STeP x STeP`s "CoMiN` 2 GeTCHa"...

First off, BiG~uP BowdenCstyle! He`s the kat that originally shared this album over on the Bomb1st Formus, until then I had no idea that this even existed. So thank you very much kind sir, the move is truly appreciated. Anyways, what I can tell you about the album itself is unfortunately somewhat limited - however the info` is still very interesting nonetheless. So sit down, roll up, strap ya`selves in & get ready for the ride...

Step x Step (Step By Step) is a duo that reps L.A. consisting of members Doc Genisis (Vernon Jackson) from Watts & Funky Dreds (Jimmy Hamiliton) from South Central. While both attended State University at Norfolk, they perfected their dancing & rappin` skills. It was during this time of perfecting their crafts that the 2 friends decided to band together & form a group. Shortly after their union Step x Step auditioned to appear in a commercial for Coca-Cola & nailed it. In 1995 the duo was eventually able to put together an album, their debut titled "Comin` 2 Getcha". The album was released thru Lockdown Records, a label owned by Big Wes Crockett. In the early 1990's Big Wes was a music producer & promoter working with SOLAR Records until he branched out on his own with Lockdown Records. The label wasn`t around long with only a total of 4 releases under their belt; Life Afta Death`s (Erotic D & Jonezey Jay) debut album "The Death Penalty"  & their single "Date With Death" in 1993 & Step x Step`s "Comin` 2 Getcha" & their single "Stomp! It`s All The Way Live" released in 1995...

The interesting historical Hip Hop connections continue, check it out! Step x Step recorded "Comin` 2 Getcha" in Galaxy Sound Studio, the same famed studio that Dick Griffey allowed Dr. Dre & Suge Knight to use when they were in the beginning stages of forming Death Row Records. Wait there`s more...The D.O.C. & Big Wes Crockett were executive producers on the project. While production was handled by Clever who did 5 tracks & J-Stank (think Dangerous Records, Tweedy Bird Loc, NiNi X, Bloods & Crips) also did 5 joints. Another interesting fact about this album is that Blaqthoven contributes one of his first productions on the track "Friendz". That`s quite a bit of historical Hip Hop connections right there, especially for an album that I`m sure many haven`t heard yet, that`s why I`m sharing it with y`all. The album`s only single "Stomp! It`s All The Way Live",  which samples the classic Lakeside tune, actually features Mark Wood & Stephen Shockley from Lakeside singing on the hook. Something else that I noticed, but can only assume is that the Homegirl Shello was cool with Step x Step because she`s featured 4 times on the album. Anyways there ya have it y`all a little background info` on an album that you should hear at least once. Stand out joints for me are; "Wake Up", "Stomp! It`s...", "Step x Step Be Rockin`" & "D.M.S.". Something to note, the volume on a lot of these tracks was lower than I liked so I boosted it up a few notches. Check it out for ya`selves & feel free to drop some comments...

Step x Step - Comin` 2 Getcha

Label: Lockdown Records

Released: 1995

1. Wake Up {ft. Aaron & Shello}

2. Hee Haw [Skit]

3. Letter 2 Da Banger

4. Brother To Brother

5. Stomp! It`s All The Way Live {ft. Mark Wood & Stephen Shockley of Lakeside}

6. Pledge Story

7. Friendz

8. Step x Step Be Rockin`

9. Between 2 Cutz

10. Blow Your Wig {ft. The Bro`s & Shello}

11. What If? {ft. Cream}

12. Out To Get Minez {ft. Shello}

13. Dinner, Movies, Sex {ft. Shello}

MeGa LiNK...

N`JoY...

KRS-One`s "Return Of The Boom Bap [HeRBaN DeLuXe VeRSioN]"...

