Who The Fuck Is Fred?

Nothing like a one-trick pony, right? No sooner did I finish my Geto Boys sample post then I got some info on the background material for Akshen/Scarface's incredible 1991 solo debut Mr. Scarface Is Back. Nursing a sore throat and with a little time on my hands, I culled the sample tracks for this record and here ya go, another amazing 2+ hour collection of 70's funk and soul. Not as much James Brown this time (and there are a few hold overs from the Geto Boys comp as well, sorry) but finally hearing "Synthetic Substitution" by Melvin Bliss and "Thinking" by the Meters is enough to deserve a listen. Half of these tracks are a who's who of legendary sample beats - wonderful to hear the full songs behind the scenes.

Here is the LP track breakdown:

A1. Mr. Scarface

        • "Gimme What You Got" by Le Pamplemousse

        • "Different Strokes" by Syl Johnson

        • "Sexy Coffee Pot" by Tony Alvon & The Belairs

A2. The Pimp

        • "Sportin' Life" by James Brown

        • "Impeach The President" by The Honey Drippers

A3. Born Killer

        • "Theme From 'Buck & The Preacher'" by The Nite-Liters

        • "Amen, Brother" by The Winstons

        • "The Assembly Line" by Commodores

        • "Funky Drummer" by James Brown

A4. Murder By Reason Of Insanity

        • "Synthetic Substitution" by Melvin Bliss

        • "UFO" by ESG

        • "Untitled Instrumental" by James Brown

A5. Your Ass Got Took

        • "Sing A Simple Song" by Please

        • "Down On The Avenue" by Fat Larry's Band 

        • "The Traffic Cop (Dance)" by Bloodstone

        • "Four Cornered Room" by War

A6. Diary Of A Madman

        • "The Payback" by James Brown

        • "Atomic Dog" by George Clinton

B1. Body Snatchers

        • "Soul Power Pt. 1" by James Brown

B2. Money And The Power

        • "Love Serenade (Part II)" by Barry White

        • "UFO" by ESG

B3. P D Roll 'Em

        • "I've Been Watching You" by Southside Movement 

        • "Blind Alley" by The Emotions

B4. Good Girl Gone Bad

        • "Do Like I Do" by Smokey Robinson

        • "Good Old Music" by The Parliaments

B5. A Minute To Pray And A Second To Die

        • "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" by Marvin Gaye

        • "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye

        • "Kissing My Love" by Bill Withers

B6. I'm Dead

        • "Thinking" by The Meters

        • "Down On The Avenue" by Fat Larry's Band

        • "Mango Meat" by Mandrill

On a final note, I never really liked the cover I did for The Geto Boys sample comp so I updated that one and used what I had before for this one. Makes a lot more sense - and I sourced the photo from the original Mr. Scarface negative before they "browned" out DJ Ready Red. Enjoy.

Part I                                                                     Part II

Back the Geto Boys!

Holy fuck, just stumbled upon this while finishing up research for my last post. The Geto Boys are fucking back and need you to help fund their reunion album Habeas Corpus. While I wish Ready Red would be part of the gang I will take it. Check out their Kickstarter site - 15 days left as I write this...

Give To The Geto

F#@* 'Em

With the 25th anniversary of the Geto Boys' eponymous Def American debut looming, I decided to take a cue from a fellow blogger and add another entry into the "Songs Someone Taught Us" series. The year was 1990 and Def American released quite possibly the finest rap record in history. The Geto Boys. Sure, "Ghetto" Boy purists consider it more of a remix album then a legit new LP (although other than possibly "Size Ain't Shit" all of the Grip It! On That Other Level tracks were revamped and re-edited into vastly superior versions) - it still stands as the group's best work and a standard for pretty much any other hip-hop album to aspire. I was surprised to learn how much material was sampled to create The Geto Boys, while mostly funk tracks featuring James Brown as vocalist (or in some other major role) there are some real surprises once you deconstruct the songs. Billy Squier? "My Girl"? After listening to the album over and over while culling the below tracks I now can't hear a sample without thinking of its origin. So while this is not quite a collection of originals that a band covered (à la my previous Metallica and GG Allin posts) it's a window into what D.J. Ready Red's record collection must have looked like and got that Houston studio bumping way back in 1989.

