"Yo, make sure the mics is right, I'm gonna take my mask off and reveal my identity out here... DAMN!"
MF DOOM - Gas Drawls
(live at Wetlands, New York; 2000)
The New York backpack scene was full of irksome, myopic people, but hats off to whichever one of them captured DOOM's third show on video where he removed his mask to perform Gas Drawls. Dome blown in the comforts of my own home at him actually wearing a Stetson hat like Paul C. Hats off to Megalon too who kept his mask on under those nuclear-grade stage lights. The only Rap sidekick to hit the stage lookin' like a Cobra Techno-Viper or wot?
It's funny how a great video can transform a song into your favourite jam on the whole album. Absolute perfect marriage of music and music image resulting in a prequel to the ? video and the greatest DOOM tribute ever. Shit twists my tearducts like a muppet; keepin' it honest, I can't listen to it in public. Also, a rare modern Kurious video where he's not wearing jhorts. That man definitely owns more cut-off denim than an ECW wrestler.
If I ruled the world, Kurious would have included I Don't Even Exist and Don't Know on his Majician album rather than his Mystery Mixtape. One of my biggest pet peeves with Rap is rappers not including great songs on their proceeding album. It's an annoying practice which dates back to the mid 1980s when Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde didn't include Gettin' Money, Fast Life and A.M./P.M. on their album. Run-D.M.C also got in on the act when they neglected to include Together Forever on Raising Hell or Here We Go (Live at The Funhouse) on King Of Rock. The Beastie Boys also threw their baseball caps in the ring when they decided She's On It wasn't going to appear on Licensed To Ill. The Beasties now hate that song and refer to it as "Cheese Omelette", but they're terrible judges of their own catalogue so who cares what they think?
The Coolio song which was never a single but really shoulda been. Certainly, it was the song The Source magazine's review of Coolio's debut album identified as the jam, and the song I rewound the most after Fantastic Voyage. Obviously the Everlasting Love sample helps, but Coolio brought some vivid lived-in autobiographical pathos from his own time on the pipe.
If KMD's Black Bastards album had dropped as was intended in 1994 then Sweet Premium Wine surely would have been the follow-up single to What A N*ggy Know? Name me a more anthemic song from Black Bastards which the iconic duo of Zev Luv X & Subroc both rhyme on. I'll wait.
KMD - Sweet Premium Wine
(From Black Bastards album; 1994/2000)
Other notables: I'm not particularly fond of Sauce Walka or drumless Rap songs so I'm surprised R.I.P Buddy made its way into my rotation; the Max B & Giggs song should have happened in 2009; listened to Duke Deuce's Soldiers Steppin' and came to the conclusion that I'm bored of his Crunk revival songs now; I'm assuming Kap G wrote Lil Nas X Holiday because the first time I heard it I genuinely thought it was a new Kap song; Thirstin Howl III's Return Of The Polorican is a better #Menswear advert than song imho.
Kwest Tha Madd Ladd - I Met My Baby At V.I.M.
(From This Is My First Album LP; 1996)
Wait a motherf**kin' minute, true facts presented: Kwest Tha Madd Ladd's I Met My Baby At V.I.M. beat DOOM's Red & Gold to the Shoot 'Em Up Movies sample by a couple of years. The best Rap song about falling in love with a shop assistant at the mall? Possibly. The best Rap song to detail the embarrassment of having a fat hole in your sock when you're trying on kicks in a shop? Definitely. Shoulda been a single because they coulda brought the song's story to life with a lotta lotta laughs in the video.
That intro skit where Kwest and his m8 are arguing about the best song on Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde tho eh? C'mon now, lads - the #actual answer is Officer.
