Illegitimate Ultramagnetic

This is one of those songs you keep hoping will get pressed on vinyl, but it always gets neglected in favor of far less worthy material. Radio rips have been floating around for ages, and there's also a very rare acetate out there, but no legit release. At least there's this bootleg, though.

UltraMagnetic MCs' "Chilling w/ Chuck Chillout" is a one-sided, 10" single with a label designed styled after the original acetate. It's limited to 250 copies (mine's #58), though like I mentioned in my "Black History" review, I'm not sure how big a deal a numbered copy of a bootleg really is. ...I guess it still adds a little fun.

"Chilling" is a promo song recorded for Chuck Chillout's radio show on Kiss FM in the late 80's. It's not a short segment like a lot of them, though, but a full-length, properly produced song, with a hook, multiple verses, etc. The beat's pretty simple - killer drums and a "Watermelon Man" sample, with Keith and Ced killing it. It even ends with Chuck's signature, "this is Chuck Chillout, and I'm liiiiive."

The sound quality's alright. This was clearly ripped from the acetate, as the there are cracks and pops to be heard even on brand new, sealed copies of this 10". The sound breaks up a bit, like it was recorded with the levels too high, but I've never heard a version of this (old radio dubs or this acetate rip) that doesn't sound that way... so it's possible the original song was mastered that way, or the mics were cheap or something. Anyway, it just winds up adding to the old school, low-fi vibe, and I don't think the world is likely to discover a better sounding version. You can crank this loud and it'll sound good... just raw.

By the way, there's a song called "Chuck Chillout" on Ultra's New York What Is Funky album, their second of four Tuff City compilations, but this one here is a completely different song, and a much better one. "Chuck Chillout" sounds like Ultra's newer, weaker styles; but "Chilling w/ Chuck Chillout" is pure, vintage Ultra at their best.

It's overpriced for a boot (and not even a 12" one at that), but unless you've got a line on the OG acetate, what can ya do? Not have "Chilling w/ Chuck Chillout" in your crates? Yeah, right.

Disecting The Ultra Laboratory

Okay, well, if you haven't been too plugged in lately, you may not've realized that The Ultramagnetic MCs (or, more specifically, TR Love & DJ Moe Love) have released a new compilation of Ultramagnetic songs. Entitled Ultra Laboratory Stores, and credited to the Ultramagnetic Foundation, it's on CD and double LP (nice!) from a label called Black Pegasus Records, and seems to be a confusing jumble of old and new material. And that means it's time for me to throw on my lab coat and get to work.

Making our incision along the right edge of the shrink-wrap so we can access the vinyl without exposing the cover, we see that the CD and LP have the same track-listing, consisting of 22 songs. But some of those are skits. We will now inspect and analyze the inner guts (that's a technical term) track by track:

1. Intro (The Drama) - Just a useless skit.

2. Is It Them (Keith & Ced) - This is some recent-sounding Ultra material. Probably an unused track from their last album on DMAFT. It's better than a lot of the tracks that were released - it's got more of a real, sample-based production style than whatever it is they were doing on the album; but it's nothing special... a kinda cool, spacey duet between Ced & Keith.

3. Ride Wit US - Another like the last one. The beat is like an alternate chop of Gangstarr's "You Know My Steez." This definitely tops anything off of The Best Kept Secret, but the hook's kinda lame and it's of course no Critical Beatdown-level material. I like it, though. Oh, and Tim Dog's on here, too. Update 9/10/10 - it was pointed out to me that this track is also from Tim Dog's BX Warrior album, under the title "Love 4 Us." I just double-checked that, and it is indeed.

4. Cold Crush (Interlude) - A short audio clip of either Ultra performing in the Cold Crush Brothers' style, or just a short clip of the Cold Crush themselves. It doesn't last long enough for us to be able to tell.

5. Pain & Changes feat. Fred Beanz, Street Ruckus MCs - These new guys (who you'll be coming across a lot on here) aren't bad and the track's nice and street... certainly better than recent Ultramagnetic and Kool Keith releases, but that's said with the understanding that most of that material is complete junk. This isn't junk, you'll nod your head, but I have a feeling this was never recorded for an Ultra album... it's more of a debut by these guys who TR & Moe Love are working with, and they just got Ced to spit a guest verse.

6. Mind Games feat. Fred Beanz, Diabolique - Almost everything I said about track 5 applies here, but one key difference - this song was already released (on Tim Dog's BX Warrior album). Don't really know why it's here, but we'll run into more of that as we go on.

7. Make It Rain - See? I told ya. This is the song they released on Oxygen Music Works back in 2001. It isn't an alternate version or anything; it's the same song. Pfft.

