The Frontier Is Over

Here's what I like about how MC Ren struck out as a solo artist. Eazy E focused a lot on drama and other novelty-value type gimmicks (high profile disses, silly videos, a Christmas song... even a lottery ticket-style scratch-off album cover), Dr. Dre obviously went the g-funk route, and Yella did, uh, whatever it was he was trying to accomplish with his solo album, Ren just came with no frills hardcore beats and rhymes. Everybody was waiting to hear what The Ruthless Villain would do, and when "Final Frontier" dropped in 1992, it was just what we were all hoping he would do.

This is a pretty straight-forward single. Still on Ruthless Records, "Final Frontier" just features the Clean Edit (which I of course never listen to) on the A-side and the Uncensored version on the flip. Ren's not saying much here... no shots disses or break-up talk as you might've been expecting, just straight-forward hardcore raps ("DJ Train'll grab the gauge, just in case the motherfucker talk shit - he's the victim of the front page. He's on his way to the morgue to kick it with the rest of them motherfuckers that I gave free room and board"). He occasionally flips a little tongue rolling style, which is cool; but would've been more impressive if he ran with it a little harder. But he's not really out to impress with his lyrics or delivery, so much as kick the basic hardcore fundamentals; no frills: "I hit a nigga off in the head with a chair. The reason for that? The motherfucker, he was standing there!"

Actually, to go back to the Clean Edit real quick. One thing that makes it interesting and possibly worth owning is that the lyrics are altered and re-rapped. They don't just bleep or reverse the curses. So the lines I quoted above become, "DJ Train'll grab the gauge, just in case somebody pisses me off - he's the victim of the front page. They're on the way to the morgue to kick it with the rest of them suckers, yo, that I gave free room and board," and "I hit somebody off in the head with a chair. The reason for that? Because the sucker, he was standing there!" Even the hook is changed to say "the black brother that they call Ren" (which, amusingly, still manages to be as redundant as the O.G.). So it's a fun alternate version at least for the serious fans and collectors.

Anyway, the label doesn't say so, but the track's produced by Bobcat, and it's pretty rugged and simple. It's got some cool vocal samples cut in (though don't expect any fancy scratching) and a little horn sample. But basically it's just "The Bridge Is Over"'s beat and infamous piano riff.

...And that's actually why I guess I don't really revisit this record much anymore. Once the popular NWA fever has calmed down, we're left with the fact that I'd rather listen to the "The Bridge Is Over." Ren comes off well, and it was the right statement for its time; but Krs-One's version is still the definitive use of this track. Listening to this, you want to hear Kris skat "a de de da da, de de da da, da da day - hey!" and take shots Roxanne Shanté. Listening to it today, it'll still get your head-nodding and you can appreciate everything you liked about Ren; but unless you're going on an NWA nostalgia kick like I happen to be today, it's not the winner. And life is too short to be spinning the runner-ups much.

Why the BET awards don't matter

I know, I'm a hater, get over it. But honestly, the BET awards while a half decent spectacle, don't mean anything. The only time most people over 25 actually watch the channel is for this show so to think it might represent the actual feelings about black people is ridiculous. Beyond that, there are no real criteria for actually winning an award and by the end of August I can tell you who will

Lesbian Hip-Hop on Wax

"This joint right here? Don't nobody take this serious right here; this is ghetto comedy."

"I'm just playin'; I don't want anybody to take this serious here."

And the phrase "I'm just playin', but I'm sayin'" is repeated constantly as part of the hook.

So I gather we're not meant to take this song too seriously... Well, reckless maniac that I am, I'm about to talk seriously about Madee's "Dreams [2001]" on Sure Shot Records anyway. There's no date on the label, but I think we can all hazard a safe guess. Sure Shot's a pretty dope little label... it put out records like Craig G's "Welcome To the Game," Special Ed's "Think T.W.I.C.E." and Nine's comeback 12". So when you see something you've never heard of on that label, you check it out.

Madee is someone I'd certainly never heard of before - though a quick search online shows she has another 12", as well - but the concept is definitely familiar territory. It's a follow-up to Biggie's infamous B-side "Dreams [of Fucking an R&B Bitch]" from 1999. So, like I said, familiar territory... I mean, a whole grip of MCs recorded their own follow-ups... Ras Kass, The Scribe... eventually Thirstin Howl III capped it off by raising the absurdity levels off the charts with "Dreams of Fuck'n a Cartoon Bitch" about sex fantasies involving cartoon characters. Let's face it, the whole strength of the original was the shock value novelty, so all the follow-ups just feel tawdry and desperate. But there is something that makes this one interesting.

The unspoken full title of this song - like "Dreams" would be "Dreams of Fucking an R&B Bitch" - is "Dreams of Licking an Industry Chick." Bearing in mind Madee is a woman, that makes this pretty much the only openly lesbian rap song I can think of on wax. Don't get me wrong, we can google "lesbian rapper" right now and get 1,000 hits of lesbian MCs none of us have ever heard of with a couple songs on their myspace players and interviews on websites that specialize in homosexual hip-hop. And I understand there may be a couple *known* MCs who are lesbians in their personal lives. But none of them have any openly songs about lesbianism that I can think. The closest I can think of are some of those controversy-seeking "I'll kiss a girl if it'll get me on MTV News"-type songs by artists like Queen Pen or Nicki Minaj, which flaunt a generic bisexuality for attention. But I can't think of any other "I'm a lesbian; this is my song about being a lesbian, and here it is pressed on actual wax" records.