Here's the song-by-song breakdown:

A1. Fuck 'Em
        • "Breakthrough” by Isaac Hayes
        • "Rocket In The Pocket (Live)" by Cerrone
        • "Kool Is Back" by Funk, Inc.
A2. Size Ain't Shit
        • "Blow Your Head" by Fred Wesley And The J.B.'s
        • "Mt. Airy Groove" by Pieces Of A Dream
A3. Mind Of A Lunatic
        • "Givin' Up Food For Funk" by The J.B.
        • "Funky Drummer" by James Brown
        • "Batman: Stacked Cards" by Joey Lapidos
A4. Gangster Of Love
        • "The Joker" by Steve Miller Band
        • "I Walk On Gilded Splinters" by Johnny Jenkins
A5. Trigga Happy Nigga
        • "Memphis Soul Stew" by King Curtis
        • "Love The Life You Live" by Kool And The Gang
A6. Life In The Fast Lane
        • "The Big Bang Theory" by Parliament
        • "Girl In The Hot Pants" by The Soul Brothers Inc.
        • "The Big Beat" by Billy Squier
A7. Assassins
        • "Apache" by Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band
B1. Do It Like A G.O.
        • "Superfly" by Curtis Mayfield
        • "Apache" by Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band
        • "Scorpio" by Dennis Coffey And The Detroit Guitar Band
        • "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved" by James Brown
B2. Read These Nikes
        • "It Takes Two" by Rob Base & D.J. E-Z Rock
        • "You Can Have Watergate Just Gimme Some Bucks And I'll Be Straight" by Fred Wesley And The J.B.'s
        • "Funky Drummer" by James Brown
        • "Funky President (People It's Bad)" by James Brown
        • "My Girl" by The Temptations
        • "Batman: Stacked Cards" by Joey Lapidos
B3. Talkin' Loud Ain't Saying Nothin'
        • "Talkin' Loud & Sayin' Nothing" by James Brown
        • "Skin Tight" by Ohio Players
        • "Theme From The Planets" by Dexter Wansel
        • "South Bronx" by Boogie Down Productions
B4. Scarface
        • "Blues & Pants" by James Brown
        • "Ashley's Roachclip" by The Soul Searchers
        • "Gimmie What You Got" by Le Pamplemousse
        • "Different Strokes" by Syl Johnson
B5. Let a Ho Be A Ho
        • "Money" by Pink Floyd
        • "Impeach The President" by The Honey Drippers
B6. City Under Siege
        • "The Message From The Soul Sisters" by Myra Barnes
        • "Think (About It)" by Lyn Collins
        • "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" by The Hillside Singers

For those with sharp eyes, yep there's a children's Batman 7" record on the list. Packaged with a comic book, it was a 70's vinyl version of the "Read-And-Listen" shit kids have loaded on their iPads today. It supplies all of the "he's a paranoic who's a menace to our society" samples  - which up to this day I assumed were from some obscure B-movie. Who in the Geto Boys owned that record? I debated including it since it runs a little long but was so surprised at the discovery I felt I had to. And upon listening to this catalog you'll find that it could have sufficed as sample material for a whole multitude of famous rap songs from back in the day (Public Enemy being one of the more consistent repeat clients). While some of the tunes are far from something I'd listen to on a daily basis, all have their moments, and most of the funk stuff is truly amazing. Interestingly, I just read a somewhat recent interview with Scarface in which he pledges a Geto Boys reunion LP if Rick Rubin would produce. Rick, are you reading?

7/11/15 update: Since my latest post was actually for Mr. Scarface Is Back I went ahead and updated the "album" cover for this one. Looks a ton better in my opinion. Enjoy.

