Wednesday, December 21, 2011
12.21.11...We Just Dancin'
Ok, here it goes.....you're either shaking your head in shame, or you're yelling "ooohhh shhhiiit!!".
There's no middle ground on this one. If your opinion is of the former, I feel sorry for you, because this movie is hip-hop in it's most innocent form.
Kid & Play, man....you have to love them. If you grew up in the 80s and 90s, I think it's almost a given as to how much FUN these movies were to our generation. The entire cast does a perfect job.
Bilal - Martin motherfuckin Lawrence....
I laughed every time he was one screen. Straight up laughed myass off. EVERY line this dude had in HP 1 &2 was golden. His rant about "The DJ" while he's in the record store, trying to get Play to hok him up with a deal on some 12"s is classic....and it's a perfect freakout that probably made 99% of the DJs out at the time give him a standing ovation.
Favorite line:
Ain't gon' be too many more of those "Shut the Fuck Up"s, cause I'ma kick both ya asses"
&
If you didn't put all your money in that damn pussymobile, we wouldn't be in this shit!
Stab, Pee-Wee and Zilla - Full Force
The freestyle these do in the record store after their grandma hits them with a purse and orders them to.....CLASSIC. "Butta on what?", "Say what?" "A popcorn!"
They were simply the quintessential thugs in a comedy. The brothers were always out hunting down Kid & Play, as if that was their lives' purpose. When they were able to confront them, on numerouse occassions, the following quotes were at the top of my list:
Do you smell somethin'? Oh definitely, I smell somethin'? What's that smell? I SMELL PUSSY!!!
&
Pee-Wee dives into a church, thinking they're about to catch K&P throwing the party. He leaps forward and falls down. Getting back up and beginning to head back outside he shouts to his brothers, "Guys, I think I busted my ass." You just have to hear how he says it. Hysterical. I watched this at a friends house back in my freshman year of high school. His parents decided they wanted to monitor our movie selections and watched this with us, completely horrified the whole time. When this part came on, I laughed sooo hard, and they looked at me like I had just stabbed someone.
and, of course, Jamal - Kamron of Young Black Teenagers
The obligatory white kid to make fun of in a hip-hop comedy, but it was done so well.
"You want some been pie?"
I mean, hey, he did the role and he nailed it. And they knew he had skills, otherwise they wouldn't have let him hold the mic at the jammy jam.
Let's face it.....he was the ultimate white boy at the time. But you can't give him too much shit....don't forget, YBT made "Tap the Bottle" and you can't fuck with that song.
Other memorables:
Mr. Lee - Are you saying I look good with a damn plastic on my head?
Kid's response to Professor Sinclair's question of what Malcolm X stood for
Play's excuse for spending Kid's tuition money, with Kid doing an extremely frustrated nod while Play stutters his way through
Dean Kramer's near breakdown during his "Time waits for no man" speech to Kid
It was an era of hip-hop that was pure. These movies had heart. They had a way of addressing social issues at the time and it was done with an undertone of intelligence disguised as slapstick comedy. The era of bright colors, African heritage pride and party rap, all rolled into one.
Kid & Play blew up after the original House Party, making this sequel and then the underrated movie, "Class Act" (Doug E. Doug's breakout before Cool Runnings)
It holds a special place in my heart and always will. My freshman year of high school, I got really sick. The first few weeks was an actual physical illness, being food poisoning simultaneous with a flu, and it fucked me up bad. If you haven't already realized, I'm of the chemically imbalanced persuasion, and after the physical health issues cleared up, the mental health problems took over. I slipped into a depression that left me in a pretty bad place, becoming slightly agoraphobic and not leaving the house for two months. I missed a lot of school.
I spent all day and night on a couch or in my bed. In five weeks, I lost 60 pounds and kind of withered away to nothing. But I had hip-hop. I watched this movie every day while I was home. Every fucking day...and it was my best friend.
I had this movie and a stereo in my room, where I hid from the world and listened to De La Soul, Main Source, Back Sheep and KMD. Maybe this is why the golden era means so much to me....I had a hundred artists making their landmark records and giving me something to latch onto.
As far as hip-hop comedy movies go, there will never be a movie like this again. They can try, but it'll be like when they had Woodstock 25 years later. It'll never be the same. It was a time and place that can't be touched. If you were there, you were there. If not, thank your lucky stars for DVDs. You can find this movie for pennies as part of a 4-pack collection of all of the House Party movies. Buy it, and skip 3 and 4. Throw those discs out the window, because 1 and 2 will be all you never need.
