Twenty rap album deep cuts from the nineties that could have made great 12″ releases if they’d been given the chance.
Download: A Salute To Album Tracks That Could Have Been Singles [90s Edition]
Track listing:
01. ‘Medicine’ – Show & A.G.
The best demonstration of the paired-down sound of the second Show & AG full-length, this cut finds Andre The Giant riding a pounding snare, while a menacing, guttural loop bubble beneath the surface while we’re treated to a brief return of Showbiz to the vocal booth!
02. ‘Spell It With A J (Yes, Yes Jorge)’ – Kurious1
This Mighty V.I.C.-era Beatnuts production sets off A Constipated Monkey in fine form, offsetting a snapping stand-up bass riff with an abrasive vocal snippet while Jorge flows like Jameson.
03. ‘Ragtime’ – Brand Nubian
This one got a lot of radio play down here on account of that catchy guitar loop and energetic vocal performances from Puba, X and Jamar.
04. ‘Snake Eyes’ – Main Source
A powerful opening to Breaking Atoms which somehow was passed over for ‘Peace Is Not The Word To Play’.
05. ‘Boon Dox’ – EPMD
Absolutely blew the bloody doors of the hinges with this opener. Up there with ‘Straight Outta Compton’ as an all-time best first track off an LP.
06. ‘Footprints’ – A Tribe Called Quest
Eff an ‘El Segundo’, this was the jeep beat that had everyone bugging when it dropped.
07. ‘Straight Jacket’ – The Beatnuts
Top three Waterfall Rap, no question.
08. ‘The Extinction Agenda’ – Organized Konfusion
There’s so much going on in this song that it still impresses to this day.
09. ‘O-Zone’ – O.C.
Why Wild Pitch put ‘Born 2 Live’ out over this will be debated by scholars thousands of years from now.
10. ‘All Black’ – Big L
L raps like he’s just discovered someone had stolen his last beer from the studio fridge, while Lord Finesse serves up a beat that will haunt your nightmares.
11. ‘Raw Hide’ – Ol’ Dirty Bastard feat. Raekwon and Method Man2
This track is a like a bad dust trip, with music that sounds like it leaked out of the ninth depth of hell while ODB is at his most demented, topped off with some prime mid-nineties AIDS jokes.
12. ‘Queens Lounge’ – The Large Professor
This is what the ‘Shook Ones’ beat might have sounded like if Xtra-P had hung around for the second album with Hav and P.
13. ‘Gather Round’ – Diamond D
Diamond going for broke over a hard break is why everyone loved his first album so much.
14. ‘Gotta Get Up’ – Black Sheep
The best song from this misunderstood sophomore project, Dres murders this incredible track with effortless confidence.
15. ‘Checkmate’ – Akinyele
This song encapsulates everything great about rap music.
16. ‘The Realest’ – Mobb Deep feat. Kool G Rap
This is why Rawkus drove a truck full of money to G Rap’s door to sign him.
17. ‘Cheesy Rat Blues’ – LL Cool J
The first song to flip the beat later heard on the ‘Scenario’ remix, Cool J shows a lot of self-awareness as he plays the roll of dude who fell-off after having pulled himself back from the brink of obsolescence. Easily his funniest song.
18. ‘Black Bastards’ – KMD
The part about seeing Corin Nemec from Parker Lewis Can’t Lose try to rap still cracks me up.
19. ‘Guillotine (Swords)’ – Raekwon feat. Inspektah Deck, Ghostface Killah and GZA/Genius
Using a skit beat for a full song became pretty common at one point, but who can blame ’em when it sounds this good?
20. ‘I Get My Thang In Action’ – Method Man
This and ‘Bring The Pain’ were the catchiest tunes from Tical, yet somehow this one didn’t get the shine it deserved.
dope compilation!
imo, g rap’s “death wish”, redman’s “green island”, ok’s “prisoners of war”, epmd’s “hardcore” (with “brothers on my jock” on side b), “baby bust it” by kurious jorge (that grimm verse!), black sheep’s “black with n.v.”, nas’ “ny state of mind” and the og version of “yes you may” are also hot contenders…
@kool max power: Cheers. Great suggestions, could definitely do a few of these.
add grand puba’s “soul controller”, mobb deep’s “apostle’s warning”, scarface’s “murder by reason of insanity”, redman’s “do what ya feel” w/ method man, and “game’s sober” by sadat x & money boss players to my list…
Maybe I’m remembering wrong but wasn’t there a video for “Do What Ya Feel”?
Absolutely spot on with every choice. Nailed it.
never seen an official one of that track but I didn’t care much about videos … at least, I’m pretty positive there was no official or promo 12″…
Masta Ace – Crazy Drunken Style
Lotta these you picked were played Robbie….. awesome 2, stretch and bobbito, red alert, couple of names I’m forgetting had the music on…. I remember red spinning the heck outta boon dox by EPMD….and that’s what’s missing…. DJs who know the cuts to play instead of the label mandated singles
@$yk: Definitely. Would have been great to have 12″ versions with instros too.
Well done, Rob!
shout-out to the crate diggers finding them white labels… Bleeker at was full of them lol
Stop shamin-big daddy Kane
Why-organized konfusion
How I’m living-jeru
Jam-atcq
Higher level-krs
4 da mind-masta ace
Life I live-ini
In the house-pr & cl
I went for mine-diamond
A thing named Kim-biz
To name a few more…
Well this no made my day. Gratitudes.
Well this made my day. Apologies!
For me, E.F.F.E.C.T. should have been on a 12″ as part of the Non-Fiction catalogue. Complete with a remix from the Beatnuts.
The Kurious and Black Sheep tracks came to mind when I saw the title, right on. I listen to Non-Fiction more than Wolf’s these days, interesting to find Dres produced a lot of my favourite beats on it
reading this post, and the comments, obvious none of you are DJs lol
NWA: I ain’t The One
Biggie & Meth : The What
Royal Flush feat Noreaga : What a Shame
Lost Boyz : Chanel Zero
Sowbiz & AG feat Dres : Bounce to This
“bounce to this” was a 12″ release: https://www.discogs.com/Showbiz-AG-Bounce-Ta-This/release/511032
This list is wack as hell. Sorry.
You’ve compiled songs you wish were singles into an album? Since you already own the song on an album, why would you need it on an additional cassette/record/cd?
Rawhide did come out asa single???
Great selections
A good feel for the right tracks. Checkmate and Medicine are completely underrated.