Schoolly D – “Gangster Boogie“

from Gangster Boogie 12″ (Schoolly D, 1984)

Hip Hop DX put up my Q&A with Philadelphian gangster rap originator Schoolly D today. Schoolly is the first interview subject to ever laugh in my face (or in the phone that was in my face) after my first question. Though he assured me afterward that the interview got better as it progressed. You be the judge.

This is the third and final installment in the Roc Raida memorial interview series. Here Raida’s longtime X-Men/X-Ecutioner partner Rob Swift remembers their time together.

How did you first meet raida?
I met Raida at the 1991 preliminaries for the East Coast DMC regional battles. Basically that was the first competition that I was getting into so I walked up in there with my mentor, the guy that helped me prepare for that years battle, Dr. Butcher, who has worked with the likes of Kool G Rap, Akineyele, so on and so forth. So I was entering my first competition and all the X-Men [were there] you had Steve D, Johnny Cash, Diamond J, Shawn C, other friends of theirs were there with them as moral support and Roc Raida. And the thing that I found really interesting about Raida was that everybody at the preliminary battle, all the X-Men, they were all loud and drawing a lot of attention to themselves, laughing, joking, just being really loud. And Raida was just really quiet. I remember he was the quietest one out of all of them. That really intrigued me and he stood out on that way. He was really quiet. And then when he went on stage and went up for his slot to try to place it was like watching another person. He went from this quiet guy who wasn’t drawing any attention to himself, that was really observing what was going on, to this beast on the turntables. That was the thing about Raida that struck me the most. [Read more]

Minnesota Boyz – “Run Minnesota” (Minnesota)
I know nothing about these Minnesotan rappers except that they rap incredibly hard and are the first non-Rhymesayers artists I’ve ever heard from the state. And I heard St. Paul Slim on an Atmosphere song once. I had to add a category. This seems to be some sort of state wide posse cut, as google hasn’t actually revealed a group called Minnesota Boyz outside of this video (though I did find a less inspiring MN Boyz from Harlem and a group of traditional Native American musicians from St. Paul that record under the name The Boyz). Vellie Vel steals the show with his double time style but everyone holds their own. It’s really exciting to think that smaller cities are still grooming this much talent silently. (via Philaflava)

More assorted regional rap videos after the jump. None of them come from the South and all of them are LYRICALLY LYRICAL. My descriptions aren’t descriptive because my eyes and mind are tired. [Read more]

Very quickly, here are some loose joints that have been collecting dust on the hard drive.

A Tribe Called Quest – “Georgie Porgie“

from Low End Theory Sessions (Jive Unreleased, 1991)

By much delayed request. “Show Buisness” seems like one of the more “conscious” moments of Tribe’s career, educating misled youth on how to not get took by shiesty record execs. In reality they were just hurt because some TI wouldn’t let them “holler down faggots,” as a K-Mart intern once so artfully put it. Industry rule #4081: ignorance fuels everything. I’ve often theorized that part of the reason Brand Nubian isn’t as revered as the Natives because they were so explicitly anti-gay at points. It’s fun to imagine how Tribe’s legacy might have been rewritten had this track ended up on LET. Would much of their headwrap fanbase, proudly comfortable kicking it with ADAM AND STEVE types, have accepted such hatred? Maybe they should be thanking their label for scrapping this. (via Vincent, I thimk)

Ju’C – “Eat The Cat“

from Eat The Cat 12″ (Ready Or Not, 1992)

News of another unfortunate death this week: T&G’s Jib Kidder informed me that New Orleans Bounce emcee Cicely “Ju’C” Crawford McCallon was shot and killed last month at the age of just 37. Ju’C was one of the earliest females recording bounce music and was married to short-term No Limit Signee Tre-8. “Eat The Cat” is her awesome response to Lil Elt’s “Get The Gat.” I’ve been meaning to post this track forever, it’s a shame that I ended up doing so on such a sad note. [Read more]

G-Side – Huntsville International (Slow Motion Soundz, 2009)

At last. Thoughts to follow.

I thought I escaped these movements. But today a blogger who doesn’t particularly like street minded hip hop set me off again by blogging about the instant classic status of one such album. Yeah, I’m back in the labyrinth, this time to consider another variable: the critical darling status of country rap revivalists Freddie Gibbs and Pill.

Don’t get me wrong, Gibbs and Pill are both good to great rappers but they have become blog/msm favorites for an entirely different reason. They make music for a certain type of fan – ones who either grew up on UGK/Outkast/Ball&G or ones that wish that they did. They are what Little Brother was to Pete Rock and Tribe Called Quest. The new Okayplayers of Country Rap Tunes. The (perceived) golden age of Southern rap is now a good 10-15 years behind us. The cream has risen and with it critical norms that never existed. Where Pete Rock coexisted with Da Youngstas, UGK shared the same space as Silkk The Shocker. But we no longer have to acknowledge the latter, aesthetically inferior examples. The imperfections have been erased. What forms is a fictionalized nostalgia, a rewrite. [Read more]