To encourage you, here's an Amazon link:
The Jammy Jam
Monday, December 19, 2011
12.19.11.....Zombie Rap
One year later.
Sorry, folks....time flies when shit gets heavy.
Now that it's cold and rainy in Emerald City, I think I may be able to get back to my initial intentions with this here site.
So, being that we're at Christmas time and shit (I decorated the inside of my apartment as if I was possessed by Clark W. Griswold), here's a few treats:
NOTE - I am not a fan of downloading a gazillion gigs of shit. Odds are, if you want a certain album from the golden era, there's a 75% chance you can find it for super cheap. However, there are quite a handful of releases from that era that are waaay out of print and impssible to afford on our low money income. I'm posting these sites because they have a bunch of records that are far gone to find. Plus, if it was on a major label, download the shit out of it, because they took advantage of quite a few of these MCs/DJs, ripped them off, made some money and then left them with contracts that wouldn't allow them to release any more music on other labels.
The dudes in the 90's got fucked over. Big time. A lot of them are still around and have found a way to release new music or still do shows. Support them.
Golden Age Hip-Hop Videos! - Not really anything to download, but some forgotten classics
Underground Hip-Hop - hands down, one of my favorites to find the long gone shit. Who else would have the Bustin' Melonz record? Sham & The Professor? The DJ Premier Golden Era revisited mixtapes?
The Hip-Hop Collection - Another completist's wet dream. Some pretty cool stuff, although I wish he didn't waste time posting stuff from dickheads like Kanye
There you go....it's like a gift of thousands of hours of gold.
Oh, by the way....yesterday, sitting on a self in a local record store, I found an original CD pressing of C-BO's "Gas Chamber" record on AWOL Recs from 1994. For $8. If you know what I'm talking about, then you're saying to yourself, "Holy shit..." right now.
Last and obligatory....it's been a year in between posts. Here is the new and old that have soundtracked me through 2011.
I'll try to give a little detail, just in case you're bored and feel like killing time.
Big L "Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous" - Took me a while, but I've finally grown to appreciate this record. The beats were great, it was just something about his voice that didn't work for me. The guy was good, though. Unfortunately, he's another MC we won't have an opportunity to hear from ever again.
Boogiemonsters "Riders of the Storm" - I had bought the record back when it was released because of their affiliation with Digable Planets or something. Sooo good. "Honeydips in Gotham" is one of my favorite tracks from this era. I wish they had kept a good thing going. They released only one other album, 1997's "God Squad". Ugh. I've erased it from my memory and have continued to hold this gem close.
Boot Camp Clik - EVERYTHING. Black Moon and all associated acts. All of it. Sean Price's "Monkey Bars", Heltah Skeltah's "Nocturnal", Smif-N-Wessun's "Dah Shinin'" and "Reloaded" records....this was a crew that rarely disappointed.
Channel Live "Station Identification" - KRS-ONE's verse on "Mad Izm" is a perfect example of why the Golden Era rules supreme.
Cypress Hill "III:Temples of Boom" - The first three records are quite simply amazing, but this one....goddamn. "Black Sunday" bummed some people out, whining about catering their sound to the Lollapalooza generation. Fuck that. It was great. They got weird, and it worked. On "III...", they took it to a complete opposite end of the spectrum and made this bleak and dark, straight up hip-hop record. I listen to this record, and all I can visualize is black. "Throw Your Set in the Air".....wow.
De La Soul "Buhloone Mind State" - Totally forgot how fun this record is. I'm usually distracted with my iPod and go straight to "...Is Dead". Pressing play on this one and hearing the first couple seconds of "Eye Patch", I slapped myself for forgetting.
Diamond D "Stunts, Blunts and Hip-Hop" - Dude's lyrics are corny as shit, but his beats make up for it. This record's a good time.
DJ Premier - Too much to list. Golden age mxtapes 1-4, Salutes James Brown 2CD mixtape, Crooklyn Cuts tapes A-D
DJ Jazzy Jeff - Golden Age mixtapes vol. 1 + 2.....I wish this guy was still given more credit / attention
Fat Joe "Jealous One's Envy" - Pulled this out yesterday. Not a timeess classic, but a pretty solid record, nonetheless. He lost me after this record, becoming another victim to the whole "I'm the hip-hop Scarface kingpin" bullshit. He WAS on the remix of Raekwon's "Firewater" 12" with Big Pun and that track was badass.
