Me & My Cousin - My Day
(From International album; 1996)
As featured in ur boi's recent Martorialist classics not on DSPs playlist. Me & My Cousin were a Solano Country, California duo who began their career in 1992 as Kriss Kross' older brothers, but then found their final form in 1996 when they transformed into the Luniz' long-lost siamese twins after hooking up with Ruthless Records G-Funk royalty Rhythm D for their only album International. Smooth was the album's main single and, fair play, it's a cool song. But it ain't nowhere near as cool as My Day where Rhythm D G-Funkified Shaggy's Boombastic for the lads to get their Hot Sunny Day on. G-Funk and Mob Musik mixing like Amaretto and spicy Rum.
"Talkin' about you sell dope, you 'bout to hop in Lambos
You live with yo' momma, and she live with yo' grandma
Spent yo' last on the ruger, now you ain't got no ammo
Now when my soljas catch ya you gon' think they wearin' camo"
Foxx - Shut Up
(From Foxx Mayweather mixtape; 2012)
I'm all up in your Best Rap Dis Songs Of All Time Spotify playlist editing it to include Foxx's Shut Up. This shit was directed at Mista and Young Ready, but the specifics of the beef aren't important: it's just a funny slice of Louisiana tuba-step with zingers which have ricocheted & reverberated around my brain for the last 12 years. "Shootin' with yo' eyes closed hopin' you don't hit shit/Oh you a hitman, but in jail you hit dicks!"
The same mixtape Shut Up comes from also contains I Wonder. One of the ultimate Baton Rouge barbiturate-ballads. War inside in my head Blues-Rap for brothers with suicidal tendencies like Rocky George.
"This the next to connect, bitch, you gotta understand
I'm the real Mac God I can never be ya man
Choose your words wisely or you can catch a backhand"
Mac God Dbo - A Whole Brick
(From A Whole Brick single; 2024)
Rando slap tremendo courtesy of an affiliate of MacBlast and Philthy Rich. Town biznezz with enough womp womp to make ya baby mum's Honda sound like a cosmic car, and a flow which sounds like constipated Turf Talk. Thankfully misleading title because this song has nowt to do with nose candy or kitchen stoves. Result: it's ah slumper.
PS: pour out a little Pilsner for Can's Damo Suzuki. I wonder if Heaven got a Soho where Damo and Burt Kwouk can recreate the Mother Sky scene from Deep End?
"See me with a white chick, know she a heiress
And not one of them bitches from them trailers
That's my milk of magnesia
She 'bout to pay for this Roc Marci feature"
Mic Terror - Juiceman Freestyle
(From YouTube; 2023)
"N*ggas say they ryders, but n*ggas couldn't ride a bike
With ya punchlines about ya China white
In high school you was Napoleon Dynamite
Your Napoleon complex will make you die tonight"
Mic Terror - Cold As Hell
(From YouTube; 2007/The Terror Dome Vol 2 mixtape; 2008)
In hindsight, I regret not including Cold As Hell in my best of Mic Terror playlist. Back in 2007 it was the first Mic T song to catch my ear/eye, and alongside The Cool Kids'
Mikey Rocks it announced there was a new wave of suburban Chicago irregular regular-kids creating Rap music from a Back To The Future angle. Discovered Cold As Hell and Juke Them Hoes via MySpace and searching for the MP3s led me to Drew Barber's Fake Shore Drive blog. An exciting time as new avenues for discovering/obtaining Rap music opened up just as the 12" single and mixtape CD era was drawing to a close.
Mic Terror might be one of the few rappers to wear Iron Maiden merchandise who actually listens to Iron Maiden. Not sayin' that's necessarily a good thing, mind, because I've never liked Maiden, meself. Operatic vocals over widdly-widdly guitars are the antithesis of Positive K's Good Combination™. Gimme summat more primal like Motörhead instead.
(PS: it wasn't until years later that I found out Cold As Hell was a slightly revamped Timbaland production from a 2003 Skillz single. I don't even care though - in my world it'll always be a Mic Terror song.)
As Mic Terror sang on that White Gzus song, it's the Return Of The G.Craig David met that lass on a Monday, Gabriel Gzus reappeared on the same damn day. Some Midwestern waviness goin' on in this song, a vibe that's best described as Bone Thugs-N-Biggaveli. That said, Globetrottin' feels more like an intro than a single, so hopefully it's the prelude to another capital A Anthem in the vein of Forever Gangster.
There's a breezy little new Max B song on that new Coke Boys compilation. Max & the guy who runs the This Is Biggavel YouTube channel have even done a video for it. Who else but Biggavelz is out here shooting music videos from inside their prison cell?
Max B ft. DJ Drama - Lemonade
(From French Montana & DJ Drama's Coke Boys 6 compilation; 2023)
Mountains aside, I usually loathe Paul Couture's Von Dutch soundin-ass beats, but this one has caught me off guard during the January blues. Reverse-seasoooooowwwwwnal effect innit? Song's more of a splash than The Wave, but it'll work lovely soundtracking some winter warz this January.