“Return Of The Boom Bap”……Ahhhhhhhh mannnnnn! What should I say about this album? Aside from the fact that it’s still my favorite KRS-One album to this day? Aside from the fact that I still have the cassette over at my parents’ crib? Copped it thru one of those music clubs back in the day; you know Columbia House, BMG music, etc. I actually gotta BiG uP those music clubs because I was able to experience a whole lot of Hip Hop thru the memberships that I had with ‘em when I was 13 & didn’t have a large grip of dough to spend. Copped plenty of albums at reasonable prices, cassettes at first because I hadn’t yet moved onto CDs until a bit later in the game. The only thing that I wasn’t a fan of was when ya had to buy the required amount of CDs or tapes at their full price because their prices were quite high especially with their shipping costs, but that’s another story for another day. So anyway that’s how I was able to get my hands on the “Return Of The Boom Bap” tape amongst many others & once I slapped that tape into my Sony Walkman I played the hell out of it thru~out my high school years! I was feeling a little nostalgic a few weeks ago so I actually dug out the album from one of my many boxes of CDs & decided to dust it off. While giving it a listen thru that’s when I got to wondering why hasn’t this album been re~released with some bonus cuts? It’s definitely worthy of such a release, so I said fuck it & decided that I’d put together one of my web~famous HeRBaN DeLuXe VeRSioNs & this here is what I came up with…

Originally this great gem of an album was released in 1993 thru Jive & it included 14 tracks in total, with production handled by the likes of DJ Premier (6 tracks), Norty Cotto (1 track), Kid Capri (2 tracks), Showbiz (1 track) & even KRS-One (5 tracks) himself. So at just under 56 minutes in length, it left me enough room to add another 6 tracks to complete this HeRBaN DeLuXe VeRSioN (I`m Old School so I try to keep these H.D.V`s under 80 minutes so they can still fit onto a CD if one so chooses to burn it onto a disc). The first song that I decided to add is “Hip Hop vs. Rap”, a tune that in all honesty should`ve been on the retail release of “Return Of The Boom Bap” anyway. The next selection was a no~brainer really, “Outta Here [Original Demo Version]”, definitely worth the listen for the Mr. Magic DiSS alone. It was kind of hard to find a track to follow that almost lost piece of Hip Hop history, but I think I made the right choice with “Sound Of Da Police [Rmx]”. After that I hit the 12 inch singles for “Return Of The Boom Bap [Iron Lion Rmx]” & “Mortal Thought [Kenny Parker Rmx]” respectively. “Hip Hop vs. Rap [Spinbad Blend]” closes out the album very nicely. Now for some reason unbeknownst to any true Hip Hop head you haven`t heard this album before, let me break down exactly what you`re in for…

“KRS-One Attacks” opens up things & gives the listeners a glimpse of what to expect. KRS doesn`t actually spit anything on this, it serves as more of an intro. The way DJ Premier cuts the various KRS-One samples to create it is simply awesome. “Outta Here”, which I believe was the album’s first single, was produced by DJ Premier. Over the simplistic, but very hard beat KRS-One kicks some tales of Hip Hop History as only the teacha could. What’s DoPe about it is how he does it in such a way that it`s pretty much first~person perspective because…well, he was a crucial part of the history & it`s kind of awesome to see things from that side of the fence. The self~produced “Black Cop”, which was previously released on the “CB4 Soundtrack”, rocks a simple yet effective enough loop for KRS to get his points across. DJ Premier shows up once again to handle the production on “Mortal Thought” & provides a nice jazzy backdrop for KRS-One to flex his lyrical braggadocio mic rockin’ rhymes over…

The KRS/Premier collaborating continues, but this time they both handle the production on “I Can’t Wake Up”. This song could be taken 2 ways; a lot of folks take it as an anti~Weed smokin’ tune, but I think that it should be interpreted as a dream that KRS-One probably had after indulging in a few blunts himself. I mean c’mon, he’s a blunt being passed around & smoked by a who’s~who of Hip Hop (at the time). Either way you take it though, it’s a good concept record worth the listen so don’t sleep! “Slap Them Up” features a little uncredited intro by DJ Premier & some uncredited raps from Ill Will. The beat was produced by Latin House producer Norty Cotto & co-produced by Douglas Jones. To be honest I`m not really familiar with either one of these producers, but they sure gave KRS a nice backin` for his rhyme flexin`. Now the Showbiz produced “Sound Of Da Police” should need no introduction, I mean c’mon it’s featured in the 2016 animated “The Angry Birds Movie” for cryin’ out loud. My son was singing the hook of this tune at 4 years old because of said movie….LoL, both Showbiz & KRS must`ve seen some nice residuals off that song placement, anyway this was the album`s second single. The head~nodding beat & catchy chorus will definitely hook your ear, but it’s the lyrics that you really need to hear. I’d quote some, but honestly you truly need to hear them over the beat to do `em justice. Trust me you won’t be disappointed at all!!!