Part I                                        Part II                                        Part III

Still Wanted Dead Or Alive

A real hidden treasure from hip-hop's golden era, Kool G. Rap's sadly underrated Live And Let Die is significantly more akin to the West Coast style dominating the scene at the time than Rap's previous LPs. It comes as no surprise with Sir Jinx producing that Ice Cube managed to stumble into the studio for a few lyrics as do Geto Boys Scarface and Bushwick Bill. Labelmate Big Daddy Kane shows up as well. Some of the songs are a little akin to the fast-paced stuff Cube did on AmeriKKKA's but there are enough slow bass-heavy tunes (sounding much like Scarface's Rap-A-Lot debut) to keep it fresh. And his ode to cock-blocking is fucking hilarious. It's unfortunate that Warner Bros. balked at the record cover and eventually refused the LP's distribution (the bad taste of Body Count still in everyone's mouth) - Live And Let Die never had a chance at the recognition it deserved. Kool G. Rap has stayed on the scene since and has enjoyed a respectable (and respected) career but this is easily my favorite record of his - enjoy.

Kool Genius

Do It Like An Instrumental

Look, when it comes down to it, there's little I can write to further extol the greatness of the Geto Boys' Def American release. I came across these instrumentals of "Fuck 'Em" and "Do It Like A G.O." the other day and have been listening to them non-stop. Evidently the cuts existed as a 12" vinyl-only release back in 1990 but I'm pretty sure these were culled together from the original record samples by someone with a LOT more Audacity dexterity then me. A complaint? I just wish there was an instrumental version of the whole album. Enjoy. 

Like A Cardiac

Packin' Horse Dick

Oh boy, here we go again. Jesus, how many posts on this two-bit blog have started with that sentence? Too fucking many probably... Anyways, here's the hidden gem of Rap-A-Lot Record's late 80's catalog, the debut release by burgeoning Geto Boy Willie D (or "Ghetto Boy Willie Dee" depending on what set you're claimin') - a low-budget dozen-song LP that is so banally minimalistic i that it comes off as an epic of primitive genius. First off, Willie D is a terrible rapper. There, I said it. You can barely understand his strange lispy cadence and his rhymes are awful. That being said, it actually works with the dollar store back beats and sorry off-time samples (how anyone on this record had the balls to call themselves a DJ is laughable). Willie it at his peak on the fucking killer "Put The Fuckin' Gun Away" - easily the best song on the album. The absolutely austere "Bald Headed Hoes" probably influenced countless thousands of closet MC's out there who've since realized you don't need a TR808 or other fancy drum machine - pawn yourself a $5 Casio beat box and sign the record deal. D's hilarious "Fuck Me Now" and the terribly unsexy token sex rap "Kinky" will have you laughing out loud. Geto Boy fans will be pleased to hear one of the many versions of "Do It Like A G.O." (yet another two versions appear on both the Grip It! and The Geto Boys albums) and anyone hunting for the best duet in hip-hop history need look no further than this record. "I Need Some Pussy". Bolivia. Best lyrics ever.

Get The Vaseline Ready...

I Woke Up To A Tune On The Radio...

Yet another sweet hip-hop CD-single from the early 90's that has a B-side better than the song it was promoting. Geto Boy's Scarface (a.k.a. Akshun) broke out as a solo artist with his solid 1991 debut Mr. Scarface Is Back. Light years better than anything the other 'Boys did, the album showcased a couple really fantastic songs: the title track, "Money And The Power," "Good Girl Gone Bad" and the epic closer "I'm Dead." Scarface's second single from the album was the sober "A Minute To Pray And A Second To Die" which is not without its charm but simply too slow for my tastes. Its B-side however is a "club mix" of the amazing "I'm Dead." Featuring a a ridiculously cool loop sampled from The Meters "Thinking" (off their classic 1969 Look-Ka Py Py), this low-rent "remix" (which is really just the song with a full-length instrumental tacked on at the end) just fucking rules.

Club Mix

Tales From The Sexside

Oh boy, here we go again. Straight back from Houston's 5th Ward is Choice, the most unintentionally hilarious female rapper in hip-hop history. I've rambled about her past in a previous post so there's little need to revisit, suffice it to say that her sophomore release Stick-N-Moove (yep, that's how it's spelled) is primo so-bad-its-good fodder for your next party. The beats are typical drum machine dreck and her lyrics are of the priceless "Bullshit talkin', steady talkin' all that bullshit" variety that just ramble on and on. The token sex rap "Tales From The Sexside" is an absolute riot and her kinda safe-sex anthem "HIV Positive" will simply leave you slack-jawed. Is it really a safe-sex song when she's just complaining that the guy could have fucked her instead of a sleazy ho with AIDS? Regardless, "Thank It's A Game," a duet with then-Geto Boy Big Mike, is easily the best track on the album; a ridiculous he vs. she battle that is as inane as it is funny. The profanity is overwhelming and none of it really makes any sense but you gotta give credit to Choice for being such a good sport. Another guilty pleasure low-rent classic from Rap-A-Lot Records. Enjoy.

Moove

Put some eggs in the goddamn skillet...

I've ranted in previous posts about the lo-fi banality of most Rap-A-Lot Records excretions and while these are technically no different, they do benefit from one of the sleaziest marketing campaigns seen in the early 90's. Rap-A-Lot at the time was riding big: The Geto Boys were back on their label (after being torpedoed into the mainstream via Rick Rubin) and they had just dropped their platinum We Can't Be Stopped. The 'Boys were hot and producer James Smith wasn't about to let that ember go out lika soldier - introducing the Baby Geto Boys, better known as Too Much Trouble. First off, their debut album cover (which not only looks ridiculous but I think is the only album cover in history that advertises another band's name more times than that group that actually recorded the album) has me wondering is anyone over 13? Maybe the midget - good ol' Bar-None - who will probably go down as the worst fucking rapper in history - has some voting rights. Yeah, I get it... he's the white dwarf antithesis of Bushwick Bill (press releases blame massive crack abuse by his mother during pregnancy) but the completely harmless ball python around his neck comes off as more sad and silly than shocking. And his skills suck so bad he's regulated to a sorry two or three lines a song... absolutely fucking pathetic. The "real" Getos phone it in on "Only The Strong Survive" to fulfill some contractual obligations but it's the rest of the album that will truly impress in that awful low rent kind of way. The Baby Getos rappers actually have a bit of primal skill - the epic "Mother Fuckin' Thugs" is unreal - their liberal profanity blows any other shit out there during that era away.  Beats are sadly sampled, the drum machine is pure version 1.0 - it's awful but amazing at the same time - the primitive shit Too $hort wishes he could still pull off.

Which brings us to the next year's Player's Choice. Is it just two of the guys now? Looking at the record cover it looks like there's been some midget-to-doberman conversions but who the fuck knows, the voices sound completely token and if it wasn't for the 60-second "Bring It On" the first side of the album would be nearly forgettable. Side B is a different story - fat sluggish beats permeate throughout -"Red Light Victim" has a cool "Mind Of A Lunatic" vibe to it and flows tight. The rest of the tunes slow it down even more and while there is probably nothing for the historical rap archives, "Let's Get It On" is a cool tune to ghetto blast around your local suburbs just to piss off all those repressed local white folk. Enjoy.

1992                                                 1993

Mmmmm... Blood Dry

Bushwick Bill won't go down in history for his vocal agility, he has some of the worst rhymes in history ("Cereal Killer"?!?! Dude, c'mon!) and his strange obsession with the Child's Play flicks feels more like a 10-year old's weird crush than a grown man coming up with a somewhat-unique-but-not-really-scary theme. But y'know what? I still really dig the guy and think he is the reason the Geto Boys became what they did. Quirky, pissed off, and a hell of a player for 4' 2", ya gotta admit his amazing "Size Ain't Shit" is easily the best track on The Geto Boys album. Little Big Man is his first solo attempt, once the Geto Boys began falling apart (DJ Ready Red bailed, Scarface/Akshen was getting big and Willie D split for his own shit career) Bushwick started drinking a lot of Everclear and becoming generally dissatisfied with his life. One night he took matters (and a loaded pistol) into his own hands and suicidally tried to get his girlfriend to murder him by threatening his infant son. She retaliated by shooting him in the face. Bushwick survived, but not without losing an eye (check out the cover to the Boys' We Can't Be Stopped) and finding Jesus.  

