The rest of Seiji Oda's new EP is too wishy-washy singy for my taste, but this song is some Wavy flava for my ear. Only Seiji can make acoustic guitar Hyphy slaps for star-crossed lovers basking in the glow of a sea-front sunset. The first Bay Area Rap song you could play next to OMC's How Bizarre or wot? R.I.P to the Maori bloke with the cravat.
BTW, it's also R.I.P to Tame One from The Artifacts. The 12" they did on Rawkus Records under the pseudonym of Brick City Kids is one of that label's best bangers no IMHO necessary.
Brick City Kids - Brick City Kids
(From Brick City Kids 12" single; 1997)
"They call my place of birth the rotten apple
Where odds are long, the odds are better tryna win a raffle
Where every man's a king, but when a king don't have a castle
He feels more like a serf or like a vassal"
Homeboy Sandman - Radiator
(From his upcoming Still Champion album; 2022)
You know how I'm always saying that Homeboy Sandman is kinda like a Fondle Em Rammellzee? Radiator isn't so much Beat Bop as Bang Clang. Some zensual-bap packed with grain of Sandman non-sequiturs which make more sense to me than most current N.Y rap. Old bean really said "it's practically medieval, if you're not interacting with my VEVO you're basically reacting to placebo, whether you're the type of chap that like to sit and sip a cappuccino or enjoy a finger-lickin' bag of Cheetos"!
Speaking of Sandman's VEVO, Satellite just got blessed with a video which captures the song's essence and puts a whole 'nother spin on this is the way we walk in New York. Been a big fan of people walking around N.Y.C set to music ever since I first saw The Wanderers in the late 80s.
"What a mix
It can’t be recreated in a pic
It can’t be recreated in a flick
Or in a GIF
What you see is not as much as what you missed
But what a gift that what you see is what get"
Homeboy Sandman - Satellite
(From his upcoming Still Champion album; 2022)
Reggie Griffin & Technofunk - Mirda Rock (7" edit)
(From Mirda Rock 7" single; 1982)
Mirda Rock AKA the missing link between the vocoder-funk of Glory's Let's Get Nice and the wacky Electro-pop of Oingo Boingo's Weird Science theme. Much like Glory's Let's Get Nice, Mirda Rock is one of those early 80s choonz which hits hardest in its truncated 7" mix as opposed to the regular 12" mix that outstays its welcome by a couple of minutes. Notably used by 2 Live Crew in 1986 and Arabian Prince in 1989, Mirda Rock has barely been touched since. Imagine the fun Ezale & DJ Fresh could have if they freaked it.
True story: the only time Rap needed to exist on 7" single was the 1980s. Not only was it a handy format to snip certain early 80s songs down to a more listenable length, it was also a more affordable format for kids like me who discovered Rap in the mid 80s via chart hits like Run D.M.C's King Of Rock and Doug & Rick's The Show. The 7" single retailed at somewhere between 99p and £1.99, so it was the perfect format for 80s pre-teens who had to juggle our pocket money to accommodate Action Force figures and comics, sessions of Wonder Boy and Double Dragon in the local arcade, and singles like Whistle's Just Buggin' (Nothing Serious), Lovebug Starski's Amityville (House On The Hill), Run-D.M.C's Walk This Way, and the Beastie Boys' Fight For Your Right (To Party).
But then the cassette-single became the format de jour of the same pricepoint, the 7" single was quietly phased out for Rap music, and nobody gave a shit until the 2010s when boutique rare vinylz labels started reissuing 1990s Rap songs as overpriced 7"s for OCD middle-aged blokes who stopped listening to new music some time between 1997 and 2003. And so a whole pointless new cottage industry opened up, propelled by blokes who'd be stamp collecters if Rap music never existed.
Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when Max B got hench. Maybe he's been using yoga to get swole? Makes sense since he's been in prison for a long stretch. Really doe, free the King of New York already!
Duke Deuce - Anna
(From Memphis Massacre III album; 2022)
Fresh for Samhain you (blood)suckerrrrssssss! Duke Deuce is one of those rappers who drops a lot of Shawshank, but Redemption comes in the form of a grand imperial stomper like Anna. A tale from the Memphis darkside that's as fun as a Halloween rewatch of The Monster Squad. Fun is the key word in that sentence because Duke Deuce's best songs reassemble the old motifs of Memphis Rap in fun new ways which make you wanna kick the nards off your nearest Wolfman.
Max B - Why You Do That (instrumental)
(From Why You Do That single; 2007)
Via this video, sum shit I read: the production duo Arkatech Beatz made the Why You Do That beat for Jim Jones and arranged a meeting with him at ByrdGang's studio, but then got caught up in heavy traffic and by the time they arrived Jones had left. Max B was still in the studio writing and recording and told the Arkatech lads he'd pass their beat CD on to Jones, so they left it with him. Max listened to the CD, heard the Why You Do That beat, loved it, decided to keep it for himself, and the rest is history innit. Now, I'm a big fan of O.G ByrdGang era Jim Jones, but praise the Lord for New York's heavy traffic that fateful day. A stroke of serendipity which was both fortunate and glorious.
Max B - Why You Do That
(From Why You Do That single; 2007)
What do you get if you cross DB Tha General's classic intro with Yuma Nakamura's Japanese City-Pop hit Dang Dang? Seiji Oda donned his DJ hat and found out by blending both songs together on some Ron G type shit. Worlds are colliding and, unlike George Costanza, I'm happy to find myself stuck in the middle.
DB Tha General - Intro (Seiji Oda's City-Pop remix)
(From the internet; 2022)
Is Town-Pop the new wave for Bay Area Rap? Did Junko Yagami's 1983 single Bay City accidentally predict such a crossover? I dunno, but Ezale would probably sound perfect over that shit.
Call me Erik ten Hag the way I'm dropping 5's out here (geddit?) Here's another Quinary Of Quality playlist, this one consisting of some 2022 Martorialist favourites which are lesser celebrated elsewhere on the Rap Internet. 5 Songs by AD, Stunnaman02 & DrewBanga, Mouse On Tha Track, Westside Boogie & DRAM and Wavy Bagels which each deliver something very singular. True story: I almost weep with joy at how wonderful the Mouse song is.
1. AD - All I Do
2. Stunnaman02 & DrewBanga - Wit A Twist
3. Mouse On Tha Track - Big Blossom
4. Westside Boogie ft. DRAM - Aight
5. Wavy Bagels - Slice
Never in a month of black sundays & blue mondays did I ever imagine that perennial L.A hack-turnt-Adam 22's token black friend AD would drop a song I'd really like, but that's exactly what All I Do is. A notable new entry in my personal canon of Shinola Songs By Shitty Rappers.