8. Bronx Bombers (Interlude) - A brief instrumental skit.

9. Throw Your Hands Up feat. Fred Beanz - This Fred Beanz guy kicks the hook and the first verse, repping like he's a fully inducted member of The Ultramagnetic MCs. (shrug) Maybe he is. It's another respectable new-ish Ultra song, that sure beats anything Ultra put on their last album.

10. Mix It Down - This was the B-side to "Make It Rain," that 2001 single. Again, there's nothing new about this. But - and I just can't say this enough - it still trumps anything from Best Kept Secret.

11. Sub - The first verse by Tim Dog is kinda promising, but the hook is one of the worst I've ever heard in the genre. I assume this is another Best Kept Secret discard.

12. Plucking Cards (Unreleased Version) - The crown jewel of this album. A very cool, smooth (yet pure East coast, sample heavy)-style alternate mix of "Pluckin' Cards" off of Ultra's Funk Your Head Up album.

13. TR's Verse (Interlude) - A skit, but TR kicks a fast-rap freestyle verse, so it's far cooler than the other skits.

14. The Cipher feat. Fred Beanz, Street Ruckus MCs - This is pretty okay, too. Again, Ced and TR feel more like guests on somebody else's song than vice versa, and most of us probably wouldn't even be paying attention to this stuff if it wasn't sneakily snuck onto an Ultramagnetic album. But if you come in with the expectation of "this is just a compilation of songs by some guys TR & Moe Love are working with," you won't be mad.

15. Baby I'm Mad - This is terrible. So terrible, in fact, that I'm surprised this wasn't actually included on Best Kept Secret. Kool Keith's solo song should have been left in whatever plastic bag they found it in.

16. The Anger, The Extasy (Interlude) - Another short instrumental break.

17. Mechanizim Nice (Unreleased Version) - "Mechanism Nice (Born Twice)" was the lead single (okay, the only single) off of Ultra's last album. This version is sure better than the one they chose to release in 2007. It's still not great, but a huge improvement.

18. TR's Feelin It - This is the bonus verse TR kicked at the end of the "Feelin' It" instrumental on the "Watch Me Now" 12" on Next Plateau. Like with the "Make It Rain" single, there's nothing different or unreleased about this track except that it cuts off the first 2+ minutes of instrumental that originally lead up to TR's part.

19. My Life feat. Fred Beanz - Jeez, now they don't even bother to maintain the pretense. This song doesn't feature anybody from Ultra (not even Tim Dog); it's just a Fred Beanz solo song. It's a lot better than Keith's solo song, though. lol I'm also starting to notice the sound quality is pretty blah, like they just ripped this off his demo cassette, which is probably what they did.

20. Live & Learn feat. Fred Beanz - Another Fred Beanz solo demo song. It's pretty good, though, I have to admit. Die hard Ultra fans are probably feeling pretty ripped off at this point, though.

21. Hard To Understand - This is a cool DJ cut by DJ Moe Love. The sound quality is poor, but this instrumental mix is dope - this is exactly the kinda thing we bought this album for! Why wasn't more of the album like this?

22. Funk Radio - This is taken right off of Ultra's second album. There's no difference between this and what was on Funk Your Head Up. Always a good look to end your album on a note of definitive pointlessness.

So, what's the verdict on this one? Well, Ultra purists will be interested in this album for two songs and two songs only... kinda rough to lay down almost $20 for two songs and a lot of filler. Especially when the sound quality is uneven, and at some points downright poor. More open-minded casual fans will find more to enjoy: some good production, and a bunch of new MCs who dance dangerously close to the line of "mediocre" but consistently outshine their hosts.

What makes this release so extremely frustrating, though, is that we know for a fact that there are some great, killer Ultramagnetic classics still in their vaults (radio rips are already floating around the internet of sick, killer alternate versions of "MC Champion" and "Message From the Boss"). Why, why, why, why, why, why, why?! It's not even like they left them off to make room for shitty Best Kept Secret outtakes - they left them off for songs like "Funk Radio" that are exactly the same as the versions on the album! AARRRGGGHHHHH!!!

In an interview with Unkut (a must read if you're interested in this album), TR says they have a part two on deck (followed by a Street Ruckus MCs album), so I guess he's saving the other good tracks for that. But with so much padding on this release, I'm worried they won't see enough sales to bother with the second volume (which I'm sure has much more padding in store for us!). So I want to recommend you guys support this just for that reason, but... all I can say is those are the facts, make up your own minds. :\

WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED ULTRAMAGNETIC BOOTLEG RELEASES

In 1994, Tuff City released The Basement Tapes 1984-1990 by The Ultramagnetic MC's (which Ced Gee refers to as volume 1 on the CD), a pretty self-explanatory compilation of some dope unreleased material. And in 1996, they released they released a second volume, New York What Is Funky. It was then that Kool Keith felt compelled to speak out, issuing a statement on the label of his Big Willie Smith 12" "Prepare" on his own Funky Ass Records. In fact, he did it twice, following up the message with a similar one on his "Don't Crush It" single (from Sex Style).

