Five Years Older, Ten Times More Determined
It’s hard to believe, but today marks the fifth anniversary of Cocaineblunts.com. To celebrate I put together a quick collection of some tracks I’ve posted over the years. If you’ve been reading this site forever, you probably have all these tracks. But maybe you don’t have them all in one place.
It’s strange going back and looking at these posts. For one a lot of them are truly poorly written. But it’s the general tone in music sharing that has shifted the most. Years ago I could post something obvious and merely out of print – indie Sick Wid It releases, vinyl only remixes – and dudes would send me rambling emails thanking me profusely and reminiscing about how they’d been looking for these tracks since they first heard them on stretch and bob fifteen years prior or how they used to jam this or that in their 89 caddy and then how their tape popped and they never heard it again. Now it’s “Pshaw we got that Noz. Where the album at? I pulled it off blogspot months ago. I got a torrent of every word T La Rock ever said into a microphone.” Technology is fantastic. I guess.
Still, most of this shit is still pretty hard to come by, even by today’s standards. And most of it I still jam on a regular basis. I listen to “Duck Huntin’” every morning over breakfast while I desperately try to turn just one flake of Target Brand Knock Off Cocoa Pebbles into fifty pounds of catfish. That being said, I would be shocked if anybody who isn’t me actually likes every song on here. Before this site ended up the de facto outlet of weird regional rap, the goal was always one of diversity. There are now 8,000 blogs cataloging NY Rap from 1988-1996 and I honestly don’t keep as many uninteresting Black Moon rip off records as those guys, so I’ve been playing my position. But the original motto was “From AZ to YZ”. I tried to represent that here a little better on this mix than I’ve been doing on the blog lately, but then not really. It’s interesting to note how Rammellzee freestyles don’t really sound all that out of place next to T Tucker chants. Tape hiss blurs all cultural boundaries.
With a few glaring outliers, the selection does lean late 80s/early 90s. Maybe I’ll go deeper into the margins of those decades if I’m still around to do Vol. 2. (Though I can only pray that I am not still running this blog in 2013. But who knows? The game needs me.)
I also put Dre Dog’s “Smoke Dope and Rap” on there. It is, of course, where we got the name for our college radio show and the site that followed. Believe it or not, in five years since (almost seven actually if you count the radio show) I’ve never posted a single Nickatina song on this blog. I have no idea how that could happen. Now it’s been rectified. But is it “rubber, car keys and ID that’s fake”? Or does Dre have car keys made of rubber? The world may never know. Another track that I never actually posted but appears here is the original 12″ mix of OG Style’s “I Know How To Play ‘Em”, which seemed like a more interesting selection than the album mix (because, yes, you grabbed the album off rapidshare way back when Kanye was still a rapper). I forget who uploaded this alternate mix to the message board so many records ago. But if that was you then thanks.
And I still don’t know who Stingee is. Though a recent commenter tells me he’s from Greensboro, NC.
Cocaineblunts.com: The Best Of The Blunts Vol. 1
Links take you to the original posts, where I may or may not have provided additional information about the records.
1. Dre Dog – “Smoke Dope & Rap”
2. LL Cool J – “After Midnight Freestyle 1985”
3. The Click – “You !!! Up When You Slammed My Mother”
4. MUCH Posse – ” On Fondren”
5. Keefy Keef (Keith Murray) – “‘Cause I’m Keefy Keef”
6. Top Priority (Percee P & D NIque) – “Unsatisfied Critics”
7. P.E.A.C.E. – “Rainin’”
8. Scarface – “Another Head Put To Rest”
9. Critical Condition f/ Bun B – “Bout To Go Down”
10. E-40 f/ Big Gipp & Big Boi – “Ham Sammiches & Coup Devilles”
11. OG Stlye – “Catch ‘Em Slippin’ (Original Mix)”
12. Digital Underground – “A Tribute To The Early Days”
13. DJ Spanish Fly – “Smokin’ Onion (Remix)”
14. Royal Rock (Suga Free) – “Pure Pimp Fene”
15. Rammellzee & Toxic – “Live @ The Rhythm Lounge 1983”
16. MC TT Tucker & DJ Irv – “Where Dey At?”
17. Outsidaz – “Duck Huntin’”
18. Freeway – “Goodbye”
19. Stingee – “Take Dem Panties Off”
Sound quality, bitrate and volume all over the place.
Related: The Worst Of Cocaine Blunts
Tumblin' Erb
December 17th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Congrats homie!
December 17th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Fat titties turn to teardrops as fat ass turns to flab.
My iTunes says I have 119 tracks from Cocaineblunts that were too good to delete. My favourite thing you’ve posted is the Goodie version of “Black Ice” which I still don’t have in physical form. Not really a rare either. Just an appreciated.
Rock rock on.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Congrats brother. Wasn’t there at the groundbreaking, but the last four years, Cblunts remains my favorite, highest bookmarked hip-hop site on the interweb.
