20th Anniversary Tour Diary

Somehow I missed this - a little video put together by AD as a diary for their shows in Australia from last year. Check it out!

People Everyday Sampled by J. Cole

Hasn't been too much to report in AD-land, but here's something: "People Everyday" was sampled by J. Cole for the opening of his new album Born Sinner on a song called "Villuminati" along with songs by the Notorious B.I.G. ("Juicy") and R. Kelly ("I Wish Remix"). That said, I don't hear the sample - what am I missing? I'm slipping.

Every now and again I like to give new rappers a shot even though I'm firmly in that "old music is better than today's music" stage of my life, where I will likely remain until I pass. I've heard this album is pretty good but I haven't had a good chance to listen, just happened to notice the sample in the liner notes, of which J. Cole was generous enough to provide unlike Kanye West....

Kings of the Mic Show Review

On Saturday, June 1^st, 2013 I found myself in a funk, and I couldn’t understand it.

I couldn’t understand it because the night before, at Stir Cove in Council Bluffs, Iowa, I had been lucky enough to witness the incredible Kings of the Mic tour featuring some of my favorite artists of all time: LL Cool J, Ice Cube, Public Enemy, and De La Soul.

In some ways, scratch that, in every way, it was a dream lineup. In fact, the night before this tour was announced, I was talking to my wife about the concerts we had seen, and I specifically mentioned that I would really like to see LL and Cube someday. But never in a million years did I think that the two of them would go on tour together, with the added bonus of Public Enemy, who I had seen last fall, and De La Soul, another classic group.

So when I thought it over, the reason for my depression became clear: it is doubtful that I will ever see a lineup or a show like that again. First world problems, I know. But I really was kind of bummed that it was all over.

So as to the show, and why I was so excited about it - let’s start from the beginning. With four acts like these, there is really not a moment to spare, and with that in mind, opening De La Soul came out five minutes early to open things up. I wasn’t complaining – we’ve all been kept waiting for upwards of two hours for an artist that we paid $20 in Ticketmaster fees plus an expensive ticket price to see. I can just imagine the artist waiting in their dressing room until all of the red M&Ms are removed from the candy dish and the bottled water chilled to exactly 37.3 degrees per their touring rider, while we suffer in silence, wondering how many drinks we’re going to have to buy before they bother to show up.

But not these guys. They get down to business. They got things started with a mix of new songs, rarer old ones, and some hits, including “Me, Myself, and I” to the delight of the crowd. They packed a lot in their thirty minutes.

My Book

It's been a long time... I shouldn't have left you....

Hello all. In the post below you will find a link to a recent interview with Speech if you are looking for AD stuff, but I wanted to take a second and point out one of the reasons why this blog has went to seed as of late. Basically, in December 2011 I began work on a novel and in the last four or five months, that work became overwhelming, leaving me little time to work on anything else during my free moments. To attempt to motivate myself, I decided to switch the scope of this site to all old-school rap. This was a stupid idea. If I didn't have time to write about AD and Speech during a down period, what made me think trying to churn out a post a day was a good idea? So yeah, that lasted about a week, and even that was a miracle.

So, with that in mind, while it is a long-shot that this would be something that would interest any stray readers that come across this site, I did want to share with you the efforts of my work: a novel title On the Backs of Dragons. As you can probably guess, it is a fantasy, though I would say it goes pretty light on many of the hallmarks of the genre. For example, there are no elves or wise wizards, and no prophecies about chosen ones nor are there any trinkets that need to be destroyed to save the world. At it's heart, it is an adventure story, and a very simple one. It is being published by me through CreateSpace. If you would be so kind to check into it, I would appreciate it. If not, thanks for reading Highway 85, and I promise it won't pop up again here!

Interview With Speech

Hello all, long time no see. There has been a dearth of Speech and AD stories as of late, but from what I understand, they are in the process of recording new stuff, which is always welcome. In the meantime, here is a little interview with Speech with Chuck D's website Hip Hop Gods, which is a great site to follow for us old-school fans.

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.