"WARNING: DO NOT BUY ANY ULTRAMAGNETIC RELEASES ON TUFF CITY RECORDS THEY ARE UNAUTHORIZED BOOTLEGS." And, yes, those are some interesting labels.

Tuff City kept on anyway, releasing albums until 1998, totaling four (and a fifth announced, but it was just a live album, so it would've been nice, but probably not such a great loss). Now, I mentioned "On the CD" above, because the CD version of each album is different than the vinyl versions. Sometimes the sequencing is different, but the key difference is that each CD has at least two bonus tracks not included on the LP. Here's a proper breakdown of those:

*The Basement Tapes 1984-1990: "Ced-G, Tim Dog (Lab Free Style)" and "Ya Not That Large"

*New York What Is Funky: "Tim Dog Live On Capital Radio" and "I Like Your Style" (an alternate mix of the song that was featured on Funk Your Head Up)

*Mo Love's Basement Tapes: "Kool Keith Wild," "Wack MC's," "Freestyle" and "D To the N"

*Smack My Bitch Up: "Nervous" and "Talkin' Out Your Ass (Remix)" (the original of which was on Mo Love's Basement Tapes)

There were also two 12" singles on Tuff City with songs from these releases, one of which included the otherwise CD-only bonus track, "Ya Not That Large." (Remember, you can get the full track-listings for both 12"s and both versions of each album on my UltraMagnetic discography page).

Another key difference is that the first two volumes featured intermittent narration by Ced Gee, telling you (briefly) the history of some of the songs. If you're a vinyl purist, but want to get a sense of what that was like, check out that aforementioned "I'm Fuckin' Flippin'" 12" with "Ya Not That Large On" on the B-side... they include Ced's explanation narration for that song there, where he explains why the song cuts out in the middle (because the engineer was "gettin' weeded").

And the last difference is that, on the back cover of the 1998 Smack By Bitch Up CD (it's not anywhere on the LP), Tuff City finally responded to Keith's label shots with one of their own:
"Don't Believe the Gripe: Kool Keith Cashes Tuff City Checks." From what I recall, there was never any question that they might actually be straight up bootlegs, but that Ced Gee perhaps sold the material to Tuff City without including the other members. Davey D paraphrased a radio interview, where Keith explained, "producer Ced Gee had fallen onto some hard times [he's hooked on crack] and had done some very hurtful things to the group in an attempt to satisfy his habit. One of the things he did was sell the groups old studio out takes and practice songs to Tuff City Records. Tim Dog explained that the label owner Aaron Fuchs then put out a 'fake' Ultramagnetic MCs album. Not only was he issuing old studio out takes as songs, but he also scanned some pictures and with the aid of adobe photoshop had created an album cover which depicted the group alongside a guy they didn't even know. Kool Keith explained he had no idea when the photos were taken... and what's ironic the 'unknown' member of the group was just as shocked as Kool Keith to see himself on the cover. Entitled 'New York What Is Funky'.. Tim Dog explained as he shook his head that the lp with it's sub par recording made the group look bad and it's sad that folks will go so far to make a buck..."

I believe Kool Keith has since recanted the "crack" comment. Certainly, Tim Dog told Vinyl Addicts that, "to my knowledge Ced Gee was never on crack. But I once made a reference to the way he sold the music to Aaron Fuchs like a crack head. Basically a crack head would sell your moms TV which costs 500 euro and sell it for 50 because they’re desperate. So I made that reference to Ced Gee," which I think explains that rumor away.

But it's worth noting that while Tuff City responded that Keith had indeed gotten paid, they didn't say that 'till 1998 (remember, Keith called them out in 1996), so it's possible they only finally squared it away with Keith and them after two years. Anyway, TR Love gave a less sensationalistic account of what happened years later in an interview with Unkut, which I'm inclined to believe is a little more accurate, "Actually, those tapes had gotten stolen and got in to the wrong hands, and when Ced found out he immediately thought he needed to get it out there, so he started doing The Basement Tapes. There was rumour goin’ around that Ced was on drugs, this, that and the third, that’s why he was sellin’ the tapes – but it wasn’t that. It was just the fact that we wanted to get those songs out, but we were gonna do something like a compilation of our greatest hits, but when the first couple of songs started leaking, everything just snowballed. So we just let it go. Aaron Fuchs was just a lucky person to buy into the situation and be able to do what he had to do to produce it."

