “Affirmative Action” (A song which I love) track from “It Was Written” and gave him a slot in the super group “The Firm”. Nas and Cormega would end up having a fall out which resulted in his removal from the group along with his album “The Testament” being shelved for the next four years.

Finally in 2000, Mega got a release from his contract and came with his own label, dropping the shelved album and any future releases. He has since made amens with Nas and recently performed on stage with Nas and Foxxy for the first in over 10 years.

Cormega – Hustler/Rapper http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YTC46DOT
1. Three
2. Piece Maker Interlude
3. What’s Your Poison?
4. Da Bridge 2001
5. Straight Outta QB
6. Crime Side
7. Realmatic
8. Loyalty
9. All I Need Is You
10. Hold His Own
11. Who Can I Trust?
12. Testaments
13. We Gon Buck
14. La Familia
15. Usual Suspects
16. Freestyle
17. Angel Dust
18. Affirmative Action
19. Affirmative Action (Remix)
20. Freestyle
21. Freestyle
22. Montana Diary
23. Slow Down Baby
24. Freestyle
25. Freestyle
26. Killaz Theme
27. They Forced My Hand
28. Poetry

Re-UPS!!! I haven’t done my Friday request thing in awhile, mainly because of the holidays, traveling and basically not wanting to but they’ll be back soon. Maybe not next week, but soon. Here a couple joints people had requested that I happen to have with me.

Pete Nice & Daddy Rich – Dust To Dust http://www.zshare.net/download/prime-minister-pete-nice-daddy-rich-rar.html

1. Rat Bastard 2. Sleeper 3. Kick the Bobo 4. Verbal Massage 5. Lumberjack 6. Pass the Pickle 7. Rapsody (In J Minor) 8. Ho 9. Outta My Way Baby 10. 3 Blind Mice 11. World According to Hubert Dover 12. Rich Briing ‘Em Back 13. Blowin’ Smike 14. Double Duty Got Dicked 15. Dust to Dust 16. Verbal Massage, Pt. 2

I don’t give a fuck what anyone says, I still love this album.

Godfather Don – Diabolique http://www.zshare.net/download/godfather-don-rar.html

1. Insane 2. MC Assault 3. Big Katz (featuring Sir Menelik) 4. Who Is Here??? 5. Burn RMX 6. Diabolique 7. Kaos 8. Live & Let Die 9. Life Ain’t the Same (featuring Sir Menelik and Mike L.) 10. Dip Dip Die!!! 11. Make Em Suffer 12. Connections 13. Pick Up the Mic 14. Voices 15. Y 16. No Competition (featuring Mike L and Scaramanga) 17. Properties of Steel 18. Y