If you're a real Egyptian Lover fan you'll know that him & his buddy Gerald Bo Brown recorded a song called Computer Power under the alias of Jamie Jupitor in 1985. But what you might not know is that they dropped another Jamie Jupitor song in 2016... and it bumps! True story: if you'd played this track to ancient Egyptians they'd think they were being attacked by the Martian tripod machines from War Of The Worlds.
Jamie Jupitor - Future Computer
(From The Bass Academy Vol.2 12" single; 2016)
Not a lotta people realise this, but Electro type shit is some of the best music to drive to. The clue was there in the track titles all along - from Autobahn to Night Drive (Thru Babylon).
"I grew up on the ghetto streets of California
Where turf wars result in brew poured on corners
For fallen soldiers who died on the front line
N*ggas sellin' flake tryna shake the one time
State convictions, dank addictions
N*ggas gettin' drunk just to shake the tension
The Golden State, pretty girls at the beach
They think we all livin' like Robyn Leech
But sunny California ain't all that handsome
Ballers get kidnapped and held for ransom
New born babies gettin' found in alleys
And the biggest gangs originate in Cali'
Lil' girls havin' kids at age 14
Baseheads havin' kids come out dope fiends
And crooked cops might tap datazz
So if you get pulled over you might have to blast
'Cause n*ggas never win when they go to trial
This Killafornia life got us homicidal
Or suicidal, take your pick
Whatever you pick, you gon' take a trip
To jail or Hell and which one's worse?
That Grey Goose or that black hearse
I tell you homeboy, Ima true blue playa
But sometimes I wish I would have grew up a square
'Cause ain't no tellin' when you might get smoked
Or stuck like Chuck in jail sayin' it shoulda been mo'..."
Mac Dre - Shoulda Been Mo (O.G version)
(From The Musical Life Of Mac Dre Vol. 3 - Young Black Brotha Years: 1996-1998 album; 2013)
Why didn't the O.G version of Shoulda Been Mo see the light of Dre Day until 2013? It's way better than the version on Khayree's Constant Drama compilation or the version on the Do You Remember? remix album innit. As far as West Coast gangsta-rap with Real Instruments™ went, Khayree & Steve "Silver" Scales were definitely going toe-to-toe with DJ Quik & Robert Bacon in the 90s. That 3rd verse quoted up top tells a colonial cracka like me more about AmeriKKKa than a billion Talib Kweli songs.
I walked into the supermarket last night Prince's pre-millenium party anthem was playing. I took this as a sign of divine inspiration that I should make a post about some 1999 Rap songs which are personal classic choonz. I'm a blogger not an entertainer, my brain is a receiver not a generator.
Problem Child - When She Hears This Tape
(From The Khayree Sessions Volume 1 compilation; 1999)
Missin' Linx - What It Is
(From Exhibit A EP; 1999)
The second Missin' Linx track with Necro behind the boards also happens to be the only Necro production you can hum along to. Sometimes all you need is some New York M.C shit over a beat which has you playing air-bass like you're the fella from Level 42. Shit is off the Rick James and me & this song go back like dookie thick chains since the age of 15.
Jiggs & Cheeks - Hustle Till I Die
(From The Don album; 1999)
The best song from Chicago's Jiggs & Cheeks' only album had legit hit potential and was begging for a remix with Twista. Pretty unique sound on this one: double-tracked Midwestern street jiggy shit which is best described as Do Or Diddy. Love it when they let the beat ride out at the end.
(Full disclosure: this was supposed to be another Quinary Of Quality playlist, but Audiomack wouldn't let me upload Slick Rick's I Sparkle and Ugly Duckling's Fresh Mode. Marty was outgunned, what is the outcome? The DMCA did me like Malcolm.)
F*ck a Suge Knight, I'm tryna have a good night are words to live by. Roll Wit' It is my jam from Stunnaman02 & DrewBanga's EP, but I got love for Wit' A Twist too. NorCal Rap needs more Flamenco-guitar type Dreganomics.
Mac Dre - Dreganomics
(From Ronald Dregan album; 2004)
When some brick shithouse bouncer ejects you from the bar for throwing Skittles at the DJ because he's playing multiple Drake songs in a row that's a f*ck a Suge Knight, I'm tryna have a good night moment. Follow me now, let me lead the way, if you gon' believe in somethin', believe in NoDrake. It's only civilised that we can live our lives without hearing a whiney Canadian guy, nights out royally spoiled by that nonce's music, NoDrakeganomics.
Cam'Ron ft. Lil' Cease - Hustler
(From The Rough, Rough, Rough album promo CDr; 1999)
Sum shit I just found out: Cam'Ron had a Hard Knock Life-core song on the promo version of S.D.E. Flipping So You Wanna Be A Boxer from Bugsy Malone with Lil' Cease bouncing the hook. Easily the best Hard Knock Life-core track which wasn't produced by The 45 King.
Craig Mack and Big Scoob went to the 45 King for The Wooden Horse and Can Du respectively, and while neither of those tracks blew up, they were far better Hard Knock Life-core choonz than Jay-Z's own hard knock-off Anything or whatever Busta's shitty song with The Ugly Duckling sample was called. Latter song is such a quack it was the first flop single of Busta's solo career.