Thanks for the education throughout.
And for the record, I don’t even know how to work a torrent.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
damn, now i can’t tell myself that i’m one of few people who “get” your blog’s title.
along with the “rubber, car keys” vs. “rubber car keys” debate: is it “cocaine, blunts” or “cocaine blunts”? not starting shit or nothing, just noting.
also: how many songs have used that (southside boys? something like that?) sample?
pd roll em – scarface
chitty bang – peedi crakk
24 deep – brotha lynch hung
doin dirt – luniz
some song similar to “use to love H.E.R” – cormega
some obscure children of the corn song
man, this is your territory.
keep up the good work. congrats on five years blogging to the most thankless audience in the world.
December 17th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I plan to make a “ccblunts saved my life” t-shirt.
December 17th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Could you or anyone recommend a good blog that chronicles New York rap 1988-1996 that’s not Unkut, as that tends to skew kinda early for my taste? You always say a million people have written about the greatness of Hard to Earn, but I don’t know anyone who does it well, with the exception of the occasional Oh Word post.
December 17th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
“You always say a million people have written about the greatness of Hard to Earn, but I don’t know anyone who does it well, with the exception of the occasional Oh Word post.”
I never said a million people have written well about Hard To Earn, so I’m hesitant to recommend anything.
Pilly Wonk – You are thinking of Southside Movement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q1Pez8vFfo
December 17th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Damn! Have I really been reading this site for five years?! Funny, I have to admit that I randomly found out about it by picking up a Rolling Stone at the doctor’s office and reading about hip-hop blogs in some tiny little section they had written up, and the only reason I ended up visiting the site was because the little piece said that it was heavy on the Ghostface love, which I was also at the time. I’ve learned a lot from this site, someone oughta give you a book deal Noz. Now can we have “The Best of Cocaine Blunts Banners”? Cuz those pics of the girls and the one of King Tee were dope.
December 17th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I still miss the “born to mack” design
December 17th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Congrats!
I don’t know how long I’ve been checking cb, from the old forum days atleast and sometime beyond.. But I do know your posts put me on to more for me new artists that I ended up liking and still dig, than any other site, person or magazine or whatever. So thanks.
The way he says it, I’ve always been sure it’s “cocaine blunts…”, and not “cocaine, blunts and..”. But who knows…
December 17th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
“Now can we have “The Best of Cocaine Blunts Banners”?”
http://www.cocaineblunts.com/blunts/?p=661 (NSFW)
December 17th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I miss the old Born to Mack design too. Something about the alignment, font, and all white background made it feel more like an old-school hand xeroxed magazine..
December 17th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Congrats.& Thanks. I’m not a rarities fiend at all, but I’ve found a ton of great stuff via your website. I actually came to know about nickatina via CB. (speaking of which, I heard dacquiri factory and horns and halos awhile back, and a whole bunch of other random compilations featuring him, but then i got really lazy and intimidated by his catalogue and just gave up. Any recommendations on where to start off at again?)
Also, I look forward to you writing more often – Really enjoyed “Posse on Blogway”, and album reviews that you’ve done in the past. I dunno if its a conscious decision on your part to post more music and let the music speak for itself, but I really liked the insight you brought to various think pieces.
December 17th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Oh and congratulations, you are my favorite rap blog. Even if you insist on putting Plies in your top 20.
December 17th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
wheres that dre dog track?
December 17th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
noz – thanks man. still working on compiling all those songs. i’m doing it on twitter now (bushwickwill). would love some help, if you’re down.
hugo – you and Noz are probabaly right, i’m just saying it’s possible “cocaine” and “blunts” were separate items on a list. if he has the weed in a gram bag in his coat, then perhaps he has yet to split the blunt and put in the coke and weed. jesus, i’m really overthinking this.
December 17th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
and that ramalzeee mp3 link need to be updated kid
December 17th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
It’s all in the zip.
December 17th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Congrats and thanks!
December 17th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
“some song similar to ‘use to love H.E.R’” – heh. “American Beauty”.
Keep on keepin’ on, Noz.
Why, besides the MC Sweet thing, do you call Shapiro’s book “very flawed”? Given that Coleman only covers 36 albums, and the book Oliver Wang put together tries to cover 90 records over barely 170 small pages, I think Shapiro’s is the best thing out there like that. Plus he shouts out your “lunatic scholarship” in an appendix. Hee hee.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
“Why, besides the MC Sweet thing, do you call Shapiro’s book “very flawed”? Given that Coleman only covers 36 albums, and the book Oliver Wang put together tries to cover 90 records over barely 170 small pages, I think Shapiro’s is the best thing out there like that. Plus he shouts out your “lunatic scholarship” in an appendix. Hee hee.”
