A welcome addition to the growing ranks of rap reissues is the famed 45 King Brainstorm EP, unoffically named after the incredible Latee track of the same name that’s contained amongst it’s six selections. I was lucky enough to get a copy of the original pressing of this a few years back, and as far as I know there were two pressings of this originally. The first issue of a mere 50 copies was pressed-up by DJ Mark The 45 King himself, and featured his head on the label on both sides, JB style (one on a yellow background and one on orange ). I believe he later did a second pressing of a few hundred due to popular demand, only this time one side had the 45 King logo and the other had the “Mark head”. Either way, it’s a tough piece to find for under $100, so the fact that Tuff City have issued a retail version is good news.
Even though there are five other songs on here, I never really bothered to listen to the other cuts properly in the past, and that’s not about to change now. It’s all about “Brainstorm”! This song, as the kiddies would say these days, is absolute “heatrock” material. Latee was a great rapper in 1987, and six years later he was still nice. His voice kinda sounds like Ju Ju from the Beatnuts on this, having toned down the gruff 80’s delivery that was characteristic of the Flavor U. La questions “Why waste time on a snowflake / when I can rock flavourful styles with the King on a slow break” and he lets us know that he’s got no hesitiation to “blast you through the hole in the ozone layer”. 45 King delivers an amazing track that ensures you’ll be grinning like a 14 year-old kid who just found his dad’s stash of Hustler mags.
No question about it, this is one of the best hip-hop songs of the ’90s that not enough people have heard.
Rating:
45 King & Latee – Brainstorm [Brainstorm EP, 45 King/Ol’ Skool Flava, 1993/2005]
Review copy supplied courtesy of Tuff City Records.
Robbie, out of curiousity – what were the other 5 tracks on the EP?
Good joint.
Them 45 King tracks from 6 or 7 years ago like “can du” by Big Scoob, “wooden horse” by Craig Mack “put the funk out” with Kid Capri + Big Pooh, “harlem brothers” by Big Pooh, “drop the bomb” by Champain + Big Poo, “latee rocks the bells” by Latee, “terrordome” by Chill Rob G, “car horn” by Common and the Jay Z joint (“please believe it” or something like that) were all nuts.
I want that Champain ep he did in ’97 on Tuff City. That “cat jams” ep thing he put out this year looks kinda interesting too.
I want a new Markey Fresh joint.
Nice track. I love the vibes. Sounds nothing like the Flavor Unit records though. Where are the trademark horns?
yikes.
cant believe dis site.
so much rare shit.
luv it.
feels like my radio days.
tim westwood,andy kershaw,john peel…
21 gun salute!!!
u guys do great
big up
Brian, I’ll be posting some of those tracks soon.
Jan 06 = Flavor Unit Special.
Lotuz, Mark stopped messing with horns in the 90’s, but Pete Rock continued his legacy.
Lotuz, Mark stopped messing with horns in the 90’s, but Pete Rock continued his legacy.
I know. I just think it’s too bad that his productions are no longer instantly recognizable like they used to be in the late eighties. One of his biggest records is Jay-Z’s ‘Hard Knock Life’ and the first time I heard that song I thought it was a Premier production.
Yeah, the brief “sampling show-tunes” craze he started with that song wasn’t exactly his finest moment.
I never noticed about the different pressings before: I thought I had two copies the same, but it appears not. Great record though.
The other cuts are: ‘Rock The Rhythm’ by Maniac Mob, ‘1, 2, 3’ by Bigga Sista, ‘Mad Skills’ by Triny’, ‘Lady’ by Carry Von Murry and ‘7 Days’ by Miss Bell. Not exactly awe-inspiring, but a couple of them are definitely listenable.
For the Flavor Unit special, you gotta put that Markey Fresh EP in there: there’s a couple of great tracks on that one.
How is that Maniac Mob song? ‘Get Up’ is one of the best songs on the first ‘D&D Project’ album imo, especially because of the 45 King beat (with a nice saxophone lick) and the intro/outro.
The Maniac MOb SOng is dope!The Triny Song is even doper!
Gues what I found
:)
a welcome reissue because i never wanted to spend that much on a record. this song sounds so fresh right now.
Brainstorm is definitely classic 45 King shit…thanks for posting. Question though: we all know Kanye used the fuck out of these drums but do you know if 45 was the first to use them and was this the first recorded track he used them on?
Lotuz, g.l. on that link
Dope record. Keep droppin’ the knowledge Rob!
did yall know that LATEE is APACHE’S brother….
Speaking of 45 King-produced cuts, can someone hook up Car Horn feat. Common?
Brainstorm is an underground classic. It was played every week for months on The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito show in 1994. It still gives me the chills when I hear it.
A total injustice that Latee never did a full album…he was ill and I wish he would come back in fact how dope would it be for a reformation of the F.U.?
hey guys, while surfing for some info about 45 king’s track the circus i ended up on this site. does anybody know, where i can buy this track? label? release date etc etc.
thanks a lot! vienna is greeting, michael.
the champain ep that is
thanks for your help man!
this is the pure uncut dope.ive been after the original pressing for a while now.and finally managed to get one for a heifty price.YES!!!!! but who cares when the shit rocks like this.latee the dopest rapper never to release an album for real
Hey y’all, I thought I heard way back that Latee went behind the scenes in artist or label management… Uptown Records or something like that. Can anyone clarify this or correct me? Thanks for the info – BC