In the popular parlance of the youth, this shit still floats. Tropical rainforest riddim polyphonic Rap. Lil' Chris' best song imho and I might even go as far as saying that it's a top ten lost loosie of last decade. It's a pity Lil' Chris is remembered for Bop Like Me because it wasn't even his bestBop song let alone his best song full stop. Obviously Lil' Chris should be remembered for songs like Gods Crying, Same Shit, Different Day and Bad Lil' Chick instead.
Lil' Chris - Same Shit, Different Day
(From the internet; 2012)
Lil' Chris - Bad Lil' Chick
(From Made It Thru The Struggle mixtape; 2015)
Playa G - Drink A Yak (original version)
(From Drink A Yak 12" single; 1996)
MP45 has been uploading 12" single cuts which have never been on YouTube before and this song by Memphis rapper Playa G is my pick of the bunch. Full disclosure, ya host had never heard this original mix or the album version before but I prefer this one, meself - the vocals get lost a bit in the album mix with all the added synthesiser warbling. Gucci Mane always says Project Pat was one of his favourite rappers, gonna hazard a guess he was a big Playa G fan too?
Every time I wipe out after deep surfin' The Wave™ I come outta that water with a song I've kinda slept on. So, move over Deez My Streets because Bang Bang Boogie is ya host's new favourite song on Max's first Public Domain mixtape. Shoot, bro - Max over The O'Jays is like a waterproof suit, yo. That grown and Gore-Tex shit for the summer, for the winter, fourth quarter, whatever, owww.
Digable Planets - Little Renee
(From Coneheads soundtrack; 1993)
Say what you want about the 1990s, but it was the only decade where a killer Digable Planets exclusive could end up on the soundtrack to a Dan Aykroyd movie alongside songs by Slash & Michael Monroe, R.E.M, Morten Harket from A-ha, Barenaked Ladies, and Soft Cell's Tainted Love. It's a pity Aykroyd didn't have Digable Planets perform it in the movie like Digital Underground did with Same Song in Nothing But Trouble innit? Some of youze lads will probably front like you've got this song on a test-press 12" single, but I'd never heard it until a few weeks back, nor have I ever seen or heard anybody mention it before. Genuine deep cut status or wot?
Two things I never saw comin' when Missin' Linx's M.I.A was one of the hottest underground singles outta New York: that the song would have its thunder stolen by a Dr Dre comeback single, and that Missin' Linx would record a song with British producer Mark B which samples some incidental music from the Are You Being Served movie. Fair play to the late Mark B - he may have wasted a buncha nice beats on boring-arse British rappers, but Can't Be Stop is up there with M.I.A, Verbal Attack and What It Is as one of the best Missin' Linx jams.
Missin' Linx - Can't Be Stop
(From Sametime/Can't Be Stop 12"; 2000)
Mouse On Tha Track - Buckin' Hard
(From Swagga Fresh Freddie mixtape; 2011)
Stop Playin' got me lughole deep in old Mouse and cursing TRILL Ent for not letting him drop a proper retail CD. I bet George Freeman from the YouTube comment above agrees.
Dru Down - Everywhere I Go
(From Livin' Legend Pt 2 album; 2021)
He's washed up now obviously but Dru's still down to drop one super-catchy slap per album. Someone check the pollen count on this one because it's all up in my head like hayfever. Produced by Donatello who did one of my favourite D squared tracks from a few years back.
Homeboy Sandman - Conjugal Visit To The Prison Of The Mind
(From Homeboy Sandman Is The Sandman EP; 2014/YouTube; 2021)
This older Homeboy Sandman song recently got blessed with video outta the blue. Conjugal Visit To The Prison Of The Mind sounds nothing like Waiting On My Girl but my point about the latter song applies here too: when Sandman's music and my taste do converge it's always on some idiosyncratic bugged-out shit which could only come from him. True story: Killah Priest is still pissed that he didn't think of this song title first.
Bonus beats: if I'd heard Conjugal Visit To The Prison Of The Mind back when it first dropped in 2014 then I woulda had that shit up in my playlists next to Kurious' Best In The World. Call me Freedom Williams because I'm just a squirrel tryna get a nut - f*ck Rotten Apple Rap, gimme more Pecan Rican Rap.
Kurious Jorge - Best In The World
(From YouTube; 2014)
Major Weight Media - Natural
(From Music Speaks Louder EP; 1997)
Fave song on that recently reissued Major Weight Media EP. Some late 90's earnest everyman Seattle G-Funk with proper luscious bubble bath production. If Woodie's favourite rapper had been Snoop rather than 2Pac then his music probably woulda sounded like this.
Poor etiquette by the label who reissued this EP to not include a digital download with a release that's tape/vinyl only innit? Download codes with both formats should be mandatory, but this is what happens when reissue labels are run by music collectors as opposed to music listeners. Me, I like to jam the shit out of the physical releases I pays my money for, so you can catch me with my boombox ridin' shotgun in the passenger seat just so I can listen to this EP in its intended habitat of a car.