Well I made that statement 3 years ago and probably haven’t looked at the book since, but I remember it being really arbitrary as far as which artists got how much attention. I seem to recall there being, like, three pages on Labtekwon and then a paragraph on Mobb Deep. He’s half right about the lunatic scholarship, though.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
That Wang book was alright, although I remember the Blueprint writeup making too much of a fuss of Jay’s BS with the Che Guevara shit, like that alone established he was full of it, and they chose to represent Gang Starr with Daily Operation – which is alright, but then they said Hard To Earn wasn’t that great and Moment Of Truth was, which is blasphemy.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Congrats man. Keep it pushin’.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
that kanye splash page was great. ‘hamm sammiches?’ oh, you are too kind, good sir.
congrats.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:56 am
Congrats on the longevity. And keep evolving.
However: no “Suckas Pt. II”, the hardest Beans verse ever?
December 18th, 2008 at 6:21 am
Grats on five years, man; keep doing it!
December 18th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
congrats dude. this was the first site i can remember that was doing it like this, before .rar sites and zip blogs or whatever you wanna call them. always dropping interesting stuff. thanks.
December 18th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Congratulations bro you are the real king of rap blogging and such. You’re the man and much needed in this world for real. KEEP IT COMIN BRO!
December 18th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
congrats and thanks for all the hard work
December 18th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Congrats from a french boy following you religiously for about 2 years. You made me discover a LOT of great acts I’d certainly have never heard without this blog ; and I don’t mean obscure rap only.
December 18th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
much congrats and thanks for all rap music
December 18th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Congrats my dude and thank you for the playlist!
December 18th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Re:Shapiro – Well, a bad example for your impression, since the Mobb Deep entry is more than twice as large as the Labtekwon one. But I think Shapiro has an interest in the indie avant-garde side of things – he did write for The Wire a lot – so we get fairly sizable write-ups on anticon. and Mush, Mike Ladd, dalek, Antipop Consortium and yeah Labtekwon. I didn’t really notice stuff he left out at their expense, so it was all good with me. There’s a dearth of decent stuff out there with that kind of encyclopedic scope.
@Tray – Yeah exactly, so much of that piece was a waste of time and space. And especially frustrating since the book as a whole seemed constrained by both. Despite having a cast of people who’ve been writing about rap for years, the pieces too often seem superficial, and feel rushed.
December 18th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Oh and rude of me not to mention I’ve been bumpin’ the best of collection in the ipod and enjoying it immensely.
December 19th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I listened to “The Realist” solely on your rec, and shockingly enough I’m better off for it.
For the next tape I’d definitely advocate Cee Lo doing “I wanna be free” live on that radio station. My personal favorite track ever posted here.
December 19th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Congratulation on your 5 years of blogging !
December 19th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
So that’s two people I sorta respect who think the Plies (???) album is good? Is there something I’m missing here, did he stop referring to himself as a goon, rapping like he has Down’s Syndrome, making songs about snitching and “pretty pussy”? I did enjoy a hook he did on the Ace Hood album and his verse on “Out Here Grindin,” so it isn’t as if he’s absolutely incapable of intermittently not sucking.
December 20th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Thanks for five great years, yo. Hands down, the best rap blog on the internet, and really, pretty high up on the short list of worthwhile things worth bookmarking on the internet (Deadspin, Maddox, etc).
Also, co-sign on “Suckas Pt. II”
December 20th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Congrats on 5 years, easily one of my favorite music blogs.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:09 am
Add to the congratulations on five years of not only keeping Cocaine Blunts going but managing to do it with that unique mix of willfully obscure esoteric rap knowledge (lunatic scholarship, indeed), glittering populism, avante-garde leanings and, of course, withering condescension. There is no place on the Internet where I more enjoy being sneered at for being a hip hop neophyte (though I’d say most of us are, compared to Noz) – I mean that in the best possible way, of course.
Seriously, though, CB has put me on to a ton of things, and any blog that gives equal attention to peak era Rap-A-Lot and the Freestyle Fellowship is clearly a force to be reckoned with. Always interesting even when I disagree, here’s to another five years! (or not, per your comments above)
December 26th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
When I first stumbled upon this website, I was geeked to find a blog named after one of my favorite lines on The New Jim Jones. Its now been two years and I still can’t get enough. Thanks for everything!
December 26th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Also, post some more Nickatina!
January 1st, 2009 at 10:36 pm
congrats! on 5 years of good work.
March 26th, 2010 at 11:20 am
it is def “cocaine blunts”!!! nickatina talks about smoking coke the whole song!! “chewy” is slang for a cocaine joint ….
and its def “rubber car keys” … i heard three six mafia reference “rubber keys” before but i still not sure what that one means …..
May 23rd, 2011 at 4:16 pm
This is an old post but… I always thought “rubber car keys” referred to the master keys used to steal cars. Some fools I used to know who lived in the Fillmore area used to joyride cars with those keys. The key was rubber in the sense that it could be used to unlock any ’95 Integra coupe, comparing the (figurative) flexibility of the key to the (literal) flexibility of rubber.