“Mad Crew” is a self-produced joint that’s sure to get ya` head noddin’, Boom Bapp`N Hip Hop indeed. The simplistic beatboxin’ backdrop on “Uh Oh” is almost the perfect backing for KRS’s reggae~vibed storytelling, another self-produced joint. “Brown Skin Woman” is the Blastmaster’s ode to well just that, Kid Capri provided the smooth production on this one. “Return Of The Boom Bap” is another joint that KRS-One produced himself. Some folks out there may remember hearing the DJ Premier produced “P Is Still Free” while they were listening to the “Menace II Society Soundtrack”, which was also released in 1993. Something interesting to note; if you actually take a look at that tracklist the song’s credited to Boogie Down Productions. So does that make it the last official BDP song? Or did someone at Jive just fuck up?? Someone out there on the Internet knows, feel free to school me…

Kid Capri takes on double duties on the Jazzy~vibed “Stop Frontin`” as producer & guest emcee, he handles both very well I`d have to say. “Higher Level” is some great funkdafied spiritual Hip Hop, produced by DJ Premier. This song is the closer on the original album release & honestly I have to say that it’s a great way to end such an awesome album. Still as a KRS fan I can’t lie, I was always just a little disappointed in the fact that “Hip Hop vs. Rap”, the B-Side of the album`s first single, was never included as part of the album. So naturally that was my first choice when it came to the songs that I chose to add to this HeRBaN DeLuXe VeRSioN. The song’s produced by both KRS-One & Kenny Parker, definitely something you just need to hear on your own, my words probably wouldn’t do it enough justice…

Next in the added bonus joints is the “Outta Here [Original Demo Version]”. Unfortunately the sound quality isn’t that great, sounds like a cassette rip & the song itself sounds like it was dubbed from a radio show. So maybe it’s not actually a demo, but an alternate radio version, because the song is censored, has the same beat pretty much, but it also contains a few Mister Magic DiSSeS that don’t appear on the retail album version of the same song. I’m not sure of the source of the file so I couldn’t tell you, either way though it’s definitely something worth listening to just for the historic value of it. The “Sound Of Da Police [Rmx]” comes with a nice thumpin` beat that Kenny Parker produced, it’s DoPe but I’m still kind of partial to the way Showbiz rocked the original album version myself. Regardless it’s a great song & that’s why I added it…

The “Return Of The Boom Bap [Iron Lion Rmx]” comes from the 12 inch single released in 1994 & features Mad Lion. It has a nice Reggae vibe to it & I believe that Mad Lion was the one to produce the track, couldn’t find any production credit on the track so feel free to school me if I’m wrong. The “Mortal Thought [Kenny Parker Rmx]” is another joint off that “Return Of The Boom Bap” 12 inch single. It’s ok, but doesn’t compare to the original version, Premier just rocked it more, my opinion of course. Still plenty of heads dig the tune, I think the reason that I don’t dig it as much is because it’s censored & well Premier didn’t do it….LoL, anyway “Hip Hop vs. Rap [Spinbad Blend]” closes out things here. DJ Spinbad does a great job blending in various beats to match KRS’s lyrics. I think this was featured on a mixtape or something, to be completely honest I’m not sure of its source. So there ya have it, did I do the album some justice with the added tracks? Is there something else that should have included? Feel free to leave some comments…

 KRS-One - Return Of The Boom Bap [HeRBaN DeLuXe VeRSioN]
Label: Jive/ BuDD@H BLe$$eD EnT.

