The studio was packed full of guests, including DJ Kam, Courageous Chief (aka “Horrendous Teeth” according to G), Awol, a boisterous Tony D (fresh from the studio having recording some new tracks with the Poor Righteous Teachers), the Hillbillies (“straight out of Muck Holly”… and seriously, does no one remember “Bottom of the Hamper Jam”?), and others.

Perhaps the main reason to check this one out is the primary in-studio guest: a 23-year-old Apache (RIP). “Gangsta Bitch” had just hit and the album (Apache Ain’t Shit) was on the way. It’s kind of strange to come across this particular unlabeled tape so shortly after Apache’s death.

In addition to the typical “what’s up with your album”-type questions, we find out important things like Apache’s favorite ice cream flavor and how he knows “this thing ain’t gonna last” because he doesn’t like “industry people.”

Side B features a great Thursday Night Live session with DJ Kam on the wheels:

• Awol
• Tony D (RIP)
• Courageous Chief
• Baby Chill (RIP)
• Almighty Poppa S-Man (from the Dungeon Lords)
• The Coup Man (?) (from the Dungeon Lords)
• EP (from The Hillbillies) (sounds like the only one that comes off the top)
• B-Struck (from The Hillbillies)
• EP
• Tony D

The show features music from Cutty Ranks, Show and AG, Positive K, Heather B, Main Source, Chubb Rock, Das EFX, Grand Puba, Ice Cube, Diamond D, and The Funk Family.

The show closes out with G discussing some upcoming extended-length shows. He also pimps one of the early episodes of Vibes and Vapors.

This is a great 90 minutes. I hope I come across the earlier part of the show at some point.

This episode kicks off with some ultra-downtempo breaks then works its way towards illbent, jungle, and dub.

1. Eclipsed by Sadness… Prince Charming
2. Make It Go Away… kHz
3. A Tongue of Flame (Unidentified Flying Dubplate Mix)
4. Sound Check… Sub Dub
5. Eating Sweetheart Valentine Candygram Vertebrae… Prince Charming
6. Here I Come (Jungle)… Barrington Levy (Remixed by Ridley Don)
7. Armoured D… Dillinja
8. Glactic Funk (Tau Ceti mix)… DJ Spooky
9. Mr. Dubfire… Mad Professor & Lee Perry
10. Stoned Again… Culture

(As a reminder to explain my goofy show titling/dating convension: the episode number of 029701 can be translated pretty simply: February 1997, first mix of the month. The “star date” was just my stupid way of designating specifically when the mix was done by writing the date backwards (so 79.31.10 is February 13, 1997).

This episode mixes the some glitch with some world dance music and illbient with old school ragga jungle.

1. Peek 824545201.. Aphex Twin
2. Soulus (Submarine Variation #2)… Loop Guru
3. International Times (Haunted Dancehall Mix)… Transglobal Underground
4. Skank… Higher Intelligence Agency
5. Thoughts Like Rain… DJ Spooky
6. Jungle & Western Cowboy Style… Josie Wales, Beenie Man, & Ini Kamoze (Remixed by New Blood Crew)
7. Intro… DJ Spooky
8. Copper Shot Dub (Music Is My Occupation)… King Tubby/Scientist
9. Miss Know It… Scientist/Roots Radics
10. Why Hip Hop Sucks In ‘96… DJ Shadow

(As a reminder to explain my goofy show titling/dating convension: the episode number of 019702 can be translated pretty simply: January 1997, second mix of the month. The “star date” was just my stupid way of designating specifically when the mix was done by writing the date backwards (so 79.30.10 is January 30, 1997).

I’m dating this one at early July 1992. For those OCD nerds that are interested in how I came to that… all of the newer tracks they played were released in 1992 and there’s a very short snippet of a commercial from the episode discussing Greek Picnic Weekend in Philadelphia, which in 1992, was on July 11 or 18.

There’s a little back and forth between Easy M and G on here as we join them partway into the show. They do a ticket giveaway for an Arrested Development/Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy/Me Phi Me show at Mahorn’s. They also mention an upcoming Pete Rock and CL Smooth show at the same joint. Mahorn’s was a club in NJ owned by former 76er Rick Mahorn. The club shut down a year-and-a-half later due to an issue related to gun violence, if I remember correctly. The segment in the linked video starting at 5 minutes shows the club’s final night ended in fights, captured on camera by Philly’s DJ Ran:

Kam and Chief are headed up to the studio but are late, apparently because they “took a wrong exit off the warpath.” The Crusaders for Real Hip-Hop are also on their way. The only guest in the studio is Harold from Up and Up Productions, a local recording studio that I think was in Willingboro (or maybe Trenton) and used to air ads on PRB featuring local talent. G also mentions the “phat package,” a giveaway batch of CDs and promo materials.

