Wednesday, 23 November 2011

Reasons why I love Youtube # 16

Chalk I'm Flippin' by Poet & Hot Day's early 90s group PHD up as another song I was completely unaware had a video until coming across it when searching for something else entirely on the 'tube today. Then again, it's currently hovering around the 2,047 views mark despite being uploaded in 2007, which is a good 14 - 16, 000 shy of the two uploads of Screwball's video for H.O.S.T.Y.L.E and a whopping 37, 000-odd views adrift of this DVD clip about Screwball's Who Shot Rudy? and the promo clip for Blaq Poet's The Blaqprint album set to Don't Give A Fucc, so it's entirely possible I'm not the only Poet enthusiast oblivious to the video's existence :

PHD - I'm Flippin'
(From Without Warning LP; 1991)


Almost unbelievably, there isn't a single shot of a flaming garbage can in the video, but worry not, dunns, because the absence of the ultimate signifier of griminess is tempered by the amount of bodies caught on screen and we're taking Rambo (2008) levels of murkage here. Kudos to whoever uploaded this, and eternal props over here go to Video Music Box for being the only TV show on the planet who'd ever play such thugged-out independent videos as this, What's Going On, Black by AZie, Case Dismissed by Pretty Tone Capone and Beg No Friends by Strickly Roots with Fat Joe, Grand Puba & Chill Will in the first place. The latter is a dated '93 Shout-Rap dud of a song, but the video is highly watchable due to the slightly-too-realistic-looking beatdown scenes and Puba's butta tan jacket.
at

15 comments:

  1. done23 November 2011 at 20:46

    Holy mackerel. This is actually harder than the Case Dismissed video.

    I'm gonna have to side with my man in the Oh Word PHD review comment section- G Rap was the better rapper but nothing hes done is fucking with Poet shooting a massive gun at people for 4 minutes, even at his post-92 cop-hanging bitch-neck-breaking gulliest.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous23 November 2011 at 21:46

    Classic QB grimeyness.

    ReplyDelete
  3. scjoha24 November 2011 at 03:57

    Nice find! This video is great. PHD were trigger happy, they pose with some big guns on the covers of their album (which I got as a CD). Only other covers with rappers toting guns in a similarly blatant way, that I can think off the top of my head: Criminal Minded (this and PHD - no other East Coast record covers with guns - damn, not even M.O.P.!), Mr. Scarface Is Back, and UNLV's 6th & Baronne.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kelvin Mack10zie24 November 2011 at 08:34

    Sticky Fingaz on the cover of Bacdaducup too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. sisilafami24 November 2011 at 13:06

    south central cartel too

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kelvin Mack10zie24 November 2011 at 18:40

    Not to mention Power by Ice-T, both MobStyle albums and Prone To Bad Dreams by Point Blank.

    ReplyDelete
  7. gats in my promo shots aint props24 November 2011 at 20:12

    Tec-9 too:

    http://purple-drank.a1yola.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Tec-9-Straight-From-Tha-Ramp.jpeg

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mr Bozack24 November 2011 at 20:40

    Wow good shout - there are hardly any east coast album covers with shooters on... By All Means Necessary as well but...?

    ReplyDelete
  9. scjoha24 November 2011 at 20:51

    Good call on Prone To Bad Dreams! Need to listen to that one again.
    Yeah, I totally forgot about Onyx. SCC - right, N Gatz We Trussed, I remember that album. SCC are cool, but somehow - I don't know. Boring? A bit generic? I only listen to Gangsta Team (off that album), because of that great assembly of the real gangsters (or rather rappers): Ice-T, MC Eiht, Spice 1, & Tupac. Beat is great too. But I always skip Havokk's and Prodeje's verses. That talk at the beginning of SCC bringing together the west coast gangsta rappers to salute or bow to fucking Russell Simmons doesn't feel right, too. Makes me cringe. But nice track, probably the first hip hop super star mix (okay, if we forget about Self Destruction and We're All In The Same Gang for a minute, but those were charity records and not ignorant, hardcore records for the sole benefit of Russell Simmons.)
    Also, the east coasts' Prodigy discredited Havokk and Prodeje's gangsta reputation by retelling an encounter he had with them in the latest Rosenberg/Cipha Sounds podcast. He called them pussies. So, fuck SCC and their guns, brandishing sickles (Juvenile Hell) elevates Mobb Deep's cover art game high above any other rappers'. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  10. Kelvin Mack10zie24 November 2011 at 21:27

    It's fair to say that SCC's album cover was more memorable than their album.

    And speaking of Glen E. Friedman photograph covers for albums by west coast Gangsta-Rappers holdin' heat : Act A Fool by King-Tee.

    ReplyDelete
  11. scjoha24 November 2011 at 22:30

    Ha, true, I mentioned Criminal Minded but forgot completely about By All Means...
    The King Tee cover is a classic one, too.
    Now that I think of it, 50 Cent's Guess Who's Back cover might count as well, though it's not really an album, and it's only a small handgun, hidden under an iced out cross. And the image is fucking blurry. Even 50 kept his covers safe, like most rap album covers post Pac/Biggie murders.
    But I would say that 50 had the best gun talk song in "Heat". Love that track.

    ReplyDelete
  12. brad25 November 2011 at 11:20

    this vid is durty

    ReplyDelete
  13. Mr Bozack25 November 2011 at 20:35

    For gun talk joints, Stray Bullet gotsta be up there...

    ReplyDelete
  14. scjoha26 November 2011 at 12:59

    @Mr Bozack: Yeah, if you have a broad understanding of gun talk, “Stray Bullett“ (and “I Gave You Power“) would qualify as a top contender to the no. 1 spot. But to me the gun talk category is more about rappers threatening to shoot everone i their way, boasting about their weaponry arsenal and is generally more ignorant than a tale where the narrator impersonates a bullet or a gun or merely uses gun images as metaphors for his lyrical skill. Thus, for instance, „“Me And My Girlfriend“ would qualify, “Mi Uzi Weighs A Ton“ and “Squeeze The Trigger“ do not. “9mm Goes Bang“ is difficult to categorize, it's actually a tale, but also glorifies the effective use of a gun a bit, so it might qualify. Other songs that clearly do: “A Nigga Witta Gun“, “Rat-Tat-Tat“, “Clip & Tha Trigga“, “Throw Ya Gunz“, “Stick To Ya Gunz“, “I'm Losin' It“ (mostly Spice 1's verse), “Click Clack“ (Pusha's verse is somewhat off topic, but Slim Thug does the gun talk well). There's a ton more. But “Heat“ takes the cake on the level of 50's ignorance alone.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Kelvin Mack10zie27 November 2011 at 09:41

    Cock It Back by Sadat X too, which is awarded extra points for actual gun-click sounds.

    ReplyDelete