Carmen Carter f/ Microphone Mike – “Always (Rap Version)”

Carmen Carter f/ Microphone Mike – “Always (Extended Vocal Version With Rap)“

from Always CD Single (Arista,1991)

Last Blowed entry, I promise.

Carmen Carter was a one hit r&b singer and her hit happened to feature a young rapper by the name of Microphone Mike, better known as Mikah 9 of the Freestyle Fellowship. This was recorded around the same time as To Whom It May Concern and though it’s a more subdued Mike you can definitely hear some of what made shit like “7th Seal” and “5 O’Clock Follies” so awesome peeking through. It’s actually pretty laughable to think of that super scientifical era Mikah as the go-to guy on a potential radio R&B hit. He’s over there basking in the luminent essence of some forgettable diva’s presence.

And I’mma go all Werner Von Wallenrod tracklisting, for those who care: The “Extended Vocal Version With Rap” should definitely not be confused with the “Rap Version” Mike opens the former with a few bars about feeling emptiness the and then hops back on the mic for one full verse at about 2:30. Alternately, the “Rap Version” features Mike kicking three entirely different verses and then an outro sing song vamp that repurposes his lyrics from the “Extended Vocal Version.” It doesn’t feature that actual verse or those “emptiness” bars. There is also a “Vocal Version with Rap” that only features the one verse and a “Vocal Version, No Rap” that does what its name says. But you don’t need those.

Tags: Carmen Carter, Freestyle Fellowship, Mikah 9, Project Blowed

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 7:52 pm and is filed under Los Angeles, Not Rap. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.