Tracks of note include the “brand new” “I Ain’t Da One” from Brothers Uv da Blakmarket, a Paterson, NJ-based crew associated with the Flavor Unit that put out one album on Select. Also work checking, the Little Bastards’ “Stunt, Get a Job” (the clean version of the A-side “Bitch, Get a Job” single).

The side ends with a “Time Vault” segment of old school cuts from Busy Bee and the Masters of Ceremony.

Among the random stuff I got to review when I was in high school was a cassette single by a crew named Forbidden Fruit. They were on the no-name “Big Boss Records” (located at 202 St. Nicholas Ave in New York, now the home of 21st Century Urology, which is probably not a hip-hop label) and the cassette single was so cheap that the O-card was literally scotch-taped together. Forbidden Fruit was a two-man crew that bore a striking resemblance, in terms of sound, to Naughty By Nature. It was 1993, so it’s got the piano-heavy production and Treach Lite-like flows. Obvious NBN derivation aside, I really like these tracks. The horns that drop in on “Keep It In Mind” sound awkward and out of place, but how can you not love that Tony D-style piano loop. Production is credited to Vada Nobles (who co-produced Lauryn Hill’s solo album) and Forbidden Fruit.

I haven’t seen this one floating around anywhere else, so I’m guessing this particular single is pretty rare. Both vocals and instrumentals are included from the original cassette single.

Enjoy.

“Keep It In Mind”:

Download full single (.zip, 26 megs)

I had always intended to create cover art for this one, but just ended up printing up some cheesy cover with just the name of the mix and the track listing. I can’t even find a copy of the cover, though I know it’s in the basement somewhere.

Since I don’t have cover art, here’s the track listing.

Side A:

Ear to the Concrete Intro… Laze
Rather Unique… AZ
Fast Life (Hip-Hop Central Remix)… Kool G Rap feat. Nas
Invasion… Jeru the Damaja
Runnin’… Pharcyde
Reprogram… Channel Live
Put It On… Big L
Sandwiches… Count Bass D
Natural Disaster… Supernatural
KMEL Freestyle… Supernatural
MC’s Act Like They Don’t Know… KRS-One
Pull Ya Card… Saafir

Side B:

Side 2 Intro… Laze
Superstar… Group Home
Hole in the Bucket (Live Radio Session)… Spearhead
Honeydips in Gotham… Boogiemonsters
Labels… Genius/Gza
Criminology… Raekwon
No Flow On the Rodeo… King Just
The Nod Factor… Mad Skillz
Elevate… B.U.M.S. (Brothas Under Madness)
Crooklyn (Part II)… Crooklyn Dodgers (Chubb Rock, O.C., and Jeru)
Mic Check (Hip-Hop Central Remix)… Aceyalone

One track you’ve probably never heard is the Hip Hop Central Remix of Saafir’s “Light Sleeper.” As far as I know, this compilation is the only place anywhere this version of the song is available. It was produced by David J. Warner, an alt.rap original and former host of the “Hip-Hop Central” radio show out of Bloomington, Indiana. I haven’t spoken with David in more than a decade and have no clue where he is these days. It’s a mighty dope remix, though.

The sole drop on this one comes courtesy of Michael Franti of Spearhead. Liner notes are much less embarrassing this time around, aside from a swipe I took at the Digable Planets for being assholes to me when I tried to interview them. Not that I hold a grudge or anything. (Years later I interviewed Ladybug Mecca in an interview that was so strange it couldn’t be published.)

Cover art again courtesy of Devo Spice.

click through for the full j-card

It kicks off with a mix of a Malcolm X speech laid over top of Stanley Clarke’s “Black On Black Crime” from the Boyz n the Hood soundtrack (I used this same blend on a high school Media/TV Tech video project about the Rodney King beating and ensuing riots). Appropriately, it then runs into Masta Ace’s “Jeep Ass Niguh.” Also representing 1993: Raw Breed, Art of Origin, Hiero (three times!), Original Flavor, PRT, and Jeru. I’d venture to say there’s not a single dud on this mix.

One track you probably haven’t heard but will want to check out is Martay and B-Right’s “Smokin’ Joints.” These two guys were part of the East Coast Tribe, a crew out of Atlanta’s underground. (Martay’s name may sound familiar from Upski’s Bomb the Suburbs (page 19).) Martay’s still kicking and every couple of years I get an e-mail from B-Right. Good people who made good music that wasn’t heard by nearly enough people.

The cover was designed by nerdcore star Devo Spice.

I should also note that the liner notes on this one are even more embarrassingly awful than 1992.

Dig in.

