The 50 Ways of MC Shan

I was just trawling through some old Hip-Hop Isn't Dead reviews and learned about an MC Shan song I never knew about before!  It's hard to believe, after all this time, that can still happen, but it just did.  :)  It's from 1993, and granted, once you hear what it is (and the image already gave it away, after all), your enthusiasm might wane a bit... The CD version of Snow's album, 12 Inches of Snow, has two bonus tracks including one with another MC Shan appearance called "50 Ways."

Now, Snow is not untalented.  His record's corny, and while I did enjoy "Informer" in an upbeat, no-brainer kinda way, I wouldn't otherwise listen to his stuff.  But he was cool on "Pee-Nile Reunion" and all, so I don't come out of the box hating on Snow.  There's potential for this.

Like the rest of Snow's album, it's produced by Shan... but while, by 1993, he had put down the pop music style for the more quality hip-hop styles of "Hip-Hop Roughneck" and "Don't Call It a Comeback," he was producing for a big, commercial act.  So it's more pop, yeah.  Like Kool Moe Dee's "50 Ways" before this, and Eminem's "50 Ways" just last month, the hook is a variation of Paul Simon's "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover," but where Moe Dee - and in a more altered way, Emzy - used Simon's break, too; this song just borrows the phrase for the hook.

The beat is actually pretty decent, though nothing you'll get excited about.  It's about them flexing their styles, which are a little unusual, because that's the concept - they have 50 ways to change their style.  They don't do fifty or anything, but Shan does do a different, slightly reggae-tinged style than I've heard him do on any of his own records.

Ultimately, and predictably, it's just mediocre.  But for serious MC Shan fans, hey, it's another Shan song, and he does get kinda nice here.  It's not as nearly as bad as I was prepared for it to be, or as boringly similar to other "50 Ways" (Newcleus also did a "50 Ways To Get Funky;" there've been a couple other rappers taking stabs at it as well).  It's respectably decent... for completists..

MC Shan Vs. Duke Ellington

"It Don't Mean a Thing" was the lead single off of MC Shan's oft - and understandably - maligned 1990 album, Play It Again, Shan.  That album, after all, featured the split from Marley and The Juice Crew, house songs, Shan singing(!) with some very cheesy computer manipulation to his voice, love songs, a duet with his wife and kid, and even a song by a girl group that Shan wasn't even featured on!  So, it's a bit of a mess*.  It was also his most heavily promoted and probably budgeted album - probably (though admittedly, now I'm just speculating) because he took every awful executive suggestion from the label and let them have their way at every turn.  But for all its myriad faults, it's an upbeat, enjoyable mess that at least has its moments.  And for me, "It Don't Mean a Thing" is one of them.

"It Don't Mean a Thing" is a pretty undisguised rap version of the old jazz standard "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing" by Duke Ellington.  "IDMaTIFAGTS" (how's that for an abbreviation?) wouldn't be such a long-lasting standard if it wasn't a pretty catchy tune, so it's a reliable musical back-drop for Shan, who self-produced this song, and the rest of the album, along with co-producer John Ficarrotta.  So it's got a nice groove with some funky go-go percussion - a curious, but successful, combination.  And Carole Davis, who had her own album out on Warner Bros. at that time, sings a nice hook.  The horns do admittedly sound like they were played on a synthesizer keyboard, and Shan's lyrics are just your typical, unexceptional dance song lyrics ("As you can see, my rhymes are swingin' it, and when the punchline comes start singin' it").  Maybe I'm just too forgiving of the old school, but I get a lot of enjoyment from this song; and the lavish, jazz-era music video released at the time sure didn't hurt.

The 12" comes with two versions, LP Version and Fade.  The only difference between the two is that the Fade mix fades out twenty seconds earlier than the LP Version.  The longer version has a few more repeats of the hook, and Shan shouts, "pump it up!" at one point, but that's about it.  As you can see, it comes in a cool picture cover depicting Shan with four hands, and it's also b/w one of the better album tracks, "I Ran the Game."  The narrative-style lyrics are a bit corny but amusing, and the music's dope and the hook is a simple but fresh vocal sample.

