Following a bitter legal dispute with Cold Chillin’ Records around 1989, Marley Marl broke out, taking Craig G and Tragedy (the two youngest members of the Juice Crew) with him. The resulting projects were good, if a little uneven. Craig’s The Kingpin was a mixture of the good (“Dopest Duo”), the bad (“Love Thang”) and the ugly (“Turn This House Into A Home”), possibly due to major label pressures, or perhaps a refelection of Marley’s broadening musical scope. Craig redeemed himself, however, with the incredible “Take The Bait”, which appeared as the b-side of the “Shootin’ The Gift (Remix)”.
Tragedy’s Intelligent Hoodlum LP was also a little hit and miss, as dope tracks like “Trag Invasion” and “Game Type” shared space with light-weight material such as “Back To Reality” (which found Marley jacking a hefty Soul II Soul grab as payback for Jazzie B stealing the “Pickin’ Boogers” drums). Large Professor and DJ Joe Fatal were responsible for many of the best cuts, although as was standard for that era the album credits don’t reflect their true contributions.
While songs like “Black and Proud” were standard “conscious” material, “Arrest The President” is a hard-hitting verbal barrage set to a tense track, and stands as one of the best politically-charged songs of it’s era. The promo-only remix gives the song a slighly different feel, replacing the stripped-down feel of the original with a rolling drum break and layers of electric guitar, sirens and even a kazoo thrown in for good measure. “Trag Invasion” is another raw cut, combining an ill drum break with the classic “Apache” guitars, while Tragedy goes for broke on some braggin’ and boastin’ type shit.
Joe Fatal, who you can hear cutting up his name during the intro to “…Invasion”, went on to being involved with Main Source‘s Breakin’ Atoms LP. as well as dropping a classic verse on a little something called “Live At The BBQ”. After a couple more lyrical cameos and a short-lived solo deal through DJ Muggs, Fatal returned to production and contributed a some beats to Fat Joe‘s second album. He’s currently the Editor and Founder of Fish ‘N Grits magazine, which is a cross between XXL and Hustler. Look out for an in-depth interview I did with him in the near future.
Intelligent Hoodlum – Trag Invasion [Intelligent Hoodlum, A&M, 1990]
Intelligent Hoodlum – Arrest The President (Remix) [promo-only 12″, A&M, 1990]
Thanks for the remix. But I must say I like the original better. It just sounds more serious than this remix and makes you focus more on the lyrics.
I have both albums you mention and I think you can delete the ‘little’ in little uneven/hit and miss. Those House and R&B tracks simply didn’t belong there.
“I be gettin’ busy” by L.L off the second, mostly shitty “in control” album is my shit and probably my favorite track outta all his post-Juice Crew (not including “mama said knock you out”).
Craig redeemed himself, however, with the incredible “Take The Bait”, which appeared as the b-side of the “Shootin’ The Gift (Remix)”.
Robbie,
Can this track be found on this site too? If not, could you please upload it? :)
The only song I remember from “In Control 2” was “Drop of A Dime”. “Symphony 2” was pretty bad apart from G Rap’s verse.
I’ll throw that Craig G shit up sometime in the near future.
i`ll post up take the bait.i still regret not buying that 12(i thought craigs second lp would appear on wax…wrong!)
anyone have a copy for me???gimme 10 minutes and i`ll post take the bait..save robbie some time.
here you go.
Thanx! How is the ‘Now That’s More Like It’ album? Never heard that one. :(
BTW LL’s ‘Eat ‘Em Up L Chill’ sounds very similar. Marley Marl remix..? :)
The version of “Take The Bait” on Craig’s second album isn’t as good as the 12″ mix. Thanks for posting it though.
Now, That’s More Like It is better than his debut, plus it’s got a few tracks that tear MC Shan a new one:
Craig G vs MC Shan
lol, man these posts are so informative. you should change your site name to “hip-hop 101” keep lettin people who were in diapers during this time like me, up on what was going on
That’s one of the reasons I like this site. Even if you have been listening to HipHop since the mid eighties like me there are still a lot of things you don’t know about. Makes me wonder how Robbie knows all that stuff. :)
I’ve always been a pretty big Craig G fan. Both albums do have some bad choices (which have been mentioned), but they both still had enough to keep me happy and interested:
LP 1: dopest duo, shooting the gift, slammin’
the king pin, final chapter, smooth
LP 2: There’s a lot that I like on here but stand
outs would be “Ripped To Streads” for the
MC Shan diss, What UR Used To, & Give IT
To Me w/Master Ace. A few years later when
I got the CD I was impressed with the bonus
cuts; “Swiftness” & “Goin For The Throat”
(another Shan diss).
The Trag album was more lop sided to me because I really liked “intelligent hoodlum” & “arrest the president” (my personal favorites). Then “Trag Invasion” & “Microphone Check” were cool. Also, you got to have the “Back To Reality” 12″ because
the remix of that is pretty hot and of course you get the bonus cut with both our guys, “Live and Direct From The House Of Hits” which is excellent with Tragedy & Craig G trading verse
…by the way I’m looking for that Craig G LP #2 vinyl also, have been since ’91!!!