Released: 1993-2018

1. KRS-One Attacks

2. Outta Here

3. Black Cop

4. Mortal Thought

5. I Can`t Wake Up

6. Slap Them Up {ft. Ill Will}

7. Sound Of Da Police

8. Mad Crew

9. Uh Oh!

10. Brown Skin Woman

11. Return Of The Boom Bap

12. P Is Still Free

13. Stop Frontin` {ft. Kid Capri}

14. Higher Level

15. Hip Hop vs. Rap

16. Outta Here [Original Demo Version]

17. Sound Of Da Police [Rmx]

18. Return Of The Boom Bap [Iron Lion Rmx] {ft. Mad Lion}

19. Mortal Thought [Kenny Parker Rmx]

20. Hip Hop vs. Rap [Spinbad Blend]

MeGa LiNK...

N`JoY...

iCe CuBe, SHaQ & M.J. - "We Be BaLLiN`" [uNReLeaSeD]...

No...your eyes do not deceive you, you are seeing a NEW post on this here blog! Yes, yes a 'rebirth' of the blog has been a long time coming & well that time is now ladies & gentlemen. Hopefully Life has been treating you well. I won`t get into the long story about the reasons behind the hiatus, no one cares anyway....LoL, so let`s skip the chit chat & get to some music shall we? This is just a quick post, but still I think it`s a decent start. What I have to share with y`all is some unreleased goodness; an odd collabo` at first glance, but not so much once you know some of the song`s backstory. So what is it that I`m talking about? Well, apparently back in 1998 someone in the music industry decided to open up a proverbial blender & threw in some Ice Cube, some Shaquille O`Neal & a lil` Michael Jackson to spice things up on the hook I guess, then hit that mix button & threw the end result over the "We Be Clubbin`" beat & titled it "We Be Ballin`". So does this make it an unofficial remix? I don`t know, but I can only guess that DJ Clark Kent & Dutch are the producers of this song seeing as how it`s pretty much the same instrumental as the previously mentioned "We Be Clubbin`"...

After doing a little research regarding this song I discovered that it was apparently recorded for some NBA compilation that was set to drop towards the year in 1998. The song would`ve been featured in some commercials for the NBA`s "I Love This Game" campaign. Unfortunately there was a player~initiated strike that year so the entire project was scraped. To be honest, I`m a little curious about what other songs would`ve been on this comp`. My theory on how this song came to be has to do with the fact that Ice Cube had already worked with Shaq on the "Steel Soundtrack" which came out that same year, 1998. So that can explain the 2 of them connecting for the song, well that & since they used Cube`s beat it only made sense to include him on the song. Now the M.J. connection stems from the uncredited feature that Shaq had on "2 Bad" from Michael`s  1995 album "HIStory:Past, Present & Future Book I". I guess Shaq wanted to return the favor so he insisted that M.J. got down on the track. So there ya have it, enjoy the song...

Ice Cube {ft. Shaq & M.J.} - We Be Ballin` [Unreleased]

R.i.P. M.J...

MoNDaY CiNeMa: "PRiSoN SoNG"...

Alright, since I`m starting to feel a little better today I figured that I would try & post up a lil` something for y`all. I`ve been pretty sick with the Flu or some ish since Wednesday, had a fever, body aches, pounding all-day long lasting headaches, the always enjoyable runny nose (that`s sarcasm if ya didn`t catch it), annoyingly vicious coughing (still got that though). Needless to say I wouldn`t wish this ish on anyone, not even my enemies so I hope that you all are in good health. Anyways, I wanted to try something a lil` different by posting up a movie. I have always wanted to share movies on this blog, but since it`s so much more time consuming I just kind of skipped it altogether. Never had or have the time to spend the hours that it would take to upload the flicks, then also having to worry about the possibility of them getting taken down after spending all that time uploading them. So then it came to me since most folks prefer to stream ish anyway why not just use movies that I can find on good ol` YouTube? Sure it may be a lil` lazy on my part, but hey you guys can still view some movies & if you prefer to DL them well there`s a whole lot of easy ways to use browser add-ons to download straight from YouTube. So it`s a win-win situation for us all.....LoL, I save some time & y`all are still entertained...