Production is credited to one Kenny Cash, but Madee's just rhyming over Biggie's "Dreams" beat (which wasn't even original then), so that's no great accomplishment. But he's also credited with writing the song, which is both interesting and disappointing. Lyrically, it's completely predictable anyway - not particularly funny punchlines about wanting to have sex with "industry chicks," like: "I'll take Britney Spears, get her wetter with gin. Justin asks what happened? 'Oops - did it again!'" The appeal of this song rests entirely on how excited you are at the prospect that a female is making a litany of sexual innuendos at female celebs.

So that song comes in Clean, Club (read: dirty) and Inst. versions. Then on the B-side there's a second song called "Controversy." It's produced by Q Banga and again written by Kenny Cash. The beat is far less appealing than the A-side (Hey, what do you know? stealing from Biggie works). It's not bad, but pretty generic and boring. Anyway, the song is all about how controversial she is ("whole industry shook when I got the deal"). She makes sure to name drop a lot of people in punch-liney references ("I'm the type to see Trick, then say Trina should beat it. Then the type to see Trina and say Trick should eat it."), so it's basically chasing the same appeal of the A-side. This song also comes in Clean, Club and Inst. versions.

So, it's an interesting, but certainly unexceptional 12". Considering fewer and fewer artists are putting their music out on wax, it's sort of sad to think of this song being the lesbian community's sole flag planted. But maybe her second single's better. It came out a couple years later on Slammin' Records, and though I haven't heard it, I notice it doesn't mention anything about being written by Kenny Cash on the label - that may've been a smart move. And it's at least fun to collect all the "Dreams" response records. :)

The man behind the man...

So I'm searching for things to write about and I hit up allhiphop.com and saw an interesting editorial by Cedric Muhammad about Jay-z being a "Rich Righteous Teacher". The article seems long and a little disjointed but one thing did strike me early on in the article and this is an excerpt:


With all due respect to the conspiracy theorists and groupies on one hand, and the established Hip-Hop

Album Review- The Roots- How I Got Over

There is nothing more ubiquitous when mentioning "real" hip-hop to some people than that phrase and The Roots. The hip-hop group/band has been almost single handedly it seems, keeping the idea of live music and rap alive for getting on a quarter of a century now. The Philadelphia group even has become the house band for Jimmy Fallon's late night show. Of all hip-hop cult followings, theirs is

Take a Drive With The Zulu Kings

If you've ever wondered why Busy Bee had a Rhyme Syndicate logo on his second album, or how it came that Melle Mel was writing songs for Ice-T ("The Tower); it originates back to a dope but short-lived indie label called Posse Records. There, way back in 1986, Syndicate producer Afrika Islam combined forces with Melle and his crew to form Afrika & The Zulu Kings.

This single is called "Cars," and it's a pretty simple, old school song about... cars. It features Melle Mel, Ice-T, and Bronx Style Bob back when he rapped instead of sang. It's of course produced by Afrika, although all the other members share co-production credit. And, interestingly, Grandmaster Caz gets credit for mixing this record with Afrika.

This song follows a fun structure: it's just a dope (though very dated) instrumental - drum machine beats, a large groovy bassline, and lots of horn stabs, bells, cuts and change-ups - and at first it goes your traditional: MC's verse, hook, MC's verse, hook... but soon they're skipping the hook all together, and each MC is just jumping on top of the other, grabbing the mic. There's even a few skits mixed in where they talk about their cars over the beat, so you never know what's coming next.

The song features a lot of talent, obviously; but are ultimately light, casual songs, as opposed to anybody really flexing their skills or kicking important messages. Melle Mel starts it out, sounding like he did on his classic records with The Furious Five, shouting out all the types of cars, "I drove a Chevy and even a Ford; I pushed a Lincoln Continental, a Honda Accord, limousines, a Porsche Audi, a Honda Seville, a Savannah Brougham and a Coup Deville. You ride a Saab or a Subaru, a Corvette or a BMW. Now you're movin' like a car stayin' up to par. You're seen even parkin' a Mercedes, you're a superstar! But you are what ya are, behind the wheel. I never ever let a car control how I feel. You feel you're big time 'cause you're driving a Rolls? Well, you better watch out for telephone poles!"

And of course Ice-T immediately takes it to the west coast, "Word! This is all I got to say: you gotta have a car if you live in LA." ...So they're not out to impress with their lyrics, but if you pay attention to the writing, you can still see why these guys are better than their less successful peers.

There's just the one song on here; though it comes in vocal (called he Zulu Club Mix), Zulu Dub and Zulu Beats versions. But this is not the only collaborative release of Afrika & The Zulu Kings... they released a second single that same year called "The Beach," which is equally fun.

Album Review- Plies- Goon Affiliated

Plies is one of those love em or hate em guys and you probably can tell where I stand on the subject. Honestly, his success has surprised the hell out of me but in today's industry, charisma counts more than actual lyrical ability or song-writing. Plies has been able to get the interest of the female section of the population by flashing money and walking around with his shirt off.


So Plies