Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf

Man, I was 11 when this one hit - and I loved it. Now, it is just flat out weird. From some Mickey Mouse compilation - no, really - here is "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" by LL Cool J.  Weird!

Soundtrack Classics - Papa Luv It by LL Cool J

Continuing with the LL theme this week comes another one from The Show Soundtrack.  This was right before Mr. Smith hit and was in the same vein.  I liked it!

Bonus Track - Fo Sho - LL Cool J

Here's the second bonus from GOAT, "Fo Sho", which I like a lot more than "Mirror Mirror". Depending on where you bought this album, you might have had a bonus track of "Shut Em Down", the two I've posted, or "Ill Bomb."

Bonus Tracks - Mirror Mirror LL Cool J

Might as well continue on the LL Cool J rare songs journey.  Here is "Mirror Mirror" from the Japanese version of  GOAT, not to be confused with the song of the same name from 10.  Unfortunately, this one has some idiot DJ talking over it, but it beats paying some crazy amount for the actual import.  (Update:  I've replaced the video I had with the actual song from the CD, and no annoying DJ!)

Cassette Only Songs - LL Cool J "Crime Story"

The Walking with a Panther album is a strange one.  It was considered a flop and the wrong album for the times - and it is inferior to LL's first two releases, no question - yet it sold very well.  There are some real missteps on the record, but there was plenty of good stuff on it, too ("Big Ole Butt" still cracks me up and while it was released earlier on a soundtrack, "Going Back to Cali" is as good as it gets). But there was a reason he opened "Mama Said Knock You Out" with "Don't call it a comeback" and that reason was Walking With a Panther.  During the summer of PE, people didn't want to hear a guy talking about champagne and so forth (I tend to agree).  Oddly, the Bomb Squad did produce two cuts on the album, "Nitro" and "It Gets No Rougher".

One problem with the album is it was just too long. In fact, so long that two cuts made the tape version but didn't carry over to the CD (the tape ran over 84 minutes!).  One of these was "Jack the Ripper,"  a single aimed at Kool Moe Dee from the year before and not part of the Walking sessions. The other was a song called "Crime Story" which was never released on CD, and since Def Jam has no clue on how to promote their back catalog, it likely never will be (I mean, this is the label that cancelled special editions of Public Enemy albums and The Lost Tapes 2 by Nas). 

Anyway, here is "Crime Story" by LL Cool J. And his new album Authentic Hip Hop drops February 12th, which I will be curious to hear. I actually liked his last one, Exit 13, after a string of two or three albums that did almost nothing for me.

Kris Kross Reunited

How cool is this?  They are reuniting for a So So Def 20th Anniversary show that includes other acts like Da Brat and XScape -click the link for details.  Guess Whodini wasn't invited....

Soundtrack Classics - Everyday Thang by Bone thugs

Since I talked about it yesterday it only seemed right to post this one today. A classic from Bone's peak, featuring all five members (Flesh had signed to Def Jam by this point), and showcasing the harmony they were known for.

Soundtrack Classics - 2Pac "My Block"

In the 90s, we didn't really have mixtapes the way we do now, at least not if you didn't live in New York.  But what we did have was soundtracks.  It seemed like every other week another hip hop based soundtrack would drop, and typically each one had at least 3 to 4 classics on it, although you typically had to dig through a lot of garbage and R&B songs to find them.

One of the better soundtracks was from The Show.  Method Man and Redman's first major compilation "How High" came from here, and there were tracks from artists such as Bone thugs, Notorious B.I.G., LL Cool J, Warren G, Onyx, and some solid cuts from Def Jam label B-teamers as well (The Dove Shack, Jayo Felony, and South Central Cartel).

And then there was "My Block," which to me was a classic.  This song was later remixed for the "Until the End of Time" release, and remixed rather well, but I still like the original.  If you've never heard it you've been missing out!

Pop Goes the Weasel

The irony of a group making fun of another rap artist* for "crossing over" only to come up with the biggest hit of their careers.....  Anyway, "Pop Goes the Weasel" is still catchy to this day, and I played it for my four-year old daughter the other day and she agrees, so I now have to play it over and over. Far be it for me to not share the joy!

*Since rap artist refers to Vanilla Ice, I'm using that term loosely....

The West Coast Rap All-Stars

Remember when a group of rappers made up of  Tone-Loc, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, Eazy-E, MC Hammer, Ice-T, Above the Law, Digital Underground, JJ Fad, Young MC, King-Tee and more banded together and ended the war between the Bloods and Crips?

Well, maybe not, but I guess they tried with the song "We're All in the Same Gang".  Anyway, the beat was produced by Dr. Dre and it's a fun song to see all these faces together - I love the beat switch when Humpty Hump jumps on.  I actually have the album with this on it somewhere - I don't remember it being very good but this song isn't bad.  It also sparked off a few other posse cuts similar to this throughout the 90s like "Where Ya At" from the One Million Strong album.

 

Soundtrack Classics - MC Ren - Who Wanna Be the Villain?

"Who's your top ten, is it MC Ren or MC Shan?"  - Nas, "Hip Hop Is Dead"

Nas posed the question and I'm guessing the answer from most fans was neither.  Nonetheless, I've always kind of liked MC Ren's solo stuff, even though he talks an awful lot about people getting pounded in the you-know-what.  Still, when you want a dark West coast album for the winter, you can't go wrong with Ren, especially his The Villain in Black album.

Here's a song from the soundtrack he did around the same time of that album - I'm guessing this was left off  though I don't know why, as it would have fit perfectly.  I also love how the guy that created this simple video for YouTube incorporated that cover.  This is "Who Wanna be the Villain" from the soundtrack for the film Original Gangstas, which I've never seen - but it sounds horrible!

Format Change

Well, for a few months now I've been mulling a bit of a format change.  For over two years, I've almost exclusively covered Arrested Development and Speech, and I've enjoyed it very much.  For me, it's been awesome.  I've actually met people I would consider friends through the site, I've had people mail me rarities for the site, and I was even able to meet the group.  Incredible.  But after two years, I've said about all I can say about Arrested Development and Speech's past.

That doesn't mean I won't cover the future of AD and Speech.  Definitely.  Of course!  But I've also decided that it's time to expand the site's horizons.  The bottom line is I love old school, classic hip hop, or rap, or whatever you want to call it.  So why not broaden the scope of this site?  Oh sure, I could just start another blog, but I like this one just fine as it is.  The name won't change and there's no reason for it to do so. 

As far as what format the site will take, I'm going to play it by ear.  Basically, if an artist was introduced to the world before 2000 (a VERY broad definition of classic rap I know), then they're fair game in my eyes.  What kind of posts will there be?  The same kind of stuff I've posted before, but just as an example, judging by page views it seems that my detailed breakdown of AD and Speech discographies seem to be among the favorites, so I would be game for breaking down discographies for everyone from LL Cool J to Public Enemy to Eazy-E to Slick Rick and all points in between.  So we shall see.

To get things started, and if you've stuck with this post this long, check out a recently released Rakim song from 1995 called "Bring It On", when he was between labels and lawyering up against MCA and Eric B.  Hard to believe this has been sitting in a vault for the last seventeen years!