So it's a cool, if pop and kid-friendly single, but the contents of the 12" are a bit underwhelming.  The only thing not on the album is a version that cuts off the last twenty seconds - who the Hell wanted those Fade versions Cold Chillin' used to do, anyway?  A DJ who wanted to fade the song out 20 seconds earlier could do that on his own easily enough, or he had no business DJing.  Oh well, regardless, it feels a bit like you're being short-changed on this one.  They couldn't throw in a remix, an exclusive B-side or at least an instrumental?

That's where this promo 12" comes in.  The "It Don't Mean a Thing (Remix)."  It's the same production team of Shan and Ficarrotta, but the music is completely different.  Shan's vocals and Carole's hook are the same, but all the music is completely different.  The drums are less go-go-ish, and all the chintzy horns and stuff are gone.  Instead you've got some subtle scratching, deep bass notes, some nice jazzy samples, a tuba loop, horn stabs, and an occasional piano riff.  If that sounds like a lot of elements, it is... the song as a whole sounds a bit too busy at times, and they would have been better off ditching the sung hook and just letting the scratching speak for itself at those points.  But it's definitely more straight-up hip-hop, and certainly a better sound than most of Shan's other stuff from this era.

Casual listeners will either just want to stick with the album version or pass on this song completely, but more serious aficionados who can listen to this with a more analytical ear will probably find it at least worthwhile.  It just doesn't quite work because the music doesn't really fit these vocals.  Or maybe more to the point, it's that the vocals just don't really make sense if they're not paired with a version of Ellington's music.  In other words... wait for it...  it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.  :P

*The LP was a bit less of a mess than the CD and cassette versions, however, as it left off five of the songs: "Ain't It Good To You," "Rock Stuff," "Clap Your Hands," "Mic Line," and "How I Feel About You."

Time for MC Shan To Defend Himself

"Time for Us To Defend Ourselves" is one of many singles on MC Shan's generally critically panned third album, Play It Again, Shan. Without the guiding hand of Marley Marl (or any of the other regular Cold Chillin' producers), Shan was lost, self-producing house songs, love songs, duets with his wife, songs he's not even featured on himself. It had his moments of decent-ness, but as a whole; it's really hard to defend that album.

Fortunately, "Time for Us To Defend Ourselves" was one of the better moments. Shan is hardcore mode with a serious message about police brutality:

"There's a big loophole in justice.
Law enforcement's to serve and protect,
But in my neighborhood, they break your neck.
Police are ruthless-minded, wicked and villainous;
But not just I see you're killin us'.
What about the parents of the kid y'all killin'?"

The beat, however, is not what you'd hope for considering Shan's other work records (and even since). But that's what happens when you stop working with the greats and try to do everything yourself. Actually, that's not strictly accurate. He was co-producing with a guy named John Ficarrotta. He's more known as an engineer than a producer, but he did a lot with Shan around that time (including working on Snow's album). But it amounts to the same thing, and Shan has since said (from the book How To Rap by Paul Edwards), "I don't like to produce the songs I [rap] on, because that's too much of me influencing me and no other negative voices, a devil's advocate to say, 'Nah, don't do it that way - do it this way.'" Yeah, that's a nice way to put it.

But, still; his production wasn't all bad. Some of the tracks on Play It Again worked, and this one is... in between. It's got a great hook, mixing together a collection of compelling vocal samples, and it's got a ringing "UFO"-style loop behind it. Then there's a metal-ish guitar riff, which is kinda atmospheric, but also kinda corny. It's certainly not the kinda thing Large Professor would've ever messed with.

But that's where this 12" is saved. Because the remix that's also included on this 12" is the one point during the Play It Again madness where Shan reached out to one of Cold Chillin's in-house power producers, DJ Mister Cee. Mr. Cee reached out to two new guys, Outload and PF Cuttin, to collaborate on the remix with, who of course went on to become Blahzay Blahzay.