GDP "Useless Eaters" - Yes, it's new....and it's golden. This guy gets better and better with every release. Someone hook this guy up with a deal that will give him the attention he should be receiving.
Goodie Mob "Soul Food" - This record is why I'm willing to let Cee-Lo slide for Gnarls Barkley's world takeover. I really wish I could get into them.
House of Pain "Back From the Dead" - Still a gritty as fuck record. The change in Everlast's voice from the debut to this one is legendary. Plus, they put "Who's the Man?" on here as a bonus track. Amazing song, amazing video.
M.O.P. - All the records from the 90's. These guys were insane. Saw them once in a 400 capacity club and it was chaos. "Buckwild" is the only term to describe how the crowd was, and when they did "Ante Up" it was like armaggeddon was unfolding.
Method Man "All I Need" remix - Goddammit, Mr. Combs....why couldn't you stick to your early 90's glory? You produced some great shit....including:
Notorious B.I.G. "Ready to Die" - Here's the deal....I never gave this record a chance at all. Never bothered. I knew it would be good, but I was always put off by the videos for "Juicy" and "Big Poppa". I have no problem admitting I slept on it for like 18 years or whatever, because now I have old shit that's new to me. There's still a select few tracks that I'm not into, but the majority of this record is rightfully the reason of classic status.
DJ Muggs "Dust" - It was out of left field, that was for sure. The guy who produced "How I Could Just Kill a Man", "Jump Around", "Dedicated" and slew of my other favorites, created this TRIP-HOP record that rules. It starts out with a distorted, feedback-drenched guitar, and morphs into this gloomy, brooding beast. I love it. It's in constant rotation for me.
Onyx "All We Got Iz Us" - The first one? Insane. The second one? Bitter, angrier, darker....better.
Pete Rock & CL Smooth remixes from "Mecca.." and "Main Ingredient" - I had no idea about this until six months ago. Oh, how I loved this duo. "Mecca.." is still a weekly part of my playlist. I can't decide on a favorite song by these guys. Every one holds a moment of brilliance.
Sham & The Professor "Split Personalities" - Woah. I remember the name, but never heard them or saw the record in stores. Found it in a dollar bin about six months ago. East coast early 90's hip-hop in all it's glory. Track it down. Love it.
Stezo "Crazy Noise" - Oh, thank you, world of re-issues. I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to hear this. It was worth the wait. Connecticut hip-hop should be proud of the groundwork this guy laid out.
Tricky vs. The Gravediggaz "Hell is Round the Corner EP" - Four creepy tracks. It's mosly a Tricky EP, but it's still awesome. See at the bottom of this entry to help me out with this one.
Ultramagnetic MCs "Critical Beatdown" - Shiiiit. Kool Keith was insane even back then.
3rd Bass "Derilicts of Dialect" - Pete Nice and MC Serch. Awesome white dudes. I don't care what anyone says, they won the battle with the Beasties.
Viewing Pleasure:
Onyx "15 Years of..." DVD - I wish every act from the 90's was able to release a comprehensive DVD like this. EVERY video. It's unreal. Live footage of their first show, interviews, etc. It's like 3 hours of bald headed madness. After I watched this, I went to their website. There's a free download section which offers every non-studio album track they've made! Remixes, instrumentals, rare b-sides and more. The site is extremely well done, with a ton of info.
Side note: I was on tour in Europe and at our show in Zurich, Switzerland, these guys were playing upstairs. I caught five songs. The Swiss crowd was in a frenzy. So crazy to watch.
Who's the Man? - Dubbed as"The First Hip-Hop Whodunit?". It's just a great time capsule of te early 90's. Dre and Ed Lover fun dudes. Dennis Leary's character is hysterical. The donut segments and the "did you just touch my badge?" freakout still make me laugh out loud. I hadn't seen it for a good 10 or 12 years before I said "screw it" and bought it online.
All the old standby's that I need to view on a monthly basis. All of them will be given proper treatment in their own posts.
Some questions to ponder until the next entry:
1- Where is Ego Trip's book on white rappers that they have been talking about for a few years?
2- When will "Juice" be given a special edition version on DVD? Mr. Epps...take a few hours from your acting job as a doctor and give me a commentary track. Bring the rest of the dudes...I KNOW they are't too busy.
3-Why won't VH1 release DVD box sets of the actually good hip-hop related shows they did?
4- When will the 33&1/3 book series show a little more love to hip-hop?
I'll be posting a list of things I have been looking for....help a shithead out.
Sorry, folks....time flies when shit gets heavy.
Now that it's cold and rainy in Emerald City, I think I may be able to get back to my initial intentions with this here site.
So, being that we're at Christmas time and shit (I decorated the inside of my apartment as if I was possessed by Clark W. Griswold), here's a few treats:
NOTE - I am not a fan of downloading a gazillion gigs of shit. Odds are, if you want a certain album from the golden era, there's a 75% chance you can find it for super cheap. However, there are quite a handful of releases from that era that are waaay out of print and impssible to afford on our low money income. I'm posting these sites because they have a bunch of records that are far gone to find. Plus, if it was on a major label, download the shit out of it, because they took advantage of quite a few of these MCs/DJs, ripped them off, made some money and then left them with contracts that wouldn't allow them to release any more music on other labels.
The dudes in the 90's got fucked over. Big time. A lot of them are still around and have found a way to release new music or still do shows. Support them.
Golden Age Hip-Hop Videos! - Not really anything to download, but some forgotten classics
Underground Hip-Hop - hands down, one of my favorites to find the long gone shit. Who else would have the Bustin' Melonz record? Sham & The Professor? The DJ Premier Golden Era revisited mixtapes?
The Hip-Hop Collection - Another completist's wet dream. Some pretty cool stuff, although I wish he didn't waste time posting stuff from dickheads like Kanye
There you go....it's like a gift of thousands of hours of gold.
Oh, by the way....yesterday, sitting on a self in a local record store, I found an original CD pressing of C-BO's "Gas Chamber" record on AWOL Recs from 1994. For $8. If you know what I'm talking about, then you're saying to yourself, "Holy shit..." right now.
Last and obligatory....it's been a year in between posts. Here is the new and old that have soundtracked me through 2011.
I'll try to give a little detail, just in case you're bored and feel like killing time.
Big L "Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous" - Took me a while, but I've finally grown to appreciate this record. The beats were great, it was just something about his voice that didn't work for me. The guy was good, though. Unfortunately, he's another MC we won't have an opportunity to hear from ever again.
Boogiemonsters "Riders of the Storm" - I had bought the record back when it was released because of their affiliation with Digable Planets or something. Sooo good. "Honeydips in Gotham" is one of my favorite tracks from this era. I wish they had kept a good thing going. They released only one other album, 1997's "God Squad". Ugh. I've erased it from my memory and have continued to hold this gem close.
Boot Camp Clik - EVERYTHING. Black Moon and all associated acts. All of it. Sean Price's "Monkey Bars", Heltah Skeltah's "Nocturnal", Smif-N-Wessun's "Dah Shinin'" and "Reloaded" records....this was a crew that rarely disappointed.
Channel Live "Station Identification" - KRS-ONE's verse on "Mad Izm" is a perfect example of why the Golden Era rules supreme.
Cypress Hill "III:Temples of Boom" - The first three records are quite simply amazing, but this one....goddamn. "Black Sunday" bummed some people out, whining about catering their sound to the Lollapalooza generation. Fuck that. It was great. They got weird, and it worked. On "III...", they took it to a complete opposite end of the spectrum and made this bleak and dark, straight up hip-hop record. I listen to this record, and all I can visualize is black. "Throw Your Set in the Air".....wow.
De La Soul "Buhloone Mind State" - Totally forgot how fun this record is. I'm usually distracted with my iPod and go straight to "...Is Dead". Pressing play on this one and hearing the first couple seconds of "Eye Patch", I slapped myself for forgetting.
Diamond D "Stunts, Blunts and Hip-Hop" - Dude's lyrics are corny as shit, but his beats make up for it. This record's a good time.
DJ Premier - Too much to list. Golden age mxtapes 1-4, Salutes James Brown 2CD mixtape, Crooklyn Cuts tapes A-D
DJ Jazzy Jeff - Golden Age mixtapes vol. 1 + 2.....I wish this guy was still given more credit / attention
Fat Joe "Jealous One's Envy" - Pulled this out yesterday. Not a timeess classic, but a pretty solid record, nonetheless. He lost me after this record, becoming another victim to the whole "I'm the hip-hop Scarface kingpin" bullshit. He WAS on the remix of Raekwon's "Firewater" 12" with Big Pun and that track was badass.
GDP "Useless Eaters" - Yes, it's new....and it's golden. This guy gets better and better with every release. Someone hook this guy up with a deal that will give him the attention he should be receiving.
Goodie Mob "Soul Food" - This record is why I'm willing to let Cee-Lo slide for Gnarls Barkley's world takeover. I really wish I could get into them.
House of Pain "Back From the Dead" - Still a gritty as fuck record. The change in Everlast's voice from the debut to this one is legendary. Plus, they put "Who's the Man?" on here as a bonus track. Amazing song, amazing video.
M.O.P. - All the records from the 90's. These guys were insane. Saw them once in a 400 capacity club and it was chaos. "Buckwild" is the only term to describe how the crowd was, and when they did "Ante Up" it was like armaggeddon was unfolding.
Method Man "All I Need" remix - Goddammit, Mr. Combs....why couldn't you stick to your early 90's glory? You produced some great shit....including:
Notorious B.I.G. "Ready to Die" - Here's the deal....I never gave this record a chance at all. Never bothered. I knew it would be good, but I was always put off by the videos for "Juicy" and "Big Poppa". I have no problem admitting I slept on it for like 18 years or whatever, because now I have old shit that's new to me. There's still a select few tracks that I'm not into, but the majority of this record is rightfully the reason of classic status.
DJ Muggs "Dust" - It was out of left field, that was for sure. The guy who produced "How I Could Just Kill a Man", "Jump Around", "Dedicated" and slew of my other favorites, created this TRIP-HOP record that rules. It starts out with a distorted, feedback-drenched guitar, and morphs into this gloomy, brooding beast. I love it. It's in constant rotation for me.
Onyx "All We Got Iz Us" - The first one? Insane. The second one? Bitter, angrier, darker....better.
Pete Rock & CL Smooth remixes from "Mecca.." and "Main Ingredient" - I had no idea about this until six months ago. Oh, how I loved this duo. "Mecca.." is still a weekly part of my playlist. I can't decide on a favorite song by these guys. Every one holds a moment of brilliance.
Sham & The Professor "Split Personalities" - Woah. I remember the name, but never heard them or saw the record in stores. Found it in a dollar bin about six months ago. East coast early 90's hip-hop in all it's glory. Track it down. Love it.
Stezo "Crazy Noise" - Oh, thank you, world of re-issues. I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to hear this. It was worth the wait. Connecticut hip-hop should be proud of the groundwork this guy laid out.
Tricky vs. The Gravediggaz "Hell is Round the Corner EP" - Four creepy tracks. It's mosly a Tricky EP, but it's still awesome. See at the bottom of this entry to help me out with this one.
Ultramagnetic MCs "Critical Beatdown" - Shiiiit. Kool Keith was insane even back then.
3rd Bass "Derilicts of Dialect" - Pete Nice and MC Serch. Awesome white dudes. I don't care what anyone says, they won the battle with the Beasties.
Viewing Pleasure:
Onyx "15 Years of..." DVD - I wish every act from the 90's was able to release a comprehensive DVD like this. EVERY video. It's unreal. Live footage of their first show, interviews, etc. It's like 3 hours of bald headed madness. After I watched this, I went to their website. There's a free download section which offers every non-studio album track they've made! Remixes, instrumentals, rare b-sides and more. The site is extremely well done, with a ton of info.
Side note: I was on tour in Europe and at our show in Zurich, Switzerland, these guys were playing upstairs. I caught five songs. The Swiss crowd was in a frenzy. So crazy to watch.
Who's the Man? - Dubbed as"The First Hip-Hop Whodunit?". It's just a great time capsule of te early 90's. Dre and Ed Lover fun dudes. Dennis Leary's character is hysterical. The donut segments and the "did you just touch my badge?" freakout still make me laugh out loud. I hadn't seen it for a good 10 or 12 years before I said "screw it" and bought it online.
All the old standby's that I need to view on a monthly basis. All of them will be given proper treatment in their own posts.
Some questions to ponder until the next entry:
1- Where is Ego Trip's book on white rappers that they have been talking about for a few years?
2- When will "Juice" be given a special edition version on DVD? Mr. Epps...take a few hours from your acting job as a doctor and give me a commentary track. Bring the rest of the dudes...I KNOW they are't too busy.
3-Why won't VH1 release DVD box sets of the actually good hip-hop related shows they did?
4- When will the 33&1/3 book series show a little more love to hip-hop?
I'll be posting a list of things I have been looking for....help a shithead out.
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