Download: Front cover / Liner notes

Back in 1992, I was 17-years-old, filled with love for hip-hop at a time that most of my peers were moving onto other genres. A friend and I were making (admittedly pretty awful) music and I was armed with a good quality dual-cassette deck. Beginning in 1992 and going through 1995 I compiled the best hip-hop singles and soundtrack appearances into a 90-minute collection and sold them to friends and online. It was a great time.

Here is the first of the four editions of The Year in Rap. This one isn’t mixed or blended, as I didn’t own a 4-track or mixer, so it’s a pretty straightforward compilation. Just using a tape deck didn’t stop me from trying to make it sound like I was using vinyl, though, even faking the sound of a record stopping and doing a “remix” of Tung Twista’s “Mr. Tung Twista” by using the pause-tape method of switching between the acapella and vocal versions of the track.

In this era where pretty much every great mixtape has found its way online, this one certainly isn’t one of the best or most sought-after, but it does hold some treats. For a few of the tracks, I opted to use versions I’d heard on the radio, so you’ll hear DJ Jay-Ski and DJ Kam unknowingly participating on my mixtape (the version of “Dwyck” is especially dope). And while there aren’t any seriously rare joints here, it probably is one of the few “year in review” mixes that includes Raheem and Insane Poetry alongside Naughty By Nature and Roxanne Shante. This is the least interesting (and least technically proficient) of the four tapes in the series, but after listening to it today for the first time in probably ten years, I can say it’s still a good listen.

The j-card (remember those?) is handmade, printed from my old Apple II compatible onto a dot-matrix printer. The shout-outs are embarrassing and the references to a SASE, Dolby B, and HX Pro are quaint.

Enjoy.

click through for the full j-card

I haven’t featured many of those demos on Normal Bias, so I thought I’d start sharing some.

The first is a set of songs by Honolulu, Hawaii-born B-Versatile.

I met B-Versatile in 1994, I think on the alt.rap Usenet newsgroup, where all the hip-hop nerds hung out back in the pre-web days. We decided to collaborate on a track. He was going to school at the University of Pennsylvania, so he took the bus across state lines and joined me and my DJ in New Jersey for a day of bedroom studio recording. The result was a track called “So Damn Tough” (featured below). B-Versatile’s smooth, bassy voice was a good compliment for my all-over-the-place flow. I’m still proud of this track 15 years later, even with all its imperfections.

Early the following year, he put out a three song demo featuring three tracks, “Do You Understand” and two versions of “Put It In Ya Ear.” Here’s a review I wrote for HardC.O.R.E. 3.03 (the first online hip-hop magazine started all the way back in 1993 by OHHLA’s Flash):

B-VERSATILE, “3 Song Demo”
(Demo Review)

I had the pleasure of working with B-Versatile, the MC out of Honolulu, on the last Lyrical Prophets album, DIG THIS on a track called “So Damn Tough.” He was surprised me with his nice lyrics, ease of delivery, and low tone. After a while, he’s finally completed a 3-song demo on which he handled production as well as lyrics.

The first cut is “Do Ya Understand,” an upbeat, horn and bass tinged track featuring his very laid back flow. The break makes good use of a Lord Finesse sample. As with the following two tracks, some of the lyrics are recognizable from “So Damn Tough.”

The other two cuts are different versions of “Put It In Ya Ear” (‘94 and ‘95). The ‘95 version is far superior. The ‘94 version has an overused drum pattern, an overly plain piano loop, and though the break samples (from Wu-Tang and Audio Two) are appropriate, they slip off beat a couple of times. The horns are nice, though.

The ‘95 version makes several changes. My personal favorite is the change in the last line of the verse where he gives “Shouts to the Lazy”, but he also switched the samples up and added a beautiful bassline. This is the top track on the tape.

It’s hard to rank a short demo such as this one, but I’ll give it a shot anyway. B-Versatile has got talent and a great ear for music and just needs to work on a few small things here and there. I look forward to hearing more from him and perhaps collaborating with him again soon.

pH Level – 4/pHine [out of 6]

Later in the year, he sent along another demo with three more tracks: “Down to Earth,” “That’s Where My Heart’s At,” and “Freestyle at My House” (which he informs me didn’t actually have a title and made up one on the spot, in 2009).

B-Versatile and his friend Kenny did the productgion production and engineering on these tracks using an old Gemini sampler and a reel-to-reel 8-track. The beats are dope, if occasionally slipping off (such was the curse of cheap samplers back in the day) and there’s a lot of hiss in the recording, but hey — that’s part of the appeal of old demos like this, right?

These days, B-Versatile is working in the camera department on CSI:NY and still dabbles in hip-hop. I’m looking forward to hearing what he’s up to and who knows — perhaps we’ll collaborate a second time, a decade-and-a-half later.

Download all seven tracks in a zip file, or check them out individually: