(Belated) Thursday Throwback! Heavy D- Nuttin' But Love (1994)

I usually just skip the Thursday Throwback for the week if I don’t get around to posting it, but have to draw an exception this time around. Heavy D’s “Blue Funk” LP was the very first CD I ever owned, I bought it back in late ‘92 with my first Discman. A highly underrated album without any singles played heavily on the radio, Blue Funk was a slow burner for me that I learned to appreciate later on. Largely instrumental for putting both P Diddy and Notorious BIG on the map; Heavy D put them up on several tracks in “Blue Funk”, probably some of their earliest cameos!

 
Following Blue Funk came “Nuttin But Love”, which was also critically praised. However, this album also had several radio friendly cuts, one obviously being the title track. “Nuttin But Love” had a killer jeep beat and seamlessly tied in hints of both R&B and dancehall. Pretty much an anthem that got nonstop play during the dog-days of ‘94. It was one of the Heavster’s last hits, but his status as a hip hop legend was set in stone at that point.

It was saddening to hear about Heavy D’s passing earlier this week. Rest in peace. 

Thursday Throwback! True Culture-It's So Good It's Bad (1991)

True Culture’s “It’s So Good It’s Bad” is a vintage hip hop joint I only discovered a few weeks ago. It’s a track that stays true to the hoodie-over-Karl-Kani-jeans consciousness that was prominent in east coast hip hop culture in the early 90s. Although the beats of “It’s So Good” actually register quite a bit slower than many of its hip hop counterparts circa 1991, the drums pack a major punch to make up for it. Sampling jazz was still a “new” thing in 1991 (although everyone and their grandmother in hip hop would be doing it a mere 12 months later), yet True Culture was ahead of the curve in that respect; those hammond keys punctuate the verses quite nicely.

Apparently a Yo! MTV Rap staple, “It’s So Good…” would end up being their only one. True Culture disappeared from the hip hop scene as fast as they entered into it, leaving only one full-length album in their footsteps.

Thursday Throwback! Whodini- Freaks Come Out At Night (1984)

I wanted to rep an old school Halloween rap song for this week’s TT. The challenge being, there aren’t many old school Halloween rap songs out there, and fewer that are any good. Then there’s Whodini. “Freaks Come Out At Night” is the most logical choice.

Honorable mention to Geto Boys’ “My Mind’s Playing Tricks On Me”, but they talk about Halloween being on the weekend. It’s on Monday this year, fools. Should’ve posted that video two years ago.

Thursday Throwback! Original Concept-Pump That Bass (1986)

I really am a sucker for pretty much ANYTHING with an 808 kick bass. Original Concept’s “Pump That Bass” not only checks the box above, but also has a second distinction. It’s one of those songs you’ve heard thousands of times without actually realizing it. That’s because many of the vocal and scratch stabs in Pump That Bass were endlessly sampled in classic hip hop tracks that came out during the decade that preceeded it in 1986. Coldcut’s remix of “Paid in Full” was likely the first major song to utilize a vocal piece from it the following year.

So if you’ve ever wondered where the “Get a little stupid…get, get a little stupid” line comes from, well now ya know.

Although mainly instrumental sans the scratching and vocal sample above, this was another example of the rock-rap merging that was very heavily prominent in the Def Jam fortress around that time. 

Thursday Throwback! T La Rock-Bass Machine (1986)

This is 808’s, no heartbreak though. Breakdance, maybe….heartbreak, no. Mantronix proved very early on that the 808 was more than just a failed drum machine designed for rock bands who couldn’t afford session drummers. Even though a YouTube video hardly does it justice, just listen to those kicks.

Thursday Throwback! Dr. Dre-Puffing Blunts & Sipping Tanqueray (1992)

So I’ve never posted a Dre track in our thursday throwback series before, my bad. As easy as it would be to post pretty much ANYTHING from The Chronic, you’ve probably already heard every single tune from that album a million times by now. Instead I’m digging slightly deeper here with “Puffing Blunts And Sipping Tanqueray”.

This track was on the B-side of the 12” single of Dre Day, so it isn’t ridiculously rare, but if you weren’t a DJ you probably never heard it before. It easily would’ve blended in on The Chronic, complete with the Doctor’s signature G-funk sounds, piercing synths, and Eazy-E disses. The programming was a little weird, with Dre and the Lady of Rage swapping verses for the first few minutes, then the basic loop repeating ad infinitum for about seven minutes at the end. But remember it’s a Dre production, so he could loop a single bar for a half hour and it would still be a masterpiece!

Back in the early 90s, recording non-album B-sides that were only on 12” singles was a pretty common thing a lot of rap and hip hop artists were doing. The CD single format started to phase out in the mid 90s as labels wanted to push the full albums more heavily (for higher profit margin obviously). This meant that 12” singles respectively became more stripped down, with just the main, clean, and instrumental versions of the main song, and maybe a remix if you were lucky. Pretty sure this was the only released B-side Dre did in the Chronic era.

Thursday Throwback! Gigolo Tony-Smurf Rock (1986)

I have a hard time envisioning a song released today that incorporates not only the Smurf theme song, but also “Old McDonald Had A Farm”, that still manages to sound fresh. Somehow, Gigolo Tony pulled that off with his electro bass classic “Smurf Rock” in 1986. I guess the scratch cuts, which were still a few years ahead of their time, balance out the banjo and flute used on the riffs of our previously mentioned childrens’ anthems. Oh yeah, I kind of like how they tease the riff of Debbie Deb’s “When I Hear Music” midway through too. Why does music always have to be so SERIOUS, man?

Thursday Throwback! Party Rock-Set It Off (1986 Electro/Freestyle)

Although this track shares the same song title and style as 1984’s classic anthem by Strafe, “Set It Off” by Party Rock has nothing to do with that jam. What we have here is a six minute brick of pure unfiltered vintage electro. I don’t know too much about the Party Rock crew, aside from the fact that they pressed up several 12” singles in the vein of this track around the time. “Set It Off” can easily be played today and still sound fresh (in a hip, Miami Vice way). Six minutes of 808 breaks, vocoded lyrics, and aptly timed pads that refuse to overlap with the vocals.

“Set It Off” is no different from most other electro tunes that came out in the mid-late 1980s, but it’s still well produced. And as the MC says at the end, “The rhythm of the drum machine, is right on time.” And that it is.

Thursday Throwback! Al B Sure-Nite And Day (1988)

I honestly have no idea what the hell happened to Al B Sure after cutting his 1988 “In Effect Mode” LP, but hey, he made his impact on R&B and New Jack Swing music in a span of just 8 short songs. I bagged this LP last weekend for a dollar at Cheapo Records in Boston; I knew pretty quickly it was a dollar well spent.

Obviously the highlight is the album’s opener: “Nite And Day”. Even though I was only old enough to add and subtract at the time, I actually recall this track being played about every 30 minutes on the radio, especially that summer. The album was actually split right down the middle: 4 slow jams, and 4 upbeat but under-appreciated New Jack Swing pieces. Unfortunately the latter 4 were released ahead of New Jack Swing’s heyday, which didn’t start until the following year (which was when I was old enough to multiply and divide, by the way).

Production quality is very well done for a record this old, the keyboard pads have a ton of life in almost every song! But I won’t bore you with the tech talk for now.

Thursday Throwback! Cindy Mizelle-This Could Be The Night (1984)

Going back almost 3 decades to uncover some classic breaks on this one. Cindy Mizelle did not release very many tracks in her career. “This Could Be The Night” was her first in 1984, followed by a few sparodic 12”s in the 90s over a decade later. Ah well, at least the song in question was good enough to be showcased in the classic b-boy and breakdance documentary Beat Street, released the same year. 

“This Could Be The Night” had quite a pop lean to it, clearly suggesting it was upbeat enough for even a non-breaker with zero hand-eye coordination to at least nod their head to it. Even after breakdancing briefly fell out of style later on that decade, Mizelle’s track was in full rotation in roller rinks across the continent. 

Thursday Throwback! Mark The 45 King-Kaboom (1996)

When most people think of old school hip hop producer Mark the 45 King, they know all about the 900 Number and that’s it. Fact of the matter is, this guy released dozens of 12” singles during the 90s and early 2000s, and not just backing tracks for east coast rappers either. Mark cut a variety of instrumental tracks to wax, some relying heavily on sampled breakbeats and loops, others such as “Kaboom” crafted primarily from scratch. “Kaboom” was released on a 12” single in 1996 that was shared with seven other short instrumental bits. It was unfortunately one of the last pieces of music issued by Tuff City, a heavy hitting New York-based label not only responsible for the vast majority of the King’s releases from 1986-96, but also the likes of Spoonie Gee, the Cold Crush Brothers, and Lakim Shabazz. 

Thursday Throwback! Akinyele- Checkmate (1993)

Before Akinyele blew up in ‘96 with his anthem of many a strip club DJ, “Put it in Your Mouth”, he had plenty of street cred. Along with a debut LP (the equally sex-driven Vagina Diner, almost impossible to find a copy of nowadays), and guest appearances on the records of everyone from New York who mattered in the early 90s. One of my favorite tracks from Ak’s first LP was “Checkmate”.

I’ve covered quite a few Large Professor-produced tracks recently in the TT section, so one more can’t hurt us. “Checkmate” is centered entirely on a bassline riff that opens Miles Davis’ drugged-out, early 70s fusion masterpiece “Tribute to Jack Johnson.” (Which I was actually unaware of until buying the Miles LP last year and recognizing the lick instantly).

Not only are the beats serious, but I love the contrast of Ak’s humor on top of them! “I make punk rappers studder, ya ya ya ya YO, I bring out the Das Efx in a motherf@#ker” (Side note: Das held his own despite how many people HATED on him back then for all that tigitty-tongue-twisting stuff he used to do.)

Thursday Throwback! New England Hip Hop Massive-The Lineup (1993)

Almost missed the deadline to get in a thursday throwback for the week, but as per usual, better late than never. I found this track from surfing around YouTube this past weekend by a hip hop group appears to have existed not too far away from where this post is being written right now! These guys were known as the New England Hip Hop Massive, and even though they only cut a single song as a collective, hot damn, it was a good one. “The Line-Up” is pretty much a summary of everything that was good about rap in the early 90s. It’s an uptempo jam with one hell of a funk break; all these guys passing the mic back-and-forth exhibit no problems whatsoever attempting to keep up with it either. I bet the right DJ could drop this today at a party and still rock a floor with it, no problem.

After getting a couple comments on this after posting it on Facebook over the weekend, I came to find out this plate is selling for around, eh, $600 right now on the second hand market. Similar to most other indy hip hop from the pre-Interenet era, “The Line Up” probably saw no more than a few hundred copies, which were surely snatched up immediately around town. Needless to say, I’ll have to stick to watching it on YouTube. For now.

Thursday Throwback! DJ Magic Mike- Get on Down and Rock (1990)

One of the undisputed kings of bass right here! Magic Mike had a huge impact on the Miami Bass sound in the late 80s, borrowing the drums of the electro from earlier in the decade but adding plenty of ass-moving low end to reinforce those timeless 808 snares and claps. Magic Mike released an album pretty much every year between 1988 and 2000, and still actively plays and produces in his hometown to this day.

Thursday Throwback! Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam-Wonder If I Take You Home (1985)

Lisa Lisa’s 1985 debut, and still a favorite by many a DJ 25 years later! Although “Wonder If I Take You Home” had major crossover appeal, it blends so nice with much of the electro that was rinsed across many a roller rink in the mid-80s. You can find this probably find this 12” filed safely next to Gucci Crew, Afrika Bambaataa, Debbie Deb, and Newcleus in the record crate of history. Lisa Lisa had a handful of other hits following this, most notably her “All Cried Out” ballad the following year.