I was thinkin` of calling these series of posts "MoNDaY CiNeMa", ya I know it`s kind of generic & corny but hey that`s all I can come up with a the moment. If you have a better suggestion feel free to leave it in a comment on this post. BiG uP RapWiseTV/RapWise.com for uploading the flick to YouTube, much appreciated! Seriously, I first found this movie back in 2002 at the local video store (yes folks at one point in time you could actually go to a retail store to rent movies) & it was on VHS not DVD. Oh yeah, let me share the title of it with you so you guys know what I`m talking about....LoL, it`s called "Prison Song". 

Anyway, I seen that Q-Tip, Mary J. Blige & Fat Joe were in the movie so being the BiG Hip Hop head that I was/still am I decided to rent it. Didn`t matter that I had never even heard of the movie, didn`t know of it until I picked it up off the video store`s shelf that day. More importantly though, it didn`t even matter that I had no clue on what it was about. Ya see back in the day I just rented any & every "hood" movie that I came across, especially if it had some rappers in it.....LoL, this means unfortunately that I have wasted more than a few hours of my Life watching some wack/weak movies, but still I give `em all a chance with an open mind. After all you never know what diamond in the rough you might find.....Ha~Hah, corny but true! So back to the movie, I rented it & ended up hooking up my 2 VCRs (yeah I was ballin`....LoL) together so I could make a copy for myself. It`s kind of funny because I still have that dubbed copy at my parents` crib somewhere in the basement in a box. Too bad I don`t have a VCR any more.....LoL, I DL`d this joint from YouTube anyway so I`m good...

As for "Prison Song" it`s a decent movie that was released in 2001, directed by Darnell Martin who also wrote the movie alongside Q-Tip. A few of the cast members that y`all heads may be familiar with are; Q-Tip, Mary J. Blige (her acting debut), Fat Joe, Snow (you know "Informer"), Noreaga & 'Bobbito' Garcia a.k.a. DJ Cucumberslice (Stretch & Bobbito Show). With that said, let me just give you a little heads up that this movie is somewhat of a musical. Yes there`s some singing or rappin` done as the characters` dialogue at times, but it`s not a full-on musical like it was originally intended to be. So it`s not all show-tunesy....LoL, I found that the singing or rappin` transitions were done more naturally. Obviously not every time, but for the most part it was still pretty easy to get into the movie`s emotionally driven story. I`m not a fan of musicals at all, but I still found it to be interesting enough to watch. Q-Tip does a solid job taking the viewers on an emotional roller coaster ride, you can`t help but feel sorry for Elijah (his character`s name). The movie`s story line is one of actions & consequences, so check it out...

N`JoY...

UnReLeaSeD EaZy-E SoNGs...

What`s happenin` y`all? Hope 2016 has been treating you well so far! I`ve been pretty busy so unfortunately I haven`t really been able to spend any time on the blog for a few months, this explains the hiatus. Anyway I`m hoping to be able to get back to posting up somethings to share with y`all. This post`s gon` be somewhat of a quick one just so I can get back into the swing of things. Since I just watched that N.W.A. Straight Outta Compton movie a few weeks ago I`ve been on a N.W.A./Eazy-E/Ruthless Records kick, listening to whatever was affiliated with the whole Ruthless Records camp. There`s just a whole lot of good music that I hadn`t really given a solid listen to, so I wanted to take a lil` trip back to that era. I was also searching for any possible unreleased or demo songs that may have made their way to the `net. Unfortunately I didn`t really find much, but I did find a few joints that I hadn`t heard before while searchin` good ol` Youtube...

I`m not sure if any of y`all have heard these joints before, but seeing as how there`s not a whole lot of unreleased Eazy-E songs out there I figured it was worth mentioning anyway. The first joint is unfortunately just a short lil` snippet called "From Around The Way". Former member of N.W.A. Krazy Dee (you can read an nice lil` article about him here) shared it with the kats from the Murder Master Music Show. Sure wish he would`ve let us hear the entire song, but hey a snippet is better than nothing at all I guess even if it`s more of a tease than anything else. The song has somewhat of a Beastie Boys vibe to it, not amazingly DoPe but still interesting nonetheless...

