Also better than Notorious: some jacked links on the classic Bad Boy mixtapes.
Clue – Bad Boy Mixtape Vol. 1
Doo Wop – Bad Boy Mixtape Vol. 2
Stretch Armstrong – Bad Boy Mixtape Vol. 3
S&S – Bad Boy Mixtape Vol. 4
I guess some of these are via OnSmash?
Notorious BIG – “Me & My Bitch (Unreleased Original Mix)“
from Ready To Die Advance (Bad Boy, 1994)
(Notorious) BIG – “Party & Bullshit“
from Who’s The Man? Soundtrack (Uptown, 1993)
5/21/72 – 3/9/97
So I’ve been reading Ronin Ro’s Bad Boy (i guess i’m a little late, and lets be honest, it’s not that great of a read, but my library didn’t have the new biggie book in yet, so i took what i could get) and this compounded by Mase’s much talked about return to the game has got me revisiting some of those now vintage bad boy lp’s that i (somewhat regretably) hated on so much. Most of the mid era major releases (Harlem World, No Way Out) are now in dollar bins everywhere as Bad Boys primary market went to college and traded them shits in for talib kweller and ben kweli cds.
Say what you will, but the production was decidedly new york. In today’s watered down market of catering to each and every coast and subdivision of hip hop individually from track to track, at least puffy and crew should be commended for creating some sort of sonic consistancy on an album.
And it should be noted that until Swizz & Timbo came into the picture, much of the shit on so called commercial records circa-97ish was based in pure old fashion loops. Of course, in true hip hop purist/historical revisionist fashion the fondlerawkusnativeprotookayplayer heads were appalled that puff would even think about looping anything obvious. Maybe “Let’s Dance” crossed the line of obvious, but emcees from all factions had been rhyming over Donna Summer loops since before many of the purists complaining about. And isn’t the undergrounds current overground favorite, Kanyetothe, essential doing the same thing? You’re kidding yourself if you think homie got his fingers dusty digging up the “Through The Wire” jump. Shit and Kweli got hella deep for that new “Elenor Rigby” shit (which, by the way, is just terrible, even for Kweli and surely has Ringo and McCartney rolling over in their graves), that records totally not in every white kid’s parents attic.
First of all, In any market “Benjamins” is one of the most incredible beats of all time (there i said it), originating as a Puff presents the Lox mixtape cut, and later only improved on by the addition of one of the craziest Lil’ Kim verses ever and a Biggie outtake over a changed up beat, the end result is a true masterpiece. The perfect middle ground between a club cut and a grimey street cut. If you can’t feel this joint you probably don’t like hip hop, sorry.
For further evidence, let’s disect the Lox’s Money Power Respect LP for moment. The Lox made a big deal about how much more street they were prior to running with Puff, and how they needed to turn to the Ruff Ryder camp to regain their street cred, but, as time would tell this just wasn’t the case. Compare some of their corny and downright incorrigably commercial efforts such as, say, Jada’s more recent solo cut “Nasty Boy” to a random cut on Money Power Respect, such as “Not To Be Fucked Up”, which is basically a straight cover of the MC Lyte classic “Shut The Eff Up”, itself a straight up loop of the hard as fuck “Cardova” by new orleans funk legends the meters. The beat’s pretty true to the original, and the Lox serve up some (then) playful puffy/record label hating diatribes. Sure there were a few slip ups, like the shameless Carl Thomas showcase “Let’s Start Rap Over”, but that token homo thug love cut is now a staple on any hip hop album, even once adamant underground purest groups like Blackalicious have that shit (albiet in a considerably more neo-soul vein). And, yes, you can blame Puff for most of these trends, but in retrospect, things have been pushed to extremes since then. All the Bad Boy camp wanted to do was take nyc hip hop back into the clubs where it fucking belonged and on the whole they suceeded. And maybe the label doesn’t really exist outside of Making The Band 2 and random rappers tarnishing their potential while sitting in jail cells now, but their legacy is one to be respected. And Ro’s allegations that Puff “ruined” hip hop are just downright uncalled for.
Getting back to the book, the most interesting point so far is when Big’s desires to make Ready To Die a much different LP are discusses. Supposedly he proposed a collboration with Jeru & M.O.P. entitled “Brooklyn Niggas” or how he wanted to mirror the production lineup of Illmatic (i guess that kinda squashes the “emcees used to be on cruddy shit/took home ready to die listened study shit” fueled debate of who influenced who first) although the ideas were quickly squashed by the commercial minded puff and that got me playing some hip hop what ifs marvel comics style – Just picture “Ready to Die” with Pete, Extra P, etc. taking the place of some of the more commercial d-dot type shit. Or for that matter, imagine if Big had got down with the gang starr foundation from day one rather than sean john? It would have made all too much sense with the BK connection and the fact that Biggie sounds more at home on a Primo beat than anyone ever to live (sorry Guru). Would the world have been ready if Big had been laced with some Livin’ Life caliber Preem beats exclusively on his debut. He probably would have sold far fewer records, and he probably would be alive still.
Watch out – they’re remastering Ready To Die for rerelease July 13th with “Who Shot Ya” and “Dreams (of fucking an r&b bitch)” (FINALLY! RETAIL VERSION OF THIS CUT!) as bonus cuts.
And I’m well aware I’m about two years late in declaring my love for mainstream hip hop, as that’s all the rage amongst the hip young kids who are too young (in hip hop years) to remember hating this music.
and on a totally unrelated note…
Mp3 of The Day: MOP “Fuck The Radio” (Roc-A-Fella 2004)
Yet another mixtape leak from the Mash Out Posse’s much delayed roc-a-fella debut. Although the beat is just slightly more synthed out than the grimey primo/dr period sound we’re used to hear them rock over, it’s still buisness as usual for the boys from brownsville, as they elaborate on Cube’s original call to arms to turn off the fucking radio. “Head up to Hot 9-7 with a can of gasoline like burn bitch burn / you serve no purpose / your disc jockeys are dick jockeys and your playlist is worthless”