At any rate, if you've allowed Keith's remarks to make you write off and dismiss these albums, you've really missed something here - there's a lot of nice material on all of these. Granted, the sound quality was varied, and one song ("Smack My Bitch Up" which was also made the title of one of the compilations) was doubled up and included on two volumes - did they think heads were really that excited that some punk/dance band sampled that same "Give the Drummer Some" phrase that it would be some kind of goldmine? Oh well. There's still a crapload of great material here, from a sick demo track to radio promos to a superior alternate O.G. version of "Message From the Boss" from their second album. Some songs are better than others and you could nitpick all day, but there albums blow anything the group put out themselves at the time.

But even across all these volumes, this doesn't encompass all the ill, unreleased UltraMagnetic tracks... Unkut has posted some smoking hot radio rips of alternate mixes of "MC Champion" and "Message From the Boss" (different than the one I mentioned from Mo Love's Basement Tapes) that I'd love to hear cleaned up and properly released. Kool Keith's own website also lists some unreleased UltraMagnetic songs on his discography page, but you can't tell from the titles if these are vintage songs or stuff from one of their many reunions in the 2000's. I know it's been over ten years since their last volume, but maybe we could convince Tuff City to take one more look into their vaults for a fifth Basement Tapes album? And if there's not enough material for a full album, I think we'd be exceedingly happy with a 12" of the remaining songs.

Take the Bait

Ah, "Bait." What made Kool DJ Red Alert's mixed compilation albums so desirable were the exclusive promo songs by Bizzie Boyz, Total Control, DJ Premiere, King AmperRock, etc. And at the pinnacle of that impressive pile is The Ultramagnetic MC's tribute song, "Bait."

Straight from his radio show to his Red Alert Goes Beserk album (the first in his series), Red Alert had a killer jam on his hands. In 1987, the Ultramagnetics were fresh and exciting new artists at the top of their game. Their crazy flows ("on the mix, Red Alert, controlled by gamma light") and raw-as-fuck scratching laid over Bob James' classic "Nautilus" break. Everybody wanted to know where they could get this record. But they couldn't.

Neither Ultra's label, Next Plateau Records (which also put out Red's comps) nor Red's own label Let's Go saw fit to release this gem to the masses. Rumors still float around, and if you want to make a collector hump your leg, you can tell him you've seen a dusty old test pressing someplace... but it never happened. The best heads were going to get was the mixed version on Red's compilation album.

But it's not just the fact that this wasn't released without radio blends and some chatter on it. The album version was missing a whole verse and more! If you listen closely, you can hear a bit of human beat-boxing on the track... well, if you'd heard the complete version on the radio, you knew there was more of that (provided by none other than Greg Nice himself) and a second verse from Ced Gee!

It wasn't until 1997 that we'd heads would get their chance. Rock & roll label Roadrunner Records pressed up a limited (200 copies) run of 7" singles that featured the Red Alert Goes Beserk version of "Bait" on one side, and the extended version on the B-side. It was only given away when you purchased a full set of Ultramagnetic repress 12"s. Needless to say, they're pretty sought after and hard to come by.

That same year, Next Plateau put out an Ultramagnetic MCs compilation album called The B-Sides Companion, which featured all of their rare 12" B-sides (of which their were many), a new Ultra song or two, and "Bait!" Unfortunately, all of the songs were remixed and, well, basically ruined. It's got a lot of live instrumentation by William "Spaceman" Patterson and, yeah. Not much more to be said about that. It's a collection for completists only.

Eventually, "Bait (Original 12" Version)" (I don't know what 12" they're referring to... but this is the full-length version with the fourth verse intact) was included as a bonus track on a remastered rerelease of Ultra's debut album from 1988, Critical Beatdown. Now, this album has been repressed and reissued a number of times... once in 1997, once in 2001... but the one with "Bait" is the 2004 repressing. It's CD only, I believe, but what can you expect?

Most recently, in 2009, there was the release you see pictured above (yeah, we've finally gotten to it). It's a bootleg 45. The label claims it's "Bait" on both sides, but in actually, side A is the shorter version of "Bait" from Red's album, and side B is "Funky" (an Ultramagnetic song that was released on 12" in 1987... a remix of which was included on Critical Beatdown; but this is the remix that was only on the 12" single). It's made to look like it came out on Let's Go Records, and it's dated 1987, but of course that's all phony bologna.

Still, unless you're one of the lucky 200 who scored that 1997 release, or you've stolen some kind of epically coveted acetate from Red Alert's well-guarded stash, this is probably your only opportunity to own it on vinyl (well... except for the Red Alert LP, which - sense this is the shortened version on here anyway - is just as valid). It's pretty common and inexpensive. That's why I got it. (shrug)