 

 

 

 

Here`s a lil` portion of the interview that Krazy Dee did with the folks at Murder Master Music Show. (DL the whole interview here) He mentions the fact that he has about 10 or so unreleased/demo joints of N.W.A.`s, would sooooooo love to get my hands & ears on `em!!!

 

 

 

 

 

The second joint that I came across is actually somewhat of a surprise to me, mostly because it`s an R&B song that features Eazy-E. It`s said to be the only R&B track that Eazy has ever lent his vocals to. The song is a remix of "With Me" by the 1990`s R&B group AZ-1 (pronounced As One). The track was recorded around 1993, but was never officially released because of personnel changes that were happening at the record label that the group was signed to at the time. To make matters worse, not too long after the song was completed the 'only master of the song' had been stolen when someone had broke into one of the member`s cars. Fate proved to be on the song`s side however when in 2015 a digital copy of the "With Me [Rmx]" master recording was mistakenly discovered on an old DAT tape of AZ-1`s along with a few other lost songs. The song itself is decent & the story about it is pretty interesting as well. As for AZ-1 (you can read more about them here), since I`m sure most of y`all probably hadn`t heard of `em, consist of; producer/member Jeff Gill, rapper/singer Shawn Harris, the lead vocalist Martin Kember (who was also the lead singer of Color Me Badd) & rounding out the group was producer/ member Andre "L.A. Dre" Bolton. Some of y`all may recognize L.A. Dre`s name from his production work with D.O.C., N.W.A. & Michel`le. Eazy-E was introduced to AZ-1 by L.A. Dre & since they were homies E had no issues working on the remix with them. Anyway if you just want to hear E`s verse it starts around the 4:18 mark, it`s not bad but honestly it doesn`t quite fit with the rest of the song. But hey, at least he still remained Eazy-E on it...

 

 

 

 

 

The next joint that I found has been floating around on the `net for a few years now, but some of y`all may not have heard it. It`s a G.B.M. joint that features Eazy-E titled "Woodworks". G.B.M. a.k.a. Ganksta Bytch Mentality/Gangsta Bitch Mentality was another female Rap group that E was working with on Ruthless Records. The group consisted of Sylk a.k.a. Sylk-E Fyne, Diamond, T-Ski & Chan Loc. Unfortunately the sound quality on this song isn`t all that great & there seems to be some sort of skipping throughout the track as well, but aside from that though this joint`s probably my favorite of all the G.B.M. songs in this post. They definitely were comin` hard on this track & the beat backin` their lyrics is pretty solid...

 

 

 

 

 

"No More Tears" is another G.B.M. joint featuring Eazy-E. Again the sound quality`s not great & unfortunately RuthlessPropaganda.net felt the need to tag their site all thru this song. I get that y`all want to ensure folks know who leaked the track, but that`s a lil` overkill...my opinion of course. The song`s decent, G.B.M. flexes some G`ness as well. The beat may be familiar to some, I believe that Prince Paul used a similar sample for "What U Got?" off the "Prince Among Thieves" album (great concept album by the way!)...

 

 

 

 

 

The third & final G.B.M. joint that I found again features Eazy-E & is titled "House Party" I`ve also seen it titled as "Shoot `Em Up On A Sunday", either way it`s titled it`s the same song. This one seems to be more of like a demo or something, I say this because of the way that it ends mid verse when Chan Loc`s spittin`. That & it almost sounds like they`re all kickin` freestyle~like flows. This one`s not as good as the first two joints, but it`s not completely wack...

 

 

 

 

With all these G.B.M. joints out there it kind of makes me think that there`s possibly an unreleased G.B.M. album somewhere in the Ruthless vaults. It`s a DaMn shame that we will probably never get to hear it! Are there any other Eazy joints out there? I know DJ Yella claims that the only unreleased Eazy-E joint that he knows of is an Ice Cube DiSS that he`ll never release, but clearly there`s still a few tracks that have yet to receive an official release, hopefully someday we get to hear better sound quality versions of these & others. One can wish can`t he???

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Ruthless Radio Theme"...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

R.i.P. EaZy-E...