This is a strange one. While the logos on the label would have us believe that DJ Mark The 45 King recorded an album for Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam following the hit he gave Jay-Z (“Hard Knock Life”) in 1998, there’s really no reason to think this is anything but a bootlegger scam (the whole “Mark 45 King” thing doesn’t help either!). I can’t for the life of me picture Def Jam putting money up for a project that mainly features local unknowns’ Big Pooh and Lady Champain over a selection of well-known loops that would have cost a fortune to clear.
Whatever the case may be, there are still some nice joints on here. Jigga finesses Billy Joel‘s “Stilletto” break on “Check It Out”, while Diamond D (aka D-Squared) and K-Terribul ride some gritty drums for the original version of “Double Dare” (which eventually saw a release on Blazin’ a while back). Big Pooh’s “Harlem Bros.” also works on the uptempo tip, while Chill Rob G takes a break from his office at New Jersey City Council to drop some bars over an updated rehash of the “Wild Pitch” beat.
45 King Put The Funk Out There LP, 1999.
Side A:
1. “Check It Out” – Jay-Z & Lady Champain
2. “Put The Funk Out There” – 45 King, Kid Capri & Big Pooh
3. “Harlem Bros” – Big Pooh
4. “Latee Rocks The Bells” – Latee$
5. Jersey State Of Mind – Queen Latifah$
6. Roll With Me – Big Pooh & Lady Champain
$ I’m 99% sure that both of these songs were recorded between ’93-’94.
Side B:
1. “Simplicity” – Chill Rob G, Humpty Hump & Big Pooh
2. “Super People” – 45 King, Big Pooh & Lady Champain
3. “Welcome To The Terrordome” – 45 King & Lady Champain
4. On And On – Terry Lorenz
5. “Double Dare” – Diamond D, & K-Terribul
6. “Drop The Bomb” – Big Pooh & Lady Champain
And before anybody asks…I have no fuckin’ idea why Humpty Hump features on a track!
Put up the Chill Rob cut….puleeeeeeeeeze?!
“Check It Out” by Jay-Z reminds me… Did you ever hear Paul Nice’s version of the Black Album? He mixed “99 Problems” over Kool G Rap’s “Road To The Riches” beat (“Stiletto” break). I liked it more than Grey Album.
The Rob cut’s up.
Yeah I know that Paul Nice shit…makes me wonder if he copped this LP?
Robbie,
The Jay-Z track sounds a lot later than 94 but yeah, some of this definitely sounds like they were in the vaults for a while.
True. My asterix just wasn’t showing up properly. I meant to indicate that the Latee and Latifah tracks were from ’94. The Shawn Carter shit would certainly be post-“Hard Knock Life”.
Ohhhh shit. Props, Robbie.
I think the deal with this being on ROC-A-FELLA was that after Mark did “hard knock life”t Dame Dash and Jay Z let him put this out with a ROC logo on it to get a little extra attention as a thanks. Which makes it so strange that this record was so damn limited and hard to find.
If you remember, it was because Jay/Dame wouldn’t let Jaz-O put a ROC logo on that Primo produced 12” he put out on his own label from his 2002 album which ignited their beef.
I got most of these tracks when Blazin put them out on 12″s. Word to “harlem brothers”. “Put the funk out”, “super people” and “drop da bomb” are also really fucking good. I do prefer the 12″ version of “latee rocks the bells” with all the extra BAH-BAH-BAH-BAH’s doe.
Anyway, could we possibly get mp3s of the Latiah joint, “roll with me” and the Terry Lorenz track please ?
I really wanna hear the Lady Champain/45 King ep on Tuff City from ’97.
There’s another Jay Z/45 King track called “just believe” but the only place you can get it is that mixtape you can get from 45 King’s website.
There’s a Beanie Sigel track over an ill cartoon-ish bongo loop on there too. You can hear them on the listen to mixtape snippet link there.
I wish he’d put both of these out on vinyl or cd.
What makes you think the Latee song is from 1994?
That “Simplicity” track is interesting. The Humpty Hump/Chill Rob G lyrics sound like they were recorded eary 90’s (“Before I drop another bomb like I did last year”), but the Big Pooh lyrics are definitely from 1999.
The plot thickens: if you have the “Lost Breakbeats” CD from 1993, check the liner notes on the back. The 45 King says “Shock G & Digital Underground – I owe you $800.” Maybe Mark didn’t pay Humpty for his verse? Hmmmm….
That Jay-Z track is a remix of the verse he did on that Sauce Money track, so that’s definitely later than 94. I think it’s from 97.
“What makes you think the Latee song is from 1994?”
At the end of the first chorus, it sounds like La says “the three, three, three…ninety four”. That’s funny shit about the $800.
I think all of the stuff on the 45 King mixtape is exclusive remixes of old accapellas, like Mic Geronimo’s “Life Check”. There could be some original verses though.
Brian Beck, I’ll do those other tracks in the next day or so.
wow…awesome thanks for these….would appreciate the rest of them up please.
Second dude above me.
nice tracks….rollin it back, man……..rollin it back…..
Those other three songs are up now.
There is a different version of Jersey State Of Mind (no singing, slightly faster beat) on the New Jersey Drive movie soundtrack which came out in ’95.
The NJ Drive version replaced the singing with a Biz Markie Sample (“Cant Forget New Jersey”).
I realize I’m a bit late to the game here, but thanks for this. Been looking for a version of it since my nj drive cassette died on me.
Liking the Diamond D track…lovin’ the Jay Z track…not feelin that ‘On and On’ track…lets just say its not erm…my type of sound
just coped a copy of the simplicity joint on blaze records and its a different version DAMN, still sick but not as dope as the lp version,how many copies of this are in circulation ? anyone
Is it possible to re-up the Jay-Z song, ‘Check It Out’, I’ve been looking for that for a while? Thanks
Who is Champain? Does anyone have a pic?