Well, with all that being said, how's the album? Well, Little Big Man suffers from the typical Rap-A-Lot Records production banality yet it's still acceptable... but the songs? I hate to say it but Bushwick is the rapping equivalent of Plan 9 From Outer Space, Breakin' or Black Devil Doll From Hell... he is just so miserably bad that you gotta love him. And if you think I'm sellin' the guy short - realize he changed his name to Dr. Wolfgang Von Bushwickin The Barbarian Mother Funky Stay High Dollar Billstir. And he sings Christian rap. So check yo' self bitch.

Chucky

 
Currently watching: Great White

Currently listening to: Eternal/ Thy Grief Eternal/ Lord Of Putrefaction 
                                    Pre-Electric Wizard

Size Ain't Shit

 

One of the cooler things about doing a blog is revisiting music you wouldn't normally be listening to. For some reason, I've been pulling out a lot of my old rap CDs lately and finding some excellent diamonds in the rough. The other day I posted Choice's somewhat lackluster debut and hinted at the greatness of the above album, The Geto Boys. Def American producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin discovered the Houston-based quartet, hosed off the Rap-A-Lot mediocrity, and created a near-perfect rap album. My only complaint is "City Under Seige" - what were they thinking with that??? Interestingly, this album caused a whole lot of controversy when it was released in 1990 (Warner Bros. actually balked at pressing the CD); and while still arguably shocking today, it is no match to some of the sadistic, murderous, hateful mysogyny you can find anywhere (including this blog!) There's more brutal stuff on prime-time CSI these days then what the 'Boys talked about in "Mind Of A Lunatic". Wow, how times change. Dig it

Fuck 'Em

Wow

 

Choice. Wow, what can you say. Without a doubt Houston's most insane hip hop export. Forget H.W.A., BO$$, Yo-Yo and M.C. Lyte trying to out-swear each other, Choice blows them out of the water with her inane vulgarity. And she's on Rap-A-Lot to boot, adding that quintessential east Texan bargain-basement quality. As an aside, I've always thought listening to a Rap-A-Lot Records release is like watching a shot-on-video movie (Redneck Zombies comes to mind). Yeah, it's technically a movie but it's just... different. In a cheap way. You feel like you're getting ripped off somehow - and to anyone who disagrees - compare Rap-A-Lot's We Can't Be Stopped to Def American's The Geto Boys and get a life. 

Choice first surfaced on Willie Dee's landmark first album Controversy as a "guest" appearance in the he/she rap-off gem "I Need Some Pussy." According to Willie Dee's "Little Hooker" a few years later (on his 1992 I'm Goin' Out Lika Soldier) Choice sucked off the Rap-A-Lot owner to get her record contract, which is surprising because the thing is dude, she is really ugly! What the fuck? Whatever, I'm not a rap album producer so who am I to judge but sheesh, she looks really, really weird. Kinda like a dude. Anyways, among the "hits" on this classic include the title "Payback" in which she disses all the big names in the industry (gotta love the whole verse blasting Too $hort); it's their hats she's stepping on on the album cover. Wait, I'm confused, she actually banged all these big-name West Coast rappers? Huh, I guess trick hos were a running a little slim back in 1990. And were they really dissing her in public too? I dunno, I can't really recall hearing about her and I was pretty into the rap scene for a suburban white kid (shit, I was a Vibe subscriber for chrissakes). Anyways, "Pipe Dreams" is her token explicit sex song and "Down With My Man" is a weird subservient track... I have to stop, you really can't put this album into words, ya just gotta hear it. The disclaimer reads "If Penthouse, Playboy, Freddy Crugar, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and violence on TV are OK, so is this album!"  'Nuff said.

Amazingly, Choice lasted long enough to release another record 2 years later that dropped a single called, get this, "HIV Positive". The musical version of Pink Flamingos - the tune is such a train wreck of songwriting that you couldn't do worse if you tried. "He didn't know she's H-I-V positive / Ya know, the AIDS / H-I-V positive / Stuck his dick in some fucked up shit." Absolutely priceless. Hmmmm, now that I think about it, I should have posted that album instead. My bad.

Bolivia