Friday, 8 July 2011

Sick 'em, Earl

Double page spread of Phunk Phat Graph-X designed Sick Wid' It album adverts from The Source's 100th issue in 1997 :



That Southwest Riders album doesn't quite live up to its cover despite the fact that it's a trans-coastal double CD compilation which features 1997 regional gangsta-rap royalty like E-40, Celly Cel, 3X Krazy, WC, Twista, Tela, Mystikal, Master P & Silkk, Brotha Lynch Hung, Three 6 Mafia etc because, well, how can any music possibly rival a stagecoach rollin' on solid gold wheels the size of Droop-E and D-Shot? That's a vehicle which manages to juxtapose classic American utilitarianism with ancient Egyptian ostentatiousness, dah-ling. The album's most known songs would be the two singles, Yay Deep by E-40 & B-Legit with Richie Rich and Represent by A-1, but its choicest cuts were found elsewhere on the two discs in amongst the joints by SWI weed carriers like The Mossie and Mr Malik :

Luniz - Capable
(From Southwest Riders; 1997)



San Quinn & Messy Marv - Playa Haters
(From Southwest Riders; 1997)



UGK - Hiside
(From Southwest Riders; 1997)



8Ball & MJG - N*ggas Talk Shit
(From Southwest Riders; 1997)



The Luniz and 8Ball & MJG joints are both particularly great as I'm sure you'll agree, but the highlight of that batch would have to be Bun's "'cause a pussy ain't nothin' but my hand with a face" line on the UGK cut; a lyric so magnanimously misogynistic it could even make Suga Free pull the "yo, I wish I'd written that one" face. By my reckoning E-40 and Suga Free have only recorded together twice and '40 has rapped over DJ Quik production just the once on the Quarterbackin' remix so Sug' & Quik's rumoured Street Gospel II reunion album would be the perfect opportunity to right both wrongs and '40 is their most obvious spiritual soulmate since he's another one of west coast gangsta-rap's great eccentrics, as well as the owner of the most risqué rap song of 2011 thus far on some Biggie - 1, E-40 - 2 type shit :

E-40 - Me And My Bitch
(From Revunue Retrievin' : Overtime Shift; 2011)



TheSinglesJukebox.com's double-whammy of blanking Me And My Bitch and then not utilising Tray in the team who reviewed Beat Of My Drum by Nicola Roberts forced me to forever remove that site from my bookmarks. Fuck y'all.
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22 comments:

  1. done8 July 2011 at 18:18

    Could've sworn theres another 40/Free joint I heard, I'll have a look. I know Suga Free's stop-start word sprawl style is just exactly how you'd expect a pimp to rap but I always thought it made sense 40 was a direct influence, there wasn't that much fasttalkinconmanghettoinnercityurbanreversepsychology on Pure Pimp Fene, which came out when it was still possible he wasn't up on him yet.

    I caught like 3 viruses in the past tryna dl that comp in the past but I'm glad I thugged it out 'cos it was defo worth it. Speaking of 40, Mess & Quinn, they jacked that Cameo tune too:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzZ4CXn4HNA

    so did Suga Free actually on So Fly.

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  2. scjoha9 July 2011 at 01:07

    Yeah, Hiside. Fucking great song.

    There's at least one other E-40/ Quik collab, preceding the Quarterback Remix, with Quik beat & rap: Big Syke's Time Iz Money (http://www.discogs.com/Big-Syke-Big-Syke-Daddy/release/832049) - track 4).

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  3. Kelvin Mack10zie9 July 2011 at 08:25

    Scjoha bringing the heat. One of these days I'm gonna investigate Big Syke 'cause I've liked all the guest verses of his I've heard.

    Done, a friend and I went in on a soundclash on a pub jukebox only the other day where I had to bust out She's Strange and Rigor Mortis. I was pretty pissed the jukebox didn't have Young O.G and Brand Nubian, though.

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  4. done9 July 2011 at 13:08

    Ah yeah you can always depend on the soul/70s/80s categories, even in the most backwater dump I've had people goin' ham to Clapping Song and Street Life. Yeh, no Postin High though.

    Theres this too:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw-nXu2mElk

    but its shite, bar their contributions.

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  5. scjoha9 July 2011 at 15:42

    Yeah, I also always liked Big Syke on all the Pac songs. Pac actually had some good rappers at his side in the Thug Life era - Syke, Stretch, and his brother Mopreme. All competent rappers with distinct voices. I really like all their voices. And I love Mopreme Shakur's verse on "Stay True" (one of my favorite "slow summer sunday afternoon in the lowrider" tunes. The song should be corny with the blatant, simple Curtis Mayfield sample and the east coast type hook chant - but somehow it works for me. Sorry for that unnecessary tangent).
    Anyway. To get your Syke post started: He talks about his first group, before he joined Thug Life, a bit here: http://outlawz-immortalz.blogspot.com/2009/07/gw-exclusive-big-syke-interview.html
    Evil Minded Gangstas album here: http://b-and-e-rapshit.blogspot.com/2009/12/evil-mind-gangstas-all-hell-breakin.html

    Haven't listened to it yet - group name promises Triple 6 Mafia or Esham under Cali sun. I'm about to download. Fuck my slow internet connection.

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  6. Kelvin Mack10zie10 July 2011 at 09:34

    Thanks.

    Syke's verse on C-Bo's Raised In Hell is another favourite of mine :

    "Oh how I love these n*ggas, but I hate them with a passion/
    but I ride for these muthafuckers without 'em even askin'"

    Words to live by, imo.

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  7. James11 July 2011 at 09:40

    Not that i'm an expert on the luniz, but after "i got 5 on it" this is better than everything else i've heard by them.

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  8. Kelvin Mack10zie11 July 2011 at 11:26

    Definitely a top 5 joint by them, but Operation Stackola, Put The Lead On Ya with Dru Down and Mobb Shit are all great too.

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  9. Thomas12 July 2011 at 06:26

    Man I really like the Southwest Riders comp a lot. The 3X Krazy song is bananas along with the Calvin-T, Komacauszy and Master P tracks and tons more.
    I missed that Bun B line, that's hilarious. I foresee myself mumbling that line to myself in a drunken state in the future after dealing with female rejection.

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  10. Kelvin Mack10zie12 July 2011 at 08:27

    Gangsta-rap : the ultimate male support group.

    Yeah, love that 3X Krazy joint.

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  11. done12 July 2011 at 21:34

    scjoha thanks for the link man, I've always been curious about Syke myself. His Picture Me Rollin verse >>>

    I don't especially hate or love The Rapist Tupac like everyone else on the internet but it has to be said the man had taste: Richie Rich, Ice Cube, Ice-T, Easy Mo Bee, Daz, Quik, The Boogie Men, Treach, Nate Dogg, Shock G, E-40, Ray Luv, Mike Mosley and according to his wiki: Timbaland?

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  12. Kelvin Mack10zie12 July 2011 at 22:13

    And C-Bo.

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  13. done12 July 2011 at 22:40

    And CPO.

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  14. scjoha13 July 2011 at 09:38

    Spice 1.

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  15. Kelvin Mack10zie13 July 2011 at 09:50

    Tracy Underwood, the guy who founded Phunky Phat Graph-X, died yesterday according to E-40.

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  16. done13 July 2011 at 10:00

    Damn. Gonna bump Hope I Don't Go Back today in rememberance.


    http://tinyurl.com/6z76qfr

    RIP.

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  17. done13 July 2011 at 11:29

    Cheers for the Sparxxx man, just got it there. Betty, Betty goes hard as fuck.

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  18. Kelvin Mack10zie13 July 2011 at 11:59

    No probs.

    That, the 2 singles, Bubba Talk, All The Same, Open Wide, Infected, Twerk A Little, Regardless, If It's Bumpin' and Handle Of Beam are all great.

    Did you know that it was an indie album from 2000 that got rereleased with new songs and some of the old songs missing when he signed with Timbaland in 2001? Betty, Betty was of the older songs.

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  19. done13 July 2011 at 19:50

    Nah i'd no idea, it worth hunting down? This Fat Shan dude has got beats.

    I'm surprised how consistent it is, way HHC described it I was expecting something more patchy and I dunno, less country, but its great. Doesnt sound that far removed from other georgia shit from then like Pastor Troy or Youngbloodz imo.

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  20. Kelvin Mack10zie14 July 2011 at 08:33

    Never sought it out, but I probably should one day because I've heard a couple of the cut joints off it on Youtube which are cool.

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  21. done14 July 2011 at 13:20

    Thanks again anyways man, been bumping it all day. Defo secured its place on my list (post-it sized) of good rap albums by white people.

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  22. cjfdjfjfdjf19 October 2017 at 21:11

    Hershey Loc album should have dropped

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