So to say this remix is an improvement is a serious understatement. It keeps what works about the original - the vocal samples on the hook - and replaces everything else. There's an infinitely funkier new beat, a variety of samples and fresh scratches. It might seem a little upbeat for the subject matter... that's one thing the LP version had going for it: the darker tone. But if that was their reasoning for using the LP version in the video, they were nuts, because this version's just flat-out better music.

But you don't just get the album version, the overhaul that features the best production Shan had at that time, and the nifty picture cover. This 12" has the unique B-side track, "Even If I Tore It," Shan's Craig G diss, recorded in response to Craig's "Going for the Throat" (a CD-only bonus track on his second album). You could be forgiven for not realizing that's what it was, though, because the rhymes are so general, he could just as well be spitting generic battle rhymes against theoretical sucker MCs than Craig if you didn't know the full story going in.

"Fuck a Miller, I'ma rip me a Bud,
While you're lying face-dwon in a puddle of blood.
No bargain, no pleadin', no case to acquit;
Stupid motherfucker, this is how you rip shit!
Goin' to sleep, put your teeth in storage;
Goin' through life sippin' soup and porridge.
Forget gold, ya think you done me;
Worry about yourself and stop tryin' to son me.
You couldn't write better if you switched up pens.
I don't know about records, but you make dope bookends.
See on the down-low, somebody snitched;
I hope you didn't think I'd run like a bitch.
I'm outta ya sight, but never put me outta your mind.
You can't get yours, so figured you would take mine?
With a hammer and chisel, you couldn't chip it.
(Even if I tore it, you still couldn't rip it!)"

...Those are the most specific rhymes in the whole song, the rest are completely unspecific (which isn't to say that they're wack or anything... they just don't have anything Craig G specific about them). The beat is self-produced again, too. It's decent, and all in all adds up to a nice little diss track; but it's not the underground classic it could've been if he'd stuck with his winning producer combo of the A-side. But if you don't get hung up on what might've been, and just accept what is, you get a gem of an addition to your crates, and definitely the best material Shan was putting out in this period.

Juice Crew Defies the Law!

When is an LP Version not an LP Version? When it's the LP Version of MC Shan's "Juice Crew Law," in which case it's a super dookey hype remix cleverly disguised as an LP Version!

Yeah, this is a 12" that tends to sit on shelves, passed up by collectors in favor of other 12" singles with exclusive B-sides and remixes. That's because the label promises only a "Vocal Version" and a "Dub" for both songs on the 12", so there's not a lot to tempt anyone who already owns Shan's Born To Be Wild album. Heh. If only they knew...

This is really a must-have 12". While this version of "Juice Crew Law" uses essentially the same beat (and Shan's verses are the same), it's mixed differently, with deeper bass and harder drums. More importantly, there's tons of high energy scratching provided by the great Marley Marl (who also produced). He even talks on the mic, reprising his "I ain't gonna give y'all no microphones no more, 'cause y'all tear it up when you're out there" character from "The Symphony," telling Shan, "I ain't gonna give you no microphone neither!" It may not be radically different - "Juice Crew Law" was already a tight track on the album - but it's a distinct and marked improvement. This is the definitive way "Juice Crew Law" should be heard.

Then the B-side, "They Used To Do It Out In the Park," is different too. The beat is way more broken down, often with just Shan rhyming over the simple drum loop and snare kicks. But like the other version there's a whole bunch of new scratching. It's mostly on the hook, but also comes in at certain points to illustrate the old school stories he's telling about shows he heard in the park. The signature scratchy horn loop from the album version is still played on the hook, but now there's new horn sounds, as well as vocal samples, constantly being cut into the mix. Like the "Juice Crew Law" mix, this adds a whole lot more energy to the song, because there's clearly a live DJ working behind Shan throughout the whole song.

So here's a 12" that features two of Shan's best cuts, both given exclusive, killer remixes (plus Dub versions), that make the album versions feel like under-produced demo mixes. And it's so slept on, it always goes for cheap. I felt like I was getting away with something shady when I found this out and picked up my copy. ;)